Hang on for dear life.

Unfortunately, the dearness of life seems to be dying a not-so-slow death.

There are many more questions than answers.

That’s the way it is with most tragedies but this one seemed even more perplexing, even more heart-rending.

An American survey from more than a year ago showed that 45 per cent of people usually make New Year’s resolutions and another 38 per cent never make them. But only eight per cent of people are successful in achieving their resolutions. Self-improvement and weight-related resolutions are the most popular, followed by money-related and relationship-related vows.

They came by the thousands. Young and old, men and women, Francophone and English, the able-bodied and the infirm, they came despite the driving, biting snow and blustery wind to a church in Montreal in mid-December to bid farewell to hockey legend Jean Beliveau.

The problem with earthly justice is that sometimes it seems to take its good old time and other times it just doesn’t seem to exist at all. 

Early September found our family sitting in front of a university, again. 

Like many Catholic parishes, our little flock smack in the middle of Nova Scotia is facing a financial crunch and Canada Day serves as one of our biggest moneymakers.

A few weeks back, I attended a funeral Mass about a half hour from my home. With the priest’s comforting words and the heavy smell of incense still commandeering our senses, the congregation filed out and into the nearby church hall for sandwiches, tea and a story or two about Sandy, the deceased. The elderly man, from all accounts that flowed from inside the church and out, was a kind, gentle soul who put family and God above all else.