Lent

As I noted yesterday in my post on St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, so many of the Saints seem out of reach or out of touch to us because they lived such extraordinary and unrelatable lives. But some of my favourite Saints are remembered for doing things that many, if not most, Christians do. For this reason, … Continue reading Sts. Joachim and Anna and the Way of Holy Parenthood (or not)

One of the basic premises of this series on the Ways of the Saints is that holiness manifests itself in an infinite variety of ways. Even if we are tempted to dismiss the radicalism of St. Francis of Assisi, the aggressive simplicity of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, or the bravery of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther … Continue reading St. Marguerite Bourgeoys and the Way of Building Institutions

One of the most challenging (and in some places controversial) ideas of the past decade or so has been the concept of privilege, those aspects of our identity that, even if they may not always grease the wheels of life for us, at least don’t act as roadblocks to our success. But while our conversations … Continue reading St. Elisabeth the New Martyr and the Way of Privilege Used Well: A Reflection on Philippians 3:4B-14

There’s a strange phenomenon in how the politics of the West has developed over the past few hundred years in that the right honours the role of religion in public life while setting aside its concerns for justice and transformation within that public life, while the left has tended to marginalize religion but shares those … Continue reading Dorothy Day and the Way of Action and Activism

One of the things I like about the stories of more contemporary Saints is that we see how they were, in fact, real human beings, just like you and me. The old hagiographies tend to smooth over rough edges, presenting an idealized image of holy men and women that seem impossible to ever match. But … Continue reading St. Maximilian Kolbe and the Way of Rising to the Occasion