If you have had the opportunity to read or instead watch the film Dune (i.e., which if you haven’t yet, you should, considering it stars some incredible actors such as Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya) you might be familiar with these phrases: “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain”.

Just from reading this, one can immediately sense that Frank Herbert, the author, had a very profound intuition into the fundamental realities of existence. Indeed, Herbert is here tapping into one of humanities lengthiest struggles since time in memorial.

Fearing Death

We have all in one way or another experienced fear and its detrimental effects. But I think one of the core fears that we must inevitably face is that of death. So much so that it has almost become taboo to even mention in today’s culture.

Yet without sometimes even being aware of it, we incessantly experience ‘little deaths’, as Herbert puts it. Whether it be discontent at the workplace, financial issues, illness, maybe you’re mocked/humiliated or you’re going through countless quarrels at home, or perhaps, even more severe, you might feel worthless and lost – you mention it – all of these can then trigger even more fears within us and the vicious cycle begins. In other words, like Jesus, it might just well be that right now you feel somewhat ‘crucified’ – defenceless, desperate, completely and utterly exhausted.

Jesus providentially spent three hours hanging on the cross, however, most victims would last there for days – potentially even weeks under excruciating (i.e., a word which means ‘from the cross’) torment. How long have you been hanging from your cross?

Remembering The Resurrection

It is at these moments when we recall an event that occurred around two centuries ago which completely revolutionised our reality – the Resurrection. It is through the Resurrection that Jesus conquers one of, if not the most inherent and inevitable fears within us all; in turn giving life to some of the deepest desires within our hearts.

Jesus affirms that the ‘little-deaths’ and eventually the ‘big-death’ is not something to fear but rather a process of attaining the best of ourselves. As Jesus himself allegorises, in order for a tree to grow, the seed must die. From a microscopic perspective, around three-hundred million cells in a human body die every minute in order for new ones to flourish. I also just recently discovered that the pearl of an oyster is in actual fact the result of a healed wound. This is consequentially and literally what Jesus accomplishes on the cross! He gathers up our pains, our sufferings, our loses, our ‘little-deaths’ and ultimately even our ‘big-death’ and, as Tim Odell beautifully sings in his song ‘Heal’, “like an empty sail that takes the wind”, Jesus transforms them into healing, triumph and ultimately life, all through His Resurrection.

As Dr Scott Hahn, in his ambiguously titled book ‘Hope to Die’ articulates, “we were made for life. We were made for joy…and in Christ that life and joy are already ours”. Further on, Dr Hahn remarks that, “we have nothing to fear from the terrors of the world…they cannot rob us of the hope that fills us – the hope of eternal life”. And this is exactly what we all ultimately desire, whether we are aware of it or not, “eternal life”. Therefore, if I could now rephrase Herbert’s quote, “[w]here the fear has gone there will be nothing [left in the tomb]. Only [Jesus] will remain”.

In light of all this, it doesn’t come to much of a surprise that one of the first things that Jesus utters to the women coming to the tomb post-Resurrection is, “[d]o not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me” (Matthew 28:10). Remembering the resurrection, therefore, is more than us recalling a past-event; it entails us immersing our self in the present in the events that Christ himself experienced.

Be Not Afraid

This is not, however, the first time that God has spoken to our subterranean desires, encouraging us to be free of fear. As a matter of fact, within the pages of Scripture, the phrase ‘fear not’ (or equivalent translations) appears only slightly over one-hundred times in the Old Testament, as well as about forty-four times in the New Testament.

This is, in essence, the life Jesus calls all of us to live. To live life knowing that no failure, no distress, no discontent and not even death itself has the final word. It is through this way of life that we can also boldly acclaim, “I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me”.

The post How Easter Speaks To Some Of The Most Essential Desires Within Us appeared first on Universe of Faith.

When I was an atheist, I believed there was no evidence for God, but that science  was truth. Then science showed me there was no evidence for atheism – Dr Sy Garte, PhD in Biochemistry

Questions featuring the relation between the most recent scientific evidence and the existence of God are ones that are hotly debated in our society (and rightly so). The positions taken are many – some say that God and science do not go hand in hand – even that science has, in some sense, done away with the “proofs” for the existence of God. Is this so?

Today we will make recourse to a highly respected Biochemist – someone who was, for most of their life, a staunch atheist. His name Sy Garte. What is so striking about Dr Garte is the fact that it was science per se – his own research – which compelled him to discover God’s existence. The question is: what exactly was it that helped him understand that a divine reality (i.e. and ultimately that the Christian God) actually exists?

Garte’s primary work is his award-winning book titled, The Works of His Hands: A Scientist’s Journey from Atheism to Faith (Kregel Publications, 2019). Here, Garte competently explores physics, philosophy of science, quantum entanglement, mathematics, evolution, consciousness, and the fight for morality and justice, all in a fast-moving personal story that’s rather humorous at points and heart-wrenching in others. He begins the book by affirming the importance of questioning. Raised in a militant anti-religious (communist) family, he narrates how “my parents’ atheism was indeed a deeply felt religious belief, and that it was successfully transmitted to and accepted by me at a very young age”. His faith, in other words, was in atheism. In this respect, Garte confesses that “like all faiths, the faith I was born into raised questions. And like all faiths, mine had ready answers for most of these questions”. The questions raised were: “why are we here? what is our purpose?”. But in light of his Marxist (communist) context, the answer to these questions were clear to him: “to work for the betterment of all humanity, to strive for fairness and justice in the world for all, to defeat the evil forces of superstition, oppression, and hatred”. All “good answers”, he concludes.

In this respect, however, while acknowledging the plausibility of such answers, Garte realised that there was a problem with the Marxist framework: “but even early in my life, I sensed a problem with them”. Thus, in a quasi-Lewisian fashion, Garte asked, “if there is no concept of fairness in nature (no objective standard), and if humans are nothing more than natural beings, why should they be fair?”:

where did the subversive concepts of fairness and justice come from? What was their source if it wasn’t from the natural world?

According to an atheistic framework, capitalists are simply acting out the pseudo-Darwinist prerogative of the survival of the fittest. At first, Garte approached these questions by adopting a purely Darwinist approach: “the answer I came up with was that humans had somehow evolved to a higher level in the midst of a cruel and uncaring world, that humans had evolved a sense of purpose and a potential for further growth and development”. He continues here, writing, “I felt that through an evolutionary quirk (what Richard Dawkins later referred to as a “spandrel”), humans had become a unique species of animal that could feel, think, and create”. In this vein, Garte understood that we humans had “evolved from the natural world, but [he] also came to see that we were something more”. We could create beauty, we could change our lives, we could love. All of these unique capacities, he writes, “were vague and uncertain ideas, pretty well lost in the maelstrom of anti-religious views that dominated my mind”.

Until it all changed. And because?

It would not do justice to explore the rigorous scientific evidence that Garte outlines in the book in such a limited space. What I suggest, rather, is for anyone who is sincerely curious to explore the book, authentically. What can be said for certain is that the book manages to show that, the common idea that to be a Christian one must park one’s mind at the doors of the church before entering, is a myth. Garte’s journey is testament of one who searched lengthily for the truth and who let the truth itself guide him – through the means of his own rigorous discipline. He is a brilliant example of a Christian following Jesus’s command to love God with our minds (Matt. 22:37).

Check out Sy Garte’s website in which one can provide feedback about the book, post a review, or ask questions.

Dr. Garte’s book “The Works of His Hands“.

See More – Top-popes-quotes-about-science

– Famous-catholic-astronomers/

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1. Maybe we have not discovered God yet, and so God feels foreign to us.
2. Maybe we have discovered God but all suddenly don’t feel his presence as strongly.
3. Or maybe we are living a kind of life that rejects God.

These are all, in different ways, forms of exile.

And yet, amidst these forms of estrangement, we are encouraged to not lose heart and to, against all odds, keep trusting in God’s love and faithfulness! Sometimes, undoubtedly, this is not that easy for us to do. The question is, how can Lent help us do this?

Lent Inspires us to Prepare the Way for the Lord (to open our Selves to God).

This idea of preparing the way for the Lord might sound daunting. How much effort do I have to make? Is it all up to me?

The good news is that, with God things never depend only on us. He is always the one to take the first step! God is already inviting you into deeper friendship with him – we simply need to try to reciprocate in the ways that we can. Thus, for example:

If we don’t know God personally yet, we can try to search more genuinely and with a more open heart (i.e. here, it’s important to let our natural questions guide us, so that our search will be authentic).

If we’ve known God but are not feeling him much at the moment, we can try to remind ourselves of His faithfulness and love – asking him to help us be faithful even during the dark times.

If we are living a life that is rejecting Him, we can try to ask him to help us grow in love and in self-discipline, while engaging in acts of charity and fasting!

Sometimes, all it takes to “prepare the way” is to give God “permission” to work in us. God will not impose himself, so we need to show Him that we want to be transformed. The slightest effort on our part can bear much fruit!

In this light, it is good to note that many of the changes that we are called to make are in the spiritual life. The focus should be on all those problems in our life that need to be straightened out. Our distraction – our tendency to heal our anxiety with superficial things – our failure to go out of our way to help others – our propensity to waste time, the list goes on.

Ultimately, this growth is a journey; a journey that cannot take place without hope.

Lent renews our Hope, inviting us to reflect upon what our Hope is rooted in.

In waiting for the Lord to be reborn in us at Easter, we long for the fulfilment of a promise by faith. This is a longing that is characterized by confident expectation. Here, our longing is ‘active’ because of our hope. The Prophet Isiah writes how those who hope in the Lord soar like eagles… they walk without tiring. Is this how we often feel?

The question is, in our life, what are we primarily rooting our hope in?

Naturally, in our life we trust and wait on many things! We wait for job interviews, for new album releases, for exam results, for the night to pass….  Our life is in part a life of waiting. But it isn’t and shouldn’t be a life of passive waiting – or of only waiting for things that will fulfil us only for a short time. We’re not made for short-term fulfilment!

In one of his novels, the Polish novelist Joseph Conrad contrasts the human being to a butterfly. Whereas a butterfly, at some point or another, successfully finds the branch or rock to rest upon; the human being never stays still for a long period of time. We are restless, always searching, always desiring new and more of things. We never stop and say, “there’s nothing else I want!”. Joy is different from hunger, which we can satisfy at some point – it seems infinite.

Amidst all this, how can we better understand all this anxiety that always pushes us to search and want more?

Our anxiety is not something we should get rid of; rather, it is something we need to interpret and understand. Anxiety is a sign – showing us that we need to always strive for a better life – for a fuller life.

In one of her reflections, St Theresa of Avila compares the human soul to a “castle” that has many rooms and many stories. The deeper we travel inside, the closer we get to God. The last room is God’s room in us. In it, our self and God meet! But in order to travel deeper, in order to get to this last room, our paths need to be all clear. This is what lies at the heart of Lent! The task of making ourselves clearer to discover who we are and to, in turn, discover Jesus within!

See More –

– why-is-fasting-important-during-lent

– the-benefits-of-prayer-on-the-physical-and-psychological-well-being/

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I have this habit or vice —call it what you like—of spending days listening to the same song over and over again. Generally, it’s because the words or harmony strike a chord or an emotion which is not acknowledged or deciphered immediately but needs to go through a process of fermentation in order to bring out its best taste. My latest fad was “One More Day” from “Les Misérables”. Although it’s the type of story you’ll probably find on a ‘spiritual’ reading/movie list, the ‘religious’ overtones in it are very strong, particularly the notions of conversion, redemption, forgiveness and the possibility of salvation. The song “One Day More” can be considered to be, to some extent, the summation of all subplots and character developments of the musical, all with their specific tone, rhythm and pitch. Interestingly enough, the song begins and ends with a reference to God. The very first lines go like this:

One day more
Another day, another destiny
This never-ending road to Calvary

And then, at the end, all the characters sing in one chorus:

Tomorrow we’ll discover
What our God in Heaven has in store
One more dawn
One more day
One day more

Yet what struck me most was that, although the song primarily speaks of love, despair, passion, revolution, justice and corruption, it also says something about life in relationship with God. What do I mean by this?

Let us first explore the characters. First, there is Jean Valjean who, after the aforementioned introduction, keeps on repeating “one day more”, as if it were the chorus of the last thread of hope along the climatic drama of this most intense moment. Then there are the lovers, Marius and Cosette, who confess that they really started to live when their eyes met. Then there’s Eponine, the secret or rejected lover who nonetheless cooperates with the lovers to make their relation work-out or collapse at the same time, with Marius’ suicidal decision to join the revolution. In addition to this, there’s inspector Javert, the paladin of justice, who ultimately takes justice to the absurd extremes of committing suicide because his sense of justice was only ‘punitive’ and not ‘restorative’ – this led him to collapse when confronted with the selfless effort of Valjean to save the wounded Marius.

I think I can pass over the opportunist Thenardiers, and go to Enjolras, the leader of the revolution and his friends of the ABC, whose passion for freedom makes them pay the highest price, leaving only grief and empty chairs at empty tables—if there were any left after the construction of the barricade! But that’s another story.

Maybe, because I’m partly insane, I found myself trying to sing each note and relating to all these emotions on the level of ‘faith’. In a sense, I think the fiercest battles are fought in the silence of our hearts, not between the ‘Devil’ and the ‘Guardian Angel’, as we used to sometimes see in the Tom and Jerry shows! These battles are between me and God, my will and His will, my perception of self-perfection and his way of helping me achieve it after my first naïve “yes” of my first encounter with him.

Now, amidst all this journey – in our relationship with God – there’s always the risk of becoming bitter and cynical – especially when this battle is prolonged and not undertaken in the right spirit—which is the combative spirit. One here may naturally be faced by doubts, fears, shame, helplessness, dejection … and yet, if only some love perseveres – if only some effort remained on our part to just let ourselves be guided and helped (not to depend on ourselves alone, but to surrender and ask God to give us the help that we truly need) – if only a trembling “yes” remained amidst all the darkness and the fundamental loneliness of oneself, then one day the dawn can break again!

This dawn is experiencing our own beauty with humility, it is recognising that love is primarily personal and even eternal – that love itself gave us life and loves us, at each moment, selflessly. This is all a journey. It’s a journey where doubt and faithlessness are also central and where authentic searching takes on the primary stride! I might well be over-reading into the plot. Yet it is freeing to know that encountering God face to face is possible even in this life.

If only we are willing to spend the whole night genuinely and authentically ‘struggling’ with Him, until we have enough reason and trust to surrender and receive our true and beloved Self in return!

Fr Gilbert Scicluna 

Gilbert Scicluna is a Catholic Priest, currently serving at the parish of Christ the King, Paola, and co-editor of the website behold.mt.

Read More –

– top-pope-benedict-16ths-sunday-spiritual-quotes/

– loved-and-welcomed-back-to-the-catholic-church/

The post What Does it Mean to Have a Relationship with God? appeared first on Universe of Faith.

FEMM (Fertility Education and Medical Management) is a comprehensive women’s health and wellness program for achieving optimal reproductive health. It is completely based on scientific research and has the aim of helping women learn more about their bodies and achieve their health and fertility goals by identifying daily hormonal shifts. FEMM recognises that ovulation is a sign of health. So the FEMM team includes FEMM teachers who help their clients identify whether they are ovulating or not, and FEMM’s medical doctors who prescribe treatment to optimize ovulation for those clients who have irregular ovulation or do not ovulate at all.

Women, who are familiar with their biomarkers (eg cervical mucous) and healthy/unhealthy signs, can identify health and menstrual cycle irregularities and have the tools they need to seek advanced care and support. Whilst FEMM teachers teach women all they need to know about charting and monitoring their biomarkers, FEMM medical doctors offer comprehensive physical and lab workups tests to diagnose and treat the root cause of health conditions – rather than simply managing symptoms.

Who can benefit from FEMM?

FEMM is aimed at all women of reproductive age and even including younger women who are expecting their first period. It supports women who want to track their reproductive health and learn what a healthy menstrual cycle looks like. Charting with FEMM helps women who want to avoid or postpone pregnancy, by understanding their fertility and learning how to identify the non-fertile days for safe intercourse. It can also help women who want to achieve pregnancy by helping them understand and use their fertile days to increase their chances of getting pregnant.

Women who become familiar with FEMM will start to understand how symptoms are often symptoms of hormonal imbalance. These include acne, pelvic/abdominal pain, anxiety, depression, menstrual cycle irregularity, migraines or PMS. Unfortunately, some women start to accept these symptoms as part of their ‘normal’ cycle. Moreover, some women also use medication to relieve these symptoms. However, this approach does not always tackle the root cause of these symptoms. It is much better to find out the reason for these symptoms and get the necessary support and medication that can help eliminate these symptoms once and for all. This optimizes both health and fertility. The medical management in FEMM takes this approach.

It is important to note that although FEMM can help a lot in achieving or avoiding pregnancy, it is not solely intended for women who are interested in managing their fertility. FEMM firmly believes that ovulation is a sign of health. Consequently, irregular ovulation will be pointing to other underlying health issues. So irrespective of women’s fertility goals, FEMM medical management is there to help women optimize their health.

How does FEMM work?

FEMM works through trained teachers and FEMM medical doctors. FEMM educators help their clients learn how to monitor their cycles through the observation of biomarkers. If a FEMM teacher notices abnormalities in a client’s chart or complains of several symptoms, she facilitates a meeting with the FEMM doctor. In this meeting, the FEMM medical doctor assesses the situation and carries out all necessary tests. FEMM medical doctors use several hormonal and other lab tests to find out the root of the problem.

What is particularly interesting about FEMM is that, once the root cause is identified, the treatment given will focus on improving the symptoms and issues relating to it. Test results are read in an in-depth way and according to the phase of the menstrual cycle of each particular woman. This also points to the importance of charting. Charting makes it possible to identify ovulation and take tests on the appropriate days.

To give one example, a basic test, which is known as the ‘Day 21 progesterone test’, should be taken 7 days after ovulation. ‘Day 21’ derives from a very inaccurate view that each woman ovulated roughly around day 14 of her cycle. However, research shows that only a small percentage of women ovulate on Day 14. Some women ovulate before and some women ovulate after day 14 thus making the ‘day 21’ test inaccurate. A woman who learns how to chart her menstrual cycles with FEMM can pinpoint her ovulation. Thus she will have a much greater chance of having a more accurate reading of the ‘day 21’ progesterone.

FEMM in Malta

There are FEMM teachers and an RHRI trained doctor in Malta. Thus, we are willing to extend our services to many more women. Over the past year, we have worked with around 40 women. Six of these contacted us because of fertility issues. Most of these women managed to conceive within months of starting treatment. Some women may take longer than others to achieve their health/fertility goals. Yet, in this process, each woman gets to know how her body works better. This is another beautiful part of the FEMM journey.

FEMM Contacts in Malta and other countries

The best way to contact FEMM providers in Malta is by sending a message on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/femm.mt or an email at femm.mt@gmail.com. One can also find out more about the services provided by FEMM on the main website: www.femmhealth.org.

Some research can be found in this section of FEMM’s website: https://femmhealth.org/professional-education/research/ FEMM’s medical providers are all qualified doctors who are further trained by the RHRI institute. More details about this institute can be found here: https://femmhealth.org/professional-education/health-research-institute/

Stories from women

“After years of masking my symptoms with birth control pills, FEMM teachers and the FEMM tracking system have helped me to look into the root causes of my symptoms and find long-term healing. I have found so much freedom in understanding my body and its needs. Not only has FEMM helped me to address my struggles with acne and irregular cycles, but it has also allowed me to see my body and my cycle as a gift instead of a curse.”
continue reading the story of Brigid Hoagland…

We are still compiling local stories to be able to share them on our social media platforms. Here are some stories of women living abroad who have benefited from FEMM: https://femmhealth.org/stories/

The post FEMM Health – What is it? appeared first on Universe of Faith.

The Laudato Si’ Action Platform, is an online platform through which the Vatican’s Dicastery Promoting Integral Human Development is promoting a 7-year action plan with clear goals and concrete actions, in favour of integral ecology. Families, educational institutions, economic entities, healthcare organisations, parishes, dioceses, organisations/groups and religious institutions can implement this plan. Certainly, both the Catholic Church and other non-religious entities can adopt it.

Pope Francis, in 2015, wrote a letter to all people of goodwill entitled Laudato Si’ – On Care For Our Common Home, is a letter. This letter encourages us to be “stewards of creation”. Pope Francis writes that urgent action needs to be taken to re-examine and restore our relationships. He mentions our relationship with our Divine Creator and our relationship with our fellow human beings especially the poor. Finally, our relationship with Mother Earth. He believes that these three are connected – “everything is connected.” (Par 91)

Laudato Si’ goals and concrete action

The Laudato Si’ Action Platform is based on the goals outlined in Laudato Si’. Most noteworthy, these goals emphasise redefining and rebuilding our relationships with each other and with our common home. These seven holistic goals call for a spiritual and cultural revolution to achieve integral ecology. They are found in a document within the Laudato Si’ Action Platform website entitled Overview of Goals and Action. In addition to each goal, a set of actions is being proposed in the coming months. These can be implemented by various entities around the world.

Some of the proposed actions include:

– “Improving sustainability in diets by reducing food waste before and after market, composting, buying food from local producers when possible, transitioning from meat-based to plant-based meals.”

– “Protecting waterways and land by ensuring sensible fertilizer use, instituting drop irrigation and other conservative irrigation models, planting waterway buffers, avoiding the installation of impermeable surfaces around buildings.”

– “Promoting and protecting Indigenous leadership by ensuring Indigenous communities have the rights to their land and by elevating Indigenous leadership.”

– “Sharing resources and wisdom by learning from elders, sharing social resources, sharing monetary resources, and holding community-wide action days.”

– “Ensuring financial investments are ethical and sustainable by divesting from fossil fuels, investing in socially responsible enterprises, and choosing ethical banking and insurance companies.”

– “Practicing fair and sustainable purchasing by supporting ethical businesses, taking a “total cost of ownership approach” to purchases, making a sustainability shopping list, and purchasing from local retailers.”

– “Improving sustainability in consumer purchases by eliminating the use of disposable plastic and styrofoam, correctly recycling as much as possible, and reducing purchases of new consumer goods.”

– “Delivering equitable access to education by ensuring under-represented groups are educated, shaping education programs with a wide variety of people, offering culturally appropriate and/or alternative forms of education, and ensuring that education promotes human rights and dignity.”

These actions and many more are listed under the 7 goals which are: adoption of sustainable lifestyles, community engagement and participatory action, ecological economics, ecological education, ecological spirituality, response to the cry of the earth and response to the cry of the poor.

Endorsement in the community

This 7-year action plan is being endorsed by 150 organisations around the world so far. These include CAFOD, Caritas International, EcoJesuit, the Don Bosco Green Alliance, the Focolare Movement, and The Office of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation of the Franciscan Minors. Moreover, many more organisations are still enrolling.

What is the Laudato Si’ Action Platform?

The Laudato Si’ Action Platform provides an action-oriented 7-year ecological conversion journey in the spirit of integral ecology. All people of goodwill, are guided by the seven crosscutting Laudato Si’ Goals mentioned above, to learn, grow together and respond to Pope Francis’ letter On Care for Our Common Home. Furthermore, the platform offers inspiration, resources and a flexible framework. This helps translate the values and knowledge of Laudato Si’ into communities of action around the world. This platform is still open to new individuals and groups who wish to join this community and pledge their commitment to developing their own Laudato Si’ Plan.

There is hope

In spite of the social and environmental crisis we are facing, Pope Francis believes that there is still hope. He calls us to develop a “loving awareness” of the common home we share. Furthermore, he encourages us to act on the values we hold dear. He also calls us to urgently embark on new ways of living with “creativity and enthusiasm”, to promote integral ecology. (Par 220 and 221)

For more information and FAQs on the Laudato Sì Action Platform, please visit:
https://laudatosiactionplatform.org/more-information/

Read more:
– Astronomy and Faith
– Ecological Conversion Definition

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The most thought out idea in history

Perhaps the concept of God is the most thought-out idea in history. It is present in all people and, of course, cultures in some form. In some cases, the concept of God is objectified through idols that limit it or in ideas that freeze it. In others explicitly denied, and for many of us trying to approach it as well as we can. Our original vision comes from the Jewish people, who took many years to discover, through trial and error, what God is like, until they came to Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, it is impossible to reduce God to an idea, because his presence always disconcerts and surprises us.

Many support their lack of faith in their inability to experience God through the senses

God is transcendent. That is, we cannot know him through the senses, as we do with water, air, or the human body. This is important to say, because many people are obsessed and support their lack of faith in their inability to see Him, touch Him or feel Him. Just because we can’t see something, it doesn’t mean it ceases to exist. There are many realities present in our lives that we cannot objectify and yet we all know that they are very present. But on the other hand, He is omnipresent, He is present within each person. Every human being is a priceless treasure because, among other things, He dwells within us. He is the motive of our conscience, but also in the spirit of service and in our capacity to love.

Understanding God with reason and the heart

We Christians understand God as the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Based on studies, experience and review of the Bible, theologians came to formulate how in God there are three persons, who interact and help us understand how God’s love is and how they are present in the world. After all, the Jewish people discovered in God a close and merciful protector who continues to this day thanks to the Father who protected them from their enemies, the Son who taught them the true and perfect face of God, and the Spirit who guided and encouraged them at all times. Three persons and one God. Community and identity. So simple and so complicated.

To understand God through reason is necessary – and there is theology – but it is not easy because you cannot enclose Him to our ideas and categories. There is one part that will always be a mystery to us, otherwise it would not be God. Perhaps the best way to understand Him is with the heart, and to assume that deep down there is someone who looks at us with mercy and loves us madly.

Based on the original Spanish text written by: Alvaro Lobo, sj
Translated by: Ms Maria Zammit

Read more:
– “I Believe – Reflections on the Catholic Creed”
– Short Quotes About God

The post “In God” – Reflections on the Catholic Creed appeared first on Universe of Faith.

The ability to believe belongs solely to the human race

We believe in our parents when they help us with our problems before we have even spoken about them.  And we believe our teachers, who educate us with such dedication. We trust in the ability of the nurse who takes our blood. We believe in the judgment of the salesgirl who tells us that the item of clothing is the right size for us.

We believe that there is justice, that good is more desirable than evil, and that love is not just biology. We even build our families by believing in a simple ‘I love you’. Because believing is something that belongs to the human being, inaccessible to the rest of the creatures. If we did not believe in anything we would not progress, we would not even have a childhood.

Our faith is based upon this basic principle of belief and trust, something so fragile but also so strong. Belief and trust reveal much about us as human beings, especially as Christians.

Belief implies humility and recognising that we are on a journey of learning

Believing and trusting implies humility: Accepting that we are fragile and that we do not know everything; that there is a continuous learning process and that we are absolutely dependent on others and on an Other. None of us would have lived to last even one day of our lives if we were on our own. We are here thanks to others.

Believing in someone or something is to recognise that we live in a continuous journey of learning until the day when all this is over. It is recognising that there are affirmations which are not always based on proof, but on an option, an intuition or an act of faith. To believe also implies doubt. Since we do not have all the knowledge, we have to believe what others say but in the context of doubt.

Even if we do not like having doubts, they are usually the best sign that our faith, our belief, is healthy. If there are only absolute certainties in what we believe, we are not invited to continue searching and growing in our faith. Personally, I have a hard time with people who think that they know everything and always seem to have a clear understanding of their faith.

Believing, trusting and faith

Finally, faith involves believing and trusting, even in the midst of panic, fear and loneliness. It is like walking on strong and secure pillars which we can neither see nor control. It’s impossible to verify every piece of information that we are taught in class, to continually guess if the nurse has registered our details correctly. It is trusting that the size of the trousers I want to buy corresponds to the sharp eye of the salesgirl. Reality tells us that we can never know everything. Hence, there is an indispensable gap that each person is obliged to fill by trusting in something or someone. Some put their trust in money, others in politics, some in pleasure;  and Christians…? We try to believe and put our trust in God, knowing that it is not easy.

In this matter of faith, we cannot demonstrate with empirical facts that God exists but neither can the opposite be proven.

Catholic creed, belief

Based on the original Spanish text written by: Alvaro Lobo SJ
Translated by: Ms Maria Zammit

Read more:
– Brilliant Message by Fernando Pessoa not Pope Francis

The post “I Believe” – Reflections on the Catholic Creed appeared first on Universe of Faith.

Different versions of Jesus

Through the centuries we have seen several representations of Jesus which were modelled more on those who came up with them than on the authentic Jesus. This usually happens when an aspect of the Gospel is taken out of context and is magnified beyond all proportion while other aspects are ignored.

Thus, the more legalistic and conservative have created a Jesus who is primarily a teacher of morality and a judge, the more liberal endorse an image of Jesus who is mostly meek and forgiving. The hippie movement created a Jesus who attacked the establishment and was an insurrectionist but who wanted to change the world through the spreading of love. Left wingers state that Jesus was the first socialist and recently, with the rise of the New Age Movement, we have seen him depicted as yet another enlightened teacher among many. Elements of truth are present in all these representations but by taking one aspect to an extreme at the detriment of all other aspects, we risk creating a caricature which distorts rather than sheds light on the identity of Jesus.

Jesus in the Gospel

Every Christian is called to discover who is Jesus and the truths that he imparts. This quest is a lifelong endeavour and the ultimate answer will only be achieved in the beatific vision in the hereafter. A good place to start this journey is in the Gospels. Some aspects of Jesus and his teachings may come as a surprise to us because they contradict the other versions of Jesus described in the introduction which have become more familiar to our society than the Jesus of the Gospels.

Jesus, the presence of God with us

Early on in Matthew’s Gospel (Mt 3-4), Jesus is manifesting his mission. Although he is sinless, he is baptised in the Jordan with the sinners and although he needs no purification, he goes out into the desert. The desert in the Bible is a place where one is purified. Although Jesus is the Son of God, he is tested by Satan. Already it is evident that the mission of Jesus is to restore the horizontality between God and Man that was lost in the Garden of Eden. Jesus, the Immanuel, walks among us as God walked with Adam in the Garden. Jesus is the presence of God woven into the very fibres of our human existence. He is with us in the existential reality of our innermost fears, our sins, our illness, our failures and ultimately in death.

Jesus, the giver of the law of love

Right after these events (Mt 5-7), Jesus is portrayed as the new law-giver. Like Moses, he is standing on a mountain, teaching the crowd about the way of righteousness. He is not the abolisher of the Old Law but the one who is bringing it to its fulfilment. Jesus turns the orientation from the outward keeping of the Law to an inner alignment with the spirit of the Law (Mt 15, 7-8). The Law is founded on the love of God and love of the other (Mk 12, 29; Jn 15, 12-15, Mt 25, 31-46). It is what brings about the Kingdom of God which starts quietly from within but spreads and transforms the world (Mt 13).

Jesus, the saviour of the oppressed

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is portrayed first and foremost as the Saviour. As soon as we hear the word Saviour we immediately think that He saved us from sin. However in Luke Jesus is introduced at the beginning of His ministry (Lk 4, 16) as the One prophesied by Isaiah who was going ‘to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free’. Jesus’ mission is not simply a legal transaction that cancels our sins through the shedding of His blood, as has often been portrayed. It is a holistic salvific plan through which He enters into our existential reality and transforms it. This transformation occurs in our tangible, everyday reality and does not merely happen on a spiritual level. We do not just become holy but we become happy and fulfilled on all levels of our existence.

Jesus, doctor of sinners

But we can reject Him just as He was rejected in Nazareth (Lk 4, 28-29). This rejection is a new way of looking at sin. Until then, Jewish society used to regard sin as breaking the Law of Moses. Public sinners like prostitutes and tax collectors were regarded as impure and the pious were duty bound to ostracise them. Jesus considers sinners as sick people in need of a physician. Thus, He spends much time in their company in order to bring them Salvation (Lk 5, 30-32). He distinguishes another group of people whom He does not justify so easily. These are those who reject Him. These are already condemned (Jn 3, 18). The sins of sinners are a result of their wounds which keep them enslaved but the evil has embraced darkness because it gratifies them and hides their evil deeds (Jn 3, 20).

Going back to our introduction, we can ask ourselves, is Jesus more of a judge or is He infinitely merciful and forgiving? Is He maybe somewhere in the middle of this spectrum?

This question itself with which many still struggle says more about us than about Jesus. Our fallen nature creates a divide between justice and mercy. Many in the Church are also split along these two factions. We attribute this bipolarity which is exclusively ours to God and by extension to Jesus. In order to come to terms with this dilemma, we conclude that God (and Jesus) is both a judge and all merciful. He is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. He first forgave the adulteress but then He ordered her to sin no more (Jn 8, 11). I could almost imagine Jesus wagging his finger at her like any self -respecting school master.

Jesus, healer of the heart

Since Jesus considered sinners to be sick and in need of a doctor, he would never simply admonish the woman caught in adultery to ‘sin no more’. He would take authority over her spiritual illness and order her to be well like he did innumerable times with physical illness and even death. ‘Sin no more’ is therefore equivalent to ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk’ (Jn 5, 1-18) and ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ (Jn 11, 43). He is not admonishing her, He is healing her. If the adulteress being a sinner was indeed ‘sick’, it would have been ridiculous to expect her to stop sinning through her sole efforts. It would have been as ridiculous as expecting the crippled man to walk and Lazarus to rise through their own powers.

This dilemma that we find ourselves in is stemming from legalism. It focuses on sin. Is God going to judge my sin or is He going to close an eye and forgive it? This perspective is fuelled by fear. The more conservative are afraid that others will exploit God’s mercy and fall recklessly into a sinful life. The liberal ones are uncomfortable with the idea of a judging God because they know that ultimately they fall short. So in order to exorcise that fear, they depict God as lenient and compliant.

In reality this complex has nothing to do with God. God (and Jesus) transcends this tug of war. These two schools of thought struggle to understand what Jesus will do with our sin; will He condemn it (and us) or will He forgive it (and us)? In the process of asking ourselves these anxious questions the Good News is being obscured if not altogether lost.

Jesus, giver of life in abundance

What Jesus did with our sin is that He took it on Himself. He penetrated into our very own individual, existential Hell and from there He rose and we rose with Him. Those who accept Him and are willing to leave their comfort zone (Mt 16, 24) go through that same passage from death to life and are given life in abundance (Jn 10, 10).

In our endeavour to understand who Jesus is let us contemplate some phrases that Jesus Himself used to describe Himself:

“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

“Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.” (John 10:7)

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.” (John 11:25)

“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.” (John 13:12-13)

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.” (John 15:1)

Read more:
– The Difference Jesus Makes in My Life
– Top Popes’ Quotes About Following Jesus Christ

The post Who is Jesus? appeared first on Universe of Faith.

Firstly, it’s good to be able to share our human struggles such as anger management as we journey through life not as passive observers but as human beings who search for what is true, good and beautiful. Given that it’s a journey, we will always feel that we are not there yet! Somehow, it’s always works in progress. Thus the first emphasis is not whether we got it right but how we keep this desire burning and our search honest. Where we fail, we start again.

Secondly, with respect to anger, it’s quite common that people automatically think that anger is wrong. Yet, this is not the case. What’s more important is to listen to the anger that we carry to recognise the sign it’s giving us and then identify what kind of action we need to take in order to choose what is good.

Anger from an overload of work

For example, I might be getting angry and worked up because I am too loaded, becoming tense and don’t have the energy to deal with my commitments or with the people who are closest to me. In this case, it might be necessary to check whether I could find a better balance in my daily or weekly schedule, or find some time for exercise to release the tension in a good way.

Anger from injustice

I might be getting angry because of the injustice that I see around me, or when I see someone hurting another person, or else someone is taking advantage of me and not respecting my dignity. In this case, this anger is giving me the necessary energy to address injustice and improve things. Here I would need to channel my anger into good initiatives. I need to challenge injustice without resorting to violence or taking the law into my hands.

Anger from being self-centred

Yet it could be the case that my anger arises because I think that the whole world should revolve around my needs and I’m becoming self-centred and angry when I’m not the centre of attention. In this case, I would name my anger for what it is, and find ways of diffusing it to strengthen my outward and self-giving self.

You also refer to our experience of yearning for good but find ourselves doing wrong. Beyond what was said above, I would add two things:

We are on a journey which takes time

i. Keeping in mind the idea of a journey, one of the challenges but at the same time wisdom in life, is how to deal with the process. While keeping to our struggle for what is good and just, we should do that with a sense of realism. The good seeds need a lot of cultivation before they grow and produce the desired fruit. We need to allow time for the process, both with respect to our own growth and that of others. Sometimes, when we forget God’s gentleness and mercy, we can become too harsh with ourselves and with others. Rather we should keep our ideals in focus while identifying the next good step to reach there. In this way, we avoid being overcome by discouragement and frustration or indifference and relativism.

We have our human limitations

ii. Like St Paul, we also experience our limits. “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” (Romans 7,19). This experience of Saint Paul is important because it gives us the right direction of seeking for what is good. It is not through our own strength on its own, not through presumption and a sense of superiority, but in humble trust in the Lord’s strength and courageous generosity on our own part. “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7, 24-25).

Managing Anger

Feelings such as anger are signs.  Rather than feeling guilty about them, we should:
– attend to feelings, listen to them, recognise them for what they are;
– humbly embrace them and recognise our fragility;
– recognise what they might be telling us and direct our attitude/behaviour in line with our beliefs and values.
– not get discouraged by our imperfect results, both our results and also those of others.
But rather pray to God and let God’s mercy be like a balm that heals and renews our ability to love, our ability to start again.

Updated: 1st February 2021
Catholic anger management.

Read more from Fr Jimmy Bonnici:
– Feeling Insecure – Love as the Greatest Security
– Comparing Myself to Others – How to Stop

The post Catholic Anger Management appeared first on Universe of Faith.