VIEWS

El amor de un padre por sus hijos y su esposa es capturado en una palabra de tres letras: con. Esto lo vemos en la vida de San José, el padre adoptivo de Jesús. Aunque es mencionado varias veces en los evangelios de Mateo y Marcos, ninguna de sus palabras fue escrita. Lo que importó fue que José estaba allí, presente junto a María y Jesús, siempre dispuesto a escuchar y animarles, a proteger y proveer.

The love of a father for his children and his wife is captured in a four-letter word: with. We see this in the life of St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus. Even though he is mentioned a number of times in the Gospel accounts of Matthew and Luke, no words of his are recorded. What mattered was that Joseph was there, present to Mary and Jesus, always ready to listen and to encourage, to protect and to provide.

“You’ve got to wake them up!” These are the words spoken to me by priests from the Middle East, men who have held fast to faith in Jesus Christ in spite of great danger and suffering. They warn us of a murderous ideology bent on stamping out Christianity and dominating the world. “By the time America wakes up,” one priest told me, “it will be too late.”

Prompted by my father, I am inclined to consider what I suggest is a more Catholic view of a nation where we are free AND morally obliged and eager to earn our keep by giving others something they need.

Happy Mother’s Day and Father’s Day to all you moms and dads out there. And to all of you who might be on the verge of becoming a parent, I say congratulations as well.

On May 7, the Arizona Legislature adjourned sine die at 5:45 a.m. after spending 117 days in session. In total, almost 1,400 pieces of legislation were introduced with just over 400 of them becoming law.

Among the keys to understanding Pope Francis are the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. In the first of the four-week exercises, you discover yourself to be a sinner, who is unconditionally forgiven and loved by God. This perspective leads the Holy Father to see the Church as a field hospital, as a mother and teacher, and as a fountain of mercy. It is within this Ignatian perspective that the teaching of Pope Francis is best understood, including his latest Apostolic Exhortation on love in the family.

Entre los puntos claves para entender al Papa Francisco están los Ejercicios Espirituales de San Ignacio de Loyola. En el primero de los ejercicios de cuatro semanas, descubres que tú mismo eres pecador, incondicionalmente perdonado y amado por Dios. Esta perspectiva conduce al Santo Padre a ver la Iglesia como un hospital de campaña, como madre y maestra y como una fuente de la misericordia. Es dentro de esta perspectiva Ignaciana que la enseñanza del Papa Francisco se entiende mejor, incluyendo su más reciente Exhortación Apostólica sobre el amor en la familia.

So there I was, reporting for a hometown newspaper, sitting in the modest home of a grandmother who’d become a mentor to young moms in her neighborhood. The widow of a Baptist preacher, she wasted no time in getting down to business.

“It is after having experienced God’s unconditional love and undeserved mercy that a person can become a messenger of mercy.”