Author: Deacon Gary

I came across this wonderful tribute to the frontliners in this pandemic by Chris Mann, based on Alanis Morissette’s song ‘Thank U’. I hope you enjoy it. The video can be found on YouTube HERE

We have come through a Holy Week and Easter Triduum unlike any other, and have arrived at Easter Monday … intact, even if perhaps a bit off-kilter. Easter for us has always been a time of entering into the celebration of faith and into the celebration of family.  Helen and I are usually very busy […]

Holy Saturday has always been for me a day of waiting patiently.  A time of just sitting still, in anticipation of the resurrection experience that is to come.  And a time of pondering the future in the light of Easter, the hope of a better future. However, it is important that we don’t confuse ‘hope […]

I have been thinking a lot about how this Good Friday is so very very different than all of those I have experienced in the past. I think what sets Good Friday apart for me this year is how very clearly I can connect into Jesus’ struggles. The incarnation meets lived reality in a way […]

Holy Thursday, the beginning of the Easter Triduum is now upon us.  Many of us will be tuning in to the various live-streamed services available to us – be they in our local parish, our Diocese, or the Vatican.    The Easter Triduum begins by celebrating ministry – both for those called to Priestly Ministry, […]

Just as surely as COVID-19 has seemingly taken over the world, it most certainly has taken over our peace of minds. And just as surely as we don’t need yet another all-news channel repeating again and again the same (bad) news, we also don’t want to hear some chirpy voice from the remote land of […]

In these days of quarantine, many of us are trying to make sense of the self-denial our quarantined lives require.  For most of us, living a life of self-denial is somewhat unfamiliar territory.  We are a people of hugs and high-fives and celebrations and the regular lives that until just a few weeks ago we used to […]

On Saturday night, at 8:30 pm, people around the city began banging pots and pans, playing music and making noise. It was a way of saying thanks to all of those working in healthcare and letting them know how much their efforts are appreciated.   One of my daughters works in a geriatric healthcare facility in […]

The opening prayer for our Palm Sunday liturgy asks God to “graciously grant that we may heed Jesus’ lesson of patient suffering”. Patience in suffering.  Seems that this is a prayer that we surely need at this time!  Patience because we really don’t know what the outcome will be. Or when – though we do know […]

I was a chaplain at the Scarborough Grace Hospital, when it was the epicentre of the SARS outbreak in Canada. I was also a member of the Board of Directors, and so had a unique view of the impact of SARS – not just on the provision of medical (and pastoral) care, but also on […]

I had to visit Sunnybrook Hospital yesterday. I was impressed by the  significant protocols that were put in place to keep patients and staff safe.  I am sure that all of our hospitals are being as diligent and caring.  How grateful I am as a Canadian to be able to go to a doctor or a hospital, […]

For most of us, “going to Mass” is a tactile and tangible experience. There is a sense of arriving at Holy Ground, a place set apart for the worship of God, where we encounter others who are sharing that experience. We kneel, we pray. We light a candle and reflect on its glimmering light.  And as […]

Lent is typically a time where we try and figure out what we will give up, what we will sacrifice, what we will pray for, so that we may be more appreciative of the gifts we have.  We share ideas, compare notes with friends, and figure out how we want to spend Lent.  We promise ourselves […]

An online calendar showing times and providing links to Masses and Catholic Liturgies from around the world being live-streamed can be found HERE

In Pope Francis’ Urbi et Orbi prayers on Friday, he shared many profound and Insightful observations.     Using Matthew’s Gospel about the storm on the Sea of Galilee, he remarked …. “The storm exposes our vulnerability and uncovers those false and superfluous certainties around which we have constructed our daily schedules, our projects, our habits […]

What a unique and profound time we are experiencing!  It seems that, perhaps for the first time, we find millions and millions of people have collectively become more aware of a greater need than self.  I am reminded of the Psychologist Abraham Maslow – the guy who looked at the hierarchy of human needs that we […]

I was doing a quick scan of the BBC world news on my phone (I do this about once a  day – no more than that) and came across an article talking about the science of happiness.   The reporter noted that many people, especially now, are registering for online courses in this area.  The […]

Many years ago, I asked a Chaplain who I worked closely with – and greatly admired – what his greatest struggle was.  His answer?   Feeling comfortable in the ambiguity of life.  I must admit to not fully appreciating the richness of his insight until I got older.   I see and sense around me a lot of anxiety related to […]

At the end of February we had a brand new granddaughter. Before our Collective Quarantine changed things around for us, I had the chance to watch her sleeping in my arms while her Mom and Dad got some sorely needed sleep after a rough night. Sitting in the quiet with a sleeping baby in my […]