Waiting.  Expecting.  Calmly expecting.  Expecting nothing else but to be with God.  Just being available for Him. For almost two months, I have been focusing on what this is like as I reflected on Christ’s coming this Christmas.  This mode of silent, almost “passive active-ness” was inspired by a visit from a friend. Three weeks ...read more

Rita Sawaya's - Advent 2010 on Maui - Hawai'i. ...read more

Prayer Vigil to commemorate Iraqi Christians Victims St. Michael’s Cathedral Archdiocese of Toronto November 11, 2010 Address by Msgr. Yousif Habash, Syrian Catholic Bishop of the United States and Canada - [translation from Arabic vy Rita Sawaya] Msgr. Yousif Habash bishop of the Syro-Catholic communities of the United States and Canada issued a spontaneous emotional speech in Arabic, addressing the Iraqi people in Iraq and throughout the world. The vigil was organized and presided by Mgr. Thomas Collins, Archbishop of Toronto. Over 500 people including 20 Christians religious leaders attended the prayer vigil for peace, held last November 11 at St. Michael's Cathedral in Toronto on the day of commemoration of victims of Iraqi Syro-Catholic terrorist attack of October 31st in the Cathedral of Sayyidat an-Najat of Baghdad. The vigil was rebroadcast Saturday November 20th, 2010 on 20H30 on Salt and Light. Here is Mgr. Yousif Habash's moving speech in Arabic translated to English by Rita Sawaya. ...read more

Have you ever had the experience of praying the Rosary and come to the end of a decade only to ask yourself: “Um, did I just say 10 Hail Marys?” Sometimes we lose our place, we get lost in the repetition, or we are distracted.  And when I say distracted, I’m not talking about wrapped ...read more

The Christian Churches in the Holy Land are often characterized as intractably, scandalously divided. The impression is not without reason, as evidenced by the embarrassing 2008 skirmishes between Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox monks in Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulchre—the church recognized as the site of Calvary and Jesus’ empty tomb. It would be wrong, however, to ...read more