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When preparing young people to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation we often speak to them of gifts. We speak of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit (wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and wonder & awe) as well as the Fruit of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.)  The idea being that when we graciously receive the fits God bestows upon each of us and work at strengthening them, we are rewarded …

Have you
held a grudge against another person, place or thing, whether that grudge be
grounded in truth or grounded in gossip? Perhaps you are harbouring a grudge
right now. Are you someone who likes to grumble over, find fault with or show
dissatisfaction with?  If you are, then
you may be a grudge-holder.

My father’s mother died
in 2017 at the age of 94, and her mother died at the age of 90 in …

Do you have a favourite book you read on a regular or semi-regular basis? I do this with Angela’s Ashes, by Frank McCourt. I will not tell you how many times I have read it, but it is many, and I have learned that with each reading, different aspects of the book stand out for me depending on what is occurring in my own little world. “How could I not have noticed that before, it’s right there!?”

In
Maya Angelou’s Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now, she wrote, “Human beings are more alike than unalike, and what is true
anywhere is true everywhere…” 

This line puzzled me, and it seemed such a lofty proclamation to
make, but I eventually began to understand it as an invitation to reflect on
what I believed to be universally true. 
Humans share common truths, and what is true is true for everyone. I
guess these …

Have you ever been so caught up in your routine daily activities, or the
busyness of life that you have forgotten to drink enough water, and suddenly
you realize your throat is hot, crackling dry, and maybe slightly swollen and
not only are you are developing a headache, but start to feel surly?  You feel like you have crossed a desert. Then
you realize your body is telling you it needs hydration, so you obey and drink
the water, …

If you have had the privilege of visiting Israel, you
may have seen the Jordan River and if you did, you may have noticed that the
Jordan River is… unassuming, making it fitting that it would be the site where
Jesus approached his cousin John demanding to be baptized.  The river resembles any number of small
rivers and you might pass by without noticing it unless someone pointed it out
to you. But this is the river in which …

Resurrection. 
How often have I uttered this word without considering seriously how
this might be manifested? Am I going to be happily driving to work one day
singing along to Selena Gomez when suddenly all those who have died before me
begin to climb out of giant, fiery cracks in the earth, entirely presided over
by a Judgmental Jesus attired in the fashion of first century Palestine?  Perhaps one day God will have grown weary of
our larking and …

Many people tell me they have mixed feelings about this time of year because even though they happily anticipate the artistic beauty of autumn, they know the cooler, shorter days foretell the arrival of winter and all that entails in New Brunswick…what Sr. Joyce Rupp calls an “unforgettable sacrament of absence.”  I have been avoiding even the thought of it for a couple of weeks now, but Summer 2019 is nearly over, leaving memories of long days spent with …

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.
At times, I wish there was a visible sign it was the Holy Spirit speaking to me, so I would know when to listen to it, and when to work at filtering out my own ego and emotional baggage. Then, with this visible sign, I would know for certain the …

There is an African proverb
which states “you cannot put your foot in the same river twice,” but this piece
of wisdom can also be found elsewhere with the ancient Greek philosopher
Heraclitus (535-475 B.C.) who wrote “it is impossible to step into the same
river twice.”

“But
I have swam in the Pollett River all my life and it is the same now as it was
50-60 years ago,” you say?  I also swam