01 Jan

The vows of religion, also termed the evangelical counsels, are central to the engagement of those who desire to follow Christ in religious institutes. The three vows are poverty, chastity and obedience; three 'ideals' that today are considered either totally antiquated or absurdly countercultural. Still, men and women of today are entering religious orders, albeit in reduced numbers, hoping to find deeper meaning in their lives and greater connection with their fellow human beings....

31 Dec

We celebrate several things on January 1: the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, New Year's Day, and World Day of Peace. Pope Paul VI established a day for peace in 1968. He asked that, "every year, this commemoration be repeated as a hope and a promise, at the beginning of the calendar which measures and outlines the path of human life in time, that peace with its just and beneficent equilibrium may dominate the development of events to come."...

30 Dec

For Evangelization (8) : That Christians, inspired by the Word of God, may serve the poor and suffering....

29 Dec

This December poem was written by Grace Colella while she was working with the Yonge Street Mission in Toronto....

28 Dec

We are sometimes half asleep, almost in a slumber – whether with our physical or spiritual exercise. I find that Christian helps wake me up, at least when I am at Goodlife. Part of the gift of a spiritual director is that he or she can wake me up spiritually. Just the fact that I'm meeting with her will make me more attentive to what is happening in my interior life. I might speak of a movement in my interior life to my director and he asks a subtle question that causes me to look at my situation in a new way....

27 Dec

From time to time, over the next few months, as part of the "Our Culture" section, , igNation will post poetry written by Jesuits. Poems from Gerard Manley Hopkins and St. Robert Southwell will appear as well as poems by contemporary Jesuits....

25 Dec

I helped a friend of mine cut a Christmas tree the other day. It was a balsam fir, a lovely, fragrant, symmetrical tree. Native to North America, in Canada, balsam fir ranges from Newfoundland to Alberta. When I was young, I loved going off into the woods to cut balsam fir Christmas trees with several of my buddies. We would make a day of it. Set a fire, beans and bacon, homemade bread, and some fresh coffee or tea - sweetened of course with Carnations condensed milk....

24 Dec

Ms. Jenny Cafiso, the Director of Canadian Jesuits International (CJI), wrote a wonderful Christmas appeal this year. The appeal is headed with a verse from the Gospel for the Midnight Mass for Christmas: "She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."...

23 Dec

It's probably only in our own imaginations – I doubt that even Hollywood's special effects could do it justice – only in our own imaginations could we see that almost unbelievable scene that took place all those centuries ago and which is described in the Christmas Gospel so simply: "And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host, praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those he favours."...

22 Dec

The Huron Carol is attributed to the Jesuit missionary and martyr, Jean de Brébeuf, and was first heard at Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons in 1643. Brébeuf based the melody on a French folk song and wrote the words in Huron/Wendat. The original title is "Jesus Ahatonnia" and is translated as "Jesus, he is born."Here are the lyrics in both Wyandot and in English. After the lyrics is a video link to the carol sung by Heather Dale in Wyandot, English and French....

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