Monthly Archives: October 2013

Ask St Paul How the Lowly Are Exalted 6

by • New Evangelization • Tags: , , ,
Keep your eyes on the finish line

Keep your eyes on the finish line

“I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.”

More often than not, it is near impossible to find the connection between the second reading and the Gospel for Sunday’s liturgy. The reason for this is that, more often than not, there’s not one, because the liturgy of the word is designed that way. The first reading and the Gospel always have some connection: The Lord fulfilling an Old Testament prophesy, for example. The responsorial psalm, often echoes a sentiment from the first reading, to reinforce its message. But the second reading More…

Dilemmas faced by medical personnel during the SARS crisis 2

by • Bioethics • Tags: , , , , ,
Fr Joseph Tham

Fr Joseph Tham

Fr Joseph Tham is a Catholic Priest, has doctoral degrees in medicine and bioethics, and is a contributor to Biltrix. In this article he presents a four-fold model for assessing the medical professional’s role in society, based on some reflections ten years after the 2003 SARS epidemic.

In early September, I participated in a conference on “SARS epidemic: ethical reflection and prospects” in Hong Kong. The 2003 global epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome was particularly devastating in Hong Kong.  About 1800 people were infected, 300 of whom died, including 8 medical personnel.  The Bioethics Resource Centre of the Catholic Diocesan Committee for Bioethics of Hong Kong organized the education event with the sponsorship of different hospitals, nursing and doctor guilds. More…

Examine Your Prayer Life 7

by • New Evangelization • Tags: , , , , ,
Listening is as important as asking in prayer

Listening is as important as asking in prayer

Somewhere between faith and hope lies the virtue of trust, which among the three is perhaps the one that counts most on us.

In today’s Gospel (Luke 18:1-8), the Lord shows us how and where we can exercise and measure our trust. The measure of our trust in God reveals itself when we examine our prayer.

Jesus uses a parable to illustrate this point. More…

Faith, Obedience, and Gratitude — and something a little different for a change… 14

by • New Evangelization • Tags: , , , , ,


Has Sunday ever snuck up on you before?

That’s what happened to me this week, which is why this post is going to be just a little different, but I’m taking advantage of providence to share what’s on my mind regarding the Liturgy we are gradually walking into this time of the year. But first… More…

How Long Oh Lord! 14

by • New Evangelization • Tags: , , , ,

The prophet Habakkuk, in today’s First Reading, stresses the power of faith — he also gives us a clearer idea of what exactly faith is.

Habakkuk lived in the 6th century BC, when Israel had been conquered by the Babylonians and the majority of Jews had been deported. It was as if a hurricane, like Katrina, had swept over not just one city, but the entire country. Habakkuk is in the middle of it all, he sees the devastated city and countryside, strewn with corpses, burned and barren.

Habakkuk feels the pinch of poverty and destruction. And he does the most natural thing in the world: he complains to God about it:

How long, O Lord? I cry for help, but you do not listen! More…