Our Marist Priesthood: Reflections on a Neglected theme

In our branch of the Marist Family there is an essential link, I have come to recognise, between our Marist calling and our vocation to the priesthood – a link that has been little reflected upon. Many Marists, I am sure, have had an experience similar to mine.  It was a decision to become a […]

Mary: Woman of prayer

One of the healthy signs of life in the Church today has been the desire for personal prayer. Christians of all ages and walks of life have felt within themselves the need to commune with their God on a personal one-to-one basis and deeply within their hearts. Thus they turn to Mary as a model […]

December 24, 1836: In Whatever Part of the World

On Christmas Eve, 1836, an hour before noon, after two months of waiting, the right combination of wind and tide finally enabled La Josephine and La Delphine to leave Le Havre. On La Josephine, Bishop Blanc was taking twenty one missionaries, priests, brothers, and sisters, to New Orleans. On La Delphine, which was sailing for […]

September 24, 1836: the Society of Mary “drawn up as in battle array”

We spent time yesterday getting some sense of what April 29, 1836, meant for the Marist enterprise. Today I invite you to give similar attention to the date of September 24. The brief of April 29 empowered, in a precise and limited way, the priest members of the Society of Mary to elect a superior […]

The Papal Brief of April 29, 1836: A Mandate to Start the Church Anew?

During the next three days, my contribution will make us spend most of our time in France in the year 1836. At the outset, let us remind ourselves that the fruit we hope to gather from these reflections has to do with the church in Australia in 1986. That means Jesus Christ becoming present here […]

In the master’s footprints

“I supported the Church as it was being born, and I will do so again at the end of time.” They are our founding words, The Society moves in that direction so to speak. They always served as an encouragement to us. Early on in this retreat, we reflected on the first part of that, […]

A dangerous memory

St. John’s gospel says, “He handed over his spirit” and at that very moment of handing over his spirit, the church was born. Jesus in his poverty, a poverty whereby he actually died, triumphed  over death. As the German bishops, in that wonderful letter on poverty wrote, “He outwitted death.” In the very act of […]

A creaking hinge

Most of the many, many other congregation’s dedicated to Mary have great respect for Mary and would look on her as more or less the boss, etc. etc. but we seem to be the only one to make such an explicit mention of Mary as superior. Moreover, it’s one of those threads of the tradition […]

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