Cremation and resurrection
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by Gabriele Cantaluppi
Why did the Church prohibit cremation in the past and allow it today?
The Easter period, which as believers we are experiencing this month, is a reminder of the final destiny of the Resurrection of our body, when Christ "will hand over everything to the Father" (1 Cor 15).
Is it useful to examine one's conscience?
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by Gabriele Cantaluppi
To understand what happens inside us, Pope Francis suggested, there is an "an ancient but good practice of the Church which is the examination of conscience; in the evening, before ending the day, taking a moment alone, we must ask ourselves the question "what happened in my heart today? What happened? What things passed through my heart? If we don't do it, we really don't know how to monitor well or safeguard the good."
“Lent is a journey of conversion that has the heart as its center,” Pope Francis recalled, “and we must guard the heart, so that it does not become a square where everyone comes and goes except the Lord.”
And he adds that every evening the Christian should think back to the day just passed to check whether vanity and pride prevailed or whether he managed to imitate Jesus. The fight that Jesus led against evil is always current, because it is found every day in our heart: the examination of conscience accompanies the Christian in this struggle, helping him to make room for the Holy Spirit.
Jesus tells us that he came to cast fire on the earth, that is, the Holy Spirit who causes war in the heart, the internal struggle.
He thus calls us to change our lives, to change our path, he invites us to conversion. This is the fire he talks about, a fire that does not leave us alone, that always stimulates us to make a qualitative leap in spiritual things.
A change also in the way we act. Saint Paul in the Letter to the Romans is explicit: "Just as you have put your members at the service of sin, now put them at the service of the Lord".
it is the Holy Spirit who brings about our conversion. But each one must do his best so that he can act: and this is precisely the struggle that Jesus talks about.
There are no calm Christians who don't fight: those who don't are "lukewarm" and the Lord in the book of Revelation has said what he will do with them: he will reject them.
How do we help the Holy Spirit? Making room for him in our hearts. This is where the usefulness of the examination of conscience comes from.
At the end of each day you have to ask yourself: what happened in my heart today? What did I hear? What did I think? What have I done? My feelings about others, family, friends, enemies: what did I feel, is this feeling Christian or non-Christian? What did I talk about, how was my language today? Did he speak well or badmouth others?
Examination of conscience is a practice that helps us fight against illnesses of the spirit, those that the enemy sows and that make us apathetic in things of the soul.
Conversion is not a decision made every now and then, but it is asking yourself every day how I went from sin to grace: Have I made room for the Holy Spirit to act in me?
Two things are needed for conversion: generosity, which always comes from love, and fidelity to the Word of God.
Baptism yes, baptism no...
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Some faithful have found themselves taking part in the baptism of children whose parents live in an irregular marital situation, especially of cohabitants or divorced and remarried people, and some have even witnessed on TV the news of the baptism of girls obtained by a homosexual couple with the use of womb for rent. They ask whether the administration of the sacrament was lawful in these cases.