Madonna - NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2004

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2004

Soul Matters – Christopher Gleeson SJ.
God’s gone missing! For many of us in today’s world, God may seem to have ‘gone missing’. Advent arrives with a wake-up call – wake up to God’s presence and to God’s action in the world, and in ourselves.

Roadside rest.
Is that the time already? What would we want to have written as our epitaph? Moving an elderly friend to a retirement facility prompts reflection on the process of winding down one’s life, which can mean a shrinking of one’s physical resources but not necessarily those of the spirit.

An angel named Alison.
Madonna reader Graham Hellams tells of the joy and delight his family’s severely-disabled daughter brings – ‘I thank God for the privilege and honour of looking after this special child.’

Were Christ to come, it might be here. Jesuit Ross Jones spent time living with a squatter family on the beachfront north of Manila. Their generous hospitality amidst extreme poverty reveals to him that, if Christ is to come to us at Christmas, it is here that he would come.

Sharing the Spirit: Interview – Lee Beasley.
Anne Boyd, the director of EarthSong talks about the overlap and intersection of ecology and spirituality, and the path that has led her to this exciting a new venture.

Family Matters – Teresa Pirola.
Re-thinking our family Christmas. One family took steps to change the focus at Christmas from the rush to get things ‘done’ to involving all the family in a Christ-centred celebration.

Transit of Venus.
Poem by Rob Wescott.

Your Daily Prayer – November & December.
A prayerful reflection on the scripture readings for every day of the month.

The Power of Story – Elizabeth Pike.
Sacred sites – Uluru. A world icon, but also the home of deep spirituality. It is the setting for a mythic battle between the forces of light and darkness – a key theme of the Incarnation.

A Cloud of Witnesses: Edmund Campion.
William Ullathorne osb – An anti-tourist brochure. The young Benedictine who arrived in Sydney in 1833 decided to discourage those in Ireland who were committing crimes in order to get a ‘free’ ticket to Australia and wrote The Horrors of Transportation.

Bread for the Journey – Peter Steele SJ.
‘Advent is a nuisance.’ Advent urges us to be genuine–with God and with others and ourselves: it is a demanding time not a comforting one. Still, if we are to implement a program of beating swords into ploughshares–creating peace in our world–we need it that way.

On prayer.
Peggy Spencer gives us a simple and accessible overview of how to make space in our lives for prayer.

Full of Surprises:
The Bible without Blinkers – Antony F Campbell SJ.
Hosea and God’s love – Hosea 11. Hosea gives a whole chapter over to a soliloquy from God on God’s love for his people: a steadfast love even in the face of betrayal and neglect.

Around and about.
News of people and events of interest.

In review.
Recent books.