Editorial > Editorial Archive

The following shows the titles and descriptions of past editorials, sorted by date. If you want to read anyone of these, just click on the title.

• Children and Mass Media (May 20, 2007)
  Since 1967 on the Sunday of the Lord's Ascension the Church also celebrates the World Social Communication Day as an invitation to reflect on the use of mass media at the service of good and of truth, and to pray for this use. It is sad to see how in the media children are often “used” at any cost to achieve goals which refer only to their economic benefit, to achieve “success” by whatever means, without taking into account if in the end children and youths are even destroyed. Let us reflect on the use we put the different media, but on the use we put them in our families, in our environment, in the first place by us adults, so we later may be careful and promote and educate our children and youths in the proper use of these media. [Read]



• Fatima and its present message (May 13, 2007)
  On May 13 we celebrate the Virgin Mary under the advocation of Our Lady of Fatima, recalling the apparitions of Mary to three children, little shepherds in Fatima, Portugel. Ninety years have gone by since, and beyond the fact that each one is free to believe or not in these apparitions, the message we got is true: the request for Prayer, especially the Rosary, particularly for peace at a time when World War I was ravaging. At Fatima the Virgin just made us all recall that we can't find the way to a happy, peaceful life “away from God” and that the best “method” for reaching the highest ideals must necessarily appeal to Prayer, to a profound dialogue with God who is the One who can grant us what we long for. The “message of Fatima” still is as up-to-date as it was 90 years ago, and this is so because the world keeps on being self-contained today as well as it was yesterday, trying to put God aside, not letting Him take part in our life, and this is the reason for so many conflicts to go on, for so many confrontations and wars to repeat themselves. If we want something to start to change we must seriously take up again Mary's Fatima messages by which she asks us to use the great “force” within our reach, which is Prayer. [Read]



• Love one another (May 6, 2007)
  In the Gospel, at the time Jesus was almost in death throes at the Garden of Gethsemane, He left us the “great commandment of Love” as a sign of our Faith: “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” When Jesus talks to us about Love He also prompts us to “love your neighbor as you love yourself”, and this would be one of the first questions we should ask ourselves as we watch our attitudes in life: “Would I like that others do to me what I do? Would I like others to talk about me as I talk about other people?” It's both an easy and a difficult “formula”: “Do to others what we would do to ourselves; talk about others us we would talk about us”. [Read]



• Animal's day (April 29, 2007)
  In Argentina April 29 is devoted to the commemoration of “Animal's Day” ("Día del Animal") as a tribute to Dr. Ignacio Lucas Albarracín, passed away on April 29, 1926, who promoted the Animal Protection Law which was passed in 1891. In view of many of our attitudes all this makes me think with no fear of being wrong that it wouldn't be that bad if we resembled animals, or at least many of them. I think no “animal” will ever cold-bloodedly shoot a fellow animal just because it “thinks in a different way” or has different political, ideologic, religious, or sporting colors. Not many “animals” hinder others on their way not letting them walk by, and in view of a “demand” -as rightful as it may be- are disrespectful to others who also have their own rights. Oh, I almost forgot... If someone tells you “you're an animal”, I'm not sure this is an offense, in any case it would be nice to know this animal's opinion. [Read]



• True riches (April 22, 2007)
  At this time where we are shown that true happiness is related to what we “own”, to “consumer goods”, to riches, and where many people feel bad because they don't own more than they do, asking what are true riches seems fine to me. I think of the riches of having a friend, of not feeling lonely, and I think of those who have a secured material life but who have no one with whom they can seriously share a deep moment, a time which will not depend on something material. I think of how good some reading, listening to some good piece of music or sharing a few moments with those we love can make us. There are many kinds of “riches” which provide us true happiness, which are “almost for free” and we almost don't even realize they exist. [Read]



• A practicing Catholic? (April 15, 2007)
  Many times we listen to someone referring to himself as a “practicing Catholic”, or to others who say: “I'm a Catholic, but I don't practise”. Being a practicing Catholic means living a life as consistent as possible with the Faith we profess, which in short is the quest for the imitation of Jesus who is God's Revelation and the One we must follow. Today more than ever the testimony of Catholics is needed, of those who at every moment of their lives, in every place they happened to be, in the experience of their responsibilities and duties, show to others that living according to their faith is possible. I am sure we may then say there are “practicing Catholics”. [Read]



• The Truth of Resurrection (April 8, 2007)
  It's Easter! Jesus has risen. It is the great truth of our Faith and the very grounds of our Faith. Jesus' Resurrection is the basis of our faith because Jesus offered His own resurrection as the mayor proof of both His mediation and divinity. The Risen Jesus goes on living in the Church, in us who are parts of it, in our lives, in our gestures, in our words. Today we must be witnesses of this great truth of Resurrection in order to show the world a way of renewed hope. [Read]



• The Cross (April 1, 2007)
  This is the Holy Week, the great Week of our Faith, the one which leads us directly to Jesus' Resurrection. It is the week in which Jesus Himself, God made Man, “will take up the Cross”, will give His life for all Men, in short for Man, and by His Resurrection on Easter He will return us hope. We all have our Cross, it is enough to look at our life and the lives of those around us: sickness, abandonment, slander... everything is a Cross, and although there is a “wide range of crosses”, they all are crosses. The Holy Week, the week in which our own Cross gets its true and deep meaning, the one given by Jesus Himself who “carried His Cross and gave up His life, but not everything ends on Good Friday, which just was the necessary and advisable step towards Resurrection, from which everything gets a new meaning. [Read]



• Day of the Unborn Child (March 25, 2007)
  Some years have already gone by since in our country March 25 has been established as the date on which the “Day of the Unborn Child” is to be celebrated, and there are also other countries who join us in this “celebration”. It is encouraging that we remember and somehow “celebrate” this day, although it often is quite difficult to understand that on one hand Government establishes a day for us to think and reflect on the “unborn child” and on the other, some years later this same Government states all kind of arguments and laws in order to “favor” and even legalize that children should definitively not be born. May this day help us all to reflect, to pray, and to go on in our commitment of the “defense of Life”. [Read]



• We talk about everything, but not... (March 18, 2007)
  We are flooded by words, by noises, by opinions, but we hardly ever talk about truly important or essential things in our life. It seems as if we express what we feel deep inside of us this will “move us away” from others, who will look at us as if we were some kind of “odd guy”. If we are asked: “are you Catholic?”, we surely will respond Yes, “but my way”, “but not a saint”, “more or less”, and telling others that we pray, that in the intimacy of our life we ask God to give us strength wouldn't even come to our mind. Many times this is due to our wish of “being equal to others”, or to avoid people looking at us in a certain way. And the same happens to us in other aspects: we believe in Love, but not that much; in Faith as something very important, but up to there; in work, but... Let's also talk about the deepest and the most important things, because it is true that if we don't share what we have in our heart and our soul, we run the risk of leaving them empty. [Read]



• Everyday peace (March 11, 2007)
  It's not the first time that I share some reflection on Peace, placing emphasis on the kind of peace everyone needs to reach, this “inner” peace which doubtlessly will achieve what we so hardly long for in our current world, which is total and definitive Peace. Amid a world which is so cramped, I wonder why many of our “leading” countries are so violent, and maybe we can start finding the answer in realizing that we live in a violent world, and that this world is violent because we human beings often show signs of violence, of failures of peace in our inside. We should reflect on which are the attitudes which will allow us to achieve this peace. Attitutes which arise from our interior and as they radiate to others they will make us realize that we live in peace, and that we also are able to transmit it. These attitudes must arise from a soul which is able to smile, to forgive, to listen and to go along with others, to take the time to admire and “enjoy” the “small things” which show up every day, which are the ones which make our lives experience true peace, and thus we can build it day by day. [Read]



• Training in essentials (March 4, 2007)
  The “education” issue is much talked about, much discussed, policies are implemented, laws are generated, many -sometimes too many- changes are made, and there is always some doubt if all this is actually done with the true intention of achieving a better education, or more precisely, of being able to provide “training in essentials”. The idea of educationg without accounting for religious aspects of Man is becoming generalized throughout the world, as if it were an obstacle instead of something that fosters a person's growth. How the adults of tomorrow will behave will depend on the education we give them. If the center of education is everything but Man and his true happiness there is no doubt the prospect will be quite dangerous. If we don't teach how to “open up” to others, to “Man”, to leave aside our selfishness, we may get a degree in Medicine, Law, Engineering, or be a Priest... buth the aftermath will still be “devastating” for our community if we don't take pains in order to train in essentials. [Read]



• Lent (February 25, 2007)
  This month Lent time begins, another moment given for our spiritual life by God and the Church, so that we can proceed another step in our relation with Him. The Word of God will talk to us in this beginning about “Jesus' temptations” and how to overcome them. These temptations will be overcome “by Faith”, this Faith in Divine Providence which “makes all things work together for good to those who love God”, who always thinks of us, who “counted all our hairs”. This same Faith teaches us we also can overcome these sort of temptations ourselves, just us Jesus did. The three temptations Jesus was exposed to deal with bread: after so many days of fasting He felt hungry; with pride, “if You are the Son of God throw yourself down...”, and with power: “I will give you all the kingdoms on Earth if you bow down and worship me”. Jesus will overcome and reject each and everyone of these temptations by the Word of God, with His eyes always directed unto God, and this is the way which at every Lent we are suggested and reminded of: deepening our relation with God, reading and reflecting on His Word and also, following the example of Jesus, the search for mortification of our material desires as something which helps us to put our relation with Him in the first place. [Read]



• Do to others... (February 18, 2007)
  ...what you would have them do to you. This “golden rule” which Jesus left us in the Gospel and which is so simple to write and to pronounce is the life rule which, beyond any religion, could make any human being live his life in a full and happy way. When Jesus referred to this He is both very clear and demanding, since He will talk about being “merciful”, about “not judging in order not to be judged”, about “not condemning in order not to be condemned”, about “forgiving in order to be forgiven”, about “giving in order to receive”. How many times we turn ourselves into judges of others, condemning simply by what we have heard or what seems to us, we feel as if we “owned” forgiveness, thus we are not able to forgive, we lock into our own selfishness and do not see the need of those around us. When being ourselves in the situation of these “others”, when it is us who don't get what we were not able of giving, it's almost sure we will realize what we were not being given and will even demand different attitudes from others. Understanding, forgiving, giving, doing to another human being what we would love was done to us, are just simple and even “logical” attitudes which would doubtlessly make us live a much happier life if we were able of putting them into practice. [Read]



• Happiness is built up day-by-day (February 11, 2007)
  As Jesus states the Beatitudes He has a large crowd facing Him, probably made up of rich and poor, healthy and sick people, some of them simple and others overflowing with problems of every kind, in short, it was a group with all their worries and troubles. The same thing happens these days. Both in the times of Jesus and today, they had the same desire: “They wished to be happy”, and surely each and everyone put all necessary means to achieve this aspiration. But... Is it possible to be happy?, Really truly happy? Well, Jesus answers this question with the “Beatitudes”: “Blessed be the poor, those who weap, those who hunger for bread and justice...” Jesus teaches us that true happiness does not lie in a ready “palace” which someone gives us as a present, but that happiness is built up by us day-by-day by means of our “self-fulfillment”, by the search for a life according to deep and permanent values, not those which just “satisfy” for a while or which don't aid in getting hold of those things which really fulfill, such as family, affection, personal capabilities, the feeling of “having reached fulfillment” through achieving goals “which don't fall down in the first blow of wind” by means of one's own struggle and efforts. [Read]



• Let's care for our life (February 4, 2007)
  n view of what is going on these days in our country, related to the number of accidents with a tragic outcome, this time I will refer to the death of many people, or the non-lethal outcome of so many people which will experience physical, mind, or family consequences, which still is tragic. I called them accidents, and that's what they are called immediately after they happen, but later on as we learn some more details, many times we see they could have been avoided, and that these “accidents” are no more and no less than regrettable consequences of our lack of respect towards ourselves and towards others, of not complying with transit laws, of not considering if we are in conditions or not for driving, and we also have found people who work as a public service driving public transport vehicles who are being demanded an excessive work load, or whose vehicles are not shipshape as they should be. That's when this question comes to my mind, as it probably does to many others: What's wrong with us? Don't we value life anymore? Are we no longer interested in caring for life? Or perhaps we feel “almighty”, so that nothing can happen to us? [Read]



• To know how to live (January 28, 2007)
  Raising this issue, knowing how to live, or what we often call “living one's life” will surely trigger different reations and different ways of interpreting it. For many people it will mean enjoying oneself no matter what, and making the most of life, because “life is short” and it must be lived. In this case my reflection recalls something I read a long time ago, referring to us human beings who instead of “living” try to “live better than others”, and this may be one of the reasons why we cannot reach happiness, or at least avoid living a “sad” life. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, which is to say, we always envy that what we don't have or more precisely, what the other person owns or has achieved, and this way we will never find happiness, we'll never know how to live, I think we will never be happy because we will always be thinking about things we lack, things which often the other person owns, and we don't realize we can enjoy the things we own ourselves and be happy. True happiness lies in knowing how to enjoy that what we have instead of wasting our life worrying about what we lack but some other has, thinking that true riches lie precisely in what we have, what we got by our effort, without comparing ourselves to others, thus filling ourselves with happiness and knowing how to “enjoy life”. [Read]



• Balance is out of fashion (January 21, 2007)
  Some time ago while watching attitudes of many people I wondered wherein balance lies, that is to say, being “balanced” at the time of acting, thinking, talking. I realized how hard it is to live this way. It seems that excesses, extravagant gestures and somewhat violent converstarions stand out, as they should, and that these are the things which attract attention. It suffices to have a look at the “idols” followed by young people, where we notice that many of them “act” this way, there being no doubt that in their private lives they will be much more “laid-back and balanced”, and all this flashy performing is just that: a “performance”. Which is the true personality, the true maturity? It looks like as if we were forced to live with anguish, tense, always as if we were “going off”, thinking that being “vital” is a synonym of excess, of a certain “neurosis” as if people like that were the truly “great” ones. Those really Great to me are those who love the silence, those who work without quailing, those who are patient and know how to wait, not living in permanent “commotion”. [Read]



• Enjoy having a rest (January 14, 2007)
  There are those who use this resting period as a time to take up again strength or to more carefully carry out some activity which they cannot undertake in the rest of the year due to their duties, i.e. reading, praying a little more, spending time with their beloved ones... The sense we give to our rest often is some “at last I stop working”, and perhaps we can't enjoy the resting time as we ought to do because we may have not learnt the true sense of resting which consist of being able to love and enjoy that what we possess, that what we have made. May our rest help us enjoying more that what we have made, that what we possess, the people around us, either by going somewhere in order to admire Nature as given to us by God or staying at home speding more time in a different way with those with whom we live, which may be difficult to do all year around due to the pace of events by which we live. [Read]



• Wise men who set an example (January 7, 2007)
  The Wise Men made a long trip seeking the God child which had been born, they did so convinced that this was the best thing to do. Recalling the encounter of the Magi with the God child I think this can make us reflect on some of the features these men had and maybe many things would improve in our lives if we too had them. It comes to my mind these could be a fine gift we could ask from the Three Kings for each and everyone of us. [Read]



• The value of Family (December 31, 2006)
  Between the Christmas Feast and the New Year the Church invites us to celebrate the Holy Family. Following Jesus' birth, a moment to pay tribute and to reflect about the Family which welcomed Him, since we could not celebrate His Becoming Man and His Birth without thinking of Mary, who carried Him in her bosom for nine months, and of Joseph, who lovingly and with discretion protected the mistery of this birth. By putting before our eyes the experience of this Family of Jesus the Church wants us to have a role model for our own families. By looking at Jesus' Holy Family we see that the Lord spent thirty years of his thirty-three years of life to hallow familym and three years on His Work of Salvation. We must realize how much time we spend tith others, with “outsiders”, and how little time we spend with those with whom we share our lives... and enjoy our family, “hallow” her as Jesus Himself did. [Read]



• Glory to God in the highest... (December 24, 2006)
  We are experiencing the days of Jesus' birth, in which “all things are renewed”... but I wonder if they actually will renew? Will we seriously renew ourselves this Christmas? Will there be actually something different in the life of each Man from now on? And the answer should be Yes of course, how can we not renew when we are experiencing the mistery of Christmas, in which God becomes Man in order to fill us with His Peace and Love, when He comes to tell us that Salvation is near, that we shall not be afraid. Therefore I imagine that all this must help us to renew, to rejoice, to realize that something can and must change in our lives. From the depth of our hearts, if we know how to share such a joy then the expression of “shouting” MERRY CHRISTMAS! to whoever we find on the road will become true, otherwise it will be some other red-letter day on which we will rest together with our family, but we will have lost the chance of welcoming in our heart “the One who truly renews all things”. [Read]



• A time of joy and conversion (December 17, 2006)
  Just as John the Baptist prepared the people of Israel for the coming of the Messiah by inviting them to be joyous ant to convert their lives, as Church we are called to do the same job. We must show the world that the coming of Christmas generates something different, something that will fill us with joy since the Salvation offered by God to all men by sending His Son which is God made man is “for the joy of our hearts”. Our joy does not just reside in Christmas being near, but also in the invitation made to us to be conveyors of this joy of salvation. In short, a time to draw the balance, a time to prepare Jesus' coming, a time which without any doubt should make us reflect on which attitudes need to be changed, in the knowledge that therefore we will experience the salvation we all need, and thus experience the joy of “renewing all things and our whole life” which Christmas brings. [Read]



• Whereto Mankind is heading (December 10, 2006)
  I usually wonder, and even more so at this “calendar changing time”, about the reason why there is so much disappointment among people, so much anguish, fears, so many people who cannot find sense to their lives, and so many people who can't seriously “enjoy” life. I think it is known by intuition that if Mankind does not perform a deep change in the experience of her values, in the attitudes which start at the heart, Mankind's progress itself can carry to her “destruction”. It seems to me that as Christians we have got something which can fill this concern of Man in something which can give him full happiness, and this is “love”, but serious Love written with capital letters, the one God gave us through our capability of giving and receiving it. Let's start with those close to us, our family, our friends, our job mates, our neighbors. Since Christmas is near, where both words Love and Jesus are synonymous, this may be the time to reconsider how we are experiencing this Love. Maybe we should ask if Jesus (the Love) fills our life, and from thereon we will find all other answers and the true meaning of life and where Mankind is heading to. [Read]



• A time of preparation and hope (December 3, 2006)
  These days we begin Advent Time in which for four weeks the Church invites us to prepare ourselves for the great event of the coming of Jesus, Christmas. It is a time to do our self-examination and to get ready to consider which are the things that separate us from the Lord, and to try to leave aside everything which detaches us from Him. Our preparation for Christmas at this time will fructify if we are capable of understanding that the Lord renews His presence in our lives and calls us to take some concrete step so others may feel this presence, or else this Christmas will be no more than one of many feasts we celebrate and it will not accomplish an experience of faith in us, not to mention a deep change. [Read]



• Christ the King (November 26, 2006)
  Church Liturgy celebrates the Liturgic Year's last week with the Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, or Christ the King as it is generally known. During the next week Advent Time starts and we will be beginning a new Liturgical Year. Jesus indentified Himself with the poorest, thus His kingship is in them although it is hard for us seeing a “king” who is forgotten in his disease, in the loneliness of a nursing home or a hospital, or in those children who are forced to beg or to “work” cleaning windshields in order to survive. Fortunately there are places where these “kings” in the manner of Jesus are accompanied and have recovered this dignity, as is the case of many Homes, the “Little Cottolengos”, the Homes of the Felices los Niños Foundation, and many others. There, in these places among many hearts showing solidarity we realize there are many people who understood what Jesus' “kingship” truly means, this kingship which fights for a world ruled by love, justice, truth, and peace. Let us be part with our deeds of this true Universal Kingship of Jesus. [Read]



• Keeping company with those who suffer (November 19, 2006)
  What is there to be said in the presence of certain sorrows, trials, and crosses? Usually our words turn useless, many times they are just foolish and senseless. In the presence of sorrow everything may sound different, whatever is said and as valid as it can be, but “staying at one's side” keeping company and maybe even suffering ourselves inwardly is something different. It is very likely that the person who is experiencing a time of anguish also knows that it is not me who can provide a solution or who “by magic” can overcome this moment, and that what he really is looking for is feeling that someone who may not be able of much more than just “being there” will keep him company, but who actually is doing “everything” what at this time is needed by the person who suffers. [Read]



• Our picture of God (November 12, 2006)
  Questionings about the existence of God are rather frequent, asking why certain things in the world don't cease to happen among all the injustice and suffering which can be seen every day, if in short we were taught that God protects and loves good people, those who love Him. God is good if He “settles” all my problems in some sort of “magical” way, and He is even more powerful if he settles them quickly. Faith in God, His love, our confidence in Him are things rather different from what many Christians think. Many times being a Christian means understanding that God even may make certain things happen which from a human point of view may seem incomprehensible, but which in His infinite love to us acquire deep sense and which after all are for our very best. [Read]



• Why do we get angry? (November 5, 2006)
  For some time now we witness “anger”. Although the human being has a strong character which makes it grow angry as it looks for the best for itself and for others, it seems to me that nowadays we became somewhat more “sensitive”, as if anything would make us react, get angry, up to the point of “assaulting” others in an almost ruthless way. Maybe at first we are “tempted” to look up or to a side, paying attention to those with great responsibilities, which may be all right, but let us not forget our own close responsibilities which many times demand a distinct and committed answer and not some “simple anger” because things don't work out or are not done, and we do not realize that carrying out things may be in our reach. [Read]



• Let's not pass by (October 29, 2006)
  There's a story in the Gospel which always drew my special attention, which is when Jesus cures Bartimaeus, a blind man sitting at the wayside asking for alms who, when he heard Jesus was going to walk by, started to shout for help. At last Jesus worked a miracle which made Bartimaeus see again. However, the scene makes me reflect as each of us can make some reflections about this story, looking for the place we choose to stay, being many times in need of Jesus who walks by, even “shouting” so He hears us and stops walking by, while others we may be the ones who aid others in meeting the Lord, and perhaps many times we are the means by which the Lord can meet our brothers and sisters in need as He walks by. [Read]



• To educate or getting educated? (October 22, 2006)
  For a long time different alternatives of sex education at schools have been deviced, and even laws have been passed in order to institute compulsory curricula starting at the very beginning of children's school education. Many times, if not to say most of the times, these laws do not take into account the irreplaceable role of the family in the comprehensive education of their children, and as such in sex education which should classify as “education for love”. I wonder why the family is not included, why something is “assumed” without looking for the means and the ways for parents to “educate” themselves on this matter so as first responsibles they can be the authors of their children's education, taking into account that the rest of institutions (schools, society, churches, etc.) collaborate in the educating task. I don't agree with “sex education” which only tries to explain how to perform certain acts with the least possible risks, or which fulfil certain interests; but I side with “education for love” as a value suitable for those whom God gave that capability for love which makes Man devote himself freely and without selfishness, because full happiness can be found through devotion, but of course in order to find it we must first find out if as adults we have been “educated”, so this way we are able to “educate”. [Read]



• Motherly Glance and Motherly Heart (October 15, 2006)
  It is not easy to understand how it comes some women think of motherhood as a “burden”, and that they cannot find in this marvelous gift the most important reason for full fulfillment. Motherly glance and motherly heart are attitudes we and many others need dearly in life, sometimes I wonder if we wouldn't be able to overcome injustice and pain, therefore avoiding much sorrow if many of us could fill ourselves with these virtues. Being a mother is a wonderful gift God granted Woman on earth, but it needs full acceptance and openness of heart, and a capability of loving which often brings her suffering and sorrow, the understanding that as years goes by and wrinkles come, it is not just a sign of “aging” but all of these “marcs” show total and full dedication to their children. [Read]



• Afraid of children? (October 8, 2006)
  In recent times there has been a lot of talking about life, or about new life, trying to teach “sex education” where what is being “taught” is just how to enjoy riskless “sex”, and when I refer to “risks” I don't just mean diseases but what is often referred to as “pregnancy prevention” as if pregnancy were some “disease” not even to mention the infinite number of theories by which some try to justify “abortion”, on whatever grounds. “Giving life” is an act of the deepest and most sublime generosity, which of course is not just temporary but which is a commitment for life, since a child which is born will need very much care, it will need to be helped in his growth, to be protected and to be attended. For those who prefer the egotism of caring for themselves this is rather a “nuisance”. Afraid of children? It is difficult for me to believe so, although there are many situations which seem to answer in the affirmative to this question, although if we consider that the worst thing for a human being is “selfishness” we will understand that it is not “the child” who is to be feared, but this disease which can result in the human heart closing itself without being able to find full happiness, which is reached when we open up to others. [Read]



• Mother, teach us how to live like brothers and sisters (October 1, 2006)
  As in every year, the beginning of October has a particular meaning for the Church in Argentina, and especially in Buenos Aires, since it is the time of the annual Youth Pilgrimage to the National Basilica at Luján, where hundreds of thousands of young people -either by age or in spirit- join to cover the distance of 44 miles between St. Gaetan Sanctuary in the city of Buenos Aires and Nuestra Señora de Luján Basilica in the city of Luján. This year the Pilgrimage is held under the motto: “Mother, teach us to live like brothers and sisters”, a request made by every Argentinian from the depth of his heart asking Mother Mary to help us in living as true siblings. We therefore ask you, Mother, to teach us who to live like brothers and sisters, open our minds and our hearts so we can live in spiritual unity. [Read]



• “Orphans of living parents” (September 24, 2006)
  I heard this expression a long time ago, in first place it refers to the large number of children and youths whose parents are not deceased but who for different reasons cannot be there, so they need someone who “takes charge” in their place. But there also are those who live as “orphans” because they have no ideals, who live an “empty” life, who just “walk through life” without any goal. This is no more, no less than living without hope, and thus I call it “being an orphan” since one looks backward and there seems to be no history, and by looking forward one just sees “up to there”, so no sense is seen in why or for whom to live. [Read]



• Does God really listen? (September 17, 2006)
  There are so many people who asked for a beloved one's health, for a son who needs to find a job, for security, etc., and it seems that God “is deaf”, or that Prayer is not quite effectual. Therefore, we have to add to this reality which makes people suffer, some kind of “crisis” in their Faith, which also hurts a lot. God is not someone who was appointed to solve our problems, to keep us from fighting, from our suffering, and He is also not their cause, but He is the One who gives real sense to them, and in any case God's “goodness” does not just apply when He grants me everything I ask for, at the time and the way I ask for them. Our relation with God must not be a “business relation”, a relation in which we “love Him” inasmuch He loves me, instead, it should be based on our complete surrendering, like the true Love among people, which is not based on interest or selfishness, but on the pure Gift of Love. [Read]



• We carry on smattering (September 10, 2006)
  In our “modern” world talking about deep issues, about things which are essential to our lives grows increasingly harder, we talk about everything but always in a superficial way, we “smatter”. When faced with limit situations, with great difficulties we must overcome, or with painful moments we may feel the need of talking about deep issues, as if we would need some “heavy blow” in order to realize what is essential in our lives and what gives true sense to them, so we can resort to it. They ask us if we are Catholics, if we believe, and accepting it may cause us some shame, because most certainly we will feel “from another world”. [Read]



• We live... but are we alive as well? (September 3, 2006)
  Today the reflection's “trigger” is related to this question of if we really “are alive”, if we fully carry on with our life, or as it often happens, if we just are “dragging along”. When referring to life and to how we live it I don't just refer to development, to growth, to the organic issue, but to “intentness” for living, this “passion” for everything that concerns us, the power I experience when doing my job, what we seriously could call “being fulfilled”, a feeling of “plenty” due to what we do throughout our life, feeling we are alive through what we are and what we do, not just in a material way which is also important, but even more important, realizing that whatever we do truly “fills” our existence. When referring to important figures of our history, to models in our Church, perhaps to close loved ones who “gave” their lives for an ideal, for their families, who fully devoted themselves to a mission assigned to them, who may put in doubt a fully lived” life which makes us feel like “getting infected” so we can stimulate and realize that live deserves to be lived and devoted to a cause? [Read]



• The Value of Self Conquest (August 27, 2006)
  Self conquest is a value which makes us strive for perfection in every aspect of our lives, overcoming handicaps and striving to achieve what we have intended. Personal improvement is very related to a person's attitude, it is a permanent wish of “improvement” which avoids falling into “conformism”. We will always find some obstacle in our life which will “slow down” many of our projects, but let us not forget that everything depends on us, on how we are able to cope with these apparent hindrances, in the knowledge that not everything is easy, but that everything can be achieved with effort and perseverance. [Read]



• Reality keeps questioning us (August 20, 2006)
  As days, months, and years go by, as we go on waiting for replies to so many new needs, as we go on listening to theories on what to do with so many suffering people in need, we still notice that actually no big changes can be seen, snd many people still move suffering in front of us, but we are not able to help them, or maybe that's what it looks to us. We walk by and go on seeing abandoned old people, whole families trying to survive, and maybe this reality doesn't hurt us anymore because we are getting used to this “urban scenery” of our cities like so many others we see day by day. Let us not think we can't do anything to help it since from the faith we profess there's no doubt we can lift a prayer asking for hearts of people to “soften” and for minds to light up, but we also can begin to do something specific for those around us who suffer, by offering our help or our support without wondering if it is little or much and if this is a thorough solution to problems or not, since while we wait for “thorough solutions” we probably can solve a specific problem of some specific person at a specific time. [Read]



• What we convey to children and young people (August 13, 2006)
  Each year the celebration of Children's Day makes us try to reflect on what we are doing for them as a society, as the Church, as adults. Are we actually convinced that for us adults children must be our main concern, that they really must be “privileged” and that therefore everything we do must have a distant look at the world we are going to pass on to them? Children, teens and young people show the typical vitality of their age full of dreams and ideals and there's no doubt they need to be stimulated by reality without being misled, but they also need encouragement for “great undertakings”. Let us not underestimate our children and young people, let us not “placate” their ideals by filling them with our own pessimism and discouragement but let us instill in them the firm wish of a comprehensive search for true happiness and let us be ready to walk with them along this way. [Read]



• Hearts must be changed (August 6, 2006)
  It is amazing how many very faithful believers who follow Jesus and the Gospel think that the best way in order to achieve changes in Mankind resides in some kind of fighting, conflict, actions related to externalities without first searching for a deep change which has its seeds in the heart. This is what we call “conversion”, which comes from the inside of life, that what we sum up as a “change of heart”. Violence, hate, sector struggle can only be overcome if there is a conviction inside people from the “heart”, which is the place, as Jesus states in the Gospel “where good and bad intentions of human beings meet each other”. Those of us who have Faith must be the first ones in persuading ourselves, in order to later persuade others, that the “change which comes from the heart” is the surest way to follow in order to later be able to change structures and systems. [Read]



• Do we know how to cope with mistakes? (July 30, 2006)
  I wonder many times if being a "perfectionist" is actually a virtue, or if it is a defect. I believe both things are true. I always think that the important thing in life is not the lack of failure, "not falling down", but the ability to react when faced with some failure, if we are able to get up after we fell down. Thus it seems fundamental to me that we prepare our children and young people already at a young age for this chance of making mistakes, how to cope with an error, how to be able to "take it on", "to accept" their own falures instead of making them think they may be "almighty" up to the point of talking of "failure" when they make a mistake. I hope we will be able to teach our youngsters there is no "troubleless" life without the chance of making errors, but that every person has the capability of overcoming them. [Read]



• The truth about the word LOVE (July 23, 2006)
  I think the word Love is one of the words we employ most often, and it may also be the word we often use “most wrongly”. How many times the word “love” is applied to things or situations which have not the least to do with what this word truly means. We must distinguish between “love” and “infatuation” we may feel towards someone, since “loving” someone is searching for full happiness of the beloved one, it is a gift, a devotion of oneself, without asking or expecting anything in exchange. Infatuation of the senses is often filled with what is “felt” towards the other and with what he or she “can give me”. [Read]



• Uncovering what's inside (July 16, 2006)
  Education is not so much “adding” things from the outside, but helping to discover what's in the inside. As a matter of fact the term education derives from the Latin term “educere”, which means precisely that: “taking out from the inside”. What a wonderful feeling it is when adults, both parents and educators, realize that what we call teaching is no other thing than helping children and young people in discovering that what they already have in their inside, teaching them to “put it in the light outside”. The educator is a “sculptor” who aids in uncovering what's in the inside putting away with that what there is in excess, he is not a “painter” who adds colors from the outside. [Read]



• Independence and liberty (July 9, 2006)
  There's no doubt we can reflect a lot on the issue of liberty in different ways. I'm not going to refer to freedom just from the Homeland Independence standpoint that different countries either have achieved or are fighting in order to achieve it, of which we are sure it is a right of peoples. Where to does freedom lead? To “lack of restraint” so I can do what I want, thinking and acting by rejecting elementary rules of human coexistence or of an organized society? Or does it lead to the respect owed to the rules set up in order to allow us to live in a world which tries to respect the dignity of all human beings, but in a way which does not reject or embarass what God's wisdom has established in Nature? Freedom is a “wonderful gift” given to us, but in order to exercise it we must start respecting the objective truth of things, respect Nature and respect ourselves and others, else we will end up “freely becoming slaves”. [Read]



• Let's value the present (July 2, 2006)
  One of the hardest things to human beings is knowing how to value and live the present, not always being “enslaved” by our past nor being worried or “frozen” by the future. Many people live tied up to the past, maybe because they suffered some failure without knowing how to overcome it and try something new again, yearning for something which they didn't get or even something they lost, people who are not able to live this past “without bitterness”. There is only the present, the past has passed by and the future hasn't yet arrived, so living “today” the “present” is what gives us happiness, what makes us feel “alive”, therefore there is no other way to happiness than being happy today, to feel alive by living this day. [Read]



• Not to be deceived by appearance (June 25, 2006)
  How often we become conditioned by what we have at sight and supported by this we make some verdict, discredit, or simply do not listen, perhaps depriving ourselves from learning many things which could be taught to us! Not even to mention many of our leaders, when they talk about others and reject them because of their “past” or because of the position they hold or once held, or because they profess a certain religion, have these or those ideas, or simply because someone thinks in a different way, or just “does not think like I do”. I believe we all support the better part of our thoughts on a first impression on what's at sight, on external things, and no one thinks much about how many things could change or be different if we realized that what matters is not clothing, external looks, or if someone's hair is long or short as it mattered in other times, but what is important is what the other person thinks, although it may not agree with my own way of thinking, but what the other person thinks is important because of what she communicates, in short what the person “is”, not what we appreciate from the outside. [Read]



• Appreciating the “gift” of Fatherhood (June 18, 2006)
  In many countries this third Sunday in June is dedicated to the celebration of “Father's Day”, and without fear of becoming repetitive in these reflections I share with you customarily, I think we should not let the chance walk by of saying something about the wonderful “gift” of Fatherhood. Being a father means having received from God Himself the ability of sharing His own fatherhood since through Jesus' revelaion we find out that God is Father, that He is “the Father” and us such has made us participants of this gift and everything it implies. I therefore wish that all of us were able to appreciate and exert the gift of fatherhood, a Godgiven gift, and that building upon it all these children may grow getting the benefits of fatherhood, thus preparing themselves to exert it in the future. [Read]



• Money can't buy everything (June 11, 2006)
  In today's world we witness the terrible difference among those who own the most and those who won less and less, and many of the latter experience this lack of means as a true “tragedy”. Of course I'm not referring to those who do not have enough just to cover their bare necessities, but to those who consider themselves “disregarded” because they feel they have not enough riches and who think that for this reason their life is completely different of what it could have been... and no doubt it is. But I wonder: Can money buy everything? To this we surely will all reply it cannot, not everything depends on money, there are many things money can't buy. Let us value those things which are really important, which fulfill us deeply, most of which are not “for sale”, let us not wait until we “lose” many things we enjoy before we value them. [Read]



• Joy: Fruit of the Spirit (June 4, 2006)
  With the celebration of the Feast of Pentecost this week ends the so-called Easter Time. This Feast reminds us the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the assembled disciples who from thereon were fortified by the presence of the One who would aid them in the Mission they started at once, which was spreading out to the world Jesus' Good News. The gifts of Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord are given to those who receive the Holy Spirit in order to help them on their way of faithfulness to God, to understand His Will, to have the fortitude of living it. The Spirit's joy, the joy of being a Christian, the joy which is born in Faith and which is a result of the Spirit who assists us is one of the fruits others expect to see in us. May the Holy Spirit really help us to be witnesses of hope amid our world which often is confused and desperate. [Read]



• Go into all the world (May 28, 2006)
  With the Feast of Jesus' Ascencion to Heaven we are celebrating the last days of Easter time. After His resurrection he stayed forty days with His disciples urging, teaching, and preparing them for their Mission of putting forth the message of the Good News in this incipient Church which was starting to reveal itself. How will others believe Jesus' message to be truth, that we indeed have a different hope, that we are called to Salvation and thus something awaits us which is much more trascendent than we can see by our common senses? They will believe by our deeds, so let us go to one of the many places which are waiting for us, and when they ask us: why do yo do it?... let's simply reply ”because I am a Christian and Jesus gave us this mission”. [Read]



• You did not choose me (May 21, 2006)
  In the Gospel Jesus tells us: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last”. The starting point of the commandment of love Jesus gives us is that God loved us first and that this love made Him choose and prepare us so we could bear fruit. We must realize wholeheartedly realize that “we were chosen”, that our life makes sense because God put us on Earth for some purpose, our existence is not an accident, and therefore we must be true to the mission which was endowed to us. [Read]



• The origin of evil in the world (May 14, 2006)
  Today this question comes to my mind: what's the origin of the evil we find in the world? It happens as if violence, power obsession, unrestrained search for pleasure, child exploitation, unemployment, split families, etc., were all something we must “suffer” no matter what, as if the human being had nothing to do with them. It is man who steals, kills, and exploits others. How many of our attitudes bring others to “suffer”, how much of our selfishness avoids others from living decently, how many things we “throw away” which could relieve others in their need. Trying to avoid making evil grow would already be a very good move. [Read]



• The workers are few (May 7, 2006)
  These days the Church shows us a reason for our Prayer and reflection, the issue of Vocation as complete devotion to God for the service of our brothers and sisters. “The workers are few” are Jesus' own words as he saw not only the reality of a very wide “field” for sowing the Good News, but on the other hand how few workers where determined to work in order to cope with the harvest. For sure we can show many attitudes which favor this reality, starting with accompaniment, support, encouragement and good examples we can give young people, up to the chance of setting up the “right mood”, an adequate environment so these callings may happen and young people may find a moment and a place where they can reflect and may accept what God proposes for their lives, and from there on respond generously. [Read]



• People live “bored” (April 30, 2006)
  Something we notice in our current world is the number of people who for whatever reasons seem to be dissatisfied by what they are or what they do, so their life turned into “a bore”. This can be clearly seen with many teenagers and young people, but also with many adults who “just have no other choice” than accepting whatever they are bound to live, but who don't “elate” with anything. Maybe people live a boring life because they don't carry out one of the firstmost attitudes which is “giving”, offering themselves, the understanding that life becomes “entertaining” once we are able to give it to others, to offer it, but not in selfish attitude which would make us feel empty without doing anything in spite of having a number of exciting things to do at our disposal. [Read]



• Who are the only “privileged persons”? (April 23, 2006)
  We continually hear and read about children who starved to death, about some 60% of the children living in the Province of Buenos Aires being either poor or poverty-stricken, about increasing juvenile delinquency, etc., and this is just talking about Argentina, what could we say if we go out into the world, where millions and millions starve to death or at best live in misery? Many will say What can we do for so many people in need? Many times we remain at the “theory”, we just keep telling, giving our opinion, debating and sometimes justifying, just being spectators of what is going on very close to us, but this is not enough by any means, not enough for anyone and even more so for us who just a few days ago “rejoiced” with the Risen Jesus who filled us with hope, but Resurrection is no theoretical matter, we must transform it into concrete actions, and perhaps one of these is once and for all changing this “the only privileged persons are the children” into a reality, so that it doesn't remain as a beautiful motto from the past. [Read]



• Easter, a celebration of Joy (April 16, 2006)
  It is Easter, the feast of Resurrection, Jesus' definitive victory on death, on evil, on sin, and we are called to witness this, for which we must be aware of the many reasons for joy we have as a result of this “passing” of Jesus and ourselves, and then we will turn into witnesses of resurrection, because, who is unable to share with others his true and profound reasons for joy? Easter must fill us with joy not just for Jesus' resurrection but also because by this event we may become aware of many events in our life which cause joy. We must rejoice for so many “gifts we received” which are not our own merit but are simply concrete gestures of “God's overflowing Love”: Life, Faith, the fact itself that we are “loved by God” and that we ourselves are also capable of love. [Read]



• A special week (April 9, 2006)
  This is the Holy Week during which we escort Jesus in His final hours in which He will give His live for all Mankind so we may have the chance of reaching Salvation. I think our effort this week should focus on avoiding it to be a week like all others even among our expressions of Faith so everrything does not end up being a simple memory, in which we “are sorry” for all sufferings the Lord went though, beating our chest and feel “satisfied” at the end of these days that we have had a week of reflection. May this Holy Week be different for each one, may it be a moment of a deeper and closer encounter whith the One who “gave His life” so we may have “plenty of it”, but hopefully this encounter will not end up being a theoretical reflection but actual closeness with those who identifying themselves with the Lord suffer their own Calvary way, thus, we will be able to experience the presence of the Resurrected Christ, because we must not forget that not everything ends at the Cross, but in the Resurrection of Jesus who will fill us with hope. [Read]



• No forgetting (April 2, 2006)
  For some days now we heard a lot about “we must not forget” referring to many events our contry experienced, recalling so many moments of “horror” which shound not fall into oblivion. Many moments of our country's history are drenched with blood, with many people who have given their lives, or more truthfully, whose lives have been taken, many times in the confrontation of brethren of the same soil, and in others, in the defense of what they considered fair. Let us remember and look forward so we don't need any war in order to realize the great value of a single life or of the potentialities we have as a country. [Read]



• To be good every day (March 26, 2006)
  Why are so many people unhappy with what they do or what they own? If each one of us started looking around, we probably would find that most of the people around us are good, generous human beings who try to make a decent living, full of really good intentions. Why it is then that many times there's a feeling of “sadness” as if happiness cpuld not be found, as if we were unhappy? Could it be because it is very hard for us to do “good on a daily basis” so that we only react when faced with “extraordinary” events? [Read]



• What conversion means (March 19, 2006)
  We are passing through the time of “Lent” in which those of us who approach the Word of God by which the Church invites us to reflect run many times into the invitation to “convert”. Hence, this question comes to my mind: What does conversion mean to us? Some time ago I read that when someone is talking about a change which starts with “conversion” as urged by the Holy Scripture, this does not mean “opposing one's own nature” as if God had “made a mistake” by creating us as He did, since if He would have liked slow people not to be this way He would have created them quick, or if He would have liked impulsive persons to be calm He would have created them this way. The challenge resides in putting our whole being at the service of good, which means “looking from God's point of view”, using even those attitudes which look like “faults” which should be corrected without waiting for this to happen before starting to “do something” different. [Read]



• Our concern, the children (March 12, 2006)
  It is mandatory for us to question ourselves from every possible angle if education is a priority for us. Together with the Family, State and Society must be increasingly concerned by children and youths and their education, which is the main pillar of the future of societies. Unce upon a time there was a mention of children's “privileges”, and if we think of it today we will all agree that's the way to be, a society which cares not just for the present but for the future must privilege children, but it's often a very long way to go until conditions are set up for this. [Read]



• To have Jesus' “gaze” (March 5, 2006)
  At Lent we are asked for a deeper prayer as a means to meet with The One who gave His life for Man; we are asked to fast as a sign of our looking upwards, and by renouncing to certain human pleasures we show that our heart is directed to “things in the height”; and third, Lent time talks to us about “almsgiving” as a way of looking after those who are most in need. It is the same calling we always get, looking after those who need the most; at this time we are beginning, let us imagine which concrete gesture, which actual attitude we can have towards the one who suffers, who is in need, and who is very close to us, this way our Lent will be well lived. [Read]



• What we need are thorough solutions (February 26, 2006)
  We are growing accustomed to a “patch culture” instead of using our energy in locating definitive and permanent solutions which aid in really drastic changes. It always seems that “patches” still are easiest and most direct, but “from the beginning” the human being has been created in order to look for his <>“fulfillment” which cannot be achieved if no thorough solutions are sought. [Read]



• May we criticize? (February 19, 2006)
  Today we will refer as a value to what we commonly call criticism, the act of “criticizing”, although as we hear or read this word it immediately appears to us as something negative, and even more so, when someone “criticizes” us it seems as if he just wants to tell us what we did wrong. When faced with criticism made on us we must show the humility of a person who is able to listen, reflect, take what may be suitable, not caring for how it was made and by whom, and use what may be of true profit for our development. [Read]



• We still go on waiting (February 12, 2006)
  We already are some days into a new year, and as always when starting something new, hopes in the search of improvement of our daily life have been renewed. Maybe some “indexes” or “statistics” seem to show that things improve and maybe it really is so, but it is also true that in our day-by-day life we still see the same harsh reality which shows us that the change we so direly look forward to doesn't happen, leaving us the feeling that we must go on waiting. Hope is one of the great virtues, but the wait our brothers must still experience is already an emergency which often desperately demands that we take care of them, because going on waiting turns always more difficult for them. [Read]



• God is Love (February 5, 2006)
  Some days ago we got the first great present Pope Benedict XVI gave us, his First Encyclical, whichunder the title “God is Love” refers precisely to Love. Today many people speak of love, the word is used in many different ways and sometimes even when referring to “whatever” so we can even say this word became somewhat “hackneyed”. The word Love to which the Encyclical refers, which concerns God's own reality, is precisely the one which is capitalized, which refers to that Love which comes from God Himself who first Loved Man and which later became Jesus' command: “Love each other”, as a distinctive sign of His disciples. This great invitation Benedict XVI makes us may help us live this “command” of the Lord more deeply, the one of true Love, which seriously cares about others and which is an expression of God Himself, who is Love and has shared it with Man, and who has made him able of “communicating this love to others”. [Read]



• “Prophets” of the current world (January 29, 2006)
  In the strict sense passed on to us by the Bible a prophet is someone who “talks to us on behalf of God”, who brings us His message. There's no doubt that in this sense the “one and only great prophet” is Jesus, the very Word of God who became Man and who left us His message. It is He who “taught” authoritatively, it is He who talked about the “new law” based on Love. We must watch out for “false prophets”, those whom we might follow but who propose a fake happiness instead of a true one, who move us away from real truth, and move away from us the words Jesus Himself passes on to us with “authority”. [Read]



• Better alone ...? (January 22, 2006)
  Man was made to live and interact with others, he is gregarious by nature and has been created for living in community, he needs others and others need him. The greatest example which we cannot deny but must follow instead is Jesus Himself, the only One who could “manage” on His own, who nevertheless began His preaching life by surrounding Himself with disciples, setting up a community in order to keep Him company, perhaps motivated by His infinite love which makes Him share with others what He is and what He does. We were made for living and developing next to others, to live in a community instead of as isolated beings, needing others and knowing that our contribution to others is what will make us grow and develop. Therefore let us put aside any temptation of thinking we can do better by ourselves instead of in the company of others. [Read]



• The One who takes away the sin of the world (January 15, 2006)
  In the Gospel we find this expression being used by John the Baptist, who prepared Israel of the coming of the Messiah, and the mention of “the sin” of the world instead of “the sins” of men or of the world attracted my attention. These days Humankind is committing a great sin, which is expecting to build a world without God, and surely this sin is the origin of individual faults. What we are looking at is a world without God, Man wants to live without Him, but as we watch this we also notice that Man doesn't achieve to improve his living, and he will not achieve to do so while he rejects the ways his Creator show him as means of obtaining full happiness. [Read]



• Opting for Life (January 8, 2006)
  As I said in last week's reflection, on the first day of the year there is among other things always some reference to the Prayer for Peace where hopefully we ask that in the new year we are beginning Peace may actually be found. Now at this year's beginning I want to express my hope that this also may be a year in which we don't cease working for the defense of Life, this precious gift which was given to us and which does not belong to us, hence everything we omit doing in order to defend it turns against it. [Read]



• A New Year... also a new life? (January 1, 2006)
  The title refers to a Spanish saying, “Año nuevo, vida nueva”, which is frequently heard at the end of a year, while preparing for a new year to start; actually we don't necessarily “change” our way of life when a new year begins although many times we make a resolution in order to change some things related to our own life. Actually life will still be the same, but we can change the way we face certain events which may happen to us, or how we prepare our spirit in view of what we will be facing. A new year, a new life, there's no doubt this is possible; in the end it is the human being who, if he wants to, who will prove this can be achieved. [Read]



• For unto us a child is born... (December 25, 2005)
  A child birth is an usual event which fills us with joy, particularly those who welcome it in their family, filling everyone with tenderness at the sight of a baby, and from a “deeper” point of view it is also a sign of God's confidence in Man whom He goes on calling to cooperate in Creation. It's Christmas: in the crib's silence and humbleness God looks at us, smiles, cries, but above all He renews in us the hope in the possibility of a better world, since He Himself “became man and dwelt among us”. May we be able to make all people around us share this birth and its consequences? [Read]



• What are we going to do? (December 18, 2005)
  It's already mid-December, with all the preparations for the Christmas celebration and the end of one year and the start of a new one, and as in every ending stage it is the time to “take stocks” and to make projections into the future. There's no doubt that for those of us who have Faith one of the first replies will start with the renewal of our Faith and with the hope we feel as we live this time. Since we have a mission, which is giving testimony of what we believe and express with words in our life, I feel we have a lot to tell those who surround us. Maybe we shouldn't stop wondering if as believers we are satisfied with what we did the year long, how we acted, prayed, and talked; if we think we have done enough, and in case we left out something, why we did so. Finding out that we have not been constant and consistent in our mission, which is a gift God granted us and as such is something that binds us may not leave us cool. [Read]



• Will anything start to change? (December 11, 2005)
  These days in Argentina some political changes are being made. Changes are being made through new parliament members who start their duties and staff members who are changed, as is due on the way of democracy. We heard many taking an oath by God, by the fatherland, many of them on the Bible, manifesting and accepting “so help me God” in case they did not perform their duties properly, with dignity, etc. God will surely bear these oaths in mind and will demand them to be fulfilled. If we all would take this matter somewhat more seriously, there is no doubt that “something would start to change”. [Read]



• Can Hope Be Renewed? (December 4, 2005)
  Every new phase we begin, like the approaching new year, is always a reason for the renewal of our hopes that the changes we always expect may become true. The question if it is possible to renew this hope may surely be anwered in the affirmative since it always is possible to renew hope, above all for those of us who believe in Hope being a virtue. However, from other points of view we are “tempted” to think “everything will remain the same”. Thus, the question of whether it is possible to renew Hope must be answered in the affirmative from our Faith, because we believe and because “hope is the last thing we lose”... but there are no actions which make our hopes become a reality instead of just being hopes. [Read]



• A Time of Hope (November 27, 2005)
  Advent is a time which the Lord grants us in order to prepare adequately for Salvation, which comes through the birth of Jesus, thus it is a time both of “expectation” and of “hope”. In this time we prepare for the coming of our Saviour, it is the time of hope. Being able to fully receive Jesus who shall bring us Salvation will depend on the way we prepare us and experience this time, otherwise this will be aanother time which goes by unnoticed, in which we may become distracted by many formalities which are peculiar to this time, without the inner experience which these moments provide. [Read]



• King of the Universe (November 20, 2005)
  This weekend we celebrate together with the whole Church the Feast of Christ the King, which to our Faith is a very traditional celebration. Jesus showed Himself as the One who came to found the “Kingdom of Heaven”, and He is set up as the head and king of the entire universe, but not as a king of the kind we would traditionally think of, but as a king who surrendered and surrenders Himself for “His kingdom”, and although His definitive presence is at God's side, He is already present amidst the world. It is to us believers, the architects of this Kingdom of Jesus on earth, to make truly possible that He becomes present among men by means of truly serving those who are in need. [Read]



• Being faithful is possible (November 13, 2005)
  The issue of faithfulness experienced as a value is frequently questioned these days. Nevertheless, I believe that the human being who looks for happiness will find it when he devotes himself with perseverance to his ideals, his commitments, even when “from the outside” it looks like lost time. The number of men and women who serve others in society, or who work for a Church charity, or who teach in remote places where the only “prize” they get is the fulfilled vocation still are clear and convincing signs which show that faithfulness to high ideals is possible, since there lies happiness. [Read]



• Mary, our intercessor (November 6, 2005)
  We've already begun the month of November, a month which in Argentina is devoted to the special honor of the Virgin Mary, therefore we name it “the month of Our Lady”, starting on November 7 with the feast of Mary Mediatrix of all Graces. Our American peoples are very knowledgeable about Mary's mediating presence, and from the beginnings on they have invoked her as Mother and constantly turn to her in order to lay at her feet all their needs and thansgivings. We ask you, Mother, for all our needs which you know better than anyone, intercede on our behalf with your Son Jesus, and grant us the fortitude and the comfort we look for as a nation. [Read]



• And now what? (October 30, 2005)
  In Argentina we closed an election season, we now already know who are going to be those who will represent us in order to steer us in the search for common good. Some will feel as election winners, while others will feel the disappointment of “having lost”, although actually I'm sure we all have won due to the fact we could take part in this election. Now we must consider the necessary actions, trascending the fact of belonging or not to the winning “side” of those who have been appointed certain duties, instead we must also envision our own participation in this building of a nation we want to improve so the world can improve. The task of looking for and achieving common welfare is everyone's task, and those who bear on their shoulders the responsibilities we citizens have entrusted them must by their deeds render an account of how they exercise this responsibility, and we must go along with them reminding them their mission and demanding its fulfillment without allowing ourselves to be indifferent faced with this reality which involves all of us. [Read]



• The Joy of Elections (October 23, 2005)
  This October 23^th is a day of parlamentary elections in Argentina. It is a day on which we honor the democratic system, and we have the chance of deciding by our vote who will represent us. Notwithstanding many somewhat sceptical remarks on this election we must not forget it is the instant we take part in the reinforcement of democracy, and it is the time we somehow hold in our hands the “awards and punishments” system of those who represent us. Let's give thanks and enjoy another “day of democracy” which made us contribute our share in the search for a better country. [Read]



• To Be a Mother (October 16, 2005)
  By receiving the gift of being able to be a mother, there's no doubt woman received a privileged grace and a particular predilection from God who called her to share life. Motherhood is no “burden”, whoever looks at it as such did not understand at all which is the deep sense of this mission, which is no more and no less than being an instrument for “giving life”. It is also true that the gift of “being a mother” is not just warranted by the fact of conceiving and delivering a child, there are many “mothers by heart” who due to vocation, dedication, or profession help many children so they can grow up without feeling the lack of a mother who, for whatever reasons we shall not judge, was not able to assume this precious “gift”. [Read]



• And many still go on waiting (October 9, 2005)
  The election campaign is at full throttle, we are “bewildered” by unending promises, by the efforts made by each candidate trying to persuade us that if we vote for him everything will change. What is most surprising is that many of them are already in government, in one or the other government branch, and this makes me wonder: What have they done up to now? Why don't they just keep quiet if they already are in government, if they already did many things to favor people they should keep calm publicizing what they have done, surely this would secure them many votes. However we have the feeling, or maybe we know it for sure, that it is “just more of the same”: words, speeches, and that's it. [Read]



• Mother, teach us to care for Life (October 2, 2005)
  This is the motto of the Youth Pilgrimage By Foot to Luján, which, as it already did 31 years ago, summons mostly young people, but also many adults who walk to the Sanctuary of our Mother in Luján. This year's petition asking her to teach us to care for Life is a reflection of the way we are living in our society, whose leaders are not much worried about caring for life despite the strong wish of people to welcome Life and to give thanks for it, this life we received from God as a gift, not as its owners, but as beneficiaries and administrators who must understand that life is valuable inasmuch it is given away for the benefit of others. [Read]



• Does someone protect the children? (September 25, 2005)
  These last days we heard about several situations where children were directly harmed, and although this is not new and probably always happens and always will, it is true indeed that these news have been much more relevant lately. Together with these situations the most different answers can always be heard, starting with poverty, desperation, serious situations mothers go through, etc., but these always are answers which don't get to the bottom of the situation, or which at least don't attempt to find thorough solutions. We still are in debt, and although we don't lack “words” to defend and protect the children, as a society we still have a long way to go in order to really be at ease, since children are unprotected. [Read]



• Catholic my way? (September 18, 2005)
  I wondered many times what this expression actually means, what we are trying to say or to do. Are we questioning everything the Catholic Church is, stands for, passes on? Are we perhaps expecting dogmas, doctrines, teachings, history, to adapt to what we want? The Church is the trustee of the revelation given by Jesus Christ Himself, which makes those of us who belong to it accept certain ways of experiencing this membership, and it will not change just by the argument that “times are changing”, that many things are “relative” these days, and even much less when we see how “light” modern man is when it's a matter of dealing with how true values are experienced. [Read]



• May education keep on being a priority (September 11, 2005)
  For many years September 11 has been in Argentina the so-called “Teacher's Day”, it is the date on which the great educator Domingo Faustino Sarmiento is remembered, and homage is paid, and thank as well as presents are given to those whose mission is to conduct us in our growth by means of education. Almost no one will deny that education is one of the legs of both growth and development of any society, thus what we receive since the beginning of our lives by means of educational gestures exerted upon us is so important. May education be once and for all a constant priority of those in charge, and not just a promise in election times, which only are of use to those who are all talk, who think that by flooding us with words all deep and real problems are already solved. [Read]



• And we go on not thinking of children (September 4, 2005)
  Continually we witness lots of conflicts of many kinds, either family conflicts, social, or political conflicts, etc., where the defense of multiple rights, which, by the way, no one doubts to be legitimate, often harms others, and many times the children, who are not responsible at all of these conflicts caused by or against adults. Todays children, adolescents and youths are the present which prepares a future which we all wish to be brighter, but while we adults selfishly keep on thinking we must defend our rights at “any” price putting at a side what todays children, the “future”, need, we will be on the wrong track which will lead us to regret when it already is too late. [Read]



• You Shall Be As Gods (August 28, 2005)
  This was the sentence with which Satan, disguised as the snake, persuaded Adam and Eve to disobey God's command, as is told in the Bible in the book Genesis. Thus, due to what we may call haughtiness, the “sin of pride”, the first human being broke the original harmony with which God had conceived and created the world. When the human being forgets or leaves aside that his existence started with Creation, when he looks for his “origin and his purpose” far away or directly isolated from God, it's when he is most wrong, and by following this reasoning he will lead himself to “self-destruction”. while Man goes on in this struggle which is put forth by his “pride”, trying to put himself “in God's place and sometimes above”, he will not have the capability needed in order to reach his full fulfillment such as the Creating Love had conceived it from the very beginning. [Read]



• School violence, a reflection of both Family and Society (August 21, 2005)
  For a long time now we heard of regrettable events related to violence experienced at schools and to aggressive children, many of which attend school with arms, and even of situations where some of them caused real “massacres”. We know that if a child lives in a hostile, selfish, violent environment with envy and resentment, for sure it will learn to live this way, and it later will carry that what it has learned to all the environments it lives in. We must look in the “adult world” for the origin of many of these situations by which we are passing on to them those adversities which we cannot avert. [Read]



• The dignity of children (August 14, 2005)
  These days everyone talks about children, and even more so in Argentina where we celebrate the so-called “Children's Day” on which we all seem to worry deeply about children, about their “joy”, their “happiness”, and we perform gestures, actions, and celebrations in order for them to “spend a nice day”. I guess there is also a time to think of the so many children who don't live their childhood as it should be, hence, their dignity is being “under attack”. We have a great responsibility, let us hope that once and for all we learn to bear it, thinking day-by-day earnestly of them, not just every now and then. [Read]



• The dignity of work (August 7, 2005)
  On August 7 we honor St. Gaetan, in Argentina this day thousands gather at Shrines, Churches and Chapels to invoke this Saint, who is considered the intercessor for Bread and Work. In such a world of progress it really is a pity to see how many people cannot live decently their personal evolvement by means of kind of work which would allow them to fully develop. Let us pray for Man to be able to achieve some kind of world development which may allow all men to live in full dignity through dignifying work. [Read]



• Give them something to eat yourselves (July 31, 2005)
  The Gospel according to St. Matthew gives an account of the multiplication of the loaves, by which Jesus miraculously feeds “five thousand men, to say nothing of women and children”. Sharing is what Jesus stresses out in this place of the gospel, if we all had this demeanour there's no doubt many things would be different and would change for the better. Let us share our bread with others, let's make our effort, let's take the first step, these are the teachings Jesus gives us in the Gospel and thus He makes sure He is present at our side. [Read]



• What we can do regarding “terrorism” (July 24, 2005)
  For a while now we have been living with much grief, fear, uncertainty, and concern, many things are happening in our world, and although we are exposed to many different kind of attacks, above all so called terrorist attacks are without doubt a permanent threat by any motive, excuse, or reason. We could imagine that in a world with so much progress, so much technology, so many different ways of instant communication from one place of the world to another, it is almost impossible to think there are no other means of understanding among nations but for violence. We can show a the value of a person and her dignity, starting by instilling this value in Family which is a “school of love” where respect, virtues, and dignity are taught as something essential to human life. [Read]



• To respect and tolerate (July 17, 2005)
  It usually happens that we witness, perhaps even as leading characters, some lack of respect, which means living without respecting others, although this is what we usually first expect from others for ourselves. Today it happens that people try to make others agree with certain things as a demand of “respect”, and so it happens that many times someone treads on our own rights, or on some other much more sublime rights. In order to exercise his right, Man must not forget he was created according to “standards and rules” related to his nature, and that the vindication of all his rights cannot oppose this nature which looks for his full development in the search of happiness. [Read]



• Are we never going to think about the children? (July 10, 2005)
  Surely all will reply to this question by agreeing to the statement that children are the most important thing, that they are the future, that they are what matters, and probably most people will honestly think and act according to this thought that children come first. However, it seems to me that many times children stop being what matters most, the center, that which should make us seriously reflect when faced with certain situations, when we decide looking for other “goods” or other interests. In this matter of putting children at the center of our great decissions we still have a long way to go and much selfishness to dismiss. [Read]



• Defending life all the same (July 3, 2005)
  These days we read news about the Judiciary has authorized the carrying out of a so-called “therapeutic abortion”. We have also heard these days as it is already customary when the issue of the “so-called abortion” finds its place into the “first page headlines” that whoever opposes it does so because of some religious point of view, when the truth is that it would talk very badly of a society and would be very sad that the issue of life defense would matter only to those who profess a religion. If life is not the supreme value we must put above all things, and together with life, love, devotion, up to the point of “giving one's life for others”, then it is a sign that things go very wrong in the world. [Read]



• Is being good outdated? (June 26, 2005)
  In these reflections I regularly share with you I have referred to the issue of values and how we live them. Today I want to start with this question: is being good outdated? Yes, I refer to the fact of being good, that what was intilled in us since we were little, that what we many times heard our elders say as we were growing up: “the most important thing in life is being good”. Because God created us and “saw that it was good”, that He made this human being, man and woman “good” by means of the attribute of His own goodness and that Man is not only good by God's act of creation, but also because he is called to live this virtue so he can fully unfold his calling to human life. [Read]



• The Gift of Fatherhood (June 19, 2005)
  Like in many other countries, on this third Sunday in June we celebrate Father's Day, stressing out on this day the need of honoring the father figure. This custom started many years ago in order to make stand out the figure of a certain father who, finding himself alone with his six children, struggled to live his mission of educating his children “complying” not only with his father role, but also trying to “cover” the absense of a mother. As time went by this day acquired a strong commercial sign, “covering up” somehow what is the most important issue, which is the great Gift of Fatherhood. For a child being born, growing, living, is not the same being favored by the gifts of Motherhood and Fatherhood together, as without one of these. Currently we live with some very particular facts, some of which seem to be relative, it seems “it's all the same”, to be a Father or not, to “have” a Dad or not; I think this Father's Day we are celebrating is a chance for us to reflect on Fatherhood as a Gift of God and as something constituent of the Human Being, having been called to experience Fatherhood, both as Children and as Parents. [Read]



• Is it possible to be faithful in today's world? (June 12, 2005)
  Faithfulness is a value which appears to be “almost missing” in the World, especially when referring to faithfulness as being steadfast in some aspect, such as lifelong commitment, or keeping one's word, etc. These days eveything is relativized, maybe because many talk quite “flippantly” about love and tell the other person “I love you” and even “for ever”, but change their mind at the first inconvenience. Maybe this is a matter of convictions or of priorities in life, or of commitment with a certain cause, or it may also depend on how solid our Faith is. But faithfulness still is a value which can be achieved, even more so, I think that as human beings we are called by our very nature to live this value because this way we will find true Happiness which depends neither on “times”, nor on “fashions”, nor on “trends”, but on man's search for his own achievement deploying the gifts God gave man, trying to deeply live those values which are appurtenant to him. [Read]



• Learning to train in respect (June 5, 2005)
  There is no doubt one of the values which is very related to good living together is respect, and as we mention the word respect, immediately our “relationship with others” comes to our mind, as well as a sense of plurality, in the understanding that we all are different, have different ideas, different convictions in everything related to human life and its different aspects, such as political, social, religious issues, etc.; however, this should not build a fence around us but should enrich us by learning from others those things which can do us well. If we don't know how to “train them in respect” we will go on suffering painful consequences such as what we notice in so many adults who make us live in a society in which we get the feeling that we have lost much of what makes us respect one another. [Read]



• Do values still survive? (May 29, 2005)
  Values... Do they still suvive? Are they still “effectual”? Is it still worthwhile trying to live them? In theory we all will agree, but on the other side it is a fact we still have a strong “shortage” in this sense. Regarding the experience of values we are still at a loss. May it suffice to think of our daily attitudes, of our daily relationships, in how we get up, in what's the first thing we do, in how we talk to those around us, in what we think, in how we look at those around us or we run into on our way. YES, values still survive, perhaps the trouble lies in the lack of people who are positive that they still can be put into practice and that they will make us reach Happiness. [Read]



• Can Patriotism be experienced today? (May 22, 2005)
  This week in Argentina we live the so-called “May Week” or “Homeland Week”, on which we celebrate on May 25 our National Holiday. When occasions of this kind draw nearer, we remember what the homeland is and what it means to us, but the true feeling of patriotism is not a passing feeling, which comes and goes. It is in the development of the value of patriotism in our day-by-day life, in how we worry about things around us, in our availability for trying to correct the evil which afflicts us, where we will find the way towards the construction of a Homeland, a great Nation, a country we will be proud of living in it. [Read]



• The power of the Holy Spirit and the Church (May 15, 2005)
  These days we arrive at the end of Easter Time with the great Celebration of Whitsunday or Pentecost, the Coming of the Holy Spirit in fulfillment of Jesus' promise to his disciples of sending the One who was going to accompany, assist, strengthen and guide them in the mission of announcing the Gospel to all people. If our leaders (be it on a religious, political, social, or managerial level) would be able to ask for the Spirit's light and put themselves in His hand before taking any decission, particularly those involving others, surely many things in the world and in our country would be better off. [Read]



• Communication in the service of good (May 8, 2005)
  Liturgically this Sunday May 8 we celebrate on one side the Feast of the Ascension of Jesus in Heaven, and on the other, in Argentina it is the Feast of Our Lady of Luján, the Country's Patroness, and then for the Church it is the World Communications Day. [Read]



• Always the easy way out (May 1, 2005)
  Watching things happening around us, these days I was thinking about how we human beings, in spite of the “huge progress” we achieved in many fields, still search for “the easiest” and “quickest” solutions. Faced with poverty and hardship, many times things are solved by “giving” something in order to appease people, instead of proposing and implementing in-depth solutions. Faced with the fact of children who must live on the street since for them it is the only chance of survival, speeches are made, “policies are being implemented”... but in the meantime this boy or girl lives on the street and needs a quicker response, he or she cannot wait for our debates to go on.. Propositions are made to “consider” better conditions for “abortions” and euthanasia to be carried out (crimes, in short), since the quickest and easiest thing still is “getting rid” of “that what bothers” (a human life!!!!). In view of these and many other facts we must search for solutions, but not for the quickest, easiest and laziest, but those needed in order to let us go on developing as human beings, so that each one of us may reach strong achievement. [Read]



• Welcome, Benedict XVI (April 24, 2005)
  We already have a new Pope, Benedict XVI. Many people ask themselves what changes there will be, what will happen from now on, and I think nothing that is not meant to change will change: the Commandments will still be the same, and will remain the way to follow in search for Happiness; the Gospel will remain the same, and thus the Pope will show us we must follow Jesus, who is “the Way and the Truth and the Life”, and that Faith is support of Jesus and His message, who came to fulfill all things instead of changing them just because. It just remains to us to give thanks to God and to pray and escort Benedict XVI with our filial love so we may, together with him, follow our way of ongoing search in order to comply with God's Will. [Read]



• The Prayer for Vocations (April 17, 2005)
  This Sunday, April 17, is the fourth of the Liturgical Time of Easter, on which the lectures show us the figure of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, and it also is the World Day of Prayer for Vocations in the whole Church. This year the World Day of Prayer for Vocations has a special meaning since we also are waiting to hear who is going to be the Church's “New Shepherd” in the times to come, since it is the week in which the Conclave begins, and it may be the week in which the new Successor of Saint Peter is known. We need testimonies of devotion and saintliness by men and women who dare to tell the world that a better way is possible, that the Gospel is the Good News needed in order to achieve true happiness, and that alike John Paul II, they may show God's love to Man with concrete gestures. [Read]



• Thank you, John Paul II (April 10, 2005)
  These days we participate at John Paul's II funerals and farewell, the Pope who guided several generations, and although some of us knew others who have guided us “on behalf of Jesus”, it is a fact that for most of us John Paul II had a special meaning. I thank God for having given us “such a” Pope at this time in History, there is no doubt God always places “the right people at the right time”. Thank you, John Paul II, thank you for your huge example of a life offered and emaciated in the service of God for the benefit of Man. [Read]



• What happened to the Joy of Resurrection (April 3, 2005)
  I wonder what has happened to the joy of Resurrection in today's world where everyone lives “as if nothing had happened”, as if this Jesus of Nazareth who came to “give us life”, who with His triumph over death has shown us the real sense of our life, was not someone present, real. As opposed to the joy of new Life which has been given to us since Easter, we go on looking for “excuses” in order to attack life, to allow the killing of innocent children by means of what we disguise by the name of “abortion” through laws, all kinds of actuations and propositions, etc., or we discuss if it is acceptable or not for us men to decide when someone is going to die, or we go on encouraging wars so certain ideologies may be justified. While we go on arguing without understanding that Life is a natural and valuable right, that no one is the owner of his life, and even much less the life of others, we will be living in a “mediocre”, “selfish” world, diverted from its true meaning. [Read]



• The everlasting Feast of Life (March 27, 2005)
  Jesus is risen. The great celebration of Faith has arrived, the one which gives everything a different meaning. Jesus' Resurrection is the celebration of Life, the feast of Faith, since only through Faith we can accept this mystery, this gift, this happiness of knowing that Jesus, after His passion, His suffering, His death is risen, has defeated and overcome all that bound Him “for a while”, and at His side Mankind is capable of defeating all hindrances, so afterwards, being free for once and for all, Mankind is able to enjoy the Feast of Life forever at God's side. Jesus is risen, and thus our hope is restored, the hope in a better world with a place for all to develop and live decently, but since it is a matter of Faith which is passed over by testimonies, it is necessary that we believers who are Witnesses of Resurrection, take up this mission and show others by our example that Life has come and changed us. [Read]



• The Passion Week (March 20, 2005)
  We already began the celebration of the Holy Week, the week in which Jesus' Passion and Death makes us prepare at once for the celebration of Resurrection, through which everything gets a new meaning. This Week is a week in which maybe all of us believers stop to reflect more deeply about our relation to Jesus, who gave His life for us thus also giving us a “new life”. The important thing is that by escorting Jesus who suffers in this Holy Week we realize that we must not do so just in theory, through an ephemeral feeling, but through concrete reality, asking ourselves what we can “honestly” do to soothe Jesus today, who suffers through many brothers in need. [Read]



• Our attitude towards life (March 13, 2005)
  Today I would like to refer to our attitude towards life, not so much to our concrete life itself, our projects, its sense, etc., but to “Life” such as we face it in different forms, in different circumstances, and constant challenges. Above all, our attitude towards life must be a defensive one; we must defend and protect life, we must humbly give thanks for life, understanding we don't dominate it. Once we start to understand that life doesn't belong to us, that we don't own our own life ot that of others, we will express the true meaning of our own life and we will take our place in Creation, a positive place which cooperates in making man live, grow, and develop. [Read]



• Let's not “rule out” Family (March 6, 2005)
  When we talk about Family we refer to her just as God meant it to be, not lightheartedly as we many times listen to people talking about Family in different fields who include under this term some realities which leave Nature at a side. Family still is the basis itself of any society where Man is called to develop his own Values, which dignify him and make society reach this same dignity, so let us not allow anyone to make us believe that Family -such as God Himself conceived it- is something that is obsolete, something “ruled out”, and that there are other better ways for the development of Man. Let us defend Family and its values. [Read]



• Is “Conversion” still a topical issue? (February 27, 2005)
  In this Season of Lent we are walking through we listen to several references to Jesus' appeal to Conversion as a necessary condition to receive the “Kingdom of Heaven”. Whoever has this conversion attitude not only realizes something must change in his life, but also decides to do so, trying to move away from those things which can intervene between him and God. [Read]



• Respect and appreciation towards the elders (February 20, 2005)
  We are in the Season of Lent. As he does every year at this time, the Pope delivers a message which helps us to walk as people of Faith. This year the message is an appeal for us to value elderly people in our society, it is an invitation made to us to let us fill with the wisdom of those who already have lived a long time, not thinking that they cannot contribute any more to the world, while through their expertise they can help us to walk a beneficial way. Let's take into account that as a society we show our own quality in the way we treat, respect, and value its weakest members, and in knowing to make the most of both wisdom and expertise of our elders. [Read]



• Beginning the Season of Lent (February 13, 2005)
  This week we begin the Season of Lent, those forty days which prepare us for the greatest Celebration of us Christians, which is Easter. During this Season the Church invites us to carry out practices of devotion which help us to prepare ourselves and to deepen our life of Faith. The three gestures we are invited to practice are: Prayer, Fasting, and Alms. May we know to live this Season of Lent as a profound preparation for experiencing the great Mystery of Our Faith, the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus. [Read]



• Salt of the earth and Light of the world? (February 6, 2005)
  In the Gospel Jesus urges his disciples, which is to say us, his followers, to be the “salt of the earth and the light of the world”, and this appell Jesus makes is also a life program and the meaning itself of Christian life. In this world in which because of wars, confrontations, vice, lack of virtues, dishonesty, and corruption only the “miseries” are emphasized, where we see that “everything is rotting”, we must be like the salt which is used to preserve, to fill it with new flavor, the true flavor which leads us to God. The world will change and find its true way, its better life, and its true realization, only when we get to realize that God is a part of our life, that we cannot put Him aside, that His way and His teachings are what will help Man to walk towards Truth, and in order to accomplish this we Christians need to have the courage of becoming this Salt and Light which will change the world. [Read]



• The way of Happiness (January 30, 2005)
  Everyone is pursueing Happiness and concerned about a happy life, but the issue is what we are talking about when we speak of Happiness. When we want things now, when the spirit of vengeance beats us or when we can' find any sense in suffering, reaching Happiness through sorrow, patience, or hunger and thirst for justice even seems contradictory. But the way Jesus proposes to us, the one He talks about in the Beatitudes, is the one which shall lead the human being to final joy and happiness. [Read]



• Are we living in a precarious world? (January 23, 2005)
  From the sad accident on in a Buenos Aires dancing which left many victims among dead and wounded people, torn families and a whole society which was made aware of the problem, we witnessed a great number of business closures, not only in the entertainment business, but also in many public places, and we found out that many of those which have not been shut down do not comply with the minimal safety conditions needed to gather people. All of this tells us we are living “precariously”, in an often unsafe way. Why is it so difficult that the Government enforces compliance with the regulations regarding safety and security, and that only those places which comply with regulations are qualified? How long will the center of activity of many people remain being “gathering” money at whatever costs, without caring for human beings? Stopping to be “precarious” is a responsibility of all of us, therefore it would be desirable that each one of us seriously assumes his responsibility. [Read]



• The value of Honesty (January 16, 2005)
  Every now and then these reflections refer to Values as those virtues changed into attitudes we need to rescue, to deepen, which many times even seem to have been lost. many times I'm surprised when I hear that someone refers to another person saying: The most important thing is that he or she is "honest", referring to a "great accomplishment", as if both living and being honest were not part of man himself. But surely this value has mostly been lost, and this is why we emphasize it as something oustanding, up to the point of being surprised when someone behaves honestly. The first step towards demanding this virtue in others should be our effort in trying to live it in our own life, and it comes to my mind that a way of making this a permanent attitude in us is getting to know ourselves, being able to admit our errors, and getting to work in order to overcome them. [Read]



• The Value of resting (January 9, 2005)
  In many areas in the world this is holiday time, a resting time in order to recover strength for work during the remainder of the year. Therefore, I was thinking about rest as one of the big values in our life. May the days of rest be of use to let us think and make us appreciate the many things we have which often we don't realize because we are so "busy, when we think everything is wrong, everything goes wrong and there is no reason for us to be happy and with joy. May we live this value of rest as a quiet moment, regarding the things around us with which God favores us. [Read]



• A new year (January 2, 2005)
  We already start a new year! Like every year, all human beings renew a number of feelings, wishes, and hopes, and perhaps of doubts and even fears when facing the new challenges every year we live poses to us. We think of, hope for, and wish changes to come true, but we could review many attitudes we often expect from others, which we don't make ours in "small things". May the beginning of this new year renew in us all the desire of putting our own grain of sand towards a better country and a better world. [Read]



• Family (December 26, 2004)
  This year we have witnessed many attacks against Family, many of them covered up, while others have been more direct. Since a long time ago the situation of poverty and misery many go through has harmed families, not allowing family members to spend a minimum time together, and above all, accompanying their children and listening to them. We also run into bills which in a certain way “scorn” Family as God created it, trying to show us “marriage” among people of the same gender makes no difference, or even is better, even with the chance of adopting children. Defending Family is not just a matter of Religion as many try to point out, but it is also a matter of Society, since if the principle of Family as the foundation of Society still persists, then we must be careful not to destroy this foundation since we would also be starting to destroy Society itself. [Read]



• Salvation arrives (December 19, 2004)
  This week we get ready for the celebration of Christmas. Everything has this holiday feeling, everything is preparation, concern, maybe even some “need for speed” because “the holidays” are near, which also means the end of the year, and “everything” has to be ready, “everything” has to be prepared... I believe the important thing is not losing sight of what we are celebrating, particularly on Christmas, when we risk “celebrating” “just another holiday”. God becomes a child, a “baby”. This is God, our God, a close and saving God who made Himself Man in order to communicate us again with Him, since this communication had broken up due to the original sin but which nowadays has been restored by His redeeming presence among us. Let us celebrate this Christmas with this deep meaning, not letting Jesus who comes to save us “walk by” our lives, else we will have feasted, celebrated and had a good time, but without “enjoying” what must really bring us joy: the presence of God in our lives. [Read]



• Patroness of America (December 12, 2004)
  This Sunday, December 12, during Advent, the lead time for Christmas, we also celebrate the Feast of Our Lady under the advocation of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of America. It may not be "casual" that these days we witness many cases of offensive disrespect towards Mary's person, either in her images, in the signs through which believers find the presence of her who brought us the Saviour and who walks along each one of her children on the path of life. Let us honor Mary, Our Lady, Our Mother, through the signs she uses to show herself, also trying to relieve somehow the suffering of the large number of her children who need her to comfort, caress, and strengthen them, so maybe we can become instruments through which She can come close to so many people waiting for her. [Read]



• What Jesus will come upon (December 5, 2004)
  Each year the Christmas celebration is newly receiving Jesus who comes to each one of us, who returns to give us his message of hope, who once again proposes the chance of following Him, of reaching Salvation. We must prepare us for this coming in order to see what world and what human being will Jesus come upon, or in any case we must ask ourselves how will we receive Him, how is our heart prepared to receive Him? In short we must ask ourselves how we are, how we prepare to receive the Saviour, and if this Feast really is something we feel deep in our hearts, or of it is just a set of external celebrations at the end of another year. [Read]



• The Coming of Jesus (November 28, 2004)
  In the Church Liturgy we start the so-called Advent Time, the time of expectation for Jesus' coming. Salvation is brought by Jesus, the one God who made Himself man and who came to return Humankind its original dignity with which God had created it. It is the “climax” of the History of Man, the highest, the most sublime moment. It is a lead time, a time for reflection, of hope, of internal renewal of the Faith which sustains us, in the knowledge that the Lord comes this Christmas so we can renew the Mystery of Salvation, but that He also comes in each and every event in our lifes, in everyone who crosses our way, in eveyone who asks us for help, in the one who approaches us in order to share something. Jesus always comes close “offering” us Salvation, many times in a surprising and unexpected way, and this is when we must use our Faith to be attentive so He doesn't “walk by”. [Read]



• Christ the King (November 21, 2004)
  This weekend we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. By celebrating Christ as King of the Universe theis feast tells us about the place He occupies in Creation, His place of majesty as God, as the “Word by which everything was created”, by becoming Man without stopping being God, and after His Death and Resurrection he