Posts from 2025

The word “patient” is repeated several times in the very short reading from St. James’ letter (5:7-10), which is the second reading for the Third Sunday of Advent. True patience is required while waiting for the coming of the Lord.In our age of instant gratification, genuine patience has become a foreign, practically obsolete concept that we, as believers, ought to recover. It is patience that is lived out with firmness of heart. It is patience that is continuously tested by our imperfections…

In an 1894 letter to her newlywed cousin, St. Therese of Lisieux wrote: “I am asking our Lord to be as generous to you as He was to the bridal pair at Cana. May He invariably change the water into wine! I mean, may He prolong His gift of happiness, and as far as possible sweeten the bitter trials you will meet on your way. Trials! Fancy introducing that word into my letter—how could I?—at a moment when I realize that life for…

Have you ever been given a gift and not opened it? Or, have you ever been given a gift and partially opened it? Years ago, I remember watching the movie, Agnes of God, in which a prosecuting attorney (and lapsed Catholic) was interviewing the mother superior of a convent regarding a potential crime she believed had been committed there. As their relationship deepened, the two found themselves beneath a gazebo on the convent grounds. On a cold, crisp Canadian morning, weather…