When I hear the word Epiphany, I automatically think of the Feast of Epiphany, the story of the Wisemen who came from the East to seek and to pay homage to the newborn king, Jesus. In secular terms, the word epiphany means a moment of sudden revelation or insight. We’ve all had epiphanies of one kind or another. (One day you looked in the mirror and realized you weren’t 22 anymore and had lost the ability to turn people’s heads. ...
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When I was a child our Christmas tree went up either on or just before December 24th, and came down January 6th, a day referred to by my parents as Old Christmas Day. Likely unbeknownst to them, my parents were in sync with the rhythm of the Church in their preparation for, and celebration of, Christmas. Despite the fact that the coloured lights that have graced our communities for most of December (or longer) have, mainly, been extinguished, for the ...
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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 another distinct memory of one ...
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That very first Christmas has a little bit of detective work built into it. It’s not a “who did it?” as much as it is a treasure hunt. The treasure is, obviously, Jesus. He is not playing hard-to-get, but the shepherds still have to unravel the clues the Angel of the Lord gave them if they are to find the Messiah. At this point, they don’t know that their lives and the life of the world will be forever changed. ...
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The traditional Christmas, as I remember, was very family focused when I grew up. Christmas was for children when Santa came once a year, bringing toys for boys and girls to play with and to be happy. It was a very peaceful and joyous time.
As time went on, it became that gift exchanging was a tradition, gifts were giving to everyone in the family and to your friends. We also started to expect gifts from family and friends. Gifts were expected and who would ...
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Once again, the first reading is interesting. The Prophet Isaiah has something to offer us on our faith journey, but like all Old Testament readings, this reading needs some explaining, some context.
It’s a story about Ahaz, the king of Judah, and it take place about 730 years before the birth of Jesus. Israel to the north and Judah to the south (where Ahaz is king) are sister countries. Between these two countries is where you find God’s Chosen People, the Jews, living. The archenemy ...
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(This reflection comes from Sr. Ilia Delio a Franciscan sister, a scientist, a theologian, and one of the great spiritual minds of our time. I don’t dare redact a single word. Enjoy.) Fr. Phil
We moderns love Christmas with all the lights, gifts and good cheer of friends and family. It has become, in a sense, the ‘Feast of Relational Holism.’ To celebrate Christmas is to share life with another, for that is what God has done, shared divine life with created ...
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Back in 14th century Persia (Iran today), there was a famous poet named Hafiz. Not only was he a poet, but he was also a very well-respected man because of his wisdom. Although he lived 700 years ago, his poetry has once again become popular. This is my favorite Hafiz poem, and it reminds me of John the Baptist who is perishing in prison. It reminds me even more of Jesus, the liberator of everything that imprisons us. It goes like this. “The ...
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Last Sunday we were introduced to John the Baptist through Matthew’s gospel and his description of how John was baptizing any-and-all comers in the river Jordan. In reading Matthew’s description of John, his clothing, his dietary choices and his no nonsense, in-your-face method of bringing people to God, I can see why so many people went to see what all the fuss was about. I think for many who went to see him, they were already entrenched in their own religion; their ...
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There are a number of spiritual masters who see that there is clearly a spirituality for the first half of our lives and a spirituality for the second half of our lives. But it’s not necessarily chronological. In other words, just because you hit the midway point in your life (and we never know when that will be), doesn’t mean you automatically transition into a second half of life spirituality. I’ve met some young people who, because of suffering or ...
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