Today, our Mother Church continues to remind us that Jesus is a compassionate and loving God to all who approach Him with open minds and hearts.

Ever since I arrived to Thailand as a missionary in 2007, I have and continue to be engaged in many different ministries. One of my ongoing ministries is with undocumented Vietnamese migrant workers in this country. Being a migrant worker anywhere is quite difficult, but the undocumented status adds even more hardships to one’s life.

As expected, life as an undocumented migrant worker in Thailand has been extremely challenging during these times when the coronavirus pandemic has put a stop to the livelihood of a tremendous number of people. Most Vietnamese migrant workers in Thailand are facing a situation of joblessness, lack of income, and no way to go home because all the ways of leaving the country have been closed by the Thai government in order to fight the pandemic.

About 50 young people and 10 adults from St Maximilian Kolbe Parish, Kingston-Marsden and the surrounding community rugged up for a cold night sleeping in the parish carpark as part of the Vinnies Winter Sleepout 2016.

The Sleepout, which took the theme, ‘Compassion in Action, was an initiative of the parish youth group, called Kolbe Youth, and was part of a series of activities held throughout the year to promote faith formation based on the action-reflection model.

Dear friends in Christ Jesus, the liturgy of the day highlights God’s kind heartedness towards all of us and gives ample examples of compassion