Lord, as we enter into Lent
may we strive each day
to deepen Your friendship with You
so as to make this a time of Your grace,
a season of Your favor.
Deepen us a desire to please You,
to overcome things that hinder us
from lifting our minds and hearts to You.
May these precious days of Lent not be wasted.
Journalists, writers, reporters, commentators will just have to curb their passion for speaking and exposing the truth if they want to continue to live. Too many end up a corpse in a cold dark morgue, silence their only companion. That is just the way it is in the Philippines and elsewhere. More than 146 journalists have been assassinated since 1986.
Thank you, Thank you;
the women and men murmur politely.
It was a crowded room of 93
people experiencing homelessness.
On this cold winter day, they repeated their gratitude;
the prayerful expressions of appreciation
for the food and companionship.
Archbishop Petero Mataca confirmed about 50 young people at Nabala (Fiji) today. As part of the preparation we priests had invited Beniamino, a blind dau ni vucu (composer) from Bua Vou Village to teach a meke (group dance). He stayed with us for about six weeks. I noticed that each time he
"Remember your last end," scripture admonishes us. Yet it seems that few people do, or maybe they remember when they attend a funeral or hear of a friend's death. "Like a drop of sea water, like a grain of sand, of are these few days among the days of eternity." (Sirach 18:8) When our days are overloaded with distractions, we block out the thought that one day we will not be here.
Mercifully, O Lord,
work Your sanctification within us
by means of these mysteries;
may they both cleanse us from earthly vices,
and lead us to Heavenly gifts.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
One God world without end.
Amen.
It was a hot, sunny day in February when we four seminarians and four lay people from the Columban Mission Collaborators (CMC) set out to prepare for a month of mission in the north of Lima, Peru. After seven hours of traveling we finally managed to reach the small town we would come to know as Jimbe, a small community of people comprised mainly of farmers.
After 34 years of missionary work in Pakistan, I came to Rome at the end of 2011 to serve as the procurator-general of the Missionary Society of St. Columban. The Columbans have a residence in Rome called Collegio San Colombano for priests who are studying in Rome, for those who have official business and also for visitors. This is where I live.
The Columban Fathers' house in Bristol, Rhode Island, was a seminary for many years, but in the 1960's there were a few vacant priest rooms and a few retired Columbans moved in. Gradually the house changed from being a place where we trained our newest members to being a place where our oldest members live.
Look down upon Your household, O Lord,
and grant that our souls,
chastened by the mortification of the flesh,
may glow in Your sight with the desire for You.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God
world without end.
Amen.
The Columbans are a society of missionaries, including priests and lay people, who minister to people of various cultures as a way of witnessing to the universal love of God.
We go in the name of the Church to announce, by deed and word, the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Missionary Society of St. Columban
1902 N. Calhoun
St. Columbans, NE 68056
Phone: 877-299-1920
Fax: 402-291-4984
email: mission@columban.org
