13 May

Recently Winnipeg's Archbishop Richard Gagnon was installed as chancellor of St. Paul's College, the Catholic college in the University of Manitoba. Preaching at the mass prior to his installation, Archbishop Gagnon made an observation which has stuck in my head and my heart. The gospel of the day was the story of the raising of Lazarus. In what was almost a throwaway comment, he observed that, while we might say that Lazarus was returned to the land of the living, it is truer to say that he was returned to the land of the dying....

08 May

About a dozen years ago, I came to after a lengthy surgery for a brain tumour. There was a person sitting in a chair at the foot of my bed in the hospital room. She was there almost whenever I opened my eyes for the next several days. It was my mother. At some point I think I suggested that she could take more breaks. I remember her stressing that it was a mother's vocation to be there for her child in need, even if that child was 45 years of age. I'm told that the heavy drugs made me impatient and rude. Yet, my mother never complained about my attitude. Mothers are like that....

30 Apr

Today is the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. For much of the world, May 1 is also International Workers' Day. The socialist idea of celebrating workers and the Christian reminder of St. Joseph the Worker weave together in Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement. The union is neatly summed up in something she wrote to Stanley Vishnewski, one of the first people to join the movement she started with Peter Maurin, "When it comes to the Catholic Church, I go to the right as far as I can go. But when it comes to labor, pacifism and civil rights then I go as far as I can to the left."...

22 Apr

We circled the helicopter several times to let the grizzly and black bears know that we were dropping by. Bald eagles emerged from the old-growth cedars to drift away from our approach. Into the river valley we descended. The fall-yellowed alder leaves scattered wildly and the approaching river misted our windows. Ever so gently, the pilot positioned the chopper onto the rocky shores, feeling out a safe and level landing spot. The earth tested, the chopper eased onto the river bank....

20 Apr

We have come through the desolation of Good Friday to the consolation of Easter. We have tried to enter into the mystery of how God was at work in this story, the mystery of how God is at work in our story.The Word of God helps us to grasp the unthinkable. The history of God's chosen people is the history of the unthinkable, from enslavement in Egypt, to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple of God, only to rise and return. From the holocaust during the Second World War to the present day, it is a history of God's People dying and rising, not just once but several times....

19 Apr

To mark the 2014 Holy Week , Greg Kennedy, SJ has written three poems. Here is his poem for Easter Sunday....

17 Apr

As we wait for the joyful sounds of the Exsultet to break forth this Holy Saturday night, announcing the start of the great season of Easter, igNation presents a poem for contemplation sent by one who wishes to remain anonymous....

16 Apr

To mark the three days of the 2014 Holy Week triduum, Greg Kennedy, SJ has written three poems. Here is his poem for Holy Thursday....

13 Apr

Lord, help me to get through this day. From the slumber of sleep, these words greeted my day. Yesterday was full from morning till night. No respite in sight again today - or for the rest of Holy Week....

Show more
Loading...

Subscribe to igNation

Subscribe to receive our latest articles delivered right to your inbox!