June 24, 2007
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
June 24th, 2007
These are notes for a homily I was preparing for the feast of St. John the Baptist, but I had to toss them aside to address a more urgent issue in our parish – suffering. For some reason known only to God, in the past two weeks in our parish there have been more people sick, suffering or dying than at any one time that I can recall in the past 3 years.
I’m not going to list all the names because some of them are private people, but most have heard about Justin McKenna’s accident and the family thanks you for the hundreds of prayers that are helping him recover. And there are many, many other people in our parish sick or suffering – physically, emotionally, spiritually.
First of all, I want to remind all of you that you are never alone in your suffering, whatever form it might take. That’s one way the devil will attempt to discourage us – by trying to persuade us that we are all alone in our suffering, that no one can sympathize with us, that God has abandoned us, and so on. It’s not true!
What is your particular Cross right now? Physical sickness, the pains of old age, heart problems, cancer? You are not alone. Not only in the world at large, but also in our own parish many people are suffering as you are. Are you struggling through emotional pain in a broken or unfulfilling relationship with a spouse, parent, child or friend? Believe me you are not alone. Not only can other people in this parish sympathize with you, but Jesus Christ our Lord, from his own personal experience, knows all about broken or unfulfilling relationships with people. And finally, if you are suffering spiritually in your relationship with God – doubts, fears, lack of trust, anger – anything – you are not alone.
The grass only appears greener on the other side of the fence – when you see your neighbours posing for a family photo and every one is so happy and they love each other so much! I once saw a cartoon in which the devil was crouching on the other side of the fence, painting the grass green! It’s an illusion to think that other people and other families do not suffer.
So why don’t we ever talk about it? Why do we spend so much time and energy pretending there is no suffering in our lives, as if we are actors in a commercial for mini-vans or cornflakes, paid to smile all the time no matter how we feel inside? Why do we have to act? Why can’t we be ourselves? What are we afraid of?
Now I’m not suggesting that we wear our hearts on our sleeves and the next time a mere acquaintance meets you and asks, “how are you doing?” that you start bawling. But surely, God has provided some people in our lives with whom we can let down our defenses, to whom we can talk about how we are really doing, so that we can share our burdens and find some strength and consolation in our sufferings.
OK, now that I’ve got that out of my system, I will speak a little bit about John the Baptist. Today we celebrate the joy of his birth, but we cannot forget his suffering and martyrdom, which foreshadowed the suffering and crucifixion of Christ. I propose for your meditation one word that speaks to me and describes the attitude of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ toward suffering, one word that contradicts common sense but teaches us a deep Gospel truth about coping with suffering. Be defense-less. Yes, that is how John the Baptist and Jesus Christ chose to face the sufferings of this life — by being defence-less, to better express their total trust in God.
Remember how John the Baptist referred to Christ? “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn 1:29). Jesus Christ was a gentle, trusting lamb that was led to the slaughter (Jer 12:19). John too was gentle and trusting, allowing himself to be arrested and imprisoned by Herod, eventually resulting in having his head chopped off (Mk 6:17-29).
Jesus instructs us in the Gospel to be as defenceless as he was, for he says to the disciples that he sends us out like lambs — to be gentle and trusting, and to be as simple and innocent as doves (Mt 10:16). He also teaches us not to resist evil but to turn the other cheek – to be defence-less (Mt 5:39). Furthermore, Jesus repeats many times that in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, we must become like children (Mt 18:3). Who is more defence-less than a child, especially one in the womb?
This teaching contradicts common sense, especially when many of us treat life like a hockey game or other sports, in which you need a good defence or other people will score on you and you will lose the game. But in order to be successful and “win” at life, we need to love and be loved. If someone defends himself behind castle walls 40 feet high and 10 feet thick, how can he love and be loved? Or if he walks around with a shield and sword and armour? How can love penetrate that heart?
Jesus urges us to turn the other cheek, to be as gentle as lambs, as innocent as doves and as defense-less as a child so that we can be loved. Yes, it is demanding to be defense-less, but if we are not willing to risk being hurt and to accept suffering, then we will never know the joy of being loved.
John the Baptist, as a new-born baby and a little child, was surrounded by love and joy in his family and in his community. He carried that child-like heart into adulthood, a heart totally open to both suffering and love; that’s one reason God chose him to be the precursor of the Messiah, to prepare the way for Christ’s coming.
The words of John the Baptist, like the words of Christ in the Gospel, provoked suffering among many of his listeners, especially with harsh words like, “you brood of vipers! Who told you to flee the coming wrath?”(Mt 3:7) But God sent John with these harsh words of repentance and suffering in order to prepare the people not for his wrath, but his mercy, for the coming of the gentle Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
In his Apostolic Letter on the Christian meaning of human suffering, John Paul II wrote that “it is suffering, more than anything else, which clears the way for the grace which transforms human souls” (#26). Suffering prepares the way for grace; it prepares the way for Christ. On Tuesday, a friend was referring to this letter and the insight it gave him that we have a choice in how we respond to suffering – it can make us bitter or better.
In Holy Communion which we are about to receive, in this month of June in which we have celebrated Corpus Christi, we will receive Him whom John announced – the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. See how gentle, trusting and defense-less he is in the Host in Holy Communion, allowing himself to be carried about like a little child, allowing himself to be re-crucified (Heb 6:6) by ungrateful hearts and souls that receive him in mortal sin. Please do not re-crucify this gentle Lamb by receiving him in a state of sin. Let us receive him with pure and open hearts, so that through all our sufferings – physical, emotional and spiritual, we will become not bitter people, but better people, for whom Christ is our consolation and our joy.
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June 10, 2007
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Year C, 10 June 2007
I have here in my hands a letter from Fr. Cadieux of Metcalfe to Archbishop Vachon of Ottawa, dated May 25th, 1947:
“In view of the coming Marian Congress and due to the fact you have such a lively devotion to our Blessed Mother I would appreciate it if it would please your Excellency to dedicate the new Mission to ‘Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.’ Wishing your Excellency everything good and godly, I am, your Excellency’s humble and obedient servant.” The decree for the establishment of the mission, (our parish), was signed on May 30th, 1947. Providentially, later this same year, on July 27th, 1947, Catherine Laboure, the visionary of the Miraculous Medal, was declared a saint.
Fr. Cadieux’s reference to the Marian Congress in Ottawa in 1947, in which 100 000 people participated in a procession from the Cathedral to Landsdowne Park, calls to mind the Eucharistic Congress to be held in Quebec in 2008 (you can see the banner hanging behind me). The Eucharistic Congress, and the feast of Corpus Christi, which we celebrate today are meant to strengthen our faith and appreciation of Christ’s true presence in the Sacrament of Love, the Eucharist.
May 30, 1947 may be the official date for the founding of our parish, but one could argue that July 6, 1947 was a more important date, for on this date something supernatural and miraculous occurred at 120 Mill Street, so that the people of Russell could truly exclaim, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with us!” (Rev 21:3). What happened on July 6th, 2007? The first Mass was celebrated in Russell in a small chapel in a renovated house.
Our current Church building was constructed in 1961, and continually improved upon thanks to the inspiration of many former pastors and the hard work and selfless dedication of many parishioners who wanted to make a worthy dwelling place for God. Thanks to all those who continue to maintain, clean and decorate this temple of God. We could celebrate a valid Eucharist in an arena or a school gym. But Catholics build churches and cathedrals to house the blessed Sacrament; we build temples for God because of our faith in Christ truly present in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood.
In today’s Scripture we see some foreshadowing of the Eucharist long before the building of churches and cathedrals. Melchizedek “brought out bread and wine” (Gen 14:18-20) into Abraham’s tent. And St. Paul, in the second reading, refers to the primitive Eucharist that the early Christians celebrated in their homes. Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes in a “deserted place” (Lk 9:11-17), reminiscent of the Israelites receiving the miracle of the manna in the desert, when the temple of God was a tent. But once the people settled in the Promised Land, they eventually did build a magnificent temple for God. So I thank all the parishioners of OLMM past and present who have contributed so that we do not have to celebrate the Eucharist in a living room, tent or gym, but in our church.
Christ dwells in the tabernacles of our Churches so that he can live in the temple of our souls. There are many aspects of a worthy reception of the Eucharist, but today I will focus on only one – listening.
In the Pope’s Apostolic Exhortation, The Sacrament of Charity (highlights of which are in the bulletin insert which I encourage you all to read), he speaks of active participation at Mass which includes listening and silence (#52, 55). If someone visits your home and you are blasting loud music or watching TV during the entire visit, have you really received this person? Similarly, if we eat the Body of Christ but don’t listen to what Christ is saying to us during Mass in the readings, the prayers, the homily and our own conscience, have we really received him? In fact, those who cannot receive Holy Communion either because they are not Catholic or their marital situation does not permit them to receive, these people, if they listen to Christ, actually receive him more than those who munch on a wafer and have no faith.
I once heard Red Green tell this joke: Men, have you ever had this experience? You are enjoying a quiet Saturday morning at home, relaxing, reading the paper and stirring your coffee, then you look up and your wife is staring right at you . . . and you realize . . . she’s been talking to you . . . but you weren’t listening. We all have moments like that when we are daydreaming and not paying attention, right . . . we all have moments like that when we are daydreaming and not paying attention, right? But can you imagine being like that every day . . . in a marriage? Or every Sunday during Mass?
Do you have any idea what you miss out on when you do not actively participate in Mass by listening attentively?
I have here in my hands a selection from the Word of God from today’s readings, meant personally for you. But are you listening in order to receive these words into your ears and your heart, or are you just “stirring your coffee?” off in la-la land? Then these words are lost. What good are they to you laying on the floor? I also have here in my hands one short phrase from today’s homily that is meant personally for you. But are you listening in order to receive it into your ears and your heart, or are you just “stirring your coffee?” lost in your own little world?
(Throw words)
I know what it’s like to sit in the pew during Mass. Not just when I was a layman, but I did it two weeks ago while concelebrating Archbishop Gervais’s farewell Mass on the feast of the Visitation. And I know what it’s like to be tempted to daydream or give in to the critical spirit that prevents us from receiving the Word of God through another person. So I made a real effort to pay attention, saying, “Lord, please speak to me personally today through the readings and the Archbishop’s homily. I am listening, Lord. Please speak to me.”
And the words that I heard I share with you today because I believe they are God’s word to us through the Archbishop. These words have fallen to the ground, but I will pick them up again and read them if you will listen. The first is from today’s second reading, 1 Cor 11:24, in which Jesus says to you personally, “this is my body for you.” “This is proof of how much I love you – I am giving you my Body and Blood to eat and drink!” The second come from the Archbishop’s homily. It says, “you are easy to love” and “God rejoices in you.” Aren’t those words a great comfort? Take them to heart: “you are easy to love” and “God rejoices in you!”
I was looking over our parish album from 1997 from our fiftieth anniversary, and I was thoroughly enjoying seeing what all of you looked like 10 years ago. Now it is true that all of you look a bit older, but I hasten to add, more beautiful! Yes! Almost as if the light shining in your eyes is brighter now than it was 10 years ago. Obviously, receiving the Body and Blood of Christ every Sunday for 10 years is going to have some effect in us, isn’t it?
Listen to what Benedict writes in The Sacrament of Charity: “the substantial conversion of bread and wine into (Christ’s) body and blood introduces within creation the principle of a radical change, a sort of ‘nuclear fission’ . . . (and) a process leading ultimately to the transfiguration” of each individual and of the entire world ((#11, 71).
Think of the energy released when an atom is split in nuclear fission. The Pope is comparing that to the transforming energy released in us when we receive Holy Communion in faith, so that we can be transfigured and shine with the beauty of God!
It gives a whole new meaning to calling someone “hot.” So, men, the next time you hear someone speaking about one of our sisters in the parish, saying, “she’s hot!” You can say, “you’re right. Nuclear fission, man. Holy Communion every Sunday!”
Christ truly dwells with us in the tabernacles of our Churches so that he can live and reign in the temple of our souls. We carry him in triumphant procession through the streets of Russell, proclaiming to all our neighbours that the miracle that first happened in Russell on July 6th, 2007 continues to this day: in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood we can truly say, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with us!”
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June 3, 2007
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Year C, 3 June 2007
Children, who made this flower? (God) Could you say that Jesus made this flower? (Sort of, but we might imagine Jesus saying, in the words of wisdom from the first reading, “When (God) marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master worker” (Proverbs 8:22-31) We usually say that all things that exist come from God the Father, through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit (Cathechism #258). All things come from the Holy Trinity.
Normally, when we talk about creation, we talk about God the Father. As we say in the Creed, “I believe in God, the Father the Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth,” of all the beautiful flowers of May and June, the lilacs and lilies of the valley, the moon and the stars which he established, and human beings that He made a little lower than God (in the words of today’s Psalm 8).
Let me ask you another question. When you pray to God, whom do you think about? When you say, “God, bless my family.” To whom are you praying? God the Father, or God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit? I think most people pray to Jesus; I think he’s the person to whom I usually pray. But we shouldn’t forget the Father and the Holy Spirit!
If we think about the prayers of the Mass, to whom are we praying? (Mostly the Father). “Father, all powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The model of prayer, as seen in the Eucharist is to the Father, through the Son, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.
Last week on Pentecost, we spoke about the Holy Spirit. Next week, on Corpus Christi and the 60th anniversary celebration of our parish, we will focus on God the Son truly present in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood. So this week I would like to speak about God the Father and St. Joseph as our spiritual father. In our culture today, it seems that God the Father, the first Person of the Holy Trinity to be revealed (in the Old Testament) is now the first one to be forgotten. Why do some people feel so distant from God the Father?
I recently read this book on healing and deliverance called Unbound by Neil Lozano. I know I can relate to some of the author’s experiences, and I think that some of you will too. He explains how he struggled since childhood with an unnamed fear in his life, that he was labelled as shy, and that as a young man, he looked for ways to avoid pain through drinking and parties. He received much healing over the years, but still something was missing.
Then he had the following insight resulting in this testimony: “I didn’t relate to God as Father . . . I did not know God the Father. What’s more, it seemed that the root of my block lay in my relationship with my dad. I didn’t have bad memories of him; I just didn’t have enough memories. Alcohol kept him emotionally distant. Work kept him physically absent. His father had died when he was two years old, and he couldn’t give me what he had not received.”
So what did Neil Lozano decided to do? Condemn his children to be deprived like he was of a close relationship with their father? No! He went to a priest-relative of his for healing prayer and he opened his heart to receive the Father’s love. Lozano writes, “Jesus showed me the Father and I received the Father’s blessing. My self-perception of being an outcast in my family was exposed. God removed the lie and placed in me the truth that I was loved. . . God (the Father) touched me and gave me a new ability to love others . . .” (143-44).
He experienced what St. Paul wrote about in the second reading: “God (the Father’s) love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rom 5:1-5).
It is a common sense truth that our relationship with our natural fathers – and the crisis in fatherhood in our culture today – influence our relationship with God our Father. So it makes a big difference if our natural fathers are like St. Joseph or Darth Vader (whom I mention since it was the 30th anniversary last week of the release of the original Star Wars). But even if a father chooses to go over to the dark side, there’s always hope. St. Joseph, and the Oratory in Montreal dedicated to him, are great signs of hope for fatherhood in our times. We had a fantastic pilgrimage last Saturday and all of us are now looking forward to our next adventure (mention Walking Pilgrimage).
The Oratory in Montreal, where St. Joseph watches over all of Canada, is the largest shrine in the world dedicated to St. Joseph. I believe it is also a monument to God the Father, because Joseph is the vicar or representative of God the Father, and “the spiritual father of all the faithful” (St. Joseph: A Theological Introduction by Michael D. Griffin, p. 28). Devotion to St. Joseph can be a key to the renewal of fatherhood in our times. Some of us pilgrims to the Oratory have been inspired to prepare a prayer-corner in the back of the Church with a statue of St. Joseph and some candles where we can call upon St. Joseph as a patron of families, of workers, of the dying, of Canada, of the Universal Church, and as a representative of God the Father.
What are some of the effects or benefits of receiving the Father’s love and blessing, of re-discovering a close relationship with God our Father? I only have time to mention two:
1) deliverance from irrational fear and anxiety
2) the capacity to live in the present moment and enjoy the beauty of life
We live in an age of anxiety and of fatherlessness. The two are linked. The loving protection of a father is meant to shield the family and children from all danger, and from all irrational fear and anxiety, as St. Joseph protected Mary and Jesus from the murderous threats of Herod. With the presence of a loving father, the strong man that guards his house, (Mt 12:29) we know that we are safe and that nothing can harm us.
We can imagine St. Joseph holding the child Jesus by that hand as he takes him for a walk, and teaching him, as later Jesus would teach us, saying to his son, “Look at the birds of the air and how our heavenly Father feeds them . . . and consider the flowers of the field, how our heavenly Father clothes them with such beauty. So we must not worry about our lives, my son, about what we will eat or drink or wear. Our Father in heaven will take care of us.” (See Mt 6: 25-34)
We can also imagine St. Joseph the Worker — the patron of those looking for work and overburdened with work — we can imagine him labouring with his teenage son in the carpentry shop, calmly laying down his tools even in the middle of a job, because the sun is setting and the Sabbath day is beginning, and he says, “we will finish our work later. Now it is time for our family to rest and pray together.”
Let us ask for the intercession and protection of our spiritual father St. Joseph, that we may re-discover a close relationship with God our Father, be delivered from irrational fear and anxiety, and recover the capacity to live in the present moment and enjoy the beauty of life, symbolized by the flowers of May and June, whose perfume reminds us of the fragrance of the garden of paradise, where our first parents walked in harmony with one another and with God in perfect peace, contentment and joy, which God our Father offers to all of us, through his Son Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
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Homilies