Solving the problem of homelessness is the same as solving any other problem: first, you have to admit that there is a problem. And, make no mistake, there is a problem, and I’ve seen it firsthand. For the past 37 years, my work as an advocate for the homeless, and I’ve found them in our…
All posts in July 2019
The smallness of a soul is the greatness of a living God
When we speak of smallness, it is inevitable to think of the insignificant and perhaps disqualifying to our way of understanding, to believe that smallness is only to be less or to be only last. But we do not really realize what smallness and more than one soul really consists of … We have moved…
La pequeñez de un alma es la grandeza de un Dios vivo
Cuando hablamos de la pequeñez, es inevitable pensar en lo insignificante y quizá descalificativo a nuestro modo de entender, creer que la pequeñez solamente es ser menos o ser solamente ultimo. Pero no caemos en la cuenta en realidad sobre lo que consiste realmente la pequeñez y más de un alma… Nos hemos movido a…
The Faces of Homelessness is Apparently a Dirty Business
As many know, our parish is home to the latest exhibit of the WE ARE ALL HOMELESS project. We are, together with so many others, enhancing our vision to help the marginalized, improving the way homeless persons are given their humanity back, deepening our call to support those persons experiencing homelessness, and broadening the ways…
A snapshot of homelessness…
.: Part 1 – Prelude :. The sun is up early today. Muffled conversations fill the air around me and the scent of breakfast cooking in the distance fills my nose making my mouth water in sweet anticipation. Slowly, and great effort, my eyes open to familiar surroundings. Good, nothing changed during the night. Earlier…
A nation driven by compassion
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its…
Black and White
Like running into a long-absent friend, listening to music that’s fallen off your radar can be both a pleasure and a revelation. I recently reacquainted myself with Leslie Phillips’ 1985 release, Black and White in a Grey World (thanks, Spotify!) and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. Some of the arrangements which seemed…
Saint Francis and the Homeless
This year will be the third anniversary of my travelling from Regina to Toronto to profess my vows as a Franciscan. Prior to my profession, I was required to read several books on Franciscan theology and spirituality, and write reflections based on the material I had read. Something that stuck with me was the intensity…
Unitarianism and the Doctrine of the Trinity
Several years ago, I was contacted by a man who felt called to the priesthood. In the initial conversation I had with him I tried to understand how much Christian theology he knew and comprehended. I asked him to describe the doctrine of the Trinity and his response was, “I don’t believe in the Trinity,…
The Resurrection of Christianity
I grew up vaguely Christian. I say vaguely Christian not because I didn’t grow up going to church or getting baptized or hearing Bible stories…I had all that. I say I grew up vaguely Christian to differentiate myself from the many, many people I have met over the years who were either figuratively or literally…