Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

Annunciation- A poem by Denise  Levertov. ‘Hail, space for the uncontained God’ From the Agathistos Hymn, Greece, VIc We know the scene: the room, variously furnished,  almost always a lectern, a book; always  the tall lily.  Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings,  the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering,  whom she acknowledges, a guest. But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentions courage. The engendering Spirit did not enter her without consent. God waited. She was free to accept or to refuse, choice integral to humanness.                  Aren’t there annunciations of one sort or another in most lives? Some unwillingly undertake great destinies, enact them in sullen pride, uncomprehending. More often those moments when roads of light and storm open from darkness in a man or woma...

Throughout history, the voice of the prophet is one of the vehicles through which God speaks to the community and to the world. Today, we commemorate one of these prophets. On this day, 34 years ago, evil men in El Salvador tried to silence the voice of a prophet. I claim this date as being special to my life story because it was the month and the year that I was to grace the world. However God had another plan and I arrived a little earlier on January 24th. It continues to be a day where I remember Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero. Knowing himself to be on the government’s “hit list,” Romero went to the hills to prepare himself for his final confrontation with evil. He telephoned his farewell message to Exclesior, Mexico’s premier newspaper, insisting that like the Good Shepherd, a pastor must give his life for those he loves. Romero was shot while celebrating an anniverary Mass of a  friend’s mother at the local convent. The asassin escaped in the hubbub a...

Samaritan woman with Jesus Over the past few days, I am sure that most of you have seen the wonderful and energetic musical performance from Sr. Cristina on the Italian version of ‘The Voice’. For those who are not familiar with it, ‘The Voice’ is a singing competition where the judges listen to the person singing without being able to see them, so that they will be judged based on their voice and not on their appearance or their fashion sense etc.  Well, Sr. Cristina had the four judges competing for her as all of them turned around. J- Ax, an Italian rapper, was visibly moved on more than one ocassion when he saw that the fantastic voice belonged to a young habited sister who was not afraid to belt out a song. He joked with her saying: "If I had found you at Mass I would always be in church and then added: "You and me are like the devil and holy water." I couldn’t help but think of today’s Gospel and the theme of Jesus as the Living Water. Jesus comes to a t...

With my classmates Fr. Steve (L), Archbishop Prendergast, and Fr. Dean (R). Every year seems to be a different kind of Saint Patrick’s Day celebration. Indeed, Irish Catholicism and Irish culture are worth celebrating. The celebrations began already the weekend before the 17th when I visited my community in Montreal. They prepared a lovely dinner on Sunday the 16th ensuring that the tablecloths and napkins were all Irish colours. They even went shopping for bars of chocolate in green wrappers which was really sweet of them (excuse the pun!). That same evening, I returned to Ottawa and together with another Irish student, we prepared to host a St. Patrick’s Day party for our student companions and some of the other residents of Deschatelets. It was lovely to see our friends from the various corners of the world turn up in their green or yellow clothes. Our friends from the Hispanic Parish had also made a cake for the celebration which was greatly appreciated. After some tasty pizza...