Mary MacKillop Feast Day Celebrations 2024
Mary MacKillop Place, the Sisters of Saint Joseph and Mary MacKillop Today extend a warm invitation to all to celebrate the Feast Day of Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop on Thursday, 8 August 2024. We look forward to welcoming everyone, including our pilgrims and supporters, to Mary MacKillop Place in North Sydney.
Feast of St Ignatius – Finding God in a time of Plague
The medieval town of Manresa sits upon the banks of the Cardoner River, a little north of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. For devotees of Ignatian spirituality and Jesuits, Manresa is intimately linked to the story of St Ignatius of Loyola’s conversion and the place where his famous manual for prayer, the Spiritual Exercises were conceived.
Feast of the Sacred Heart 2024
Greetings for the Feast of the Sacred Heart 2024 The Feast of the Sacred Heart (7 June) marks a special day in the life of the Sisters of Saint Joseph. When seeking approval for the Institute from Rome, the Sacred Heart was part of the official title bestowed upon the new Institute. For us […]
St Joseph Feast Day 2024
As we celebrate the feast of St Joseph (19 March) – Patron of the Universal Church and the Sisters of Saint Joseph – in this year dedicated to prayer and the synodal pathway, we are called to live and respond with a contemplative heart to what the Spirit is asking of us in the […]
Communion: Feasts of All Saints and All Souls
The liturgical cycle invites us to walk through the Paschal Mystery each year. As it draws towards an ending and a new beginning, we are also invited to reflect on the mystery of the whole living community of which we are a part. Christine Valters Paintner (2023) suggests remembering those who walked this earth before […]
Feast of the Triumph of the Cross
For the feast of the Triumph of the Cross celebrated on 14 September, Sr Katrina Brill shares a Personal Reflection. Most days in cosmopolitan Auckland, I would see in my daily outings the symbol of the cross – hanging from a car mirror, around a girl’s neck, as a marker for death on a road, […]
A Favourite Christian Feast – The Assumption of Mary, Mother of God
Do you have a favourite Christian feast? St Mary MacKillop claimed the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (or Mother of God) as hers.[1] This feast has its origins in Jerusalem before the end of the fourth century. The early Christians held Mary, the loving and courageous Jewish Mother of Jesus, as one of their […]
Mary MacKillop Feast Day Celebrations 2023
Mary MacKillop Place and the Sisters of Saint Joseph extend a warm invitation to all to celebrate the Feast Day of Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop on Tuesday, 8 August 2023. “Mary MacKillop Place is a sacred site unlike any other because Mary lived, died and is buried here,” says Sr Monica Cavanagh, Congregational […]
Birth of John the Baptist
We commemorate the Birth of John the Baptist on 24 June. Only Luke tells about John the Baptist’s birth. In the other Gospels, Matthew, Mark and John, John the Baptist is already an adult when he comes into the story. He appears as a man of God, a prophet trusted by the people to whom […]
Feast of Saint Joseph 2023
Greetings on the feast of Saint Joseph. Currently, the Church worldwide is engaging in the Continental Phase for the Synod on Synodality. As Patron of the Universal Church, we might pause to reflect on the spirit of Synodality in the life of St Joseph. The word ‘synodality’ means ‘walking together’. Through the Gospel stories, we […]
Epiphany: Christmas Camels
When asked to write about the feast of 6 January called ‘Epiphany’, I discovered that Eastern and Western Churches emphasise different aspects of the theme ‘manifestation’, which is the meaning of the Greek word ‘Epiphany’. Eastern Churches focus on God’s manifestation of Jesus’ divinity at his baptism and at Cana, where he begins his public […]
Feasts of All Saints and Souls
The feasts of All Saints and All Souls are celebrated on 1 November and 2 November respectively. Over the first two days of November, we are invited to pray with and for everyone. We can pray with one another and the saints, as we are also reminded to remember and pray for all departed souls.