September 24, 2006
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Twenty-fifth Sunday, Year B, September 24th
I remember the first time I went to the so-called “Third World” when I was 19 – I travelled to Acapulco, not to serve others , but to be served — lots of Corona while lying on the beach. And I can honestly say that apart from the natural pleasure of escaping the Canadian winter, it was a depressing holiday. But in my visits to El Salvador, such as our recent missionary trip in July, we went to serve, and even though we are white, powerful, wealthy, English-speaking North Americans, we tried to be the “last of all and the servant of all” (9:35), working arm-in-arm with our poor brothers and sisters, either sweating in the warehouse or at the farm, visiting seniors and families, and so on.
We also worked with children. Jesus tells us in the Gospel “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name,welcomes me” (Mk 9:37). Each member of our missionary team personally experienced the truth of these words, particularly in the time we spent at the orphanage and at the hospital for malnourished children. We met Jesus in the faces of the poor, especially the children. And I hope and pray that we all became a little bit more like children – poor in spirit and humble before God.
In the Gospel, Jesus put a little child among the disciples as an example to them, to be poor in spirit and humble like a child. Jesus was disturbed by the pride of the disciples, since they were arguing about who was the greatest (Mk 9:34). Today our Lord is still disturbed by our pride in our modern, technological, and affluent western civilization – this automatic, unconscious pride that makes us think and act and live our daily lives as if we have no need of God. In our pride we tend to serve ourselves and focus on our pleasures. Does this really make us happy?
St. James, in the First Reading, warns Christians not to spend what they get on their selfish pleasures, in part because such selfishness leads to unhappiness — the wars and conflicts among us come from our pleasures that are at war within us (4:1). Rather, we find happiness in serving others for love of God, in response to His love for us.
I believe that Jessica, Julia, and Jeremy (and Sue who could not be here today) will attest that we found peace and joy not in spending what we got on our selfish pleasures, but by serving others and sharing with them. I want to thank all of you parishioners who shared with us by donating to this mission, so that we in turn could share with our poor friends in El Salvador.
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September 17, 2006
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Twenty-fourth Sunday, Year B, September 17, 2006
You may be wondering why there’s a paddle in front of the lectern. Today I will tell you the story of one of the first white men who canoed and portaged up the Ottawa river – right past Parliament Hill. He came here for love of Jesus Christ and love of souls. He is in many ways “our father in faith” because he helped to establish Catholicism in Canada. His life is perhaps the greatest untold Canadian adventure story. Who is he? He’s right up there on our banner (Canadian martyrs) – St. Jean de Brebeuf, the Apostle to the Hurons.
The feast of the Canadian Martyrs is not until September 26th, but next week we will be hearing about the El Salvador mission trip, and the words of today’s Gospel perfectly describe the life of this heroic martyr: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
I could tell you the details of his cruel torture and martyrdom at the hands of the Iroquois, for, like the Suffering Servant of the first reading, and like Jesus Himself, St. Jean gave his back to those who struck him . . . and much more in horrific detail . . . but I thought I would focus instead on how he carried his cross by carrying his canoe on portage and paddling it on a 1200 km journey from Trois-Riviere to Lake Huron (passing through the current site of Ottawa). It usually took 20 to 30 days of paddling and portaging from sunrise to sunset. They had to make 35 portages of 5, 10 or 15 km, carrying 70 lbs loads, going back and forth 4 times, and they also had to drag their canoes 50 times. Remember that here in Ottawa, on the river, we have the Remic and Deschenes Rapids, and a place called “Place du Portage” in Gatineau. So St. Jean de Brebeuf and his companions set foot not too far from where we are today.
They slept on the ground with a rock for a pillow. They were scorched by the sun by day and tormented by hordes of mosquitoes at night. For food, they had only corn and water, eaten at sunrise and sunset. Add to that the constant danger of drowning, travelling in rough waters in birchbark canoes. No wonder that Jean de Brebeuf warned others that without an unmortified heart, (without a love of the Cross), they would find in Canada, (in the 17th century) only physical and mental illness (Jean de Brebeuf’s Writings by Rene Latourelle, p. 42)
I am telling you about St. Jean de Brebeuf and the Canadian martyrs today for three main reasons. First of all, in recommending devotion to the martyrs, I am not proposing some newfangled, personal and idiosyncratic piety. It’s not as if I’m a Hungarian priest saying, “you must prray St. Stephen of Hungarry. He is grrate saint.” I’m talking about the Canadian martyrs because they’re Canadian. They’re our saints! St. Jean and his companions are like our fathers in faith because they helped establish the Catholic faith in our land, and from their place in heaven they watch over us still. They love us and pray for us. We should get to know them. On our parish pilgrimage to Quebec City in May, we were told the story of how Jean de Brebeuf, after his martyrdom, used to appear and converse with Blessed Catherine of St. Augustine, who asked him one day, “who will take care of the Church in Canada?” And he replied, “I will take care of the Church in Canada.” Interesting . . .
2) He brought Jesus to Canada, and makes Jesus more real to us as Canadians. Not only did he translate the Gospel into the Huron language, one could say that he translated Jesus Christ into Canadian.
In Israel 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ walked the Earth, took up His Cross for love of us; He was tortured, crucified, and rose again. Did you ever wonder how Jesus would have lived had He come to Canada? . . . He would have lived and died like St. Jean de Brebeuf. In fact, we could even be so bold to say that Jesus Christ did carry His Cross up the Ottawa River, in the person of St. Jean de Brebeuf carrying his canoe on portage and paddling up the river.
3) Also, we can learn from the Canadian martyrs to be courageous in our own suffering. Life isn’t that bad in Canada in the 21st century, is it? Someone I know who is a devout Catholic has noisy neighbours who stay up late partying. One night when he couldn’t sleep, partly because of noise, he thought of St. Jean de Brebeuf and said to himself, “I’ve had enough to eat today, my arms and back aren’t aching from paddling all day, no mosquitoes are biting me, my pillow is much softer than a rock. Things aren’t so bad.” There are other examples . . . Mothers exhausted from waking up with crying babies or sick children . . . those who endure the aches and pains of old age . . . we can all learn from St. Jean’s example of patience in suffering.
Concerning the trials of his extremely gruelling and exhausting journey from Trois-Riviere to Lake Huron that I described to you, Jean de Brebeuf wrote, “my soul experienced great peace, from the thought that I was suffering all this for God. No one will ever know this peace unless he experiences it” (Jean de Brebeuf’s Writings by Rene Latourelle, p. 57). When we are working hard to support a family or making sacrifices for love of others, or as Christians taking up the Cross and patiently enduring the difficulties of life we can also say, “I am at peace, because I know I am suffering all this for God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
A biographer adds that “the secret of Jean de Brebeuf’s strength is found in his extraordinary love of Jesus Christ” (57). For St. Jean, it’s as if Jesus Christ had just died on the Cross for him and His Blood is not yet dry – so deeply moved was he by God’s love for him – even though St. Jean lived one thousand six hundred years after Christ! So what difference does another four hundred years make?
If we are impatient, or discouraged, or unhappy in our sufferings, perhaps it is because we do not appreciate the love with which Jesus Christ suffered and died for us, to take away our sins and make us happy! And if we are not deeply convinced of this love, like St Jean and the martyrs were, perhaps it is because we simply do not care enough to pray . . . to take the time to talk to Christ . . . to look at a crucifix and meditate in silence . . .
To those who struggled with a weak faith, Catherine Doherty said, “Pray, and God will give you the faith of martyrs.”
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September 10, 2006
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Homily for the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 10, 2006
“Listen carefully, my children, to the master’s instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart.”
This is the opening line of the Rule of St. Benedict, taken from the fourth chapter of the Book of Proverbs. St. Benedict realised that the key to learning is listening, and not just with our ears, with our logical mind, but with the “ear of our heart”, our soul, our faith.
The prophecy of Isaiah in our first reading today looked forward to the return of the exiled Israelites from Babylon. But, was the prophecy fulfilled when they returned? The deaf, the blind, and the lame were not literally healed at that point. Maybe they then understood this to be symbolic, an image of their freedom. And yet, when Jesus came, he literally, physically, healed people. Perhaps, both the symbolic and the physical meanings are true. God can cure our physical ailments, and He can also heal us so that we can see Him, hear Him, and walk with Him.
The man who was deaf was brought to Jesus by some friends. They had faith that Jesus could help, to the point that they begged Jesus to lay His hands on him. Some of us are unable to obtain help for ourselves, and rely on others to assist us. This does not just apply to the disabled. For example, at Baptism, we bring our children to God, because obviously they are unable to bring themselves. Toward the end of the baptismal ceremony, there is even the Ephphatha prayer, which is a direct link to today’s Gospel. It asks that Jesus touch the child’s ears to receive His word, and the child’s mouth to proclaim His word. Which is part of what we are all called to do by virtue of our own baptism.
In order for us to receive His word, we must listen with open ears. It is often good to do this in silence. We don’t always realise it, but God is with us, and we find Him by meditating on Him. In order to grow spiritually, our meditation is not directed inward. It is not done to empty ourselves, but to fill ourselves with God’s word, God’s will, and God’s love. It is through inclining the ear of our heart, listening to the word of God, by the reading of scripture, studying the teachings of the church, and reading faithful catholic literature, that we dispose ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit.
Although silence can be very conducive to hearing what God has to tell us, it is not always necessary. Within our hearts and souls, even right in the middle of the noise of everyday life, we can at all times converse with God, give Him thanks, and ask His favour and mercy. We can say a prayer at any time, and prayer builds our relationship with God. This past week at work was very difficult for me; I had to put in a lot of hours and it was quite stressful. One of the things that kept me going was taking a few seconds now and then for a quick prayer. Did God speak to me, making my problems disappear? Not exactly, but in a way He did by giving me the strength to work through them. For all of us, an intimate relationship with God supports us, and every relationship deepens with attentive listening.
Opening our own ears does not happen as immediately as the miracle Jesus performed. We can be resistant to what God has to say to us. Opening our ears to His word means being open to changing those things in our lives that may not quite be what God expects of us. Making those changes can be difficult, but our love for God, and His love for us, will support our efforts, and the changes should bring us closer to God and make us happier in the long run. Saint Augustine said after his conversion: “How sweet did it suddenly become to me to be free of the sweet things of folly; things that I once feared to lose it was now joy to put away”.
As long as we are on this earth, there will always be something in us that could be more oriented to God’s will. We don’t need to hear a voice to tell us what His will is (although, who knows, it may happen); we have scripture and the teachings of the church to guide us. We are very blessed that He has established so many ways to communicate with us; it is our responsibility to hear Him, and to accept and develop an understanding of how we should walk with Him, even if we might prefer saying “not now, Lord”. So let us all open our ears, and listen carefully to the master’s instructions.
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September 3, 2006
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Twenty-second Sunday, Year B, Sept. 3, 2006
How many people here are sad that it’s September? (Perhaps some students?) How many are glad? Have you seen this cartoon from Friday’s Ottawa Citizen? There’s a woman going to confession saying, “Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I told my kids that I am just as sad as they are that school is starting next week.” . . . I know no one in this parish would make such a confession . . . because hardly anybody goes to confession! . . . but that’s a topic for another day!
My message today is – it’s September, so relax! But it is also the beginning of a new pastoral year, so let us also be converted.
Some people think that life gets busier and more stressful in September. But I say no – relax! Remember the story of Mary and Martha? Martha was all stressed out, rushing around serving dinner and Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things, there is need of only one thing.” One thing. Do you have a busy life with too much to do? Why? There is need of only one thing. There’s only one thing you need to do. The will of God, as expressed in the commandments found in the Bible and in the teaching of the Church.
The readings today urge us to follow the commandments of God and not human tradition. One example of human tradition are the Jewish purification rituals as mentioned in the Gospel, such as the “the washing of cups, pots and bronze kettles” (Mark 7:4). Another is that tradition of years past of women having to cover their heads in Church. These are human traditions, not commandments of God.
But to be more personal and specific, human tradition can also refer to any human decision, desire, plan – anything human – that has nothing to do with the will of God and His commandments. In my own life, I have found that the cause of stress is rarely the commandments of God or the teaching of the Church, because God’s commandments are never burdensome; they actually give rest to our souls (“Come to me all who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest,“ says the Lord – Matthew 11:28)
The problem is our human desires and plans, our own restless self-will that is anxious and concerned about many things when there is need of only one thing – God’s will.
This simple truth helps me personally to approach September and my work as a priest in a much more positive manner. I don’t have to do everything, only one thing! God’s will . . . Why not take a moment sometime today and reflect on the busy-ness of your life. How much of what you do is the commandment of God, and how much is “human tradition” – meaning your own will and desire, your own decision to do something God is not asking of you?
Let’s face it – there are many stressful jobs in the world, not only in the marketplace but also in the home. But we have to work in order to eat and pay the bills. But even within a demanding job (or school work), there are often ways to work smarter, not harder. Very often the way we work, the priorities we set are not God’s will, but our own misguided human will – our workaholism, perfectionism, compulsion, guilt – whatever. Don’t be so anxious and worried about many things, when there is need of only one thing . . .
So as we “relax” this September from following our own busy will, let us also be converted by keeping the commandments of God. In the Gospel today, God speaks through the prophet Isaiah, quoted by Jesus, saying, “This people honours me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me” (Mark 7:6-7). Is this true of anyone here? That we draw near to God with our mouths and our lips, but our hearts are far from Him? That we say we are Catholic with our lips, but in our hearts we do not follow the commandments of God as expressed in the Bible or in the teachings of the Church?
For this coming pastoral year, which begins in September, I propose a collective resolution for our parish – that we will honour God not only with our lips, but also in our hearts, and that we will keep His commandments. I am not proposing more work, busy-ness or projects for our parish.
I am reminded of a joke told to me by my Jewish uncle. The Pope was gathered in a meeting with his cardinals in Rome when someone burst into the chamber and shouted: “The Lord has returned!” And the Pope said, “Quick everybody, look busy!” Obviously the purpose of the spiritual life – or a parish — is not activity for the sake of busy-ness, but among other things, to learn how to live the commandments of God and enter the kingdom of heaven.
I propose that we as a parish resolve to keep our promises to God, those we made in our baptism and confirmation, when we promised to keep His commandments, which for Catholics includes ALL the teachings of the Church on faith and morals, not just those we pick and choose according to a secular mindset or an uninformed conscience.
Let us strive to be converted, to change our lives, so that when Easter comes, and we collectively and publicly renew the promises of our baptism, we will do so not only with our lips, but also with our hearts, rejoicing that we have made real progress in coming to know, love and keep all the commandments of God.
For those who want to learn more about their faith and take seriously the promises of their baptism, we will be offering a short, uncomplicated “Introduction to Catholicism” course, following this textbook. In our Parish Council meetings of the last 2 years, the members expressed a need and desire for more catechesis, or adult faith development.
I suggest we meet 3 or 4 times a month for one hour maximum. You can sign up on the sheet in the foyer, and for $10 receive a copy of the book which you will be able to purchase, if you like, at the end of the course. Depending on the availability of those who sign up, we could meet on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday.
Any questions? . . . Let us all relax this September, and be converted.
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