Browse › 2023 › September

September 2023

September 28

Beauty matters

September 28, 2023

There’s a dynamism in engaging with the natural world, poet Maya Clubine believes.

Verbatim: Statement by Joseph Hazboun marking the International Day of Peace

September 28, 2023

Statement by Joseph Hazboun, regional director of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) in Jerusalem, marking the International Day of Peace and the National Day of Prayer for Peace in the Holy Land.

Those who are lost shall be found

September 28, 2023

Once, in a public place, I overheard a couple of men talking as they walked along behind me.

Hillbilly theology comes to McGill

September 28, 2023

Fr. Thomas Joseph White, OP, Rector Magnificus of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, brought a lot of theology and a little bit of bluegrass to McGill University when he delivered the 2023 Birks Lectures.

Editorial: The great harm ‘no-harm’ brings

September 28, 2023

After last week’s Canada-wide street protests pitting parental rights advocates against transgender champions, context can be illuminating. Light can be shed, for example, by recalling the way activists and strategists for the gay rights movement employed a brilliantly effective two-tiered tactical approach to gain victory in the pursuit of same-sex marriage a quarter century ago.

Pro-life shunned

September 28, 2023

I am tired of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops keeping the Canadian pro-life movement at arms-length for the last 50 years. Canadian bishops haven’t stood for anything since Vatican II so why would they start now? They obviously don’t want to rock the government’s boat for fear of the financial reprisals of losing money or not getting a bailout with the government’s carbon tax incentives.

God's Word on Sunday: Take in the whole before making conclusions

September 28, 2023

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) Oct. 1 (Ezekiel 18:25-28; Psalm 25; Philippians 2:1-11; Matthew 21:28-32) The lives of many saints were often noted for periods of sinfulness or a lack of regard for spiritual values. All of this changed when God burst into their consciousness. The lives of Augustine, Francis of Assisi, Ignatius of Loyola and Dorothy Day can be divided into “before and after” periods — the before and after referring to their spiritual crisis and subsequent awakening. The two ways — that of life and death — are laid out in stark terms by Ezekiel. Those who turn to sin will die, while those who turn to righteousness will live.

Endowment to research Ukraine Catholics closed

September 28, 2023

The University of Alberta has closed an endowment fund and returned its donation to the family of a man who fought with a Nazi unit during the Second World War.

Walking through fire to the deep heart’s core

September 28, 2023

Human hearts are miracles. Pumps made of solid muscle to move blood and oxygen to the rest of the body. And our spiritual hearts are the core of our emotional, social and spiritual selves. Strong and vulnerable miracles at the core of who we are. And God invites us to receive and maintain “hearts of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).

Surprised by joy and rising in humility

September 28, 2023

What does it mean to be holy? To grow in holiness is to persevere in the life in Christ, to live out our baptism every day. The end goal of the life in Christ is to become a saint, to be divinized, to become like God. In sum, it is to achieve what we Byzantines call theosis: participation in the life of the Most Holy Trinity. This means that we must die to self each day and join ourselves ever more fully to Christ; we must strive to be Christ-like. St. John the Baptist summed this up when he declared, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). This process of decreasing requires repeated acts of the will: to pray daily, to confess regularly, to receive Holy Communion at least weekly, to undertake corporate and spiritual works of mercy, to be disciplined in our lives and to earnestly desire these things.

September 30

Arriving at the infinite from a secure port

September 30, 2023

We first met on a bus to Auschwitz. I, Daniel, was the oldest and Irena the youngest in our cohort of pilgrims at World Youth Day held in Kraków, Poland, in 2016. That experience forged an indelible older brother-little sister bond that endures. Seven years later, our respective discernment led us both to say yes to returning to WYD held this past summer in Lisbon, Portugal.