In the Risen Christ, the man dressed in life
—————– (excerpts from the preaching of Moses Easter Azevedo in 2007 – Tried to maintain the conversational tone) Christ is risen, Hallelujah. He is truly risen! Hallelujah! Saint Paul himself said: “If Christ has not been raised, then our faith is in vain”. But as Christ is risen from the dead, we are the happiest of all mankind. Because in the resurrection of Christ, we have the fullness of life, and that is why those who believe cannot stop announcing, proclaiming with their lungs and their lives, with their eyes and their word, with their smile and their joy, through history and time, the victory of Christ over death, and his full life. Death cannot stop him, his love was, ...

Prayer is efective.
Friday it seamed that an American strike on Syria was a matter of time and with or without approval from the congress Mr. Obama was going to do it. Than Prayer happened. Millions of catholics and people of good will, from all over the world gathered upon Pope Francis’ call to pray for peace. After that we have the proposal from Russia of Syrian handing over to international control heir chemical weapons, than almost immediately we have the backing of the UN and on the very same day Syria “welcomes” the proposal. Of course the war hasn’t come to an end and the situation in Syrian is far from resolved but the matter have seen a dramatic change over the ...

Fasting is an exercise
There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other. (Saint Peter Chrysologus) The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent. (Code of Canon Law 1250) What is Fast? “Properly speaking fasting consists in abstaining from food, but speaking metaphorically it denotes abstinence from anything harmful, and such especially is sin.” (IIa IIae, Q147, a.2 ad.1) Why do we Fast? According to Saint Thomas Aquinas for three reasons: “ First, in order ...

“Strive to enter through the narrow door”- A meditation of this Sunday Gospel
In this Sunday Gospel (Lk 13,22-30) Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” His answer for them, as for ourselves, if we dare to make the same question, was: “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I will tell you, will try to enter and will not be able”. Many?! Won’t be able?! Really?! Yes, really, and we can know that because the one who is saying this is truthful: Jesus. And we can be thinking, ‘this is not for me, I go to Mass, I do pretty well, I am a good person, He is talking with somebody else’, well, if we keep reading we will ...

Summer, WYD and Pope Francis
You may think  what Summer, World Youth Day and Pope Francis have in common to be together in this post. Well, I can assure you  that they have a lot in common actually. Let us start with Summer. It   is a great time, especially for those who live in North America, as we here  in Canada. It lasts for  a short period of time, when we can enjoy the good weather, the company of our friends in outdoor activities such as camps, picnics and  street festivals, that are all very important if you consider that we live in a really cold place, and that Summer only goes for 3 months, it is a short time but pretty  intense and when ...

Are Christians really different?
THE MANNERS OF THE CHRISTIANS. The Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they ...