Harmony comes from the Greek word harmodso, to join. There is harmony wherever there is equilibrium, proportion, conjunction of different elements, as it occurs in a proportionate building, well combined with itself and the environment. Or in music, a harmonic made of different but coordinated sounds. Dawn, greeted by a concert of blackbirds, thrushes, robins, […]
Brutality, atrocity, inhumanity, barbarism… entire dictionaries would not suffice to describe what we, powerless, stunned and anguished, are seeing these days on the plains and in the cities across Ukraine, in the heart of civilised Europe. How on earth did we manage –yes, in the first person plural– to reach this point in the 2020s […]
I am talking about the sexual abuse of minors that occurred within Catholic institutions in Spain. They are not 4 or 33 cases in the Basque Country, or 58 in Navarre, or 1246 cases in the Spanish State. They are very many more, a lot more, as it will be clear once they are known. […]
My dear Pello, I am dedicating this brief, humble, heartfelt tribute to you. In a way it is a futile attempt, because there are so many who have already praised your gifts and achievements better than I am capable of doing; so I congratulate everyone. I gladly endorse all the praise. So, I will be […]
Franciscans and poor clares, benedictines, mercedarians, Jesus’ companions inspired by Ignatius of Loyola, carmelite men and women, passionists, Marists…. an endless list. They were instituted to relieve, accompany, educate, heal, and care for those who are alone or have nothing. Or to devote themselves to “contemplative life”, “working and praying”, deeply living in profound communion […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The prophets of Israel had announced peace –Shalom– for a later time, the messianic future that would witness the coming of the Messiah, the king descended from David, the “Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:5). Then, Isaiah wrote, “They shall beat their swords into mattocks and their spears into pruning-knives. Nation will not lift sword against […]
