Catholic Commission for Social Justice
Gospel Mt 23:1-12
Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice.
From October 17th to 19th a group of organizations and individuals from countries of the Greater Caribbean opposed to the application of the capital punishment participated in the International Conference on the Death Penalty in the Great Caribbean organized in Madrid by the Community of Sant’ Edigio.
The Community of Sant’Egidio invited me to attend The First International Conference on The Death Penalty in the Great Caribbean. It was held in Madrid from 17 – 19 October, 2011 and was organized in collaboration with the International Commission Against the Death Penalty, the International Academic Network for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, the Bar Association of Puerto Rico, The Puerto Rican Coalition Against The Death Penalty, and the Death Penalty Project. The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation sponsored the Conference.
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with your entire mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
There are about five million people worldwide who suffer from Lupus. If you know anyone with this chronic disease you will know how debilitating it is, particularly when it flares up. Lupus is an autoimmune disease that causes an individual’s immune system to attack its own tissues, cells, and organs. It is not contagious.