Archive for August 2010

, , ,

Reflections on Auschwitz & Birkenau

By in Reflections & Meditations on 31 August 2010 at 11:30pm

For most the talk of Auschwitz conjures up fear, death and disgust. It is always a place we hear about but not a place one would want to visit on holiday.  I was able to visit Auswitz and Birkenau when en route to a Youth congress. For me, it was more shocking than how it is portrayed in documentaries and films.

Auschwitz was the work camp. It housed between 13,000 to 16,000 prisoners , once reaching a maximum of 20,000.The concept of this much evil housed in such a relatively small acreage was something I had anticipated to be tangible especially having heard others speak of the place as having an unnatural stillness – even the wildlife seemingly in mourning. I shockingly found the opposite to be the case. Auschwitz for me held a very creepy beauty.

▶ Read More and Comment

, ,

Chastity

By in Reflections & Meditations on 27 August 2010 at 2:44pm

During an insightful Seeker discussion, the notion of ‘chastity’ became quite an intense topic of debate. As Christians we have always believed that one must remain chaste, namely that of sexual abstinence from pre-marital sex. However, do we really understand what ‘chastity’ really means?

I recall coming across this article in the Singapore Catholic News talking about chastity and how Father Ronald Rolheiser says that ‘chastity needs to be properly understood.’ He refrains from the normal misconception that chastity means celibacy; in fact he says it is not even a sexual concept.

‘Someone can be chaste but not celibate, just as someone can be celibate but not chaste.’

▶ Read More and Comment

, , , ,

St Alberto Hurtado

By in Catholicism 101 on 23 August 2010 at 1:37pm

Last August 18th the Catholic Church celebrated the Feast of Saint Alberto Hurtado. This feast is important in Latin America and particularly in Chile, when thousands of people (15000 this year), mostly young people, walk 8 kms to the Sanctuary and Grave of St Alberto, located in the heart of Santiago.  In Chile, that day is known as the “Day of Solidarity”, because that was probably his main legacy.

St Alberto was born in Vina del Mar, Chile in 1901. He became a Jesuit priest after studying Law. He died very young, at the age of 51. The people who were alive at that time say that at the moment of his death, a big cloud with the shape of a Cross was alone in the sky.  He was canonized in 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI.

▶ Read More and Comment

, , ,

Labyrinth

By in Reflections & Meditations on 15 August 2010 at 7:52pm

Did you know that in Edinburgh there is a hidden gem? In the heart of George Square lies a simple labyrinth. A path of prayer and meditation, a peaceful solace amidst the hustle and bustle of the city, why not take some time out to walk the labyrinth?

Labyrinths originate from Greek mythology, yet are still a form of prayer walk used by many Christians today. Although after a cursory glance, a labyrinth could easily be mistaken as a maze, after closer inspection a labyrinth unlike a maze has no multiple paths or dead ends. Instead it consists of one, surprisingly long path, which slowly meanders to its climax in the centre of the design and then back again to the start.

▶ Read More and Comment

, , , ,

St Alphonsus de Liguori

By in Catholicism 101 on 3 August 2010 at 2:34pm

August 1st the feast day of St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, proclaimed the ‘Doctor of the Church,’ the founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer or the ‘Redemptorists’ was also an Italian Bishop, theologian, spiritual writer, moralist, missionary and a great propagator for Mariology.

Born, Alphonsus Mary Antony John Cosmas Damian Michael Gaspard de' Liguori on September 27th, 1696 in Marianella near Naples, St Alphonsus was the first born of seven children belonging to a Neapolitan nobility (however, his family’s line of decent became impoverished.)

▶ Read More and Comment