One of the things about being here at St. Peter’s Parish that I find a little funny at times, is that often I will be walking between the Centre and the Church, and as I do so someone will roll down their car window, and stop me on Bathurst Street, to demand that I give them a blessing as they are driving by on the street. My first inclination is to try to have a conversation with them to find out what they think that a blessing signifies. However, as the traffic is often heavy and they are in a hurry, they frequently get a little angry with me and demand that I stop my small talk and quickly give them the blessing that they are seeking before they drive off. These experiences have helped me to realize that many people may not even know what a blessing signifies or be aware of what is required for a blessing to really be of any value. Continue reading →

Every year, on the first Sunday following Christmas, the Church celebrates the beautiful feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The purpose of this beautiful feast is to remind each and every one of us that the most important place where we are to encounter God’s love for us is within the family. Like all of us, Jesus was born into a human family so that we might all be reminded that it is first and foremost within the family that we are to make Christ’s love present to our brothers and sisters and where we are to encounter the love and acceptance that we all desire and long to know. This beautiful feast is to remind all of us that every family—mine and yours—is a sacred place where God’s love is to be encountered. Continue reading →

This week in the movie theatres, a movie called “Just Mercy,” which played at the Toronto film festival in September, will be released across the country. This movie tells the story of a Harvard law graduate, by the name of Bryan Stevenson, who turns down a very comfortable law job to go to Alabama and defend a poor prisoner on death row. Stevenson takes up the case of a poor African American by the name of Walter McMillan, who had been falsely convicted of killing a white women. Because McMillan is a very poor African American in Alabama, even though there are many witnesses who can testify that he was somewhere else when this women was murdered, McMillan is falsely convicted and sentenced to death. Hardly anyone cares about his situation and no other lawyer in Alabama is willing to take the time to defend him or show any concern about his situation. Continue reading →