Harpa Dei

Spiritual view of vanity If one now looks with a spiritual view of people, who are strongly determined by vanity, one quickly perceives the specific non-freedom of these people. They are not oriented towards God, but towards themselves, and also make themselves easily dependent on the judgment of other people. St. Paul was obviously also […]

Vanity is a very widespread specific form of non-freedom, which is easily underestimated in its negative effect if we follow seriously the Lord. It has many forms, although it may also affect women in particular in terms of appearance. Perhaps one is inclined to look at a woman’s vanity and think it is more harmless,

True freedom can only be gained through complete devotion to Christ. It is therefore not a question of the freedom which man possesses as a gift from God, because he is man, but we speak of that freedom which we can only possess in the way of Christian perfection. Therefore, the theme we have considered in

We all know many fears that make our lives unfree and burdened: fear of serious illness, threat of people, fear of existence, fears of death and many other fears – including irrational fears. All these fears are confronted with a word of the Lord: “In the world you are afraid, but be confident, I have overcome the

With the last reflections, we have entered a wide area which is intended to help us to live our Christian faith more liberated. Various forms of non-freedom prevent God’s love from penetrating us completely and, despite the wonderful faith that has been given to us, threaten to leave us in some inner prisons; at least

In the last reflection, we have dealt with the theme of human fear and pondered how this lack of freedom burdens us and weakens the testimony of a liberated life in Christ. But this human fear is not only a personal burden and restriction that indirectly affects other people, it can also lead to sin.

In the last four reflections, I have focused on the grave situation of an idolatry in the context of the Amazon Synod. Other aspects of this Synod are important to understand and should be reflected as well. However, I think it would be better to bring up some further detailed reflections in a separate block.

What conclusions must be drawn when we have to assume that acts of idolatry have taken place in connection with the Amozonas Synod in the Vatican and in a church in Rome, and thus a serious violation of the First Commandment! First of all, whether these acts were committed out of ignorance, blindness or even

We heard at the end of the last reflection that Pope Francis said that the Pachamama statues had been integrated without idolatrous intent. Without questening the Pope’s utterance, I do not think that this statement clarifies the situation. There are two things to note here. On the one hand, a distinction must be made between

Today’s reflections will only be comprehensible if the reflections of 3 October are taken into account. I ask all listeners to be patient, but this issue needs a certain deepening, because this is a significant ecclesiastical matter which may not be properly perceived in its explosiveness. We have to face the serious situation whether acts