Fr Elmer Ibarra SVD may be serving in the middle of the Australian desert, but that remote location hasn’t stopped him being recently appointed as Coordinator of the Biblical Apostolate for the SVD Asia-Pacific Zone.

Fr Elmer, originally from the Philippines, is the Parish Priest of Santa Teresa in Central Australia and he is also the Biblical Coordinator for the SVD AUS Province.

To borrow again a story from my friend, Fr Bel San Luis, there was a very devout man who is in his house when there was a huge deluge in town.

Most of us when we were children may have tried to figure out what would happen if we put a seed in a glass of water.

There is some reassuring and challenging teaching presented to us in the readings of today’s liturgy!

Temptations are a regular part of our lives. When I was still living in Macquarie Fields, five days a week, I’d go out in the morning and take an hour walk.

The person suffering with leprosy, in today’s Gospel, takes the initiative to come to Jesus, and in a way, puts the ball in Jesus’ court and says, “If you want to, you can cure me.”

Today’s gospel summarises the early activity of Jesus in Galilee. He went about the villages preaching the Kingdom of God and healing people – a sign that the Kingdom of God was already present among the people. 

One of the best experiences I had with my parents was when in 2011 I toured them for four weeks around Australia and New Zealand.

Imagine you got the windfall of a lifetime. You’ve just won the top prize in lotto, which was worth millions of dollars. What would you do with this windfall?

Our Gospel reading for this 32^nd Sunday of ordinary time challenges us to be vigilant and wise. We often hear people say that “she has lots of wisdom or he has lots of knowledge”.