“[Reflecting] on the vast challenges of this mission [Amazon] – the heat, the humidity, the isolation, the violence, the poverty – but also the opportunities of creating a new way of being Church in this distant corner of the planet.
I recalled the words of Pope Francis after the Synod on the Amazon:
‘I dream of an Amazon region that fights for the rights of the poor, the original peoples and the least of our brothers and sisters, where their voices can be heard and their dignity advanced.
I dream of an Amazon region that can preserve its distinctive culture riches, where the beauty of our humanity shines forth in so many varied ways.
I dream of an Amazon region that can jealously preserve its overwhelming natural beauty and the superabundant life teeming in its rivers and forests.
I dream of Christian communities capable of generous commitment, incarnate in the Amazon region, and giving the Church new faces with Amazonian features.’”
(Querida Amazonia (no. 7))

(~ Paddy O’Neil, SM, A Journey into the Heart of the Amazon, May 13, 2024)

“Our mission as Marists shares in the mission of Christ. By our baptism we participate in the ongoing mission of Christ to reconcile all creation and ‘bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ.’ (Eph. 1:10) As we live in this era of massive ecological degradation, Pope Francis calls us to ecological conversion. Our relationship with Christ should be evident in all our relationships: with God, with others, and with all of creation. To truly exemplify that reconciliation is at the heart of our Marist mission means that we will grow new attitudes and be educated and aware of the ecological and human stress suffered by those affected by ecological degradation. We will be people who care for the weak, both for the vulnerable earth and the poorest brothers and sisters in society; we will have hearts open to true friendship based on the natural and social world in which we live; we will be deeply aware of inequality and injustice that results from both a corrupt social system and a utilitarian approach to creation, and seek a more just distribution of resources; and we will live simply and be aware of our impact on creation. In doing so we become instruments of reconciliation.”

(~ Samu Tukidia, SM, Marist Reconciliation – Creation, August 12, 2024)

“Fr. Jean-Claude Colin, the founder of the Society of Mary, believed that ‘the Society of Mary must re-create the early days of the Church’ (A Founder Speaks, #115, 5) by being a community of cor unum et anima una – of one heart and soul. … I propose that we understand Fr. Colin’s eschatology as gesturing towards a kind of solidarity rooted in the heart of a mother. Re-creating those days of cor unum et anima una does not involve subsuming differences, but rather expanding consciousness so that all people – especially those most on the margins of Church and society – can experience the heart and soul of the Church in creative solidarity.”

(~ Nik Rodewald, An Invitation to Indigenous Solidarity?, August 26, 2024)

For families in crisis

Let us pray that broken families might discover the cure for their wounds through forgiveness, rediscovering each other’s gifts, even in their differences.

We all dream about a beautiful, perfect family. But there’s no such thing as a perfect family. Every family has its own problems, as well as its tremendous joys.
Every member of the family is important because each member is different than the others, each person is unique. But these differences can also cause conflict and painful wounds.
And the best medicine to heal the pain of a wounded family is forgiveness.
Forgiveness means giving another chance. God does this with us all the time. God’s patience is infinite. He forgives us, lifts us up, gives us a new start. Forgiveness always renews the family, making it look forward with hope.
Even when there’s no possibility of the “happy ending” we’d like, God’s grace gives us the strength to forgive, and it brings peace, because it frees us from sadness, and, above all, from resentment.

View the March Prayer Intention Pope Video – a global initiative to disseminate the Holy Father’s monthly intentions (Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network).