Rain has come up a lot thus far on our trip to the Holy Land.  It hasn’t actually rained, in fact the weather has been fantastic – sunny, in the low-to-mid twenties (Celsius), beautiful breeze.  It’s the lack of rain, during this the rainy season, that is a topic of conversation. We’re spending our ...read more

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.  And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with ...read more

In Tel Aviv we came across places of worship all within the vicinity of each other – the Mosque on a corner, a Synagogue dating back to the mid-1700s tucked in the Artist’s Quarter, and St. Peter’s Catholic Church along the water front.  It was a contrast of what I had expected – somehow I ...read more

In Canada we have the Esso Tiger. Here they have Delek Dragon.  Same idea, different species.  Or is that genus? I was never good with my classification systems.  Regardless, if one imagines Israel as some kind of country stuck in ancient times – think again.  There is plenty of growth in the cities – old ...read more

After arriving from the airport we spent the next few hours touring around Tel Aviv.  It’s the economic hub of Israel, and nearly two of Israel’s seven million inhabitants call it home.  From what I understand ‘Tel’ means ‘city of ruins’ or ruins and ‘Aviv’ means spring.  It’s a city built on ruins – sprung ...read more

Balloons seem to be big in Israel – or at least for people greeting their friends and relatives at the airport. After an uneventful 11hour flight – which I found to go fairly fast – we landed safely at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport.  As we exited into the arrivals area I was surprised ...read more

I was scanning the in-flight magazine trying to find the music station listings when I stumbled upon the above prayer.  There it was on the first page just below the table of contents.  I thought it was a fitting way to begin my one week visit to the Holy Land.  A simple prayer.  A simple ...read more

As heard on Friday’s Zoom, this Sunday, November 2nd, there will be a closing rally in Ottawa for the 40 Days for Life vigil that has been on-going since late September. As a press release says: The 40 Days for Life campaign was organized to pray and fast to end abortion. In the past two ...read more

Continuing our blogs from S+L’ers who were in Los Angeles for the Gabriel Awards, we bring you this blog from Marc Boudignon, one S+L’s fantastic editors, whose credits include ‘Opus Dei: Decoding God’s Work,’ ‘Turning the Tide,’ and ‘Road of Hope: The Spiritual Journey of Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan’ A Sunday in downtown Los Angeles ...read more

As mentioned on Monday’s Zoom, there is plenty of information surrounding the Synod of Bishops and the conclusions. If you read through the previous few entries on this blog, you will find information from our own Kris Dmytrenko and Father Thomas Rosica, C.S.B. For further articles, try this: Synod Presents 55 Propositions to Pope: A ...read more