I grew up a second-generation immigrant in the outback of the Western Canadian prairies. Our family was poor economically, subsistence farmers, with the necessities but seldom with much more. My father and mother were charitable to a fault and tried to instil that in us. However, given our own poverty, understandably we did not have…

Sts Cyril and Methodius were two Byzantine brothers who had an important role in the spread of Christianity and literacy across Eastern Europe during the 9th century. Born in Thessalonica, a major city in the Byzantine Empire, Cyril (born Constantine) and Methodius were known for their missionary work, particularly in the Slavic regions, where they…

Your enlightening words What am I doing with my life? Am I whole-hearted about it? Doing my best? I know how powerful You are, one word of Yours is sufficient to create anything. Am I open to You? One “let there be” and there is a sky-full of stars, from nothing. You don’t need a…

For more than a thousand years Christians have not experienced the joy of being one family in Christ. Although there were already tensions within the earliest Christian communities, it was not until the year 1054 that there was a formal split, in effect, to establish two formal Christian communities, the Orthodox Church in the East…

  Is 6:1-2a, 3-8 Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8 1 Cor 15:1-11 or 1 Cor 15:3-8, 11 Lk 5:1-11   The question I hear most frequently from those I meet for the first time is this: “Why did you become a priest, and how did it happen?” To which I typically provide a quick and…

Man and woman have been created, willed by God, in perfect equality as human persons. ‘Being man’ or being ‘woman’ is a reality which is good and willed by God. Man and woman possess a dignity which comes to them immediately from God and both have one and the same dignity “in the image of…

Creeds ground us. Within a short formula they summarise the main tenets of our faith and keep us mindful of the truths that anchor us. As a Christian, I pray two creeds, The Apostles’ Creed and The Nicene Creed. But I also pray another creed which grounds me in some deep truths which are not…

Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10 Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 15 1 Cor 12:12-30 Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21   Every good love story has something from a personal and emotional note. I remember, for example, one of my favourite movies, the famous Sleepless in Seattle, with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. After losing his beloved wife, Sam Baldwin…