In these days fall gradually starts to arrive. Plants are wilting, leaves are dying. Soon the days will be colder and darker. And yet, outside my front door the Mexican sunflowers are still blooming. Their flowerheads are an intense orange, and until a few days ago the Monarch butterflies were still flocking around them, drinking […]
In our gospel today, it is striking the way that Christ raises the widow’s son from the dead. Before he speaks the healing words, he places his hand on the coffin. The gospel emphasizes that Christ comes over to the coffin itself and touches it. The widow’s son is given new life by Christ, but […]
“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth no solution will be found to ease the tension between the nations. Blind impulses of elemental power will serge up, storming waves and roaring of the sea. Human beings will loose grip of themselves in fear and anxiety. The very powers of the heavens will be […]
Listening to a story about Hurricane Harvey on CBC the other day, it became clear that behind the disaster and suffering that folks down south are enduring, human souls are helping each other more than ever. The tremendous flood and desperation has inspired individuals to drive their boats out into the streets, day and night. […]
This world that we call home is complex. With the increasing traffic, with unending technological advances that we must learn, with automated robotic responses at every turn, this world is becoming more and more tedious and frustrating. Even with the joys and beauties that the world does offer, it is becoming harder and harder to […]
Only one thing has changed at the altar as we move from Easter to Ascension. The green on the chasuble has become gold. The green of our natural lives becomes permeated with gold. At Ascension, every human soul is called to turn the green of our normal lives into something golden and Christ permeated. For […]
All around us seeds are sprouting, burgeoning. Just imagine how many obstacles a little sprout must navigate to break through the earth, to rise to the sun. First, just to break through the layers of the seed itself, then little stones, little creatures, the darkness all around….it is a small miracle that a sprout can […]
We hear in our gospel this week words that can give us great hope, great solace; we hear the words “In this world you will have trouble. But take courage! I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16) And yet, has the world been overcome? Is greed solved? Is poverty eradicated? Does goodness reign? We normally think that […]
In our gospel for last week (Jn 20), The Risen Christ appears to the disciples saying “The peace be with you” and shows them his wounds- peace and wounds at the same time. It is astounding, that The Risen One, who is the example for us of the perfected human being, has wounds! One would perhaps think that true […]
Today we celebrate the beginning of Christ’s Passion- moving through Holy Week. We celebrate Christ Jesus entering Jerusalem, entering the crucible, the crucible of Holy Fire that will burn away everything not essential. For even Christ’s closest disciples had to fall away, even His own body, His own life had to burn away on the […]
