The Universal Call to be Saints
Dorothy Day, the renowned founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, once said in her later years: “Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed so easily.” Years […]
Tag Archives: Saints
Bridge Builders
Last weekend I went on retreat with about 30 people from across Ontario. We were a diverse group, with women and men of all ages, vocations and very different views […]
Celebrating the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary
When we think of Mary, we usually cast her in one of two roles: that of the quiet but consistently supportive mother or as the young virgin who answers God’s […]
Experiencing Perfect Freedom: Augustine’s Lesson to Us
I first encountered St. Augustine’s Confessions as an 18-year-old university student. My professor, a kind and gentle priest from China, Fr. Peter Wong, extolled the work’s place in Christian history and its […]
What Are You Searching For?
The feast of Mary Magdalene coincides with the anniversary of my mother’s death, a fitting intersection given the spiritual inspiration I’ve gained from each woman. Like Mary Magdalene, my mother’s […]
Generous Hospitality: Recognizing Christ in All
For more than 1,500 years, Benedictine monasteries and convents around the world have operated under the Rule of Saint Benedict, a set of simple precepts designed to help religious communities […]
Called to be Saints
As a child I always perceived saints as rather extraordinary women and men. Their faith and holiness always appeared well beyond my ability. Years later I discovered that many of […]
St. Philip Neri and the Cheerful Heart
Have you heard the one about the funny saint? Talk about saints often focuses first on serious attributes: piety, for example, or a sense of selflessness. While an extraordinarily pious […]
Mary: A Faith-Filled Woman
“Bring flowers of the fairest, bring blossoms the rarest….” Strains of this Marian hymn from my childhood float through my mind every May as soon as the tulips start to […]
Discerning the Will of God
Although only mentioned briefly in the Acts of the Apostles, the election of Matthias as an apostle illustrates for us the importance of discernment in the life of the Church. […]
Seeds of Faith 