News from the Church in Malta
It’s not easy being a good father. It requires a great deal of sacrifice, willing to do what is necessary to guide your children to be the best versions of themselves. The father works together with mother to bring up their children in the faith and build them up into vessels of virtue.
The responsibility can feel intense at times and every father fails at some point…
Saint Mark 4:26-34
Jesus said to the crowds: “This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.”
He said, “To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.
…
As part of their special mission to help bring healing to the troubled Chilean diocese of Osorno, Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Msgr. Jordi Bertomeu are holding several pastoral meetings this week which they say are aimed at listening.
Speaking to Chilean media at the airport after landing in Osorno, Scicluna said they came “to convey the special closeness of the pope to the beloved people of Osorno…
Saint Matthew 5:33-37
Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow.’
But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black.
Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.”
…
Knisja Parrokkjali, il-Qawra
26 ta’ Mejju 2018
Għeżież żgħażagħ, kemm ħadt pjaċir nismagħkom tħabbru l-Kelma ta’ Alla u kemm ħadt pjaċir ukoll nisma’ wħud minnkom jitolbu dik it-talba sabiħa lill-Ispirtu s-Santu li qiegħda fil-ktejjeb li għandkom f’paġni 5 u 6, u jgħidulha ‘sekwenza’ għax issegwi l-qari tal-Bibbja qabel l-Evanġelju…
Saint Matthew 5:27-32
Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into hell…
For months the Vatican waited, silently, to see how to engage Italy’s new populist government. For months the Italian bishops offered support and patience as political parties clumsily attempted to create a new government. Promising vigilance, for months Italy’s high-ranking clergy looked for points of dialogue, but also contrast, with the country’s infant leadership.
Finally, the wait is over and – unsurprisingly – the battle between the Church and Italy’s ruling coalition of right-wing populists, Northern League, and anti-establishment party, Five Star Movement, will be centred around immigration…
Fr Richmond Villaflor Nilo, a parish priest in the Philippines, was shot to death just he was about to celebrate Mass, making him the fourth priest to be shot in the last six months in that troubled country.
According to a report in UCANews, Fr. Nilo was killed while putting on his alb to begin the Mass. Three shots were fired through the chapel’s window…
Saint Matthew 5:20-26
Jesus said to his disciples: “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery hell…
The archbishop tasked with investigating the Chilean clerical abuse crisis said the main objective of his visit to the diocese of Osorno is not only to express Pope Francis’ closeness to the local Church, but to help provide the legal structures needed to handle abuse accusations.
“In respect to our pastoral mission, we wish in first place to be a sign of the closeness of the pope to the people and Church of Chile,” Archbishop Charles Scicluna said in a June 12 statement read aloud to the press in Santiago…
