Happy Earth Day! Earth day is an annual day of reflection that offers us the opportunity to evaluate where we can celebrate our successes, and where we can challenge ourselves to go further in reducing our impact on the environment. To celebrate Earth Day 2020, I've collected some of the tips and products I use to reduce single use plastics, carbon emissions, harmful chemicals and waste going to...
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Dear friends, it is Passover and Easter. For the first time in our lives, many of us are celebrating alone, behind closed doors, instead of with our faith communities and families.
The reason why I am behind closed doors is common to millions right now – we are afraid of contracting or spreading the coronavirus. But to be isolated and afraid actually brings us much closer to the experience of the...
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Praise the Day
Praise the old ipad that slowly obeys,playing diverse podcasts to inspire my ways
Praise the spring tulips that boldly emerge,splashing walls and walks with their flamboyant hues
Praise the fragrant leaves, a gift from a friend,warming heart and tongue with their exotic blend
Praise the smartphone, the only way to see and hearloved ones these days until the COVID all-clear
Praise...
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It was the most fun and fulfilling thing I accomplished in the Congo – producing my first song for peace. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a French-speaking country where I worked for six months, the most common phrase was "nous sommes ensemble" – "we are together." And we are. We share this world, and will enjoy peace and prosperity together or suffer together – the choice is ours. Although...
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I am excited to be celebrating the International Day of Peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was a very special day and week - I produced my first song, Nous Sommes Ensemble, I acted in my first play with the spectacular Lumiere Du Monde drama troupe from Rwanda, and I enjoyed the poems, acting, and passion for peace shared by the youth at CBCA Virunga's peace day celebration.
The...
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A hero of peace flew away –
one who saw treasure beneath imperfection
to reveal God’s reincarnation in each conception.
A hero of peace flew away, but not quickly.
Not before planting two blossoms on The Farm, which multiplied into a bouquet of thousands. They’ve perfumed France, indeed the world, for over fifty years.
Their scent intensifies still.
A hero of peace flew away.
This is nothing...
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Since I heard of him, Jean Vanier has been one of my beloved living saints. When I read “The Broken Body,” I felt like I was reading the next book in the Bible, the gospel in human frailty and poetry. When I heard his lectures on “Becoming Human,” his exhortation to individual freedom and global communion resonated as the global path to peace. Yes, the world could escape exclusion, and embrace...
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It’s Good Friday, the day when Christians follow Jesus down the Via Dolorosa, the way of suffering. Pilgrims in Jerusalem physically retrace Jesus’ steps from the place of his judgement to his crucifixion, and believers around the world retrace Jesus’ last steps through the Stations of the Cross. Figuratively, we can all follow him more closely by reflecting on Jesus’ sacrifice in our hearts....
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It's 25 years since the beginning of the 100 day massacre that left one million Rwandans dead. At the time, I watched helpless and horrified from my home in distant Canada. Today, I am writing this overlooking Rwanda's beautiful hills from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi in Rwanda is what first inspired me to become a peace blogger. The genocide...
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Look at this temple that soars to the sky
Now look a bit closer — do you see why?
The bright colours that adorn such lofty towers
Are fragments of glass no bigger than flowers
Once beautiful china, they were dumped in the sea
As worthless and broken, nothing to see
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When I saw their beauty, and learned from whence it came
I reflected...
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