Pulpitations

If, one year into the Diocesan Renewal, you are still searching for a way to jump start your spiritual life, consider picking up Fr. Edmund Vargas’ book of reflections. Fr. Edmund is the pastor of St. Michael’s in Calgary and his first book “Pulpitations” (2024) boasts a catchy title, original art by Calgarian Scott Kelly, and years of wisdom condensed between its soft covers. Each of the essays is only a page long and written in understandable - if occasionally eclectic - words. They are actually homily notes from Fr. Edmund’s many sermons. Over the years he polished his presentations and now offers them for us to ponder. If there is any drawback to this plan, it is in the overabundance of ideas within a single essay. 

Topics range from scripture stories to liturgical seasons, each story bearing an intriguing title, and all clearly laid out in the table of contents. This layout is ideal for readers to browse and select something relevant for their day. He has included amusing anecdotes, as well as quotations, both religious and secular, to keep the pace lively.

As interesting as the contents of “Pulpitations” are, the story of how the book came to fruition is even more engaging. In April 2024, on the occasion of his 45th anniversary of ordination, Fr. Edmund was urged by Jim Jarrell, an active parishioner at St. Michael’s, to compile the knowledge he’d gained over his decades of faithful service. Jim offered to raise funds to publish these thoughts and even wrote the book’s foreword. “If Jim didn’t come forward I wouldn’t have done this,” Fr. Edmund said. After sifting through his notes, Fr. Edmund selected just over 100 sermons and proceeded to translate and summarize them for a different audience. It helped that he had experience as a magazine writer and editor from his university days and beyond. A scant forty days later the book was finished. “I considered it my Lenten practice,” Fr. Edmund laughed. “It’s not like a novel,” he cautioned, suggesting that readers should take time to pray and reflect on, say, one piece a day.

Fr. Edmund’s goals for the book are modest. He plans to offer it to his parish but also make it available to others who may be nostalgic for his approachable style of teaching. “People who’ve known me over generations might share it with their children”, Fr. Edmund posits, reminiscing about people he met early in his career who now have children and grandchildren raised in the faith. For others, the power of any Christian writing is in its ability to let us hear the voice of God and respond. To paraphrase Fr. Edmund, “Your thoughts become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your life, and your life becomes your eternity.”       

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Written by Alice Matisz for Faithfully. ​Alice lives in Lethbridge with her husband Don. She is a member of All Saints Parish where she volunteers to bring the Eucharist to a long term care home (pre-Covid). She enjoys reading, writing, baking and painting. 

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“Pulpitations” costs $20 and is available at St. Michael’s Parish in Calgary or by emailing [email protected] ​