Dr. Mary Marrocco is an associate secretary for the Canadian Council of Churches. She is also a teacher, writer and lay pastoral worker. Morrocco explores the lives and writings of the saints, spiritual writers and theologians‚ and how they relate to contemporary life.
A young woman, Suzette, became used to inventing explanations for being late for school. She was ashamed to tell the real reason: frequently, she had to take a detour, because she thought she’d glimpsed a certain type of vehicle and was afraid to see or be seen by the occupant. Just the idea of seeing a certain person who had harmed her, and who drove such a vehicle, made her so anxious she had to change her daily course.
Into the deep: suicide and the truth of death
By Mary MarroccoTouch anyone and you touch grief, the grief of losing someone beloved. There’s grief, and there’s the grief born of a tragic death such as from suicide. Socially, and even as a Church, we often don’t know how to respond.
Those who are lost shall be found
By Mary MarroccoOnce, in a public place, I overheard a couple of men talking as they walked along behind me.
God will resolve all the injustices
By Mary MarroccoThe deep-down goodness of the “average” person gives me awe. No wonder the psalmist, even after experiencing the worst human beings are capable of, exclaims: “you are gods, children of the most high, all of you” (Psalm 82:6). For, as Jesus reminded His hearers when quoting this verse (John 10:34), we’re capable of receiving the very word of God. When we lose everything else, we must hold on to this truth.
Amen to the Eucharist’s simple miracle
By Mary MarroccoWalking down a city street, I overheard a real estate agent talking with a prospective buyer about a house on the street. “And when that stone church on the other side gets made into a condominium, the home value will go up,” she reasoned to her customer.
Yes, the Church is needed
By Mary MarroccoIn a parish discussion — a mini-synod, you might say — we had a roundtable talk about whether people would return to Church once pandemic restrictions ended. One young participant saw it this way: “If the Church has something people need, why wouldn’t they return?”
Escaping the trap of failing in love
By Mary MarroccoThere are moments when the ground beneath us shakes, and we get a shocking glimpse of our failing in love.
Finding holiness in God next door
By Mary Marrocco“Christianity’s holiest site,” a news story said, is Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher, “the place where Christians believe Jesus died and was buried.”
Attending Christ means tending to our humanity
By Mary MarroccoWe humans need to be tended. Sheep are tended by a shepherd. Gardens are tended by a gardener. Even databases are tended by experts.
Christianity divided is wounded peace
By Mary MarroccoA local parish held a small procession, which included standing on the corners of a busy downtown intersection holding signs for an hour. These were not rabble-rousing parishioners; quiet and unobtrusive, they were the most diffident, retiring sign-holders who ever pressed themselves against walls. Many passers-by called encouraging words or honked supportively if driving. Many others shouted derisively, called names or yelled recriminations, one even throwing a soda can at one of the sign-holders — who, as she later reported, simply stood still praying for the can-thrower.