Every year I try to write an article on suicide because it is perhaps the most misunderstood of all deaths and it wreaks a unique havoc among the family and the loved ones left behind. They are left with a blizzard of ambivalent and conflicting feelings: shame (What a shameful way to die); guilt (Somehow…
When I reflect on the spirituality I was raised on, I’m deeply grateful. No spirituality is perfect, but what I have been given through our rich Christian tradition stands up to the challenges of life and of faith. But if I had one criticism it would be this: For all its richness, Christian spirituality hasn’t…
Something in us is dissatisfied with the ordinary. There’s something in the ordinary that can have us think that predictable routines, domestic rhythms, and commitment to duty can weigh us down, swallow us up, and anchor us outside the more rewarding waters of passion, romance, creativity, dance, and celebration. We often vilify the ordinary. I…
There’s a difference between being in bloom and being fruitful. Take a flower for example. It begins as a wee bud, hardly noticeable, and eventually in full bloom grows into a beautiful flower. In full bloom it’s very noticeable. This is its optimal moment of beauty, of being admired, of glory. But this isn’t its…
Most Christian denominations do not believe in purgatory. This is specifically a Roman Catholic belief. And in the popular Catholic mind, purgatory is too often mistakenly conceived of as a place distinct from heaven, a place where you are purified and made ready for heaven. But purgatory is not a place distinct from heaven and…
When I was growing up, as part of our family prayer we used to pray for a happy death. In my young mind, I had a certain conception of what that might look like. A happy death would be to die inside of grace, warmly cradled in the loving arms of family and church, fully…
“God has no favourites, except that every one of us is God’s particular favourite,” John Muir once asked, “Why are Christians so reluctant to let animals into their stingy heaven?” The same might be said of us as Churches: why are we so reluctant sometimes to welcome others into God’s mercy and to our communion…
Darkness is only bad because there is light. Sin can only happen if first there is love. Karl Rahner makes a very insightful comment about the text in the Gospels where Jesus is being crucified and says of his executioners: “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do!” Rahner suggests that they knew…
A priest I know shares this story. Recently, on their priests’ retreat, the retreat director began his opening presentation with these words: we take for granted that most people are going to hell. Then he tried to ground this assertion by quoting Jesus: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad…
I generally try to be sensitive to using politically correct language, though sometimes that can be exasperating because of various hyper-sensitivities where people are too easily offended. Simply put, someone can take offense at almost any word. However, despite our occasional exasperation with those who are too easily offended, we must admit that in the…