Father Al: On Christ and Human Suffering

“Good Friday 2020" by Polish Jesuit Vyacheslav Okun (Krakow)

"Christ knows the meaning of pain, poverty, and deprivation not theoretically or speculatively but by personal experience. He drank to the dregs the cup of human suffering of every man. No man, no matter how deep his pain or how crushing his humiliation, can look up to Christ and say, 'You do not know what it is.' He does know what it is because he has experienced it himself." 

- Fr. Aloysius Schwartz, "Poverty: sign of our times", p.39

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Light shines over darkness,
Good triumphs over evil,
Truth prevails over falsehood,
Life overpowers death!

Now, we can only hope and pray

 that this Covid-19 pandemic

 would end the soonest.

This is our Easter prayer!

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Prayers and Gratitude to our brave and generous
frontliners who continue to fight the battle
to end this worldwide pandemic.

May our Risen Christ guide and protect all of you!

BREAKING NEWS! A Miracle is Unfolding in East Africa's Largest Country: Tanzania

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Is.6:18)

Sr. Maureen with some Tanzanian children

Sr. Teresa visiting a family in the town

Sr. Maureen gathering the children for her morning Catechism class

Sister fetching water from the public well

The missionary Sisters of Mary with the happy and vibrant Tanzanian children

From Asia, to Latin America, and now to Africa! :)

The Sisters of Mary is now laying the foundation for a new charity program in Tanzania, East Africa's largest country, and the first in the African continent. They were graciously received and welcomed by His Eminence Polycarp of Phengo, Archdiocese of St. Joseph, Dar Es Salaam. The Sisters are now busy looking for the possible site for the establishment of a Girlstown program while already immersing and adapting themselves in the local culture and the Church in the country.  

May God and Our Lady of Banneux, the Virgin of the Poor, continue to guide you, dear Sisters, as you extend your mission to the poorest of the poor, wherever it is, and wherever the Lord calls you to serve His people with joy in the Name of Christ!

Thank you very much our beloved Venerable Fr. Aloysius Schwartz for the continuous outpouring of love and guidance from above and to our generous benefactors for helping the Sisters of Mary continue the legacy of their beloved Father Founder. To God be the glory!

The Sisters of Mary started as a small group of women of Christian faithful formed into a religious Congregation on the feast of the Assumption in 1964 by Fr. Aloysius Schwartz in Busan, Korea. Through the invitation of ecclesiastical and government authorities, they have expanded to the Philippines, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil and Honduras. They are “contemplatives in action”. That is, they strive to unite the vocations of Martha and Mary. Their active life is balanced by three hours of daily prayer and contemplation. The Most Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, granted through the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life, the decree that they are a Religious Institute of Pontifical Right on March 2, 2000.

Source: http://www.thesistersofmary.com/ | Photo (c) The Sisters of Mary

Father Al: On Belief in Jesus

“If you truly believe in Jesus there will spring up from the depths of your heart a never-ending stream of living joy.” – Servant of God, Fr. Al Schwartz

Fr. Al's Thoughts: On Poverty

Fr. Al's Thoughts: On Poverty and the Church

Fr. Al as an Author: His Books

1. The Starved and the Silent: The Dramatic Encounter of an American Priest With Christ’s Poor in Korea – Aloysius Schwartz; 1967, Doubleday & Co., Inc.

Although this book is autobiographical in form, the story of the author’s life is only the backdrop against which is played out the drama of “the starved and the silent” people of Korea – a drama of privation so complete and despair so intense as to be almost beyond the imagination of a member of “the affluent society.”  Father Schwartz explains first the circumstances which led him to become a parish priest in Busan, Korea, rather than a missionary; then he describes his parish activities as pastor, economist, social worker, and psychologist among a people incredibly different from us in their way of life, their needs, and their goals.

2. Poverty: Sign of Our Times – Aloysius Schwartz; 1970, Alba House, Society of St. Paul

Christ’s presence in the poor: that is the reality to which too many Christian eyes are dimmed. Yet all our talk of reform and renewal will come to naught unless the Church – and we are the Church – faces the challenge of poverty. Today the Church is, in the eyes of most of the world, almost a middle class phenomenon, the Comfortable Church.

This disturbing book should shake our complacency. There is urgency and holy anger in its pages. But time is running out, and there is need for the anger and anguish of concern. The work raises questions in stark perspective and tells us that unless the Church becomes the Church of the Poor, it cannot hope to speak to modern man.

3. Killing Me Softly: The Inspiring Story of a Champion of the Poor – Aloysius Schwartz; 1993.  Alba House,  Society of St. Paul.

This autobiographical account of the last years in the life of the internationally acclaimed founder of several Boystowns and Girlstowns – in Korea, the Philippines, and Mexico – is as moving as it is inspiring. In it the author recounts his ongoing battle with Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS) while trying to maintain and staff his growing number of homes for orphaned youngsters, a residential village for destitute, homeless, and handicapped men, two full service hospitals, a fledgling congregation of religious women, the Sisters of Mary and another of men, the Brothers of Christ.

4. To Live Is Christ--The Sisters of Mary Book of Spirituality – Aloysius Schwartz; 1991, Government Institutes, Inc.

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