Prayer books, prayer groups, prayer meetings, prayer beads, prayer mats, common prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, a wing and a prayer.
Christmas is still weeks away and already we’re exhausted.
Sad reminder
Re: Nine priests identified in Archdiocese of Vancouver report on sexual abuse (Dec. 1):
If it’s true that the best ideas are often the simplest ones, then give credit to Pope Francis for endorsing an 800-year-old strategy to place Christ at the centre of Christmas.
The two young people sitting in front of me were deeply in love. They stared into each other’s eyes as if they were the only two people in the world — which, come to think of it, is the very definition of being deeply in love. They did not speak at all. Just with their eyes. I watched them for a full hour.
The online publication The Catholic Thing recently dubbed Pope Francis “idiosyncratic” for his insistence that evangelical encounters should witness to Christ without having a proselytizing edge.
I got to spend two beautiful evenings with my Grandma in the week before she died in October. While I held her hand and listened to her stories, and then to her breathing when she couldn’t speak anymore, I was flooded with memories.
Sensory Mass
Re: Mass… the sensory-friendly way (Nov. 10):
I was thrilled to read the article on sensory-friendly Masses. I would like to add that it is not only children who have trouble processing sensory input. I have fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and multiple chemical sensitivities. All forms of sensory input can be painful and overwhelming for me.
The poor need our hands to lift them up and give them hope, said Pope Francis on the World Day of the Poor. Three days later, Canada’s new government extended a hand in a different direction when it swore in our first-ever Minister of Middle Class Prosperity.
More than a decade ago, I worked with Ted Rogers in writing his memoirs. Recently, I’ve been asked to help revive stories of him to the younger generation who know the name Rogers solely as the corporate brand of the phone in their pockets.
For nearly 500 years, Bolivia has been a cheap source of natural resources for colonial powers. Every time some mineral is mined to extinction, a new metal is discovered to be extracted at bargain basement prices. During the 16th century, silver was the hot commodity and Potosi was one of the richest cities in the Americas. Today, the Potosi region is the poorest section of the poorest country on the American continent.