In last week’s reflection, we noted the weariness that afflicts so many of us as a result of a prolonged pandemic which leaves an uncertain future. We also referred to many sources which maintain that out of this form of death new life may emerge. A story I read many […] Read more

The time of Easter and the season of spring is intended to be an awakening from the dormancy of winter. Yet in the midst of an unrelenting pandemic, it seems that a season of weariness continues, with a time of relief uncertain. While the situation affects many people in different […] Read more

One year ago now, our world as we knew it turned upside down and we are all still living with the uncertainty, anxiety and sadness that a pandemic world has brought us. Familiar places no longer feel familiar to us. Businesses are shuttered- some forever. Grabbing a pizza or meeting […] Read more

We have spoken previously of story, both in terms of our own story and the stories to which we are exposed from childhood on, whether from family, school, culture, nation, or wider forms of literature. We also added that our own lives follow initially a script and self-image we have […] Read more

Perhaps we might add a few more words on the experience of beauty. I looked up an interview with the late John O’Donohue, an Irish poet and philosopher, on the On Being program. He recalls the words of Blaise Pascal, a 17th century French thinker, that we should always keep […] Read more

On my walk this past week, I listened to a podcast from the CBC Tapestry program, which stressed the importance of words, both in terms of the healing or and wounding effect that they can have, our responsibility for our own words and something of their impact. The interview was […] Read more

This past week, I listened to a series of podcasts from the CBC ideas program, which were a re-broadcast of the British Reith lectures, given this year by Mark Carney, former governor both of the Bank of Canada and of the United Kingdom. He spoke of the need to allow […] Read more

Last week, we used the image of the eyes through which we look at life and suggested that we see most clearly when we look through the eyes, not of fear or hostility, but of compassion. This compassion begins with our own selves and extends outwardly in wider and wider […] Read more