“A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more. (Jeremiah 31:15 & Mathew 2:18) Pope Francis asks us to pray for suffering children throughout…
Even as a young child, I thought it wonderful to believe that the people who had died before me were still with us, and we with them. I grew up offering all my tribulations for suffering souls in purgatory. I…
Saints are the ultimate role models of holiness and goodness. Our Church invites us to emulate the saints and to follow their example of virtue and prayerfulness. Catholic parents once had the practice of selecting a saint’s name for their…
Life is surface material skin deep a shallow wave of earth stuck rolling in across vast shores of clay and sand and rock that, dry and of themselves, simply cannot glisten green. ** Two to eight inches of language laid…
I like to think of Teresa of Jesus as a diamond, many faceted and beautiful. It is said that when she was a young girl, both she and her brother, ran away to become martyrs in the conflict with the…
I offer you on this day of bounty not one, but two thanksgiving prayers. I do this to acknowledge that we do not all approach this feast under the same set of circumstances. Some gather at the table encircled by…
Using prayer beads in meditative prayer is part of many religions in the world. In Buddhism and Hinduism there are 108 beads for the 108 Sacred Mantras. In Islam there are 100 beads for reciting the 100 great names of…
I am proud of myself that I ate one tomato from my garden this year. One tomato! I placed my statue of St. Francis in the garden and my tomato plant flourished. Still, I was only able to harvest a…
The liturgical tradition does not have a ceremony for every scenario of loss but it does offer a rich ritual repertoire from which we can draw inspiration and hope. On this Seeds of Faith blog, I am exploring how the…
Earlier this week, I saw a tweet from an Indigenous person lamenting that many Canadians would be wearing an orange shirt on September 30, and then for the next 364 days, it would be business as usual, with nothing changing…