Tags: Salesians of Don Bosco
Congratulations Fr Joe!
Posted: Wed, 13 Dec 2023 12:03
Over the past 18 months, Fr Joe Tran SDB has been studying a Masters degree in Youth and Community Work at London Metropolitan University.
And recently he received his certificate to prove that he has passed his Masters degree with Merit!
Congratulations Fr Joe!
Here he is with his certificate on a recent visit to the Bolton Community.
Image: SalesianLink/DEARDEN
Sunday Reflection - 3rd Sunday of Advent (Year B)
Posted: Wed, 13 Dec 2023 09:50
The Prophet Isaiah gives us the theme for reflection today: "In my God is the joy of my soul." When that is true in our lives, we are walking the road and we know the truth of these words from the same Prophet: "He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favour from the Lord."... Read More »
Reflection - To live your silence well
Posted: Tue, 12 Dec 2023 13:33
For those who know me well, you know I am very sociable and a bit of an extrovert. I love to be surrounded by others and thrive in social situations. As I belted out 'Simply the Best' at the parish party to see in the new year of 2020, little did I know that, just a few weeks later, I would be forced to live a life that was so out of character. Illness can cause you to miss out on so much. I soon realised... Read More »
Feast of the Immaculate Conception and the birthday of the Salesians
Posted: Fri, 8 Dec 2023 09:45
Happy 182nd Birthday to all in the Salesian family!
Our tradition has it that our great Salesian family was 'born' on this day, 8th December in 1841. According to the story that most of us are familiar with, Don Bosco was preparing to celebrate the feast-day mass of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in the Church of St Francis of Assisi. He had been ordained to the priesthood only four months previously... Read More »
Sunday Reflection - 2nd Sunday of Advent (Year B)
Posted: Thu, 7 Dec 2023 10:07
Today our gospel from Mark introduces the one who prepares the way for Jesus; he is presented as one who is different - something that we are not always happy with. John the Baptist is seen preaching in the desert wearing camel's hair and a leather belt. His food is desert food, locusts, and wild honey. He does not have anything sophisticated in his desert life. Yet this man, living a primitive lifestyle,... Read More »
Reflection - Feast of St Nicholas - What can I bring him poor as I am?
Posted: Tue, 5 Dec 2023 13:59
What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.
(Christina Rossetti)
As we move through Advent, I enjoy reflecting on the Rossetti poem 'In the Bleak Midwinter.' Born in 1830, she was the youngest child of a great artistic family; as well as her talented siblings, her father was an Italian poet,... Read More »
Sunday Reflection - 1st Sunday of Advent (Year B)
Posted: Fri, 1 Dec 2023 09:46
I wish you all a very happy and blessed new Church year; I know that 2023 has been hard with the economic downturn, and the horrors of war in Ukraine and the Holy Land. More than ever we now need this sense of hope that this new Advent brings us. The new Church year kicks in on this day so we move from reflecting on the gospel of Matthew (Year A) to begin reflecting on the gospel of Mark (Year B).... Read More »
Sunday Reflection - Christ the King (Year A)
Posted: Fri, 24 Nov 2023 09:07
On this feast of Christ the King we are invited to look seriously as what true leadership looks like. I suppose that kings are a little bit out of date. But any of us who have grown up in recent times remember, especially as a child, the tales of the kings and King Arthur and all these wonderful people. Today, kings and queens tend to be merely a figurehead, a sign of a national loyalty, a reminder... Read More »
The Rector Major's Message - A reflection on Don Bosco's Dream at Nine
Posted: Thu, 23 Nov 2023 09:36
Two hundred years ago, a little nine-year-old boy, poor and with no future but to be a farmer, had a dream. He recounted it to his mother, grandmother, and brothers in the morning, who found it funny. Grandma concluded, "Pay no attention to dreams." Many years later, that boy, John Bosco, wrote: "I agreed with my grandmother. However, I was unable to cast that dream out of my mind."
Because it wasn't... Read More »
Memorial Walk for Fr McKiernan
Posted: Wed, 22 Nov 2023 11:44
On Saturday 18th November, there was a pilgrimage walk from Sacred Heart in Battersea, to the resting place of Fr McKiernan in Mortlake.
While the weather was its typical November in England, the pilgrims were in good spirits as they set off on their walk.
The group arrived at the grave of Fr McKiernan shortly before 12, then said Mass at St Mary Magdalene's before travelling back to Battersea.
Fr Edward... Read More »