“Today we bury his remains in the earth as a seed of immortality — our hearts are full of sadness, yet at the same time of joyful hope and profound gratitude.” 

Hope springs

I wonder if there will be an editorial entitled “Hope for 2023?” 

Our paramount hope and prayer for 2023 is that the federal government’s pause in its rush to push medically assisted homicide brings sincere recognition of its folly on life issues generally.

Where can you find fervent, engaged Catholic youth these days? Why, in Saskatoon, of course! 

Losing Lewis

I found myself muttering “too bad” when Charles Lewis noted he is retiring from The Catholic Register. 

Among the resonances that will expand across time from Benedict XVI’s intellect, character, holiness and humanity is the harmonious clarity he sustained between certainty and charity.

During the season of Advent, we celebrated the arrival of that new life which changed the world forever. But Christians don’t just wait impatiently, hovering like children anxious to tear open gifts on Christmas morn. An adult faith moves us to prepare the way of the Lord by deeper reflection, leading towards changing ourselves and our practices. Living through Advent, we open ourselves to the incarnational activity of God’s grace in the world today.  Nowhere is this change more necessary than in humanity’s treatment of God’s Creation, meaning all of nature and our relationships with other humans within it.

Few, if any, people in the 20th century thought as deeply about the nature of hope and eternal life as Pope Benedict XVI. Before being named Archbishop of Munich in 1978, Joseph Ratzinger published a theological tome on death, immortality, resurrection, the last judgment and the human destinies of Heaven, purgatory and hell. As Pope Benedict, he wrote an encyclical Spe Salvi (On Christian Hope) based on the belief that Christians know their lives are not empty, that they have an eternal destiny.

The passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Dec. 31, 2022 marks a sad close to a tumultuous year, and the end to his life-long commitment to the Catholic Church.

Most Canadians marked Christmas on Dec. 25, as did some Ukrainians. Others, like me, whether over there or here, still celebrate traditionally according to the Julian calendar, on Jan. 7. This year I will do so by candlelight, in solidarity with the many Ukrainians whose loved ones were murdered, whose cities are shattered, who do not have the taken-for-granted comforts of electricity, water and heating in the dead of winter, their very lives threatened daily by the recurring plague of Russian missile salvoes.