Dear friends, we are about to celebrate the Solemnity of Christmas. At midnight mass the angels in the Gospel sing, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.” (Lk2:14) This baby is Our Lord, the Prince of Peace who has come to dwell amongst us (cfr […]
Christmas is the ideal time to contemplate the Lord’s birth through one of the most beautiful works of art: the Nativity by Barocci. Frederico Barocci (1530-1612), is one of the most important mannerist painters of the 16th century who applied an extraordinary use of colour, characterised by warm colour shades, to his artistic work. The […]
The last Sunday of Advent has finally arrived! On this fourth Sunday, the Gospel recounts the story of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary and her total openness to God’s Will. Our Lady shows her certainty that only by doing God’s Will can we find true joy and peace. How beautiful is Our Lady’s ‘yes’! […]
8th December – the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Tota pulchra es Maria, et macula originalis non es in te. Tu gloria Ierusalem, tu laetitia Israel, tu honorificentia populi nostri, tu advocata peccatorum. O Maria! O Maria! Virgo prudentissima, Mater clementissima, ora pro nobis, intercede pro nobis, ad Dominum Iesum […]
The first Sunday of Advent signals a time of waiting and preparation for the coming of Our Lord Jesus. The Advent wreath helps us to meditate on this ‘waiting’ period before the arrival of Christmas. It is circular to indicate the fact that God is eternal, without beginning or end. It is a crown made […]
Tota pulchra es Maria, et macula originalis non es in te. Tu gloria Ierusalem, tu laetitia Israel, tu honorificentia populi nostri, tu advocata peccatorum.O Maria! O Maria! Virgo prudentissima, Mater clementissima, ora pro nobis, intercede pro nobis, ad Dominum Iesum Christum. You are all beautiful, Mary, and the stain of original sin is not in […]
This year, 2020, is completely different to other years due to the ongoing pandemic that is gripping the world. It causes us to reflect more frequently on the meaning of death and the fragility of human life. Of course, thinking about the end of our lives can be disconcerting because we do not know how […]
This year we celebrate the 70° anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Assumption of the ever-Virgin Mary into heaven. Christians have always believed in this truth. In fact, from the first centuries of Christianity, oral accounts about the end of the life of the Virgin were handed down in the Judeo-Christian community. […]
Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci, better known as Pietro Perugino (1450-1523), was an Umbrian painter of the High Renaissance who realised the exceptional fresco entitled ‘The Handing of the Keys to St Peter’ between 1481/2 in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome. The fresco forms part of a series of mural decorations that gave the Sistine […]
‘Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against […]