Focus

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  Honouring talent and grace — Jean Beliveau RIP

  Dec 18, 2014

  For those of you who aren’t Canadian, perhaps this name might not mean much, but, this past week, Canada lost one of its great cultural icons, Jean Beliveau, a famed athlete. He died and all Canadians, including this Canadian in exile, mourn his passing.

  

• Food for thought

  Dec 18, 2014

  At Christmas we’re reminded that “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” But it’s often difficult to know exactly how to interpret that, or to understand why Jesus became “flesh.”

  
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  Extending our merciful hands to do God’s work

  Dec 18, 2014

  A dozen years ago, I became pastor of a parish whose priest had retired a year earlier. The town was quite small, and though the church was truly lovely, it was over 100 years old and set on an open hillside near the sea.

  
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  The hidden gift of Christmas

  Dec 18, 2014

  From a vantage point near the top of a large hill in Canada, my wife and I lingered to gaze late last summer upon a breathtaking view of the St. Lawrence River.

  

• Holy Scripture desecrated yet again

  Dec 11, 2014

  The Bible Society of Malaysia is appalled and deeply saddened to discover that the 321 Bibles and 30 copies of We Gospel according to St. Luke that were seized from our premises in Petaling Jaya.

  
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  Self-sacrifice and the Eucharist

  Dec 11, 2014

  In 1996, Muslim extremists martyred nearly an entire community of Trappist monks in Atlas, Algeria.

  

• Food for thought

  Dec 11, 2014

  The Virgin Mary has often been called “the woman of Advent.” One person who referred to her as such on Nov. 28, 2010 was then Pope, Benedict XVI.

  
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  A countercultural Advent message

  Dec 11, 2014

  A few years ago, Los AngelesArchbishop Jose H. Gomez described Advent as “a season of Mary”, and spoke of Advent as a time “to take Mary into our homes, into our lives.”

  
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  Bringing the ‘holy back’ to Christmas via Mary

  Dec 11, 2014

  The vision of an ideal Christmas generally includes “Silent Night” being softly sung around a manger scene. Snow is falling, family is gathered, and savoury smells are wafting from the kitchen.

  
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  We want unity, not assimilation or submission

  Dec 03, 2014

  Pope Francis stated unequivocally in Istanbul on November 30 that he, as Bishop of Rome, and the worldwide Catholic Church desire unity – ‘full communion’- with the 300 million member Orthodox Churches.