This Sunday we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. It also marks the beginning of National Vocation Awareness Week, in which the Church invites all Catholics to pray for the renewal and strengthening of all Christian vocations: to marriage, to single life, to the many forms of consecrated life, and to ordained ministry as bishops, priests, and deacons.
This Pastor's Corner is by Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher, President of the CCCB
Against the expectations of her family, a teenage girl finds herself pregnant. The laws of the State force her to follow her fiancé to another province, where she doesn’t know anyone. She gives birth to her child in abject poverty. Facing persecution, she is forced to exile herself to a foreign land, where she raises her son among refugees...
“Be patient. God isn’t finished with me yet!” Whenever I am tempted to get impatient with myself, this saying brings me comfort – and hope. If, as St. Paul suggests, we are “God’s work of art”, we are still very much a “work in progress.” This is why we can be grateful for all that God has already accomplished in us, yet humble in regard of our real limitations.
Keeping Faith in a Changing World - The Call to Advent Vigilance
November 24, 2015
As we begin a new liturgical year, our readings invite us to be vigilant. In a world where so many broken promises lead us to despair or cynicism, we are invited to trust in the faithfulness of a God who “keeps his word.” All around us, the world is in crisis: the threat of terrorism, the plight of refugees, climate change and environmental degradation, labour disputes – not to mention the more personal crises affecting our individual and family lives.
As our liturgical year draws to a close, we celebrate Jesus as King. The title of “king” is one Jesus accepted only with great reluctance. In fact, whenever people tried to project their own hopes for a political-military Messiah onto Jesus, he ran as far away as possible! Before Pilate, Jesus does not explicitly refuse the title of King, but he insists that his kingdom is “not of this world.”
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