Marist Messenger

A recent visitor to our country for the Prisoners Fellowship Conference, Baroness Vivian Stern, reminded us that our rate of incarceration is almost twice that of most Western European Countries. Read more »

Readers may have noticed on the outside of their magazine that there is a new style of label which is being processed by our printers in Central Hawkes Bay. While the font is clear and clean, there have been teething problems. Some addresses have run on after the subscriber’s name, some were illegible, and others for no apparent reason were rejected by our hard-working posties. We are still in the process of adding the Sub Due function to the new labels.We apologise if you did not receive your magazine last month.

ON THE FIGHT AGAINST HUNGER
The Holy Father writes that “hunger and malnutrition are unacceptable in a world which has, in fact, levels of production, resources and knowledge sufficient to put an end to such dramas and their consequences. Read more »

By Jan Snidjers
A Reflection on the governing style of Marist Founder Fr Colin as it affected Bishop Pompallier.
All his life Colin was firmly convinced that whatever happens is a direct intervention from on high, as long as man does not thwart the workings of providence. Read more »

2. Sight: Seeking and Seeing the Face of God
by Fr Tom Ryan sm
Read slowly the First Letter of John Ch. 1: 1-4. Note how the author appeals to the different senses to speak of the reality of the Word made flesh.
In this text we see how seriously God takes the material world and especially our bodies. So much so that it is through the humanity of Jesus that the divinity is revealed to us – in its fullness (as it says in Colossians). The five senses are the channels through which we experience events, others, creation and God. Let’s begin with the sense of sight. Read more »

The world into which Saint Peter Julian Eymard was born in 1811 was strongly influenced by the French Revolution of 1789, the industrial revolution and the Age of Romanticism in art, music and literature. Read more »

There are in Rome three patriarchal churches in which, on different feast days, the Pope officiates. These are Saint Peter’s on the Vatican Hill, Saint John Lateran, and Saint Mary Major. This last was consecrated to the Virgin Mary by Sixtus III in the year 435. Read more »

Saint Rose was born at Lima, Peru, in 1586. She was christened Isabel, but was called Rose. At an early age she worked as a servant to support her impoverished parents. Her beauty was much admired so, fearing vanity would enter her heart, she cut off her hair, blistered her face with pepper and her hands with lime. For four years, she stayed inside her parents’ house. Read more »

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand has supported a combined Church response to the ongoing emergency in Darfur, western Sudan since 2004. The United Nations estimates up to 300,000 people have been killed and about 2.5 million displaced by the conflict in Darfur. In this edited interview, Catherine Dennis speaks with ACT-Caritas team members in Darfur, Katherine Gicuku Ireri and Adam Ateem, on one aspect of the humanitarian work – Peacebuilding and Protection. Read more »

The Messenger interviews Michael Galovic on his recent commission. Read more »

by Fr John Kelly ocso, Southern Star Abbey, Kopua
In the last article I spoke of affectivity. In this article I wish to reflect on disorderly affectivity.
Arguably St. Ignatius of Loyola, and his Jesuits, have contributed more than any other religious order to the welfare of the Catholic Church in recent centuries. Ignatius didn’t write much but the little that he wrote carries great weight. He had an extraordinary ability for pinpointing the essentials of the Christian life. Read more »

By Glen McCullough
My wife and I recently set off for a holiday in Europe, mainly to visit our daughter in Italy. We had decided to do a bus tour of Spain and Portugal on the way. The tour, incidentally, included a visit to Fatima on the third day, as a stop between Porto and Lisbon. I didn’t think too much about it, because my spirituality had been more “charismatic” than “Marian”. Read more »

Fr Melville Frederick Crombie sm 26 Sept 1917 – 7 June 2008
Editor of the Marist Messenger 1979 -1982
from the Homily by Fr Brian Wysocki sm
To Melville Frederick Crombie, God gave the grace of a long life – ninety years of age, seventy years as a professed member of the Society of Mary and sixty-six years as a priest. Read more »

By Anne Dooley
There is a song by Phil Collins called ‘Another Day in Paradise.’ It describes a homeless woman who crosses the path of a number of people who pretend not to see her and then keep walking. The chorus cries, “Think twice, it’s just another day for you and me in paradise.”
The woman in this song conjures an image of Mary for us today. Read more »

A man suffered a serious heart attack and had open heart bypass surgery. He awakened from the surgery to find himself in the care of nuns at a Catholic Hospital. Read more »

Next week we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven. She is the patron of New Zealand and so her Feast Day is a Holy Day of Obligation, which requires us to come to Mass on that day. Read more »

Hi Everyone,
August 15 is a special day for the Catholic Church. It is the day
when we celebrate the Assumption of Mary. We celebrate this day as Mary’s heavenly birthday (the day that Mary was received into Heaven). It is the symbol of promise made by Jesus to all Christians that they will one day go to Heaven. Read more »

“Like a Samurai” – the Tony Glynn story
by Paul Glynn sm
Reviewed by Michael Pender
Father Paul Glynn, an Australian Marist priest, has a considerable talent for writing engaging biographical studies. This book about the life of his slightly older brother Tony, also a Marist priest, is his third from his Japanese experience. Read more »

Holy Mass is offered each month by the Editor for those whose names occur in this list. To add a name, simply write to the Editor.
Recently Deceased: Fr Fred Crombie sm, Sheila Stassen, Jack Ryan, Peter Murdock, Br Peter Pfahlert fms, Patrick Joseph Twiss, Mrs J. Powell, Fr Gerry Mills sm, Nell O’Shaughnessy, Mrs J Greenidge
————————————————- Read more »