St. Francis Xavier – 3 December Francis Xavier was born on 7 April, 1506 at Javier, Kingdom of Navarre. He died on 3 December, 1552 aged 46 at on Shangchuan Island.  He met Ignatius of Loyola at the University ...

"  Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Luke’s scriptural quote goes beyond the familiar ‘prayers and thoughts’ refrain because it necessitates actions of seeking and knocking. ...

My Community Values… When I was very young my parents decided to move from war-torn Europe to New Zealand. This meant tearing ourselves away from our large extended family. They thought that in New Zealand we would have a better chance of making good...

The less knowledge we have of anything the more insignificant it seems. Our hatred of a person often decreases as we learn to know the person better.                        &n...

Pope Francis … delivered a ringing plea to the world and his own Catholic Church to reject … the growing temptation to “demonise” those who are different.  Nov 19, 2016 - Vatican City (RNS)  “Dingo man,” named so because of his two pet...

I remember many years ago before I married, I spent some time assisting my friends who were the owners of a property, to start a new vineyard in the prime agricultural country of Poverty Bay, in NZ.  We had a large empty paddock, which was fairl...

‘…knock and the door will be opened to you.   For everyone who asks receives;’   Matthew 7:7-8 It’s 1.00am and a knock at the presbytery door alerts Mt Isa’s 24/7 Parish Priest Fr. Mick Lowcock to the start of a new day. Given the closeness...

St Ignatius of Loyola’s feast day is coming up on the 31 st July and here at Faber we plan to celebrate with some enjoyable conversation over a simple lunch.     In this era of screen communication,  how long is it since you had a...

Mary Robson recalls her recent “Tropical Wilderness Retreat” experience, a six day walking retreat based in Cairns, Far North Queensland - an initiative of our Melbourne partner Campion Centre of Ignatian Spirituality, ‘Being with God in Nature Minis...

Often have I pondered how society could accept the installation of concentration camps in Nazi Germany as a consequence of increasing public racism towards the Jewish population. Rosie Glasser, a Dutch Jew and survivor of the Shoah, described this gr...

I woke up this morning to the comforting sound of steady rain drumming on the roof. In the darkness of pre-dawn I feel a sense of being safe and secure, my body curled up and cosy. It’s a primal womb-like experience. I relish the feeling.  ...

I was away from home on Pentecost and decided to celebrate this significant  feast of the ‘birth’ of the Church,  in a country town close to where I was staying.    The town boasted a beautiful Cathedral which ...

Picture yourself in the shoes of this refugee advocate sitting 30cm from the haunted eyes, furrowed brow and prematurely aged human who is younger than the advocate's youngest child. When face to face with an emotionless young adult, mentally be...

I sit on the rocks while the great cormorant perches like a statue on the cliff, drying its wings in the sun, surveying the expanse of ocean. Sunbeams dance and sparkle on moving waters, a gentle haze of sea spray is carried in the breeze.  ...

“ If you haven’t made it by 35, you never will ” “ Always aim for the top ” The intended message of the above career advice suggests that better outcomes can be achieved through ‘power over’ than the significance of ‘service to,'. How contradictory i...

It is so easy to feel shame at little things that happen to unravel our cool, our clumsiness or flustering or worse. Loss of control of things in our lives can do this.Sometimes when I am being my most civilised and efficient my very humanness seems ...

What does Resurrection mean?  The Dalai Llama once asked this question of a Christian sitting next to him at a John Main Seminar.  This story struck me at the time of hearing about it as I know I would have been startled by such a...

Gratitude or thankfulness for everything and everybody I was encouraged a few years ago to be thankful and to realise that ‘God is in all things’. It is easy to thank God for the wonderful things of life. The sunrise and sunset. The warmth the cold. ...

There was an unexpected journey during these Lenten days. Sensed the need to go! Not knowing what to expect feared for the worst. Arrived by plane – tried to hide feelings of  concern, sadness, overwhelming love. Set out together on the long roa...

Recently, I undertook an immersion into Ignatian Spirituality at Cova Sant Ignasi, Manresa. A retreat house located in the shadow of the sacred mountains of Montserrat. The brochure promised me the opportunity to study the legacy of Ignatius of Loyol...