I think often when we look towards an uncertain future it can fill us with more forebdings than it ought. For, as they say, God provides the shoulder for the burden He will give us the graces we need to walk on. He will shelter us under the shadow of His Great wings, we have his assurance thereof. Did you notice the reading at mass this morning , from the Book of Wisdom? It reminds us that man is like the grace that sprouts up in the morning and is cut down at eveningtime. As St Teresa of Avila said, life is only a night spent in a bad hotel. We are only passing through. I ahve been thinking more and more on this lately and it gives me great assurance. I know that the very same God who has walked with us thus far, will accompany us and even carry us into the darkening future.
Yes, especially the earthquake in Italy that was also felt in Rome. One news reporter quoted the local Bishop as saying that the earthquake wasn't an act of God but an act of nature and nature can be very cruel. That statement struck me as rather odd, as though the Bishop was saying that nature had a will of its own.
I don't think it was an accident that it was heard in Rome and yes, the Bishops statement was very odd , for a Churchman. I found his homily odd at the funeral mass too, rather as if he were some kind therapist rather than a Bishop
Did the pope say anything about animals? and their rights? Are the pope at all interested i this? I have noticed that many catholic priest don't care about animals. It seems that animals are nothing to them... and this upsets me, really. Animals are part of God's creation; they are living beings! We should thank God for our little friends and enjoy of His creation and act accordingly.
https://holyseemission.org/contents//statements/5806914667987.php The following is a much needed update to my above post. It is part of the Vatican's response to the UN's Agenda 2030, particularly mentioning SDG goal 3.7. My regret is that the Pope's speech received much more coverage than this will. 21. Health. The Holy See supports and promotes access to basic health care and affordable medicines as well as a broad health-care context which includes clean water, sanitation, electricity for hospitals and health-care units and the training of nurses and doctors. The Holy See reads Goal 2 as including the right to food and Goal 6 as including the right to water and the concept of affordable water. (a) The term “healthy life” is to be understood to mean the health of the person as a whole — including the most vulnerable, the unborn, the sick, the disabled — during all stages of development of the life of the person, taking into consideration every dimension (physical, psychological, spiritual and emotional). (b) Since the right to health is a corollary to the right to life, it can never be used as a way to end the life of a person, who is such from conception until natural death. The same is true for targets 3.7 and 5.6. In brief, target 3.7 advocates “universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes” while target 5.6 calls for “universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights”. (c) In regard to “reproductive health” and related expressions, including “sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights” (target 5.6), the very terms “reproduction” and “reproductive” are problematic since they obscure the transcendent dimension of human procreation. The term “procreation” is preferred because it reflects the participation of the couple, man and woman, in God’s work of creation. (d) The Holy See does not consider such terms as applying to a holistic concept of health, as they fail to embrace, each in their own particular way, the person in the entirety of his or her personality, mind and body, and they further fail to foster the achievement of personal maturity in sexuality and in the area of mutual love and decision-making, thereby overlooking the characteristics of the conjugal relationship between a married man and woman that are in accordance with moral norms.[17] The Holy See rejects the interpretation that considers abortion or access to abortion, maternal surrogacy or sex-selective abortion, and sterilization as dimensions of these terms. Safe in the Barque of Peter!
