I find myself, like most people, in these days of the pandemic, quite touched by the wonderful example of our frontline workers, by their personal sacrifices and their on-going service to the community. Ordinary people like our frontline workers can be truly inspirational and heroic figures who make a huge difference in our world. We are truly and deeply grateful to them.
This September issue of The Far East magazine carries stories from all over the world of other, very ordinary, everyday people, making an inspirational difference in the societies where they live.
Facing the prospect of mass unemployment in Peru due to the pandemic, many ordinary women have pooled their resources to start communal kitchens to be able to feed their families. These are the San Benito Community Kitchens that are making a big difference.
Elisa Núñez is an ordinary Chilean woman, a wife, a mother and a catechist, who is making a huge difference in her home parish in Santiago. She uses her many talents and her gift of servant leadership, to make a difference in her world.
In the Reflection, Beams of love, Columban Sr Abbie O'Sullivan tells of how our love for God is present in everyday life and how our love for God may shape our love for others.
The Columban Sisters in Korea, in the Philippines and elsewhere, are ordinary women who continue today to make an enormous difference in the lives of all they reach out to.
Columban Fr Pat Raleigh and Columban Lay Missionary Evangeline "Jinky" Ucol share with us their experiences of the lives of the ordinary people of Fiji. They make a difference in the world. Through their resilience in the face of natural disasters, their warmth, their welcome and their wonderful music.
God speaks to us in both ordinary and mysterious ways. Columban Fr Barry Cairns in Japan offers us several examples of this in people’s everyday lives.
We have just marked the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Mission World section in this issue offers a powerful reflection on these tragic events and our deep desire for healing and reconciliation among and within nations.
This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the Los Baños Raid in the Philippines. Two thousand one hundred and seven civilian prisoners, including many Australian and New Zealand Columban priests, were rescued in February 1945 from imminent starvation in their Japanese military prison camp.
This issue also offers the sale of the reprinted book, “With No Regrets”. This book relates the story of Fr Francis Douglas, a New Zealand Columban tortured and killed in the Philippines by the Japanese military in 1943.
I hope you enjoy the many interesting stories offered in this issue. Let yourself be inspired and touched by the testimonies of so many ordinary people, making a difference in our world.
Fr Daniel Harding SSC, Guest Editor
Listen to From the Editor
Related links
- Read more from The Far East, September 2020
