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Back in the summer of 2001, five years after I had moved away from the Ottawa Valley, the City of Ottawa hosted the Francophone Games. Immediately after the Games closed over 100 participants, from abroad, decided they were not going back home to their country but instead were seeking refugee status in Canada. The next day, a popular radio talk show host (akin to Rush Limbaugh) began his show with a roar. He came out with guns firing. Calls immediately came in about what it means to ...

I am not sure if this story is in any of Fr. Richard Rohr’s numerous books or not, but he does tell it on a C.D. retreat talk entitled “Fire from Heaven.” It goes like this.

“There is a story that an artesian well had sprung up in the middle of the desert, and it was a marvelous well with clear, nourishing, and copious water. People began to come and to drink and to celebrate their wonderful discovery of a well in the desert. Gradually ...

We continue the journey of living our faith amidst a pandemic. Provincial health officials are loosening, ever so slowly, some of the restrictions we have all been living under. Premier Higgs even suggested church services can resume outdoors albeit with cars spaced a safe distance apart. Bishop Vienneau is not moving in that direction, as we would still not be able to share in Communion and having a “drive-thru” Mass would trivialize the sacrament.  I agree.

As we await the day when we can all gather together again ...

Our faith, based on the gospel reading for this Sunday, tells us that God does not love the world in some big, bland, generic way. God’s love is particular and concrete. Love that is not concrete is not love at all. Love is about this particular young man (not all men) whose addiction is costing our family dearly. Love considers this particular woman (not all women) who just became a widow. Love takes into account this particular guy, (not all guys) who right now is going through ...

Of the four gospel writers, Luke is by far the best storyteller. And today, we have Luke’s best story. By the way, scholars and archeologists to this day, cannot find, in the Holy Land, this place called Emmaus. They keep unearthing dig after dig, each, as the story tells us, 11 km from Jerusalem, but they still cannot find it. From a storyteller’s point of view, what is important is that these two disciples are going away from Jerusalem. And if you go away from Jerusalem, ...

Just when I thought things could not get worse, with all the suffering COVID-19 has brought the world, things actually did get worse with the mass shooting in Nova Scotia this week. With 23 known dead, what great pain there must be within those families, including the family of the shooter.

When I try to ponder something that is either too good or too bad, my mind boggles, and I lose words.  Even wordsmiths—writers, poets, and songwriters—often cannot find words. When words fail, then symbols, images, and rituals become ...