January in Saskatchewan brings cold, clear days with hoar frost and ice crystals catching light in the air. I was driving with my son, teaching him about sun dogs, the refraction of light through ice that creates a halo around the sun, with two bright rainbows on either side. And it got me thinking about the space – and edges – of freedom.

Can you really know the will of God? I mean, can you really know the will of God for your life, for your day-to-day life? Indubitably. And it’s not as hard as you might think. 

The Catholic Register’s regular columnist, Andrea Mrozek, recently published the book I...Do? Why Marriage Still Matters, co-written with Peter Jon Mitchell, Cardus program director for family. Here is an edited excerpt. 

Volumes have been written on the consequences associated with unconstrained sexual freedom. Few would contest a breakdown of the relationship between the sexes. Apps intended to facilitate dating do anything but. 

For the first 100 years of Canada’s existence, our country’s leaders mostly held to the belief that Canada had to protect itself from the power of our American neighbours. Canada in its early years was a small country – in both population and geographic size – relative to the United States. However, the National Policy of our first prime minister, John A. MacDonald, put forward a strategy for developing a nation free of American influence – a high tariff on manufactured goods, a transcontinental railway and European settlement of the West. Remarkably, that goal was achieved.

Perhaps most relevant at this time is that there is a well-known phobia fearing the arrival of the new year — neoannophobia — and as one would expect, a saint to counter this unease — St. Sylvester.

The Globe and Mail interviewed business leaders about Dominic LeBlanc’s appointment as finance minister, so it set the parameters for the resulting story. These men are entitled to their opinions, but their assumption that Canada’s finance minister needs to be “one of us” shows a lack of regard for broader concerns.

It was many years ago, and I cannot remember where I read it, but I wrote it down on a tattered piece of paper, which I just came across the other day. The author wrote, “We have to listen to our experiences and tell our stories. This is the Gospel. But try to make sure that you get the story right, you are not the hero or the heroine, the poor are, and God is.” 

Why don’t we see more miracles these days? In particular, why don’t we see more miraculous physical healings these days? Some friends of mine and I have been asking ourselves this question lately. If you’re like us, you pray constantly for miracles: miracles of healing, conversions, reconciliations, finances, etc. And we hardly ever seem to get presto chango results. Why don’t we instantly get what we’re asking for? Didn’t Jesus say: “If two of you agree about anything to pray for…it shall be granted”? I feel like I already have the necessary “faith to move mountains,” because I really believe God can do anything. In fact, I’m actually shocked each time my prayers don’t manifest miracles for myself or others. So why don’t my (and my friends’) prayers “work”?

One of my favourite Christmas cards is of the infant Christ reaching up from His cradle to cradle the face of a donkey.  The look of mutual wonder and delight is suffused with light and love.  It sounds kitsch, I know, but in truth it cuts to the heart of the Incarnation, and expresses a profound theological reality.  

“God sent his Son, born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4).

When you think of Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ, how do you picture her? The Bible gives us several beautiful pictures of Mary as a mother: there is Mary with newborn baby Jesus and Joseph (Luke 2:16); there is Mary at the presentation of Jesus in the temple (Luke 2:22-38); there is Mary is at the wedding feast at Cana (John 2:1-11). The pictures describe Mary as a mother of love. Each year, during the Christmas Season, on January 1, we celebrate the Motherhood of Mary. By accepting to be the Mother of Jesus, Mary played a special role in God’s plan for his people. In Jesus we have become children of God. As God’s children, we are empowered by the Spirit to call God “Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4:7).