Speaking Out

Every year, Easter Sunday Mass can be described quite accurately by one word: filled. The rafters are filled with the angelic voices of the choir, our hearts are filled with the joy of Christ’s resurrection and, quite noticeably, the pews are filled with people.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our churches were always that packed? Alas, the holidays conclude, attendance decreases and Mass is once again celebrated by the regular flow of parishioners.

Abercrombie. Hollister. Apple. BlackBerry. Nike. Starbucks. The invitation to consumerism is all around us, and living on a university campus doesn’t offer much help.

With government and provincial loans, students often feel like they have just won the lottery and can spend “their” money without a care in the world. As such, many post-secondary students graduate with high debt and financial woes.

A popular saying among Christians is “faith without deeds is dead.”

This saying (James 2:14-26) tells the reader that it is not enough to simply believe in God; one must also do His will by striving for righteousness and doing good deeds.

There’s much truth to this as it is clear that anyone who claims they have faith but does not accompany their faith with good works is not sincere. If a person said they believed in God but ignored the less fortunate or were abusive to their family, one would consider this person a fraud. However, the converse also applies. Christian works without faith are inert.

To me, works without faith are deeds we perform without sincere and godly intentions. They are godly deeds performed or looked at in an ungodly manner. Consider people who give to charity only to receive praise. These people tend to give money only to receive acclaim from others. But when a homeless person asks for money, they suddenly become tight-fisted.

While working the market for his father, a young privileged man named Francesco found himself confronted by a misfortunate beggar, who he had no choice but to turn away. However, upon completing his father’s business for the day, Francesco chased after this beggar and gave all he had to the stranger.

This young man is known to us now as St. Francis of Assisi, who abandoned his wealth to follow his faith and aid the poor.

I love movies. I have experienced and learned a lot from them, from historical dramas, action-packed thrillers, suspense, romance and more. But there is one thing about some movies that I have problems with: misleading information and stereotypes, especially when it comes to religion.

Movies based on religion can have rewarding consequences, opening the viewers’ eyes and minds to new ideas, teaching them things about religion that they otherwise would never have known. However, there are some movies more than willing — I would say eager — to take a bite out of religion and portray it to the world as a joke or a hoax.

Religion and politics are two highly contentious realms. But many people see them as even more problematic when combined, which could be why this is usually avoided at all costs in Canada.

A democracy is supposed to ensure representation of widely varying views, but believers know that things often seem stacked against any expression of faith in politics.

Everyone has had one of those horrible days.  You wake up late, burn your toast, forget to call that person, get screamed at by a grumpy pedestrian, pull into the gas station the wrong way, spill tomato sauce on your white shirt—the works.  And then you’re standing on the sidewalk by a puddle and a truck speeds through it and you’re drenched.

I had a day like that, with a different sequence of events, some of them worse than burnt toast, but which had the same puddle-drenching finale.

As an impatient child who wasn’t very fond of standing out in the hot weather, I absolutely loathed waiting in line for amusement park rides. Not only would the most obnoxious kids be the first ones in line, but the smaller children who weren’t even old enough to ride would cut though people’s legs and get further in front.

My mother told me it was rude to cut in line so I was forced to reluctantly wait my turn in the face of a cruel childhood injustice. While I was waiting, I glanced in front of me to see how many people were left. There were about eight million. Unsatisfied, I turned around to look behind and was shocked to find that the number of people waiting was much greater.

When I tell people that I’m an aspiring male feminist, they can’t help but raise their eyebrows. Their surprise is understandable, but I’ve always thought it a little uninformed. What they don’t understand is what constitutes feminism in the first place and how men can contribute.

Amid cultural confusion, the feminist movement is mistakenly identified with reactionary ideas. The feminist movement is more than a reactionary cause, but is usually identified as such because of the way it’s been overtaken by secular values.

Valentine’s Day always brings a plethora of images to my mind. The first is a picture of a bishop, ministering to young couples through the streets of third-century Italy — though, I have to admit, I didn’t know it was third century Italy I was imagining until I read more about St. Valentine.

As I was reading, I was surprised to find that we know so little about this saint except his name and that he was buried beside a road leading to Rome on Feb. 14.