Is love stronger than death? What an arduous, soul-changing task it is to test for ourselves the answer to this question.

As restaurants, theatres and stadiums open up again, and as daily COVID case counts dwindle across most of the country, the Canadian Grief Alliance estimates that as many as 4.5 million of us are grieving one or more of nearly half-a-million deaths we have experienced in the last 20 months, nearly 29,000 of them directly from COVID.

Increasingly, I’ve been observing incidents of white-hot anger flaring out on quiet streets or on public transit. To name but one, a pedestrian accidentally crossed in front of a cyclist, the two immediately started swearing at each other and almost came to blows. These strangers were dry tinder, ready to burst into flames of rage.

When I was in Grade 8 at St. Augustine School in Regina, one of the priests at the neighbouring Little Flower Church frequently asked me to be the altar server at funerals. After a few of these ventures, my teacher told me to stop taking time away from school to serve at these Masses. I considered his command and decided that since this was a Catholic school, being the server at these funerals was the right thing to do. So, I engaged in my first acts of civil disobedience.

The quiet victims during the worldwide coronavirus pandemic have been those grieving the death of a loved one.

Throughout this pandemic lockdown, everyone must be going through a range of emotions at various times, from fear and anxiety to frustration and lethargy.

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM NORTH MACEDONIA - Pope Francis told reporters May 7 he had been kept informed about Jean Vanier's failing health and had phoned him a week before his death.

WASHINGTON - The death of Jean Vanier, whose ministry helped improve the lives of developmentally disabled people in dozens of countries, drew prayers and words of condolence from church leaders around the world.

ItöÏÓãÊÓƵapp been a year since a nation was united in grief, waking up early one spring Saturday morning to the news that a team of young men pursuing their hockey dreams was torn apart in a horrific crash that would claim 16 members of the Humboldt Broncos’ family and leave 13 others with various physical and emotional scars they will carry a lifetime.

ST. LOUIS – We have one life. What are we doing with it? Are we remembering our death?