For the last two weeks (part 1 and part 2) I’ve been trying to imagine what our world would be like had Jesus never been born. It’s easy to say that The Church would not exist or that we would have no Pope. There would be no priests, deacons, religious sisters or brothers, nor there ...read more

Last week I was imagining a world without Christmas. That would mean no Christmas music and no Christmas movies. But a world without Jesus would mean much more to our popular culture. One of my favourite Broadway musicals is Les Miz. I never read the novel, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo and wasn’t crazy about ...read more

“The heart of Christianity is the Paschal mystery of [Christ’s] death and resurrection….The centre of it all is the triune God, and, therefore, love as the Alpha and Omega of the world. [In these statements] the self-same truth is indicated: sharing in the witness of Jesus by that dying which is faith and love. Such ...read more

I remember once, a Cuban friend who grew up in Cuba with no Christmas, telling me that she had never seen or heard of a Christmas tree before she left Cuba. But had Christ never been born, the implications would be much worse than not having Christmas trees. Just think of the music we’d be ...read more

In mid-November, my husband Richard and I and our four girls went to visit Madonna House in Combermere, Ontario. Any chance we get to visit Madonna House as a family, we take it! Madonna House is special to us.  This was not our usual pilgrimage, however. We had camera equipment in the trunk and I ...read more

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While some people want to “reform” the Catholic Church and others want “to put the brakes on the synod process,” those involved in preparing the continental phase of the synod process want “to mend” the church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the pope, said Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of ...read more

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A daily examination of conscience is an important tool for recognising where God is at work in one’s life and where “the evil spirit” tries to lead one astray, Pope Francis said. “Learn to read in the book of our hearts what has happened during the day. Do it. Just two ...read more

We often think the path to holiness is one giant, heroic leap up to God. The reality is that it’s the development of small, regular habits that gradually turn our hearts and wills to God’s love. That’s the vision behind “Heaven in Daily Instalments,” a series of 24 short, two-minute animated videos produced by the ...read more

Earlier this week I found myself listening to R.E.M.’s It’s the End of the World (although I much prefer the cover by Great Big Sea). It’s a good song and, while I’m not exactly sure what it’s about, I always think about it around this time of the year when all the Mass readings have ...read more

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The mission of a seminary “is not to form ‘supermen’ who pretend to know and control everything,” but to help seminarians become priests who are humble servants of the communities they continue to belong to, Pope Francis said. “The Lord calls some of his disciples to be priests, that is, he ...read more