Marist Messenger

By Fr. Brian O’Connell
On October 20 2009, Pope Benedict sprang a surprise by replying to several Anglo-Catholic requests for full visible unity, with a structure that will enable Anglican priests with their congregations to become part of the Church of Rome while still retaining their Anglican identity. Read more »

The Editor spent Labour Weekend in Ballarat,Victoria promoting the magazine at St Patrick’s Cathedral. Read more »

about St Damien of Molokai
“The missionary activity of Jozef de Veuster, who took the name Damien, reached its apex in charity. Not without fear and repugnance, he chose to go to the Island of Molokai to serve the lepers abandoned there, thus exposing himself to the disease. Read more »

by Judith Casey
Ngakawau is a tiny little mining settlement north of Westport, hardly the place to spend two precious weeks of a summer holiday, but that is what I did, with my husband, during the month of January a few years ago. One particular evening, while enjoying the West Coast surf and idyllic micro-climate, we witnessed a breathtaking sunset.
Read more »

By Maria Kennedy
I was waiting at the airport for my daughter’s flight. Perhaps in a similar way we all wait for Christmas amidst the rush and bustle of Advent. For airports are often busy places and you are either caught up in its bustle or are swept to some sideline place where you are left observing, waiting and filling in those empty minutes. So while I sat then stood, peered out the window then fidgeted in a long waiting spell, for the flight was circling above us in adverse weather, I suddenly remembered a flight I took earlier in the year. That flight landed on time. Read more »

By John Dunmore
This is the account of how one of great French missionaries Fr Delach, who was forcibly repatriated to France by his Bishop, wrote a story to pay tribute to a confrere, and how that story came to light. Read more »

by Bill Farrelly
‘G’DAY’ is the great Australian greeting and I love it. It’s warm and it’s welcoming and it frequently says far more than it says.
On the surface it seems to be simply an abbreviation for “have a good day” (nowadays so common that it usually feels hollow and often makes me cringe) but in my experience “g’day” is almost always filled with sincerity. Read more »

Born in 1506, Francis Xavier was a brilliant young man destined for worldly glory – until Saint Ignatius Loyola met him. “What does it profit a man to gain the entire world, if he suffers the loss of his soul?” Ignatius often repeated to the brilliant teacher. Read more »

Juan Diego was born in 1474 in Mexico. When he was 50 years old he was baptised by a Franciscan priest. On 9 December 1531, when Juan Diego was on his way to morning Mass, the Blessed Mother appeared to him on Tepeyac Hill, the outskirts of what is now Mexico City. She asked him to go to the Bishop and to request that a shrine be built at Tepeyac, where she promised to pour out her grace upon those who invoked her. Read more »

As a child in Lombardy, Italy, Frances Cabrini dreamed of being a missionary to China. She filled handmade boats with flower blossom missionaries and dispatched them to the east, hoping one day to follow.
Although her older sister poured scorn on the idea, Frances kept her dream alive and, after her schooling, applied for admission to a religious order. The sisters considered her too small and frail for the life, so she stayed at home to help care for her parents until their death. Twice more her health denied her requests for admission. Read more »

By Joy Cowley
This boy was different from other lads,
being apprenticed to two Dads,
but wood is wood and in that store
with shavings on an earthen floor,
he learned the same as you and me
about the nature of a tree. Read more »

by Elizabeth Isichei
He is the scaling ladder and the
steps cut in stone
Where they can find the true Way, freed of their weight forever.
-Bishop Qing Qing (Adam) in c.780
Christianity reached China early, along the Silk Road, that dangerous and difficult journey through central Asia which has now, improbably, become famous as a tourist destination. It began at Antioch and ended at Beijing, passing through many market towns on the way. Read more »

by Father John Kelly ocso
When a couple fall in love they are affectively attracted to one another. Love is essentially affective before it becomes effective. Strong affection produces the effects of love. We observe this everyday in mothers. Read more »

Christmas Week
As we enter Christmas week my mind turns to children because the memories of what Christmas means for me flow from my childhood days. I am not sure how old I was when I could go to Midnight Mass with the family but I still carry precious memories of the Church filled with people, the singing of carols and of course the beautiful Christmas crib. Read more »

Click
HERE
to download the September Children’s Page

Matt Damon’s dad picked him up from school one afternoon. Knowing the parts for the school play were supposed to be posted that day, he asked his son if he got a part. Matt enthusiastically announced that he had a part. “I play a man who’s been married for twenty years” “That’s great son. Keep up the good work and before you know it they will be giving you a speaking part.” Read more »

THE LOOK OF LOVE
James B Lyons,
SPECTRUM Publications, Richmond Australia, 2009.
Out of the 85 pages that form this sensitive, beautifully-presented book, there is just one phrase highlighted in bold lettering for our attention: What is your true hunger? 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 Peter Kay, John Buisman, Bill Breeze, Ruth Barrett, Peter Holley, Fr Shaun Hurley
In Memoriam: December 1st Dorothy Strange, Gloria Munro, Mary Satherley, Andi Gloor, Pat Allen, Sydney Day. Read more »