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Wars and Rumours of War.

When Pope St. John Paul II was alive, he wrote an encyclical called Evangelium Vitae, which means “The Gospel of Life.” In it he warned of the culture of death that was beginning to take shape, and he warned of the dangers of accepting abortion and euthanasia, and other things, that if continued to be promoted and accepted would lead to a deterioration of the respect for the sanctity of life in all it’s stages. He warned that mankind would lose the awareness of God’s presence in a world that no longer respected life, and he warned that we would lose the sense of the presence of God and man, losing our sense of shared purpose and identity. We are all created in the image of God and carry that identity in our bodies and souls. When we forget God, we can do damage to the image of God within us and our fellow man. We separate ourselves from God, and no longer sense His nearness in our lives, and we end up turning a blind eye to the injustice, sin and atrocities in our world. We false...

Not Holding Our Sins.

We have either held a grudge ourselves or have witnessed other people holding a grudge or unforgiveness towards other people. If we have ever felt that someone was holding a grudge against us, we know the unpleasant feeling of wanting to be released from their hostility towards us. When we repent of our sins and come to faith in Christ, God in a very real sense releases us from his hostility and the enmity that we once experienced towards Him, and may have not even realize it. In 2 Corinthians 5:19 it says “that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” What this means is that before accepting God’s salvation and forgiveness, we were indebted to God every time we sinned. Our sins were being counted and accumulated right until the point of our death and would be judged by God in a place called Hell for all eternity. Because we rejected God’s offer of salvatio...

Uncle Brendan and Aunt Nancy.

My uncle Brendan is my dad Wayne’s middle brother. When I was just a kid, he married my aunt Nancy. They lived together in London, Ontario. They never had any kids, but we would drive up there from Markham and visit them occasionally. One thing that stands out in my memory is the breakfast that they would cook us when we visited. My grandmother who passed away in 2019 also lived in London, as well as my uncle Ron, and my aunt Shelly. Brendan and Nancy would make the best breakfast with eggs, sausage, bacon, and toast, and I remember there being so much. They also shared the Catholic faith with me in a special way. I grew up Roman Catholic but I was a nominal Christian and I didn’t get born again until I was 21. Being born again isn’t really a Catholic thing, Catholics believe you are born again at baptism, but my conversion at 21 just made me appreciate my faith in a deeper way. I still have conversations with my aunt Nancy about my faith, and I remember her telling me one...

Leave Your Sins Behind This New Year.

What is the greatest gift you can give yourself this new year or better yet what is the greatest gift you can receive? I believe it’s the gift of repentance. What causes regret in your life? Is it broken relationships, a failed marriage, anger, unforgiveness? God provides a remedy for all of these things which are caused by sin, and that is repentance. We all want to feel the joy in life, we all want to feel happiness, but the more we sin and live a sinful lifestyle, we feel we have to cover up our sins in order to feel a sense of peace. But true peace comes from not living any way we want to live, but by living a holy life, in fellowship with the Father. I encourage you to start this new year by being honest with yourself, if you have relationships that are broken, if you have sinned gravely, repent, if you don’t you will take all these sins with you not just into the new year with you, but you will take them with you when you die. This is what the bible refers to when it...

The Parable of the Ten Virgins.

Matthew 25:1-13 I have discovered a remarkable interpretation of this parable that I would like to share with you. The story in the Bible goes like this: “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ 9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy som...

The Value and Meaning in Life.

I have been thinking about goals, and what motivates me to accomplish things in my life. I can say that there are times when I can feel like I have no purpose, no direction and no motivation. 💡The reason why I might feel that I have no goals is because sometimes with depression nothing interests me. Finding direction can lead me to set specific goals for my life, and the desire to achieve those goals can create motivation to accomplish them. It doesn’t matter how old you are, you can always find something that gives your life meaning and purpose. When you find yourself motivated to set out and do something, the meaning that comes from accomplishing those goals will create motivation to create new goals and carry you forwards to accomplish new things. Sometimes our fear prevents us from setting out to accomplish our goals because we can fear failure, and what other people think of us, or we may no longer care about reachi...