Below are stories from past issues of Columban Mission magazine. The Columban Fathers publish Columban Mission magazine eight times a year. Subscriptions are available for just $15 per year. Sign up to receive our next issue. Read more about Columban Mission magazine.
Howard Thurman (1899 – 1981) was an American writer who has left us with powerful thoughts and insights about Christmas. In his book, "The Mood of Christmas and Other Celebrations," he wrote these stirring words:
When I joined the Columban Lay Missionary orientation program in 2002, I knew that my decision entailed a lot of letting go. I knew that there will be special occasions at home that I would miss.
For millions of Filipinos, Christmas is a celebration of the family. They come together from around the world; they delight in the togetherness and sharing of respect. They honor the aged, bless the children, and feed the hungry.
I am standing in the center of the spacious main hall, the atrium, of the new Preda children's home for girls. The light from the transparent roof throws its soft and gentle light on the children playing nosily, shouting in glee.
I was reading a Biblical reflection when word came that my niece's baby had just been born. The author of the reflection pointed out that the first sound we hear in the Bible is God breathing in the darkness. My thoughts wandered to my niece's baby breathing in the darkness for nine months.
They come at evening, scenes from far away, The bitter-sweet of absence and of love, When memory opens her halls of yesterday, And draws her shuttered curtains from above.
Retired Christian Brother, Brother Reginald Whitely, shares memories of his Columban brother, Fr. Lynn Whitely who died from hepatitis in Chile in 1971 at the age of 31.
Today I officiated the wedding of my sister Karen, who is a talented nurse, to her forever Dodo, who is who is a mechanical engineer. In all the eight years they were together before the wedding, I only met the groom on the day of their wedding!
In 1932, the Yangste and Han rivers overflowed and flooded vast areas in China. The members of the Missionary Society of St. Columban in Hanyang, China, together with the others, tried to come to the aid of the thousands of people in Hanyang affected by the Great Flood.
This evening, I had a good chat with Sukh Deo as we drank yaqona together. Sukh Deo is Hindu, but his wife and children are Catholic. They live in an interior settlement, far from town.
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.