Christmas has changed significantly for me since I was old enough to remember Christmases. One Christmas Eve when I was three or four years old, I recall driving from Musquash to Saint John in the middle of a snowstorm to attend mass, imagining I was Santa Claus flying through the snowy night sky. To adult me, this would represent a harrowing, steering-wheel clenched fiasco, but the four year-old in me remembers it as magical.
I have …
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“Do you realize how many events and choices that had to occur since the birth of the universe, leading to the making of you just exactly the way you are?”-A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engel
On All Saints (November 1st), we remember those who had a special devotion and connection to God in their lifetimes, all of the Saints of our church. Celebrated on November 2nd, All Soul’s Day (a.k.a. The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed) is a …
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“Here is the God I want to believe in: a Father who, from the beginning of creation, has stretched out his arms in merciful blessing, never forcing himself on anyone, but always waiting; never letting his arms drop down in despair, but always hoping his children will return so that he can speak of words of love to them and let his tired arms rest on their shoulders. His only desire is to bless.” (Henri Nouwen, 1992)
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In her book of essays, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now, author and poet Maya Angelou wrote, “I’m always amazed when people walk up to me and say, ‘I’m a Christian.’ I think, ‘Already? You already got it?’ I’m working at it…”
Possibly the most important conversion experience I have encountered personally involved coming to the realization that becoming Christian is a life-long process and while I may experience times of growth, I will never …
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There is a poster on the wall in my office that has followed me from place to place for several years. Through graphics, it shows how the sacred texts of 13 faiths from around the world each contain “The Golden Rule.” From Islam and Christianity to Traditional Native Spirituality and Confucianism, we all hold sacred some version of “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you,” which was the version I learned as a child. The …
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For the past three years, I have experienced the Advent season differently because of a reflection from Sr. Ilia Delio, a Franciscan Religious with doctoral degrees in both theology and science, who suggested that during these four weeks leading up to Christmas, we as Christians are not passively waiting for what is not there, but we are preparing room in our hearts for a Jesus who has already come and part of our task is to illuminate his presence …
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Interesting bit of trivia…did you know the feast of Thanksgiving has been officially observed as an annual holiday in Canada since November 6th, 1879?!? Some years later, on January 31st, 1957, the Governor General of Canada at the time (Vincent Massey) issued a proclamation stating, “A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed – to be observed on the second Monday in October.” I understand that many in 2021 observe Thanksgiving as a …
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In the Pentecost narrative, we hear of Jesus’ post-resurrection visit to his 12 BFFs, how they were infused with the Holy Spirit, and the instructions Jesus left them (and us) for sharing the Good News with the world. Jesus would have known his Apostles well enough to gauge their strengths and weaknesses and he would have understood how differently each of them would confront the task set out before them. I suspect the same was true then as now: …
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In her book of essays, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now, author and poet Maya Angelou wrote, “I’m always amazed when people walk up to me and say, ‘I’m a Christian.’ I think, ‘Already? You already got it?’ I’m working at it…”
Possibly the most important conversion experience I have encountered personally involved coming to the realization that becoming Christian is a life-long process and while I may experience times of growth, I will never …
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In Christus vivit, Pope Francis’ response to the 2018 Youth Synod, he writes “All the faithful, whatever their condition or state, are called by the Lord, each in his or her own way, to that perfect holiness by which God is perfect.”
There have been times when I have willfully ignored the place to where I was called because it seemed too far out of sync with what I wanted or where I was situated at …
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