Category: Reflections

by Fr Chris Chatteris SJ

Pope’s prayer intention:

The Mission of the Laity That the lay faithful may fulfil their specific mission, by responding with creativity to the challenges that face the world today.

When we hear the words ‘lay apostolate’ we tend to think of ministers of the Eucharist taking communion to the sick or presiding at services of the Word. This is all well and good, but that confines the lay apostolate to a small group of people working at quasi-priestly tasks. Continue reading “May 2018: The Mission of the Laity” →

By Fr. Rocco Marra, IMC

Slowly, the liturgy of the Eastertide is opening, like a flower, and we can feel the fragrance of the universal mission. The Church by its very nature is missionary, because it comes from the profound Love of the Holy Trinity manifested to us by Christ: especially from his mystery of passion, death, resurrection and glorification… These last Sundays we are accompanying by John the Apostle, the disciple loved by Jesus, his faith and his witness. The faith in the Resurrection, according to the Gospel, little by little enters our hearts. Because this is the style of God: not to overwhelm us. It is a style that respects our freedom. It is a humble, silent style, hidden even in the greatest events of history. Continue reading “Reflection on the sixth Sunday of Easter” →

by Archbishop Buti Tlhagale

THE FOUNDING OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
IN SOUTH AFRICA

‘The Catholic Archdiocese of Johannesburg celebrated 200 years of the Catholic Church in South Africa at a mass of thanksgiving led by Archbishop Buti Tlhagale on Saturday 21 April 2018. The mass was held on the plot of land upon which will be built the much-talked of Mother of Mercy Marian Shrine and Pastoral Centre. It is hoped that this will be a holy site that will bring Catholics of the Archdiocese, and further afield, a place where they might express their devotions to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and be spiritually nourished.‘ Spotlight.africa

Introduction

The celebration of the 200 years of the founding of Catholic Church in South Africa gives us a rare opportunity to learn more about the history of our faith, about where we come from as a community of faith. This is the time to mediate on the pioneering missionaries who brought us our faith. We do so in order to draw inspiration from them, to evaluate the status of our faith and fidelity, and to seek to re-double our efforts to enter more deeply into the mystery of Jesus Christ so that we may emerge as people who experience the generous mercy of God here and now, and in turn, commit to express that warm mercy to others. This is the constant, consistent and persuasive preaching of Pope Francis.

Continue reading “Celebrating 200 years in South Africa” →

By Fr. Rocco Marra, IMC

Acts 9: 26-31

Reading the book of the Acts of the Apostles, we notice the action of the Holy Spirit, the consoler. The Joy of the Gospel, the encouragement of the Holy Spirit and Jesus, the Lord of Peace, reached several regions (Acts 9:31).

Considering this fact, we understand the previous verses about St. Paul’s visit to Jerusalem after his conversion. It is Important to note that he did not go to Jerusalem immediately after he escaped from Damascus. He first went into Arabia, where he spent three years (see Galatians 1:17-18). Continue reading “Reflection on the fifth Sunday of Easter” →

By Fr. Rocco Marra, IMC

Acts 4: 8-12

This passage is a sequence of what was described in the last Sunday’s first reading. Peter had cured a cripple-from-birth and told the people that it was not by his own power that he did this, but through the power of Jesus of Nazareth.

The word of Jesus: “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities: do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” (Lk.12:11-12) became reality with the preaching of the Apostles, after his resurrection.

Continue reading “Reflection on Good Shepherd Sunday” →

by Fr Zweli Ngwenya

Dear friends we have just celebrated the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope we had wonderful and spiritually fulfilling celebrations which in our minds are now over and we will see them again next year. Maybe some of us have already started doing evaluations, looking for points of improvement for next year. One important thing is that the Christ event should never be over in our lives. The Christ event is the greatest gift of love, life and service. Today we are a community of the baptised because Jesus loved us, he gave us new life and he taught us to serve both God and our neighbour.

Continue reading “Called to Serve” →