El Chapo (or ‘Shorty’, whose real name is Joaquin Guzman Archivaldo Luera), the infamous fifty-something-year old drug lord, recently made a dramatic escape through an elaborate tunnel from a maximum-security, and supposedly ‘inescapable’, prison in Mexico. This raises a number of questions, such as, a propos, whether Mexico is a failed state. Does that even […]
On this Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, the first Pope and his primary missionary bishop respectively, and in light our current Pope’s new encyclical, I thought a few words on the papacy itself would be helpful, and particularly the often-misunderstood charism of infallibility which goes with the office. Today’s Gospel reading gives the […]
The Holy Father’s new encyclical, Laudato Si, whose title is taken from the canticle of Saint Francis of Assisi, lives up to radical Franciscan spirituality (from the Latin radix, going back to the root or source), sparing no punches in his denunciations of the waywardness of the world, calling for a return to a simple […]
As we continue our pilgrimage through Poland, I am struck by the similarity of its situation to Canada, specifically to Quebec, circa 1960’s. Poland is culturally, aesthetically, visually, geographically and demographically one of the most Catholic countries in Europe, perhaps the world, just like Quebec used to be (stretching the analogy that Quebec is a […]
On the Second Sunday of Easter, alternatively termed Divine Mercy Sunday since the canonization of Saint Faustina in 2000 by Pope Saint John Paul II, the current Holy Father Pope Francis issued Misericordiae Vultus, decreeing 2016 to be a year dedicated to the theme of ‘Mercy’. God’s mercy is a hot topic amongst theological […]
Christus Resurrexit! Dominus surrexit vere! Alleluia! So goeth the customary greeting between Christians in this Easter season. We are in the middle of the Octave of Easter, which really is a week of Sundays, every day a solemnity, with full liturgical pomp, joy and splendour. And, yes feasting after the fasting of Lent. […]
In one of those curious mysteries of providence, two tragic events in the past two weeks killed about the same number of people. Both were mass murders, the first at least strongly suspected of being so: The deliberate downing of the Germanwings Flight 9525 , wherein a depressed and suicidal co-pilot locked himself in, and […]
As we begin the most solemn time of year we call Holy Week, leading up to the great Triduum, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, bringing us to the high point of the liturgical year at Easter, we should reflect more intensely on the humanity of Christ and His suffering, through which He gained […]
Today, Thursday, March 25th, the solemnity of the Annunciation, marks the twentieth anniversary of Saint John Paul II’s promulgation of Evangelium Vitae, his powerful and foundational encyclical on the dignity of human life. As with his other writings, the Pontiff chose the day wisely, on which we celebrate the conception of Christ in the womb […]
Each year, we here at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom take a late-winter pilgrimage on March 16th to Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland. (This year, we went on Saturday, the 14th, due to scheduling, but back on track for next year!) Of course, the shrine itself is closed, and usually blanketed in deep, wet snow. […]