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Recently, my younger sister got married. It was undoubtedly one of the most beautiful weddings I’ve ever been to. But amid the joy and wonder that came with the special day, there was also deep insecurity and longing brewing within me. I’d been praying with this desire for years, waiting for the Lord to answer. The prayer seemed to ping-pong inside my heart: When will it finally be my turn to be a bride, a wife, and a mother?

Shortly after the wedding, when I brought this to the Lord, His invitation was simple – Let me satisfy you for right now. It went hand in hand with a penance I received in confession around this same time, to pray the Our Father and really rest in the Lord’s “daily bread” for me. 

While on the outside I prayed the simple words of the Lord’s Prayer, in my heart I was grasping for crumbs. Instead of taking time to focus on where God is leading with His daily bread for me, I flipped open every recipe book imaginable to try making my own bread: something substantial, something thick and hearty – but inevitably, it didn’t satisfy. White-knuckling it can lead us to a scarcity mindset of looking for our own sustenance because we’re worried God is going to leave us starving.

However, when we pray “give us this day our daily bread”, we are invited into the disposition of Jesus in the Gospels: one of openness, surrender, and trust that God will give us what we need today. Not tomorrow, not next week, not 10 years from now. Today.

Jesus never worried about His physical hunger. He also never worried about what would happen to Him, because He knew that He was infinitely loved by the Father who sent Him. I imagine that when Jesus prayed the line “give us this day our daily bread,” He meant it. Everything He did was framed by the fact that God was sustaining Him. 

Where Jesus is the embodiment of this complete surrender, I still balk at the thought of potentially not getting my way. But thanks be to God, He continues to love us and invites us into a deeper relationship of trust that He only has good things for us. To commit to relying solely on our daily bread means that we set aside all our backup plans and submit ourselves to His plan for the moment.

After teaching His disciples how to pray, Jesus takes things one step further: He challenges His disciples to have a disposition of active receptivity. He tells the disciples, “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you” (Luke 11:9).

A picture’s worth a thousand words, they say. And recently, I’ve been using the practice of Visio Divina (“divine seeing” in Latin) to help me focus more fully on God in prayer. Drawing on the principles of Lectio Divina, Visio Divina is the slow, thoughtful contemplation of a picture, photo, work of art, or really anything visual that invites God to speak to me in a deeper way.

I first learned about Visio Divina from a church worker named Adrian Wyatt who had begun exploring the practice using his own photographs. Now, he runs courses for others to do the same. Since I was already practicing Lectio Divina, I was fascinated to know more about how I could reflect on visual prompts in a similar way. So I gave it a try, using published photos at first, but then widening my prompts to include artworks, textiles and some of my own photos.

Visio Divina can be done in a group with others or practiced alone. And it works for any age too – even kids can engage with this practice at their own level. An illustrated Bible is the perfect starting point.

So here are a few tips for getting started with your own Vision Divina practice:

Find inspiration

Inspirational prompts can include photos, images, fine art, or textiles – in fact, almost any visual media, pictorial or abstract. For example, centuries ago, illuminated Bibles were created by monks, featuring flawless calligraphy and colorful decorations as a way to honor the Bible’s special status as a holy book. One of the most inspirational sources I’ve found is The Saint John’s Bible, a stunningly beautiful handcrafted modern illuminated Bible. This amazing work was commissioned at St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota, the first to be created in more than 500 years.

I found it easier to begin by following some guided sessions. The University of Portland has videos based on The Saint John’s Bible which are a great place to start. But now, I’m beginning to develop my own practice.

I’ve created a small portfolio of images to choose from, such as greetings cards, photos I’ve taken, and even images torn from magazines.

Open with a prayer

I begin with a short prayer before choosing my source. I ask God to help me find a prompt that nourishes my soul, and one that will provide the insights God knows I need, not necessarily what I think I need!

I might say “Please help me choose the right inspiration for today, so you can speak to me,” or “Please prompt my decision today.”

RELATED: Lectio Divina: A Beginner’s Guide

Choose your inspiration

Next, I look through my online sources or leaf through my little stash of images, still mentally asking God to help me choose the best one for my situation.

The timing couldn’t be more striking.

As we honour the retirement of Michele Smillie after nearly three decades of pro-life work for the Archdiocese of Vancouver (see page 2), The B.C. Catholic is also publishing Terry O’Neill’s Page 1 investigation revealing how the B.C. government is quietly promoting euthanasia behind the scenes, with little to no oversight.

Smillie and I both began working for the Archdiocese around the same time, and from the beginning our paths intersected in two essential missions: communicating truth and defending life.

At one point, a friendly rivalry even developed between our offices over which one had the more important mission. With her office’s Pavel Reid backing her, I was outnumbered, but it’s been a privilege ever since to report on the work they carried out.

She started out by assisting Father Joseph Hattie, OMI, in what was then the Office of Marriage and Family Formation. Father Hattie was a force in the Canadian pro-life movement and helped establish Vancouver as a hub of leadership and witness. He also had strong thoughts on media.

I remember a conversation with him in Rome while we were attending the canonization of St. Eugene de Mazenod in 1995. At the time, I was still working in secular journalism and shared how I had become disillusioned. He looked at me and asked whether I prayed for journalists.

Since that moment, praying for journalists has become a part of my spiritual life. Two years after that conversation, I was hired by the Archdiocese as editor of The B.C. Catholic.

Over the years, I’ve seen Smillie’s work become central to the Archdiocese’s pro-life mission. From rallies and conferences to post-abortion healing and education, she has been a steady voice and coordinator of work that has rippled throughout B.C. and beyond. Programs like Rachel’s Vineyard, which she championed despite early controversy, are now seen as essential.

She has always maintained a spirit of hope, which is something the pro-life movement needs to hold onto. As she says in her interview this week, it’s not about the defeats. It’s about the steps forward. And so we continue to take them.

In recent years, those steps have included investigative journalism that the mainstream press refuses to do. Led by veteran reporter Terry O’Neill, we’ve exposed how medical assistance in dying (MAiD) has expanded from a rare exception for the terminally ill into a normalized practice that touches nearly every kind of suffering.

Over the years, through freedom of information requests, O’Neill has revealed how Fraser Health quietly pressured patients toward euthanasia in contradiction to its own “patient-led” policies. He’s reported on palliative care experts who resigned when asked to incorporate MAiD into hospice work.

Dioceses can foster a more synodal Church by adopting diocesan-wide gatherings, says Father Pierre Ducharme, the Minister Provincial for the Franciscan Province of the Holy Spirit in Canada and former pastor of St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Richmond.

One of five Canadian delegates at the 2024 Synod on Synodality’s international parish priests meeting, Father Ducharme is emphasizing the importance of the newly released Pathways For The Implementation Phase Of The Synod document, unveiled by Cardinal Mario Grech on July 7.

The universal Church is now a few weeks into an 18-month process for dioceses and parishes to begin finding ways to foster more synodal congregations.

Father Ducharme told The Catholic Register earlier this year that more guidance would be required to help dioceses and parishes properly understand how to transform the 57-page final document into an applicable resource. Pathways succeeds on that account, he said, and there are a few standout suggestions.

“One that comes to mind is that dioceses can have diocesan-wide gatherings,” said Father Ducharme.

“That could gather the leaders of the diocese and parishes. I’m not talking about just pastors, but a combination of priests and lay leaders. There are suggestions about looking at the existing diocesan structures and saying, ‘how can we ensure these are more synodal.’ Along those lines, there are suggestions about implementing more women in leadership roles within a diocese.”

Cardinal Mario Grech, the General Secretariat of the Synod, unveiled Pathways for the Implementation Phase of the Synod on July 7 to offer dioceses and eparchies a framework on how to meaningfully contribute to the journey of walking forward together.

Prescribed as a guidance document, the 24-page text defines the recommended responsibilities for a diocesan or eparchial bishop, delineates the tasks of synodal teams, and outlines how to engage with the 2024 synodal assembly final document during this phase. Pathways explains how ecclesial discernment is a method for determining the concrete practices that best achieve the overall vision.

Father Ducharme appreciates the document’s overall sentiment that “nothing is stopping the bishop from being a part of the team.”

It appears this togetherness and openness mindset is already well underway in the Diocese of Victoria under Bishop Gary Gordon. On June 13, its Diocesan Permanent Pastoral Synod (DPPS) convened for a plenary assembly and immersed in listening circle discernment and prayer exercises. Bishop Gordon wrote in a reflection, weeks later, how attendees “shared stories of vulnerability, insight, and grace. They spoke of how listening built trust, and how that trust brought real hope.”

Father William Hann, the diocesan vicar general, emphasized the importance of creating such a welcoming environment for sharing in the present worldly context and how that sets the stage for progress to follow.

Thirteen young people from the Archdiocese of Vancouver will join more than half a million others from 146 countries in Rome this week for the Jubilee of Youth, part of the Church’s Jubilee Year celebrations.

The Vancouver pilgrims include individuals and groups from Holy Rosary Cathedral, St. Patrick’s, and St. Andrew’s parishes in Vancouver, and St. Peter’s in New Westminster. They gathered July 11 at the John Paul II Pastoral Centre for Mass and a reflection session to prepare spiritually for the pilgrimage.

They will be among some 1,000 Canadian youth expected at the July 28–Aug. 3 events, which include a special Canadian gathering July 29 at Sant’Andrea della Valle Church. The two-hour celebration will feature a youth-led welcome, bilingual Scripture readings, faith-sharing, musical performances, and witness panels with youth and bishops. It will conclude with a commissioning prayer and symbolic sending forth.

Several Canadian bishops, along with priests, deacons, religious sisters and brothers, and lay leaders, will be present. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has invited the faithful across the country to pray for the young pilgrims as they seek to deepen their relationship with Christ and offer a powerful witness to the Church’s life in Canada and around the world.

While 68 per cent of attendees will be from Europe, young people will be coming from four other continents and from war zones and areas of serious conflict, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, a pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, said July 23.

“Essentially, this moment of celebration and joy also aims to embrace all young people around the world, indicating that it will be a genuine moment of peace and peace-building in the world,” he said at a Vatican news conference.

“I am thinking in particular of the Christian young people of Ukraine, the Middle East, Syria, Gaza, and Iran,” said Lamberto Giannini, Rome’s prefect, who coordinates maintaining law and order in the city. The seven-day event during the Jubilee of Hope will be “in communion with all of them, because it is for them above all that hope is offered today, and not just any hope, but as we have been taught, the hope that does not disappoint,” he said.

The Vatican news conference featured representatives of the Italian national, regional, and local governments, as well as police and civil protection authorities. They provided many details about what is slated to be the largest of all the jubilee celebrations scheduled for the Holy Year, which has drawn nearly 17 million people so far, the archbishop said.

Shortly after being ordained a deacon, I was asked by my pastor to put together a presentation on the sacraments. Working my way through the task, I came to a point where I needed to produce a slide on what it is that the sacraments provide. That gift, in special abundance, is of course God’s amazing and life-giving grace. 

At that moment, I froze. Had I looked in a mirror, I’m certain I would have seen myself looking like a deer in headlights. Of course, I knew that grace is good. If I were to ask just about anyone if they wanted a bountiful helping of God’s grace, that answer would be in the high affirmative. That said, I found myself at a loss as to how to explain what grace is. Grace seemed to be one of those things that is easier to internalize than it is to explain.

Sure, had I been asked at that time by a parishioner what grace was, I’m confident that I would have been able to tap dance my way to some kind of answer. I likely would’ve responded with something like: It is a gift from God. It is good and will make us better disciples. It will make us happier humans. But I knew that this response was sub-par. There had to be a better way to describe what grace truly is. 

Desiring not to ever poorly shuffle my way through an explanation of something so important, I set out on a mission to come up with a succinct and relatable description of God’s grace.

After analyzing the many definitions of the various types of grace, (Sanctifying, Actual, Sacramental, etc), I came up even more deer-dazed than when I started. But then, I found it, a best-in-class explanation of grace. Confidence immediately replaced my grace-related trepidation. Before me was something that I not only understood, but also something that I could easily share with others.

It came from the “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” paragraph 1996, and reads,

Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the Divine Nature and of eternal life.

This short, yet comprehensive definition breaks down into three grace-related truths:

1. Grace is free and undeserved

“Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help God gives us…” Short and sweet, what this tells us is that although we don’t deserve this great gift of grace, God desires to pour it out on us. All we have to do is recognize, accept, and participate within it. Perhaps the greatest example of this is recognizing and believing in Christ’s presence in the Eucharist and participating in it at the altar of the Mass.

In this episode we talk about how to thrive during the summer, when we aren’t in our normal schedules. We chat about some strategies to continue growing in our relationship with God and flourish in whatever situation we are in. We focus on the categories of rest, play, prayer, connection, beauty, self care, and community. We hope you enjoy this conversation.

If you’d like to host a coffee time, lunch, or dinner with a few women, here are some questions to put on the table to spark some good conversation.

Discussion Questions

1. How can I more deeply connect with the people God has entrusted to me and with the Lord this summer?

2. What is most important to me to have as foundations that will rightly order the rest of my day?

3. How does God want you to play this summer in ways that feed your heart and allow you to receive His joy?

4. How can you cultivate the discipline of pausing for beauty and holy wonder?

Journal Questions

1. What is my spiritual plan this summer?

2. Where am i growing with the Lord?

3. What does it look like for me to have ongoing fellowship with the Holy Spirit?

4. What do I need to do for self care this summer?

Quote to Ponder

“Vacation time offers the unique opportunity to pause before the thought-provoking spectacles of nature, a wonderful ‘book’ within reach of everyone, adults and children. In contact with nature, a person rediscovers his correct dimension, rediscovers himself as a creature, small but at the same time unique with a ‘capacity for God’ because interiorly he is open to the infinite” —Pope Benedict XVI

About eight years ago, I went to confession with a Dominican priest in a gorgeous chapel in Nashville, Tennessee. Despite the beautiful architecture that framed this sacramental encounter, I was distressed. I couldn’t, for the life of me, stick to any sort of consistent prayer life, I told the priest who sat across from me in his flowing white cassock. My commitment to any sort of focused prayer time – even just 10 minutes of undivided attention for Jesus! – was fraught with laziness, forgetfulness and a persistent lack of prioritization. I would repeatedly renew my commitment to a personal prayer time, but I would never make it more than a few days before I missed a day of prayer. 

This priest – whose name I do not know – will forever be endeared to me for his American directness. 

“What time do you get up in the morning?” 

“Oh, well, I don’t have a set time that I get up each day. It really depends on what’s happening in my life.” 

“Well that won’t work. If you want to be holy, you need to pick a time to get up each morning.” 

That day in confession was an epiphany for me. Through his serious tone, kind heart and direct words, that Dominican priest woke me up to the seriousness of having a routine for holiness.

He clarified for me that one does not spontaneously become a saint. Grace is abundant and we are utterly dependent on the grace of God, but in order to become saints, we need to actively work with grace. A practical way that we can work with grace is to commit to a routine that draws us to Jesus. 

This principle of routine that the Dominican priest introduced to me, I later came to know as a “rule of life.” 

Having a “rule of life” is a Catholic tradition wherein a person selects a set of commitments or “rules” to follow each day in order to consistently grow closer to Jesus. Most religious orders follow a detailed rule of life that governs when they get up, what prayers and for how long they pray each day, meal times, etc. For the laity, we are generally not called to live a religious-style rule of life. However, the principle of having unchanging commitments that ensure that we remain in a momentum of holiness is just as critical for the laity as it is for a priest, religious or consecrated person.

My life has often been akin to what we all experience during the summer holidays: lots of flux and irregularities and spontaneity. Yet even amid summertime vacation or an irregular lifestyle,  having a rule of life transforms the question of “will I pray?”

CAMROSE — Kevin Keech never expected a detour into the Catholic Church when he first pursued a career in policing, let alone a call to serve at the altar. But after years of discernment and personal trials, the retired Camrose police sergeant will be ordained to the permanent diaconate on July 22 at St. Joseph’s Basilica in Edmonton.

Bishop Paul Terrio, retired bishop of the Diocese of St. Paul, will preside over the ceremony. Keech is one of three men being ordained that day and will serve at his home parish, St. Francis Xavier in Camrose, where he and his family have been active for many years. He joins a growing group of 36 permanent deacons serving the Archdiocese of Edmonton.

Keech’s faith journey began in childhood with a Protestant upbringing, followed by years spent largely outside the Church. His return to faith took root after meeting Amelia, the devout Catholic woman he would eventually marry in 1990.

“She kindly invited me to tag along” to Easter liturgies, he recalled. “My introduction to the Easter Triduum was as a non-practising Lutheran who had not attended a church in years. What a surprise it was!”

Their growing family — daughters Megan, Letisha, and Kayla — was the centre of their life together. But it was a near-fatal work accident in 1994 that caused Keech to question the trajectory of his life. He began to discern whether God was calling him toward something deeper.

In 2000, Keech became Catholic. Yet even after entering the Church, faith was not a quick fix.

“I still had an incredibly stressful career to contend with,” he said. “The stress of the job had built up … I struggled to find balance in work, marriage, and family life.”

Eventually, with help from his parish priest and the sacraments, he began to rebuild.

One of the hidden influences during those difficult years was his mother-in-law Maria. “Parishioners referred to her as a prayer warrior,” he said. “I realized that she had been my silent spiritual director.”

Following her death in 2019, Keech began to sense a new prompting — one he believes Maria had quietly interceded for. “It was during my morning prayer routine on several consecutive days that I began to feel a strong calling to the diaconate,” he said. “I felt as if what Maria wanted to tell me on earth was now coming via the Holy Spirit in a way I could no longer ignore.”

He retired from his second career in information technology and applied to the archdiocese’s diaconate formation program in 2020.

“Here I am Lord, I come to do your will,” he said.

OTTAWA — As the Jubilee Year of Hope unfolds, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) has released a video and pastoral resources to mark the fifth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, July 27.

Developed by the CCCB’s Office for Family and Life, the initiative invites parishes, families, and communities across Canada to recognize the elderly not as symbols of decline, but as vibrant carriers of faith and hope.

Filmed in St. John’s, Newfoundland, the promotional video highlights the importance of intergenerational relationships between children and grandparents — both biological and spiritual. It acknowledges the reality of children living far from their grandparents and the creative ways communications technology helps maintain those bonds.

The campaign is anchored in the message of Pope Francis for this year’s World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. The annual observance, instituted by the Pope in 2021, is held on or near the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne — the grandparents of Jesus — celebrated July 26.

In his message, Pope Francis encourages both society and the Church to see the elderly as the pinnacle of life — those whose wisdom forms the foundation for a better future.

“Embracing the elderly helps us to understand that life is more than just the present moment, and should not be wasted in superficial encounters and fleeting relationships,” he wrote. “Instead, life is constantly pointing us toward the future.”

“Christian hope always urges us to be more daring, to think big, to be dissatisfied with things the way they are. In this case, it urges us to work for a change that can restore the esteem and affection to which the elderly are entitled,” he said.

In Catholic tradition, the elderly are seen as guardians of memory and faith — witnesses to hope who quietly shape the spiritual fabric of families and communities. The CCCB video and resources underscore this role, drawing attention to the value of intergenerational bonds rooted in trust, prayer, and mutual care.

To turn reflection into action, the CCCB is offering resources to enrich both family and parish life. Families are encouraged to organize storytelling sessions with elderly relatives, create spiritual bouquets, and light candles for their intentions.

Parishes are invited to offer blessings for grandparents at all Masses July 27, invoke the intercession of Sts. Joachim and Anne, and consider launching initiatives such as “adopt-a-grandparent” programs, coffee gatherings, novenas, or a dedicated Ministry for Grandparents.

These pastoral ideas echo Pope Francis’s call for a “revolution of tenderness and care” to help “restore hope and dignity to those who feel forgotten.”

This day is a reminder that hope is not reserved for the young or the strong.