Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of our Lenten journey. When we began Lent last year, we were vaguely aware of this mystery virus that had emerged in China had begun to spread to Northern Italy. We had no idea at that point that a whole year later, so much of our society would still be in lockdown, our churches still closed – that tens of millions of people in the world would be infected, that several million have died.
One of the more hopeful signs of this time of pandemic, with the reduction of social interaction for many people, has been an openness of exploring their inner life, their spiritual dimension. This week, Jesuit author Fr.
Today’s Gospel provides us with a snapshot of “a day in the life” of Jesus of Nazareth. We see Jesus teaching in the synagogue of Capernaum, going for a meal with his friends, healing Simon’s mother-in-law, meeting the crowds, healing the sick and casting out the demons. Very early the next morning, Jesus slips off to a quiet place to pray, to spend some quality time with his Father. Refreshed and refueled, he moves on with his disciples to the next town, continuing to proclaim the Good News in word and deed.
This coming Friday, I have been invited to give a keynote address at the annual (virtual this year!) gathering of the Canadian Catholic Students’ Association. As a former campus minister – and of course, university student – it is a community that is close to my heart. Their theme this year, in
Today, the Christmas season comes to a close with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. It is a feast of relatively recent origin. We are used to the dynamic of the four weeks of Advent leading into the so-called “twelve days of Christmas”, stretching from December 25th to the Solemn
Last Sunday, the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus was celebrated, bringing the Christmas-Epiphany cycle to its conclusion. Unlike Matthew and Luke, who begin with the infancy narratives, Mark begins his Gospel with the baptism of Jesus: the heavens opened, the Spirit descending like a dove, and the Father’s voice: “You are my Son, my beloved; with you I am well-pleased.” Each day of his life, in every aspect of his mission on earth, Jesus lived out of the truth of those words spoken by his Father: he lived as the Beloved Son of God.
Christmas, the story goes, is a time for family. And even where the religious significance of Christmas has been forgotten or is marginalized, it remains the central family feast of the year. It is a time not only to give gifts, but for families to come together, to put aside differences, to ta
For many of us, this pandemic has felt like a long, endless winter night. I am reminded of the Chronicles of Narnia, where the White Witch ruled over a land where "it was always winter but never Christmas." But when Aslan came, spring returned to Narnia. So too, for Mary and Joseph, the road from Nazareth to Bethlehem was a hard, cold journey
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