May the peace and joy that only Christ can give fill your lives and homes this year and always. I received, with lots of thanks, your very generous Christmas gifts to me. You are indeed a wonderful reflection of God’s generous love. I cannot thank you enough. Please rest assured of my prayers that God may bless you with every good gift and keep you and your family safe from this virus.

November is once again upon us. This is the last month of the Liturgical year and this is the month we remember those who have passed on from this life to the next. It is a good month to reflect upon the past year and to remember that our stay on earth is also finite. May God give us the grace we need to recognize our need to live a life fully dependent on Him and fully devoted to Him.

We have come to another Season of Lent, that special time of the year when we are
encouraged to take a critical second look at our lives to be sure we are going in the
right direction, and that the life we are living is the life we should be living as
children of God. Experience teaches that we cannot take this second look at our
lives if we are always so busy that we have no time to listen to God, no time to pray.
It is indeed necessary that we spend with God daily if we are not to waste the
opportunity this Season provides us to position ourselves well before our God. We
do not want to end up like those proverbial people who invested all their time,
talents and resources climbing the ladder of success only to realize when they
reached the top that the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall. Do we?
I wish all of us a successful journey through this great Season of grace.

We have come to another Season of Lent, that special time of the year when we are
encouraged to take a critical second look at our lives to be sure we are going in the
right direction, and that the life we are living is the life we should be living as
children of God. Experience teaches that we cannot take this second look at our
lives if we are always so busy that we have no time to listen to God, no time to pray.
It is indeed necessary that we spend with God daily if we are not to waste the
opportunity this Season provides us to position ourselves well before our God. We
do not want to end up like those proverbial people who invested all their time,
talents and resources climbing the ladder of success only to realize when they
reached the top that the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall. Do we?
I wish all of us a successful journey through this great Season of grace.

The New Year is only a handful of days old. This is to say that we are still at the
intersection between the old year and the new year. This is the time when we tend to take a
critical look at the past and plan for the future. When we take a look at the past, it is not to
focus on our misdeeds or regret missed opportunities, but to count our blessings and to take
stock of how much we, the members of St. Joseph’s Council, have been able to do for God
and Canada. If we do this, we will definitely see enough to thank God for.

The year is almost over. The countdown to Christmas has begun. The Christmas scent isbeginning to fill the very air we breathe. We are at that time of the year when, if we are notcareful, we over-stretch ourselves trying to tie so many loose ends. A very busy seasonindeed. But no matter how busy, we cannot afford to lose sight of what makes this time beautiful. It is a time of waiting in joyful hope for the coming of the Messiah, the Prince ofPeace. If we are attentive enough, we will hear the prophets challenging us to prepare the way for his coming by dusting our lives clean. In other words, our preparation forChristmas is not of much use if we do not prepare a happy home for Christ in our lives.

I welcome all of us back from our summer holiday, back to that time of the year when we are busier than usual planning and doing things to keep our League alive and well. An important part of what we do in this regard is our prayers for the League to remain true to its mission in our changing world. In this world, to stay alive and well and relevant, organizations must continue to renew themselves. The leadership of our League knows this. It also knows that renewal is an uphill task. To be successful, those who undertake to renew themselves and their organization need all the help they can get from on high because, in spite of the best of our human efforts, so much depends on the will of God. This is why we are encouraged to persevere in our prayers for the renewal our League. And available to us for this purpose is the CWL Prayer of Renewal.