January 27, 2008
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, January 27th, 2008
Tomorrow, January 28th, is a very sad anniversary for our country. It was twenty years ago tomorrow that the Supreme Court of Canada struck down all legal restrictions on abortion in Canada. In the words of columnist Rory Leishman, “as a result of this ruling, Canada is the only democracy in the world with the ignominious distinction of having no law to protect the life of a baby in the womb at any time during a pregnancy” (The Interim January 2008, p. 11). So, for example, in 2004, there were babies aborted in Canada who were 33 weeks old – 3 weeks away from being born and they were murdered (“Abortion. Have we gone too far?” Postcard). That’s OK in Canada.
The murder of innocent children is probably the greatest sin of our times, and abortion is an issue that is never going to disappear by ignoring it, and we can’t pretend like we don’t have a serious problem in a country that kills 100 000 of its citizens each year. This anniversary presents an opportunity to speak on this horrific sin that cries out to heaven, but to speak about it in the light of God’s infinite mercy. Though we may “sit in darkness” (Mt 4:16) in this culture of death, we have seen the “great light” (Mt 4:16) of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ whose innocent blood, shed for us, takes away our sins, and not our sins only, but those of the whole world (1 John 2:2).
What happened twenty years ago to those laws protecting unborn children? Justice Bertha Wilson and other judges on the Supreme Court ruled that restrictions on abortion violated the right to life, liberty and security of person in Section 7 of the 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Yes, restrictions on abortion were said to violate the right to life, liberty and security of women. What about the right to life of the unborn child? Justice Wilson ruled that the unborn child was only a “potential life,” flying in the face of all scientific evidence that life begins at conception (The Interim, January 2008).
Abortion affects everyone, our entire society. We are one body, especially as a Church, but also as a society. And as St. Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 12, “if one part (of the body) is honoured, all the parts share its joy,” but “if one part suffers (or sins), all the parts suffer with it” (1 Cor 12:26). Abortion affects everyone in our society, and one obvious example is the epidemic of depression in our culture.
Think about it. A society that permits 100 000 abortions a year is proclaiming by example an anti-Gospel. And this anti-Gospel is all around us – it’s in the airwaves and the media; we breathe it in and absorb it under our skin without even knowing it. And what is the content of this anti-Gospel? Human beings have no intrinsic dignity or worth. Created in the image of God? That means nothing. We destroy thousands of those little images of God every day. According to our “abortifacient” society, your dignity or worth depends upon whether or not someone else wants you or loves you or finds you somehow useful or productive. If not, you’re nothing but a burden; you’re expendable and disposable. That’s depressing. A society that permits 100 000 abortions a year is a depressing society, and if this anti-Gospel were true, I would be very depressed. We are all affected by this anti-Gospel whether we consciously realize it or not.
However, just as the prevalence of abortion in our society contributes to the epidemic of depression, so the opposite is true – the proclamation of the Gospel of life in our society contributes to the epiphany of joy – the fire of Christ’s love leaping out of His heart to shine on the entire globe – this heart on fire with love for us, truly present in the Blessed Sacrament in the Tabernacle and in the Mass. If we take some time to be with Christ during a Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration (the youth are hosting one this coming Friday), we will, in words of John Paul II “feel the infinite love present in his heart” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia #25).
In a Christian society, or in a person with a deep Christian faith, if you fail a test or lose your job or someone rejects you in a relationship, it’s difficult, yes, but there’s no need to get depressed because your dignity and worth as a human being does not depend on any of those things. You are a child of God even from the moment of your conception, but especially from the moment of your baptism . God has loved you even before you were born. You are created in the image of God – that’s the source of your dignity and worth, and nothing on earth or under the earth can ever take that away from you.
Let us proclaim the Gospel of life in our society and contribute to the epiphany of joy. Some people assume that to be pro-life equals public demonstrations and political action. That’s only a small part of it. To be pro-life means to be a Christian in all our thoughts, words and actions – in the words of Paul VI, “to revere and honour every person” (quoted by John Paul II in Gospel of Life, #85) to respect every single human being we ever meet throughout our entire lives as a brother or sister, created in the image of God. And as John Paul II put it in his beautiful and inspiring encyclical The Gospel of Life, to be pro-life also means to “sing songs of joy, praise and thanksgiving for the priceless gift of life” (#83). And don’t forget that to be pro-life also means to respect yourself as a child of God.
Some of you are so hard on yourselves! You judge and condemn yourselves! Why? I don’t condemn you; the Church doesn’t condemn you; God doesn’t condemn you. Then why do you judge and condemn yourself? It is so painful to see you do this to yourself! OK, you’re not perfect; you’ve failed at times; you’ve sinned . . .go to confession, but don’t be depressed . . . Don’t you know who you are? Or have you forgotten so easily? You are a daughter of the King, a Son of the Most High!
Therefore, “live as children of light,” advises St. Paul, “for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth” (Eph 5:8). He also urges us to “live as “children of God . . . in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world” (Phil 2:15).
We will never see an end to the holocaust of abortion or witness a rebirth of a culture of life unless our society is transformed from within, one person at a time, by passing on the light of the Gospel and the flame of faith, symbolized by the baptismal candle, from one person to another – you and I must pass on this flame to our family, friends and neighbours whose baptismal faith may be a smoldering wick or may have burnt out completely.
When Jesus Christ began to preach the Gospel of life, St. Matthew announced that the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled: the people who walked in darkness had seen a great light. How does this great light shine in the world today if not through the Church? The Church which includes every single person here, living and proclaim the Gospel, in private and in public, through all our thoughts, words and deeds.
Being pro-life does include public demonstrations and political action. In fact, I don’t think it is possible to be a Christian in the 21st century while excluding public demonstrations and political action. For your little piece of political action, we can make it easy for you: we have at each entrance 100 copies of this postcard in commemoration this 20th anniversary of the removal of all legal restrictions on abortion (“Abortion. Have we gone too far?”) that you can fill out and mail to our MP. Of course our MP Pierre Lemieux is already pro-life. He is not only a devout Catholic but also a very intelligent man and dedicated and hard-working MP. Still, it always helpful for MP’s to receive this kind of correspondence from their constituents. It does make a difference.
For our next public demonstration, I invite every single able-bodied person here to attend the March for Life in May. We’ll rent a bus for the parish and have a party, singing songs of joy, praise and thanksgiving for the priceless gift of life! So please plan ahead: book the day off work and sign your children out of school. The March for Life is worth it.
“The Lord is my light and my salvation” we responded in today’s Psalm. And to where does the light of the Lord lead us? Another psalmist declares: Lord, “send forth your light and your truth, let these be my guide, and let them bring me . . . where? . . . “ to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell, and I will come to the altar of God, the God of my joy” (Psalm 43) It is from this altar that we receive our joy, the sacred body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we go out as bold apostles into the darkness of this culture of death, and live as “children of light,” producing “every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.”
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January 20, 2008
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 20th, 2008
It was a hundred years ago this week that an Anglican minister named Paul Wattson felt called by God to pray for Christian unity. He had already helped to found a Anglican religious community that was later received into the Catholic Church. In 1908, his community initiated the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which later became universal in the Catholic Church, and is also recognized by many other Christian Churches.
Even though it is the hundred year anniversary, it is still very difficult
to get Christians excited about Christian unity. Even when we remind people that the unity of all Christians is the express will of Christ, who prayed “that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me” (Jn 17:21). And even though Cardinal Kasper recently stated that “‘the unsparing effort for the restoration of the full and visible unity of all Christ’s followers’ is, for the Catholic Church, ‘not an optional choice but a sacred obligation’” (First Things February 2008, p.65). Unfortunately, many Catholics would find it more interesting to listen to a lecture on . . . I don’t know . . . the mating habits of the long-horned beetle than a homily on Christian unity!
But working for Christian unity can be fun! We had an ecumenical Theology on Tap together recently at Russell House, and we have another one coming up on Jan. 27th (a talk being given by a Catholic priest this time). We also had the Life Chain in October with the Reformed Presbyterian Church. And the ministers of Russell gather once a month for lunch. I enjoy very much gathering with Matt Kingswood from the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Suzanne Sykes and George Hermanson from the United Church, Jan Staniforth from the Anglican Church, and last time Vinita Baker of Ambassador Ministries also joined us. Working for Christian unity can be fun! The Catechism actually mentions that some of the paths toward the unity of Christians are “fraternal knowledge of each other” and “meetings among Christians of the different churches and communities” (#821).
The Catechism also states that one of the main paths to the unity of Christians is “conversion of heart as the faithful ‘try to live holier lives according to the Gospel’” (#821). How is it that St. Paul addressed the people of Corinth in the second reading? He was writing to ALL the parishioners in Corinth, young and old, men, women and children, married, single, widowed – to all the people. And how did he address them? “To those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints” (1 Cor 1:2). Holiness is a path to unity.
I would like to share with you my dream for the means to Christian unity. Now you can’t tell any Protestants that I said this; it has to be a secret between us, OK? “Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days ten men of every nationality, speaking different tongues, shall take hold, yes, take hold of every (Catholic) by the edge of his garment and say, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” This is an exact quote from the prophet Zechariah (8:23); I only added one word – “Catholic.”
That’s my dream for the means to Christian unity! The holiness of Catholics irresistibly drawing all Christians into the unity of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church! What? You can’t imagine your non-Catholic neighbour grabbing you by the edge of your coat and saying, “I have heard and seen by your way of life that God is with you. I want what you have!” That doesn’t happen to you? It could!
Working for Christian unity can be fun, it calls us to holiness, and it also reminds us that we as Christians are meant to be one family; sadly, we are a broken family that we desperately want to see united. Does anyone here have a brother or sister with whom you haven’t spoken in a while, with whom you would like to be much closer? When is the last time you had a good talk with a distant brother or sister? Did God intend for families to be so divided? When we take time to reflect, it is very sad when families are broken and brothers and sisters are estranged.
It is the same with disunity and distrust among Christian denominations. It is the very sad result of human sin, and far from being the direct will of God. We must pray and work toward the unity of the Christian family.
We Catholics can help to unite our own families and the Christian family by responding to the call to be holy, and also by being servants. The readings today focus on Jesus as the Servant of the Lord, (First Reading, Isaiah 49:3, 5-6) “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29), the One who says to the Father, “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will” (Psalm 40), to offer my life in sacrifice, to “gather into one the dispersed children of God” (Jn 11:52).
I believe that Catholics have a greater obligation than other Christians to be holy and to be servants. As Jesus clearly explains in another Gospel, “everyone to whom much is given, of him will much be required, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more” (Lk 12:48).
We can’t say that Catholics have more faith than Protestants; obviously it depends on the individual, and only God can judge that. But we can say with absolute truth that Catholics receive more grace than Protestants because of the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist, and through the intercession of Mary the Mediatrix of all graces. Therefore, we have a greater responsibility than other Christians to be holy and to be servants.
Again I use the analogy of family or marriage. Not all members of one family have the same degree of faith. Often, one spouse has more faith than the other. What does the Lord say to the person with more faith? “Everyone to whom much is given of him or her will much be required, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.” More sacrifices are required of the spouse or family member with more faith. More sacrifices and more love are required of Catholics than of other Christians.
Finally, I would also like to add that in following the path toward unity, Catholics should be more, not less, Catholic. For example, we should talk about the Blessed Virgin Mary with Protestants. After all, she is the Mother of God and the Mother of us all. Interestingly, on this exact date, January 20, back in 1842, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal (Mary as she appears on the Miraculous Medal) appeared to an anti-Catholic Jew named Alphonse Ratisbonne. He had reluctantly agreed to a friend’s challenge to wear the Miraculous Medal and to recite a prayer to Mary each day. When Mary appeared to him in the Church of San Andrea della Frate in Rome, he was converted on the spot and became a Catholic and later a priest.
He attributed his conversion not only to the intercession of Mary, but also, I might add, to all the prayers of the members of the Archconfraternity of Prayer for the Conversion of Sinners. As you can see from our bulletin, the Archbishop has given permission for our parish to join this archconfraternity, and you can also sign up for an individual membership by filling out on of these pamphlets in the foyer. Perhaps it will make the difference in the conversion of one of your loved ones.
Mary, as our Mother and as the mediatrix of all graces, is constantly praying for the conversion and unity of all Christians, and constantly directing us to her Son truly present in the Eucharist,either during Mass or in the tabernacle during a Holy Hour, such as the one we are having on the Friday, February 1st. With Mary we live the Eucharist! Don’t forget the theme of this pastoral year! As we are united to Jesus in Holy Communion, may we be more closely united in our marriages, families, and as a Christian people.
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January 13, 2008
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Year A, January 13th, 2008
Children, if you only remember one thing from my homily today, here it is: it was one of the most important days of your life, and it is a day that we must celebrate each year. But I’m willing to bet that most of you – adults included –don’t even know the day of . . . their baptism. Does anyone know the date of their baptism? (Does anyone remember being baptized?) So your assignment is to go home, find out the date of your baptism, and celebrate it every year.
Each year I celebrate May 17th, the day my father baptized me at St. Bartholomew’s Anglican Church in White Plains, New York. I went on pilgrimage to this Church this summer, to thank God for the gift of my baptism.
Children, today we celebrate the baptism of Jesus. Can anyone tell me one thing that happened to Jesus at his baptism from the story we’ve just heard from the Gospel?
1) “He came up from the water,” (Mt 3:16)
2) “he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him,” (3:16)
3) “and a voice from heaven said, ‘this is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased’” (3:17).
Do any of the things that happened to Jesus at his baptism happen also to us when we are baptized?
1) Yes, we also “come up from the water” – we are baptized in water – a sign of cleansing – since, as the Catechism puts it, one of the principal effects of baptism is purification from sin (#1263) (mention of Sprinkling Rite)
2) Also, the spirit of God descends upon us, since one of the other principal effects is new birth in the Holy Spirit (#1263)
3) When we are baptized, the voice of God the Father also says about us, “this is my beloved son, my beloved daughter, in whom I am well pleased.”
We become adopted children of God (#1265).
It is so important for us to remember what it means that we are children of God. It means that for us too, “the heavens are opened,” like they were at the baptism of Jesus – like the sun piercing through the clouds. We have open and close communication with God. As Brother Andre put it, “whenever you whisper, ‘Our Father who art in heaven,’ his ear is by your mouth.” To be children of God also means that God is so close to us that we can HEAR God and SEE God. In the part of the Mass called the Preface, we will say these words to God about the baptism of Jesus, “your voice was HEARD from heaven,” and “your Spirit was SEEN as a dove.”
To hear and see God. We can still hear God today: when we pray and listen . . . when we read the Bible, especially in Church. We can still see God today: when the Holy Spirit descends from heaven and changes the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, and the priest holds up the host and says, “this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” and the voice of the Father says, “this is my Son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”
Unfortunately, children, there is something that prevents people from seeing and hearing God, and it’s something that smells really, really bad. You don’t smell anything? In Church, we need to use not only our eyes and our ears, but also our noses. Some people bring into the Church the sweet-smelling incense and perfume of sacrifice and prayer, and they are always a breath of fresh air and even in winter they are filled with the fragrance of spring, of lilacs and lilies of the valley.
But other people bring into the Church the stench of a rotting corpse. I’m talking about the spirit of boredom, which is also called the spirit of human arrogance, and the spirit of practical atheism – of all those people who don’t live their baptism, who don’t live as children of God, who don’t listen to God and talk to Him on a daily basis, people who think deep down that they really don’t need God. And they end up bringing this rotten, stinky and disgusting spirit of boredom into the Church; if you have a sensitive nose, you can smell it from a mile away, and tell the difference between one soul and another.
Children, I have another question for you. Have you noticed that we have little bowls of water at each door of the Church? Can anyone tell me what that water is and what it is for? . . . It is holy water, and we bless ourselves with it to remind us that we were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The holy water is at the door of the Church because baptism is the door to all the other sacraments (Catechism #1213). For example, only if we have first become children of God through baptism can we receive Holy Communion at Mass.
The holy water should also be a reminder of the promises of our baptism. On the day of our baptism, we promised, through our parents acting in our name, to reject the devil and sin, and to serve God. And each time we bless and sign ourselves with holy water at the door of the Church, we should once again reject the devil and sin, to renounce and CAST OUT! the spirit of boredom, of human arrogance, of practical atheism – to leave that disgusting stink at the door, and REMIND ourselves that through our baptism, we are beloved children of God.
To stop for a moment and say, “The Creator of the universe . . . is my father. He uses His infinite wisdom, His almighty power, and His perfect love every moment of every day for my good! I have nothing to worry about and nothing to fear! And I have come to the Church to HEAR my Father’s voice and to talk to him, to SEE His Son and receive Him with faith and love in Holy Communion.”
Children, some people assume that it is impossible to really see and hear God, so they don’t even try and they give in to the spirit of boredom and unbelief.
I saw a nature show recently about a three year quest to film the rare and elusive snow leopard of the Himalaya mountains. The camera-man would hide in his little tent with his camera for three hours in the morning, and three hours in the afternoon, doing nothing for hours but watching and waiting, watching and waiting. Finally, after about 35 hours of watching and waiting, the snow leopard appeared, and he snapped some photos. If Catholics had the same sort of dedication to watching and waiting for God, to hear His voice and see His face, then the heavens would open and they would see miracles!
I challenge each of you, not to 35 hours of watching and waiting in the remote Himalayan mountains, but to one hour of prayer here in the Church. On the First Friday of February, I am asking our youth group to host a holy hour from 7-8 pm. All are welcome.
Do you really want to know God and experience His love, and live as His son or daughter? Do you really want to hear His voice and see His face? One of the best ways to do that is to have the Word and the Sacrament together – to have the Bible in your hands to hear His Word and the Host or tabernacle before your eyes to see His face. You really have to try it for yourself and see how God will surprise and delight you.
Children, what is your assignment again? What are you going to go home and do? (Find out the date of your baptism and celebrate it!)
With Mary we live the Eucharist. That’s the theme of this pastoral year as suggested by our Archbishop. With Mary we also live our baptism. She constantly points us to Jesus. Like the Father, she too says to us, “This is my Son, the beloved. Listen to Him.” May our Blessed Mother pray for us that we may live as adopted sons and daughters of God our Father, and receive her Son today with greater faith and love.
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January 6, 2008
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Homily for the Feast of the Epiphany, January 06, 2008
Have you ever tried to follow a star to a particular place? Of course, even the largest star is pretty small speck in the sky for us to follow. So, let’s try something larger, like the moon. It’s still hard to get anywhere definite using the moon as a guide. It is possible to navigate using an astrolabe or a sextant, as sailors once did, and to plot a course based on the position of known stars. But, to follow a star that has not only just recently appeared, but also seems to be moving? Remember, the Gospel tells us that the star went ahead of the wise men, until it stopped over the place where the child was. We would probably all agree that it is impossible to arrive at a precise destination on earth by determining what place a star is over. At least, it is impossible to do so without divine intervention.
So, what could have motivated the magi to decide to set out on a difficult, dangerous journey based on the observation of a star? Was it curiosity? Given their familiarity with the stars, the magi definitely would have been excited at the discovery of a new one, and also recognized the difficulty in trying to follow it. As the Gospel indicates, they also were aware of the Messianic prophecies, as there was a Hebrew population in Persia. Everything we know for certain about these particular magi you have just heard in today’s Gospel, but we do have more information regarding magi in general. They were a powerful priestly class in Persia, now Iran. Around the sixth century B.C., amidst conflicts between different elements in the country, the magi were repressed. Although their power was greatly diminished, they still existed at the time of Christ’s birth. The magi were not kings, not sorcerers or magicians, but they were astrologers, although they wouldn’t have been writing horoscopes for the Tehran newspaper. Astrology required an in-depth knowledge of what we would call astronomy, so we can be sure that a new star was quite apparent to them. Could this have been enough to cause them to make the extensive preparations necessary, and then set out on a journey of over 1,500 kilometres? Following a star? The star may have been the device, but it was actually the Lord Himself that was leading them, guiding them eventually to the very house where the Christ child lay.
Using means they could relate to, God called the magi, and they responded to His call. After their encounter with the Holy Family, they returned home, taking another route in order to avoid seeing Herod again. The version of the Gospel in our Lectionary says “they left for their own country by another road”. Many other translations, however, use the words “by another way”. Now, of course, they were warned not to return to Herod, but “another way” conveys an additional, deeper meaning than just what highway they used to get home. Their lives were changed by contact with the infant Jesus, just as change is required of us as a result of our relationship with God.
Yet many people don’t want to change, at least not in ways that will bring them closer to God. They claim to be searching, but their search seems to more a quest to find what will reinforce their already existing feelings than really wanting to find the truth. When I was a teenager and young adult, I looked for God in many different places, searching for answers, often without even knowing the questions. But for some time, I avoided looking in the one place where the fullness of the truth resides. I thought that something that seemed more exotic, or more intellectual, must have deeper meaning than the faith I learned as a child. I now realize that our Catholic faith is more exotic, more intellectual, and more meaningful than anything else I explored. I just didn’t want to see it at the time. Bishop Sheen wrote: “Most souls are like people living in a dark room during the daytime and complaining that the light is hard to find – when all that they need to do is to raise the blinds”.
God has provided us with stars, so to speak – the scriptures and the teachings of the Church – to illuminate our way, helping us to persevere in following the narrow path to our eternal salvation. And, there is one star that we must work to keep brightly shining, that is our prayer life. Without these stars to guide us, we travel in dark alleys leading to dead ends. We end up looking where we would like to, rather than where God wants us to.
There was an article in yesterday’s National Post, one of a few articles on the topic of “A Better You”. All of the articles seemed to centre on the idea of better being the result of “personal self-discovery”, rather than an awakening to the idea that God wants more for us than what is centred in our selves. The main article enthusiastically describes what these people have done with their lives, but in the end leaves a feeling that something is missing. We should try to better ourselves, but those efforts should always be made with an eye on becoming closer to God. We will be better if we really put our trust in God, and seek to do His will.
Like the magi, once we have arrived at the destination, we must set off again. Not to begin another search, but to continue to deepen our understanding of what God wants for us, to take another way than the way we came, to uncover more fully the truth that we are supposed to live by. We need to keep an eye on those stars, not in the sky but in our lives, that God has provided to give us direction in finding our way to Him, and maintaining the correct course. I’ll close with a quote from a 19th century French priest, Père Montmorel: “Let nothing discourage or tempt us to go back, but let us walk on steadily and perseveringly, until we have found our Saviour, Jesus Christ.”
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January 1, 2008
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
January 1st, 2008
“She is the one whom every man loves when he loves a woman – whether he knows it or not. She is what every woman wants to be when she looks at herself. She is the woman whom every man marries in ideal when he takes a spouse; she is the secret desire every woman has to be honored and fostered; she is the way every woman wants to command respect and love because of the beauty of her goodness of body and soul” (Fulton Sheen, The World’s First Love, 10 quoted from Pure Womanhood by Crystalina Evert, 44). Whom am I talking about? Mary the Mother of God. These words were written by Fulton Sheen: a reminder of some of the very good reasons why both men and women should have a true devotion to Mary the Mother of God.
All Catholics must have some form of devotion to Mary, since she has been given to us by Christ himself to be our Mother (Jn 19:27). As Christians, we are called upon to be like Jesus in all things; Jesus loved his Mother Mary, then so should we. And as St. Louis de Montfort reminds us, we should not be afraid of loving Mary too much, because we could never love her more than Jesus did.
There are many different titles by which we can love and honour Mary the Mother of God, and ask for her intercession. For those of us who attend this parish, it makes sense that we would honour Mary as the Mediatrix of all graces – all graces from God come to us through her, symbolized by the light streaming from her hands on the Miraculous Medal. And it makes sense that we would call upon her by not only by praying the “Hail Mary” but also with those words on the Miraculous Medal, “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you.”
But there is one other title and apparition that I would like to share with you: Notre-Dame de Banneux, in Belgium, where Mary appeared in 1933 (where I visited last March). I’ll give you a few samples of what she said to Mariette Beco, the young visionary, and what she says to us, her children: “I will pray for you . . . I have come to relieve suffering . . . believe in me . . . I will believe in you . . . pray very much (“priez beaucoup” she said). . . my dear child, pray very much . . . I am the Mother of the Saviour, the Mother of God . . . pray very much.”
Two of her words stuck with me, and have really helped me. What is the advice that the Queen of Heaven gives to us her children, advice we can apply to our lives this New Year? “Priez beaucoup . . . Pray very much.” I have been praying some extra decades of the Rosary lately, and I must say that in the midst of trials and temptation, our Blessed Mother truly helps me to reach out to Jesus, to hope in him, to cling to him. And I know she will help you as well. As I look back on my last 5 years of priesthood, I firmly believe that without the help of Mary the Mother of God, I would have become discouraged, and probably fallen in love with some thing or some one other than Christ. So I want to publicly thank the Mother of God for her love and for all the graces she has obtained for me.
I would like to read you another quote. Try to guess who is speaking – it’s a former Archbishop of Ottawa:
“They speak to you very often about the Blessed Virgin, alright then! Make use of what you hear to imitate this good Mother. It is through her that we go to our Lord. There are moments in life when discouragement lays hold of us, when trials overwhelm us. At these times we must hold her hand; she will lead us to Jesus. She knows the way, she walked up to Calvary in the footsteps of our Lord, she suffered again long years after the Ascension of her divine Son. Finally came the day of her Assumption.
The Christian life is one of suffering and sacrifice . . . imitate your Mother, and you too will attain your assumption.
I wish you a good and happy new year! They are predicting for this year war and misery; but for all of you, it will be a great and beautiful year. Ah! You will pray well; and to remind you of our good Mother, I am going to give to each one of you a Miraculous Medal . . . you can ask for all the miracles you want. You must above all ask for the miracle of your more intense conversion” (“conversion de plus en plus accentuee”) (Alexis-Louis Mangin by Hector Legros, p. 228).
These words were spoken by the Archbishop of Ottawa, Monsignor Duhamel on January 10th, 1904 to the Sisters of Jesus-Marie at their convent in Hull. I read them because they still speak to us today. And isn’t it interesting that at the beginning of the New Year the Archbishop would offer to each sister a Miraculous Medal to help them hold on to their Mother’s hand in all their discouragements and trials. (If any of you do not yet have a Miraculous Medal but would like one, please see me after Mass).
I’m not sure what New Year’s resolutions you have made or have yet to make. But surely, whatever they are, it would help us to follow the example and advice of Mary the Mother of God – to pray very much, to pray more this year . . . in a simple way, like praying a few decades of the Rosary while driving to work or sitting in the Church for a few minutes of silent adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in this year of the International Eucharistic Congress. In this year of grace 2008, let us ask Mary the Mother of God and our Mother to help us keep our resolutions, to be converted, to grow in holiness.
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