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Foreword

The pages I am presenting to you, dear reader, are much more than just a series of pertinent, well-documented, up-to-date reflections on spirituality. They are the reflective testimony of a lifetime. They are true words of witness. They exude the breath of life. Félix Placer, a free, dedicated man who at the age of 84 […]

Thich Nhat Hanh – “I am not here”

On January 22nd, Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese writer and poet, Zen buddist monk and teacher of life in mindfulness died at the age of 95. He was a peace activist. He fought in the VietNam and was persecuted both by the communist North as well as by US backed South. In 1972 he became a […]

Prayer

Miren deeply hated the profound fear her mother experimented at all times as if glued to her body, her tendency to see everywhere the footprints of evil and death, her language full of be-carefuls and just-in-cases. She deeply hated the consequences of that fear: days were always full of prohibitions, rules, prayers, Masses and other […]

I stand by what I said

I stand by what I said: justice, in spite of the law and social habits, in spite of money and charity. Humility, to be myself. Liberty, to be a human being. And poverty, to be free. Christian faith, to walk in the night, and, above all, during the day. And in all, brethren, I stand […]

Shepherds in Bethlehem on their way to peace

At the end of the Christmas festivities, I return to the narrative in Luke’s gospel about the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem, shepherds that look for, find, and build peace. We see ourselves in them. And to better see ourselves in them, let’s say it again in case it is still necessary: all the […]

The heart every day

The heart will always keep all the memories, all the journeys, all the landscapes, all the winters, all the waves with their beaches, all the rivers with their banks, all the laughter and tears, all the good and bad times. Only the heart saves us where we place the language of tenderness, the unreason of […]

From Webb to Bethlehem and vice versa

Today, Christmas Day, will see the launching into space of a giant telescope that could see the birth of light in our universe. The birth of light! James Webb is its name and in a month’s time it will reach its operational position behind the moon, one and a half million kilometres from Earth, four […]

Desmond Tutu, a light for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day

Died on December 26, the day after Christmas. He fought on all fronts: against apartheid, homophobia, inequality, racism, violence, racism and any violation of rights, as well as against a strict religious morality (which, for example, condemned euthanasia, contraceptives…). He always fought for peace and justice. And he was never complacent towards his Church, nor […]

Notes for a non-theist “theology”

Non-theism (post-theism?, transtheism?…) does not imply negating God, but a given “theist” image of God as Supreme Being, Subject as opposed to other subjects, who rules the world and intervenes in it as an extrinsic cause. All images of God depend on a given culture and cosmovision. They are valuable and poor human constructs, always […]

Beguines’ Christmas

The Beguine movement emerged in the 11th century and spread in Europe, specifically in The Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany. They were Christian women who desired to radically live the life Jesus led with the nearest followers. But they refused to be cloistered nuns, as the strictest canonical norm dictated in medieval times for those […]