Carl E. Olson The Norwegian bishop and Trappist monk Erik Varden, still shy of 50, has established himself as a spiritual writer, retreat leader and prelate of the highest order. Raised in a non-practicing Lutheran home in a village in Norway, he was a teenage “agnostic” who was “hostile” to Christianity. His conversion to the…
Greg Erlandson This year, I’m glad to see Lent come to an end, and not just because of Easter Alleluias and Cadbury dark chocolate eggs. It was a tough Lent. Part of it, of course, had nothing explicitly to do with Lent. The news has generally been dreadful, a reminder, I suppose of why…
Fear is a powerful human emotion that shapes our actions and words. A young man named Karol Wojtyla personally experienced the gripping fear that his country of Poland endured during the Nazi terrors of World War II. Karol belonged to a small theatre group who was forced to go underground as the Nazis occupied their…
Q: I have a friend who observed that some crucifixes depict the Saviour with his eyes open and some depict him with his eyes closed. He wants to know which is correct – alive or dead? A: With respect to the second part of your question, I think it’s equally correct for a crucifix to…
After the Year of Mercy, it’s time to pray, writes Elizabeth Scalia St Philip Neri once had a penitent confess to indulging in gossip. He advised the contrite soul to bring him a chicken, and to pluck its feathers as he walked the streets of Rome. When the man showed up with the chicken,…
We speak of that section in the Gospels which narrates Jesus’ life from the Last Supper until his death and burial, as chronicling his ‘Passion’. On Good Friday, the lector begins the Gospel with the words: “The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to John”. Why do we call Jesus’ suffering just before…
Hosffman Ospino A while ago, writing about St Joseph, I was intent on lifting up his human experience while calling out quick attempts to idealise this important person in Jesus’s life. Joseph was a husband, a father, an immigrant, a worker, a neighbour, a friend, a companion. In response, I received a note from…
Q: If, indeed, abortion is the Church’s preeminent issue, then why don’t we hear a pro-life petition as part of the Prayer of the Faithful at every Mass? A: Many parishes do include a pro-life intention as part of the Prayer of the Faithful at Mass every week. However, it is true that including a…
Sr Anne Marie Walsh It is hard to fathom that today’s world does not want God. It mirrors the fundamental struggle of our individual souls, the battle between being self-centred and being centred in God and his presence in our lives and the life of the world. Scott Barry Hoffman reported in the Scientific American…
‘Did you hear…?’ In our modern information-saturated age, those three little words say a lot. They sum up so much of how we live. Face it: We are bombarded incessantly by news. Our phones buzz, cable news squawks, social media chirps and pings. There’s a lot going on out there. What are we missing? Almost…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser