"Land, blood and the deceased"

This is how the Bishop of Porto described the people of the north, and the Portuguese people, in general, to missionaries during a conference. Such a profound knowledge of the idiosyncrasy of the Portuguese people does not seem to have been well translated by the bishops themselves when they preferred to keep the Assumption of Our Lady as a national holiday to the detriment of All Saints' Day.

Saying this does not make me suspect of being one of those clerics who think that expressing love and gratitude to our heavenly Mother makes us less Christ-centered. I pray the Rosary every day and always at the end of Mass I invite the people to say one Hail Mary, to thank her through whom the bread from heaven and the incarnate word of God, Christ, came to us.

I have lived in and visited many countries in the Catholic world, and in nowhere have I seen a cult of the deceased like that of the Portuguese, both in Portugal and abroad, in communities scattered all over the world. Our people are so generous that, after having a Mass celebrated for their loved ones, they always add another Mass for the most abandoned souls in Purgatory - those who have no one to remember them by. In abolishing this holiday, is the Church not shooting herself in the foot?

The faithful departed and All Saints, that the holiday brought together, for the convenience of the people, are an expression of the Communion of Saints expressed in the Apostles' Creed. In my village of Loriga, and in many parts of Portugal, people express this same Communion of Saints in the community procession to the cemetery, to visit the remains of their loved ones.

The feast of All Saints is our feast... the only one in the liturgical calendar that does justice to and celebrated the efforts, not of the beatified nor the canonized, but of so many Christians who, in their daily lives, seek to become more like Christ by responding to the call to "be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).

In the civil world, in matters of general interest, governments consult the people in a referendum -- "Voice of the people, voice of God". This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council: a council that made the Church less pyramidical and more circular; less hierarchical and more of communion; less ecclesiastical and more accessible and available. Could not the people have been consulted on this matter in some way? After all, the feast of all the saints of God was our equivalent to the tomb of the unknown soldier that all countries have and proudly maintain.

Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC

Wealth that generates poverty

The secondary school in the municipality of Amares, district of Braga, celebrated this year on 17th of October with great emphasis the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. In this context, I was invited to help raise awareness among students on this topic, which is one of the Millennium Development Goals.

If the world's population, today at 8 billion and counting, were all to consume and pollute at the combined rates of the Americans, Europeans and the rest of the wealthy countries, this planet of ours could only last for 3 months, otherwise we will need the resources of 10 planet Earth to keep this going.

The level of poverty in which 80% of the population lives is neither fair nor healthy; there is still a lot of infant mortality, people still die of malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, typhoid fever and other infectious diseases, that have long been eradicated in wealthy countries, diseases for which cures have long been found.

On the other hand, the standard of living of 20% of humanity is neither fair nor healthy; it is our standard of living that causes us to die of cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and many others.

Some die of poverty and others die of plenty. Isn't the world globalized? And isn't globalization something like the principle of communicating vessels? – Do not two vats of water, one full and one empty, naturally level when there is a communication between them? Why don’t we see this?

Because the rich countries applied a valve at the intercommunication channel so that the flow can only occur in one direction...

If we lowered our standard of living while the poor increased theirs, we would all live better, with more justice and health; neither will we die of diseases linked to poverty, nor will we die of diseases linked to wealth. But since we do not want to lower our standard of living, then we have to find mechanisms so that they will always remain poor. Die Martha, die full...

Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC

Quantum Physics and Faith

“If quantum mechanics has not profoundly shocked you, you haven’t understood it yet. Everything we call real is made up of things that cannot truly be understood as real.” — Niels Bohr

Physics is the mother of science
Physics is, in itself, a worldview, in other words, a matrix of our thinking. It is not the same to observe the world from Newton's mechanistic and materialistic perspective as it is to see it through the lens of quantum physics.

Contemporary thinking no longer explains reality based on Newton’s mechanistic physics, but on the theory of relativity and quantum physics. However, most thinkers, scientists, and even theologians still have their minds shaped by Newtonian physics.

The world of politics, universities, the media, and the economy is a world of cause and effect, where a cause always produces the same effect; thus, it is an atheistic, materialistic, and mechanistic world. Quantum physics, being new, will still need time to establish itself as the new worldview, and when it does, it will make belief much easier.

Universities, politics, and intellectuals are therefore outdated, behind the times and out of sync with the new reality. They live in an obsolete worldview. To update themselves, they must divorce Newton and marry Heisenberg. The world does not look nor work the way they believe it does.

Talking about the miracles of Jesus in the light of Newtonian mechanics, where reality works like a perfect machine in the unalterable routine of a clock, is more difficult than approaching the same topics from the perspective of relativity theory and quantum physics, where fixed and absolute laws of nature no longer exist, but is replaced by statistical probabilities.

Heisenberg’s principle goes even further by suggesting that reality, far from being fixed and predictable, has a high degree of uncertainty and unpredictability. Quantum physics challenges even common sense.

For Einstein, matter is a form of energy and energy is a form of matter; 95% of the universe is made up of dark matter, which is invisible. How much easier it is to talk about the resurrection of Christ’s glorious body and the spiritual body we will have after death!

Quantum Mechanics
Quantum mechanics profoundly alters our paradigms, challenging the logic that has governed science and our lives, breaking down boundaries that once seemed insurmountable, and putting an end to dualisms that opposed realities that we thought were opposites, such as:

Matter and energy
Static and dynamic
Visible and invisible
Tangible and intangible
Predictable and unpredictable
Material and spiritual
Scientific and philosophical

Let us examine some of these oppositions in more detail:
Matter/Energy – The heart of matter is as intangible as energy. The world of atoms and subatomic particles is essentially energy. Although we can measure and weigh atoms, the particles that compose them are made up of electric charges and are in motion, thus exhibiting the properties of energy. In essence, matter is describable and quantifiable, but in existence, it is energy, as it reacts, creates waves, and manifests an electric potential.

Visible and solid matter is composed of invisible elements, and the deeper we penetrate into the center of matter, the less mass and more empty space we encounter. Subatomic particles are, in fact, manifestations of energy. Therefore, what once seemed solid and visible is now reduced to electromagnetic waves. Thus, our body and everything that exists materially are nothing more than condensed vibrating energy.

Matter/Spirit – Materialism loses its rationale, since matter consists of invisible, almost spiritual elements. The atom, which is the "soul" of matter, is as invisible as the human soul within the body. Therefore, it is not only human beings who have a soul; matter, somehow, also possesses it.

Inert/Alive – It is no longer evident that only organic matter has life. Subatomic particles show us that life can also exist at the level of quarks, although distinct from the life we know.

Visible/Invisible – The boundary between the visible and the invisible is also blurring. The mass of an atom accounts for less than 1% of its total volume; the rest is empty space, i.e. the distance between the nucleus and the electron.

Static/Dynamic – The matter that makes up objects appears static, but this is an illusion. In reality, everything is in motion. The electron orbits the nucleus of an atom at 2,200 kilometers per second.

In quantum mechanics, visible matter is composed of invisible elements; it appears static when, in fact, it is in motion, and although it seems different from energy, it is merely one form of it.

The Dignity of the Human Person
"You have made us for Yourself, Lord, and our hearts will be restless until they rest in You." — Saint Augustine

Atheism is an intellectual conjecture, while agnosticism is an intellectual laziness, typical of a small minority that lives comfortably in the consumerism of an affluent society. The majority of the world’s population are religious, and this has been the case throughout history and in all cultures.

The evolution of species has resulted in a thinking human being, who either opposes or stands above the rest of Creation, just as the thumb opposes the other fingers of the hand. This fact indicates that humans have a destiny distinct from that of other living beings.

Only humans yearn for eternity and thirst for God. If there is thirst, there must be water to quench it. Therefore, the desire for God, present in every human being, is proof of His existence.

Belief is a Free Choice
Despite all the efforts of scientists to understand the mysteries of the universe and reduce the domain of religion, they have never found an unequivocal proof that compels people to believe or not to believe. Science studies the "how”, but not the "why”. Answers to the latter questions are found in the realm of faith and religion.

This being so, scientists will have to admit that the faith in a God creator of the Universe and the creation of human beings at His own image and likeness is a more plausible and logic position than the one of atheists and agnostics, that we and the Universe comes from nothing. Can nothing create something?

In Nature we do not see anything that creates itself, there is always a creator outside the creature, so how can the Universe create itself. That the Universe always existed is a position that science itself has abandoned since the discover of the BIG Bang and the Universe in expansion.

Conclusion - As long as our minds remain confined to Newton's outdated mechanistic physics, atheism seems obvious. But embracing quantum physics reveals a fluid, unpredictable reality where the boundaries between material and spiritual, visible and invisible, blur. This challenges atheism and opens new paths to deeper faith.

Year of Faith

What do I have that you seek my friendship?
What are you interested in me, my Jesus,
that at my door, covered with dew,
you spend the dark winter nights?

Oh, how hard my heart was,
for I did not open it to you! What a strange delusion,
if from my ingratitude the cold ice
dried up the sores of your pure feet!

How many times the angel said to me:
"Soul, lean out of the window now,
you will see with how much love to call”!

And how many, sovereign beauty,
"Tomorrow, we will open it” she would reply,
to answer the same thing tomorrow!
Lope de Vega

We always hear it said that faith is a gift from God, and in a way, it is, because as St. Paul says, it is the Holy Spirit who cries out within us, ‘Abba! Father!’ (Galatians 4:6); or as Jesus says in John 15:16, "You did not choose me, but I chose you...". However, if faith is fundamentally a gift from God, would not God be seen as unjust because He did not give this gift to those who call themselves atheists or agnostics?

God only loves those who love him, I like to repeat rhetorically in my sermons. Of course it is false, but it is only false in theory; in practice, it is as if it is true. What warms us is not the sun directly, but rather the feedback or response from the earth. In fact, the higher up and the further away from the earth we are, the colder we get (some of us may have seen on the information panels that the outside temperature of a plane at 10,000 meters is minus 50 degrees Celsius).

Salvation is free but it is not automatic; God feeds the birds of the air but He does not put the food in their nests; they have to look for it. What saves us is not so much faith as a gift of God, but faith as a choice and as a response to God's gift. God loves everyone equally; He loved Hitler and Francis of Assisi in the same way. The difference between them lies in their response to God's gift: negative in the former, positive in the latter.

Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. Revelation 3:20

The door can only be opened from the inside, Jesus has no way of opening it from the outside. It is in accepting God's grace that we are saved, it is in rejecting God that we are condemned. Faith can be a gift from God, but it is also a human choice. In the face of our freedom, Almighty God is powerless because He created us to be free. 

Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC

Missionary Animation or Mission?

In the days when Europe was mostly Christian, it made sense for the missionary institutes “Ad Gentes” to make the people of God aware that the Church does not exist for herself, but for the Mission, and that the purpose of the Mission is to build the Kingdom of God. As a result of this missionary animation of the people of God, Europe took the Gospel to the four corners of the world.

While still maintaining a Christian worldview, Europe is no longer Christian. To be a missionary, one must be a believer; it is not possible to carry out missionary animation among non-believers; what one does among non-believers is Mission.

We cannot give what we do not have; in other words, we cannot exhort those who do not believe, or who doubt, or have a weak faith to share their faith and be missionaries. That is why the best way to do missionary animation here and now is to do Mission, and the best missionary witness is to be here and now what we once were a long time ago. Someone once said that the best way to honor a father is to be a good father.

The number of faithful has fallen and the number of priests has fallen even more, but the places of worship have not. The few existing pastors have several parishes under their care, and are often absorbed in the pastoral care of a small and scattered flock. Faced with this problem, many members of missionary institutes ad gentes have exchanged their nets for their staffs.

Is it by shepherding the few sheep that remain that we fill the void of the many that have left the flock? Those of us who are fishermen must adapt our hooks, nets and fishing techniques to the new situation, not change our profession; we cannot stop being what we are by vocation. But if we had to be shepherds, we should at least be Good Shepherds, and a good shepherd is like a fisherman, because he is the one who leaves the 99 to go in search of the 1 lost sheep.

Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC

Believing after Nietzsche

“It is through our virtues that we are most severely punished.” - Nietzsche

Nietzsche approaches his criticism of religion from a moral or ethical standpoint, understanding that morality does not derive from true human nature, but rather from a religion that prevents man from being happy. It is our own virtues, or the effort we make to embody them, that punish us and make us unhappy.

Biography of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
Nietzsche made morality and religion the target of his battles, considering his personal war against both as his greatest victory. "Beyond Good and Evil" is at the heart of this war, marking the beginning of his critical and negative writings, as he himself declares in Ecce Homo (1888), published posthumously.

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was born in Röcken, Germany, on October 15, 1844. He was the son, grandson, and great-grandson of Protestant pastors. At the age of five, he lost his father and was raised by his mother, grandmother, and older sister. In 1869, at the age of 25, he was hired by the University of Basel as professor of Classical Philology.

Master Morality vs. Slave Morality
In his books, On Genealogy of the Morality and Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche demonstrates that morality is neither innate, immutable, nor derived from human nature, but rather a product of history. In prehistoric times, when the line between human and animal was not yet well defined, some men subjugated others according to the law of the strongest, a rule that also prevailed among animals. The victors became masters, while the defeated became slaves.

The masters, upon triumphing, judged reality based on themselves and their actions, due to the privileged position they gained after their victory. For them, “good” was everything that represented their way of being and acting: violence, war, adventure, risk, power, pleasure, cruelty, physical strength, action, freedom, and autonomy. These values placed them in a position of superiority over others.

The masters, those who can, want, and are in charge, externalize all their instincts, acting without limitations. They may kill, steal, violate, gorge on food and get drunk because no one questions them — they set the law. An example of this, even today, is the boss, who has more freedom to express his instincts than the employee.

The priests, resentful of their defeat and eager for revenge, unable to physically overcome the nobles, devise a plan to surpass them mentally. Like the fox that unable to reach the grapes, declares them sour, so do the priests with the master morality.

In this way, the slave morality is born. Unable to impose themselves on the real world, they invented an ideal, ascetic, spiritual world — God. They retreat to monasteries and deny real life, calling it a “vale of tears”, in order to focus on the afterlife, where they will be happy again. They deny earth in order to affirm heaven, transferring the value of life outside of their own existence.

In the name of God and the afterlife, they renounce this life, their sexual instincts, power, pleasure, and everything they once possessed when they were masters. Values now become pacifism, humility, obedience, poverty, prudence, fasting, abstinence, equality, and fraternity.

Nietzsche identifies the Jews as a “priestly people”, and slave morality is indeed the morality of Judeo-Christianity, which gradually took hold. Both Judaism and Christianity were born out of slavery: the Jews were slaves in Egypt, and the Christians, for centuries, were the poorest class, persecuted by the Roman Empire until they ultimately prevailed over it.

Master morality is autonomous, with values defined from individual experience; while slave morality is heteronomous, with values imposed externally, stemming from norms like “God said” or “the Bible commands”. Master morality is vital, based on the body and its needs and appetites, while slave morality is abstract, denying and sacrificing real life.

A critique to Nietzsche´s genesis of morality
Nietzsche’s dichotomy between master and slave morality is undeniably original and thought-provoking, shedding light on the historical dynamics of human ethics. However, it also risks oversimplifying the complexity and richness of moral systems. His association of slave morality with values like humility, altruism, and meekness—which he claims arise from ressentiment, a reactive and vengeful stance against the powerful—may unfairly diminish the genuine and proactive motivations behind these virtues. These values are often rooted not in weakness or resentment but in a deep recognition of human interconnectedness and shared vulnerability.

The origins of these so-called "slave morality" values might be better explained by human nature itself rather than a reactionary moral framework. Empathy, cooperation, and the desire for fairness are traits deeply embedded in human evolution, vital for the survival and flourishing of communities. Nietzsche’s critique overlooks these natural and constructive aspects of moral development.

On the other hand, the master morality Nietzsche celebrates, with its emphasis on dominance, strength, and self-assertion, appears to mimic the “law of the jungle” or the survival of the fittest. This perspective is problematic as it could be used to justify oppressive systems or behaviors, prioritizing the powerful over the vulnerable. Such valorization risks promoting a worldview that dehumanizes those perceived as weak and legitimizes exploitation, undermining the moral progress that has sought to secure dignity, equality, and justice for all.

Moreover, Nietzsche’s emphasis on individualism in the master morality over communal values reveals a blind spot in his philosophy. His famous proclamation of the “death of God” and celebration of the Übermensch (Superman) reflect his rejection of traditional morality and communal obligations. Yet, this rejection seems detached from the realities of human interdependence, where societies thrive on mutual support and collective responsibility.

Nevertheless, Nietzsche’s critique remains valuable for its originality and its challenge to unquestioned moral assumptions. He rightly identifies the dangers of moral systems that portray the natural world as a “vale of tears” and discourage human agency. However, a more balanced approach might seek to harmonize the strengths of both master and slave moralities, emphasizing individual flourishing alongside collective well-being. Such an integration would honor Nietzsche’s insights while addressing the broader and richer dimensions of human ethics.

Theism and Atheism
Regarding the existence of God, Nietzsche follows in the footsteps of his atheist predecessors. For him, faith in God stems from a feeling of impotence that man experiences in relation to the realities around him.

Feuerbach, Marx, and Freud, for example, all had links to Christianity, either through their theological training or their parents’ conversion. It seems that atheism is born from theism, or it is a kind of inverted theism, a dialectic similar to the relationship between matter and antimatter in the universe.

The atheist thrives in dissatisfaction, always haunted by doubt, seeking more proof to convince themselves that God does not exist. The theist also doubts, but this doubt culminates in a cogito ergo sum. The theist chooses to believe, finding in faith a meaning for the universe, the world, and his own life, while the atheist settles into the emptiness, which can cause torment and suffering.

Nietzsche, for example, ended his days in madness. Other atheists fill this void with the pursuit of power, pleasure, beauty, or money, dedicating themselves almost religiously to these causes. Many atheists, in fact, could be considered more polytheistic than truly atheistic.

Conclusion - Contrary to Nietzsche's proposal, master morality—rooted in the exaltation of instincts and unchecked individualism—fails to bring true happiness, instead it may foster social injustice and conflict. In contrast, Christian morality, far from being about submission, is grounded in love and values that uplift human dignity. As the cornerstone of Christian ethics, love offers a path to transcendence, guiding individuals beyond mere survival to a life of authentic meaning and purpose.

Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC

The Banner of the Itinerant Mission

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives... (Lk. 4:18)

Hello, I am a priest from the Portuguese Consolata Missionaries who have worked in Ethiopia, Spain, England, Canada and the United States. I have always seen myself as an itinerant and since the age of ten I have never lived in one place for more than four years; only God knows what lands I will be sent to yet. Meanwhile, while working in Portugal, I heard Pope Francis say that the Internet is now the sixth continent so I took this message and created a blog in Portuguese three years ago, in 2012.

This year a group of Canadian pilgrims I met in the Holy Land challenged me to do the same in English. Initially I refused but when one of them offered to do the translation, I had no more excuses. I ask God’s blessing upon the translator who wants to remain anonymous for helping to reach the people of goodwill in this World Wide Web.

The Dove - Represents, obviously, the Holy Spirit.  The Mission is Trinitarian because it started with God the Father who sent His Son and is being continued in the "here and now" of the human history by the Holy Spirit who animates, inspires, gives strength and courage to the mystical body of Christ which is the Church. The Author and the Landlord of the Mission is always God.

The Heralds - The three gospels, Mark, Matthew (10:10) and Luke (9:3) agree that the disciples should not have two tunics, bread, money or bag. Mark though to make the journey easier and faster, adds staff and sandals as we see in the picture. Since Mark (6:8-9) wrote his gospel long before the others did, we take his account as the one that is closest to what Jesus commanded.

The City - Is where the majority of the world's population lives nowadays. Centre of power and government even for those who do not live there. To better spread the Good News,  Peter and Paul set up camp in Rome, the capital city of the world at that time; nowadays disciples must also take the salt and the light of the gospel right into the power and decision-making centres of the world.

The Paschal Candle - Is the "i" of Mission and the "i" of Itinerant. Represents the Good News that the heralds are carrying into the city:

• The faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus;
• The proclamation that he is the Lord;
• The declaration that he is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of the universe;
• He is also the way, the truth and the life and the most reasonable and convincing answer to the questions that every person who comes into this world asks himself: "Where do I come from? Where am I going? What is the meaning of life?"

The atheists and the agnostics who answer these questions by saying that they come from nothing and are going nowhere, what answer could they possibly give to the third question? Surely they will have to admit that something that springs up from nothing and ends up being nothing cannot possibly be something other than nothing or nonsense. 

"Go first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. 10:6) - Europe was entirely Christian when the gospel spread to the other continents; today, far from being Christian, it even denies its Christian root. Re-evangelization of the western civilization, which continues to exert power and influences over the rest of the world, has become a form of mission “Ad Gentes”.

Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC