Fr. Ricardo José Basso, EP

Wilson Zanola (via e-mail) In every Eucharistic celebration, Jesus makes Himself present to be offered in sacrifice and received in Communion. In the Catholic Churches of the Eastern rite – Melkite, Maronite and Ukrainian, among others – it is prescribed that Holy Communion be habitually distributed to the faithful under …

João Carlos Alvim – São Paulo To adequately answer this question, we need to remember what prayer is. The Catechism of the Catholic Church adopts the classic definition: “Lifting up the mind toward God” (CCC 2098). But when is it that we raise our minds to God? Jesus tells us …

Maria Aparecida Ferreira – Brazil Yes, superstition is a sin against the First Commandment of Divine Law, as taught by the Catechism of the Catholic Church (cf. CCC 2110-2111), which also explains that it is a deviation from religious feeling and the practices it imposes, and this deviation can adversely …

Oswaldo Wójcik – Ponta Grossa (Brazil) The question is very timely, as it gives us an opportunity to clarify a very common doubt. In the classical language of the Church, the terms Holy Fathers, Fathers of the Church or even just Fathers designate a very specific group of people. In …

Antonio Borda – Bogotá Only God has the power to create. Other beings, however sublime and powerful they may be, are incapable of doing so. However, in certain cases some Angels have manifested themselves in a way that is perceptible to the human senses, as, for example, when they were …

Marianne Farias – Recife From its earliest days, the Catholic Church adopted the custom of burying the bodies of deceased Christians. Proof of this are the catacombs – which still exist and receive many visitors – where the faithful gathered to pray and attend Holy Mass during times of persecution. …

Willian Silva Torres – Coronel Fabriciano (Brazil) According to a beautiful assertion of the Pontifical Magisterium, the Church values the Latin language, “in which wisdom itself is cloaked, as it were, in a vesture of gold”; it offers a “concise, varied and harmonious style, full of majesty and dignity” which …

Verônica Dias Gonçalves - Via revista.arautos.org When we talk about prayer, we must take into account two related elements: efficaciousness and merit. Prayer is considered efficacious when the supplication is favourably heard and achieves its objective. The Holy Gospels contain numerous accounts of requests made to Our Lord that He …

Stefânia Machado – São Paulo The Church teaches us that “divine law binds all the Christian faithful to do penance each in his or her own way.” Thus, “penitential days are prescribed on which the Christian faithful devote themselves in a special way to prayer, perform works of piety and …

Catarina de Assis Fonseca – Brazil Our inquirer is already certain that wasting time is a sin… and she is absolutely right! First of all, to ensure that everything is clear, the initial question is: what is wasting time? Nowadays, there is a lot of concern, and rightly so, about …