June 28, 2009

Little Girl, Get Up!

Posted in Homilies at 9:00 am

Thirteenth Sunday, Year B, June 28th, 2009

If you can see some reflection of your soul in the little girl from today’s Gospel, then blessed are you, happy are you, for Jesus comes to you to heal you and raise you up, saying, “Talitha koum” “little girl, get up!” But if you cannot see some reflection of your soul in her, then I feel sorry for all you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, “good” people who have no need of God.

The readings today remind us that “God did not make death” and that He calls us to eternal life and happiness through the Resurrection of Christ. Both death and life are at work in us right now – in our hearts and in our world. In our culture of death, it is as if the jaws of death are threatening to swallow the human person through abortion and euthanasia, and to destroy the human soul through sin, hopelessness, depression, etc … But the power of God smashes the power of sin and death and hell. The Resurrection of Christ overflows into our lives today, to heal us, save us and raise us up.

“Little girl, get up!” Or “Little boy, get up!” No matter how old we are, there is a little boy or little girl in each one of us, and in our relationship with God our Father, no matter how big or important we think we are, we are still little boys and girls. Because of sin – original sin, our own sins, the sins of others, there is a wounded little boy or little girl in each one of us — a memory of being a little boy who felt his father did not have time for him, or the memory of a little girl who felt that her mother’s affections were somehow lacking. Or worse cases of neglect, abandonment, abuse. Think of Michael Jackson (may he rest in peace): the wounded little boy who never grew up. These little boys and girls can only be healed by Jesus Christ, either directly or through the love of another person.

In our culture, we are seeing more and more of the “walking wounded” people with such emotional scars or psychological burdens that they are prevented from finding the fullness of life and love that God intends for each one of us. But Jesus Christ is alive, and he wants to heal us, save us, and raise us up. In turn, we must believe in His love and listen to His voice.

There is a very powerful scene in the movie on the life of Dorothy Day, Entertaining Angels. If you can see some reflection of your soul in this scene, blessed and happy are you. Dorothy took many poor, homeless and emotional scarred and fragile people into her own home. She welcomed an ex-prostitute and alcoholic named Maggie. One night, she caught Maggie stealing from her and tried to stop her. Maggie began to yell and hit Dorothy with an umbrella. At first, Dorothy fought back, and Maggie fell to the floor. Dorothy grabbed the umbrella and raised it, then suddenly stopped, while Maggie in tears of pain and despair was yelling, “hit me, hit me! I’m a drunk, a prostitute and a thief!”

Instead Dorothy stopped, as if she received an anointing of the Holy Spirit; her countenance radiated tenderness that she focused like a spotlight on Maggie and in a gentle voice she said, “I can see the light in you . . . the courage and the love.” “You can’t . . . stop saying that,” Maggie replied with tears of anguish. But Dorothy continued, “You are very beautiful . . . I love you.” “You can’t!” Maggie gasped between sobs, “I stole from you, the only person who ever really cared about me.” As other members of the community gathered round, Dorothy drew close to her and embraced her, “Maggie, we all love you.” Then she helped her up off the floor. Talitha koum. Little girl, get up. Do not lie down dead anymore. Do not lie captive anymore to sin and shame. Do not wallow in despair. Do not give in to feelings of sadness, of being alone or unloved.

In many ways Maggie is an image of the human soul wounded by sin, that has trouble actually believing that God or some person could love her. If you can see some reflection of your soul in this little girl, blessed are you, happy are you, because then Jesus Christ can heal you and save you and raise you up. But if you are so proud or fearful that you cannot open your heart, woe to you “good” people who have no need of God, woe to you scribes, Pharisees and hypocrites who will never know Jesus Christ or His love, because you have heard that He came to call sinners and you are not one of them.

By the way, remember what Jesus says in the Gospels? That prostitutes and tax-collectors enter heaven ahead of the scribes and Pharisees (Mt 21:31). In the Catholic Church, we don’t need any more people who come to Mass to be good, or who think they are good because they come to Mass. We need more “prostitutes” and “tax collectors” – poor, weak, wounded, broken people who know that they need a Saviour, who know they need Jesus Christ to heal them, save them and raise them up.

These people are the only ones who are ready to make the greatest discovery in life – that God actually loves them as they are. Then they rejoice in His love. They repent and change and evangelize others!

The Church needs more poor, weak and broken people because they are the only type of people Christ can save. From God’s perspective, they are the only type of people that exist. All the rest are scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, actors pretending to be someone they are not, “good” people who pat themselves on the back, but never come to know and love Jesus Christ, nor help convert a single person.

Thankfully, Christ does live in each one of us, patiently guiding us on our way, and constantly calling us into a deeper relationship with Him. In all our struggles in life, all our emotional scars or psychological burdens, there is the voice of Jesus in each one of us, saying (as He did in the Gospel)“do not fear, only believe.” But there is the voice of the tempter, which we also heard in today’s Gospel, saying, “the child is dead, why trouble the teacher any further?” The voice of the tempter trying to discourage us saying, “You will always feel sad, lonely, unloved, why trouble God any further with your prayers?”

We can choose which voice to follow. And we can choose which memories will form our lives. In what many critics call the greatest novel of all time, Brothers Karamazov by the devout Christian and Russian writer Dostoevsky, in the final pages, the author speaks through one of the characters who says: “If only one good memory is left in our hearts, it may . . . be the instrument of our salvation one day” (Brothers Karamazov, 911). One good memory. If we focus on the good memories, how the little boy or little girl in us has been loved and blessed, we listen to the voice of Jesus and receive His love. But we could also allow one bad memory to be the instrument of our destruction, if we choose to dwell on the negative, and pick at the scabs of our inner wounds, constantly asking, “why me?” listening instead to the voice of the tempter, the devil, the source of death who is trying to destroy us.

Consider the example of Regis Gahigiro, age 22, a survivor of Rwandan genocide, now living in Ottawa. When he was 7 years old, his grandparents were murdered; his sisters were murdered; his father was murdered. Talk about painful memories and childhood wounds! At age 11, coming home from school one day, he stepped on a land mine and lost is right leg. Yet today, here he is smiling and looking forward to a future full of hope!
He says, “I would like to run a marathon like Terry Fox and raise money for children of war and war amputees.” He chose to focus on the good memories in his life, and to hope in the future. Perhaps he also heard Jesus say to him, “little boy, get up! Yes, you have lost your right leg, and your grandparents and your father and your sisters, and I also weep for them. But I say to you, ‘get up’ take my hand, I will help you. Do not doubt, do not fear, only believe.”

Here’s a black African boy who went through horror, but has turned out OK. But many white North Americans, with much less emotional trauma in their past, seem to be crippled for life. What is the difference? Is it that the black Africans’ faith in Jesus actually makes a difference in their lives? Does God give them grace that He does not give to us? Does God love black Africans more than white North Americans?

I think God loves all those who are poor, weak, wounded and broken wherever they happen to live. If you can see some of these traits in your soul, blessed and happy are you – Christ comes to you today to heal you, save you, and raise you up. In the Eucharist today, we have the same Jesus who raised the little girl from the dead – the same Jesus with the same power, the same love. Do not doubt it, only believe. The teacher is here, and he is calling for you.

June 21, 2009

Father’s Day

Posted in posts at 11:19 am

My name is Ken Doyle and as most of you know my family moved to Russell last summer from Nova Scotia. My wife, Laurie and I have been together for almost 20 years and we will celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary in October. We have 5 beautiful children….3 daughters and 2 sons.

2 weeks ago, Father Tim asked me if I would speak to you on this Father’s Day Weekend. He asked if I would prayerfully consider. I told him I would think about it. But I really didn’t think I would be doing this today. Clearly, things have a way of “getting done” when it is meant to be.

That same Sunday afternoon, our phone rang. My brother Ron was calling, we have been speaking frequently over the past number of months. Just prior to Christmas last year his girlfriend of 8 years and fiancee decided their relationship was over and there are 3 children involved.

During our conversation he reminded me of the significant role model our dad was to us and also told me how I inspired him from time to time. This led to me accepting Father Tim’s invitation.

Rather than quote to you from on-line sources or books about the importance of being solid MALE role models for our children I would rather tell you about my male role model, my Dad.

He was born in 1939, not long after the start of the 2nd World War. At 2 years old his father died.
My mom also grew up without a dad, at the age of 12 her father, a fisherman, drowned one morning and was lost at sea. They soon began having children and promised to raise us in the faith. Dad promised himself he would be the male role model he was cheated out of so many years before.

My Dad was a carpenter and cabinet maker. When it was time to build our family home he decided it was a great opportunity to build a solid relationship with his 3 sons. So when the framing for the walls and floor was completed he set out to lay the plywood over the floor joists. He laid sheet after sheet of plywood, nailed the four corners down and picked up his chalk line and pencil. He struck a chalk line where every floor joist was and then made an X on the chalk line with his pencil where each nail was to be hammered into the plywood. He called us to come help him. He explained what he wanted and began to set a nail in the spot where each X was marked. We followed behind him and hammered in each nail.

Think of the extra time this took in building the house. He didn’t need our help, but chose to spend the time to build a strong bond.

Each evening after supper we would all gather in the living room, get on our knees and say family prayers. At times it was the rosary, other times a novena, others the stations of the cross. Our friends were outside playing but we understood and knew what was expected of us. We grew together as a family and in our faith.

Above the head of Dad’s bed hangs his Rosary Beads. Each morning before his feet touch the floor he says his prayers. He gives his day and his life to god before anything else.

Late in July of last year he sat on the front step of our family home with his face in his hands weeping like I have never seen him weep before. We were driving away to the airport to move our family here to Russell. The last picture I had etched in my memory was that of him sitting with his face buried in his hands weeping uncontrollably.

Every day I struggle to be that same kind of role model to my children. Our fast paced society tries it’s hardest to steal these precious family moments away. We, as Fathers and Leaders of our families must not let this happen. I challenge you, as I challenge myself, to make the time. Take the time to be the Father and Role Model our vocation calls us to be. It is not easy but the rewards are fruitful.

My last memory of my Dad is no longer that of him sitting on the step that day in late July. It is that of me and my brothers and Dad working together to install new flooring throughout the house last spring. Having aged a bit over the years….he was the foreman, we the workers, things have not changed much over the years. All his patience and efforts had come to fruition.

In a few short days I will get to wrap my arms around my Dad, tell him I love him and appreciate everything he has done for me and give him the best Father’s Day gift ever…..Me and my time.

Thank you and Happy Father’s Day.

Do You not Care?

Posted in Homilies at 9:00 am

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

June 21, 2009

“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Haven’t all of us said something similar to this to God at one time or another? When we experience suffering, we may ask “Lord, why are you doing this to me? Why couldn’t you have prevented me from losing my job? Why didn’t you heal my loved one who just died? What possible reason could you have for allowing that horrible accident, or terrible crime, or devastating natural disaster, to happen?” We frequently speak of God’s love for us, but if He is so good and loving, where is He in all of this? Lord, don’t you care?

That’s kind of the way Job felt. Today’s first reading from the Book of Job is a rarity for Sunday; the only Sunday’s we hear readings from the Book of Job are today and on the Fifth Sunday of Year B.
Since we don’t hear much of it at Mass…is everyone familiar with the basic story of Job? Just a little refresher…
Job was a good, just, religious, and prosperous man. At the beginning of the book, Satan challenges God to allow him to test the depth of Job’s goodness and piety. After all, who wouldn’t obey and worship God if they were blessed with such a family and great wealth as Job? But, will Job still worship God when he is not so blessed? God allows –doesn’t cause, but allows – catastrophe after catastrophe to befall Job; he loses his children, his wealth, and his health. His comforters, his friends, urge Job to ask God’s forgiveness for whatever wrongs he has done. The Hebrews generally thought that all sufferings or troubles were punishments from God for having sinned. So, his friends conclude that Job must have done something wrong, otherwise, why would God be punishing him?

But Job knows otherwise, he knows he is innocent. He claims he is not being punished for wrongs he has committed, despite all the evils that have afflicted him. Although he hasn’t sinned, his pain is so great that eventually he even longs for death. He laments his grief, and calls God to account for what has happened to him. As we read this book, we can almost hear Job saying: “Don’t you care, Lord? I don’t deserve this!”
Today’s reading is God’s response to Job – a response, but not an explanation. We hear only a small excerpt of this response, which dominates five chapters. What does God say? Basically He asks Job: who are you to question me? “Who is this that darkens my counsel by words without knowledge?” What human, with our comparatively limited intelligence, can question God, eternal and all-powerful? If He gave us a complete explanation, we would be unable to understand it.

It is understandable for us to question why things happen the way they do. It is even understandable that, as humans, we may get angry with God, or blame Him. Understandable, but not correct. Our quarrel with God is misplaced, and hopefully it is not long-lasting.

A few weeks ago, I read a column by a woman named Patrice Lewis. She was writing about two friends who, five years apart, ended up with the same rare form of cancer, a cancer that has only a 3% survival rate. The column relates that one of them survived, the other did not, but that both of the affected families found their faith deepened and strengthened by their ordeal. They didn’t blame God; they looked to Him as a source of support and peace. And as way of illustration, she mentioned a scene from an old western. In the movie, a man’s wife had died, leaving him with a small daughter. In the wagon train with them was a woman, pregnant with her first child, who lost her husband along the trail.
The woman looked at the wreckage of her dreams and blamed God for her troubles. The man took her aside and said, “I know you’re mad at God. But God is not responsible for your problems.” He added, “When I go for a walk with my daughter and she trips and falls, she knows I didn’t push her down. But she also knows that I will be there to lift her up. To minister to her hurts, to support her on her journey, and if necessary to carry her home.”
Now, a segment from an old move isn’t deep theology. But it can contribute in a small way to our understanding. Today’s opening prayer says “Father, guide and protector of your people, grant us an unfailing respect for your name, and keep us always in your love”. That seems appropriate, tomorrow being Father’s Day. And, at the end of Mass, Ken Doyle will be speaking to us about fatherhood. God is our Father, and the ideal and model for all fathers. Does a good father spoil his children? Does he give them everything they want? Fathers (and mothers, too, of course) usually have a better understanding than their children of what is the best for them. As fathers, we may let our children act on their own, even knowing beforehand that there may be certain risks involved. God loves us even more than our own human fathers, more than we fathers love our children. He wants us to be happy, but it’s not for us to demand that He make us happy. He wants us to love Him, not in order to keep Him on our side, or because of what He does for us, but because we trust Him and know that when evil occurs He is not the source of it.
Jesus didn’t cause the storm the disciples found themselves in. Even though He admonishes them for having no faith, they certainly had enough faith to wake Him and ask for His help. God doesn’t cause the storms we find ourselves in. And, even though He also may not act to prevent those storms, He does care. Christ is with us, though He may be asleep, to paraphrase St. Augustine, asleep because we have forgotten Him. Or perhaps, because we have felt that we didn’t need Him or want Him in our lives. The storms may continue to rage, but our souls can find a level of calm as we turn to Him.
We are unlikely in this life to find a complete and true answer to our questions in times of suffering and trouble. But, one thing we can be sure of is that we are much better off during those times to grow closer to God, to trust in Him, rather to reject or blame Him.
I’ll close with another quote from St. Augustine. He said: “Try then, to be more like the wind and the sea: obey the God who made you. When your heart is in this troubled state, do not let the waves overwhelm you. If, since we are only human, the driving wind should stir up in us a tumult of emotions, let us not despair but awaken Christ, so that we may sail in quiet waters, and at last reach our heavenly homeland.”

June 14, 2009

Corpus Christi – 2009

Posted in Homilies at 9:00 am

Corpus Christi, Year B, June 14th, 2009

Today I want to show you the face of God, not figuratively or symbolically, but literally. I will even give you a picture of the face of God to take home with you. I have here a picture of the face of Jesus Christ “our high priest” (Heb 9:11, second reading) from the shroud of Turin. There are copies at either entrance for you to take home with you. This truly is the face of God – this is what God looked like when He lived as a human being on earth. If you have any doubts whether or not this is truly the face of Christ from the Shroud of Turin, then I encourage you to purchase and listen to this CD, available in the foyer for $5, and/or to watch the DVD on the Shroud in our library.

Why am I showing you the face of God on the feast of Corpus Christi? In his last encyclical letter in 2003, Pope John Paul II wrote: “To contemplate the face of Christ (our High Priest), and to contemplate it with Mary, is the ‘programme’ which I have set before the Church at the dawn of the third millenium. To contemplate Christ involves being able to recognize him . . . above all in the living sacrament of his body and his blood” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia #6). To contemplate the face of Christ in the Eucharist on today’s feast of Corpus Christi.

We are so blessed as Catholics to have Christ among us in so many ways. We can hold a Bible in our hands and listen to the words of Jesus. We can look at a picture from the Holy Shroud and see the face of Jesus. We can sit in a quiet Church before the tabernacle or during exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and contemplate and enjoy the presence of Jesus. The words, the face, the presence of Christ our High Priest will help us to truly know Him and love Him, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, so that when we actually receive His Body and Blood in Holy Communion, we will realize we are receiving a Person, not a thing.

We call this feast “Corpus Christi” because we focus on the Body of Christ; it is specifically the Body of Christ, in the Sacred Host, that we put in the monstrance and carry in procession through the streets of Russell. But if we look at the readings of today’s Mass, we are reminded that this is also the feast of “Sanguis Christi” the blood of Christ. All three readings mention blood: Moses took the blood of the oxen, the blood of the covenant and sprinkled it on the people (Ex 24:8) Yuck!
The second reading, the letter to the Hebrews, refers to Christ as our high priest, who entered the Holy Place of heaven “with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption” (Heb 9:12). (I am trying to refer more frequently to Jesus as our “high priest” because that is the title given to him in the second reading, the letter to the Hebrews, and as a reminder that this coming Friday is the beginning of the year of priesthood as proclaimed by Pope Benedict, and explained in the bulletin insert). In the Gospel, we hear of the institution of the Eucharist, and Jesus saying, “this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many” for the forgiveness of sins (Mk 14:24).

This precisely is one of the purposes of the shedding of the blood of Christ our High Priest — to take away sin and guilt. Jesus is the High Priest and Victim of His own sacrifice on the Cross, made present at the Last Supper and in each Eucharist. Jesus is the Priest and “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” But who cares? Because we have no sin. In our times, we have lost the sense of sin. Many people have absolutely no conception of sin. What is sin? An offense against God? Who is God?

Strangely enough, these same people who have no sense of sin seem to carry a heavy burden of guilt. As one author put it: “The world has turned its back on Christianity with its dogmas and commandments, on the grounds that it is a religion of guilt. Yet there has never been a time when people were so weighed down with guilt as they are today. Girls feel guilty for not being as beautiful as the latest fashion model. Men feel guilt for not being as successful as the inventor of Microsoft. The standards of success dictated by contemporary culture weigh on us much more heavily than the appeal to perfection made by Jesus” in the Gospel (Interior Freedom by Jacques Philippe, p. 38-39).

Lately I have been noticing that many people carry a huge burden of guilt. Because of original sin and personal sin, all human beings carry some burden of guilt, but it is worse in our culture. I think that unconscious guilt drives a lot of the busy-ness and workaholism in our society; at best, it seems we are trying to redeem ourselves, and make ourselves worthy of acceptance and love from God and others, at worst, we are punishing ourselves. But you could work 60 hours a week for 50 years and never take a holiday and guess what? You would not be able to take away the slightest little sin (pinky)

I think unconscious guilt is also robbing many people of the joy in life that God wants us to experience. I’m reminded of a poem by the Romantic poet Coleridge, from which I quote briefly at a weekday Mass. It’s called Dejection: An Ode. In typical Romantic fashion, he describes the loveliness of nature, of the sky, the moon, the stars, but then, because he is feeling depressed (unconscious guilt?) He writes: “I see them all so excellently fair,/ I see, not feel, how beautiful they are” (37-38).

In Canada at the beginning of summer, all of nature is brimming with exuberant joy. What a shame to say, “I see, not feel, how beautiful it is.” Why not? Is it because of unconscious guilt, unconfessed sin? Why do we not seek and see the face of Christ, above all in the Eucharist, but also in the beauty that surrounds us?

I don’t know if I’ve ever told you this before, but I also have something called . . . a past, and my own burden of past sins. So I’ve decided what I’m going to do. I’m going to take all my sins and all my guilt, and, if you will release them, all your sins and all your guilt, and I am going to give it all to Jesus Christ our High Priest and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Through Confession and the Eucharist, let’s give it all to Jesus, because that’s His job – He’s the Redeemer, and that’s one reason He came into the world, to take away the sin of the world.

That’s why after going to Confession, and while at Mass, we are all so happy and we sing to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In the Gloria, we sing “Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world.” And again before Communion, we sing to the Lamb who shed His blood to take away all our guilt, our sin, our shame. Perhaps because we find it so hard to believe, we repeat it three times, so this joyful, liberating truth will sink into our minds and hearts, “Lamb of God, you really do take away all my sins and the sins of the world.”

But without prayer, we will never see the face of Christ and know this truth that sets us free. What good is it if we have the blood of Christ on our lips, if we never experience His love, if the liberating truth of His blood never enters our heart, our veins, our marrow? Remember what we prayed in the opening prayer? There are the same words we use in every single Holy Hour: “May our worship of this sacrament (of your Body and Blood) help us to experience the salvation you won for us.”

This is God’s will for us, that we experience His love, His salvation, that we hear His voice and see His face and come to know Him and love Him more and more.

Imagine if you were married for 25 years and suddenly, God forbid, your wife dies, and then you discover her diary and began to read it. You are given a glimpse into the depths of her soul, and you realize, that although you lived with her for 25 years, you really did not know her. Would that not be sad? Well, it doesn’t have to happen that way in a marriage or in a relationship with Christ. But there are unfortunately too many Catholics who have been consecrated to Christ in baptism for 25 years or more, and still do not really know Him. But if we do not know Him, we will neither love Him nor receive Him worthily in Holy Communion.

We Catholics are so blessed to have Christ personally with us in His Word and in the Sacraments. Specifically, we have access to the blood of Christ, that washes away all our guilt and sin, in the sacraments of baptism, Eucharist and confession, the last two of which we can and should receive frequently.

I simply do not understand Catholics who never go to confession. Imagine if you had an atheist friend of yours whom you respect. He is a hard worker, and seems to be a moral person, good husband and father. But when you talk to him, he says, “I don’t believe in life after death. I think that when you’re dead, you’re dead and you never even know you were alive.” You say: “Gee, Bill, that’s kind of depressing!” And he says, “Oh, well, I just keep busy and try not to think about it.” And you’re thinking: “How can this guy live without any faith at all?” You still love and respect him as a friend, but you don’t understand him at all.

That’s how I feel about Catholics who never go to confession. I can love them, but I don’t understand them at all. How do Catholics live who never go to confession, the sacrament specifically instituted by Christ to take away sins committed after baptism, to relieve us of the burden of our guilt? In refusing to confess, it’s almost like saying to Jesus, “It’s OK, Lord, I don’t deserve to be happy anyway. So I’m going to punish myself by clinging to this burden of sin and guilt. Go ahead and take away the sins of the world, but I’m holding on to mine.” I simply do not understand people who live like that.

When I leave the confessional, after confessing my sins to Christ the High Priest in the person of another priest, my soul feels like singing. And at Mass, I enjoy singing to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and my sins. How blessed we are as Catholics to have Christ among us in so many ways. He speaks to us through His word; He is present in all the Sacraments – really and substantially present in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, and in every Mass, He lets His face shine on us so that we can be saved.

June 7, 2009

Holy Trinity – 2009

Posted in Homilies at 9:00 am

June 7th, 2009

It’s June! The weather is finally warming up, summer is almost here, and the wedding season is beginning. How appropriate that we celebrate the feast of the Holy Trinity at the beginning of the season of love. Some of you may know that Sinatra song “Something wonderful happens in summer . . . “ You fall in love. But then he adds, “it happens to only a few.” And I say, “no way! It can happen to everyone. Everyone created in the image of the Holy Trinity is created by love, for love. We have been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19). We have been plunged into the love of the Holy Trinity that surrounds us like a warm bath; in this love we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).

On this feast of the Holy Trinity, we celebrate this mystery of God who is love, one God in three Persons. God is an isolated individual living in His ivory tower in heaven; no, in His very essence He is a relationship, a family, a mystery of love. But I don’t think we fully appreciate the implications of this mystery.

Think about it: before the universe existed, before there were human beings or planets or stars or angels, before space and time existed, there was the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, a relationship of love as the basis of all reality. Take that home and smoke it! (As they say) (Inhale “cigarette”) “Far out, man! The Holy Trinity . . . love . . . as the basis of all reality (“exhale”). . . that’s mind-expanding theology . . . dude!”

Cardinal Kasper, one of the leading theologians of the Church, recently referred to the doctrine of the Trinity as a “sleeping beauty” who is slowly beginning to awaken in the heart and mind of the Church, leading to deeper insights into the meaning of human life (Origins, Vol. 39, #1, p. 12)).

For example, if we appreciated this mystery better and our call as human beings to reflect the life and love of the Trinity, I think we would be doing a much better job of filling up this book. I don’t know if any of you have seen this book before. It’s kind of empty recently. It is the marriage register for our parish. People are not getting married anymore! Why not?

Catholics are not getting married anymore. Either they don’t marry at all and simply live together, or they marry outside the Church in a civil ceremony. But when Catholics marry outside the Church in a civil ceremony, their names do not appear in this book. To all married Catholics here today, your marriage is truly a marriage in the eyes of God and the Church only if your names appear in the marriage register of a Catholic Church somewhere in the world. And if you are married outside the Church and would like your names to appear in this book, I would be honoured to write your names here for free, in five minutes! (That’s a bit of an aside).

God created people – most people — for marriage and family, because He created us in His image as a Holy Trinity. Since we are created for relationships, we human beings are very interested in each other, especially men and women. And we spend a lot of time looking at each other. All of us have a need to bask in the sunshine of the loving gaze of another person, but because of sin, we also have a need to protect ourselves from the lustful gaze of others.

So men, when you see a beautiful woman on the street, it is normal for you to notice her, because you are simply acknowledging that we have been created in the image of the Holy Trinity. And women, whenever you enhance the great natural beauty that God has given you with certain clothing and cosmetics, and you want to be noticed by men or a certain man in particular, you are simply acknowledging that you have been created in the image of the Holy Trinity, for love. We all have a deep human need to be loved and to be affirmed by the gaze of another.

This is one of the best books I’ve read in the last 10 years: Interior Freedom by Jacques Philippe, and I thank the person who gave it to me. He has a brilliant and inspired chapter on “accepting ourselves” with a sub-titled section called “the mediation of another’s eyes.” He writes: “Accepting ourselves is much more difficult than it might seem. Pride, fear of not being loved, the conviction of how little we are worth, are all too deeply rooted in us. Think of how badly we react to our falls, mistakes, and failures, how demoralized and upset we become, how guilty they make us feel.

Only under the gaze of God can we fully and truly accept ourselves. We need to be looked upon by someone who says, as God did through the prophet Isaiah: ‘You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you.’ Consider a very common experience: a girl who believes she is plain (as, curiously enough, do many girls, even pretty ones!) begins to think that she might not be so frightful after all on the day a young man falls in love with her and looks at her with the tender eyes of someone in love.

We urgently need the mediation of another’s eyes to love ourselves and accept ourselves. The eyes may be those of a parent, a friend, a spiritual director (I would add, a spouse); but above all they are those of God our Father.” (That is why the spirit of adoption in us cries out “Abba Father” I trust in you! (Romans 8: ) “The look in (God the Father’s) eyes is the purest, truest, tenderest, most loving and most hope-filled in this world . . . “ and he goes on from there (35-36).

We should all strive to look upon one another with the pure, true and tender eyes of God. But because we live in a fallen world of impure hearts, we also have to protect ourselves from the lustful gaze of others.

A few weeks ago, I was visiting with my sister in Kanata at her office on her lunch break, and it was a nice day so we took a little walk around her building. I want to emphasize that my sister doesn’t look like me at all because she is adopted. She is a tall, with red hair, and over the last year she has been working out at the gym.

As we were walking, there were two men who were sitting on the steps of the building and staring at her. She didn’t seem to notice, (I guess women have learned to ignore these gazes) but her priest brother noticed! And I would like to say to my “sisters” in the Church that I am sorry for what you have to endure from some of the men in our culture. The best way to describe how I felt, being next to my sister under the lustful looks of these men, is a feeling of being slimed. There are a lot of men out there who are good men, but there are others, let’s face it, who are slaves of lust. I don’t want my sister to be slimed by men who are slaves of lust. I don’t want any of you women here today, who are my sisters in Christ, to be slimed by men who are slaves of lust.

Unfortunately, my sisters, because of sin and because of the celebration of lust in our culture of death, you really do have to protect yourself, in part through modesty of dress, from being slimed. If you had any idea how corrupted the hearts of many men in our culture have become, through lust and pornography and other sins, you would naturally desire to dress very modestly in order to protect yourself. Of course, even if you wear a burkha, men could still look at you with lust. I once heard of a taxi driver in Afghanistan who could tell the shape of a women’s body from her ankles.

Now, some of the best men in our culture can be found in Catholic parishes attending Sunday Mass. So the reason to dress modestly at Mass is not to protect yourself, but to help your brothers. It’s an act of charity. Remember, all these men here are your brothers in Christ. They are striving to purify their hearts and their gazes, to look upon their sisters in love, not lust. Because you respect these men who are your brothers, you would not consciously dress in a such a way as to scandalise one of your brothers. Instead, you ladies here, especially those with a visible ministry during Mass, you want to help your brothers, through modesty of dress, to pray at Mass and to focus on God.

And to the men here, if you are ever distracted by beauty during Mass, either modest or immodest, you know what to do. Christopher West, the popularizer of John Paul II’s theology of the body, shares this story about the red-head at Mass. “I noticed a very beautiful woman sitting a few pews ahead of me. At one point she casually flipped her red hair over her shoulder. Whoa! This gesture tapped into some deep well in my soul. It captured all that was so beautifully ‘feminine’ about her.”

“‘Lord, what was that?’ I prayed. Rather than repress the stirrings of my heart, I surrendered them to Christ so he could purify them and show me their true meaning. As I prayed, it dawned on me that the beauty of woman – if we have the purity to see it – lies in her being a living, incarnate symbol of heaven . . . The deepest truth of my attraction to this woman confirmed my desire for heaven” (Theology of the Body Explained, p. 330).

An inspiring testimony of a good Catholic man striving to purify his heart and his gaze. And during summers in Canada, there are lots of opportunities to work on that. Obviously in the Church we can’t ban hair-flicking. Ladies, you’re just too beautiful and the men can’t handle it . . . no more flicking your hair! (So we’ll have to put a sign out front of a picture of a woman flicking her hair and a big X through it!) Evidently, men must work at purifying their hearts and their gazes, and they ask their sisters to help them.

Remember, in the Church we are truly brothers and sisters in Christ, so let us look upon one another with the pure, loving gaze of God, and let us help one another in attaining the purpose for which God created us – to love Him, to love one another as He has loved us, which usually includes marriage and family, to share in the life and joy of the Holy Trinity forever and ever.

I would like to end with this prayer to the Trinity, the beginning of which is a prayer taught by the angel to the children at Fatima: “Most Holy Trinity, I adore you. My God, my God, I love you in the most Blessed Sacrament” and for all the beautiful works of your hand: the warm summer sun, the green fields of Russell, the blue sky, the white clouds . . . and for the beauty of all my brothers and sisters, most Holy Trinity, I adore you.