Bursting with joy--despite the crazy world out there

The blogosphere is full of outrageous, dismaying and ridiculous developments in the "human rights" debacle. That the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal is going to investigate whether the rights of a sadomasochist pagan have been violated on sexual orientation grounds is one of them.

Once upon a time sex had something to do with procreation, i.e. it had a purpose beyond titillation. Pope Paul VI was right---separate the unitive and procreative functions of the marital act and you'll have the strangest sexual practices jockeying for equality with the missionary position as well as the urge to perform the most draconian lab experiments to clone humans and maybe combine human DNA with a little ape or dog DNA to see what happens. I mean, if God is dead and humans are ascended by chance from the primordial slime, why not?

Then there's word that a complainant emailed his testimony into a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal hearing, instead of bothering to show up. I dunno. This whole story gets crazier and crazier. John Pacheco over at Socon-or-bust is unearthing new information all the time.
Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn and Binky at FreeMarkSteyn have continual updates.

Today I will attend the B'nai Brith news conference, releasing their annual report on anti-Semitic incidences. Then I'll attend Senate hearings on Bill C-10 on whether measures in that bill to rescind tax credits on films deemed too violent or sexually explicit constitute government censorship. So I'll have some new developments to add to the appalling state of affairs in the rapid erosion of freedom of speech and freedom of religion in Canada (unless you are a pagan practicioner of sadomasochism).

Alas, though, last time I looked, being appalled was not a fruit of the Spirit.

Thank God, I get opportunities to write about good things, about life-changing, healing, wonderful moves of the Spirit that make me want to dance and sing.

Yesterday, I covered a story that made me burst with joy. I caught up with the pilgrims who are taking the Ark of the New Covenant to Quebec City by foot via five national shrines honoring Canada's Christian martyrs and saints. The Ark is a work of art, a symbolic object created to raise awareness of the 2008 International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City June 15-22.

I interviewed some of these folks Tuesday evening, when they stopped for supper at a French-language parish--St. Remi's--in the Pinecrest area of Ottawa. What lovely, hope-filled, inspiring people they are. Things they told me have lingered and quicken my soul. I hope I can soon post a link to the story I wrote. What they say will lighten your heart and refresh you.

Then yesterday, the pilgrims brought the Ark into downtown Ottawa. I took pictures as they passed the Supreme Court of Canada, the Parliament Buildings, and then turned onto Sussex Drive, and past the U.S. Embassy towards Notre Dame Cathedral. A police car led the way, driving slowly, while the pilgrims pushed the Ark on its special "Ark-mobile" on bicycle wheels. The little parade attracted scant attention. There was no group of MPs waiting to receive it. No crowds lining the street. No mainstream media cameras or microphones. Just a group of mostly francophone kids singing and praying, their faces sunburned, their feet blistered, pilgrims who have been on the road since Easter, others who are doing a two week journey with them. One is on his way to become a priest. He'll be among 12 or 13 young men ordained at the Congress in June. The young woman charged with leadership is on her way to becoming a nun in the Augustinian Sisters, whose charism is to serve the poor and the sick, showing the mercy of Jesus Christ.

They started their journey at the Canadian Martyrs Shrine in Midlands, Ontario. They reached Peterborough a week later on Divine Mercy Sunday. They reached Stittsvillle, on the outskirts of Ottawa last Sunday.

I ran alongside, trying to get just ahead enough to get some photos. As we passed the embassy and were within a couple of blocks of Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica, the bells began to peal. The joyful ring of those bells, these young pilgrims, even now in remembering it, I am moved to tears. Msgr. Pat Powers, the cathedral rector, was waiting on the steps, the door wide open behind him. The pilgrims removed the Ark from the carrier and hoisted it on their shoulders to bring it into the hauntingly beautiful basilica that is a replica of heaven inside.

The Church is alive in Canada. Jesus Christ is risen. He has not forgotten us. Last night, people from all over the diocese came to celebrate mass at the cathedral. Archbishop Terrence Prendergast celebrated. At the end of the mass, everyone knelt in adoration, by candle light, in adoration of Jesus Christ.

This little hidden, obscure passage of these pilgrims by the institutions of Canada--the National Archives, the Supreme Court, the Parliament Buildings, the National Art Gallery, is a sign to me. Something very profound, beautiful and life-giving is growing in Canada among her young people. It is fragrant with self-giving love and the imitation of Christ. Doesn't that make your heart sing?

The pictures should be read from the bottom up to show their path. I'm not sure how to reverse their order without wrecking the post. So the top photo is on the steps of Notre Dame Cathedral. I wish I had recorded the sound of those beautiful bells. Imagine them ringing the good news in downtown Ottawa.