Hope vs Expectation
In two different meetings I was in recently the conversation came up regarding the difference between hope and expectation. In preparing for the First Sunday of Advent, where the theme is “hope”, it seemed like a natural topic to discuss. I took the time to look up the definition of each word and this is what I found. Expectation: a strong belief that something will happen or a belief that someone will or …
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November – Depressing or Uplifting?
When I was young and thought time just seemed to be dragging on, my mother used to tell me that once you get out of school, time will fly. And the older you get, the quicker it will seem to go. Along with many other things she told me, this has certainly proven to be true. It seems like summer just finished, yet here we are heading for the middle of …
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“Would that all the Lord’s people were Prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” Isaiah 11:29
If we took time to give it some thought, we could all probably think of the person or persons in our lives who have told us about God. For most, I think our parents would be the first to have introduced God to us by teaching us our prayers and encouraging us to call on God …
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While looking at the readings for this weekend and preparing my reflection, I was reminded of a story my father told me about something he and a friend did in his younger days. Apparently, when he was all of 14 years old, he had had enough of living at home and he and his friend quit school and boarded a train bound for Montreal to begin their “adult life” there. This is hard to imagine by today’s standards, but …
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How Do We View Dying
“Even though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4: 16)
I feel very confident in saying that almost everyone who reads this has journeyed with someone, or has known someone, who has had or has a debilitating disease that just eats away at them until they are a shell of who they used to be physically. When …
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Who is God For You?
Well, we are halfway through the Easter season. This is the Fourth Sunday of Easter, and four Sundays from now we will celebrate Pentecost. One of the characteristics of this season is the celebration of initiation sacraments. In our parish grouping we had an adult baptism at the Easter Vigil, and we have first communion and confirmation celebrations coming up in the next few Sundays. There is much preparation that occurs …
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What Does Sabbath Mean to You?
Recently I was in an R.C.I.A. meeting and as a group we were looking at today’s First reading. As our leader read the text for us, we were asked to listen intently and then share a word or phrase that we heard that really jumped out at us. The line that kept replaying in my mind was, “Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.” As we shared our responses …
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Wow, the people who were in the assembly that day must have had some interesting conversations when they left the synagogue and headed for home. This was not your typical sabbath gathering with just the usual prayers and hymns and message from the rabbi. As I read and thought about today’s gospel, there were a few questions that came to mind and if you will indulge me, I would like to share these questions with you.
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Mary, A Model of Faith
Talk about a jampacked weekend. Sunday we are celebrating Epiphany, and then right back to church on Monday to celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. I would like to use this reflection to focus on Mary, and what a model of faith she is for all of us. The Solemnity of Mary, from the church in Canada’s pointof view, carries a great deal of importance as it …
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Fear or Love – What is our Starting Point?
As I sit to write this reflection I am just back in the office after one week’s holidays. While it is always nice to have some time to relax and re-energize, the one thing a week’s holiday makes crystal clear to me is that I am nowhere near ready for retirement. While my birth certificate is telling me that I am coming to a time in my …
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