March-April 2025

Editor's desk François-Marie Héraud

Be Strong, Be Courageous...

Life is sometimes cruel when we come to wish that the pain would cease its torment, that the night would allow us to rest, and that the new day would begin without the pitfalls of the past. Our bearings disappear in the face of so many causes such as an accident, an illness, the weight of isolation, a sense of failure or feeling useless. The result is the same, making us prisoners, locked in a broken vessel, lying on the ground. So, how can we rise again? How can we think of continuing the journey? Why even think that this might still be possible?

It is then that a loved one, a friend, would dare to say these words of encouragement, "Be strong, be courageous!" Instantly, they reflect us back to ourselves, to our suffering. Perhaps more than anything, they evoke a path to accept and sum up the abyss we must cross. In short, they remind us that we are merely pilgrims passing through this earth.

“The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”

(John 4:14)

And for this pilgrimage, courage is required. At first, in such small doses that one might think it does not exist. Then, quietly, it will gently and slowly dispel fear and soothe the still fragile life. Courage refers to hope and allows us to hold onto it. The stronger the hope, the more courage can endure. But how can we achieve this courage? Where can we find this strength?

One day, Christ met a Samaritan woman at a well, the same well from which Jacob had drawn water. He said to her, “Give me a drink.” Surprised that a Jew would dare speak to her, she engaged in the conversation. The Lord made this remark to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The Samaritan woman, troubled by this encounter, questioned Jesus. He gave her this answer that changed everything, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again; but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” (John 4:6-14)

Do we not thirst like the Samaritan woman whose life was changed by Christ? Like her, we thirst for life, happiness and hope. Give us, Lord, this living water so that we may rise again and continue our journey.

May this Lenten season allow us to turn towards Christ and ask Him for this water which changes our outlook, gives us courage and grants us eternal life!

United in prayer!

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Journey Towards Life

Mark Miller, C.Ss.R.

Being Courageous

We all love reading stories of human courage. One can think of bravery on the battlefield or heroic actions in the face of winter harshness or the confronting of injustice. As a child, I devoured stories of bravery. Often, these stories included the martyrs for our faith. Stories of the Christians of the first centuries like St. Stephen or St. Felicity and St. Perpetua were eventually complemented by stories of Saint Jean de Brébeuf or groups of martyrs in mission countries such as Japan, Korea, or Uganda.

I would like to share an insight with you about courage in the daily lives of ordinary people living quiet, faith-filled lives. The impetus for this comes from the course on moral theology that I recently taught at St. Mark’s College in Vancouver. The course sought to focus not on sin and sins but approached the Gospel in the light of striving to imitate Jesus as His disciples. Thus, we paid attention to Jesus’ call to live virtuously as inspired by His teaching.

The first part of the course focussed on what are called the four cardinal virtues: temperance, prudence, justice and fortitude. These virtues are a challenge to the goodness of all human beings (the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity take us more deeply into being fully human as disciples).

“Choosing what is good, day after day after day.”

Rather than review my course in this article, I would like simply to call your attention to the virtues of temperance and fortitude because they brought forth the richest discussions of their meanings and some examples from the lives of the students. Temperance is the skill to desire and enjoy pleasures well. Note the word ‘well.’ Moral theology that focuses on sins tends to speak about pleasures that have gotten out of hand or taken control over our lives. But pleasure is good within human living and pleasure-in-moderation is the virtue of imitating Jesus, for example, in His table fellowship, His friendships, His seeing and touching the poor and the outcast. Note these different kinds of pleasures even though it is not a word that we usually apply to the actions of Jesus.

The student discussions on temperance began to identify this virtue in the lives of parents and families, friends and communities. One student talked about the effort of his parents to include the children in winter activities like sledding or making snow angels. Another spoke of the sheer joy of playing hockey with ‘mates’ once a week. Soon, it was obvious that much of our daily life is permeated by temperate choices and we might notice how good choices are a balance that avoids the extremes of no pleasure or only pleasure. Life is joyful when enriched with temperate choices.

Now, let us consider the virtue of fortitude, the virtue that enables a person to face obstacles and difficulties well. Life’s journey has lots of bumps. But we all know people who have bravely (note the word) faced health challenges or job insecurity or the ongoing challenges of raising children. Again, what my students noticed and presented were examples of daily courage as models to imitate.

In short, as St. Teresa of Avila noted, one may be a martyr in the Coliseum, or one may embrace the gift of life and be a martyr by choosing what is good day after day after day. It takes courage to choose temperately and to endure with fortitude the many challenges of daily life. But when we pay attention, we all know people who are examples to us. And that just makes me wonder how many of our parents, relatives and friends are truly quiet saints!