Ellen Bennett

Today we begin the holiest week in the Church’s calendar, aptly entitled Holy Week.  Despite being seen by many Christians as such, it is not Christmas but Easter, which is the highpoint of the Church’s liturgical year.  In a few days we will celebrate Triduum – Three Days that commemorate the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ and move us from Lent to this great season of Easter.  Triduum is a three-part continuous liturgy – Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter ...

Jonah was a reluctant prophet to put it mildly.  In that short book of the bible, a mere four chapters, we read his story.  In the proclaimed excerpt, we do not hear of his initial reluctance to take on the task which God calls him to.  Jonah was the guy who ended up in the belly of the big fish, traditionally a whale, when he is thrown overboard by the sailors of the ship he has taken to elude God, ...

Christ the King Sunday, and Matthew provides us a description of king: one who looks after ‘the least of these brothers and sisters’ when they are hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, imprisoned, strangers.  Or one who may himself be experiencing some of that.  Hard for us to reconcile our image of kingship with the image Matthew offers … no signs of palaces, crowns, riches in these images. 

Through Baptism, we become part of the Body of Christ, “anointed priest, prophet and king” ...

I was in high school (a Roman Catholic all girls high school) and dating the captain of the boys’ Roman Catholic high school hockey team.  There was an eagerly anticipated big game scheduled for the weekend.  However, I was in the school choir, who were in the midst of the Kiwanis Music Festival, kind of a big deal in music circles in St. John’s, NL in the 1970’s.  Our director, who knew a thing or two about teenage girls, and what was going on in the ...

In the mid 1990’s, singer Joan Osborne sang What If God Was One of Us, which asked the question: “If you were faced with Him in all His glory, What would you ask if you had just one question?”  Then, and now, I am with Solomon – understanding and wisdom. 

When charged by God with “Ask what I should give you,” Solomon responds “an understanding mind to govern your people able to discern between good and evil.”  You have before you a woman who has ...

It is a quote that I use frequently when sleep does not come.  This week has been one of those weeks.  We are being battered, and though important to put it in perspective, remembering that others have suffered much worse for far longer, the tragedies are relentless.  Every week there is something else.  Poor Nova Scotia; I’m not sure how much more they can take.

“Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  Those with faith know that to be a truth.  ...

Where does one begin, as we sit where we sit right now?  Two weeks ago, we watched with interest as Covid-19 continued to spread.  I, ashamed as I am to admit it today, was one of the naysayers – ‘the media is blowing this out of proportion.’  Yet, now here we are, a country – nay a world as there seems not to be one country in the world that has not been affected – watching, waiting, hoping, despairing, anxious.  We are a world in angst.

On this coming ...

“This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine …”

The new decade has not started well.  While January 1^st dawned filled with hope and promise as all New Year’s seem to, much has happened in the few short weeks since to bring hope crashing down.  Australia continues to burn; three days into the year, an Iranian general is killed on orders from an American president, leading to the death of 176 innocent people; Puerto Rico is rocked by an earthquake causing untold damage ...

For the Northern Hemisphere, the Church’s liturgical year seems to often be in sync with nature – even though we struggle culturally to live that rhythm in the way the Church envisions. The readings we hear proclaimed these past several weeks; the feasts of All Saints and All Souls; the shorter days and longer nights; our secular celebration of Remembrance Day; barren trees; snow – during November, the focus of the Church and the world seems to be ...

Two Dutch people spring to mind whenever I hear the parable of the Prodigal Son – painter Rembrandt and priest Henri Nouwen.

In 1986, Fr. Henri Nouwen spent several hours gazing at Rembrandt’s painting The Return of the Prodigal Son at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. One of Rembrandt’s last paintings, it was painted, Nouwen says, “after a life of suffering.” First captivated by the painting when he spotted a replica of it on a poster in ...