Past Magazine Stories

August 15, 1549, when St. Francis Xavier stepped onto Japanese soil at Kagoshima. He spent less than two years in Japan but had a major impact. Other Jesuits took up the…

Let us increase our thanks and pray for courage as we think about Joseph and Mary setting out in trust into the unfamiliar and unknown. I pause at, “In those days a decree…

Advent this year seems to have a different flavor from any other. It seems that we are all confused in a bewildering world as wars escalate despite efforts at peace,…

“How do you plan to celebrate Christmas?” I asked Fr. Peter, who having spent more than fifty years on mission, was then in need of ongoing nursing care due to various age…

As the holiday season wraps its warm embrace around us once again, it’s a time to pause, reflect, and embrace the true magic of Christmas. It’s a time when the world seems…

“O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by

The Subanens are an indigenous people whose ancestral habitat is in the highlands of western Mindanao in the Philippines. I have worked with Subanen artists for 25 years…

People still ask me, “Do you miss it (Fiji), Father?” The answer is always “of course I do.” The reason why I do, is not always easy to explain. However, coming up to…

Advent, a unique time of waiting and preparation in the liturgical year, can mirror the anticipation Mary felt as she carried the baby Jesus…

As I reflect in our small Columban community of three sisters living in the heart of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city, the words of the hymn, “Longing for light, we…

Greetings once again to our faithful readers of Columban Mission magazine. I am slowly settling into the role as Regional Director in Omaha. One of the delights I have is…

November 9 each year is marked as Founders Day by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Not far from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, west of the town of…