Fr Hermes Larry Sabud sm, Superior of our Marist Community in Ranong, Thailand, recently sent this news to us:  Le P. Hermes Larry Sabud sm, supérieur de notre communauté mariste de Ranong, Thaïlande, nous a récemment envoyé cette nouvelle : Blessing of the Harmony Centre, Ranong, Thailand:    Bénédiction du Centre Harmony, Ranong, Thaïlande : During an interreligious and intercultural celebration on 10 June, the Marist Harmony Centre in Ranong was blessed in the presence of many faithful and their religious leaders, the Muslim Imam, Buddhist Monks and Catholic priests and also other civil authorities. The Centre envisions harmony in cultural and religious diversity in Ra...

Marist Brother - Francis Lukong fms - a member of our Marist Family Laudato Si Group - wrote this article recently: The International Day for Biodiversity is observed every year on May 22 by the international community to draw the world's attention to the importance of biodiversity on the planet Earth. The theme for this year's Biodiversity Day celebration is "Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth". A shared future for all life represents the shared aspiration of mankind. Ecological challenges remind us that we are members of the same universal community. Our basic call to survival is best captured by the Chinese saying, "all beings flourish when they live in harmony and receiv...

Laudato Si Week, with the Theme – Journeying together – is on, you can register here Marist Asia Foundation works with 3 of the 7 goals of Laudato Si, in response to: Cry of the Poor; Community Engagement and Participation; and Ecological Education. Cry of the Poor: Education of Migrant Children The Marist Asia Foundation's migrant community education center happily welcomed two hundred eighty-five students to another exciting year of learning, on May 19. The Parents' support is very much appreciated as they accompany their children for registration. The first three days of school are set specifically to orient the students to MAF child protection policy, transportation safety, anti-bul...

Fr Samuela Tukidia sm, Fijian Marist, completed a Thesis in Rome last December which is good for us to share as we approach the seventh Anniversary of the Encyclical of Pope Francis - Laudato Si - on May 24th.   Samu's 145 page thesis has 4 Chapters:    1. Setting the Scene - The Roots of the Ecological Crisis and the Search for An Integral Ecology 2. The Creator and Creation: Thomistic Perspectives on Divine Action, Emergence, Analogia Entis, and the Eschatological Challenges of Ecology 3. The Relationship of Human Beings to Creation 4. The Sacramentality of the Cosmos Following are his own words of reflection when he shared his Thesis with the other membe...

Sr Catherine Jones - a Marist Missionary Sister from NZ - recently shared something of her life and work,  with our Marist Commission for Inter-religious Dialogue.  She began with the Batique, from India, in the cover photo - which she said was designed for one of the first Inter-Faith L'Arche communities in the world. Their symbol is the center piece of the Batique.   Catherine was professed in 1970 and applied for a Fiji Mission appointment, knowing that Fiji was both a multi-religious and multi-faith society.  She was no stranger to inter-faith encounters, since they began for her with the Buddhists in Shotover River Valley, Central Otago, NZ, where she grew ...

Ron NIssen sm writes from Sydney, Australia: Some weeks ago I was part of a fund-raising Camino, Walk for Wilai, a ten-day chapter in the adventure of tackling the statelessness of thousands of children worldwide, beginning with a young girl called Wilai. In a hospital by the River Kwai at Kanchanaburi, Thailand, and close to Myanmar, Wilai was born to parents whose origins are 'unknown' but thought to be somewhere in the border forests between the two countries. From them she inherited statelessness. The 14 yr old presently lives in an orphanage in Thailand. As a stateless person she is denied opportunity for education and the freedom to embrace young womanhood as a free person in a fr...

Easter Sunday 2022 - Peter Healy sm offers this reflection: He is not here, He has risen!  Kāhore ia i konei, engari kua ara! These words in the middle of today's gospel of Luke, come amidst puzzlement, disbelief and amazement and indicate perhaps a new stage of faith? On Good Friday at the last Station of the Cross on Pukekaraka Ann-Marie lead us in a final refrain: "Were you there when they sealed the tomb with stone?" Solid stone, almost immoveable, silent and deathly in shape and weight. We walked down the Puke , encouraged by Adi Leason to stay in the story, to stay with our desolation. On our Lenten journey this year we explored our relationship with God our Creator...

Phil Cody sm - Kiwi Marist - writes of - Takarangi -  the importance of Space in the Maori Tradition.  We are probably familiar with 'The Dash' poem by Linda Ellis.[1] It portrays the 'dash' which is the space between the dates of birth and death of a person, for example, 1944 – 2022. Linda relates how a person giving a eulogy on the death of a friend, referred to that 'dash' in their life. They argued that the years represented by the dash, the space between being born and dying, were what mattered most in his or her life. The space or dash marks the time they were alive. The challenge for them and for us is how much love and life they and we put into that space! In this refl...

The Marist Commission for Inter-religious Dialogue met, in December 2021, with Fr Paulin Batairwa Kubuya, a Congolese Xaverian Missionary. Paulin was professor at the Department for Religious Studies at Fu Jen Catholic University in Taipei and Executive Secretary of the Episcopal Commissions for Interreligious and Ecumenical Dialogue of the Regional Episcopal Conference of Taiwan, before being nominated, in November 2019 as undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue. [PCID]. This Pontifical Council was renamed by Pope Francis, on March 19th, as the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. The purpose of the meeting was to see what insights we may gain from Fr Paulin ...

 Pope Francis—united to all the Bishops and Catholic faithful around the world— consecrated Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Friday 25th March, the feast of the Annunciation. The Act of Consecration was prayed during the "24 Hours for the Lord" Lenten penitential service led from St. Peter's Basilica, which began at 5 PM Rome time. The official text is below - and offered for ongoing prayer and reflection:  O Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, in this time of trial we turn to you. As our Mother, you love us and know us: no concern of our hearts is hidden from you. Mother of mercy, how often we have experienced your watchful care a...

Classic texts are ever old, and ever new. They speak to the truth of life. These words from our Founder, whose cause for canonization has taken another small step this last week, speak to us on our Lenten Journey, in the complexities of the world we live in. 182:11 'And what other subjects? You should meditate above all upon the passion of Jesus Christ. You will find such meditations less taxing, and the subject matter more tangible, striking, and compelling. 182:12 'Meditate also on the Imitation of the blessed Virgin. We bear her name, and it should not be to no purpose. 182:15 'Confessors, know where your duty lies. Take a young confrere, for instance, who neglects his meditation. If by t...

Francois Grossin sm, in New Caledonia, sent this article - November 2021 - relevant now and in the years ahead. In the Pacific, maritime borders threatened by rising sea levels and land erosion:     With rising sea levels and the erosion of their islands, Pacific states fear that their maritime boundaries will be lowered. They want to preserve their marine spaces or EEZs, Exclusive Economic Zones, as registered by the United Nations. From the Pacific Islands Forum to COP 26, the leaders of the countries affected by the rising waters carried their fight. To avoid losing their exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and becoming high seas areas open to all states, they drafted a De...

Our Marist Confreres in Bahia, Brazil are developing a Marian Ecological Project, and send this report:   Humanity at the moment finds itself with an urban environment where contact with nature is increasingly difficult and this is creating social and environmental problems such as: air pollution, destruction of natural resources, local climate change, floods, slips, lack of recreational space as well as psychological difficulties associated with an excess of information and the stress of daily living. This being the case it is necessary to maintain the green space that belongs to the Parish of Our Lady, Mother of God and Humanity (Caetité Diocese) in Palmas de Monte Alto, Bahia. W...

We continue, for the third month, with words from 'A Founder Speaks' : Jean-Claude Colin sm:   141:4 'Let those who are burning to go out there [Oceania] remember it well. They must not count on themselves, but solely on grace, on prayer, on the spirit of prayer. 141:5Messieurs, without that spirit of prayer we shall not achieve anything anywhere, either on the foreign missions, on the home missions, or in schools. The spirit of prayer softens hard hearts, brings graces, brings enlightenment. Often it will suggest a word, a single word, which goes right to the heart. ... Certainly, we cannot always be on our knees with our hands joined; that indeed is not our vocation. Bu...

1.  Unpatented Shot Dubbed 'The World's Covid-19 Vaccine' Wins Emergency Approval in India "This announcement is an important first step in vaccinating the world and halting the pandemic," said Dr. Peter Hotez, a U.S.-based vaccine scientist. Jake Johnson     - Common Dreams   December 28, 2021 An unpatented Covid-19 vaccine developed by the Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, and the pharmaceutical firm Biological E. Limited received emergency-use authorization from Indian regulators on Tuesday—news that the jab's creators hailed as a potential turning point in the push to broaden global vaccine access. "Our Texas Children's Center does ...

We celebrate Emmanuel 'God-with-us'. He will work with us, through us, and in us to bring about "a new heaven and a new earth". He is already totally committed - faithfulness is his nature. Having become human flesh himself in Mary's womb, and been suckled at her breast; having been sustained by the fruits of the earth, and the crops of the land; having drunk the rain waters of the heavens; and having given himself to us in the form of bread made by human hands: then he will never fail us. Our role is to do our best not fail him, or any of his creatures. An integral ecological conversion calls us to live with a profound respect and a deep humility for who we are in the web of life, and ...

By Sister Mary Farrelly SM - writes of her mission in outback Queensland I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of drought and flooding rains. I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea, Her beauty and her terror – The wide brown land for me! A stark white ring-barked forest, All tragic to the moon, The sapphire-misted mountains, The hot gold hush of noon. Green tangle of the brushes, Where lithe lianas coil, And orchids deck the tree-tops                                    And ferns the wa...

This month's blog builds on last month's, where we ponder our Founder's own words on Contemplative Living.  All quotes are from "A Founder Speaks": 39:19 'Keep well in mind that you must direct your house by prayer. That is very important. Everything by prayer. 47:2 'When you want to obtain something, you do the same [procession] in Heaven, making a round and passing all the saints in review. I make a halt before the holy patriarchs, the holy apostles, the prophets, the martyrs, the bishops, the holy women, the virgins, the confessors, and the holy innocents – yes, especially the holy innocents. I am very fond of turning to them; I pray to them with special affection. They are...

Peter Healy, Kiwi Marist, writes:  Manaakitia a Papatūānuku tō tātou kāinga/Let us care for Earth our common home. The Dicastery For Promoting Integral Human Development has released the Laudato Si Action Platform for "preparing a future" together. This Platform is an invitation to the whole Church to undertake and deepen our ecological conversion over the next seven years. As the Dicastery release puts it, "assisted by a multi-year rollout process, the action platform will be dedicated to assisting local communities on their journey towards integral ecology through actions based on global knowledge and local realities." Every Catholic is called to engage; families, parishes and di...

Our Lady of the Assumption Marist Parish, Atlanta, Georgia have begun a new program: Dismantling the Sin of Communal Racism:  They recently published this article: Peace and love to all from Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church (OLA) in Brookhaven, GA. We send our prayers for hope and healing to all, as we join in combatting the urgent crisis of our time. We are beginning a journey to dismantle the communal sin of racism in our church, our school, our parish, and our community, and we appreciate the opportunity to share our work and to seek the prayers and guidance of all. Our Identity We are a parish and congregation born in 1951 in the north Atlanta suburbs, amidst Jim Crow...