BREBEUF AND COMPANIONS
You ember-eating, living thuribles coughing a smoke heavy and holy into the face of a wilderness that turns away with twisted smile, you aren’t nearly as alone as the cold […]
MOMENTS OF GRACE AND GRATITUDE DURING A PANDEMIC
I once heard a talk given by Bishop Paul Andre Durocher on the topic of grace. He filled his presentation with concrete images to break this open. He told the story […]
GREAT GRANDMA’S LESSONS ON GOD
Today we celebrate Grandparent’s Day. If I had to choose the person who had the greatest impact on my devotional life, it would have to be my great-grandmother, Mary Taylor. […]
NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
The celebration of the Birth of Mary seems to be eminently logical, as it is nine months after December 8, the commemoration of the day Mary was conceived by Saints […]
WHAT TO REFLECT ON THIS LABOUR DAY?
Labour Day is always bittersweet: as the last hurrah of summer, it is a little sad, but as the beginning of the hustle and bustle of autumn, it reminds us […]
A DIFFERENT WAY TO APPROACH THE WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE CARE OF CREATION
To make today’s World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation truly inspiring, I’d like to suggest that we pray Pope Francis’ wonderful prayer below. But before we do that, […]
SAINTS MONICA AND AUGUSTINE: EARTH AND SON
In the history of famous Christian conversions, that of St. Augustine stands second only to St. Paul’s in stature. In both cases, Christianity would have looked very different today had […]
INTERVIEW WITH LES MILLER, AUTHOR OF NORTHERN LIGHT: A CANADIAN PRAYER BOOK
What is Northern Light all about? Northern Light contains prayers, reflections and photographs that sketch a spiritual geography of Canada. They are responses to a series of questions: Where is […]
BOOK REVIEW: AMAZING FRIENDSHIPS BETWEEN ANIMALS AND SAINTS
Amazing Friendships Between Animals and Saints tells a story of wonderful relationships between animals and saints. Beautifully illustrated, each story teaches us that we are united with holy creatures who […]
A COURAGEOUS MODEL FOR OUR TIME
To make a courageous choice that leads to personal loss is difficult. Most of us choose self-protection over self sacrifice. To make such a choice when that loss is one’s […]
“LOVE THAT CANNOT SUFFER IS NOT WORTHY OF THAT NAME” -ST. CLARE OF ASSISI
Suffering is something that we seem to want to avoid at all costs. These words of a saint who has been honoured through the ages, remind us that love comes […]
AN ORANGE TREE FOR ST. DOMINIC
On the feast of a saint like Dominic, the founder of all things Dominican, it can be difficult to see a model for our lives – legendary saints like this […]
BOOK REVIEW: AT YOUR SIDE: PRAYERS FOR MESSY, DELIGHTFUL, COMPLICATED, OUTRAGEOUS, EVERYDAY LIFE
It can be easy to pray for certain things – for medical test results to be negative, for a troubled family member, for the world to recover from the coronavirus… […]
LOYOLA
Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) was a man led by the Spirit into many places he never thought he would have gone. In the song “Loyola,” I try to capture a […]
NAVIGATING THE NEW NORMAL ON SUNDAY
If you’re like me, you are so over the pandemic. We’re tired of physical distancing, tired of wearing masks, tired of the anxiety and worry about our loved ones. And […]
THE IRON RING AND ST. MARTHA’S CHILDREN
If you wear the lauded Iron Ring of the engineer on your little finger, you have St. Martha to thank… or rather St. Martha via the poet Rudyard Kipling. In […]
BOOK REVIEW: HOLY SEEING: A VISUAL INVITATION TO PRAYER
I recall when I first met Brother Ignatius Feaver O.F.M cap almost 2 years ago. It was in his office where, even now at age 80, he accompanies others as […]
MARY MAGDALENE: A MODEL OF FAITH AND COURAGE
As a woman, I have always been inspired and fascinated by Mary Magdalene. When we consider Mary Magdalene as a model of faith and courage, the assumptions and interpretations of her […]
BOOK REVIEW: WRITTEN ON MY HEART: CLASSIC PRAYERS IN THE MODERN WORLD
Who is God? For most of my life I have used the tradition of the Church and its liturgy as the best approximation for understanding who God is. My former […]
LESSONS LEARNED DURING A PANDEMIC IN UNDER 500 WORDS (ALMOST)
When I was asked to write about lessons I learned from the pandemic, my first response was: “In under 5000 words, correct?” My limit was 500, so here’s the short […]
IN CELEBRATION OF CANADA DAY
Despite the strange circumstances we find ourselves in during this time of pandemic, we have much to celebrate this Canada Day. Over the past few years, I have had the […]
ARE YOU LIKE PETER OR ARE YOU LIKE PAUL?
Everywhere you go in Rome, when you find Saint Peter or Paul, you always find the other guy hanging around. In front of Saint Peter’s on the Vatican – there […]
WHY ARE WE HERE?
Mary Jo Leddy’s book Why Are We Here? A Meditation of Canada takes its title from the question of a Tsimshian chief to an explorer first arriving on the shore […]
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!
Whether we have a caring father we’re in touch with often or he is nowhere to be found, whether he is a model of how to live or his life […]
THE PLACE WHERE HUNGERS ARE FED
If there was ever a time when we could relate to a group of humbled, hungry people wandering through an arid wasteland thick with poisonous snakes and scorpions, it is […]
WHAT THIS PANDEMIC TAUGHT ME, OR, HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE ZOOM
I’m writing this from the privacy of my daughter’s former bedroom. It has pink walls. There is a long-forgotten teddy bear on the bed. It shares the space with the […]
HOLY TRINITY
One day, I was in a parking lot, getting into my car, when I was accosted by an older woman who was on a mission. She approached me aggressively and […]
ON GRIEF, THE PANDEMIC AND PENTECOST
I remember when COVID-19 started, just as the word “pandemic” was starting to be whispered, before life as we knew it changed so radically. That first week, it seemed harder […]
MARY, MOTHER OF THE CHURCH
She was there at the birth of Christ. She was there at the birth of Christ’s Church. She is here, now, at Pentecost as the Church thinks of how to […]
Pentecost
A second story fear of Empire and its second-hand crush had them up all night huddled in a room trying to constitute community draft after draft no consensus inch by […]
INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTINE WAY SKINNER, AUTHOR OF THE JOY OF KEEPING THE FAITH
What is this book about? The Joy of Keeping the Faith was written to assist new Catholics as they begin to live as fully initiated members of the Church. (Although, […]
HAPPY FEAST OF THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD!
Our youngest child of the six that we have parented, graduates this year. Perhaps because I have attended a graduation in May or June most every year for twenty years, […]
PRAYING WITH THE PSALMS IN CHALLENGING TIMES
Many of us are hurting as we miss our parish communities during this time of isolation. It is good that we have technology to bring the liturgy to us, even […]
A MUST-READ FOR LAUDATO SI’ WEEK (MAY 14-24)!
May 24 marks the fifth year since arrival of Laudato sí, Pope Francis’ encyclical On Care for Our Common Home. This is Francis’ greatest gift to us so far. I truly believe this. […]
OUR LADY OF FATIMA
The apparition of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal in 1917 has been a source of inspiration, curiosity and intrigue for more than a century. The story of three children […]
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!
Happy Mother’s Day! The day when we take moms of all stripes out for brunch, bring them flowers, spend time together… Well, that probably won’t be happening this year. And […]
BOOKS FILLED WITH SOLACE FOR ANXIOUS TIMES
If you’re like me, you’ve had enough of covid-19! Enough of social distancing, staying at home, connecting only by our screens, worrying about how the future will unfold. At the […]
CONSECRATION OF CANADA TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF THE CHURCH, IN TIME OF PANDEMIC
Pope Francis consecrated the world to the Blessed Virgin Mary earlier this month, at Easter. Similarly, the Bishops of Latin America consecrated their peoples to Our Lady of Guadalupe on […]
ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA
If you plan on confronting a Pope (or two), especially if you are a woman – an uneducated one at that – you better have a pretty strong connection to […]
SLOW LIVING: IS GOD CALLING US TO A NEW WAY OF LIVING?
Have you noticed that bread making is on the rise lately? Apart from toilet paper, flour and yeast appear to be the items most likely out-of-stock in stores. Is this […]
EASTER SUNDAY
Resurrection? Are you serious? With this many people dying, no tomb lies empty these days. All are packed to capacity. The refrain of a hit song from my youth asked […]
GOOD FRIDAY
Good Friday is steeped in the theology of the fourth Gospel – the Gospel of John. If we don’t get it right, then what happens liturgically on this day can […]
EASTER AT HOME
Last week we asked how you are planning to bring the holiest weekend of the year alive without the benefit of your physical presence at Church. Here are some of […]
HOW WILL YOU CELEBRATE EASTER DURING COVID-19?
Tell us, in 250 words, your plan to bring the holiest weekend of the year alive without benefit of your physical presence at Church. In coming days, we will publish […]
INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL SWAN, AUTHOR OF WRITTEN ON MY HEART
What is Written On My Heart about? It’s about the most common, ordinary way Catholics pray – rote, memorized prayers. This is a method of prayer often dismissed as unthinking, robotic and […]
AN UPDATE FROM OUR PUBLISHER
March was a trying month for everyone as we struggled with the grave repercussions of covid-19. It has touched each of us in ways we wouldn’t have thought possible even […]
5th SUNDAY OF LENT – REFLECTION
“Those who are in the ego cannot please God” I have always been uncomfortable with Paul’s reference to “the flesh” in contrast to “the Spirit,” as found in the Second […]
JONAH’S HYMN REUPHOLSTERED
Coughing in the craw of corona I cried to you, O Lord, and you, in defiance of all demands of social distancing took me snug into your arms! Pitched into […]
ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD
One can get lost in researching Catholic doctrine on Mary and the feast of the Annunciation. We only need to look to interpretations of this moment in fine art and music […]
4th SUNDAY OF LENT – REFLECTION
If Christ came to take away the sin of the world, then why on Earth is our planet still so bruised and broken by evil? Only one of two responses […]
