Month: January 2020
SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Niamey’s thin thread
By Fr. Mauro Armanino, SMA missionary working in Niger The kidnapping of Pierluigi, Italian SMA priest, began in 2015. In January 16 and 17 of that year, the churches of Zinder, first capital of Niger and then those of Niamey, today’s capital, were burned. There is a thin red thread that ties the two events. […]
Laurent Barthelemy’s One Way Trip to Paris
A reflection by Mauro Armanino, Italian SMA priest working in Niamey, Niger No national day of mourning has been declared, none of what is decreed for military members who die in battle, for civilians who lose their lives in dramatic circumstances or natural disasters. No mourning for, a 14-year-old boy who died in the landing […]
FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD
SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD
Simbang Gabi: A Brief Explanation of the Filipino Christmas Tradition
by MM Del Rosario What Is Simbang Gabi? Simbang Gabi (which means Midnight Mass) is a Filipino Christmas tradition. It is a series of nine dawn masses on the days leading up to Christmas. It begins on December 16 and ends at midnight on the 24th of December, when a midnight mass is held, known […]
FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH
My first Christmas in Ngudu
In this, my first Christmas in Ngudu, Tanzania, the majority of decorating took place the day before of Christmas Eve. There was a lot of bustling around, cleaning the church grounds and preparing the sanctuary for the main event, the birth of our Lord. Surprisingly to me, the Christmas colors were yellow and white. The […]
WORDS OF REMEMBRANCE
at the Funeral Mass of Fr. Daniel Lynch, S.M.A. By Stephen Price It is an honor to say a few words about Fr. Dan, my friend, coworker and mentor. He and I worked together as part of an S.M.A. team in Maryland for 26 years. We also lived in community together all that time. I […]