Recebe, Senhor, os meus medos e transforme-os em confiança.

Recebe, Senhor, meus sofrimentos e transforme-os em crescimento.

Recebe as minhas crises e transforme-as em maturidade.

Recebe as minhas lágrimas e transforme-as em intimidade.

Recebe a minha raiva e transforme-a em oração.

Recebe o meu desânimo e transforme-o em fé.

Recebe a minha solidão e transforme-a em contemplação.

Recebe minhas amarguras e transforme-as em calma interior.

Recebe minhas esperas e transforme-as em esperança.

Recebe minhas perdas e transforme-as em Ressurreição.

(Pastoral da Saúde)

Jesus ressuscitou!

A Páscoa é a maior das festas cristãs, o cumprimento e a realização da nossa fé. É com a Ressurreição de Jesus Cristo que o Reino de Deus é estabelecido sobre a Terra, através da Igreja, que somos nós!

Feliz Páscoa!

Lord Jesus,

out of love for us,
you died and rose again on the third day.
Grant us a share in your victory over death
and in the glory of your resurrection,
as you live and reign with the Father
and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
Amen.

That new life began on Easter Sunday. In the Our Father, we pray that "Thy Kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven." And Christ told his disciples that some of them would not die until they saw the Kingdom of God "coming in power" (Mark 9:1). The early Christian Fathers saw Easter as the fulfillment of that promise. With the resurrection of Christ, God's Kingdom is established on earth, in the form of the Church.

Students of popular science are always insisting that Christianity and Buddhism are very much alike, especially Buddhism.

This is generally believed, and I believed it myself until I read a book giving the reasons for it. The reasons were of two kinds: resemblances that meant nothing because they were common to all humanity, and resemblances which were not resemblances at all. The author solemnly explained that the two creeds were alike in things in which all creeds are alike, or else he described them as alike in some point in which they are quite obviously different. Thus, as a case of the first class, he said that both Christ and Buddha were called by the divine voice coming out of the sky, as if you would expect the divine voice to come out of the coal-cellar. (!!) Or, again, it was gravely urged that these two Eastern teachers, by a singular coincidence, both had to do with the washing of feet. You might as well say that it was a remarkable coincidence that they both had feet to wash. (!!)  And the other class of similarities were those which simply were not similar. Thus this reconciler of the two religions draws earnest attention to the fact that at certain religious feasts the robe of the Lama is rent in pieces out of respect, and the remnants highly valued. But this is the reverse of a resemblance, for the garments of Christ were not rent in pieces out of respect, but out of derision; and the remnants were not highly valued except for what they would fetch in the rag shops. It is rather like alluding to the obvious connection between the two ceremonies of the sword: when it taps a man's shoulder, and when it cuts off his head.(!!) It is not at all similar for the man. These scraps of puerile pedantry would indeed matter little if it were not also true that the alleged philosophical resemblances are also of these two kinds, either proving too much or not proving anything. That Buddhism approves of mercy or of self-restraint is not to say that it is specially like Christianity; it is only to say that it is not utterly unlike all human existence. Buddhists disapprove in theory of cruelty or excess because all sane human beings disapprove in theory of cruelty or excess. But to say that Buddhism and Christianity give the same philosophy of these things is simply false. All humanity does agree that we are in a net of sin. Most of humanity agrees that there is some way out. But as to what is the way out, I do not think that there are two institutions in the universe which contradict each other so flatly as Buddhism and Christianity.

Even when I thought, with most other well-informed, though unscholarly, people, that Buddhism and Christianity were alike, there was one thing about them that always perplexed me; I mean the startling difference in their type of religious art. I do not mean in its technical style of representation, but in the things that it was manifestly meant to represent. No two ideals could be more opposite than a Christian saint in a Gothic cathedral and a Buddhist saint in a Chinese temple. The opposition exists at every point; but perhaps the shortest statement of it is that the Buddhist saint always has his eyes shut, while the Christian saint always has them very wide open. The Buddhist saint has a sleek and harmonious body, but his eyes are heavy and sealed with sleep. The mediaeval saint's body is wasted to its crazy bones, but his eyes are frightfully alive. There cannot be any real community of spirit between forces that produced symbols so different as that. Granted that both images are extravagances, are perversions of the pure creed, it must be a real divergence which could produce such opposite extravagances. The Buddhist is looking with a peculiar intentness inwards. The Christian is staring with a frantic intentness outwards. If we follow that clue steadily we shall find some interesting things.

The Buddhist saint is looking with a peculiar intentness inwards.

A short time ago Mrs. Besant, in an interesting essay, announced that there was only one religion in the world, that all faiths were only versions or perversions of it, and that she was quite prepared to say what it was. According to Mrs. Besant this universal Church is simply the universal self. It is the doctrine that we are really all one person; that there are no real walls of individuality between man and man. If I may put it so, she does not tell us to love our neighbours; she tells us to be our neighbours. That is Mrs. Besant's thoughtful and suggestive description of the religion in which all men must find themselves in agreement. And I never heard of any suggestion in my life with which I more violently disagree. I want to love my neighbour not because he is I, but precisely because he is not I. I want to adore the world, not as one likes a looking-glass, because it is one's self, but as one loves a woman, because she is entirely different. If souls are separate love is possible. If souls are united love is obviously impossible. A man may be said loosely to love himself, but he can hardly fall in love with himself, or, if he does, it must be a monotonous courtship. If the world is full of real selves, they can be really unselfish selves. But upon Mrs. Besant's principle the whole cosmos is only one enormously selfish person.

It is just here that Buddhism is on the side of modern pantheism and immanence. And it is just here that Christianity is on the side of humanity and liberty and love. Love desires personality; therefore love desires division. It is the instinct of Christianity to be glad that God has broken the universe into little pieces, because they are living pieces. It is her instinct to say "little children love one another" rather than to tell one large person to love himself. This is the intellectual abyss between Buddhism and Christianity; that for the Buddhist or Theosophist personality is the fall of man, for the Christian it is the purpose of God, the whole point of his cosmic idea. The world-soul of the Theosophists asks man to love it only in order that man may throw himself into it. But the divine centre of Christianity actually threw man out of it in order that he might love it. The oriental deity is like a giant who should have lost his leg or hand and be always seeking to find it; but the Christian power is like some giant who in a strange generosity should cut off his right hand, so that it might of its own accord shake hands with him. We come back to the same tireless note touching the nature of Christianity; all modern philosophies are chains which connect and fetter; Christianity is a sword which separates and sets free. No other philosophy makes God actually rejoice in the separation of the universe into living souls. But according to orthodox Christianity this separation between God and man is sacred, because this is eternal. That a man may love God it is necessary that there should be not only a God to be loved, but a man to love him. All those vague theosophical minds for whom the universe is an immense melting-pot are exactly the minds which shrink instinctively from that earthquake saying of our Gospels, which declare that the Son of God came not with peace but with a sundering sword. The saying rings entirely true even considered as what it obviously is; the statement that any man who preaches real love is bound to beget hate. It is as true of democratic fraternity as a divine love; sham love ends in compromise and common philosophy; but real love has always ended in bloodshed. Yet there is another and yet more awful truth behind the obvious meaning of this utterance of our Lord. According to Himself the Son was a sword separating brother and brother that they should for an aeon hate each other. But the Father also was a sword, which in the black beginning separated brother and brother, so that they should love each other at last.

This is the meaning of that almost insane happiness in the eyes of the mediæval saint in the picture. This is the meaning of the sealed eyes of the superb Buddhist image. The Christian saint is happy because he has verily been cut off from the world; he is separate from things and is staring at them in astonishment. But why should the Buddhist saint be astonished at things? -- since there is really only one thing, and that being impersonal can hardly be astonished at itself. There have been many pantheist poems suggesting wonder, but no really successful ones. The pantheist cannot wonder, for he cannot praise God or praise anything as really distinct from himself. Our immediate business here, however, is with the effect of this Christian admiration (which strikes outwards, towards a deity distinct from the worshipper) upon the general need for ethical activity and social reform. And surely its effect is sufficiently obvious. There is no real possibility of getting out of pantheism, any special impulse to moral action. For pantheism implies in its nature that one thing is as good as another; whereas action implies in its nature that one thing is greatly preferable to another.

The Christian saint is staring with a frantic intentness outwards.

(...)

Here again, therefore, we find that in so far as we value democracy and the self-renewing energies of the west, we are much more likely to find them in the old theology than the new. If we want reform, we must adhere to orthodoxy: especially in this matter (so much disputed in the counsels of Mr. R. J. Campbell), the matter of insisting on the immanent or the transcendent deity. By insisting specially on the immanence of God we get introspection, self-isolation, quietism, social indifference -- Tibet. By insisting specially on the transcendence of God we get wonder, curiosity, moral and political adventure, righteous indignation -- Christendom. Insisting that God is inside man, man is always inside himself. By insisting that God transcends man, man has transcended himself.

(...)

A man may lie still and be cured of a malady. But he must not lie still if he wants to be cured of a sin; on the contrary, he must get up and jump about violently. The whole point indeed is perfectly expressed in the very word which we use for a man in hospital; "patient" is in the passive mood; "sinner" is in the active. If a man is to be saved from influenza, he may be a patient. But if he is to be saved from forging, he must be not a patient but an impatient. He must be personally impatient with forgery. All moral reform must start in the active not the passive will.

Here again we reach the same substantial conclusion. In so far as we desire the definite reconstructions and the dangerous revolutions which have distinguished European civilization, we shall not discourage the thought of possible ruin; we shall rather encourage it. If we want, like the Eastern saints, merely to contemplate how right things are, of course we shall only say that they must go right. But if we particularly want to make them go right, we must insist that they may go wrong.

Lastly, this truth is yet again true in the case of the common modern attempts to diminish or to explain away the divinity of Christ. (...) But if the divinity is true it is certainly terribly revolutionary. That a good man may have his back to the wall is no more than we knew already; but that God could have his back to the wall is a boast for all insurgents for ever. Christianity is the only religion on earth that has felt that omnipotence made God incomplete. Christianity alone has felt that God, to be wholly God, must have been a rebel as well as a king. Alone of all creeds, Christianity has added courage to the virtues of the Creator.

(...)

I know a man who has such a passion for proving that he will have no personal existence after death that he falls back on the position that he has no personal existence now. He invokes Buddhism and says that all souls fade into each other; in order to prove that he cannot go to heaven he proves that he cannot go to Hartle-pool. I have known people who protested against religious education with arguments against any education, saying that the child's mind must grow freely or that the old must not teach the young. I have known people who showed that there could be no divine judgment by showing that there can be no human judgment, even for practical purposes. They burned their own corn to set fire to the church; they smashed their own tools to smash it; any stick was good enough to beat it with, though it were the last stick of their own dismembered furniture. We do not admire, we hardly excuse, the fanatic who wrecks this world for love of the other. But what are we to say of the fanatic who wrecks this world out of hatred of the other? He sacrifices the very existence of humanity to the non-existence of God. (!!) He offers his victims not to the altar, but merely to assert the idleness of the altar and the emptiness of the throne. He is ready to ruin even that primary ethic by which all things live, for his strange and eternal vengeance upon some one who never lived at all.

(...)

Will a man take this road or that? -- that is the only thing to think about, if you enjoy thinking.

(G.K.Chesterton - Orthodoxy, 1908 - from chapter VIII.)

(Concede mihi, misericors Deus)

GRANT me, O merciful God, to desire eagerly, to investigate prudently, to acknowledge sincerely, and to fulfill perfectly those things that are pleasing to Thee, for the praise and glory of Thy holy Name.

O my God, order my life, and grant that I may know what Thou wilt have me to do; and grant that I may fulfill it as is fitting and profitable to my soul.

Grant me, O Lord my God, the grace that I may not falter either in prosperity or adversity. May I not be unduly lifted up by the one, nor unduly cast down by the other. Let me neither rejoice nor grieve at anything, save what either leads to Thee or leads away from Thee. Let me not desire to please anyone nor fear to displease anyone save only Thee.

Let all things transitory seem vile in my eyes, and all things eternal be dear to me. Let me tire of that joy which is without Thee and to desire nothing that is outside Thee. Let me find joy in the labor that is for Thee; and let all repose that is without Thee be tiresome to me.

Grant me, my God, the grace to direct my heart towards Thee, and with a firm purpose of amendment, to grieve continually my failures, together with a firm purpose of amendment.

O Lord my God, make me obedient without complaining, poor without despondency, chaste without stain, patient without grumbling, humble without pretense, cheerful without dissipation, mature without undue heaviness, quick-minded without levity, fearful of Thee without abjectness, truthful without duplicity, devoted to good works without presumption, ready to correct my neighbor without arrogance, and to edify him by word and example without hypocrisy.

Grant me, Lord God, a watchful heart which shall be distracted from Thee by no vain thoughts; give me a generous heart which shall not be drawn downward by any unworthy affection; give me an upright heart which shall not be led astray by any perverse intention; give me a stout heart which shall not be crushed by any hardship; give me a free heart which shall not be enslaved by passion.

Bestow upon me, O Lord my God, an understanding that knows Thee, diligence in seeking Thee, wisdom in finding Thee, conversation pleasing to Thee, perseverance in faithfully waiting for Thee, and confidence in embracing Thee in the end. Grant that I may be chastised here by penance, that I may make good use of Thy gifts in this life by Thy grace, and that I may partake of Thy joys in the glory of heaven: Who livest and reignest, God, forever and ever. Amen.

Written by St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274).

Tende sal em vós mesmos

Every year, 8 March is celebrated around the world as International Women's Day.

For equal opportunities for women and respect for their human rights!

Let's make this a special day when women have the opportunity to strengthen their spiritual bonds as they pray for and with each other. 

We are those valiant women,
giving leadership in our homes,
contributing to our community,
working for change at all levels of society,
crying for justice and mercy,
living the Gospel,
understanding theology,
practicing our faith,
remaining true to the Word

Let us pray:

For all world leaders, that they may be moved to work for peace and justice by ratifying the United Nations Convention, to eliminate all forms of Discrimination against Women, and carry out its terms we pray.

For those most vulnerable to oppression or neglect, especially women and children, we pray.

For women who bring forth their children in uncertainty - for refugees and for victims of war, we pray.

For women victims of violence, rape, and domestic abuse, we pray.  

Loving God, hear our prayer.

Why dedicate a day exclusively to the celebration of the world's women?

The United Nations General Assembly, composed of delegates from every Member State, celebrates International Women's Day to recognize that peace and social progress require the active participation and equality of women, and to acknowledge the contribution of women to international peace and security.

For the women of the world, the Day is an occasion to review how far they have come in their struggle for equality, peace and development.

You might think that women's equality benefits mostly women, but every one-percentile growth in female secondary schooling results in a 0.3 percent growth in the economy. Yet girls are often kept from receiving education in the poorest countries that would best benefit from the economic growth.

Until the men and women work together to secure the rights and full potential of women, lasting solutions to the world's most serious social, economic and political problems are unlikely to be found.

In recent decades, much progress has been made. On a worldwide level, women's access to education and proper health care has increased; their participation in the paid labor force has grown; and legislation that promises equal opportunities for women and respect for their human rights has been adopted in many countries. The world now has an ever- growing number of women participating in society as policy-makers.

However, nowhere in the world can women claim to have all the same rights and opportunities as men.

The majority of the world's 1.3 billion absolute poor are women.

On average, women receive between 30 and 40 per cent less pay than men earn for the same work.

And everywhere, women continue to be victims of violence, with rape and domestic violence listed as significant causes of disability and death among women of reproductive age worldwide.

A bird is active, because a bird is soft. A stone is helpless, because a stone is hard. The stone must by its own nature go downwards, because hardness is weakness. The bird can of its nature go upwards, because fragility is force. In perfect force there is a kind of frivolity, an airiness that can maintain itself in the air. Modern investigators of miraculous history have solemnly admitted that a characteristic of the great saints is their power of "levitation." They might go further; a characteristic of the great saints is their power of levity. Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly.

(Orthodoxy - G. K. Chesterton -  1874-1936) 

Valentine's Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14. In North America, it is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine's cards, presenting flowers, or offering confectionery. The holiday is named after two among the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

The evolving legend

Emperor Claudius was a cruel bloody ruler. When he could not recruit enough soldiers for his endless campaigns he blamed it on the men not wanting to leave their lovers and families. Consequently he cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. St. Valentine was a Christian priest who secretly got couples married. He was apprehended and jailed. But many visited him and showered him with notes of good wishes and flowers. One of these people was the daughter of the prison guard. Before being hauled off to his fate this holy priest left her a note thanking her for her support and signing it of as ‘Your Valentine’. Finally on the fatal day in February they dragged into the presence of the Prefect of Rome before being clubbed and beheaded. The day of his martyrdom is celebrated as Valentine’s Day.

Chaucer's love birds

 

The first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is in Parlement of Foules  (1382) by Geoffrey Chaucer:

For this was on seynt Volantynys day

Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese [choose] his make [mate].

This poem was written to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia. 

In Brazil, the Dia dos Namorados (lit. "Day of the enamored", or "Boyfriend's/Girlfriend's Day") is celebrated on June 12, when couples exchange gifts, chocolates, cards and flower bouquets. This day was chosen probably because it is the day before the Saint Anthony's day, known as the marriage saint, when many single women perform popular rituals, called simpatias, in order to find a good husband or a boyfriend.

It's Valentines Day!

(by Dave Ceasar for group catholicfriends)

The Season of Lent

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Theme:

Retreating Into the Wilderness with Jesus

Dates:

Lent is a forty-day period before Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday. We skip Sundays when we count the forty days, because Sundays commemorate the Resurrection. Lent begins on 6 February 2008 and ends on 22 March 2008, which is the day before Easter.

In the Roman Catholic Church, Lent officially ends at sundown on 20 March (Holy Thursday), with the beginning of the mass of the Lord’s Supper.

Colors:

In most churches, the decorations are purple, the royal color, to prepare for the King.

Scripture Readings:

The Revised Common Lectionary appoints Scripture readings for use in worship during the Season of Lent.

The East:

In Orthodox churches, this season is called the Great Lent. It begins on Clean Monday.

 

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Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days. All churches that have a continuous history extending before AD 1500 observe Lent. The ancient church that wrote, collected, canonized, and propagated the New Testament also observed Lent, believing it to be a commandment from the apostles. (See The Apostolic Constitutions, Book V, Section III.)

If your church does not observe Lent, you can find out why.

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Why doesn’t your church observe Lent?

Lent began in the apostolic era and was universal in the ancient church. For this reason, Lent is observed by the various Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, and Anglican denominations, by Roman Catholics, and by Eastern Orthodox Churches.

It is much easier to explain who stopped observing it and why.

In the 16th century, many Calvinists and Anabaptists discarded all Christian holy days, on the theory that they were Roman innovations. That was their best information at the time, but today we know that they were wrong. In the late 19th century, ancient Christian documents came to light. The Didache from the first century, the Apostolic Constitutions from the third century, and the diaries of Egeria of the fourth century; all which give evidence of the Christian calendar and holy days. The Didache and the Apostolic Constitutions were written in the east, which denies it ever recognized the institution of the papacy. Egeria was a Spanish nun, but her writings also describe practices in the east. All of these documents came to light 300 years after it was too late for the groups who had already discarded Christian holy days.

In many cases, Rome was the last place to observe the holy days. For example, the idea of moving All Saints Day to November 1 did not reach Rome until 700 years after it originated in England, and the idea of celebrating Holy Week as Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday, was quite elaborate in Jerusalem before the early fourth century but did not spread to Rome until the 11th century. Advent began in medieval Gaul and spread to Rome from there. Lent, on the other hand, appears to have originated in the apostolic age. The Apostolic Constitutions attribute the observance of Lent to an apostolic commandment. We can’t verify that, but we also can’t disprove it.

The Anabaptists gave rise to or influenced the Amish, the Mennonites, the Baptists, and the Plymouth Brethren. The Puritans, who were Calvinists, had similar views on worship, which is why they made Christmas illegal in Massachusetts at one time. (Some Mennonites, however, never rejected the Christian holy days.)

In the United States in the 19th century, the established denominations were slow to spread west of the Appalachians, which was the frontier at the time. The area was thinly populated and there were very few seminary-trained clergy. The lay people had been converted at camp meetings without any church background. They were influenced by the groups that had rejected Christian holy days, but frontier conditions were not conducive to structured liturgical worship anyway. They weren’t aware of the Christian holy days, and they didn’t have the equipment, the facilities, the education, the authorization, or the training to conduct liturgical worship. Therefore most of the religious groups that were formed in the United States in the 19th century do not have a custom of observing Lent. This environment had some influence on individual congregations in denominations that have historically observed the Christian holy days—so you will occasionally find a Methodist church that does not observe Lent.

Gradually, the holy days have returned to the churches that had lost them. The restoration quickly began with Easter. Christmas followed in the 19th century, and Advent and Holy Week became widespread among them in the 20th century. Lent is mounting a come-back in the 21st century.

by the Rev. Kenneth W. Collins

Letter of  Saint Thomas Aquinas to Brother John on the Method of Study. (De Modo Studendi)

Because you have asked me, my brother John, most dear to me in Christ, how to set about acquiring the treasure of knowledge, this is the advice I pass on to you: That you should choose to enter by the small rivers, and not go right away into the sea, because you should move from easy things to difficult things.

Such is therefore my advice on your way of life:

• I suggest you be slow to speak, and slow to go to the room where people chat.
• Embrace purity of conscience; do not stop making time for prayer.
• Love to be in your room frequently, if you wish to be led to the wine cellar.
• Show yourself to be likable to all, or at least try; but do not show yourself as too familiar with anyone; because too much familiarity breeds contempt, and will slow you in your studies; and don't get involved in any way in the deeds and words of worldly people.
• Above all, avoid idle conversation; do not forget to follow the steps of holy and approved men.
• Never mind who says what, but commit to memory what is said that is true.
• Work to understand what you read, and make yourself sure of doubtful points.
• Put whatever you can into the cupboard of your mind as if you were trying to fill a cup.
• "Seek not the things that are higher than you."

Follow the steps of blessed Dominic, who produced useful and marvelous shoots, flowers and fruits in the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts for as long as life was his companion. If you follow these things, you will attain whatever you desire.

A

Quaresma, caminho para uma verdadeira liberdade
Papa Bento XVI
Audiência geral de 21/02/07 (trad. DC 2376, p. 266 © Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

"A conversão nunca é de uma vez para sempre, mas é um processo, um caminho interior de toda a nossa vida. Este itinerário de conversão evangélica certamente não pode limitar-se a um período particular do ano: é um caminho de cada dia, que deve abraçar toda a existência, todos os dias da nossa vida...

O que é converter-se, na realidade? Converter-se significa procurar Deus, estar com Deus, seguir docilmente os ensinamentos do seu Filho, de Jesus Cristo; converter-se não é um esforço para se auto-realizar a si mesmo, porque o ser humano não é o arquitecto do próprio destino eterno. Não fomos nós que nos fizemos. Por isso a auto-realização é uma contradição e é também demasiado pouco para nós. Temos um destino mais nobre. Poderíamos dizer que a conversão consiste precisamente em não se considerar "criadores" de si mesmos e assim descobrir a verdade, porque não somos autores de nós próprios. A conversão consiste em aceitar livremente e com amor de depender em tudo de Deus, o nosso verdadeiro Criador, de depender do amor. Esta não é uma dependência mas liberdade."

Tempo de Oração, Jejum e Caridade

Quaresma, tempo "forte" de oração, jejum e atenção aos necessitados, oferece a todo cristão a possibilidade de se preparar para a Páscoa fazendo um sério discernimento da própria vida, confrontando-se de maneira especial com a Palavra de Deus, que ilumina o itinerário cotidiano dos fiéis.

O que é a quaresma

A quaresma é o tempo litúrgico de conversão, que a Igreja marca para nos preparar para a grande festa da Páscoa. É tempo para nos arrepender dos nossos pecados e de mudar algo de nós para sermos melhores e poder viver mais próximos de Cristo.

A Quaresma dura 40 dias; começa na Quarta-feira de Cinzas e termina no Domingo de Ramos. Ao longo deste tempo, sobretudo na liturgia do domingo, fazemos um esfoço para recuperar o ritmo e estilo de verdadeiros fiéis que devemos viver como filhos de Deus.

A cor litúrgica deste tempo é o roxo, que significa luto e penitência. É um tempo de reflexão, de penitência, de conversão espiritual; tempo e preparação para o mistério pascal.

Na Quaresma, Cristo nos convida a mudar de vida. A Igreja nos convida a viver a Quaresma como um caminho a Jesus Cristo, escutando a Palavra de Deus, orando, compartilhando com o próximo e praticando boas obras. Nos convida a viver uma série de atitudes cristãs que nos ajudam a parecer mais com Jesus Cristo, já que por ação do pecado, nos afastamos mais de Deus.

Por isso, a Quaresma é o tempo do perdão e da reconciliação fraterna. Cada dia, durante a vida, devemos retirar de nossos corações o ódio, o rancor, a inveja, os zelos que se opõem a nosso amor a Deus e aos irmãos. Na Quaresma, aprendemos a conhecer e apreciar a Cruz de Jesus. Com isto aprendemos também a tomar nossa cruz com alegria para alcançar a glória da ressurreição.

Quarta-feira de Cinzas

Com a imposição das cinzas, inicia-se uma estação espiritual particularmente relevante para todo cristão que quer se preparar dignamente para viver o Mistério Pascal, quer dizer, a Paixão, Morte e Ressurreição do Senhor Jesus.

Na Quarta-feira de Cinzas, o cristão recebe uma cruz na fronte com as cinzas obtidas da queima das palmas usadas no Domingo de Ramos do ano anterior. Esta tradição da Igreja ficou como um simples serviço em algumas Igrejas protestantes como a anglicana e a luterana. A Igreja Ortodoxa começa a quaresma a partir da segunda-feira anterior e não celebra a Quarta-feira de Cinzas.

Jejum e abstinência

O jejum é a forma de penitência que consiste na privação de alimentos.
Na disciplina tradicional da Igreja, o jejum fazia-se limitando a alimentação diária a uma refeição, embora não se excluísse que se pudessem tomar alimentos ligeiros às horas das outras refeições.

A abstinência consiste na escolha de uma alimentação simples e pobre.
Na disciplina tradicional da Igreja, a abstinência era a abstenção de carne. É muito aconselhável manter esta forma de abstinência, particularmente nas sextas-feiras da Quaresma.

O jejum e a abstinência são obrigatórios na Quarta-feira de Cinzas e na Sexta-feira Santa.

“… não existe nenhuma obra de virtude sem a experiência da tentação, nenhuma fé sem provação, nenhum combate sem inimigos, nenhuma vitória sem compromisso” (São Leão Magno).

Gilberto de Mello Kujawski

Em paralelo ao famoso conceito de "banalização do mal", cunhado por Hannah Arendt e denunciado como traço marcante da nossa época, em face do espetáculo de desagregação moral avassalando os Poderes em nossa terra, sem que a opinião pública responda à altura, poderíamos falar na "banalização da corrupção". A banalização produz a anestesia para o mal e a corrupção, continuando todos nossa vidinha como se aquelas aberrações não nos atingissem em cheio. O uso e o abuso da propina em troca de favorecimentos ilícitos ficou tão corrente que se propagou a todas as classes. São poucos os que protestam e ficam indignados com a onda de despudor que domina o País e assalta seus mais altos escalões. "Ora, se todos fazem, por que não eu?" Como indaga Salomão Schvartzman em seu programa diário na Cultura FM, será que o brasileiro perdeu a capacidade de se indignar?

Salomão está certíssimo. Estamos perdendo a faculdade da indignação, a cada dia mais acarneirados com as balas perdidas e a roubalheira endêmica protagonizada pelos que deveriam ser os primeiros a dar o exemplo de honestidade, nossos homens públicos. O que estará acontecendo em nosso país? O que ocorre hoje, não somente em nosso país, mas no mundo inteiro, é algo bem pior do que a banalização do mal e da corrupção. É a banalização da vida. Esta última está por trás daquelas duas outras banalizações.

Oração de São Tomás Aquino

"Dê-me, Senhor,
agudeza para entender,
capacidade para reter,
método e faculdade para aprender,
sutileza para interpretar,
graça e abundância para falar.

Saint Thomas Aquinas Prayer

Thou Who makest eloquent the tongues of little children, fashion my words and pour upon my lips the grace of Thy benediction.

Grant me penetration to understand,

capacity to retain,

method and facility in study,

subtlety in interpretation and

abundant grace of expression.

Order the beginning,

direct the progress and

perfect the achievement of my work,

Thou Who art true God and true Man and livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen.

Alegrai-vos! Um novo ano chegou!

Trazendo-nos novas oportunidades, novos sonhos, e dias cheios de bênçãos...

Que a esperança, o amor e a amizade estejam sempre em nossos corações.

FELIZ ANO NOVO!!!

Rejoice you all!

 For a whole new year is coming again.

And it brings new opportunities, new dreams, blessing-filled new days...

May hope, love, and warmth
be in your hearts, always...

Happy New Year!!!

Come And Stand Amazed, You People!

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel (God with us). - Isaiah, 7:14

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. (1John 4:9)

Nisto se manifestou o amor de Deus para conosco: em nos ter enviado ao mundo o seu Filho único, para que vivamos por Ele.(1 João 4:9)

[click to enlarge image]

Por isso, o próprio Senhor vos dará um sinal: uma virgem conceberá e dará à luz um filho, e o chamará Emanuel (Deus Conosco).- Isaías, 7:14

"One in a Million" - by  Noella LeDrew

"It's not the poem itself that I like, so much as the principle. Fools are infinite, and unselfish people are a rare find. However in a sense, rarity is also the aspect that makes them shine out like diamonds among pebbles of stone. "

The Thousandth Man

Ephesians 4:26-27

"Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

Neither give place to the devil. "

If we learn to deal with Anger rightly, it will be an opportunity for God. Let it be so, for his glory and our good.

THE INEVITABILITY OF ANGER

In vs. 26, a curious fact is that both verbs are imperatives. "Be angry" is grammatically parallel with "sin not." So what Paul is saying is not, "If you do happen to experience this, here is how to handle it." A better paraphrase would be, "When you get angry--as I assume you will--make sure you do not sin." So obviously Anger is not a sin in itself. An even better paraphrase then would be, "Learn to be angry without sinning--even as Jesus did."

We have to remember that emotions are natural occurrences that are not wrong in themselves. And this applies to all of them. A good analogy would be with the principle that "every good and perfect gift comes from above." NOTHING that God made is evil. Nothing. But those good gifts become the occasion of evil to us when we pursue them in the wrong amount, at the wrong time, or in the wrong way. Likewise, every natural emotion that God designed our bodies to produce has an appropriate object . There are no exceptions--not even hatred. But we must attach those feelings to their appropriate objects, and this, as fallen people, we do not naturally do any more. We are to hate the sin--not the sinner.

Now, Anger is no exception to this rule. It is an inevitable part of life, with its own appropriate objects, which we will look at in a moment. You cannot eliminate it, and should not try; but you should learn to handle it wisely and channel it appropriately.  

THE EFFECTS OF ANGER:

Why are we given emotions in general? Think about the fact that the same root, "mot," occurs in the words emotion, motion, motor, motive, motivation, and motivate . Emotions are about movement. Their proper function is to aid the Reason in moving the Will to action.

So Emotion is what is needed to enable the Reason to move the Will to do what is required. That is why, when this happens, we say that the person was "motivated."

Well, then. The purpose of Anger is to provide the motivation required for heroic defensive or offensive action in a just cause. It is to the consciousness what adrenaline is to the body. If we were not fallen, we would only feel it when our cause was truly just, and it would cooperate with Reason to lead us only to just and appropriate acts in response to the perceived threat or injustice. And therein, of course, lies the rub.

When felt appropriately and acted on rightly, Anger leads to a cleansing Katharsis. But what if it is felt or indulged or acted on wrongly? This can happen in two ways. Our Anger may be directed at the person (always a wrong object for we who are fallen like him), leading to hate or bitterness. Or it may be directed inward at ourselves and suppressed, leading in the short term to a possibly debilitating depression and in the long run to an uncontrolled outburst over some triviality not in itself deserving of such a response. And either of these syndromes can lead to ulcers, heart disease, cancer, and violence, whether physical or verbal. In such cases, "The wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God" (James 1:20).

ELIMINATION OF ANGER (when wrong)

How do we deal with our Anger daily? We do something about it. And what we do depends on whether it is righteous Anger or not.

Even righteous Anger needs to be released daily. Going to bed with even righteous anger, that is, anger directed to an appropriate object, unresolved, is bad for you because it is disobedient. If it is indeed righteous anger, you need to do something constructive about it. It is there precisely to motivate you to constructive action; if you do not take any, you are just revving your psychological engine and grinding your emotional gears without ever putting the car into motion, and this will wear you out to no good purpose.

So write a letter to your congressman or to the editorial page of your local paper, or volunteer at a shelter for unwed mothers, or participate in a peaceful protest, or study about the issue (do this first, actually), or write a check to a Political Action Committee or to a Christian ministry constructively dealing with the problem. The things you can do are endless. 

The point is that righteous Anger is good for you and for your community if it makes you part of the solution; otherwise even righteous Anger is bad both for you and the community, because it becomes unrighteous by not being acted on obediently and in a Christlike manner. So do not take it to bed with you, but release it in constructive action. That is what it is for.

CONCLUSION

We need to learn ways of letting the negative emotional residue of our Anger drain off in ways that are innocent and healthy. Vigorous physical exercise and music are ways that many people have found helpful [having an adorable friend is very handy too!] Find something that works for you. And above all, we are to do this daily, not letting the sun set with Anger undealt with.

[source: http://doulomen.tripod.com/sermons/Ephesians4_26-27.htm]

ADVENT: Preparing our hearts for Christmas.

Advento

Meditando a chegada de Cristo, devemos buscar o arrependimento e preparar o nosso coração.

O Ano Litúrgico começa com o Tempo do Advento; um tempo de preparação para a Festa do Natal de Jesus. Este foi o maior acontecimento da História: o Verbo se fez carne e habitou entre nós. Dignou-se a assumir a nossa humanidade, sem deixar de ser Deus. Esse acontecimento precisa ser preparado e celebrado a cada ano. Nessas quatro semanas de preparação, somos convidados a esperar Jesus que vem no Natal e que vem no final dos tempos.

Nas duas primeiras semanas do Advento, a liturgia nos convida a vigiar e esperar a vinda gloriosa do Salvador. Um dia, o Senhor voltará para colocar um fim na História humana, mas o nosso encontro com Ele também está marcado para logo após a morte.

Nas duas últimas semanas, lembrando a espera dos profetas e de Maria, nós nos preparamos mais especialmente para celebrar o nascimento de Jesus em Belém. Os Profetas anunciaram esse acontecimento com riqueza de detalhes: nascerá da tribo de Judá, em Belém, a cidade de Davi; seu Reino não terá fim... Maria O esperou com zelo materno e O preparou para a missão terrena.

Para nos ajudar nesta preparação usa-se a Coroa do Advento, composta por 4 velas nos seus cantos – presas aos ramos formando um círculo. A cada domingo acende-se uma delas. As velas representam as várias etapas da salvação. Começa-se no 1º Domingo, acendendo apenas uma vela e à medida que vão passando os domingos, vamos acendendo as outras velas, até chegar o 4º Domingo, quando todas devem estar acesas. As velas acesas simbolizam nossa fé, nossa alegria. Elas são acesas em honra do Deus que vem a nós. Deus, a grande Luz, "a Luz que ilumina todo homem que vem a este mundo", está para chegar, então, nós O esperamos com luzes, porque O amamos e também queremos ser, como Ele, Luz.

No lº Domingo, há o perdão oferecido a Adão e Eva. Eles morreram na terra, mas viverão em Deus por Jesus Cristo. Sendo Deus, Jesus fez-se filho de Adão para salvar o seu pai terreno. Meditando a chegada de Cristo, que veio no Natal e que vai voltar no final da História, devemos buscar o arrependimento dos nossos pecados e preparar o nosso coração para o encontro com o Senhor. Para isso, nada melhor que uma boa Confissão, bem feita.

Até quando adiaremos a nossa profunda e sincera conversão para Deus?

No 2º Domingo, meditamos a fé dos Patriarcas. Eles acreditaram no dom da terra prometida. Pela fé