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Be Seeing You, Mr Wick.
For some now, I’ve had the impression that something about the John Wick movies is profoundly religious, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. The imagery? The rituals? The “immoral order” of their universe? Maybe the dictum “Rules: without them, we live with the animals” is, in some sense, an attempt to transcend our…
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Knowing Isn’t Enough
Antony was confused as he meditated upon the depths of God’s judgements, and he asked God, ‘Lord, how is it that some die young and others grow old and sick? Why are there some poor and some rich? Why are there those who are bad and rich and oppress the good poor?” He heard a…
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The God Who Weeps
The Sorrowful Mysteries are by far my favourite mysteries of the Rosary. It’s not that I’m morbid or enjoy sadness. Rather, they’re my favourite because (in the Sorrowful Mysteries, in particular) the humanity of Jesus is emphasised. What do I mean by this? I’ll grant that the humanity of Jesus is present in the other…
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The Value of Fasting
Lent is intended to be a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Many people can understand the benefit of prayer. Most if not all people can understand the social benefit of almsgiving. But what’s the deal with fasting? Isn’t that just something people do when they’re trying to lose weight? Certainly, if one hopes to…
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Reflections on the Psalms: 143
If there is one book of the Bible that I feel is too often underrated, it’s the book of Psalms. That’s right. While it’s true that many people will have a favourite Psalm or a verse from the Psalms I don’t think any one of us truly appreciates what it is. In the Psalms, we…
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Perseverance
I’ve often been asked why I became Catholic. So often was I asked that late last year, I wrote a series of blog posts that detailed certain aspects of my intellectual journey towards the faith. This series remains unfinished, not because I have nothing else to say, but because I didn’t feel inspired to write…
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I Hate Sand
I hope that everyone had their fair share of pancakes yesterday. Sadly, I didn’t even eat one: I spent my morning at Service Ontario and my evening at work. You might say that I was getting a head start on my Lenten penance, which actually began earlier today on this Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is…
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The Pursuit of Holiness
What does it mean for something to be holy? As part of an inductive exercise meant to answer the question, a professor of mine asked the class to picture the holiest person they knew, and to describe how holiness was made present in them. I have been incredibly fortunate to have met many saintly people,…
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Unity in Diversity?
As we say in the Creed, “I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.” In the first semester of my MDiv, this idea of catholicity has repeatedly come up, which has forced me to consider its meaning more intensely. What does it mean for the Church to be catholic? The easy answer: “universal”. The…
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What is love? (Baby, don’t hurt me!)
Recently I finished reading Neil Gaiman’s children’s horror novel, Coraline. I remember seeing the movie as a child, and suffice it to say, it left me petrified. I’ve watched many horror movies since, but it’s undeniable: that stop-motion horror flick still gives me the creeps. Personally, I found the movie far scarier than the book,…
El Filósofo
Think Deeply, Feel Fully