miniZibaldone

God is greater than our sin. Let us not forget this: God is greater than our sin! From the general audience Today we finish the catecheses on mercy in the Old Testament, and we do so meditating on Psalm 51, known as the Miserere . [...]  The “title” that the ancient Jewish tradition gave this Psalm makes reference to King David and his sin with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. We know the  affair well. King David, called by God to tend His People and to lead them on paths of obedience to the Divine Law, betrays his mission and, after having committed  adultery with Bathsheba, has her husband killed. Terrible sin! Nathan, the prophet, reveals his guilt to him and helps him to acknowledge it. It is the moment of  reconciliation with God, in the confession of his sin. And here David was humble; he was great! [...]  The Psalmist entrusts himself to God’s goodness; he knows that divine forgiveness is extremely effective, because it creates that which...

Lyrical and Critical Essays by  Albert Camus Preface 1958 [by Albert Camus] The essays collected in this volume were written in 1935 and 1936 (I was then twenty-two) and published a year later in Algeria in a very limited edition. This edition has been unobtainable for a long time and I have always refused to have   The Wrong Side and the Right Side   reprinted. There are no mysterious reasons for my stubbornness. I reject nothing of what these writings express, but their form has always seemed clumsy to me. The prejudices on art I cherish in spite of myself (I shall explain them further on) kept me for a long time from considering their republication. A great vanity, it would seem, leading one to suppose that my other writings satisfy every standard. Need I say this isn’t so? I am only more aware of the inadequacies in   The Wrong Side and the Right Side   than of those in my other work. How can I explain this except by admitting that the...

May the Virgin Mary give us the certainty of faith that suffered every step of our journey, illuminated by the light of Easter, will become a blessing and joy for us and for others, especially for those who suffer because of selfishness and indifference. From the Regina Caeli "Life - he said - has conquered death. Mercy and love won over sin! There is need for faith and hope to open this wonderful new horizon. Let us be pervaded by emotions that resonate in the Easter sequence: "Yes, we are certain: Christ is truly Risen". This truth indelibly marked the lives of the apostles after the Resurrection, who again felt the need to follow their Master and received the Holy Spirit, fearlessly going out to proclaim to everyone what they had seen with their own eyes and personally experienced". "In this Jubilee Year - he continued - we are called to rediscover and to welcome the comforting announcement of the resurrection with particular intensity: "Christ...

The Scent of Lemons by Jonah Lynch gratis Margherita Habits of the High-Tech Heart by Quentin Schultze High Tech High Touch: Technology and Search for Meaning by John Naisbitt   The Lonely Crowd by David Riesman Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman

From the Urbi et Orbi message The Lord Jesus, our peace (Eph 2:14), by his resurrection triumphed over evil and sin. May he draw us closer on this Easter feast to the victims of terrorism, that blind and brutal form of violence which continues to shed blood in different parts of the world. [...]  The Easter message of the risen Christ, a message of life for all humanity, echoes down the ages and invites us not to forget those men and women seeking a better future, an ever more numerous throng of migrants and refugees – including many children – fleeing from war, hunger, poverty and social injustice. All too often, these brothers and sisters of ours meet along the way with death or, in any event, rejection by those who could offer them welcome and assistance. [...]  Along with our brothers and sisters persecuted for their faith and their fidelity to the name of Christ, and before the evil that seems to have the upper hand in the life of so many people, let us hear once...

Philippine Star  "Violent contests" Police have noted that election violence is highest in local races. Violence, however, is not the only problem that authorities must monitor and prevent as the local  races kick off. Candidates for local government positions also tend to be the most brazen in flouting election rules, from the posting of campaign materials to  spending limits.  The Commission on Elections and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority have been active in taking down campaign materials illegally posted around the metropolis.  But just outside Metro Manila, in nearby towns of Southern Tagalog and Central Luzon, trees and lampposts are slowly being covered again with campaign posters and  streamers. If the candidates are incumbent officials, the campaign materials are unlikely to be taken down.   [full text] Sun.Star Cebu  "Heart and discipline" The days seem longer and hotter. Few children mind that there seems to be more hours...

Announce the Easter message, to awaken and resurrect hope in hearts burdened by sadness, in those who struggle to find meaning in life. This is so necessary today. However, we must not proclaim ourselves. Rather, as joyful servants of hope, we must announce the Risen One . From the Easter Vigil homily Peter was looking for Jesus, not himself. He preferred the path of encounter and trust. And so, he got up, just as he was, and ran towards the tomb from where he would return “amazed” (v. 12). This marked the beginning of Peter’s resurrection, the resurrection of his heart. [...]  We, like Peter and the women, cannot discover life by being sad, bereft of hope. Let us not stay imprisoned within ourselves, but let us break open our sealed tombs to the Lord so that he may enter and grant us life. Let us give him the stones of our rancour and the boulders of our past, those heavy burdens of our weaknesses and falls. Christ wants to come and take us by the hand to bring us out of...

"Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first." The Disciples Running to the Sepulchre (Eugenè Burnand) The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)

Pope Francis's prayer during the Good Friday Via Crucis O Cross of Christ, symbol of divine love and of human injustice, icon of the supreme sacrifice for love and of boundless selfishness even unto madness, instrument of death and the way of resurrection, sign of obedience and emblem of betrayal, the gallows of persecution and the banner of victory. O Cross of Christ, today too we see you raised up in our sisters and brothers killed, burned alive, throats slit and decapitated by barbarous blades amid cowardly silence. O Cross of Christ, today too we see you in the faces of children, of women and people, worn out and fearful, who flee from war and violence and who often only find death and many Pilates who wash their hands. O Cross of Christ, today too we see you in those filled with knowledge and not with the spirit, scholars of death and not of life, who instead of teaching mercy and life, threaten with punishment and death, and who condemn the just. O Cross of Christ, today ...

Letter of Julian Carron in  Corriere della Sera after the terrorist attacks in Brussels

Cosima by Grazia Deledda   Knots by Nuruddin Farah   A Tenured Professor by John Kenneth Galbraith The Messiah of Morris Avenue by Tony Hendra   The Journey of Little Gandhi by Elias Khoury  The Company She Keeps by Mary McCarthy   The Orchard by Drusilla Modjeska An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor  Rabbit is Rich  by John Updike S by John Updike  

From "Page One" of Tracce - Litterae Communionis , March 2016 It is obvious to everyone that we are in a time of great changes and that is not easy to navigate in the current cultural context. We are facing a great turning point  that requires patience and time to understand, without thinking that we can solve problems by just discussing them. The pages that follow are intended to contribute to the journey of each and every person, for a dialogue amongst us. [full text]

You, we, all of us together, of different religions, different cultures, but children of the same Father, brothers – and there, those poor people, who buy weapons to wreck fraternity. From the pope's remarks at the Mass of Last Supper Even today, here, there are two gestures: this, of all of us together, Muslims, Hindus, Catholics, Copts, Evangelical [Protestants] brothers and sisters – children of the same God – we want to live in peace, integrated. One gesture. Three days ago, an act of war, of destruction in a European city, by people who do not want to live in peace. Though behind that gesture, as there were behind that of Judas, there were others. Behind Judas there were those who offered money, that Jesus be delivered up to them. Behind that [other] gesture [on Tuesday in Belgium], there are manufacturers, arms dealers who want blood, not peace; they want the war, not fraternity. [...]  Each of us has a story, each of you has a story you carry with you. Many crosses, ...

Philippine Star  "A borderless war" As of yesterday, 14 people had died in the airport attack and 20 in the Metro train.  The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has claimed responsibility for the worst terrorist attack in the city that hosts the headquarters of the European Union.  The attack is just the latest warning about the borderless war that ISIS is waging, if not directly then through adherents inspired by its gospel of hate.  In the Philippines, security officials have downplayed reports of local extremists pledging to support ISIS. The group is said to be trying to gain a solid foothold in the Philippines. This shouldn’t prove too hard, considering that the country is already home to several of Southeast Asia’s extremist troublemakers: the Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiyah, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and other rogue elements of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front.   [full text] Manila Bu...