The flags were flying at half mast when my family and I drove back into Kitchener from an outing on Thursday. We had heard on the car radio that Nelson Mandela had just died at the age of 95.

Mandela had made the headlines again in recent months, as his health deteriorated and as family and friends kept a close watch and vigil outside his...

Are you feeling overwhelmed and anxious, these days?

Don’t worry, you’re not alone.

Many of us these days are starting to feel the crunch of the end-less “to-do” list:
Christmas shopping, card-writing, decorating, planning the Christmas parties.
In my extended family, this is the year my wife and I are scheduled to host...

Every Monday after Loaves & Fishes lunch, four of us would hang out a little bit afterwards to play a round of euchre.

But last Monday, I witnessed something around our euchre table that really made me pause.

One of the lunch guests joined us, but not to play; but instead, to watch us play, to listen and learn.
Not only did she NOT know how...

The Sadducees ask Jesus a very detailed, specific question – about who a certain widow would be married to while in heaven, especially given that, on earth, she had seven different husbands.

This very specific, detailed question reminds me of the type of questions I remember hearing among some of my friends in grade-school, or was it early...

To me, the remarkable thing about the person with leprosy whom Jesus healed, is that he took the time to savour his healing, to feel the joy and gratitude, and to remember Jesus, the Giver of this gift of healing.

Where all the others healed were eager to rush back to Jerusalem, to show themselves to the priests who would declare them officially...

I came across an article in a recent issue of the journal Psychological Medicine which talked about depression.

The study’s findings suggested that religious people were just as likely to experience depression as non-religious people; and even more so, in some cases.

On some level, these findings are surprising. Don’t you think?

...

This is a confusing story, let’s face it.
The ending is so shocking. So opposite to what we’d naturally expect.

This downright crooked and conniving manager swindles and mis-manages his master’s funds and property.

And, then, what does the master do?
The master “commends” this manager, appearing pleased with him,...

We all know the joy of finding something that was lost. It can be something small like a set of keys or a wallet or a cell phone, and we give a hoot of joy or silent thanks when we find it again. The joy we feel can be for much more important things, not necessarily our own, and we can experience it as a wider community when the lost is found.

...

Who are we, really, without all our stuff, our possessions?

In our consumer society, we’re constantly surrounded by so much stuff we can buy and have.

We’re tempted always to want more.

We become what we buy.

We so closely identify with all our possessions, which then become to “possess” us, enthrall us, overwhelm us.

The...

Imagine. For eighteen years, the woman can’t straighten her spine. The weight of her life pressing down on her discs, curving her back, so that her frame of reference gets smaller and smaller. Her world becomes the circle just in front of her feet, no longer able to feel the sun on her face, no longer able to see the stars at night. Then...