In the midst of the Christmas season, Dan Cere sees signs of Easter in the Archdiocese of Montreal.

Longing is a place I visit frequently, passing through on the way to somewhere else. The floor is worn at the entrance way and in front of the window, where walking gently back and forth has left its mark. The chair is comfortable in its familiarity, having moulded itself to my body’s curves. Since I expect to be moving on to somewhere more important, this little cabin doesn’t get the attention it deserves. But I’ve spent a lot of time in this longing this year. And the longing is wearing its place in me, too.

This is about a single newspaper photograph. The Canadian Press took it on Dec. 10 on the day the House of Commons passed Bill C-7, which expands euthanasia to include more victims.

No evidence

Re: Mass is essential to our Catholic life (Dec. 9):

Charles Lewis rightly says that the “Mass is essential” to Catholics but that the Ontario government doesn’t understand this. The government recently demonstrated this when it tried to stop COVID spread by forcing Toronto churches to close. No evidence was offered to justify the action. Ironically, just a few weeks prior Premier Doug Ford said that churches had done a “great job” of preventing infection.

There is always something a little magical that happens as the calendar turns to Jan. 1. It’s like a giant eraser appears and wipes our slate clean, throwing off the dust of all that marred the previous 12 months. It’s a new year, a fresh start, a new dawn, another shot, a blank sheet.

In a famous fifth-century sermon, St. Leo the Great preached that Christmas is a time for rejoicing. “Sadness should have no place in the birthday of life.”

At breakfast recently my daughter noted that my cardigan made me look like an academic. As a professor I wasn’t sure how to take the comment. But I admitted that the first thing I did when I began teaching in a university was to rush out and buy a tweed jacket with patches on the elbows.

It’s that time again. We rush through the shops, picking those perfect presents for our loved ones. Family and friends will soon surround our Christmas table for a feast, followed by robust caroling and gift exchanging.

Legal opening

Re: Liberals to implement UN’s Indigenous rights declaration (Dec. 3):

The Trudeau government’s vow to implement Bill C-15, legislation based on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), is certainly a welcome move in that it will inject the full colour and spirit of that document into the Canadian legal system. At its core, the declaration expresses the uniqueness of Indigenous cultures, their ties to the land itself, their spirituality and the necessity of preserving their right to self-determination; this is necessary for their survival and undoing the harm of colonization and racism.

This is not the Christmas we envisioned for ourselves or our children. There’s no getting away from that, no matter how hard we try.

The “nuclear family.” Such a strange phrase. Does it glow? What exactly is it?