November 29, 2009
Posted in Homilies
at 2:53 pm
First Sunday of Advent, November 29th, 2009
“Dare to hope!” That’s the theme I am proposing for this Advent. The word “DARE” (sign on the back wall) is in green letters, the colour of Ordinary Time, and the colour of hope. We hope in God throughout Ordinary Time, but more intensely and consciously in Advent, the season of hope. The word “TO” is violet, the colour of Advent and the colour of penance, a reminder that penance helps us to hope in God, because through penance and the confession of sin, we turn away from being selfishly closed in on ourselves, and we open ourselves to God in hope. Finally, “HOPE” is in white, the liturgical colour for Christmas, and the words are over the tabernacle containing Jesus our Lord, a reminder of the fulfillment of our hope in the coming of Christ at Christmas
In many ways we live in a culture without hope, a culture of death and fear, a world in which we Christians are meant to shine as bright beacons of hope. Notice the contrast that Jesus mentions in today’s Gospel. There is a real difference between the “people” of the nations who do not believe in God, and the disciples of Jesus. The people tend to live in “distress” and “confusion,” fainting “from fear and foreboding,” their hearts “weighed down” (depressed!) with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life” (Lk 21:34). But to the disciples, in the midst of all the distress and depression in the world, Jesus says, “stand up, raise your heads (hope in God!) because your redemption is drawing near” (Lk 21:28)
We, the disciples of Jesus, are filled with hope, not fear, because the one who is “coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Lk ) to judge the living and the dead, is our brother and friend, whom we already know and love, Jesus our Saviour. We do not fear His Second Coming, because we have already welcomed Him in His first coming as man, and we welcome Him each week, each day – in His Word, in Holy Communion, in the voice of conscience. We Christians who experience the unconditional love of Jesus are not going to be afraid of signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars; we are not going to be afraid of wars and revolutions and disaster movies; we are not going to be afraid of H1NI or any other diseases; we are not going to be weighed down with misery, shame, depression or despair; we are going to stand up, raise up our heads and lift up our hearts – as we do in every Eucharist.
A firm foundation of our hope is our trust in God’s unconditional love.
One of the highlights of my pilgrimage to the Holy Land was the unconditional love of Jesus that I experienced at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. There is a small chapel containing the actual tomb of Jesus, the stone on which His body laid, the place from which He rose from the dead! And beside this chapel is a small room where an old Franciscan priest sits and warmly welcomes pilgrims. I went in and knelt down. We had a little chat, and then, in the name of Jesus, he absolved me of all my sins. And at that moment I experienced the “grace” of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre – not by touching with my hand the stone where the body of Jesus once laid, but by encountering the living Jesus in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars and exhaust yourself by making a pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to be absolved of your sins this Advent, at the beginning of a new year, in preparation for the coming of Christ at Christmas. Because Jesus gave to His apostles and their successors authority to forgive sins. Some of them went to Rome. Some of their successors went to France and eventually to Canada and the diocese of Ottawa. Some of them will be coming here on Wednesday night for our parish Reconciliation service. You don’t have to travel to Jerusalem; you only have to walk a few feet to the confessional!
What is the deepest meaning of confessionals in Catholic Churches? For one thing, it is here that God strengthens our hearts in holiness that we may be “blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints” (1 Thess 3:13). But even deeper, the confessional is the encounter with unconditional love. Jesus promises us, “whoever comes to me, I will never turn away” (cf John 6:37). “Whoever comes to me with his or her true self, asking for love, I will never turn away.” Remember that God does not love the person you think you should be. Why not? Because this person doesn’t exist! God only loves real people; He loves the real you! (And although I do not know you as well as God does, I do genuinely love you as well).
In God’s plan, every marriage, every family, every parish is meant to be a place of unconditional love. But when all else fails, Jesus wants to be here in the Church, in the confessional, as a final refuge and oasis for souls seeking His unconditional love. Some of you are sad because you refuse to come to Jesus in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. And I know that for some people, those few steps to the confessional are a long and difficult pilgrimage.
They are weighed down with irrational fears and an unconscious pride propping up a very fragile ego. Do not be afraid. You will encounter the unconditional love of Jesus.
With this firm foundation, this confidence in Jesus’ unconditional love for us, we can stretch our wings and dare to hope for great things from God. Our Jewish guide in Israel told us that the definition of a Jew is someone who hopes in the coming of the Messiah. In many ways, a definition of a true Christian is someone also who hopes, who hopes in God. There are many Christians who believe in the existence of God and that’s it. He exists. But we don’t expect anything from Him. We really don’t think that He can intervene in this world and make a difference – in a marriage, a family, a difficult relationship. God might exist but we really are on our own. “We have to hope in man, not God.” That’s the attitude of many so-called Christians. It is also the philosophy of Nazism, fascism, communism – to hope only in man, not God. But we are in fact Christians who believe in the living God, a real Person who loves us and is actively involved in our daily lives!
We can better appreciate this call to “dare to hope” by comparing a child’s and an adult’s anticipation of Christmas. Remember what Christmas was like as a child, how you were filled with hope, with joyful expectation? Little children are filled with hope because they are not selfishly closed in upon themselves; they know they are totally dependent on someone else; they cannot buy the Christmas presents they want for themselves. They must be open to receiving gifts from others.
But a rich adult can say, “I know exactly what I want for Christmas: this bottle of Scotch, this book, and this CD, so I am just going to buy them for myself.” This kind of person is selfishly closed in on himself, and does not hope in anything from anyone. We think it is normal that you grow up and lose this childlike joyful hope around Christmas time. It’s normal to become sad, serious, realistic adults. No! We are always children of God! God is our Father. He loves us and wants to overwhelm us with gifts, this God who can do “immeasurably more than we ask or imagine” (Eph 3:20).
But we must dare to hope! We must re-educate ourselves to hope in God, because we are so used to trusting only in ourselves. It’s as if we are working on our life-project on our desk, saying, “give me just one more minute. I know I can do it on my own. I can fix myself, fix this marriage, fix this family.”
When will we wake up and confess that there are some things in life we can’t fix, we can’t control? We really do need a Saviour. We need someone above us, beyond us, who is more powerful and more intelligent than we are. We need to lift up our heads to look for someone coming on the clouds with power and great glory who alone has power to save us.
Dare to hope! Take some time at the beginning of Advent and reflect: what are your greatest hopes in life? Your hope for your family, our country, the world? What is your great hope for yourself? Dare to hope! One act of hope and we begin to change, because hope turns us away from being selfishly closed in upon ourselves, and opens us up to a real relationship with God. We can only have a relationship with God if we hope in Him. If we have no hope in God we are not even Christians. To those who are tempted to lose hope, I want to remind you that God will never give up hope in you, and I will never give up hope in you either.
So, my brothers and sisters, let us actually do what we say to God in every single Mass immediately following the “Our Father.” Let us live in “joyful hope” for the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. In the original Latin introduction to the “Our Father,” it reads, “audemus dicere,” we “dare to say.” We dare to say “Our Father.” We have confidence in our relationship with God because He is our Father and for this reason, in Advent we dare to hope for great things from Him.
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November 24, 2009
Posted in cwl-events
at 6:53 pm
Some members of the CWL were able to tour Roger’s House, a pediatric palliative care hospice on Tuesday, November 24th.
Bep Versteeg, Pat Redsell, June Paré, Jane Munro, Joan Chesser, Michelle Munro
Roger’s House provides a “home away from home” for children with life-limiting illnesses, and their families.
Roger Neilson was a hockey legend having coached many teams during his career including being an assistant coach with the Ottawa Senators. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and received the Order of Canada medal. Roger Neilson passed away after a long-term battle with two forms of cancer in June, 2003.
Roger’s House is the legacy that was created in Roger Neilson’s honour by the Ottawa Senators Foundation in collaboration with The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, the Ontario Ministries of Health and Children and Youth Services. The result is a free standing eight-bed palliative care facility on the grounds of CHEO for children with progressive life limiting illness. The overwhelming contribution and support of the Ottawa community made the dream of Roger’s House a reality. Roger’s House opened its doors to its first guest and family on May 15th 2006, within two years of the idea’s conception.
Roger’s House Services
• Respite (family or individual) Care
• Acute End of Life Care
• Pain and Symptom Management
• Transitional Care
• Grief and Bereavement Support
The tour of Roger’s House began at the reception area where we were met by a volunteer. She explained that volunteers work in the reception area four hours at a time for three shifts during the day. The door is locked and you must ring to be allowed inside. The concept is to make this facility like a home where you greet visitors.
Memorabilia of Roger’s life as a coach is found throughout the entrance way and hallways. Some of our photos show hockey sweaters; a large collage of Roger made out of men’s ties which were donated by his wife; the Order of Canada medal; photos of Roger and other hockey legends.
The living room, spacious and welcoming contains sofas, chairs, large TV, fireplace and wonderful artwork. The kitchen area is complete with two of everything – sinks, dishwashers, stoves, microwaves, a mirror image from one side of the room to the other, so if families wish to prepare their own meals, they can. A semi-circular island has large stools, and there were plates of cookies and sweets on the countertops – available for anyone who wants something to eat. Volunteers also help to make the baked goods.
The whole area has the feeling of a wonderful home. Other areas on the main floor include a library stocked with books for every need and administrative offices.
At the end of the hall there is a playroom – one area suitable for younger children and stocked with many toys. There is a ‘thank you’ wall which features drawings, art work and letters from children and families. Still another area is for older children with crafts and scrap booking equipment, puzzles, games etc.
On the huge wall is a life size artwork of a young boy on monkey bars. Directly above this artwork is a silver star with Roger’s name on it. On each side of the artwork are silver stars for children who have passed away. Each year there is a memorial ceremony to remember Roger and his children and stars are added if children have passed away during that year. Roger Neilson never had any children of his own.
On the second floor, the entrance was through a foyer where a huge salt water aquarium was situated. Many like to sit here on the comfortable sofa, hold their children and watch the exotic fish – very relaxing.
We were able to view one of the rooms not in use. Hospital equipment is kept to a minimum to have each room appear to be like home bedroom. Each child receives a quilt hand made by a local quilting group. The décor is brightly coloured with large box-like furniture to hold toys, books and special items.
The bathroom is spacious and the tub area is wheel chair accessible. The volunteer who took us on the tour was a retired nurse who said that she would have loved to be able to work in such a facility with every convenience available for the children.
A nurses station occupies the centre of the second floor and easily accessible to all. There are two family rooms which contain a large king size bed and a smaller child’s bed behind a partition which separates a living room and kitchen area. Families may make their own meals or eat downstairs. There is also a private bathroom attached to the family room.
We were very pleased to be able to tour this facility and returned with a much better idea of the services offered to the community.
Bep Versteeg, Pat Resell, Jane Munro, Joan Chesser, June Paré, Michelle Munro
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November 22, 2009
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Year B, November 22nd, 2009
I am wearing my “crusader” chasuble from Jerusalem, as you can see, for the feast of Christ the King, a reminder that all of us can be crusaders in proclaiming Christ our King to the world. This red cross on the front is the Jerusalem cross, also known as the Crusader’s cross, because it was on the papal banner for the First Crusade (1095). The smaller crosses symbolize either the four Gospels or the four directions in which the Word of God spread from Jerusalem.
Going to Jerusalem and Israel was a tremendous grace for me from God, and also an eye-opener in many ways. For a Christian who loves Jesus, it is indeed sad to see that most people who live in the Holy Land do not believe in Jesus, (because most people who live there are Muslim and Jewish). For example, we had an excellent Jewish guide who knew more about the New Testament than many of the Catholics on our tour. Some people were confused, wondering how he could know so much about Jesus but not believe in Jesus. Who knows? Perhaps he has not yet met a Christian who really bore witness to him about the truth of Jesus.
After my pilgrimage, I see more than ever the urgent need for inter-religious dialogue, and our call as Christians to live our faith and bear witness to Christ our King, to be His modern-day crusaders, his “followers” who are willing to “fight” for Him (Jn 18:36).
We can be crusaders of Christ the King by imitating Him, whom St. John, in today’s second reading, calls “the faithful witness” (Rev 1: 5). And Jesus himself tells Pilate in today’s Gospel: “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify (to bear witness) to the truth.” (John 18:37).
In Jerusalem, you can visit the place where the actual trial of Jesus before Pilate took place. It is difficult to determine exact locations of any buildings in Jerusalem because the Romans destroyed much of the city in 70 A.D. In John’s Gospel we hear that when Pilate condemned Jesus, he had Him seated “on the judge’s bench in the place called the Stone Pavement, in Hebrew, Gabbatha” (John 19:13). You can see this Stone Pavement today in Jerusalem, even see some of the games played by the Roman soldiers that they carved into the rock.
The actual stones go back to at least 135 A.D., and I believe that it is the actual location of Pilate’s palace and the place where Jesus was condemned.
They say that in Jerusalem, the stones speak, the stones bear witness to Christ. The stones of Gabbatha “saw” Christ the King of the universe, scourged and covered in blood, crowned with thorns. These stones of Jerusalem bear witness to us of the suffering, death and Resurrection of Christ. But they do not cry out; they whisper. In order to hear stones speak, we must be very quiet and learn to pray. It is the same with the witness of the words of Scripture. They whisper and we must learn how to pray in order to hear them, so that we in turn can be good witnesses of Christ the King. The same truth can be applied to the Eucharist. Once we receive Holy Communion, how can we hear Jesus whisper “I love you,” if we are not praying?
Jesus Christ Himself is the Truth, for He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6); therefore, we bear witness to the truth when we bear witness to Jesus, among friends or co-workers, who might be non-practicing Catholics, or atheists, agnostic, Jewish, Muslim.
Before talking about how we can bear witness to Christ the King and become “crusaders” for Him, I would like to mention that we moderns have a completely distorted view of our Christian fore-bearers, the Medieval Crusaders. We have been told by secular, anti-Catholic historians, that the Crusades were unjustified aggression against the peace-loving Muslims of the Middle East. We really should inform ourselves of the real historical facts.
The truth is that the Muslims had conquered two-thirds of formerly Christian lands. Remember that up until the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, all of North Africa was Christian, and much of the Middle East as well. The Muslims were continually expanding through war, in the West they were pushing into Spain and in the East they were constantly threatening to destroy the ever-shrinking Christian lands of Byzantium. So the Crusades were essentially a war of defense against the Muslims, not aggression. And remember, the Christians never attacked the Muslim homeland in Arabia, but only the lands that had formerly been Christian.
The Crusaders wanted to recover the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which remains for Christians the holiest place on earth, because it was here that Christ was buried and rose from the dead; the Crusaders wanted pilgrims to be free to travel to, and worship in, the land where Christ once lived. Again, we do well to remember that the Muslims had destroyed many of the Churches in the Holy Land.
I would like to mention one of the great “crusaders” of Medieval times who remains an example for us today because he strove to convert the Muslims not by conquest and the sword, but by faith, love and peace. That man is St. Francis of Assisi, who traveled to Egypt in 1219 to try to convert the Sultan Al-Malik Al-Kamil. We should carefully observe his strategy so that we can use similar means of evangelization today. Francis said, “let a great furnace be lit . . . your priests and I will enter it; and you shall judge by what you see which of our two religions is the holiest and truest” (St. Francis of Assisi by Omar Englebert, 177)
That’s a good way to try and convert Muslims, don’t you think? Jesus Christ is the “faithful witness” because he laid down His life for the truth. We should be willing to do the same, right? Like St. Francis . . .
So you want to know what happened? The Muslim “priest” suddenly disappeared, so Francis offered to walk into the fire himself, if the Sultan promised to acknowledge Christ as the true God and Saviour. The Sultan explained that it was impossible for him to change his religion without alienating his subjects, but he did say to Francis, “Remember me in your prayers, and may God, by your intercession reveal to me which belief is more pleasing to Him” (178).
It is very difficult for a Muslim to accept the truth of Jesus Christ; in fact, as Cardinal Tauran, the President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious dialogue said recently, “for a Muslim it is impossible to admit the possibility of changing religion according to the voice of one’s conscience” (Cardinal Tauran in Origins, Oct. 29th, 2009). Think about it. That’s what I did. I changed my religion and joined the Catholic Church because I listened to the voice of my conscience. That’s how anyone becomes a Christian who is not born a Christian – listening to the voice of conscience.
But for a Muslim it is impossible to admit the possibility of changing religion according to the voice of one’s conscience. That’s sad! Some Muslims are threatened with death if they convert to Christianity! I feel sorry for them, with this lack of religious freedom. We should pray for them. And I also come away from the Holy Land with more sympathy for the plight of the Jews and the dwindling number of native Christians. Let us pray for all of them, for peace in Israel.
So if we are not willing or able to walk through the fire to bear witness to Christ, is there anything else we can do to bear witness to others?
Here’s the story of how one Jewish man was converted to Christianity. His name is Fr. David Neuhaus, and he is currently the Latin Patriarchal Vicar for Hebrew-speaking Catholics in Israel. He testifies about how he had met Mother Barbara, a Russian Orthodox nun for more than 50 years.
He writes, “We spent hours together, talking about the last days of the Russian Empire, the revolution and its aftermath. In the course of our conversations, I noticed that this very old and frail lady shone with joy. I found that very strange as she was almost completely bedridden, confined to a small room in a convent and the only prospect she was facing was death.
One day, I plucked up the courage and asked her: Why are you so joyful? She knew I was a Jew and she was hesitant at first, but then as she began to speak of the great love in her life, the words came tumbling out and she became ever more radiant. She told me about Jesus Christ, about God’s love expressed in him, about her life of joy with him in the convent. I was struck and know today that in her radiant joy I saw the face of Jesus for the first time” (Zenit, November 6th, 2009).
Isn’t that beautiful? That’s how one Jewish man converted to Christianity, because an old nun bore witness to Christ our King by her faith in Jesus, her love for Him, and her confidence in His love for her, that filled her with radiant joy. Don’t you think we could follow her example, since it is not as difficult as walking through the fire?
Each one of you is deeply and personally loved by Jesus Christ. The more you discover this love through personal prayer, the more you will be transformed and bear witness to Christ our King not with the sword but with your radiant joy. Whoever meets you – whether Jew or Muslim or atheist, will notice that you have something in your soul that they are lacking, and if they ask you, you will tell them about Jesus Christ our Lord who came into this world to transform it into the New Jerusalem and to present to His almighty Father, with our cooperation, a “kingdom of truth and life, and kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace” (Preface of Christ the King).
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November 15, 2009
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – By Deacon Thomas Stephenson
November 15, 2009
The end of the world is a subject that has always fascinated people. We hear references to it today in the readings and in the Gospel, and interest in the end times is certainly as strong now as ever. Hearing about it today is particularly interesting because there is a new movie that has just come out this weekend; It’s entitled “2012”. Have you heard of it? Maybe you’ve seen commercials for it on television, or seen stories about it in the papers. If so, you’ll know that it’s about the end of the world, although it looks at the events that might occur at that time a little differently than do today’s readings. Over the years there have been many movies made on this subject, the most common theme for them being disaster, destruction, darkness, and death. There is no hope in most of these films; they portray mankind as helpless in the face of mostly natural forces bringing our final doom. This one plays off the claim that the ancient Mayan calendar predicts that the world will end in December, 2012. Actually, the Mayan calendar does not predict anything, much less the end of the world. It’s just a calendar, much like our own but with a different way of counting the days. But, with the ability to create unbelievable computer generated special effects, a movie like this may make for interesting entertainment. And that’s what it is, simply entertainment. It does not intend to give us any real understanding of the end times – we need to look to scripture and our faith for that understanding.
The world may not end in the year 2012, or even in 5012, or it may end next week. As Jesus tells us, “about that day or hour no one knows”. We need not concern ourselves with when that will occur. If we ask that question, if we still wonder “when”, we miss the point. But that “when” used to be a question that was constantly hanging in the air. Like many of you, I grew up during the height of the Cold War, which often seemed to not be that cold at all. We lived in the shadow of the threat of a cataclysmic nuclear war. In my home town, there were designated civil defence shelters, and weekly tests of the warning sirens. We didn’t live in fear, but with some background sense of unease. The danger was real if not imminent, we didn’t know when or even if something was going to happen, and it was probably wise that we tried to be prepared.
Being prepared. Our question should not be when will the end come, but are we prepared? There is certainly no way to prepare to physically survive the complete destruction of the earth. But we can be prepared spiritually. Amidst the destruction prophesied, as Daniel describes it, “a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence”, there is deliverance. Jesus speaks of the sun being darkened, and the stars falling, but also of His coming in glory, and sending Angels to gather the elect. The final days will see the second coming of Christ, which is something the world should be happy to see when it actually happens. So the end is not all doom and desolation, but for those who are prepared, light and life. This affects how we are currently living, right here, right now, not just in some vague and distant future.
As we grow in Christ, we understand more fully the value of things that are eternal. If we place all our hopes, all our efforts, on the material things of our daily lives, we will not be prepared. We cannot live totally in the present moment, pre-occupied with all our short term busy-ness, without considering the long term, ultimate meaning of our lives. That doesn’t mean neglecting our earthly welfare; we need to live in this world until God decides to call us to Him. We must, however, take great care to be ready for that call. To be prepared, we must be growing in holiness, growing in our relationship with God. The stark reality is that for each of us, our own end of this world is unlikely to come during some great global upheaval; it will come at the moment of our death.
Christ’s return to Earth, or our return to Christ – neither of these times is meant to be known. St. Ephrem of Syria wrote: “He has hidden this from us, in order that we might keep watch, so that each of us might think that this coming might take place in his own lifetime…Truly, He has said that He is coming, but has not specified at what moment, and in this way, every generation and every age continues to thirst for Him.”
In our age, in our generation, we too must thirst for Him, and prepare ourselves for Him. We shouldn’t be terrified, frightened that the earth’s core is going to melt, causing earthquakes and tidal waves to destroy us all. At the end, whatever and whenever that may be, we need to keep in mind, to truly believe, that we belong to God. He wants all of us to be prepared to join Him at the appointed time. In November, as we remember those who have passed before us, we are also reminded that our own lives are limited. No one lives on this earth forever. But we need not fear the end, or even wonder about it. We can be like those mentioned in Daniel, shining like the brightness of the sky, and like the stars forever and ever. For even as our bodies die, we will continue to live, hopefully in God’s presence, for eternity.
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November 1, 2009
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Year B, November 1st, 2009
Last week at the men’s prayer group breakfast, we discussed, “If you could live forever on earth in a healthy body, with all your loved ones, would you want to?” How would you answer this question? Most of the men answered no. St. Augustine once commented on this desire some people have to live forever on earth. “It reveals our misery,” he wrote, that we have so little faith and hope in the joy of heaven that we would settle for less, for what little this world has to offer.
On this feast of All Saints, we think of heaven and eternal life, and we celebrate all the saints in heaven – not just the canonized Saints with a capital “S” but all of them. Everyone in heaven is a saint.
We are all called to be saints. “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” Jesus has taught us (Mt 5:48). In the Beatitudes from today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches us the way to holiness, true joy, and the kingdom of heaven: to be poor in spirit, pure of heart, a peacemaker – to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to have an intense desire for holiness.
John Paul II spoke on the Beatitudes at World Youth Day in Toronto: “Jesus did not limit himself to proclaiming the Beatitudes, he lived them! Looking at his life anew, re-reading the Gospel, we marvel: the poorest of the poor, the most gentle among the meek, the person with the purest and most merciful heart is none other than Jesus. The Beatitudes are nothing more than the description of a face, his face! At the same time, the Beatitudes describe what a Christian should be: they are the portrait of Jesus’ disciple” (July 25th, 2002).
To live the beatitudes and become saints, we must be purified of sin, either in this life or the next. In the second reading, St. John writes, “All those who have this hope (this hope to see God in heaven, to be like God) purify themselves, just as He is pure” (1 John 3: ).
But if we are honest, I don’t think the average person has much desire at all to be purified of sin, to be holy, a saint.
We know that hell exists and that not everyone goes to heaven, but this much is true: everyone who makes it into purgatory eventually ends up in heaven. I’ve just started reading Dante’s “Purgatorio,” his imaginative journey through “mount” purgatory: the lowest levels are filled with the late-repentant and the highest with those with less sins to be purified. They all have to climb the mountain, but they all end up in heaven.
So what is the point of beginning the arduous climb here and now – praying, working and suffering – to be purified of sin in this life, in order to go straight to heaven? One person fasts on Fridays, prays the Rosary daily, and gives money to charity; the other drinks on Fridays, watches TV daily, and goes to the casino. But if they both get into purgatory and end up in heaven, why bother with all the extra effort?
The traditional arguments make no sense to modern ears. For example, we are told that the pains of purgatory are much worse than any sufferings that can be imagined on earth, because of the soul’s intense, and as yet unsatisfied desire to see God. So who cares about the pains of purgatory? That’s in the future. I’m concerned about my pleasures and pains right now.
We are also told that the souls of the saints who went straight to heaven have more glory than those who passed through purgatory (or using an imagery from today’s first reading from the Book of Revelation, their white garments shine more brightly ( )). Again, who cares? Do you want to pray, work and suffer so that you can have more “glory” in heaven? What is “glory”? It is too abstract and unreal for modern people to care about.
So are there any good reasons to live the beatitudes, to purify ourselves now and strive for holiness? I can suggest two:
1)you have to live with yourself for all eternity. What kind of person do you want to be?
2)Joy – joy today and for all eternity – the joy of living the beatitudes
Imagine a guy in a bar drinking with his friends and talking about his wife. “I . . .. I don’t gotta make any effort in my marriage ‘cause my wife would only divorce me if I committed adultery. So basically, I get to do what I want, like come out drinking with you guys. And I spend my money on the things I want, OK? Heck, sometimes I even forget her birthday or our anniversary, but it doesn’t matter, ‘cause I’m telling you, she would only divorce me for adultery, so I don’t gotta make any effort in my marriage.”
Could you imagine anyone who would think such things, let alone say them? To be so self-centered, ungrateful, complacent and indifferent about the relationship of marriage? Would you want to be that kind of person? How could you be happy with yourself with that kind of attitude?
And so it is with our relationship with God: “I don’t gotta make an effort in my relationship with God because He would only send me to hell if I kill someone. So I get to do what I want. Why should I work, pray and suffer to be purified of sin when I haven’t killed anyone? . . . oh, yeah, Christ died for us on the Cross . . . but I don’t have to make an effort.” Shallow, selfish, ungrateful, inhuman. Is that the kind of person that you want to be today and for all eternity?
(When I think back to what Christ has done for me in my life, when I think of the mercy He has shown me in forgiving me my many, many sins, in making me into a new man and giving me a new life, I don’t want to prove ungrateful by wasting my life and failing to become a saint, at least striving to be a saint).
Another reason to purify ourselves from sin now and strive for holiness is the joy of living the beatitudes today and for all eternity. We don’t know the meaning of joy anymore in our world. I recently came across this quote, cited by the Canadian Catholic philosopher Charles Taylor: “The misery of the present age is not in the intensity of men’s suffering – but in their incapacity to suffer, enjoy, feel at all, wholly and profoundly” (Matthew Arnold, quoted in Secular Age p. 380).
We don’t experience joy partly because we have lost the sense of God, the memory of Paradise, the desire for heaven; we are so self-absorbed in our own cubicles, encased in the shell of our narrow, little, technological worlds that make us incapable of feeling, living, breathing. If a fledgling bird cannot break through its shell and be born, it could die before it even learned to fly. How sad that a human being would die without ever having lived and experienced the joy for which God created us!
Another reason we don’t experience joy is our unconscious decision to “settle for less.” Have you ever known someone who has done this in life? The classic example is that of a young girl in a small town living a very difficult life with her family and desperately wanting to escape. A charming “loser” comes around and a voice tells her, “you could do better,” but she refuses to listen to her inner voice and marries the guy! Out of fear and lack of hope, she chooses to settle for less.
That’s what we do when we live only for this world. We refuse to listen to the voice of our immortal soul created by God for heavenly glory, the voice that says, “you could do better. You are made for more. You are made for eternity.” But we settle for less. Why? Fear? Lack of hope that true joy and happiness are possible? We settle for less and we become less as human beings.
The following words I heard from the lips of John Paul II in Toronto in 2002, and I know some of you were there too. Speaking on the beatitudes, he said, “Dear young people, many and enticing are the voices that call out to you from all sides: many of these voices speak to you of a joy that can be had with money, with success, with power. Mostly they propose a joy that comes with the superficial and fleeting pleasure of the senses.
People are made for happiness. Rightly, then, you thirst for happiness. Christ has the answer to this desire of yours. But he asks you to trust him. True joy is a victory, something which cannot be obtained without a long and difficult struggle. Christ holds the secret of this victory.
The “Sermon on the Mount” marks out the map of this journey. The eight Beatitudes are the road signs that show the way. It is an uphill path, but he has walked it before us. It is by walking with Christ that we can achieve joy, true joy! (World Youth Day Welcoming Ceremony, July 25th, 2002)
It is an “uphill path,” this climb up the mount of beatitudes, this climb up mount Purgatory. We are willing to begin this climb today – to work, to pray, to suffer – not only because our reward will be great in heaven, but also because this journey transforms us daily and opens our hearts to the exceeding joy (“agalliasis” Mt 5: 12) that Christ promises to all those who follow his Gospel.
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