AP PHOTOS: Pope Leo XVI addresses crowds in his first Sunday noon blessing as pontiff
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AP PHOTOS: Pope Leo XVI addresses crowds in his first Sunday noon blessing as pontiff
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Telegraph
14 hours ago
- Telegraph
Sacred Mysteries: How God acts from the inside of everything
The Gospel of St John is extraordinarily well written. I don't mean the other Gospels are badly written, but in St John's we find a beautifully composed work by a single author. The so-called prologue of this Gospel, starting, 'In the beginning was the Word,' has been so praised for its sublimity that its meaning is sometimes skated over. I've just been reading the Commentary on the Gospel of John by St Thomas Aquinas, and was struck by what he says early on about the Word of God before he 'was made flesh, and dwelt among us'. John says: 'He was in the world.' Thomas says he was in the world as an efficient cause (in the language of Aristotle) but with a striking difference. 'Other agents act as existing externally...' he says, 'But God acts in all things from within, because he acts by creating.' To create, he says, is to give being to the thing created. The Latin word for 'being' that he uses is esse, the infinitive. This in his vocabulary is the act of being that makes anything exist as what it is. Esse is sometimes translated into English as 'existence', but it is more than the fact of existing; it is the power each thing has to act as itself. In our case, esse is the difference between being alive and dead. 'Since existence [ esse ] is innermost in each thing,' Thomas says, 'God, who by acting gives existence, acts in things from within. Hence God [the Word] was in the world as one giving existence to the world.' This is very different from the mental picture people may have of God sitting in heaven and commanding things to be created. It is true that God is not part of the world and that he transcends everything that we know. But when the old Catechism answer said that 'God is everywhere', it meant, among other things, that God is interior to the vital being of anything. All this applies to the Word of God, God the Son, before ever he took upon himself human flesh and was born in Bethlehem. There is a puzzle here because, since God is present in a volcano, say, and gives it its existence and power to act, then, when the volcano erupts, God has responsibility. Certainly volcanoes function by ordinary secondary causality, for which we like to construct laws of nature. But the volcano would not continue to exist from second to second did God not sustain it in being. Fortunately, this cuts both ways. God's sustaining presence is also part of his almighty power: he does whatever he wants to. He is in charge, so if things look pretty bad at one moment, he can bring them to good. And if things seem bad to us, the Word made Flesh suffered as badly in his death as anyone could. God can do his good work while allowing secondary causes to act according to their laws. He can also allow human beings to exercise their freedom to do good or evil while he brings wicked plans to nothing, or rather to a good conclusion. The fierce logician, Peter Geach, in his book Providence and Evil, likens God to a master chess-player, winning the game whatever moves the opponent chooses. This applies in specific cases, not just in the lump. So someone with faith in God believes that it is wise to trust him, for there is nothing to be gained by going against the principles of good behaviour that he has revealed in his commandments. In the Bible, Joseph was thrown by his brothers into a pit to die. When, by fortune, he ends up in Egypt and prospers, and feeds his brothers in famine, he tells them: 'It was not you who sent me here, but God. . . You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.'
The Sun
2 days ago
- The Sun
Decapitated body of missing escort is found and her security guard client is arrested – as he gives harrowing confession
A WOMAN who vanished in Italy last month has been found brutally decapitated - after weeks of national concern over her disappearance. The body of Denisa Maria Adas Paun, 30, was discovered on Wednesday in a suitcase among brambles, her head found separately miles away in a field. 5 5 5 Adas was a Romanian national who lived in Italy's capital of Rome and worked as an escort, according to the prosecutor's office. She disappeared on May 15 from the Tuscan town of Prato, where she is said to have travelled for work. Vasile Frumuzache, a Romanian-born 32-year-old security guard, reportedly confessed to the horrific crime. Frumuzache was charged with murder and concealment of a corpse. The married father-of-two claimed to police that Adas threatened to tell his wife of their relationship unless he gave her €10,000 (£8,417). 'That's why I killed her,' he allegedly told police. Frumuzache strangled her, then used a knife to decapitate her before placing the body in a rubbish bag and stuffing it into a suitcase, Italian news outlet Corriere Fiorentino reports. The next day, he reportedly set fire to her head in a garden using gasoline. Adas gave her mother a call on May 15 during which she "seemed calm". "Hi Mum, I'm fine, see you at home on Saturday," she said. 5 Body found in search for missing woman who vanished 15 years ago – as suspect, 39, arrested over 'murder' But shortly after the call, both of Adas' phones were switched off - a detail her family called deeply suspicious. Her mother soon went to police in Rome to report her missing. At first, investigators suspected she had left voluntarily - her phones, purse, car keys, two suitcases and the blanket she never travelled without were all missing. Her loved ones, however, were convinced something sinister had happened. A few days before her disappearance, Adas told a friend: 'I'm afraid I'm going to be killed,' local media report. Detectives say Frumuzache entered the property where Adas was staying at 10.50pm on May 15, carrying a holdall. Shortly after 1am, he was seen leaving with the suitcase that she had brought with her from her home in Rome. It is believed her body was inside the suitcase. Detectives traced his journey to the spot where the body was found using GPS data from a tracker fitted to his car for insurance purposes. Adas' body was discovered near an abandoned farmhouse in a rural part of Montecatini Terme, near Florence - around a half-hour drive from Prato. Her head was only found after Frumuzache disclosed its location during police questioning. Adas is believed to have been suffocated, but a post-mortem is expected to confirm the exact cause of death.
Reuters
3 days ago
- Reuters
Earthquake damages part of Pompeii site in southern Italy
ROME, June 5 (Reuters) - A minor earthquake in southern Italy has caused the partial collapse of a wall and a portion of a vault at the Pompeii archaeological site, authorities said on Thursday. The quake with a magnitude of 3.2 on Thursday morning was the latest in a series of tremors centred on the nearby Campi Flegrei super volcano close to the city of Naples. The affected area of Pompeii had been damaged in a major earthquake that hit southern Italy in 1980 and had since been shored up and restored. There were no frescoes or movable relics in the damaged structure and no one was injured. Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the site's director, said checks were being carried out to ensure no other areas had been affected. The ancient settlement of Pompeii was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
