For the most part, we can say the Catholic Church has done its share to make this a better world, and done this very well despite a few hiccups here and there.

In these early days of Advent, when we are immersing ourselves in biblical narratives, we can easily forget that nothing we read in Scripture is there by accident.

An excerpt from Pope Francis’ address to the academic community of the John Paul II pontifical theological institute for marriage and the family science.

The Edmonton police stopped outside the downtown Bissell Centre on Tuesday, as they do most mornings. Their task was to cart away the tarps and belongings of homeless people camped on the street. The previous night, the temperature had fallen to minus 16C, and people were cold.

I arrived to drop off some boots and clothes donated by people from Assumption Parish to the Inner City Pastoral Ministry, the ecumenical Church outreach to people on the street. Tuesday is table day for ICPM, the morning when our pastor, Rev. Quinn Strikwerda, and volunteer Maria Kruszewski hand out clothes, candy and whatever else they have on hand. 

Twice, I was very pregnant in Advent, and I thought a lot about how riding on a donkey might bring on labour. With each month of pregnancy, babies occupied more of my body – as well as my mind and heart. And with birth, these little people become literal parts of my body and soul existing in the world distinct from me. 

Two recent ads are receiving accolades for their pro-family messaging. The first is a near mini-movie for Volvo, promoting the car’s safety features in protecting a mother with a child in utero. The second commercial for Apple airpods flashes back in time to show us how a new baby became the teenager her father is now watching unwrap the gift of a new guitar. Both present beautiful vignettes speaking to the meaningful adventure that is family. Both give a positive portrayal of men, which is quasi-miraculous today. Both contribute to a culture in which we can watch what we know in our hearts: that family is a major source of meaning for everyone. 

Never has this generation been subjected to such a barrage of disinformation and misinformation as has been generated surrounding the current Israeli military assault on the people of Gaza.

Sometime ago I was in conversation with a friend about the Church politics of the day. He said, “Sometimes I look at the people around me and it strikes me that 99 per cent of them know nothing about the Church politics we discuss so passionately. Even if they did, they would not care.” I heard a call to exercise humility and do my best to avoid naval gazing and focus on sharing the Good News with others as witnesses to the love of the Trinitarian God. With all the ink spilled on the synodal process in the universal Church, its call to mission is what I find myself reflecting on most as we enter the third crucial phase of the synodal process: implementation. 

Hope.  Is there anything this world needs more?  With violence, atrocities and natural disasters filling the news every day, it sometimes feels hopeless and unbearable.  No wonder Pope Francis called for a Jubilee year of hope.  We need it.  No wonder he called for 2024 to be a year of prayer, to open our hearts to the possibility of hope.  “2024 will be dedicated to a great symphony of prayer”, he wrote.  “First of all, to recover the desire to be in the presence of the Lord, to listen to him and adore him.  To put the need for a profound relationship with the Lord back at the centre of people’s lives.”

My mother liked to recall walking to Midnight Mass under the moon on the cold, clear December night when, for the first time in history, people were “up” there.  That Christmas Eve, three humans circled the moon 10 times, broadcasting back home a reading from the book of Genesis.  As my mother noted, the moon would never be the same again, nor would the earth, now that humans—accustomed to looking out from our planet at other heavenly bodies—arrestingly beheld a view of the earth from somewhere else.  As the astronaut who snapped the “Earthrise” photograph on that mission noted, they’d trained and prepared to explore the moon, but instead discovered Earth.