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 […]
Defining PEACE, the fullness of all goodness, is not easy. We know what it is until we try to explain it or, in order to do so, we look it up in a dictionary, and then suddenly we realize how ignorant we are. But lacking peace is more painful than our ignorance. Will words help […]
The word empathy emerged in the 20th century to express the capacity to understand the feelings of others from right inside oneself. It is derived from the Greek empatheia, although, strictly speaking, this word means passion, affliction (en: inside; pathos: feeling, suffering). The Greek word to denote empathy was sympatheia (“to suffer with” the other […]
In April 2019, while the world stared with astonished eyes, the flames destroyed a seizable part of Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral, the most beautiful cathedral in the world, the one I had visited so many times with deep emotion. But those flames were nothing compared to the devastating fire the Sauvé Report just set on, […]
The article “Yo quiero ser dualista” (I want to be a dualist) recently posted by Carlos F. Barberá on the ATRIO website (www.atrio.org) takes me somewhat by surprise and leads me to certain reflections, which I will set out calmly and simply. 1. The first thing I find perplexing has to do with the title. […]
