Marist Messenger

by Fr. Brian O’Connell sm
‘Not very many’ one would have to say after elections in NZ and USA in November. It was not an issue for most of the voters in NZ, and it was not a decisive issue in the USA presidential elections, despite a minority of Catholic Bishops who made it an election issue. Read more »

The Last Things in St Paul: Fundamental Attitudes.
“In his First Letter to the Thessalonians,” said the Holy Father, “St. Paul speaks of the return of Jesus, an event known as the ‘parusia’ or advent”. The saint describes this vividly using symbolic images that nonetheless transmit a simple and profound message: ‘In the end we will be with the Lord forever’. … Our future is ‘to be with the Lord’”. Read more »

by Sister Geogeanne Donovan smsm

Two years ago, I was granted the great gift of spending sabbatical time in the Holy Land studying Scripture. During sabbatical, our group made pilgrimages to many holy sites of the Jewish, Moslem and Christian traditions, where we spent time in prayer and reflection. For someone like me who had spent many years in tropical climes, journeying through the desert was a new and awe-inspiring experience. Read more »

by Sue Jones

Over the summer holidays we spent much time at the beach with our children and grandchildren. Though the cool east wind blew around us a bit too often, swimming was a high priority. Getting in a decent swim, detaching oneself from the shallows occupied by the grandchildren, was difficult. One had to be single-minded and determined to drift off into the deep. On doing so one day my grandson, a rising four year old, called out to me, “come back into the short water Jones.” Read more »

by Bill Farrelly
In my childhood, there was a period in which the word stigmata aroused in a me a great fear. I tried to make myself invisible to God in the hope that whatever dispatches of that nature were being issued from on High would have no chance of finding me. Read more »

6. Sense of Taste: What’s God’s and What’s Good?
by Tom Ryan sm
To begin, let’s mull over four Scripture quotes:
* ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good’ (Ps. 34: 8).
* ‘Your promise is sweet to my taste, Lord. It is sweeter than honey in the mouth.’ (Ps.119:103).
* The words of the Lord are ’sweeter than honey, even than honey that drips from the comb’ (Ps. 19:10).
* ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’ (Deut. 8:3 and Matt. 4:4). Read more »

Saint Brigid was born in Ulster and, while still very young, consecrated her life to God, bestowing everything she owned on the poor. Born very beautiful, she feared being pressured to break her vow, so prayed that she might become ugly and deformed. Read more »

Saint Josephine Bakhita rose to sanctity from the dregs of society. She was born in southern Sudan and, from the age of nine, was abducted and bartered for by slave traders five times, often being tortured by her owners. Her fifth and last buyer, the Italian Consul, gave her to the wife of a friend to serve, in Italy, as a nanny to their daughter. Read more »

Saint Peter Damian lost both his parents at an early age. His eldest brother treated him so cruelly that another brother, a priest, moved by his pitiful state, sent him to the University of Parma, where he acquired great distinction. His studies were sanctified by vigils, fasts, and prayers, until at last, thinking that all this was only serving God halfway, he resolved to leave the world. Read more »

Almsgiving, prayer and fasting
Jesus said more things than the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. On Ash Wednesday when we gather to have ashes placed on our foreheads we hear some other important lines from that sermon. Read more »

by Fr John Kelly ocso , a monk of Southern Star Abbey, Kopua, NZ.

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Reflecting on Bernadette and the Apparitions
by Maria Kennedy
The first apparition of Mary to 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, occurred in the month of February 1858, now just past the 150th anniversary year. Read more »

by Elizabeth Isichei
Like other readers of the Messenger, I had become quite familiar with the advertisements placed by the Divine Mercy Trust, seeking volunteers to correspond with the prisoners in a maximum security prison for men in the Zambian town of Kabwe. Read more »

Dennis, a Catholic boy, and Jock, a Protestant boy were great friends, even though Dennis supported Celtic and Jock supported Rangers at the weekly football match in Ibrox Park. Read more »

with Fr Paddy Cahill

Candlemas Day
On Monday we celebrated the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the temple. We call it Candlemass day because as Simeon said when receiving Jesus in his arms “the light has come into our darkened world” . The light of a candle represents Jesus our light. At Mass on Monday the candles that will be used at Mass and at all our liturgical events during the year were blessed. Read more »

Click
HERE
to download the February Children’s Page

Maximum Security Prison
Kabwe, Zambia
Central Africa
11 September 2007
Dear Servants of God,
We greet you in the name of the father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen! We hope and trust this letter will find you well. Here back we can only say, it’s well with our souls, as we are physically suffering. 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:
Phyllis Jean Bradley
Anniversaries: Read more »