Easter Reflections 2025
We share with you three reflections for Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday provided by Bernadette Wrafter (Josephite Affiliate), Mary Hilton (Formation for Mission Animator) and Sr Michele Shipperley rsj.
What does Peace and Freedom mean to you?
Peace and Freedom are inseparable; without peace, there can be no true freedom. In today’s world, this truth is more relevant than ever. At first glance, it may be hard to recognise the peace and freedom we long for in the world. Acts of senseless violence and the cowardly abuse of power over humanity, often […]
Easter Reflections 2024
We share with you three reflections for Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday provided by Sr Michele Shipperley rsj.
Christmas now, with Mary MacKillop
Christmas is near. With such joy, we celebrate the birth of a Child, a reminder that we are all children of a lavishly loving God who, in Jesus, chose to have no boundaries between divinity and humanity! Following Jesus, Mary MacKillop lived in a way that held no boundaries around her love for God and […]
Advent Reflection
The days are growing longer, the sun is growing towards its full summer radiance, the Jacaranda, Silky Oak, Poinciana and Flame Trees are blooming. We find ourselves moving quickly toward our remembrance and celebration of the coming into our world of the One who is Light. We are in Advent time, a time of waiting, […]
Father Julian: Man of Many Virtues
“Jesus wept!” This simple verse speaks volumes of the inner life of Christ. The effects on those around were not lost – “See how he loved [Lazarus],” they said (John 11:35). Soon after the death of Father Julian Tenison Woods on 7 October 1889, Mary MacKillop, on behalf of Mother Bernard, Mother General, wrote to […]
Julian Tenison Woods – A Reflection
Each year as the anniversary of the death of Julian Tenison Woods approaches (7 October), time can profitably be spent reflecting on various aspects of his life and spirituality, particularly in regard to how this can be relevant today. In the lead up to the coming referendum in Australia, some of Julian’s writing on Aboriginal […]
The Other Mary
In the Gospel of Matthew, we are told that “towards dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.” (28:1) Earlier we had been told that, after Joseph of Arimathea had placed the body of Jesus in a new tomb and sealed it, “Mary Magdalene […]
Mary MacKillop’s Virtues, Values and Time in Arrowtown, Aotearoa New Zealand
How do Mary MacKillop’s virtues and values inspire the happenings of everyday life? Sr Margaret Mary Sexton wrote: When the time came for Mother Mary MacKillop to begin her visitation of the other houses, she feared her little Arrow community would be very lonely so far away from all the other convents.Sr Margaret Mary Sexton, […]
Mary MacKillop’s Example of Charitable Speech
I did think she [Mary MacKillop] was very patient and showed us all the love and welcome a mother could when we joined the Sydney sisterhood. One thing that struck me particularly was her charity in speaking to others. Sr Isidore Dunning 1925 In our world of instant news and information, we are constantly confronted […]
Mary MacKillop: A Legacy that Shines a Light Upon the Unseen
All people who know of Mary MacKillop are familiar with her loving and compassionate personality, a woman with a strong desire to live out the teachings of the Gospel. Throughout her life, Mary accompanied many people during moments of hardship as well as moments of great happiness. She offered friendship to all, truly leading a […]
For a world that needs love: Mary MacKillop and the Sacred Heart
In a world where relationships so often fail, Mary MacKillop’s understanding that her consecration in Religious Life bound her to Christ as closely as marriage does can inspire. She used to call herself ‘Christ’s spouse’, and so wrote that, as such, she should “be equally interested in all that is dear to his Heart”. [1]