The second meditation on the gospel of St Mark; the gospel written for beginners (catechumens) like me. (Based on ideas expressed in “I Vangeli – Esercizi Spirituali per la Vita Cristiana” by Carlo Maria Martini, Bompiani, Milano, 2016). One of the fundamental passages in Mark is found in chapter 4. “The secret of the kingdom …
This meditation is based on ideas expressed in “I Vangeli – Esercizi Spirituali per la Vita Cristiana” by Carlo Maria Martini, Bompiani, Milano, 2016. I am often confused about who God is and what he wants from me. In an effort to diminish this confusion, I decided to re-read Martini’s “I Vangeli- Esercizi Spirituali per …
For many years, I have struggled with the problem of suffering, injustice, and evil. The Book of Job tackles this question head on. It asks a lot of relevant questions but, alas, it does not provide an answer. When God replies to Job, the answer surprisingly turns out to consist solely of questions. No answer …
A few days ago, while reading a book, I came across a fact, and a concept that derives from it, that struck a chord. The fact is that for most of their history before Jesus, the Jews did not believe in an afterlife. They had the concept of Sheol, but this was a place where …
Based on a chapter of the same name in Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini’ s book “Colti da Stupore – incontri con Gesù” [Struck by Astonishment – meetings with Jesus.] Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A., Milano, 2012 All biblical quotations are from ‘The Jerusalem Bible’, Darton, Longman & Todd, London, 1966. He called the people and his …
Based on a chapter of the same name in Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini’ s book “Colti da Stupore – incontri con Gesù” [Struck by Astonishment – meetings with Jesus.] Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A., Milano, 2012. There was a lawyer who, to disconcert him, stood up and said to him, ‘Master, what must I do to …
Cardinal Martini found this parable very challenging. He confesses that he defended himself from it as he was afraid that it would lead him to choose actions that he could not be able to make. I thought it would be better to include the parable so that we can easily refer to it when necessary. …
One day, he got into a boat with his disciples and said to them “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake”. So, they put to sea. Luke 8, 22-25 Two questions emerge from this gospel episode, which tells the story of the time when Jesus and his disciples were crossing the …
A quote from Letter to the Father by Franz Kafka. Max Horkheimer and Theodor W Adorno, “Dialettica dell’Illuminismo”, Torino, Einaudi, 1996 pg11. Weak thought‘ (pensiero debole) – A label applied to the work of Italian philosopher Gianni Vattimo – is an attempt to understand and re-configure traces from the history of thought in ways that accord with …
Journeys of anxieties of an era: secularism and the fatherless society. The personal emancipation process from the father figure, that up to now we have only hinted at (see Rays of Hope: Journeys of Anxieties – part 1), has occurred over the last centuries even at societal level, changing the then current mentality and giving …