September / October 2008

Our cover
‘The Lord is my shepherd …’ (Psalm response for Christ the King). The good shepherd knows his sheep and they him, Jesus tells us. So many people are lost when they do not know here they have come from, who their parents are—a circumstance suffered by so many Indigenous people. We profile Aboriginal activist Michael Long, renowned for his sporting ability and more recently for initiating the Long Walk to Canberra, held each year to raise public awareness of issues of concern to Indigenous communities.

In this issue ...

Soul Matters — Chris Gleeson SJ
We are God’s story. The stories we tell place us in our lives and in our relationship with god .

Roadside rest — Michael McGirr
Ear of the heart. Conversations in the supermarket remind us of the stories Jesus told of everyday people in their everyday surroundings.

Tête à Tête — Mary Manning
Jerome, saint and scholar. Mary Manning interviews the renowned biblical scholar, St Jerome.

The weeds and the wheat.
Greg Jacobs sj unpacks this well-known parable.

Cost Accounting.
A new poem from Bruce Dawe looks at what is true value in our lives.

A man of words and people.
Former Madonna editor, Pat O’Sullivan sj, talks with Rosie Hoban about his rich and varied life.

Family Matters — Teresa Pirola
Small steps can take us home. Both Jewish and Christian reflection on repentance remind us that any small step taken towards God is met with generous welcome.

Your Daily Prayer — September & October. A prayerful reflection on the scripture readings for every day of the month.

The power of story — Elizabeth Pike
A long journey to discovery. Renowned footballer Michael Long shares with many Indigenous people the desire to discover his family and so his identity and lace in this land.

A Cloud of Witnesses — Edmund Campion
A journal of our history. The journal kept by transported Canadian political priest, François Lepailleur, gives details of Catholic life in the 1840s.

Bread for the Journey — Peter Steele SJ
Love me or leave me? Even those we might label as ‘unloveable’ have the stamp of Christ upon them, and so are to be loved.

When death comes …
How do we deal with the death of someone close to us?

A Mass for mothers.
Memories of a mother are kept alive through the annual Mothers’ Mass at a Carmelite parish in Melbourne.

Green commandments.
A chaplain to farm workers reinterprets a new document from the Vatican to mark World Environment Day.

Faith & spirituality in review — New books.