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It may seem strange that a prolonged power outage has caused me to reflect on truth, goodness and beauty. (And whether my computer battery will die before I hit save. I digress.) Most of us have a stronger emphasis in one direction — either truth, or goodness, or beauty. But we need, if not down to the per cent, a third of each for our society to remain civil.  

Peter @ Pentecost

Gospel means good news and culminates in the happiness of Easter. But the joy of the apostles was tempered knowing the Lord would depart and they would be on their own.

The 17th-century polymath Blaise Pascal wrote that the eternal silence of the heavens’ infinite spaces terrified him.

“Healing” is a hot topic today. Humanity seems to feel a keen need of healing today, but are we getting to the root cause of our maladies? Are we utilizing the proper remedies? Since human beings are a composite of body and soul, we can’t talk about healing one without healing the other.

We care. Human beings care about an enormous range of things. We are swept up with love for our families, both the families that nurtured us through our younger years and the families to whom we have given life and in whom we have invested our hopes for the future. We care about our nation, a much larger clan from which we have drawn our thought patterns, our culture with its hints of the eternal.

When is a vote an act of love? This is an important question for Ontario Catholics voting on June 2, called by Christ to “love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12) .

Listening is often referred to as an art. Reams of books have been dedicated to defining “how” to listen, and even define “types” — deep listening, full listening, critical listening, therapeutic listening etc.

Non-contentious

On May 18, the publisher of The Catholic Register, Peter Stockland, was going to moderate a debate, organized by the Archdiocese of Toronto, intended to help Catholic voters with their choice in the Ontario provincial election. To prepare considered answers, candidates would have received the questions in advance.

The World Health Organization released in March data showing an astounding 25-per-cent global increase in mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression correlated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

In mid-December, my doctor confirmed I had cancer. I was told I’d require surgery. Major surgery! ASAP! Not the sort of thing one wants to hear just before Christmas. Not with a pandemic raging. In the weeks that followed I underwent umpteen tests to determine how and when the Beast would be tackled.