ST. JOHN PAUL II
It became so natural, but when Saint John Paul II was elected as Pope in Rome in 1978, it was almost beyond comprehension. He was the first non-Italian in centuries to become bishop of Rome. But it took almost no…
Category Feast Day
A SAINT FOR ORDINARY PEOPLE AND POOR SPELLERS
Somewhere among my memorabilia files is a little reminder note written by a 7-year old me. It reads: “Tell mom to take me to see the poope.” (That’s not a typo. Spelling has never been my strength). I had been…
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 and failure would beat you into believing. There are many…
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 Anne and Joachim. There is one slight problem, since the…
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 either one of these men not turned off the path…
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 very life is beyond difficult. But, as Christians, we are…
“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 with suffering. This is a humble call to faith that…
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 can stare at us more like an accusation than an…
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 little of the spirit of this Spirit-filled man. Ignatius was…
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 1922, a group of senior engineers decided to develop an…