Kathy Twynam

“Shrove” is the past tense of the verb “to shrive”, meaning “absolve from sin”, and seems to be currently used only in relation to “Shrove Tuesday”, the day before Ash Wednesday.  In the Middle Ages, on Shrove Tuesday morning the church bell would ring, calling Christians to church to confess their sins and be “shriven” – in other words, receive absolution or forgiveness.  This was especially important at the start of the Lenten season, a forty-day period leading up to…

Email from my sister Lynne: I thought you might be interested in this. I found it in a little booklet of devotions for Advent that was given out at church today.  Note from me: You know I am a big fan of C.S.Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. (Feel free to roll your eyes and think, “There she goes again.”) I thought it interesting that this appeared in a booklet of devotions given out at a Catholic Church on Marco Island, Florida,…

Centuries after his death, Martin Luther’s deep affection for home and children still lives on in his writings. In 1530 he wrote the following letter to his four-year-old son Hans. I was intrigued by it, by the gentle, loving, sensitive message to his little boy, from a man we know as the brave, determined monk who transformed the Christian church and changed the Christian world.  To my little son, Hans Luther, grace and peace in Christ. My heart-dear little son:…

“The giver of every good and perfect gift has called upon us to mimic God’s giving. by grace. through faith, and this is not of ourselves.” St. Nicholas of Myra, patron saint of children, sailors and merchants.   St Nicholas is a revered Christian saint who is celebrated for his piety, generosity, and numerous miracles. Little is known about the historical Saint Nicholas. The earliest accounts of his life were written centuries after his death and probably contain legendary elaborations.…

The previous issue of Graceviews contained an article in which I described aspects of my twelve years of Christian education in the Catholic school system.  I wasn’t sure how much interest there would be in such a personal story, and I was surprised that a number of you commented on it and told me you enjoyed it. One person, who I would have thought unlikely to send me an email but did, said that he could relate to it, having…

Did anyone happen to see the article that appeared in the Toronto Star on October 4, 2025, under the above headline, announcing the appointment of the first female Archbishop of Canterbury? Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London, was chosen as the Church of England’s spiritual leader; her appointment will be made official in a formal ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral in January. What a milestone for a five-hundred-year-old church dominated by a male hierarchy that, in England, ordained its first female priests…

 One of my favourite hymns in our Book of Praise, which unfortunately we very rarely sing, is And Can it Be That I Should Gain, by Charles Wesley. We sing many of Wesley’s hymns, and I have often wondered just who he was, that he seemed to be able to provide a hymn for every occasion. Our Book of Praise contains 19 of them. The Methodist hymn book Hymns and Psalms contains 150.  I had a vague idea that he…

This is one of my favourite prayers. As I read it, I picture a family, father, mother, several children, and perhaps grandparents, sitting around a table in reverent attitude as one of their members thanks and beseeches God in this perfect prayer of thanksgiving and intercession. It would be equally suitable for our church family as we assemble each Sunday for worship.  Lord, behold our family here assembled. We thank thee for this place in which we dwell; for the…

I am the product of a thoroughly Christian education – Catholic elementary schools through Grade 8, and Saint Joseph’s High School, a private, all-girls convent school, through Grade 12.  Public funding was not fully extended to Catholic high schools until 1984, under Premier Bill Davis. Whether this should be the case in our modern diverse society is an argument for another day, but the first British North America Act of 1867 guaranteed public education support (up to Grade 8) to…

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.”                                                     Margaret Mead With help from an essay by Joanna Strong and Tom B. Leonard, from The Book of Virtues, edited by William J. Bennett.  The year was 1862. The Civil War was raging in America. In the battlefields of the country, men were dying, left maimed and bleeding on the field until the battle was…

Since you-know-who took office you-know-where, Canadian patriotism has been soaring. In honour of Canada Day 2025,  and in honour of Simcoe Day, celebrated in Ontario on the first Monday of August every year, let’s find out just who Simcoe was. John Graves Simcoe was a British army officer, politician and colonial administrator who served as Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada (Ontario) from 1791 to 1796. He founded York, now Toronto, and was instrumental  in introducing courts of law, trial by jury,…