As we have moved into the second Sunday of Advent, we are invited to spend some time examining ourselves and preparing our hearts for the upcoming celebrations of our Saviour’s birth.

“Religious extremism is on the rise!”, “Massive earthquake in Indonesia!”, “Severe droughts in Australia!”, “Russia is on a warpath with Ukraine!”, whenever we hear these headlines, it brings chills down our spines, and with it we could be forgiven for thinking that the end of the world as we know it is coming.

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for Advent – that beautiful time when the Church kicks off a whole new liturgical year with a period of reflection and preparation for the coming of the Christ child at Christmas.

It’s wonderfully counter-cultural to take these weeks of quiet, prayerful preparation when the rest of the world is going mad with parties and shopping and busyness.

Back in the 1950s, when I was still in the Seminary, the Feast of Christ the King was celebrated in Grand Fashion.

The end of the world!!! Various people have anticipated it, various people have tried to predict when it will happen and so far we’re still around to tell the story.

This Sunday’s Gospel text always stirs up for me an imaginary charming “family” scene.  Bartimaeus (one of the few people cured by Jesus whose name we know) is having dinner with some of the other disciples of Jesus (we know that after his sight was restored he followed Jesus).

The month of October is always a big one for the SVD community as we take part in the worldwide celebration of World Mission Sunday and all the surrounding events.

This year, Pope Francis addressed his message for World Mission Day to young people, saying he would like to reflect with them “on the mission that we have received from Christ”.

The SVD AUS Province is gearing up to celebrate World Mission Sunday this weekend, on October 21, and invites everyone to join in the celebrations.The SVD AUS Province is gearing up to celebrate World Mission Sunday this weekend, on October 21, and invites everyone to join in the celebrations.

Mission Secretary, Fr Truc Quoc Phan SVD, has prepared a special liturgy outline for parishes or church groups to use to mark this special day on the Church’s international calendar and it is downloadable from the Province’s website.

Who can be saved? We have a rich young person today coming to Jesus to ask what he must do to ‘inherit eternal life.’ as it turns out, he has been a faithful observer of the Law and was a good person.

Marriage is a sacrament, a work of God, and a work of a man and a woman. It gives a couple the grace to live out in their lives the forgiving, understanding, committed, redeeming and transforming love God has for all of us.