American biblical scholar, Fr vănThanh Nguyễn, SVD will lead the Divine Word Missionaries AUS Province members in their annual retreat this year, despite not being able to travel from the US because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fr vănThanh, who is Professor of New Testament Studies at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, will deliver the retreat online on the topic, ‘The Love of Christ Impels Us: A Retreat with Saint Paul and the 18^th General Chapter’, to confreres from Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Myanmar during July.

Paul brings his presentation in Rom 1:18-3:20 to a close with a dramatic statement: “Jews and Greeks alike … are all under the domination of sin” (Rom 3:9).

When one is invited to a party there is the expectation of a good time to be had: good food, pleasant company, lively conversation, and the presence of the gracious host.

Life brings to all of us problems as well as success, despair and joy. In my recent pilgrimage to Greece and Turkey, in the footsteps of St Paul, I learnt many things about the Great Apostle to the Gentiles especially this - that St Paul had learnt to adapt himself to every kind of circumstances, even being in jail.

We all face the inevitability of loss, sickness, aging, and death in our human experience. We are, after all, humans, not gods.