Everyday For Life Canada: 2020

Prayer: the "double vision" of heaven and earth

In Hosea 2:20, we read, "When that day comes I shall make a treaty for them with the wild animals, with the birds of heaven and the creeping things of the earth; I shall break the bow and the sword and warfare, and banish them from the country, and I will let them sleep secure." With this new covenant God makes with humanity, war would be swept from the face of the earth. To change our lives, we must look to God. In the New Testament, in Matthew 6: 9-15, it's Christ who gives us the words to the Our Father. The prayer reconciles the temporal with the spiritual, the heavenly and the earthly. It's the "double vision" of both heaven and earth.

Our Father

Our Father, Who art in heaven,

Hallowed be Thy Name.

Thy Kingdom come.

Thy Will be done,

on earth as it is in Heaven.

Dec

President Trump's proclamation for St. Thomas Becket: It's what Pope Francis isn't doing

King Henry and Thomas Becket clashed over religious freedom from the state. Henry insisted that the Church too must obey the law of the land, but Becket didn't agree. He maintained that the Church was subject the highest authority: God, and so must be free from state control. On December 29, in the Canterbury Cathedral Henry's Knights murdered Becket thinking they were doing the wishes of the King Henry. The issue of religious freedom and justice are just as important today.

Dec

Canada's abortion and euthanasia: a nation killing itself

Today we celebrate the Feast Day of the Holy Innocents. They were the first martyrs killed by King Herod. He feared the birth of Baby Jesus, the new born, "King of the Jews." So, he ordered the slaying of every male child in Bethlehem under the age of two. To get his evil way, Herod was prepared to kill innocent children. It all sounds so ancient and barbaric, doesn't it? We would like to brush it off as myth. But are we any different today?

Canada's government began allowing abortion in 1969.

Dec

Feast Day of the Holy Family: the eternal model to imitate

Today the family is under attack. Post-modern society has declared war on the family. The latest gods of "inclusion, equity and diversity" wish to supplant the traditional nuclear family, of mother, father and children. The correct political discourse is all about individual "rights" and "freedoms." But the Holy Family, of Mary, Jesus and Joseph, shows us that every member of the family has duties and responsibilities to each other and the larger society.

Dec

Letter to TCDSB trustees (most of them anyway)

Dear Toronto Catholic District School Board Trustees,

While this message is for all trustees, it's especially addressed to those who are of Italian origin. Here's a little more religious history about the Italian community in Toronto, and the important role played by the Church and Catholic schools in the lives of families.

Up until the mid 1960s, Italians who went to Mass on Sunday did so in the basement of the churches.

Dec

A blessed and peaceful Christmas to our readers

We wish our readers and visitors a blessed and peaceful Christmas. The Gospel reading for Christmas Day is from John 1:1-18:

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things came to be through him,

and without him nothing came to be.

What came to be through him was life,

and this life was the light of the human race;

the light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness has not overcome it.

Dec

Pray against the spread of today's fears and lies

Let's pray during the Christmas season and for the New Year 2021, this prayer by exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger. Let's also pray for and to the lies, the fears and the darkness being spread in the name "safety" and "protection" from the Wuhan virus. Pray that we may serve Christ, the One who is Love and Truth.

Dec

"A Rat Pack in Charge of Our Catholic Schools"

We share another timely editorial by Joe Volpe in today's Corriere Canadese. It's titled, "A Rat Pack in Charge of Our Catholic Schools." He correctly argues that it's time for Cardinal Collins to step in and save the Toronto District Catholic School Board. The radical trustees are bent on destroying what is left of Catholic education. They're pushing to redefine the meaning of the person, family and marriage in the image of the Ontario Human Rights Code, not Catholic doctrine. We agree with Mr.

Dec

Christmas greetings from Italy

A friend of mine in Italy sent me this thoughtful message for Christmas. We thought it worthwhile to share it with our readers. We hope the sender doesn't mind.

"Many years ago I taught in an elementary school run by nuns. It was just around Christmas and my assignment lasted only five weeks. I volunteered my time because I was not so busy with work. This was back in the 1970s. It was a time when it was a little easier for children to experience wonder and amazement.

Dec

"There was no room for them in the inn"

There was no room for the Holy Family at the inn at the time of the birth of the Child Jesus, and there won't be any room for the Child Jesus this Christmas in the churches of the Archdiocese of Toronto. We took the above photo of our church on the evening of December 21. It's only days before we celebrate the coming of Baby Jesus. Looking at the church enveloped by night, one would never know that we have entered a new liturgical year. Not a Christmas light in sight to welcome the Infant Jesus.