Fasting makes sense if it really chips away at our security and, as a consequence, benefits someone else, if it helps us cultivate the style of the good Samaritan, who bent down to his brother in need and took care of him.
Interpretation
Fasting can promote empathy and altruism by encouraging selflessness and care for others.
Pope Francis emphasizes that fasting should not only be a personal sacrifice but also a means to develop compassion and serve those in need. By embracing this spiritual practice, individuals are called to emulate the example of the Good Samaritan, who selflessly cared for others, thus fostering a deeper connection to humanity and social responsibility.
In practice
In a sermon about kindness during Lent, this quote can inspire congregants to consider the needs of others.
We are a church of sinners but we must not be afraid of holiness. Do not be afraid to aim for holiness and turn yourselves over to the love of God. Holiness does not mean performing extraordinary things but carrying out daily things in an extraordinary way that is with love, joy and faith.
I join the March for Life in Washington with my prayers. May God help us respect all life, especially the most vulnerable.
No one must say that they cannot be close to the poor because their own lifestyle demands more attention to other areas. This is an excuse commonly heard in academic, business or professional, and even ecclesial circles. While it is quite true that the essential vocation and mission of the lay faithful is to strive that earthly realities and all human activity may be transformed by the Gospel, none of us can think we are exempt from concern for the poor and for social justice
We face so many challenges in life: poverty, distress, humiliation, the struggle for justice, persecutions, the difficulty of daily conversion, the effort to remain faithful to our call to holiness, and many others. But if we open the door to Jesus and allow him to be part of our lives, if we share our joys and sorrows with him, then we will experience the peace and joy that only God, who is infinite love, can give.
More and more people work on Sundays as a consequence of the competitiveness imposed by a consumer society.
This Christmas may we be consistent in living the Gospel, welcoming Jesus into the centre of our lives.
The scripture in times of disputes is like an open town in times of war, which serves in differently the occasions of both parties.
Superstitious." What a strange word. If you believed in Christianity or Islam, it was called "faith". But if you believed in astrology or Friday the thirteenth it was superstition! Who had the right to call other people's belief superstition?
A being who, as I grew older, lost imagination, emotion, a type of intelligence, a way of feeling things - all that which, while it made me sorry, did not horrify me. But what am I experiencing when I read myself as if I were someone else? On which bank am I standing if I see myself in the depths?
No man is to be credited for his mere authority's sake, unless he can show Scripture for the maintenance of his opinion.
Ambition and hatred are enough to bring Iraq and al Qaeda together.
We become just by the practice of just actions, self-controlled by exercising self-control, and courageous by performing acts of courage.
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