I couldn’t wait to bring it back and share it with my wife. Back home, she was a little less excited than I about the book because her mind was on our first child that she was carrying.

What di dhe mean by at the right hour? She asked. I don’t know. We began to speculate. Maybe at noon on Good Friday. Maybe after the First Vigil. Maybe at the moment when we are in deep distress. Perhaps we should wait for God to reveal to ous the right hour. It might be even years from now.

We decided we`d better wait for a sign. Two weeks later my first son was born. How can I tell you what it was like. First the worry, then that child. I was a father. When I looked at that child I was so proud. I knew I was somebody. And yet humbled. I scarcely knew how to hold him, much less to bring him up. I used to think I had it all figured out, but that kid was bigger than I. That night the child appeared to me in a dream. What is God likeÉ he asked. That did it. I got up and reached for the book. I brought it to my wife and told her, this the right hour. We`ll open it now. “I opened it random. I read it. “It`s very simple. God is  a father.“ My wife opened it again. She  read, It“s very simple. God became a little child. Let`s open it together I exclaimed. I took heer hand. She opened it and we read.

“It`s very simple. Each breath you take is the breath of God.“
Happy Valentine`s Day!
Bonne St. Valentin!

          Dieu a tant aimé le monde qu’il a donné son Fils unique; sûrs de son amour, présentons-lui nos prières. Aujourd’hui, un enfant nous est né, que l’Église ne cesse d’en proclamer la Bonne Nouvelle à tous les hommes.  Aujourd’hui, le Verbe s’est fait chair, que la paix qu’il apporte touche les victimes de la guerre et de l’oppression, des femmes maltraitées et des démunis. Aujourd’hui nous est né un  Sauveur, que la joie du salut illumine toutes les familles de la terre.
          Aujourd’hui, la vie s’est manifestée, que la joie de savoir que Dieu est avec nous fasse de notre communauté un foyer de vie. Aujourd’hui prions en particulier à tous les membres de  nos familles aux Philippines, que l’on soit un jour réunis ensemble .
          Dieu qui , en Jésus, est venu sauver tous les hommes, écoute nos prières et donne-nous la joie d’être exaucés. Amen

Joyeux Noël avec tous ainsi qu’à vos familles.
Feliz Navidad
Maligayang  Pasko

I thank you for the loved ones and strangers
Whose inner beacons of light
Have warmed and welcome my pain.
I thank you for your Presence in my depths,
Protecting, guiding, reassuring, loving.
I thank you for all those life-surprises
Which sparked a bit of hope in my ashes.

And yes I thank you for my darkness,
Because this pushy intruder comes with truth
And reveals my hidden treasures to me.
Amen

Night  Prayer
Lord my God,
Thank you for bringing this day to a close.
Thank you for giving me a rest
In body and soul.
Your hand has been over me
And has guarded and preserved me.
Forgive my lack of faith
And any wrong that I have done today,
And help me to forgive all who have wronged us.
Let me sleep in peace under your protection,
And keep me from all the temptations of darkness.
Into your hands I commend my loved ones
I commend to you my body and soul
O God, your holy name be praised.

Often enough, sickness occasions an anterior renewal. You might notice, for example, that after several weeks of severe suffering, those you are visiting have a new vision of life that reflects a return to essentials.

They have given up many false and superficial values. Their sickness has been like a key unlocking the mysteries of the interior life, or, as psychologist Carl Jung has said, inviting them ‘’ to give up superficial being in order to penetrate always more into one’s inner depth’’.

Spiritual accompaniment facilitates the discovery of Christ within oneself. Saint Augustine prayed the Lord, in his Confessions:’’ So long have I sought you outside myself, when you were so close, within me ‘’.       
Helping someone to find their deepest Source: is that not the goal of spiritual accompaniment of the sick?

THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE, LORD
By: Rev. Normand Provencher, OMI

When life has become a chore,
When our nights are disturbed by nightmares,
Thank you for being there, Lord,
And for being present to us

When we are alone and forgotten,
When we are afraid of loving and being loved,
Thank you for being there, Lord,
And for offering us your love.

When sickness strikes,
When trials are heavy to carry,
Thank you for being there, Lord,
And for extending your hand.

When we have lost hope,
When blackness fills the horizon,
Thank you for being there, Lord,
And for bringing us your light.

The perspective presented here are based on the words of Jesus: ‘’Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate ‘’ (Lk 6:36)

We must look in a radically different direction to understand the place of compassion in our lives and through compassion our humanity grows into its fullness.

The word compassion, generally evokes positive feelings. We like to think of ourselves as compassionate people who are gentle, good and understanding. So why then, are millions of human beings suffering from separation, loneliness, torture and kill each other?

What does it mean the word compassion?  It is derived rom the Latin words pati and cum, which together mean ‘’to suffer with’’. Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. It requires us   to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. To be also kind and gentle to those who get hurt by competition.

We do not aspire to suffer with others. On the contrary we develop methods and techniques that allow us to stay away from pain.

Must we simply recognize that we are more competitive than  compassionate, and try to make  the best of it with a ‘’healthy dose of skepticism’’? Is our greatest ideal a maximum of satisfaction with a minimum of pain?

This topic says NO to these questions and proposes that in order to understand the place of compassion in our lives , we must look radically  to different directions. And the perspective here is based on the words of Jesus: ’’Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate ‘’( Luke 6:36), and is offered in the deep conviction that through compassion our humanity grows into its fullness.

We shall speak about: The compassionate God who is revealed to us in Jesus Christ, because God’s own compassion constitutes the basis and source of our compassion.

The compassionate God: God is a compassion God, He has chosen to be God-with-us .But what counts is that moments of pain and suffering someone stays with us, it is just the simple presence of someone who cares .When someone says to you ,  to us in the midst of a crisis ,’’ I do not know what to say or what to do, but I want you to realize that I am with you, that I will not leave you alone .’’

We have lost the gift of being present to each other .We say why should I visit this person? I can’t do anything anyway. Or what use can I be? Because being simply with someone is difficult and it asks of us that we share in other’s  vulnerability.

When we say God is a God- with- us, means he came to share our lives in solidarity .He is willing to enter with us with our problems, confusions and questions.

We also call him our refuge, our stronghold, our wisdom, our helper, our shepherd, our love. And we will never really know God as a compassionate God if we do not understand with our heart and mind that ‘’he lived among us’’ (Jn 1:14).

When we look at ourselves, we have to recognize that competition, not compassion is our main motivation in life. Being compassionate   would require giving up differences and distinctions. Jesus invites us to be as close to each other as God is to us. And it allows us to say with Paul, ‘’ I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me ‘’ (Ga 2:20)

This new identity, free from greed and desire of power, allows us to enter so fully and unconditionally into the sufferings of others that it becomes for us to heal the sick and call the dead to life. Paul gives us a beautiful example in his letter to the Philippians, he writes : GOD IS MY WITNESS HOW MUCH I MISS YOU ALL WITH THE TENDER COMPASSION OF CHRIST JESUS .  (Ph 1:8)

Spring, a time for sprucing up. After a long winter, many of us enjoy being outdoors in the fresh air, cleaning the yard or preparing the soil for the garden. Our home is put in order and made beautiful.

Lent is a time when we do a spring cleaning of our souls. We take an inventory of our lives by asking ourselves how we are living and where we need to change. What kind of relationship with God and our concern for others? This is the time when we pull up the weeds of self-centredness, laziness and rash judgement about others. The tools we use in cleansing our hearts are prayer and reflection with scriptures, fasting for justice and sharing with othersin need. We also participate in the sacrament of the Eucharist so that we may be nourished by God’s love. So we will breathe the f resh air of Resurrection. Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus Christ!