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How wonderful that Our Lady of Guadalupe appears as a pregnant woman clothed in the sun!
In the Book of Revelation, Mary is described in just this manner (Rev 12:1). But we should not approach this symbolism in a superficial or merely sentimental way.
The woman clothed in the sun and with the moon at her feet is portrayed in Revelation precisely as a warrior. Confronting her is a terrible dragon intent upon devouring her child as soon as it is born.
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In John 3:16 it says, “For God so loved the world that God gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but have might have eternal life.”
Gilbert Keith Chesterton wrote, “Out of love for us, the mighty hands that created the sun, moon, and stars became so tiny that they could not reach up to touch the noses of the oxen who tried to warm him with their hayed breath.”
Deeply moved by the infant Jesus, St. Thérèse of Lisieux asked, “Why should we fear God who became a tiny baby?”
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Sometimes people will point out: “We euthanize our pets when they suffer, and they are clearly creatures of God, so why can’t we euthanize a sick and suffering person who wants it? It seems like we treat our dogs and cats better than we treat our suffering family members.”
The way we treat animals, however, should not be the measure of how we treat fellow human beings. We keep animals as pets, but we don’t do the same with humans. We use animals to make clothing and food, but we don’t do the same with humans.
For all our similarities to the rest of the animal kingdom, we are aware of a fundamental difference in kind between ourselves and our furry friends. We are not meant to die just as animals do, or be euthanized as they are. The death of a human is a more complex event that has other important realities associated with it.
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Just recently on the website maintained by the episcopal conference of Germany, there appeared an editorial concerning Pope Francis’ apostolic visit to Africa.
As many have pointed out, the piece was breathtaking in its arrogance and cultural condescension. The author’s take on the surprisingly rapid pace of Christianity’s growth on the “dark continent” (his words)? Well, the level of education in Africa is so low that the people accept easy answers to complex questions.
His assessment of the explosion in vocations across Africa? Well, the poor things don’t have many other avenues of social advancement; so they naturally gravitate toward the priesthood.
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As I write, just before Thanksgiving, it’s been over a month since Synod-2015 finished its work.
Yet there is still no official translation of the synod’s Final Report into the major world languages from the original Italian (a language regularly used by eight-tenths of one percent of the world’s population).
That’s a shame because, in the main, the Relatio Finalis is an impressive, often-moving statement of the Church’s convictions about chastity, marriage, and the family: biblically rich, theologically serious, pastorally sensitive, and well-crafted to meet the challenge of the cultural tsunami responsible for the contemporary crisis of marriage and the family, which has left a lot of unhappiness in its wake.
Q I am hosting a holiday gathering for our extended family this year and have some questions about how to make the time relaxing for our older in-laws.
My husband’s parents are both experiencing some health issues and have limited energy for long celebrations.
Some family members are traveling quite a distance and are anxious to visit with them. I am worried that my in-laws will be “too gracious” and not let family know when they are tired and need to take a break.
Do you have some tips for making this enjoyable for all without offending anyone or exhausting our in-laws?
(From a daughter-in-law in Beloit)
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Just after I was named auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles (LA), Archbishop Gomez, my new boss, told me to get the Waze app for my iPhone.
He explained that it was a splendid way to navigate the often impossible LA traffic. I followed his instructions and have indeed used the app on practically a daily basis since my arrival on the West Coast.
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The word Advent comes from the Latin adventus, which means coming.
From the first Sunday of Advent to December 17, we await the second coming of Christ so that when he comes in glory, he will find us prepared to meet him. From December 17 to 24, we prepare to celebrate the coming of Christ at Christmas.
During Advent’s graced moments, we also experience the comings of Christ in our daily life.
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Some years ago, I was involved in a Catholic-Evangelical dialogue. One of our Protestant brothers challenged the Catholics in the group to articulate clearly what the Gospel is.
I knew what he was getting at: many Evangelicals pride themselves on the fact that they can succinctly sum up the Good News in a way that people find compelling and helpful, whereas many Catholics, it seems, get tongue-tied.
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Editor’s note: George Weigel wrote this column from Jerusalem.
Walking through the narrow, winding streets of Jerusalems Old City on my first visit here in 15 years, I was powerfully struck once again by the grittiness of Christianity, the palpable connection between the faith and the quotidian realities of life.
For here, as in no other place, the believer, the skeptic, and the “searcher” are confronted with a fact: Christianity began, not with a pious story or “narrative,” but with the reality of transformed lives.
