The meaning of suffering

I will tell you which are man’s treasures on earth so that you will appreciate them: hunger, thirst, heat, cold, pain, dishonour, poverty, loneliness, betrayal, slander, prison. Tags: Cross, Suffering, Sickness, Jesus Christ

In Saint Joseph's workshop

We do know that he was not well-to-do: he was just a worker, like so many millions of people throughout the world. He worked at the same demanding and humble job which God chose for himself when he took our flesh and came to live just like the rest of us for thirty years. Tags: St Joseph, Work, Christ Is Passing By

Learning from St Joseph

A master of interior life, a worker deeply involved in his job, God’s faithful servant: that is Joseph. With St Joseph, the Christian learns what it means to belong to God and fully to assume one’s place among men, sanctifying the world. Tags: Holy Family, St Joseph, Interior life, Ordinary life

The Holy Rosary

One of the most deeply rooted of Christian devotions. The Church encourages us to contemplate its mysteries. She wants to engrave upon our heart and our imagination, together with Mary's joy and sorrow and glory. Tags: Prayer, Piety, Holy Rosary, Our Lady

Christian unity

Pray to God that in the Holy Church, our Mother, the hearts of all may be one heart, as they were in the earliest times of Christianity; so that the words of Scripture may be truly fulfilled until the end of the ages: the company of the faithful were of one heart and one soul. Tags: Ecumenical dialogue, Church, Prayer, Unity

The Epiphany of our Lord

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage." Tags: Joy, Jesus Christ, Christmas

New Year: beginning again each day

We need, most probably, to change again, to be more loyal and humble, so that we become less selfish and let Christ grow in us, for “He must become more and more, I must become less and less.” Tags: Ascetical struggle

Marriage

When I think of christian homes, I like to imagine them as being full of the light and joy that were in the home of the holy family. Tags: Children, Marriage, Vocation, family

Forgiving

We can keep calm because there is always forgiveness and because there is a solution for everything, except death; and for the children of God, death is life Tags: Repentance, cheerfulness, Understanding, Contrition, Peace

Education and civil responsibility

A man or a society that does not react to suffering and injustice and makes no effort to alleviate them is still distant from the love of Christ's heart. Tags: Education, Justice, Solidarity

Raising children

“From very early on, children are pitiless witnesses of their parents’ lives. You don’t realize it, but they judge everything, and sometimes judge you badly. So everything that goes on in your home has a good or bad effect on your children". Tags: Charity, Education, Patience

Speaking with God

"To pray is to talk with God. But about what?" About what? About Him, about yourself—joys, sorrows, successes and failures, noble ambitions, daily worries, weaknesses!" Tags: Contemplation, Prayer, Interior life