In a few words, how would you describe World Youth Day?

Filip: During Sunday Mass, in the Creed, we say: I believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic Church. World Youth Day is the perfect event which can show participants what the words: ‘catholic’ and ‘apostolic’ really mean!

First, let’s turn to the word ‘apostolic’. The Church is apostolic because it is built on the Apostle’s faith and tradition. The head of the Apostles, as we know, is Saint Peter. World Youth Day is an extraordinary opportunity to meet the Pope – the Peter of our times. Saint Ignatius of Antioch is famous for the words: Where the bishop is, there is the Church, these words paraphrase the eighth chapter of his letter to the Church at Smyrna, capturing one of the main ideas of World Youth Day.

Secondly, the word ‘catholic’. The word catholic comes from the ancient Greek adjective ‘καθολικός’ (katholikos), which means universal. So what does it mean that the Church is universal?

The Church is sent to all people, to all cultures, to all places. Jesus said to his disciples: Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation (Mark 16:15). World Youth Day is a brilliant chance to meet people from all over the world who believe in one God. Participants could also share with each other the different ways of living the faith. It is easily noticeable that Christians have different sensibilities and spiritualities, but all have the common purpose, ‘who’ is Jesus Christ.

Elizabeth: World Youth Day is definitely an event of great joy. It’s what I would call, ‘’a life experience’’. It’s incredible to see how big and alive our Church is! So many young people from all around the world gather all together to celebrate their love for our Lord. At WYD there’s this inexplicable atmosphere of happiness, fraternity, community and joy. What also touches you are the many differences that each person has. We are all different. We all have our story to tell – and we all attend WYD for different reasons and desires. But amid our differences, we have one thing in common. We have a heart that is singing the same song: God – the incredible mystery of WYD.

What are some moments that touched you during your experience and which you think shed light upon the unique character of the Christian Faith?

Filip: I am still amazed by one moment – which I had heard about before visiting Lisbon. It’s traditional that during World Youth Day there is adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with the Pope. this is a silent adoration. When I heard 1.5 billion people gathered together falling silent all at once, I knew that something extraordinary was going on. I think nothing, apart from God’s presence, is possible to stop all noises like it happened then.

Elizabeth: Like Filip, the moments that have touched me the most were the Adorations we had. They were most special to me because it was during these moments that I felt God’s presence the most. It was during these times that I would feel Jesus speaking right through my heart pronouncing the words, ‘’Do not be afraid. I am with you’’.

Something that also touched me was the endlessness joy that everyone had during those hot and tiring days. The days we lived were pretty intense but no one would show that! Everyone was always full of energy, singing, dancing, having fun… they always had this big wave of joy and always had smiles on their faces. No matter what hour or place, you could turn around and always find people being happy. And that was such a contagious happiness! That was something that amazed me so much to the point where I was able to finally understand the ‘secret’’ meaning of being a follower of Christ —  praising, being joyful even when things gets too hard to handle, and showing happiness and gratitude even when you’re your worst. These are also some of the main keys of sainthood. Like Pope Francis once said: ‘’A sad saint, it’s not a saint’’. And like Saint Philip Neri also said ‘’A servant of God ought to always be happy’’. Let’s all be saints together!

Can World Youth Day be a space that challenges and perhaps also aids those who do not see themselves as belonging to the Christian Faith/or to any faith at all? If so, how?

Filip: Does God exist? What is He like? Why do we live? – without any doubt, I can say that everyone, at some point, is asking or asked themselves these questions. For nonbelievers or those who are still searching for answers, attending World Youth Days provides a chance to meet the Catholic Church, to compare the answers which they have in their heart with the answers which the Church proclaims.

Nonbelievers might get to know the Church which is rich – not in a financial way, but because of its diversity. Maybe somewhere, those who are searching will find their place. I hope that God will grant them the grace of faith, because as he said: Seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7).

Why should anyone consider attending the next World Youth Day?

Filip: There are many reasons why we should consider attending the next edition of the World Youth Day, but maybe the one I would like to emphasize most is the fact that we can feel the Kingdom of our Father there.

We read in the Bible: For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20). In Lisbon, around 1.5 billion Christians gathered in the name of Christ. I dare say, we all had the feeling that He is there with us. On the streets there were Christians full of joy and real hope. The hope and joy which have, have their source in the Passion and the Resurrection of our Lord.

In the next chapters of the Gospel of Matthew we read: Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. (Matthew 25:40). During World Youth Days, the families, schools, and institutions that hosted us performed the Corporal Works of Mercy. They fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, sheltered the homeless. We all were immersed in the Kingdom of God. Go there to experience it. It’s worth it.

And, how do you think that we can bring the WYD spirit to our own little communities in our hometowns?

Filip: I believe that bringing the World Youth Day spirit to our communities is possible by doing all that we were inspired to do during our days in Lisbon: expressing the joy of our faith, performing the Works of Mercy, talking about God with peers and meeting to praise God together. We also might make the Pope present among us by reading and discussing his encyclicals, Apostolic exhortations, and letters. I truly hope that we will keep the spirit in our communities, at least to the next World Youth Day!

Liza: I feel like we should not keep what we experienced in Lisbon to ourselves. Being at WYD felt as if I was given many things and now I feel the need to give what I received, to others. We are the proof that our church is still alive and that God still speaks to the young. We have now the job to show this to those who could not attend, by sharing the message of this incredible experience! All we can do is to share our experience and feelings but mostly important ,we need to share the joy we got for free. Because joy is meant to be shared with others, not to be kept to ourselves! I believe that this is what we can do in order to bring the WYD spirit to our families and communities…the rest God will do!”.

The post World Youth Day – Gone But With Us Still! 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“.

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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!

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“The future has many faces”.

Without making any reference to the company that uses this slogan, I found it quite surprising to see such a philosophical statement used as an advert in our useless bus shelters (i.e., unless they’re to be used as greenhouses during summer or as bathroom cubicles during winter).

But at least, by claiming that the future has many faces, the advert departs from a deeply ingrained deterministic mind-set of us Maltese, especially with exclamations such as, “hekk kellu jkun”—that’s how things had to be—or “kienet miktuba għalih”—it was written for him. And this is quite funny because, for such statements to be tenable, we have to imagine a ginormous library with unending rows of shelving racks filled with whole volumes of books that contain all the details of how a person’s life will evolve, or rather proceed.

This reminds me of a film I watched some years ago, The Adjustment Bureau, starring Matt Damon as David Norris and Emily Blunt as Elise Sellas, who play the part of a couple that struggle to go against their predetermined separate plans until they are ultimately granted free-will. Without entering into detail, the movie reflects in a very bizarre way how sometimes we really see things in a contradictory way: everything is predetermined, and yet, at the same time, we are not willing to admit that such belief implies that we don’t really possess free-will. And this is so true because, “free will is a gift, you’ll never know how to use until you fight for it”, as the character Harry Mitchell (Anthony Mackie) well claims.

Returning back to our argument after this digression: what can be the different faces that the future possesses?

I don’t know. Maybe the face of success, as the company surely won’t promote the face of failure. Maybe the face of power that derives from success, because surely it cannot be the face of meekness that is perceived as weakness by society (i.e. since meekness tends towards gaining respect and, consequently, authority—unlike power, which is obtained by control). Maybe the face of fame which tends to peak and then heads toward a torrential downfall.

I don’t know what faces my—and our—future will have. But hopefully—in the sense of ‘full of hope’, and not in the sense of ‘if I’m lucky enough’ or ‘if the gods permit”— it has at least two faces.

Firstly, the face of humanity which, irrespective of our diverging roads, different social standing, and contrasting views, puts us on the same level and, especially in times of crisis, forces us to cooperate and respect each other as members of the same species.

And, secondly, the face of God-made-man who, in his abyssal downfall, showed us what it really means to be human: the ability to look towards the other and see in the other the face of God who’s image we are all created in and by whose incarnate face we were smiled at and redeemed.

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.

The post “The Future Has Many Faces” – A Reflection appeared first on Universe of Faith.

I often wonder where we as human beings went wrong.

In saying this, I have in mind ‘modern architecture’, particularly the boxy and purely utilitarian style that has conquered all of our public and even private spaces. How did we end up at this cardboard box design, when we were once capable of creating marvellous gothic cathedrals whose peaks soared to the skies and their embellishments served as the evocation of heaven itself?

How did we go from even the drabbest of houses being treated as a piece of beauty – to everything suddenly tasting like ashes?

After trying to pin down the reason, an answer came to me. I was reading John Ruskin’s The Seven Lamps of Architecture – a book which, in its essence, explores our devotion to God and our willingness to have our every action directed to the appreciation of his divine love. Although Ruskin does not stop here, I personally think that this – that is, our lack of genuine devotion to God – is the primary point which separates our atheistic architecture from the beauty of the past.

As Christian faith (used broadly) progressively faded from our society, our need to allow everything to be a means to bring us closer to ‘grace’ faded too. My guess is that, for the large part of people’s lives (although one finds exceptions), life is rarely spent honouring God and being grateful for his creation. This is the downfall of our aesthetic appreciation as humanity! Our sensitivity for certain values has deteriorated.

So long as God no longer plays an essential role within the lives of individuals, we cannot direct ourselves toward his worship. The reason why we ‘need’ to engage in worship is because worshiping God helps us go out of our self and receive the unconditional love that God has for us. It is only in receiving this kind of divine love that we will be able to pour it out in our actions – be they works of art, works of love, etc. In this light, as our propensity to worship faded, it seems our need for things to be done well and beautifully faded too.

Living in a time of mass production, most things have become standardised and made cheaply out of poor materials. Before, one would seek to become the master of his craft (i.e, be it woodworks, art, or architecture) because he felt that it was the right thing to do (or the thing which God wants him to do). Indeed, back then, it seems we were not so much bound by our fickle motivation to simply be ‘good’ for ourselves – but rather sought the heights of mastery as a means of prayer, as a means of honouring something greater than our Self.

The presence of God removes the weakness that the human body and mind may have because it places one in the context of divine creation. When we are actively in a relationship with God, everything we might do in our life could be directed towards something beyond our self, toward something eternal and all-powerful which is free from human faults. When this locus is lost, the world around us, the things we produce and see, all these will stop having purpose outside of immediate satisfaction. Today, we rarely feel that buildings need to be permanent manifestations of the divine, or signs of respect and worship for future generations to come. Often, they are temporary solutions that will not matter and can be discarded once they are used up or taken over by a different owner.

In order for us to be able to create beauty, we need to be well aware of what beauty ‘is’. And although a sense of what beauty is, is natural to all humans – plenty of atheists or unbelievers have created beautiful works of Art – the closer one grows to God (i.e., the closer one grows to unconditional love), the deeper their knowledge of beauty becomes. As Hans Urs von Balthasar writes,

Beauty is the disinterested one, without which the ancient world refused to understand itself, a word which both imperceptibly and yet unmistakably has bid farewell to our new world, a world of interests, leaving it to its own avarice and sadness.

Written by Alisa Arturovna Iordan.

Coming from the background in the Social Sciences, Alisa has developed sensitivity towards understanding and investigating matters concerning our society – seeking to understand why we do what we do and what can be done to better our state. In combination with her Catholic faith, this quest attained a new meaning and weight as her curiosity changed from a purely academic one to one also working towards discovering God more.

See more –

Why Care for Our Common Home? – Fr Rob Galea

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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.

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

• The Importance of Wonder

The 20th century poet T.S Eliot wrote, “the child wonders at the Christmas Tree … let him continue in the spirit of wonder …  so that the reverence and the gaiety may not be forgotten in later experience, or in the bored habituation, the fatigue, the tedium, the awareness of death, the consciousness of failure, or the piety of the convert,  … let him continue in the spirit of wonder, so that before the end, the accumulated memories of annual emotion, may be concentrated into a great joy … because the beginning shall remind us of the end, and the first coming of the second coming”.

T.S Eliot was aware of how cynical and oppressed the tragedies of the world can make us, but he was also aware of our longing for something more than this world. He knew that the earth reflects a beauty and a joy whose origins surpass it. Like children, therefore, let us allow ourselves to be in awe! Let us allow ourselves to marvel with a keen and sensitive heart. The rest will follow suit!

• As with all Christian celebrations, at its heart, Advent is a time in which God continues to give Himself to us! But on our part, as human beings, what does it take for us to fully and authentically ‘receive’? 

Reflecting upon this, the German philosopher Joseph Pieper concludes that, “there can be no festivity when man, imagining himself self-sufficient, refuses to recognize that Goodness of things which goes far beyond any conceivable utility; it is the Goodness of reality taken as a whole which validates all other particular goods and which man himself can never produce nor simply translate into social or individual “welfare”. He truly receives it (God’s love and goodness) only when he accepts it as pure gift”.

Certain objects of this world cannot be made or seen as tools for us to simply use. Rather, they need to be appreciated for their own sake. In this, we can slowly discover that they are gifts given to us freely. This is what love does, after all. It gives freely. And it is only when we see creation as a free and pure gift given to us by God, that we can feel truly loved by God and understand what creation truly is.

• Seeing desires as pathways to God

In the words of St Augustine, “the entire life of a good Christian is a holy desire. What you desire, however, you don’t yet see. But by desiring you are made large enough, so that, when there comes what you should see, you may be filled”.

Augustine reminds us that desires are signs that need to be prudently understood and interpreted.  But desires are also bridges. In desiring beauty, we reach out to it. In desiring love, we seek it. This is all good, because God wants to us to be filled. And so, let us not tire to ask, to beg, to be open, to yearn! And in doing so, let us try to turn to God as well. Augustine knew too well that, ultimately, only God can fully and completely satisfy us.

• No wounds are too big for God

In one his poems St. Thomas More wrote, “Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal”.

Advent is a space in which Heaven can continue to penetrate and cultivate the earth. The earth is not fully separate from heaven, the two are not completely distinct. Indeed, in fact, the glory of earth is realised when God (heaven itself) is made one with it! This all culminates in the God-man; in Jesus himself, in him, the heaven and the earth are one.

• We’re all, in our unique ways, a faint image of God 

C.S Lewis, iconically known for crafting the Narnia book Series, noted that “we cannot conceive how the Divine Spirit dwelled within the created and human spirit of Jesus…. but what we can understand is that our own existence is a faint image of the Divine Incarnation itself… the same theme in a very minor key”.

We already harbour traces of God within us, and this can be discovered by us if we reflected deeply upon certain capacities and desires that we experience. Our nature, in its deepest core, longs for beauty, for love, for goodness, for truth – these are God’s fingerprints.

• Let yourself be perfected!

Finally, this Advent, with St. Theresa of Avila, let us express our humility and open our self to God’s healing grace. Time and again, St. Theresa prayed,

“I want to keep Advent in my soul, that is, a continual longing and waiting for this great Mystery wherein You, O Word, became flesh to show me the abyss of your redeeming sanctifying mercy….Come, O Lord, come! I too wish to run to You with love, but alas! My love is so limited, weak, and imperfect! Make it strong and generous; enable me to overcome myself, so that I can give myself entirely to You… What a consolation it will be, O Lord, at the moment of death to think that we shall be judged by Him whom we have loved above all things!”

Read more:

Astronomy and Faith – Universe of Faith

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Joy is our companion in life when we seek to be authentic, selfless, and free in the Spirit.

Joy is the genuine smile we express, when we are pondering on how grateful we are for our life.

Joy is the state of mind we experience when things are not necessarily happening as we wish them to be but we still experience deep peace within.

Joy does not need to be shot by a camera or shared on social media. It can be experienced in solitude or in the sole presence of a beloved.

Joy is what a father or a mother experience when their daughter or son who they had a difficult relationship with, now chooses to embrace them.

Joy is the gaze of a friend who looks at you dearly.

Joy are the tears that trickle down your cheeks, tears that come from a place deep within, after feeling deeply appreciated by someone who you have given your all to.

Joy is the person who realises that they have hurt someone, but they still try their best to amend things, even in their weaknesses.

Joy is the cheerful smile of a child who remembers a considerate word you have said to them.

Joy is the person who feels seen and accepted for who they truly are.

Joy is discovering a truth about yourself that you have long been searching for.

Joy is being each other’s messengers of His light.

Joy is finding a new true friend whom you can share your joys and struggles with.

Joy is understanding that even your suffering can have a purpose.

Finally, true joy is discovering that God is real and present in the life you live. It is knowing that God can use even your vulnerabilities to show His (and your) glory!

These blessings of joy do not cost money, but they cost everything.

To experience them deeply, one must offer all they are and all their life for a greater purpose. We must give our all to love purely and in simplicity.

In giving our all for love, we receive all that really matters. We receive God – love itself!

As Raïssa Maritain wrote in one of her diary entries: “joy is being able to call him Father with a great tenderness, to feel him so kind and so close to us”.

Written by Carla Borg

Read More:

What is the Good News of the Catholic Faith?

Spiritual Gifts That Ordinary People Can Give to Our Non-Ideal World

Why Are We Alive? Why Does the Human Race Exist?

The post What Is True Joy? – An Advent Reflection appeared first on Universe of Faith.

1.      You have been pursuing painting and poetry for quite a while now, what role, if any, has faith played in your journey? i.e., have you ever had any moments of spiritual doubt – and if so, what role has Art played in all this?

Sarah: I think that faith has always been combined with my poetry in some way. I have a tendency of writing vulnerable pieces, directly from the heart. Since my faith is important to me, I find myself writing about my struggles with God, my doubts, the times I don’t understand what He is doing in my life and reflecting about who He is and what He has done. I also think that writing about my faith gives me the opportunity to remind myself of why I believe in God and my journey in discovering who He is.

Mark: With Sarah, I’d say that art is a good opportunity to express myself, what I am going through, and what I want to say other than in words. But touching on the point of spiritual doubt, certainly, I too passed through moments of doubt which eventually led to moments of spiritual crisis. Jesus had his own people – who saw Him and who could hear Him speak – that still doubted Him. It is essentially more difficult for us who do not see him physically – Jesus himself noted this with His words to Thomas, “because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

Jesus understands our need for evidence, and he is willing to provide it if we ask for it with a humble heart! But believe me, you will find your strength where you least expect it – the secret is to pray, keep believing, and keep pushing through, a day at a time.

2.       Do you think that Art and Faith closely relate to each other? If so, how?

Mark: For me, art and faith have been two distinctive areas in my life, but as I took my faith more seriously, creating art gave me the ‘quiet space’ necessary to be by myself and with God. Art is not just about grabbing a paintbrush and finishing a painting – at first, I used to feel the urge to finish a drawing/painting the same day I started it, and obviously, I would usually end up making a mess. I realized this is a replication of anything in life – including faith. I encourage anyone to be patient with themselves, with the process, with life, and to trust in God’s guiding presence.

Sarah: I agree with Mark. Poetry requires a lot of introspection so I cannot help but reflect when I want to draw inspiration or meaning. I think that struggling through questions of life, about God, and also battling doubts is closely linked to the words of the art I make, because it allows me to filter through the many thoughts and make sense of them.

I even find myself expressing my gratitude, praise, and thanks to God through poetry. I’m very inspired by the Psalms which were in fact songs of praise and poems that expressed every feeling one could have, including despair, disappointment, loneliness, anger, joy, peacefulness and more. I find that the images, parallelisms, and interpretations of King David allow me to formulate my own expression of my faith in poetry, just as he did.

3.       How has Art affected the way you experience Advent?

Sarah: As a creative person, I think that having themes of writing (i.e., themes such as Advent) helps to inspire me in a specific way, providing direction to my thoughts. I cannot help but see signs during Advent and attributing meaning to them. There is something within me that allows this to happen naturally, so I think that experiencing Advent as a writer means adapting the thought process to extract meaning from everything related to this season and developing it into a relatable manner for readers to know how it impacts me and how it could impact them too! That’s also what I tried to do with this poem! (See Sarah’s poem below).

4.       How can Art – any form of Art – help us during the Advent season?

Mark: Over the years, artists always loved including symbols and hidden messages in their artworks – be it Leonardo Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Salvador Dali, and the rest of the greats.

The creative process or the birth of an idea requires patience and waiting. And waiting can be daunting, we do not feel comfortable with that feeling of anticipation! I can relate this to the Advent season because we know something good is coming but Advent gives us the time to re-compose ourselves and wait. And waiting nowadays is something scarce – we want everything now, today, this minute. But I realized that in waiting we learn a lot about ourselves, our surroundings, what makes us comfortable, and we learn to appreciate just standing still. It is in this moment that we really feel vulnerable, alone, and possibly lonely; but it is also in this moment that we can start loving ourselves again, and it is the perfect opportunity to experience the love of God. This is a beautiful form of Art – and it makes Advent itself a form of Art.

So, this Advent, let yourself be made into Art! Allow yourself to wait, to hope, to receive God’s intimate love! 

Holy Cave

I walk in complete darkness as if
the star in the sky is leading me astray
rather than urging me to clasp
my hands to pray.

I long to know that what I’m striving for
will be met by an open door;
stepping blindly into the unknown,
I’m comforted I’m not alone.

While I look for the pieces within me
that seem to be missing,
that seem to be lost,
my heart waits, counting the gaping holes,
the emptiness,
calculating the cost.

Following my heart has never been easy,
knowing I am doing what is right,
and the response within me remains a battle
that would now rather be fight than flight.

When the longing, the yearning,
the patience, the zeal,
bring me to a quiet place, a holy cave,
finally, I am free to open my hands

and heal.

by Sarah Zammit Munro

Read More: 

– “I Waste so Much Time” – Getting Over Guilt of Wasted Time

– Finding Time for God

The post The 𝑨𝒓𝒕 of Becoming – what does Art have to do with Advent? appeared first on Universe of Faith.

Pope Francis’ frequent use of the word “joy”

Recently, one of my friends remarked that she is struck by how many times Pope Francis mentions joy. She also noted that the word ‘joy’ is found in all the titles of his Apostolic Exhortations. One would think that the Pope is living an easy life. Whereas, we all know that, as a Pope, his life is not easy. So, what is the good news of the Catholic faith that gives Pope Francis, and people who practice this faith, such joy?

The Good News: God who is close to us

What strikes me in our Catholic faith is that God is so close to us : “His will was that men should have access to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the divine nature.” (CCC 2) St Augustine says “ God is closer to me than I am to myself”. Moreover, theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls God “the beyond in our midst”.

The Catholic faith is centred around the Holy Trinity – three persons, one God. Jesus, the second person, became man and lived amongst us. He, who is divine and human, was killed. Yet he rose again after three days. Thus, he overcame the greatest enemy of the human race – death.  After Jesus’ resurrection nothing remained the same for the women and other disciples who found the empty tomb. This event also changed (in our own lives and in) the history of mankind. It can change our lives too. Jesus is not dead. He is alive.

As Pope Francis explains in The Joy of The Gospel, “being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction”. The Gospel is in fact the “good news” and as Pope Francis says “The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus.”

Jesus himself reassured His disciples, and all those who believe in him, of his presence. He said, “Behold I am with you to the end of time” (Mt 28:20). The promise that we will be accompanied by God throughout our life is surely comforting.

The Good News is God who is forgiving

God’s presence is not that of a judge who is all the time checking on us. As Pope Francis ably puts it “God is joyful! And what is the joy of God? The joy of God is forgiving, the joy of God is forgiving! It is the joy of a shepherd who finds his little lamb; the joy of a woman who finds her coin; it is the joy of a father welcoming home the son who was lost, who was as though dead and has come back to life, who has come home. Here is the entire Gospel! Here! The whole Gospel, all of Christianity, is here!” (Angelus, 15th Sept 2013) Pope Francis also says, “God is never tired to forgive us; it is we who tire of asking forgiveness”.

St Bernard asks: “But what can I count on? My own merits? No. My merit is God’s mercy. I am by no means lacking merits as long as he is rich in mercy. If the mercies of the Lord are manifold, I too will abound in merits”

St Paul reassures us that “Where sin has abounded, there grace has abounded all the more”. (Rom 5:20)

The figure of St Peter is such an example. For three times, Peter denied Jesus while he was being taken from court to court. When he should have been closest to, and supporting Jesus, Peter denied him.  And when Peter hit rock bottom he met the gaze of Jesus.  Through this gaze, Jesus patiently and silently says to him: “Peter, don’t be afraid of your weakness, trust in me.” Peter understands. He feels the loving gaze of Jesus, and he weeps. The fact that Peter was chosen to lead the disciples is proof enough of how Jesus forgave his sin.

The Good News: making the ordinary sacred

This life in Jesus is sustained by the Holy Eucharist, which is “the source and summit of the Christian life.” (CCC 1342) The great wonder is that Christ uses simple provisions and raises them into something sacred and holy – His own Body. He does this while still respecting their very ordinariness. Thus, the bread remains our daily bread and the wine our daily drink. These simple created gifts – the work of our hands – become the means by which we find him. They become the source where we meet him. Moreso, the Catholic faith holds that His presence continues even after the mass is ended. Therefore, Catholic churches house his presence as a whole person in the consecrated Eucharist.

The Good News: dignity for each person

 The Catholic faith gives great value to the human being. Human life is considered sacred from conception to its end since it is created in the image and likeness of God. In Pope John Paul’s words, “nothing surpasses the greatness or dignity of a human person. Human life is not just an idea or an abstraction; It is the concrete reality of a being that lives, that acts …. Human life is precious because it is the gift of a God whose love is infinite; and when God gives life, it is forever”. (Homily 7th October 1979)

The Good News is having Mary as our mother

Jesus gave us his mother to be our mother. Only after this act did Jesus say that “all was now finished” (Jn 19:28). The Catholic faith presents Mary as our model. From Mary we learn to surrender to God’s will in all things. We also learn to trust even when all hope seems gone. Through Mary, we learn to love Jesus Christ, her Son and the Son of God. She is not only the Mother of Christ; she is also the Mother of the Church.

Pope Francis in The Joy of The Gospel describes Mary as “the friend who is ever concerned that wine not be lacking in our lives. She is the woman whose heart was pierced by a sword and who understands all our pain”. Mary offers us maternal comfort and love just as she did with Saint Juan Diego. She whispers in our ear: “Let your heart not be troubled… Am I not here, who am your Mother?” (The Joy of The Gospel)

The Good News is being entrusted with a mission

We are in this world for a reason. According to the Catholic faith, certainly God does nothing without a purpose. We all have a specific mission and God gives us all the help we need to carry out this mission. According to Isaiah “Yahweh called me before I was born, and from my mother’s womb He pronounced my name” (Is 49:1). In Jeremiah we find: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you: before you came to birth I consecrated you” (Jer 1:5). Furthermore, in his book Crossing The Threshold Of Hope, Saint Pope John Paul II writes: “He reveals that His demands never exceed man’s abilities. If man accepts these demands with an attitude of faith, he will also find in the grace that God never fails to give him the necessary strength to meet these demands”.

Pope Francis wrote: “I am a mission on this earth; that is the reason why I am here in this world. We have to regard ourselves as sealed, even branded, by this mission of bringing light, blessing, enlivening, raising up, healing and freeing”. (The Joy of The Gospel)

The Good News  is giving meaning to suffering

Suffering is a harsh reality which all humans face sometime or other. Simone Weil remarked that the extraordinary of Christianity is not that it provides us with a medicine against suffering. Rather, it gives a perspective to suffering. The Gospel does not promise that we will not suffer. Certainly,the cross remains a human reality. However, what the Gospel does is give meaning to the cross. That fact makes a difference in the way we face the sufferings which we encounter. Van Breemen Peter G. S.J. writes  “Once we know that suffering has a meaning to it, we can endure much more”.

The Good News as being life for the soul

Peter Seewald once asked Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI: “Isn’t it extremely wearing having to deal with God every day? Does’t one get sick and tired of it?” Pope Benedict answered, “Dealing with God every day is a necessity for me. For just as we have to breathe every day, just as we need light every day and have to eat every day, just as we also need friendship every day and truly need certain people every day, dealing with God is one of the absolutely fundamental elements of life. If God suddenly disappeared, my soul wouldn’t be able to breathe properly”.

I would apply the same reasoning to the faith held by the Catholic church. Notwithstanding that the members of the Catholic church are still sinners, and that so many are leaving, I stay. I choose to stay not simply because I was brought up in this faith, but because it gives so much meaning to my life. I stay, above all, because it keeps on preaching “the Good News”.

Read more:
– Can A Widowed Man Become A Priest? – Tony’s Experience
– Catholic And Pregnant Befoe Marriage – Nicole Grech

The post What is the Good News of the Catholic Faith? appeared first on Universe of Faith.