Missionary Society of St Paul - Australia

05/06/2026

“I am the living bread.”

7 June 2026 (Feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus; Year A)

Deuteronomy 8:2-3,14-16; Psalm 147:12-15,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; John 6:51-58.

This Sunday the Church invites us to contemplate the great mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ. After the mystery of the Holy Trinity, this is the second most important mystery in our life of faith. The Church calls the Body and Blood of Christ, the Eucharist, the source and summit of the life of the Church and of our own life. Through the Eucharist, the food for our journey, we are nourished and to the Eucharist we return to render praise to God for all his greatness. Indeed, the word Eucharist itself is derived from the Greek word for thanksgiving.
When we speak of the Eucharist, the Body of Christ, we are at the same time referring to two very important realities. We refer to the Body and Blood we consume when we come up for Communion, but we also refer to the Church which, as St Paul points out, is the Body of Christ, with Christ himself at its head. When we receive the Body and Blood of Christ we are transformed into what we consume, we become and we live as the true living Body of Christ. In today’s second reading St Paul says that since we all share from the one bread and drink from the one cup, then we all become one. At the moment of Communion we enter into communion with God and with one another and we are all moulded together into the Body of Christ.
The gospel passage for today’s feast is taken from a longer discourse where Jesus invites us to eat and drink his body and blood. To eat is to engage with, to dig our teeth into. Jesus invites us to engage with him, his life, the life of the Holy Trinity, eternal life. Hence, whoever eats and drinks the Body and Blood of Christ will live forever, in God. Indeed, in our human life, eating and drinking is such a basic action. When we sit at table and share a meal, we are not only nourished, but we enter into a deep communion with one another. It is very difficult, near to impossible, to share a meal with someone one has just had a disagreement with, because eating together brings us closer together. In a similar way, it is almost incomprehensible to sit at table and eat a meal one your own, meals are meant to be shared, bread is meant to be broken.
In today’s gospel Jesus invites us to enter into this full communion with himself and with his Body. Jesus speaks about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. It is interesting that the Greek word used in this context refers to the flesh of a person who is alive and not of a co**se. When we come to eat the Body and Blood of Christ we participate in the living body of Christ, not the body of Christ who lived in Nazareth two thousand years ago, nor the body of Christ hanging on the cross, but the living Body of the risen Christ. The Body and Blood of Christ is a participation in the resurrection of Christ. Through Communion we are already sharing in the life of God.
Moreover, in the Old Testament, the Hebrews were prohibited from drinking the blood of any living being. To drink the blood of anything that is alive is to take away its life, and all life belongs only to God. Hence, in the temple, when animals were sacrificed, the blood of the animal was thrown against the altar as a symbol of returning it to God. When an animal was killed to be consumed, all the blood had to be drained from the flesh and thrown onto the ground, again returning it to God to whom it belongs. In the Eucharist Jesus insists that we not only eat his Body but also drink his Blood, the Blood that carries his very life. Jesus wants us to participate fully in his life as the Son of God, of God himself. When we eat and drink the Body and Blood of Christ we are sitting at table with the Divine and sharing, even now, in the eternal banquet prepared for us by God. The Eucharistic celebration is a wedding banquet where Jesus invites us to enter into a deep union with him, just like a groom enters into a deep union with his wife when they are married. In the Eucharist we are no longer two, but one with God himself and one with our sisters and brothers who share in this communion meal.
Some of us may think that we are not worthy of such a great mystery, we are too weak and too sinful to participate in the life of God. It is true that we are all sinners and we all need God’s mercy, but God, our loving Father, wants us to participate regularly in his life through the Eucharist because this is the food for our journey. God knows we are not perfect and through participating in his life we are given the nourishment and the energy to continue on our journey towards God.

Mario mssp

-----
❓Are you a young male adult?
🔍 Is your heart burning with zeal to dedicate your life to God?
✝️ Are you searching for a religious community where you can live God’s will through missionary service?
🙋‍♂️ Get in touch with the Vocation Director Fr Bernard Falzon mssp on:
📞 +63 960 253 6977
💬 Whatsapp +63 960 253 6977
📧 email: [email protected]
👨‍💻 web page: https://web.depiromssp.org/
👍 Through this page
🏘 We invite you to become part of our community.
📖 Join us in proclaiming the Good News in the footsteps of St. Paul.
#️⃣

05/06/2026

--------
❓Are you a young male adult?
🔍 Is your heart burning with zeal to dedicate your life to God?
✝️ Are you searching for a religious community where you can live God’s will through missionary service?
🙋‍♂️ Get in touch with the Vocation Director Fr Bernard Falzon mssp on:
📞 +63 960 253 6977
💬 Whatsapp +63 960 253 6977
📧 email: [email protected]
👨‍💻 web page: https://web.depiromssp.org/
👍 Through this page
🏘 We invite you to become part of our community.
📖 Join us in proclaiming the Good News in the footsteps of St. Paul.
#️⃣

30/05/2026

The LINK - Newsletter of the MSSP Australia Region (Issue 16 - May 2026)

29/05/2026

This Sunday we celebrate the great mystery of God who is one Holy Trinity of persons. As we meditate this great mystery we understand that God is a God of relationships, love, forgiveness and mercy. Since we are called to grow into an image and likeness of God, we too are called to a life of relationships with our sisters and brothers, love, forgiveness and mercy.
The Servant of God Joseph De Piro lived a life of relationships and love. From a young age he wanted to live and work at St Joseph's Home in Santa Venera, so that he could live in community with the other priests working there. Moreover, he always lived either in one of the orphanages under his care, or with the members of his young Missionary Society.
To read a reflection on this gospel, based on the Life and Writings of the Servant of God Joseph De Piro, kindly follow the link below. Alternatively, you may copy the link and paste it in your internet browser. Thank you.
https://web.depiromssp.org/2026/05/25/sunday-reflection-the-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-trinity-year-a-3/

--------
❓Are you a young male adult?
🔍 Is your heart burning with zeal to dedicate your life to God?
✝️ Are you searching for a religious community where you can live God’s will through missionary service?
🙋‍♂️ Get in touch with the Vocation Director Fr Bernard Falzon mssp on:
📞 +63 960 253 6977
💬 Whatsapp +63 960 253 6977
📧 email: [email protected]
👨‍💻 web page: https://web.depiromssp.org/
👍 Through this page
🏘 We invite you to become part of our community.
📖 Join us in proclaiming the Good News in the footsteps of St. Paul.
#️⃣

29/05/2026

“Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.”

31 May 2026 (Trinity Sunday; Year A)

Exodus 34:4-6,8-9; Daniel 3:52-56; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; John 3:16-18.

At the end of the Easter Season, the Church now continues its pilgrimage along the gospel according to Matthew during the Sundays in the Ordinary Time of the year – a time when there are no major festivities like Christmas or Easter. The first two Sundays of this liturgical season are taken up by the feasts of the Holy Trinity and the Body and Blood of Christ. The Church invites us to reflect on these two foundational mysteries in our Christian life.
One reason for celebrating this feast of the Trinity is for us to reflect more deeply about what God we worship. In our world there are many different gods and idols. Some gods are offered us by our secular world, like money, work, gadgets, gambling etc, other gods are religious. Different religions call god by different names and have their own different image of god. Even within our Christian religion we have created different images of God, different from the God revealed to us by Jesus Christ. In the book of Genesis we are told that God created us in God’s own image and likeness, and often we return him the favour and create him in our own image and likeness! Often we hear people speak about a God who acts like a tough judge, a policeman God, waiting in the darkness behind street corners ready to pounce on us each time we break the law. Today’s celebration offers us an opportunity to revisit our image of God.
The image of God we worship is very important for us. Since we are created in the image and likeness of God we are invited to grow and develop into the fullness of this image. Jesus himself often encourages us in the gospels to be holy, merciful and forgiving because God our Father is holy, merciful and forgiving. If our image of God is that of a God who punishes and condemns, then we will condemn and punish our sisters and brothers who do not fit into our image of what a human person should live like. Today’s readings present us with different images of God. In the first reading from the book of Exodus, God reveals himself to Moses as ‘a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness.’ Paul speaks to us of a God who is a Trinity of persons living in peaceful harmony. In the gospel Jesus speaks about the Father’s great love for us.
In today’s readings we are reminded that God is a relationship of beings. God is described as Father, Son and Spirit. Obviously, these are human categories because God is genderless. We understand that God has always been like a parent, a parent who eternally loves his child in such a perfect way that the love itself is a third person. We often describe God as the Lover, the Beloved and Love itself.
Since God is a relationship of beings that can only love one another, we too are invited to imitate this community of love and, even in our own human weakness, try to love our sisters and brothers. God’s love is eternal and ever giving. In his great love God gave us his own Son so that he could show us the love of the Father. In Jesus, born as one of us, we discover the Father and the Spirit. When we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, when we enter into a relationship with Jesus, then we enter into a relationship with the Father himself and with the Spirit of God.
In today’s gospel reading John the evangelist clarifies that God did not send his Son to condemn us. Every human parent struggles to condemn a son or a daughter, regardless of their actions. Every loving parent will find it within herself or himself to reach out to a daughter or a son who is in trouble. If we can understand this of human parents, how much more God, love itself, is always ready to reach out and forgive us our many sins. Indeed, for God, no sin is big enough to destroy the image of Christ within us. God condemns our sinful actions but never condemns us and, each time we are prepared to turn back to him, then God is happy to welcome us back. In the gospel according to Luke we read of the beautiful parable referred to as ‘the Prodigal Son,’ and in the gospel according to John we read of the adulteress woman who is brought to Jesus. In both cases, God is always ready to be loving, merciful and forgiving. We have received the Spirit of God, the Life and Love of God, and when we allow the Spirit to work within us, we too are able to be loving, merciful and forgiving to our sisters and brothers.
As we celebrate this feast of the Holy Trinity, let us be ready to destroy all our false images of God that we have created in our life and let the Spirit lead us to grow into the real image of God that Jesus has come to reveal to us.

Mario mssp

---------
❓Are you a young male adult?
🔍 Is your heart burning with zeal to dedicate your life to God?
✝️ Are you searching for a religious community where you can live God’s will through missionary service?
🙋‍♂️ Get in touch with the Vocation Director Fr Bernard Falzon mssp on:
📞 +63 960 253 6977
💬 Whatsapp +63 960 253 6977
📧 email: [email protected]
👨‍💻 web page: https://web.depiromssp.org/
👍 Through this page
🏘 We invite you to become part of our community.
📖 Join us in proclaiming the Good News in the footsteps of St. Paul.
#️⃣

22/05/2026

“Receive the Holy Spirit.”

24 May 2026 (Pentecost Sunday of Easter; Year A)

Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 103(104):1,24,29-31,34; 1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13; John 20:19-23.

After the experience of the ascension of Jesus into heaven the Church experienced what Jesus had promised them: the coming of the Spirit of God, the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. Once again the readings today present us with two slightly different accounts of this experience of the early Church. The gospel of John tells us that on the day of the resurrection, while the apostles and some disciples were gathered in a room, locked away for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus was in the midst, he breathed on them and imparted to them his spirit. In the book of the Acts of the Apostles, Luke, using a number of Old Testament images, links this experience to the Jewish feast of Pentecost. As we read these two texts we pick up a number of images and symbols that inform us about the role of the Holy Spirit.
In the gospel according to John, the evangelist speaks of peace and forgiveness. The Spirit of God is a spirit that brings peace. When Jesus shares with us the Holy Spirit he is inviting us into the life of God himself. We can only imagine that in the Holy Trinity there is perfect unity, love and peace and hence one of the fruits of this Spirit is this peace that is from God. Yet peace does not mean lack of conflict. In his text Luke uses the images of a strong wind and fire, two images that can cause great change and conflict. The gospel also speaks of the need for us to forgive one another when we rub against each other.
Luke compares the experience of the Holy Spirit to a strong wind. The wind represents the breath of God, which we also read about in today’s gospel and in the book of Genesis when God breathed his spirit on the humanity he had created. When we observe the wind, we notice that we do not know where the it starts or where it ends, as Jesus points out to Nicodemus in the gospel according to John. Moreover, strong wind sweeps away and destroys. The Church has often invited us to open the windows of our hearts to let the Spirit into our lives to breathe into us a new life. The old stuff needs to be pushed away to let the Holy Spirit create newness within our life.
The image of what looks like tongues of fire works in a similar way. Fire too has a power to create, clean and destroy, all at the same time. While fire destroys old growth, fire clears the understorey in the bush, it releases chemicals that fertilise the soil and creates space for new life to grow. Moreover, fire purifies precious metals, cooks our meals and warms our homes. While fire can be violent, it can also be creative and warm. If we want to be children of the Spirit, as Jesus invites us to be, we cannot expect to be allowed to sit quietly in our small corner and simply watch the world go around us. The Spirit, like wind and fire, will force us to move out of our comfort zone into dangerous and unknown new experiences. If we commit ourselves to live the life of the Spirit, we need to expect to become new people.
Luke places this strange experience on the Jewish feast of Pentecost, a feast that celebrates the giving of the word of God, the Torah, to the Jewish people. The Holy Spirit, the spirit of peace, forgiveness and love, is the new law brought to us by Jesus. The Holy Spirit opens the word of God to us and invites us into a new journey of trust and discovery in God.
Finally, after experiencing the Holy Spirit, the Church is born. Luke explains how the apostles immediately leave the room they were gathered in and go out to preach the Good News to all gathered there. Their fear of the Jewish leaders is gone and, full of courage, they are ready to go out and face the crowds. The Spirit is a spirit of courage and a missionary spirit. The Church full of the Holy Spirit goes forth proclaiming the Good News. While in the book of Genesis, in the story of the tower of Babel, we are told that due to sin, humanity could no longer communicate with each other, because God confused their languages. Through the Spirit the effect of sin is reversed and now people from all nations can understand the apostles speak in a language they all can understand. Indeed, the Church goes out to preach the Good News to all peoples in different languages and with different cultures.
We celebrate the feast of Pentecost today. We welcome the Holy Spirit, the Spirit that is the life of God within us. Let us be open to let the Spirit work in and through us so that we too may become missionaries to our world.

Mario mssp

-------
❓Are you a young male adult?
🔍 Is your heart burning with zeal to dedicate your life to God?
✝️ Are you searching for a religious community where you can live God’s will through missionary service?
🙋‍♂️ Get in touch with the Vocation Director Fr Bernard Falzon mssp on:
📞 +63 960 253 6977
💬 Whatsapp +63 960 253 6977
📧 email: [email protected]
👨‍💻 web page: https://web.depiromssp.org/
👍 Through this page
🏘 We invite you to become part of our community.
📖 Join us in proclaiming the Good News in the footsteps of St. Paul.
#️⃣

22/05/2026

After the celebration of the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven, we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Jesus promised us that we would share in the life of God through his Spirit. In the gospel Jesus breathes on the disciples and gives them a Spirit of peace - peace be with you - and a spirit of forgiveness - the sins you forgive are forgiven.
In his ministry, the Servant of God Joseph De Piro often had to face people who opposed him or contradicted him. At times he even encountered people who tried to destroy what he was trying hard to build. Through the Holy Spirit which was in him, the Servant of God was able to continue to love everyone, even his 'enemies.' He always forgave and continued in his ministry.
On the example of the Servant of God, we too ought to try hard to continue loving and forgiving even those who do not agree with us.
To read a gospel reflection based on the Life and Writings of the Servant of God Joseph De Piro, kindly follow the link below. Alternatively, copy this link and paste it into your internet browser. Thank you.
https://web.depiromssp.org/2026/05/18/sunday-reflection-pentecost-sunday-year-a-3/

---------
❓Are you a young male adult?
🔍 Is your heart burning with zeal to dedicate your life to God?
✝️ Are you searching for a religious community where you can live God’s will through missionary service?
🙋‍♂️ Get in touch with the Vocation Director Fr Bernard Falzon mssp on:
📞 +63 960 253 6977
💬 Whatsapp +63 960 253 6977
📧 email: [email protected]
👨‍💻 web page: https://web.depiromssp.org/
👍 Through this page
🏘 We invite you to become part of our community.
📖 Join us in proclaiming the Good News in the footsteps of St. Paul.
#️⃣

17/05/2026

16/05/2026