For those of us living here in Australia or in New Zealand, if you take notice, you’ll see that on all of our coins, we see the image of Queen Elizabeth II or whoever is the ruling monarch in England.

God or Jesus doesn’t choose us because we are more gifted or holy than others. God chooses us because we are the ones available at a particular time and place, writes Fr Michael Knight SVD.

Sometimes when we look at ourselves or our confreres we wonder: “Couldn’t God or Jesus have done better than this?”

Mission is about more than bringing God’s love to people in far-off lands – it’s also about sharing God’s love with people closer to home, in our parishes and communities. It’s a responsibility for all Christians.

As we prepare to celebrate World Mission Sunday on October 18, and with the Plenary Council preparations and discernment underway, I believe there’s never been a more exciting time to be engaged in mission.

I’d like to borrow a very good story from Miguel de Umanumo, a Spanish philosopher and novelist from the 20^th century about the origin of hell.

The Gospel on this 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time presents us with Jesus’ beautiful teaching on forgiveness and an encouragement for us to forgive one another, as God forgives all our wrongdoings.

The pandemic has thrown all our plans up in the air, forcing us to rely more on the providence of God.           

The title of 1864 oil-on-canvas painting by Edwin Landseer is “Man Proposes, God Disposes”. This saying is true today, in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. Looking back to the last six months almost of all people in the world have had to make changes in their lives.

I have often wondered what the angels in heaven were thinking when they heard Jesus tell the apostles that He would share His divine authority with them: I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.; whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will be considered loosed in heaven. 

One of the wonderful things about our SVD AUS Province is that we are blessed to have young men from all over the world completing their formation at Dorish Maru College in Melbourne.

This constant influx of youth and energy keeps us young as a Province and their energy spills over into many aspects of our lives and ministry.

The inner life of the Trinity, the Communion we call the Triune God, is a Mystery of Mutual Loving Relationships and yet, through our baptism, we are invited into the life of this Eternal Communion.

These days the whole world is in the fear of being in the grip of coronavirus and we have read about the tens of thousands of deaths reported from all over the world. Over the past weeks, new cases were being reported every day and leaders and the medical communities have been challenged to the utmost limit.

Places like churches, mosques, temples and synagogues where people go to find peace and consolation have been closed. One can ask the question, does God care for humanity? Why does God want to make human beings suffer?