May 31, 2009
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Year B, May 31st, 2009
(Take baptismal candle and light it from the Paschal Candle)
Well, that’s basically my homily for Pentecost Sunday. No need to add any words, is there? This baptismal candle represents you, your faith, your life as a baptized and confirmed Catholic. In baptism and confirmation, you received the light of Christ and the fire of the Holy Spirit. You take this faith, this light and fire, home with you to share with family and friends, with all those isolated and lonely individuals who are not with us today. You preach the Gospel like St. Peter and the apostles did on the first Pentecost, inviting others into communion with the Holy Spirit, into communion with the Church, inviting them to come to Mass on Sunday and receive Holy Communion.
I think our first prayer at Pentecost should be that we receive the Holy Spirit, or more accurately, that the gifts of the Spirit which we have already received in Baptism and Confirmation, will be activated in us, that the smoldering fire will be fanned into flame and that the gifts and the fruits of the Spirit will be more abundant and apparent in our lives.
You may have heard mention of the gifts and fruits of the Spirit in your Confirmation class years ago, but what are they? The Compendium of the Catechism is always a great resource. We read: “The gifts of the Holy Spirit are permanent dispositions which make us docile in following divine inspirations.” (Compendium #389). They are: wisdom and understanding, right judgement and courage, knowledge and reverence, and the spirit of wonder and awe” (Rite of Confirmation).
I know by experience that these gifts of the Spirit are real. Take courage, for example. Before my Confirmation when I joined the Church back in 1995, I was so terribly shy that I knew I could never have a job that involved some sort of public speaking. But see what a difference the Holy Spirit makes? I rejoice with St. Paul that God chooses those who are weak, foolish, those who are nothing, to shame those who are strong,wise and think they are something (1 Cor 1:27-28).
Now the fruits of the Holy Spirit. What are they? They are listed by St. Paul in today’s second reading (Gal 5: 22-23). The Compendium of the Catechism calls them “perfections formed in us as the first fruits of eternal glory. (They are): love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity” (Compendium #390).
The first fruit is love. St. John tells us that “God is love” (1 Jn 4:16). At the last World Youth Day, whose theme was “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,” Pope Benedict, drawing on St. Augustine, said that this phrase “God is love” refers to the entire Trinity but “expresses a particular characteristic of the Holy Spirit . . . The Spirit is God as love . . . Love is the sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit!” (Homily July 19th, 2008). The Holy Spirit came upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost as tongues of fire (Acts 2:3), the fire of God’s love that they passed on to others through language, through words. For our own personal Pentecost today, let us pray, on this last day of the month dedicated to Mary: “Come Holy Spirit, come through the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse.” And let us also pray
in the words of today’s Gospel acclamation: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love,” and inspire us to pass on that love to others who are isolated or lonely.
Catherine Doherty, (foundress of Madonna House) in a little book on loneliness, wrote that “the greatest pain of the world today is loneliness and the feeling that we are not loved” (In the Footprints of Loneliness, p.12). The deepest cause of loneliness is simply not knowing that God loves us, not knowing the Holy Spirit who dwells within us as a temple ( 1 Cor 3:16), the Holy Spirit whom the Church calls “the soul’s most welcome guest” (Sequence).
Our culture has been very successful in producing isolated individuals who are very proud of their freedom, their independence, their self-determination, but who are spiritually impoverished, almost incapable of forming deep friendships, and in their heart of hearts often feeling terrible lonely and unloved.
I was visiting someone in a nursing home recently, and I was struck by the palpable weight of loneliness. People sitting in wheelchairs in a room, plopped in front of a TV showing some mindless movie staring that rapper Ice Cube. I pray that whenever I retire as a priest (freedom 75) that I will be able to live in a priests’ residence, so that if I am in a wheelchair, they can plop me in front of the Blessed Sacrament, not a movie staring Ice Cube. (And I invite you to read in the bulletin what I have written about how you can help with Pastoral Care in visiting the sick, shut-ins, the lonely.)
People in nursing homes or isolated seniors seem to be the loneliest people in our culture. But they are simply an external and obvious sign of the loneliness that affects our entire society. There are married people who are lonely, craving deeper intimacy with their husband or wife. They are young people who are lonely, wishing for a closer relationship with their mother or father, or longing to meet that special someone who will accept them for who they are, love them, and lift them out of their loneliness.
But remember the deepest cause of loneliness is simply not knowing that God loves us, not knowing the Holy Spirit, the soul’s most welcome guest, who dwells within us as a temple. So even in an ideal marriage or family, if a soul does not have a personal relationship with God, God who is love, that soul will be plunged into an existential isolation and a deep loneliness.
But to all of you listening to me right now, rejoice and be glad! You have Holy Spirit already. You have received Him in Baptism and Confirmation. If you have grieved Him through mortal sin, simply go to Confession and He will return. If your heart has grown cold, pray that the smoldering fire will be fanned into flame.
You also receive God the Holy Spirit, God as love, in every Mass. Communion with Christ is communion with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes upon the bread and wine at Mass, changing them into the Body and Blood of Christ. As you receive Holy Communion, this same Holy Spirit is released in you. (I’m stealing that image from Fr. Cantalamessa, the preacher to the Papal household).
You receive the Holy Spirit as God’s personal gift to you, but also so that you will share Him with others. You must pass on the fire of the Holy Spirit to others, this fire of love to those who are isolated and lonely, who are not with us today. The Paschal candle will be removed from the sanctuary after the Mass of Pentecost, but this flame must not die out. This flame is meant to pass into your heart, and you are meant to pass on this flame to others.
I am convinced that some of the loneliest people in our culture are those who do not know that God loves them, who do not live in communion with the Holy Spirit, in communion with the Church, who are not with us today to receive Holy Communion.
Unfortunately, I don’t think we Canadian Catholics are very good at passing on the faith, at evangelizing. We are even afraid of that word “evangelize,” thinking it means annoying other people, guilting them into become Catholic or attending Mass. But evangelizing means passing on our faith and inviting others to share it.
Imagine if you are planning a barbecue one Saturday night and you’re inviting some families over. One family in particular you see all the time. They know about your barbecue and you assume that they know that they are invited. But Saturday comes and they’re not there; you call, they’re out; you ask them later and they say, “yeah, we knew about it, but you didn’t actually invite us, so we weren’t sure . . . “
I think it’s similar with inviting other people to come to Mass, either non-Catholics or Catholics who have stopped practicing their faith or Catholics who only come to Mass only once in a while. When these people, your friends or neighbours, see you, they know that you’re a practicing Catholic; so your mere presence is an invitation to come to Mass with you anytime they like. But it doesn’t work like that; like St. Peter in the first reading, we actually have to open our mouths and use words in order to evangelize, to pass on our faith, words like, “I would like to invite you to come to Mass with us this Sunday.” Verbal invitation. St. Peter used words in preaching the Gospel. The Holy Spirit used his words to convert the hearts of 3000 people.
All Canadian Catholics – including myself – need to be just a little more bold in our evangelization efforts. As a priest, I also assume, when other Catholics who know me see me, that my presence is a reminder of God, (and His love) and an invitation to come to Mass. I don’t want them to feel guilty when they see the parish priest and they know they haven’t been to Mass in 6 months; I want them to feel loved by God. But I must use words to invite them back. So I hereby resolve, in your presence (you are my witnesses) that they next time I see lapsed Catholics on the bike-path or the grocery store, I will say something like, “We miss you. Come by the Church and visit some time.” Some kind of invitation that the Holy Spirit can use to heal their loneliness, to draw them back to communion with Himself, communion with the Church, and the Holy Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ.
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May 24, 2009
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Year B, May 24th, 2009
You have all ascended today – the steps into the Church! You have taken the first step toward ascending with Christ to the Father. Don’t stop there! Take the second step, spiritually speaking, into the sanctuary, onto the altar to ascend with Christ to the Father, to lift up your hearts to the Lord, to worship and adore Him, and then be sent out as His witness to the world. How appropriate on this day that Jesus tells His apostles, “you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8) that we present the 2nd installment of our “Blessed to be a witness” with Mike and Brenda Sliva speaking after Communion.
Today we celebrate the ascension of Christ. The ascension is in many ways the feast of hope. Advent is the season of hope, when we recall that longing of God’s people for the Messiah to come into the world, but the Ascension is the feast of hope, when we long for Christ to take us out of tis world, home with Him into heaven. In the preface of the Mass, we read that Christ ascended “not to abandon us, but to be our hope.”
I’ll say more about hope in a minute. But first, if we want to ascend with Christ, we must be free. Unfortunately, there is something that weighs us down, that prevents us from ascending, from lifting up our hearts and truly worshipping and adoring God in the Eucharist. I have an example in my chest pocket, right next to my heart. It is one of the main causes of boredom at Mass and discouragement in life. I know that some of you also carry one of these in your pockets, because it is written all over your faces.
Do you want to see what it is? (Small statuette). It is an idol. Have ever seen one of these? It is a false god called an idol. It represents something that I worship instead of God, something that I hold close to my heart that weighs my heart down, and prevents my heart from ascending.
It could be lust, pornography, masturbation; it could be greed and materialism, an obsession with the things of this world; it could vanity, pride anger – you name it, any one of the seven deadly sins that weigh down the human heart. These idols we carry close to our hearts weigh us down, but we are supposed to leave them behind at the door of the Church!
That’s why the confessional is at the door of the Church. We ascend the steps into the Church, leave our sins in the confessional, so our hearts are then free to approach the altar and ascend with Christ to the Father in the sacrifice of the Mass.
But it is not enough to leave our idols behind. We must also hope in God. The Ascension is the feast of hope! My brothers and sisters in Christ, our culture is passing through a terrible crisis, a lack of hope. Whenever you are tempted by discouragement, by a lack of hope, remember, you are not alone. This is a very common and strong temptation in today’s world. We must pray for an increase in this theological virtue of hope. Whenever we meditate with Mary on the second glorious mystery of the Rosary, the Ascension, let us pray for an increase in hope. Pope Benedict has written a whole letter on hope. I have quoted from it several times, and I will quote it again!
A rigidly secular world, like ours, is indeed a world without hope. Benedict cites a passage from St. Paul to the Ephesians, where he refers to unbelievers as living “without hope and without God in the world” (Spe Salvi #2, cf. Eph 2:12).
It is interesting how he defines hope, the “hope to which (God) has called us” (Eph 1:18). Quoting from St. Augustine, the Holy Father calls hope an “exercise of desire”(Spe Salvi #33). Hope is a form of holy desire. We cannot ascend to God in worship and adoration if we have no hope, no desire, to be with God. So, we must both get rid of the idols and sins that weigh us down, and enkindle our hope, our desire for God.
The Pope also writes that hope is closely linked to faith, defined in the letter to the Hebrews as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (5:1, Spe Salvi #7). “Faith is not merely a personal reaching out towards things to come that are still totally absent: it gives us something” (Spe Salvi, #7). Faith touches God. Faith touches Christ truly present at Mass, especially in the Blessed Sacrament.
Christ has ascended into heaven, but he has not abandoned us. He promised the disciples to send them the Holy Spirit, and let us pray each day this week, with Mary, for the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost next Sunday (prayer in the bulletin). Jesus also remained with us on earth in the Eucharist.
One of the best ways to increase our faith, to practice hope and enkindle our holy desires, is simply to spend time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. We have that opportunity all day the first Friday of June, and there is a sign up sheet in the foyer.
I was recently on a priests’ fantasy holiday. And you all know what a priests’ fantasy holiday is, right? . . . All you can eat and all you can drink resort where other people serve you, right? Actually I was in Montreal with some priests friends for a brief two-day holiday. We went to dinner, had a beer, then went to Dairy Queen for dessert. On a beautiful spring evening we walked from our residence up to St. Joseph’s Oratory, the fragrance of lilacs and apple blossoms lifting up our hearts as we ascended Mont-Royal to St. Joseph’s Oratory overlooking the city. We stayed at Fraternity Sacerdotale, a priests residence, where they have adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (Jesus lifted up on the altar). So we had the opportunity to spend more time in prayer than usual, a silent time of prayer with Jesus Christ truly present in the Eucharist.
And you’ll never guess what happened. It happens to me almost every time I take the time to be with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and I know it will happen to you too (especially during adoration but even during silent prayer at home or a walk in the woods): GOD . . . BECOMES . . . MORE . . . REAL! Yeah! He’s not just a boring concept in my head. He becomes a living Person in my heart, displacing the idols, the false gods, that once filled my heart and made me bored at Mass and discouraged in life. I promise you: if you “waste” time with God in prayer, you will never be bored at Mass or without hope in your life.
I was reading about the founder of Fraternite Sacerdotale, Father Eugene Prevost. Jesus often spoke to his heart during times of adoration, but loudly and clearly. One day Jesus said to him quite simply “Je t’aime” “I love you.” (63). He wrote, “these words pierced my heart like a flaming arrow; I was set on fire with a love so great I thought my heart would burst!” (63). Jesus says the same thing to us, but we cannot hear him unless we pray. We need hope, holy desire, to hear these words. We need to cast out the idols from our hearts that prevent us from hearing these words, “Je t’aime. I love you.”
That is why, although Jesus has ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, that He has not abandoned us; He has also remained with us on earth in the Eucharist. Because He loves us. And only if and when I open my heart, a heart purified of idols, and experience His love, only then will I have any grace, energy or desire to be His witness and go out into the world to proclaim the Good News (Mark 16:5).
During this month of May, let us also turn frequently to our Mother Mary and ask her to obtain for us an increase in faith, in hope, in love. She first hoped for the coming of the Messiah into the world, and He came. After His death, she hoped in His Resurrection, and He rose. After His Ascension, she hoped and prayed for the coming of the Spirit, and the Spirit came. And she worshipped and adored her Son, true God and true Man, really and substantially present in the Eucharist.
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Posted in posts
at 9:00 am
[Mike] As Father said we’re Brenda and Mike Sliva, we live in Limoges and we’ve been at this parish for 5 years. We’d like to thank Father Tim for providing us the honour of this opportunity to share our faith with our parish community.
As we prayed and discerned as to what we should say, and more importantly what God wanted us to say to you, we quickly realized that we have many examples of how we have been blessed with the presence of the Holy Trinity in our lives. For today, we decided to focus on our 2 main vocations: marriage and parenting.
30 years ago, we originally met on a high school trip, in which our 2 schools travelled from Thunder Bay to Regina to attend a “Kiwanis Educates Youth” conference. Although our families lived in different parts of Thunder Bay, God certainly has His own way of getting things done, so He sent us on a 2,600 kilometre trip for us to meet.
[Brenda] Fortunately, and in response to each of our mothers’ prayers, we were both from church-going, Catholic raised families, which gave us a common ground to start our relationship.
We were married 4 years later, once both of us finished university. Our wedding invitation had the phrase “This day I marry my best friend, the one I laugh with, live for, love.”; and we are very happy to say that after 26 years of married life, we remain each other’s best earthly friend.
One of the readings at our marriage ceremony was “. . . if God is for us, who can be against us?”. To us this meant that even though, as weak human beings, we don’t always do the best thing for our marriage, we firmly believe that since He wanted us together, He was going to be there to help us not completely mess it up. Our wedding day was not 2 best friends making a commitment to each other: it was 3 best friends making a commitment and we were glad to have Jesus with us.
[Mike] Over the years we have seen and continue to see God’s presence as He helps us to deal with the day-to-day challenges such as moving the family 4 times, various illnesses, injuries and surgeries, mourning the loss of loved ones, several car crashes and career changes. God’s obvious presence while we faced these challenges has increased our trust in God. For example, when our oldest daughter rolled our van and had to climb out while the van was upside down. She crawled through the shattered window without suffering a cut and her only injury was a bruise from the seatbelt. Besides that, the first people on the scene of the accident were a doctor and a nurse who happened to be driving by. God’s angels were obviously there protecting her.
In our married life, we have come across several helpful lessons that have improved our relationship. For example, one of our former parish priests told us how marriage should not be a 50-50 situation, where both spouses have to compromise to get something they want; but rather each person should give a 100% while expecting nothing in return. Oh we are still selfish enough not to ever completely attain the 100% level, but at least we still try. The truly beautiful thing is that the more you try to give your all, the more you actually get in return. While this is true in marriage, it is even truer in our relationship with God.
I once heard a Christian speaker say that it helped him to think that since his wife was a child of God, then God was like his father-in-law. While he didn’t always care about pleasing his earthly in-laws, he certainly didn’t want to disappoint his heavenly father-in-law. If you take this approach then giving 100% doesn’t seem to be unreasonable.
[Brenda] From my side, I read that the husband – wife relationship is similar to the relationship between God the Father and Jesus. As they are one in the Holy Trinity, we are one in marriage, yet there has to be a head. As Jesus turned to God in the garden and asked for His will to be done, sometimes as a wife I have to turn to my husband, as the head of our family, and let his will be done, knowing that he is looking out for my best interest as we are one.
Along with the blessing of each other, our other most cherished blessings are our 5 beautiful daughters.
As our family grew, so did the doubts of our family and friends. “Do you know what you are doing?” was their common theme. After all, having 5 kids in this day and age was not necessary. Given how our parish community is blessed with so many larger families, we can be sure that many of you can relate to our experience.
[Mike] We too had our doubts as to whether we could provide for 5 children, but each time we were reminded that God only gives you what you can handle, so we always knew that they were blessings, not burdens.
When I hear the parable of the master giving his 3 servants some money to safeguard and then rewarded those servants who actually increased the money through investments, I often think that Jesus is telling me that story to explain my responsibility as a parent. Here God has given us these very valuable treasures, that He loves dearly, and He trusts me to make them grow in their love of Him. I’m overwhelmed by the responsibility, so I pray to God asking Him if He’s sure that He has the right person, and surprisingly the answer continues to be “yes”, although it is always together with the reassurance that I have Brenda and the Holy Spirit to help me.
[Brenda] I, for my part, tend to be a worrier. So I try to remember that as much as I love my children, my love for them is only a fraction of the love God has for them. So when the worrying starts, I try to turn it over to God, who loves them even more than I can imagine. It does help a great deal, as I try to put their health, schooling, jobs and, of course, their future spouses in God’s hands. In John 16, God tries to remind me that my daughters, like us, will have struggles on earth, but we should be brave knowing that He has defeated the world.
To sum up, although we have peaks and valleys in our faith journey, we continue to try to walk the narrow path. We search for God’s wisdom and guidance through our prayers, our priests’ and deacons’ teachings, faith-studies like Catholicism 201 and faith-sharing with our family and friends.
When we try to explain how God is working in our lives to non-believers, they often brush it off as coincidence or luck, but we know the truth is that God is in control.
We thank God for the blessing of this community, and we thank you for listening today. God bless.
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May 17, 2009
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 17, 2009
We hear the word love many times throughout today’s readings. As we continue to celebrate the Easter season, we should be joyfully remembering the love that Jesus has given us, the love that He has shown us, through His cross and resurrection.
How do you prove that you love someone? As most couples know, having your spouse say the words “I love you” is important. But, there is more to it than that. The words need to be backed up with action. The way that we truly know that we are loved is in how the other person demonstrates his or her love for us. Each couple is unique, and even within the same couple, their love for each other may be expressed differently at different times in their relationship. But if someone never actually does anything that shows love, it would be reasonable to question how true their love is.
In the second reading, John tells us how God proved His love for us – by sending His son into the world, so that we may live through Him. Through Jesus, we become participants in the love between Jesus and the Father.
Jesus demonstrated His love by dying on the cross for us. His love is also manifested in His teachings and His example.
And, in the Eucharist, His love is truly made present to us here at Mass.
Pope Benedict’s encyclical Deus Caritas Est gives us some great insights into Christ’s love through the Eucharist, and I’ll quote or paraphrase a few passages from this.
His death on the Cross…is love in it’s most radical form. Jesus gave this act of oblation an enduring presence through His institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper. The Eucharist draws us in to Jesus’ act…more than just statically receiving Him, we enter into the very dynamic of His self-giving.
So, His words “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”, take on an even greater meaning when we contemplate that Jesus did not only give His life by dying on the Cross, He gives His life, and His love, to us unceasingly in the Eucharist.
You’ll see in the bulletin that we are going to have all day Eucharistic Adoration on the First Friday of the month beginning June 05. I can say from my own experience that spending time in front of the Blessed Sacrament is an amazing blessing. I used to go once a week to St. Margaret Mary in Cumberland, where they have perpetual adoration – 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Whether it’s the middle of afternoon or the middle of the night, there is always someone there. After very few visits, I found that one hour was not enough, and ended up doing two hours at a time. It is a great joy to be able have some quiet time with the Lord. Our world is noisy and hectic, and it can only help to give ourselves some time in solitude with God who loves us and wants to bring us peace.
Jesus asks us to abide in His love. His love for us is not a sentimental love. The Pope says: “Sentiments come and go. A sentiment may be a marvelous first spark, but it is not the fullness of love. Mature love…calls into play all man’s potentialities, it engages the whole person, so to speak.”
Jesus’ love is a love that transcends emotion and feeling, and touches our very depths. It is a love that asks us to keep His commandments, not out of mindless obedience, but out of our love for Him. When we cease to focus on ourselves, we can then focus on wanting what He wants. It becomes a matter of forming our will to His will, which is a task we should take great joy in performing.
Like the example of a spouse doing something of substance in addition to saying “I love you”, as disciples of Christ we must act to back up our claim of being His followers. Our actions are our loving response to His love.
Some of us put our love into action this past Thursday, when we attended the March for Life in Ottawa. Forty-two of us went on the bus, and at least four more drove themselves. And a large number of students came from St. Thomas Aquinas, so Russell was well represented. I can tell you that, given the weather conditions, we weren’t there for the social gathering.
We were there to follow Jesus’ command to love one another, and the defenseless unborn child certainly deserves our love and support. It was an incredible witness that around 10,000 people marched in the wind and rain to protest this country’s abortion policy, which lacks any restrictions whatsoever on the committing of abortion. It is understandable that some girls and women face difficult situations, and we need to have sympathy, understanding, support, and love for them. The loving thing is to encourage them to treasure the new life within them; it is NOT loving for society to tell them that it’s ok just to dispose of that life.
All genuine love has it’s origin in God’s love. God loves us. We may hear that so much that it doesn’t register with us as much as it should. His love is not a love that lowers its standards, but it asks us to raise our standards, and ourselves, above those of this world. It is a love that asks for our love in return. God sent His son in love, and continues to send Him as we act in love for Him. We are keeping his command, we abide in His love, when we let ourselves love God, and love others as Christ loved us.
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May 10, 2009
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B, May 10th, 2009
“Be joyful Mary, heavenly Queen! Be joyful, Mary. Your Son who died was leaving seen. Alleluia. Rejoice, rejoice O Mary!” (Hymn)
We will sing the whole hymn together after the homily in honour of Mary our Mother (on this Mother’s Day). This hymn is based on a more ancient one to Mary, “Regina Caeli” that the Church traditionally recites throughout the Easter season. We are still in the Easter season, rejoicing with Mary in the Resurrection of Christ.
Even as we rejoice with Mary, we also recall her tears. High up in the French alps, near the town of LaSalette, (where I visited back in 1996) a woman appeared to two shepherd children in 1846. She was sitting on a rock with her head in her hands, weeping. Even after she arose and began to speak to the children, she continued weeping. It was the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, weeping over the sins of her children. She said she was weeping over the breaking of the commandments, specifically the second and third commandment, people were blaspheming the name of god and failing to keep the Sabbath holy by attending Mass on Sunday and resting from work.
Why does our Mother weep today? Over the breaking of the fifth commandment, “thou shalt not kill.” Truly in the tears of our Blessed Mother is fulfilled the prophecy that was also realized in the murder of the Holy Innocents in the time of Christ, and is fulfilled again in our times with the abortion of innocent children: “behold Rachel weeping for her children since they were no more” (Mt 2:18, Jer 31:15).
In the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918, 50,000 Canadians died. In World War I, from 1914-1918, 60,000 Canadians died. Do you have any idea how many Canadians have died between 1969 and 2004 due to abortion? 2.9 Million! Recently we were so worried that someone in Canada might die from the swine-flu virus. No Canadian has died. But this year, over 100,000 children will be killed through abortion.
Today is Pro-Life Sunday. Thursday is the March for Life, with a bus leaving from our parish and a sign-up sheet in the foyer. Today we celebrate the gift of life; we stand up to defend the innocent blood of unborn children and we proclaim God’s infinite mercy to all those who have procured an abortion.
At the Divine Mercy Center in Lanark, Ontario, there is a grotto with a life-size statue of Our Lady of Lasalette, weeping. Some people are moved to tears by the mere sight of this statue. How appropriate she is at the Divine Mercy Center. The tears of Mary are also a revelation of the mercy of God. She weeps over the murder of her children, but God in his infinite mercy is always ready to forgive.
There are many ways for Christians and Catholics to be pro-life. Like Saul in today’s first reading – we can speak out boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 9:27) – to our family and friends, speaking of the dignity of every human life from conception to natural death.
To speak out boldly and say, “abortion is not an acceptable option. It is murder. It is never an acceptable option” (only in the extremely rare cases when the life of the mother is in danger). If you know anyone who is pregnant and considering an abortion, you must tell them the truth. But you must also tell them, “I will do anything in my power to help you.” Tell them about the option of adoption, as explained so wonderfully in today’s bulletin insert.
Direct them to support organizations like Miriam Centre or Youville Centre that help pregnant women. Offer financial support yourself if at all possible. Promise to babysit. As Christians and Catholics, as St. John writes in the second reading: we must “love . . . in truth and action” (1 Jn 3: 18). We must help each other to choose life, to cherish life.
And if you know of any mothers or fathers who have consented to the murder of their own children through abortion, you must speak out with equal boldness about the infinite mercy of God. God sent His Son not to condem the world, but to save it (Jn 3:17); He also sends His Blessed Mother with tears in her eyes to encourage us to repent.
Finally, we can bear witness with our feet, with our bodily presence, at the annual March for Life. This year’s will be the biggest ever, on this sad 40th anniversary of the beginning of widespread abortion in Canada. There are even 12 bishops reported to be attending! Let’s join them and be a part of the Civil Rights Movement of the 21st century.
I wonder: why is there so much apathy and indifference among Catholics when it comes to pro-life? We act like we have never even heard the Gospel of Life, like the disciples walking to Emmaus: “we were hoping” (Lk 24:21) Christ would save us, but now He is dead, life has no meaning, and we are so depressed. I guess we have to get back to basics: Christ has risen from the dead, and this is supposed to make a difference in our lives! The author of life came that we might have life in abundance (Jn 10:10) and He wants us to be apostles of life.
Any idea what this is? (Vine). It is a branch from a grape vine in Russell, cut off from the life-giving sap of the vine. There were little green buds beginning to form but now they will never form leaves and this vine will never bear fruit to make wine. This is a danger for Catholics who are cut off from Christ, who no longer live their faith or publicly bear witness to it by love-in-action; they are dried up and dead.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that we must be united with him as a branch in the vine, so that through the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, His blood will flow through our veins. His blood will move us to love in action to defend the innocent blood of unborn children, like the blood of Abel that cries out from the ground for justice. But if we can’t be bothered to defend the innocent blood of unborn children, does the blood of Christ really flow through our veins, or are we cut off from Him, dried up and dead like this branch, no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and burned? (Jn 15:6).
When it comes to pro-life, however, some people say, “Well, I have enough problems of my own. I wish I could help, but I have enough problems of my own.” Life is difficult for everyone – it’s true. But I share a quote with you that I once heard from Dr. Simone: “If we help the poor with their big problems, many of our small problems will disappear.” The poorest people in our culture are unborn children. If we help them and stand up for their rights, many of our small problems will disappear.
If you come on the March for Life, (or some other prophetic love-in-action) in your first few steps, you may be thinking, “what am I doing here?” Oh, yes, I am marching for the right to life of unborn children. Then perhaps half-way through the march, it will occur to you that “Life is worth living. Life is good. Life is beautiful.”
Then, if you persevere in marching to the end (or some other witness to your faith), you will receive a gift of the Holy Spirit that will make many of your small problems disappear, as you appreciate more deeply than before this truth: “my life is worth living. My life is good. My life is beautiful. Thank you, Lord.” Many people in our culture no longer believe this – that life is worth living! Being pro-life is one way that we internalize for ourselves the Gospel of Life, the good news of Jesus Christ.
Other people say, “March for Life . . . 40 days for life . . . life chain . . it won’t make a difference anyway.” What? A Christian who believes in the resurrection of the dead could say or think such a thing? “It won’t make a difference anyway.” Whenever I hear such comments, I shiver and shudder at this voice of hopelessness because I detect the icy breath of the Evil One, the Father of lies, who wants to discourage the children of God from taking any action to do good. Is that how the first Christians thought? “It won’t make a difference . . . praying for Saul. He is an evil man who persecutes Christians, even women and children. Don’t bother. It won’t make a difference.”
Well, thank God that the early Christians did pray for the conversion of Saul, and that they also intervened to save his life when the Hellenists in Jerusalem where trying to kill him, as we read in today’s first reading (Acts 9:29-30). The first Christians knew that with God, all things are possible. He raised His Son from the dead! The miracle of the Resurrection transformed the disciples, and an experience of the Risen Christ, along with the prayers of many Christians, changed Paul from a persecutor to the greatest evangelizer.
The prayers and public witness of Christians and Catholics in Ottawa during the last forty days for life saved the lives of at least 4 children, perhaps more, children that would have been murdered otherwise. We can make a difference. God is waiting to act through us. He is only looking for our hearts, our prayers, our voices, our feet for him to act and transform this culture of death into a new culture of life.
These are the two children I am sponsoring in Honduras: Jorge and Kenia. I picked out Jorge randomly, with my eyes closed, so I wouldn’t be suspected of having first pick of the cutest kids. But Kenia was one of the “leftovers” and she is very cute with a beautiful smile! Every child is a gift from God. Thanks to all those who have sponsored children, and please continue to pray for Leah Cogan and Chris Jackson on their mission trip.
It is admittedly sad to see so many poor children in places like El Salvador and Honduras. But at least these children have been given a chance to live. Should not the unborn children in our country be given the same chance to live? We can sponsor or “adopt” a child in a country like Honduras with our money. We have to also promote adoption in our own country, and do everything possible to encourage young women thinking of abortion to make the right choice and give their child a chance to live, through adoption if necessary.
We can also spiritually “adopt” an unborn child in Canada through our prayers and our pro-life witness. Pray a decade of the Rosary for one specific unborn child. Attend the March for Life and offer up your walk for one unborn child. Give a little of your time and your life so that one more child might be born into this world and be given a chance to live.
We live in a culture of death, but we believe in the resurrection of the dead. Through the infinite mercy of God, we believe that aborted children are in heaven. Their mothers and fathers who consented to their murder can one day join them in heaven. Saul had once consented to the murder of Stephen; now Saul and Stephen rejoice together forever in the kingdom of heaven. All these parents have to do is follow the example of Saul, to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting in the infinite mercy of God.
Because we believe in the resurrection of the dead, when all tears will be turned into joy, we end this pro-life homily singing a hymn to Mary, the Mother of God, to the happiest of mothers of this Mother’s Day.
“Be joyful Mary, heavenly Queen, Be joyful, Mary! Your Son who died was leaving seen, Alleluia, Rejoice, rejoice O Mary!
The Son you bore by heaven’s grace, Be joyful, Mary! Did all our guilt and sin efface, Alleluia, Rejoice, rejoice, O Mary!
The Lord has risen from the dead, Be joyful, Mary! He rose with might as he had said, Alleluia, Rejoice, rejoice, O Mary!
Now pray to God, O Virgin fair, Be joyful Mary! That he our souls to heaven bear, Alleluia, Rejoice, rejoice, O Mary! (Glory and Praise #398)
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May 4, 2009
Posted in posts
at 5:17 pm
By Lorna Russell
I would like to begin by telling you that I feel seriously out of my depth here today for a number of reasons. I am to talk to you about being a witness to faith. A faith that is still so new to me that I feel I have just begun to explore the wonder of it myself. I can relate however, some of the journey that got me here. Punctuated by periods of doubt, recalcitrance and fear, the faith that is now a cornerstone of my life began to blossom unbidden by me and often in spite of my actions.
In celebrating the mass, we profess our faith with the beautiful and familiar words of the Apostles’ Creed. When these words define who we are and how we live, everything in our life is reshaped, reformed and renewed. I became a Catholic as a result of coming face to face with the love of God, His infinite mercy and His unending effort to bring us to Himself where we belong and where we also long to be. This is the journey that began for me as an intellectual exercise and resulted in my spiritual conversion.
If it were this time last year, the likelihood of me speaking publicly on any topic would have been zero. But if I had been asked for an opinion, I would most probably be supporting the proposition that the church, and by that I would have meant any church, had become irrelevant if not meaningless in today’s world. Having everything that I needed in our secular society, I followed the political and philosophical editorials about the travails of other folks and the sorry state of the planet with a complacent sense of helplessness.
It was last May, while reading a particularly vitriolic accusation that all of western society was “godless”, that something snapped. I wasn’t angry because, truth be told, I couldn’t completely disagree with the accusation. Rather, I was hurt and this caused me to do some serious soul searching. I thought of myself as a Christian when I thought about it at all; I knew from my history classes that Canada was founded on Christian principles, but I also knew that aside from mouthing platitudes, I really couldn’t support this claim in any concrete way.
I engaged my friends; coincidentally all cradle Catholics who had ceased to practise their faith. While the lively discussions that occurred over a period of weeks were inconclusive, they were not unproductive. For my friends, relying on their formative training, kept referring somewhat obliquely to “THE CHURCH” and “THE CATECHISM” with varying measures of reverence and disdain. Reverence for the Church founded by Jesus Christ Himself, shadowed by the admonition that this was not an organization with which I should become involved. This being perhaps the best advice that I have ever ignored in my whole life, I found the Catechism, which I downloaded from the internet, to be a veritable gold mine that detailed everything that Christianity entailed.
It was at this juncture that things started to get a little out of hand in my intellectual exercise. There was nothing in this document with which I could find fault. Maybe I personally didn’t understand or necessarily agree with everything it said, but I was convinced that were we to take its principles on board, the world would be a better place. As I read and re-read I became aware of a rather persistent sub-text that asked, “If not me, then who? If not now, then when.” I was being moved to be the change I wanted to see. This was powerful stuff! It also signaled the first point, but by no means the last, at which I left my comfort zone, so I put the text away.
Of course that didn’t work, and I realized that I needed help here. I really didn’t know what was going on and who are you going to call? The number for the Ottawa Diocesan Office sat on my desk at home in Hammond for a couple of weeks before I succumbed. The number that I was given for Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal sat for a couple more. Progress was positive, but incremental.
Finally, and almost in spite of myself, I had an appointment. The gentle pressure of an unseen hand on my back was probably just a figment of my imagination as I entered the church for the first time, but the words with which I introduced myself to Father Tim were, “I have no idea why I’m here, but I know that this is where I need to be right now.” He listened to my story and we talked for a bit and then with one sentence he contextualized everything that I had been going through in the preceding two months. He said, “It is miraculous the lengths to which the Holy Spirit will go to make us happy.”
I know that I have never before understood so well the expression “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” The months leading to my Confirmation were filled with learning, meeting new friends and sharing in a joy that words cannot describe.
Thank-you for being here when I needed you, and thank-you for listening.
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May 3, 2009
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year B, May 3rd, 2009
One of the deepest desires of the human heart is summarized in one part from today’s readings, if we pause and meditate on the meaning of the words. Did anything strike you today from the Word of God, anything that spoke to one of the deepest desires of your heart?
“Beloved: See what love the Father has given us” that we should become His children. “Beloved, we are God’s children now,” already, and we will have even more dignity, beauty and glory in the Resurrection (1 Jn 3:1-2). You are a son, a daughter of God your Father. You are beloved. That is your deepest identity satisfying one of the deepest desires of the human heart.
Today is Good Shepherd Sunday and the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, and the beginning of Catholic Education week, and at 2 Masses, Confirmation and First Communion. We can’t cover it all. And since I am vocations director for the Archdiocese of Ottawa, I want to spend some time speaking on vocations. We have a prayer for vocations sent to us by the bishop to recite after Mass. Also, we have a brand new priest, Jonathan Blake, who was ordained (this morning/yesterday morning) at the cathedral! It is always so inspiring to see a man literally lay down his life on the floor of the cathedral, like the Good Shepherd laying down his life for the flock (Jn 10:11).
Jesus as the Good Shepherd is an image of God the Father. Jesus Himself testified, “whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9). The role of shepherd and father is also united in the office of Pope, bishop and priest. The priest in charge of a parish, for example, is called both “pastor” (latin for “shepherd”) and “father.”
And it is right for the people to call priests “father” because that is what we are to you, spiritually speaking. But I think lay people have it too easy, since whenever they forget a priest’s name, they just say, “hi, father.” But priests can’t do the same thing with lay people . . . I suppose what I could do is the next time someone calls me “father” I could say, “yes, child?” Or I could also say “yes, beloved?”
“Beloved, you are God’s children.” That is your deepest identity. You are a son, a daughter of God your Father, who loves you. And I love you too.
Unfortunately, we live in a world cut off from God, especially God the Father. The Holy Spirit has been called the most neglected Person of the Trinity, but I think that the Father is the most rejected Person of the Trinity. Jesus is indeed the “stone rejected by the builders” (Ps 118), perhaps most especially because He came to earth to do the will of His heavenly Father, to represent His Father on earth.
In our modern world’s desire for unlimited freedom and independence, and our determination to build a human-centered kingdom on earth, we have, at least unconsciously, rejected the love of God our Father. Consequently, our world today suffers from an insatiable hunger, an agonizing longing, for the love we have lost, the love of God the Father, our need to hear Him say to each one of us, “Beloved, you are my son. You are my daughter.”
When this deep desire for love is not met, the pain is sometimes expressed in hostility, rebellion or anger against all fathers – God the Father, our earthly fathers, the Pope, the bishop, the priest. This might be the source of some of the criticism directed at our Pope, for example, in the recent controversy when he re-instated some schismatic bishops. He wrote: “I was saddened by the fact that even Catholics who, after all, might have had a better knowledge of the situation, thought they had to attack me with open hostility” (Letter to Bishops, March 10th, 2009). And I must say that I too am hurt at times by certain people who direct their hostility at me, their shepherd and their father. I think other fathers can relate to this, especially when they experience hostility from one of their own children.
But we forgive. As God the Father has forgiven us, so we forgive one another. God the Father is full of mercy and compassion, and always reaching out to us. He is always reaching down from heaven to embrace us with his two arms – the arms of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Children being confirmed today and receiving first Holy Communion, remember that – God the Father is reaching down to you today to embrace you through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
I will only highlight one aspect of the gift of the Holy Spirit that you children are receiving today, in part because Pope Benedict mentions it in his Message for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. He quotes St. Paul from Romans 8:26-28: “We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us.” The Holy Spirit teaches us to pray and prays within us. Children, it is so important for you to pray each day, to be sensitive to the movements of the Holy Spirit, to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd (Jn 10: 3), to experience His Presence and His love.
Pope Benedict also writes beautifully about prayer in his letter on hope. I wish more people would read his writings and messages, in which he writes to us as a father or grandfather: “When no one listens to me anymore, God still listens to me. When I can no longer talk to anyone or call upon anyone, I can always talk to God. When there is no longer anyone to help me deal with a need or expectation that goes beyond the human capacity for hope, he can help me. When I am plunged into complete solitude . . . if I pray I am never totally alone” (Spe Salvi, #32).
And whenever you pray, please also pray for priests and vocations, heeding
the call of Jesus to ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest (Mt 9:38). The Pope refers to a “worrisome shortage of priest . . . evident in some regions of the world.” Those regions certainly include Canada and the diocese of Ottawa. What is the solution? Pray! The Holy Father writes that “the urgent call of the Lord stresses that prayer for vocations should be continuous and trusting” (italics mine).
Long ago, the bishop asked each parish to offer at least one holy hour a week praying for vocations. We have a holy hour every Tuesday at 6pm and every Friday at 8am. I invite those who can to come to at least one holy hour a month to pray for vocations to the priesthood and to pray for all your needs. I can’t emphasize enough our need to focus our prayer and adoration on Jesus in the Eucharist who reveals the Father and brings us to the Father. The Church and the world desperately need this silence prayer of adoration of Jesus in the Eucharist, where He satisfies the deepe. I would like to expand our times of adoration, perhaps on Fridays. I am looking for generous hearts willing to dedicate some time to adoration.
“Beloved, you are God’s children. God the Father reaches down from heaven to embrace his children with His two arms – Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is an image of the Good Father who lays down His life for His children. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who has risen from the dead (Heb 13:20) and who knows the path that passes through the valley of death, leading to eternal life. And even in this life, He leads us to green pastures and still waters and prepares a banquet for us (Ps 23) in every Eucharist. Jesus is the Good Father who puts bread on the table. He feeds us with His own Body and Blood in Holy Communion.
The Good Shepherd is also the Lamb – the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. So remember that children when the priest holds up the host and says, “this is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to his supper.” This white host, this lamb of God, is Jesus whom you are receiving. He laid down His life for you on the Cross; He took it up again when He rose from the dead. But in every Holy Communion you receive in your hand or on your tongue, it is Jesus laying down His life for you once again.
Every Sunday, Jesus the Good Shepherd leads us to green pastures and still waters. Every Sunday, He prepares a banquet for us and restores our soul. As I mentioned on Easter Sunday and again last week, and I repeat: let us continue to celebrate the Resurrection all the seven Sundays of Easter by making a special effort to avoid working and shopping on Sunday. Let us listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd who wants to restore our souls, especially on Sunday through the Eucharist and through rest and relaxation with family and friends. “Beloved, you are God’s children.” He loves you and wants you to be happy, especially in celebrating the Resurrection, especially on His day, the Lord’s Day!
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