The beginning of the New Year is always a time of stocktaking and resolution-making. Out with the old, in with the new, we say. For Novalis in 2016, the “new” is full of promise. It starts with our own contribution…
It is small wonder that the early church chose Dec. 25 to represent the day that Christ was born. Just after the winter solstice, the day of the year in which we experience the longest night, the birth of Jesus…
Editor’s Note: The following article was to be posted on Monday. Unfortunately, due to some difficulties, we were unable to post it at that time. However, given the significance of St. John of the Cross, we share this post written…
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception holds special meaning for all of us here at Novalis. It was on this feast day, Dec. 8, 1935, at a Catholic Action congress in Ottawa that Fr. André Guay proposed to create what…
It is a well-worn shibboleth that Catholics do not read the Bible. Unlike those studious Protestants, Catholics through the centuries were thought to leave all that Scripture stuff to the priests and nuns. Like any other shibboleth, this one turns…
On the feast of the Presentation of Mary, we remember how the pious Joachim and Anna who have been childless for a long time, in thanksgiving for the gift of their daughter, bring her to the Temple in Jerusalem to consecrate…
We were all grief-stricken at the sight of a drowned little boy on a beach in Syria a few short months ago. Unlike nothing else, this image pierced our hearts and galvanized us to take action to help refugees halfway…
A post appeared on my Facebook newsfeed the other day asserting Starbucks’ newest coffee cup attacks Christianity and its celebration of Christmas. I disregarded the post at first and assumed it was from the satirical news site, The Onion. To my dismay, however,…
Let us pray this day for all those women and men who have given their lives in service of this country. O God, by whose mercy the faithful departed find rest, look kindly on your departed veterans who gave their…
The recent federal election was one of the most hard-fought in recent years. It’s become clear that the voter turnout was up considerably and the interest in politics has jumped to a new level. How timely, then, that we at…