fidzbit

Jesus is a spiritual big brother for every Christian. Having suffered in  every way  like us He is able to sympathetically come alongside us with grace to help (Hebrews 2:17, 4:15-16). This photograph appeared on the 5th April Telegraph  article reporting that “Covid-19 has killed more than 90 priests as well as dozens of missionaries, monks and nuns” in Italy. In contrast to the regular stories of power abuses by members of the Catholic clergy, this conjures up a much more positive image of the priesthood - identifying with the sick and vulnerable in order to pray with them even at great risk to their own lives. It also reminds me of some verses in the book of Hebrews: “For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed  to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.” (Heb. 5:1-2). ‭‭ However, the tragic reality of death remi

This is the fourth and final part of a short series of blogs posts written from a definite Christian standpoint and interacting sympathetically and respectfully with the Dalai Lama's 'Time' article:  "' Prayer Is Not Enough.' The Dalai Lama on Why We Need to Fight Coronavirus With Compassion ". Click here to read the article. The earlier instalments of this short blog series have expressed appreciation for the Dalai Lama's humility and concern for compassion . These are values which are at the heart of Christian ethics too. Acknowledging that, on a practical level, Christians and Buddhists might show compassion in very similar ways we have nevertheless highlighted two areas where there are important differences. One of these has to do with our different ways of dealing with a failure to show compassion and the possibility of forgiveness . The other  considered the different underlying worldviews which motivate and catalyse Buddhist and C