Anyone who has experienced the cold of a Quebec winter, where the wind whipping up the St. Lawrence Valley will chill the bones of even the hardiest of souls and it is a given that the mighty St. Lawrence will freeze over, can be forgiven for thinking a mild winter in this part of Canada is a myth.

It was eight years ago this week that CanadaöÏÓãÊÓƵapp Br. André Bessette was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI. The humble Holy Cross brother who was instrumental in the construction of St. JosephöÏÓãÊÓƵapp Oratory in Montreal died Jan. 6, 1937 at the age of 91. Over his remarkable life and in the years since, he has been credited with many miraculous healings. During the six days after his death, up to a million people filed past his coffin, surrounded by hundreds of crutches and canes from pilgrims who attested to his gifts. Here is an excerpt from The Register of Jan. 21, 1937:

In a remote fishing village, the people became accustomed to the pounding of the heavy seas which imperiled every boat leaving their harbour, but they never could become accustomed to the deaths. The deaths of fishermen caught in the grip of an uncompromising ocean in the dead of night. 

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 1 (Year B) Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24; Psalm 30; 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15; Mark 5:21-43

EDMONTON – Charbel Fadel is, in most ways, like any other two-year-old boy. He can’t sit still. He likes soccer. He gives high-fives to anyone who asks.

He is risen! Truly, He is risen! We have just begun our celebration of the most incredible miracle of all time — the miracle of Easter.

TORONTO – The statistical probabilities behind praying your way out of stage-four cancer aren’t good. When you’re too skinny, too weak and hallucinating half the time, when friends and family come round to your house and just cry, when unsmiling doctors want to talk to you in the quiet, pastel-coloured room at the end of the hall — you don’t make any long-term plans.