February 26, 2010
Posted in pastor
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We welcome Fr. Bill Penney to our parish, as I am away “on business” for the Archbishop in my role as vocations director. I am helping to lead a discernment retreat at St. Augustine’s Seminary in Toronto for five men of our diocese who will be applying for the seminary for this fall. By the way, everyone benefits from a retreat, so don’t forget about our parish-wide retreat on Sunday, March 7th, Monday, March 8th, and Tuesday, March 9th!
For the men considering priesthood, an actual visit to the Seminary can be a crucial step in their discernment process, as they take time out from their schedule to prayerfully listen to God speaking to their hearts, and they also meet many other young men like themselves who are joyfully offering their lives to Christ in service of His Church.
Please pray for these men: Cameron Fairlie, Chris Jucasz, Rick Lorenz, John Orban, and Gerard Plant. We currently have 5 seminarians, with the possibility of 5 more! Please keep up those prayers for vocations! God is indeed answering our prayers. In Christ, Fr. Tim
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February 21, 2010
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
First Sunday of Lent, Year C, Feb. 21st, 2010 – By Father Tim McCauley
I have here a box of ____ cereal with Alex Bilodeau on the box. This was how he became the first Canadian to win a gold medal on Canadian soil, by eating ____ cereal. So this is what I am doing for Lent. I am giving something up, but I am also eating more of this cereal to give me strength to grow in virtue this Lent (just joking!)
As I mentioned on Ash Wednesday, much of Alex’s strength and inspiration came from his brother Frederic. When Alex grew tired of the discipline required of an Olympic athlete, when his muscles ached from the work-outs and when he felt like complaining, he would think of his brother Frederic who has cerebral palsy and spends most of his time in a wheelchair, and never complains, but endures it all with a smile. Frederic was Alex’s inspiration.
Lent has begun. It is the time for our own Olympic training. St. Paul compares the spiritual life to athletic training when he writes, “Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one” (1 Cor 9:25, cf. 1 Cor 7:9)
This phrase “exercises discipline” (“egkrateo”) could also be translated “exercises self-control, temperance, continence, abstinence, self-denial.” In other words, athletes, while in training, are living Lent. St. Paul proposes athletes as a model for Christians, but that we should go even further than athletes because we are training ourselves for the imperishable crown of eternal life. (And for a spiritual Resurrection at Easter, a real change in our lives)
Jesus also exercised discipline in every way throughout his life, but more intensely during his 40 days of fasting in the desert, while being tempted by the devil. During our 40 days of Lent it is very good to do penance by giving something up. We can give up some food or drink and with the money we save we give it to the poor. But as I mentioned on Ash Wednesday, let us also consider giving up one bad habit, and acquiring one new virtue. We exercise discipline to try to acquire a new virtue.
And the easiest way to decide which virtue to work on is to look at the theme of today’s Gospel – temptation. Which virtue do you need most in life in order to find happiness? Which is your greatest temptation?
Enduring temptation while trusting in God is a form of training. Just as athletes choose to exercise discipline, Jesus chose to fast and pray, but he also endured temptation, in obedience to the will of His heavenly Father. We like to choose our own disciplines because we like to be in control. You go to the gym – it’s your choice. You go on a diet – it’s your choice. We like that kind of thing. But suffer temptation! No way! Then we are not in control.
But what does the Word of God say? There are actually two ways to win the crown of life, to win a medal and be victorious. The first is to exercise discipline, like athletes. The second is to endure temptation. The Word of God tells us “Blessed is the man who perseveres in temptation, for when he has been proved he will receive the crown of life that he promised to all who love him” (James 1: 12).
Notice that the Word of God says “blessed is the man (Greek “aner”)who perseveres in temptation.” St. Teresa of Avila once told her nuns to be like strong men in the spiritual life. When it comes to persevering in temptation and resisting the devil, we are all called to be men, strong and courageous, but also very humble people who trust in God.
If God had not been training me to receive His love and resist temptation, then I would have run off years ago and scandalized everyone! Learning to resist temptation is essential in life. Not only to resist it, but use it. Your greatest temptation is like a stupid double agent: it thinks it is working for the devil to tempt you to sin, but really it is working for God. The Word of God tells us, “God himself tempts no one. Rather, each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1:14). But God allows a temptation in order to train us in the opposite virtue. Let your temptation be a stupid double agent! Turn every temptation into an occasion to grow in the opposing virtue.
Be honest with yourself. Look at yourself. Admit to yourself your greatest weakness and temptation. (I could tell you what mine is, but my homily is already long enough). Yours and mine might have something to do with the seven deadly sins I mentioned when speaking on Dante’s Purgatory two weeks back: pride, envy, anger, sloth, greed, gluttony, lust. You can turn the tables on the devil by turning these temptations to sin into great virtues: humility, admiration, meekness, enthusiasm, generosity, self-control, purity.
For example, we might be feeling a little sad or discouraged, and we want to relieve or escape this unpleasant feeling, so we have some donuts or ice cream in the middle of the afternoon; we turn to comfort food, snacking and sweets – or worse, alcohol or drugs – all these things that never satisfy our souls (for “man does not live on bread alone” but also on the Word of God and on the Eucharist, the Bread of Life). In any of these cases, we are in need of the virtue of temperance, and also trust in God in moments of temptation.
Others may be tempted by procrastination, laziness. For example, there may be an urgent task in front of us on the desk that we know we must get done, but we don’t like doing it, so we put it off and surf the internet, play a video game, listen to music, watch TV, or give in to some other distraction. In this case, we are in need of the virtue of self-discipline that Alex Bilodeau and other athletes exercise during their training!
In every temptation, God is calling us to be men, to resist the devil, to work on the opposing virtue, AND to trust in Him. We cannot conquer temptation and defeat the devil without trust in God. In fact, one of the worst temptations is precisely to lack trust in God, to doubt His love. This temptation forms the background of Jesus’ third temptation in today’s Gospel, which I would like to look at in greater detail.
The devil took Jesus and placed Him on the pinnacle of the Temple, saying to Him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here.” Jesus responds with a quote from the Book of Deuteronomy, “do not put the Lord your God to the test” (6:16). At one point during the Israelites 40 years of wandering in the desert, they were afraid of dying of thirst (Ex 17:1-7), so they rebelled against Moses and against God. They “put God to the test.” Another way to say this is: “they refused to trust in Him,” even though God proved He was trustworthy again and again, and on this occasion He did end up miraculously providing them with water from the rock.
God is always faithful and always trustworthy. The first reading celebrates the trustworthiness of God. The Word of God in the Book of Deuteronomy commands the Israelites to make a thanksgiving sacrifice to God of the first fruits of the harvest of the land – the Promised Land that they are now inhabiting. Their ancestors suffered slavery in Egypt and had to endure many temptations in the desert as part of their training to be grown men in the spiritual life, to be the people of God. And God was trustworthy and fulfilled all His promises in bringing them into the land flowing with milk and honey (Deut 26: ).
So too with us. “God is faithful, and will not let you be tempted beyond your strength” (1 Cor 10:13). After we have endured temptation a little while, working to acquire one new virtue, God will bring us also into the Promised Land: first the Promised Land of Easter, of a real change in our lives, a spiritual Resurrection at Easter, then finally, the true Promised Land of heaven.
Back to the temptation. The devil tried to tempt Jesus, and tries to tempt us, not to trust in God our Father. The devil quoted Jesus Psalm 91 (the responsorial psalm from today’s Mass), suggesting that Jesus will never have to suffer because God His Father will take care of Him. “It is written, ‘He will command his Angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
The implication is, as Pope Benedict writes, “If (God) doesn’t grant us the protection he promises in Psalm 91, then he is simply not God” (Jesus of Nazareth, 37). The temptation is: if God allows us to suffer greatly, He cannot be trusted; He is not God.
But look at Jesus! God allowed His own Son to suffer indescribable pain, loneliness, torment and abandonment, dying on the Cross. And Jesus’ enemies tempted and taunted Him, saying, “He trusted in God. Let him deliver him now if he wants him” (Mt 27:43). But Jesus always trusted in God His Father – as a child in His mother’s arms to His temptations by the devil in the desert, to his final moments, dying alone on the Cross – Jesus trusted, and was rewarded with a totally new and unexpected miracle of the Resurrection of His Body three days later.
Jesus is our inspiration! For Alex Bilodeau, training for the Olympics, his brother Frederic was his inspiration to endure and persevere. In our Lenten discipline to acquire a new virtue, in our endurance of temptation, Jesus Christ is our inspiration. In His life, death and Resurrection, Jesus proves to us that God our Father is worthy of all our trust, all our love.
Pope Benedict comments on “the real meaning of Psalm 91 . . . If you follow the will of God . . .you know that the foundation of the world is love, so that even when no human being can or will help you, you may go on, trusting in the One who loves you.” We cultivate this trust “on the authority of Scripture and at the invitation of the risen Lord” (Jesus of Nazareth, p. 38)
So maybe in Lent we won’t have to pick up a box of ____ cereal, but just pick up a Bible instead to find strength to endure temptation, remembering that the same words that Jesus used to defeat the devil are found in this Holy Book. And here also we will find inspiration to grow in virtue and trust in God. And during Lent we can more frequently feed our souls not on fancy cereal but on the Word of God and the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ whom we receive in the Eucharist.
Not by reading a cereal box or eating its contents that we will be transformed this Lent, but by reading the Word of God and eating the Bread of life.
“Resist the devil and he will take flight” (James ).
“Endure your trials as discipline (“eis paideian upomenete”); God treats you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? . . . He does so for our benefit, in order that we might share his holiness” (Heb12:7, 10)
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Posted in pastor
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As we begin Lent, I would like to share with you some words of wisdom from our Holy Father’s Lenten letter (I also invite you to read our bishop’s letter in the bulletin insert). Pope Benedict’s theme for Lent 2010 is God’s justice. He explains, “The Christian Good News responds positively to man’s thirst for justice, as Saint Paul affirms in the Letter to the Romans: “But now the justice of God has been manifested apart from law . . . the justice of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Rom 3:21-25) . . . it is the justice that comes from grace, where it is not man who makes amends, heals himself and others . . .
In reality, here we discover divine justice, which is so profoundly different from its human counterpart. God has paid for us the price of the exchange in His Son, a price that is truly exorbitant. Before the justice of the Cross, man may rebel, for this reveals how man is not a self-sufficient being, but in need of Another in order to realize himself fully. Conversion to Christ, believing in the Gospel, ultimately means this: to exit the illusion of self sufficiency in order to discover and accept one’s own need – the need of others and God, the need of His forgiveness and His friendship. So we understand how faith is altogether different from a natural, good-feeling, obvious fact: humility is required to accept that I need Another to free me from “what is mine,” to give me gratuitously “what is His.” This happens especially in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.” You may read the whole text by clicking on the link below. A blessed Lent to all!
Fr. Tim
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI FOR LENT 2010
Archbishop’s Lenten Letter 2010
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February 14, 2010
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Sixth Sunday, Year C, Feb. 14th, 2010 – By Father Tim McCauley
At last year’s talk on marriage at Theology on Tap Russell, I met an older woman who told me the remarkable story of the transformation of her marriage. She and her husband, in the words of Jesus to the Church in Ephesus, had lost the love they had at first (Rev 2:4). We can all understand how that can happen, how couples can get stuck in routine, with less and less displays of tenderness or intimacy. I don’t think either one of them was very happy with the situation, but at the same time, no one was doing anything to change it.
So one day, she decided to do something radical: she got down on her knees and prayed. Specifically, she asked God to change her heart, and to fill her heart with unconditional love for her husband. And you’ll never guess what happened! God heard her prayer! Her heart was inundated with God’s love for her husband!
So the next time she saw him (maybe he was reading the newspaper), she told him, “You have no idea how much I love you.” “What did you say?” “You have no idea how much I love you.” “Are you O.K.?” She kept on saying it so often that one day he asked her, “why do you love me so much?” And she explained that it was God. It was God loving him through her.
So you’ll never guess what happened! Eventually, he believed in this love, and accepted this love, and their marriage was deepened and renewed, even as he was becoming seriously ill. When she told me this story, her husband had since died, and she missed him very much.
Here’s another story I heard more recently. A man was explaining to me why he and his wife of 15 years were getting a divorce. He said that for the last 5 years, he has been so unhappy, and his wife too. And it didn’t seem like things were ever going to change . . . after 5 long years . . . And he added that God doesn’t want us to be unhappy . . . so it would be better to separate . . . and start another life . . .
By the way, in this life there are many occasions for us to choose to be unhappy. If I look at my life the past 5 years, there were lots of merely human reasons I could have been unhappy. Instead, relying on the grace and love of God that comes to us through His Word and the Eucharist, I have been happy even in the midst of trials.
(In another aside, I want to emphasize that the Church does not reject and condemn those who separate from their spouses. My own parents divorced, so I have great sympathy for all those from broken families).
What is the difference between these two marriages? One failed. One was transformed, by the word of God, by the grace and love of God. I don’t know if any of you had the chance to spend 15 minutes this past week talking as a family about the Word of God for this Sunday. Remember the power of God’s word to revolutionize the Church, and marriages, and families. If you haven’t started that 15 minutes per week, Lent is beginning next week . . .
So what does the Word of God teach us today that we can apply to marriages? The first reading and psalm teach us very simply: “Blessed (Happy) is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. That person shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit” (Jer 17:7-8)
So if your marriage or life in general is in crisis, if you are in a time of spiritual aridity or dryness, the Word of God today gives us excellent advice: Go Deeper! Like a tree in a time of dryness that sends out its roots to the stream.
The Olympics have begun. What do coaches sometimes tell their athletes after they have lost one race or one game? “Give up?” No! “Dig deep!” You have more strength than you think you have, hidden reserves, a sort of underground river of graces. You just have to dig deeper, and send out your roots to that stream.
The stream that concerns us above all is the one that flows from the Temple, that Ezekiel saw in his vision. He saw water flowing from beneath the threshold of the temple. First it was a trickle, then ankle-deep, waste-deep, then a river he could not cross. Its waters gave life to all sorts of living creatures and fruit trees of every kind (47:1-12).
And the true Temple is really the Tabernacle, the Heart of Jesus Christ. Pope Benedict wrote the following inspiring words in his encyclical on love. I included them in the bulletin two weeks ago but I repeat them here.
“Anyone who wishes to give love must also receive love as a gift. Certainly, as the Lord tells us, one can become a source from which rivers of living water flow (cf. Jn 7:37-38). Yet to become such a source, one must constantly drink anew from the original source, which is Jesus Christ, from whose pierced heart flows the love of God (cf. Jn 19:34).”
Every crisis, in a life or a marriage, is an opportunity. An opportunity to go deeper and be transformed, to become more deeply rooted in Jesus Christ who is present here in this Temple, in this Mass, in this Tabernacle. I cannot emphasize enough our need to constantly drink anew from the original source of love in the heart of Jesus Christ.
Let’s be totally honest. Don’t you notice a huge weight hanging over our world? Our culture is emotionally and spiritually dried up and exhausted. We have no more energy left to love. Sacrificial love and life-long vows have become unbearable burdens to many people.
We live in a secular culture that is like a branch that has decided to cut itself off from the vine which is Jesus Christ. The leaves on the branch can remain green for a while, but eventually they wither and die; the love dries up and dies, if the branch is not united to Christ. So it is with the person who was baptized into Christ but does not receive the sacraments. How can this person constantly drink anew from the original source of love if he or she is separated from Christ?
Even if we do remain in the vine, love can still dry up if we don’t let it flow. I think one reason people feel this discouragement and weight, this feeling of being spiritually dried up or exhausted is their perception that their love has somehow failed. Think of someone in your life, past or present, who is difficult to love. It could be a spouse, or it could be a son or daughter, a brother or sister, and so on.
Perhaps you feel that this person has not appreciated your love, or rejected your love, OR, that your love has not helped this person to change at all, that your love has been a failure, a waste of time and energy. Why bother?
If any of you ever feel this way, I have an important message for you from God: your love is NEVER a failure. Your love is NEVER a waste of time. In fact, your smallest word or smallest act of love keeps love flowing, like sap in a tree that is planted by the water, that stays green and bears fruit that lasts forever!
Has there been any selfishness in your love? Of course. We’re all human. But you confess it and it’s forgiven and forgotten. Has there been anything good and holy in your love? Yes, and Jesus has gathered up those fragments, fused them into His Heart and offered them to the Father as an acceptable sacrifice.
Omnia vincit amor! Love conquers all! So writes the Pope in his encyclical letter on love, quoting from the Latin poet Virgil (#4). Omnia vincit amor! So never be discouraged. Never give up on love. Constantly drink anew from the original source of love in the heart of Jesus Christ.
We are here today to receive Christ’s love so that we can also continue give love as a gift. We must not be ashamed to come before Christ as beggars, to recognize ourselves in today’s Gospel (Lk 6:20-22). We are the poor, so utterly dependent on God for everything. We are the ones who hunger and thirst for a love that might be missing in our lives. We mourn at times over a wounded or broken heart. But we are not ashamed to get down on our knees, like the woman in the first marriage example, and ask God to fill our hearts with His very own love.
When I was on retreat the week before last, our retreat director mentioned “the astounding capacity of human beings to take the most sublime realities in our lives for granted.” He was speaking to priests about the Mass, how we hold Christ in our hands every day, but so often take Him for granted, and fail to recognize and appreciate His Presence, hidden in the host. Of course Christ is only truly, really and substantially present in the Eucharist, but He is also present in a different way in each one of us. So by analogy, spouses can also, at times, take each other for granted and fail to recognize Christ in the other.
No one here is married to a mere mortal (C.S. Lewis once made this point). You are married to an immortal soul, a son or daughter of the Most High God, for whom Christ died, so great was His love for him, for her. “The astounding capacity of human beings to take the most sublime realities in our lives for granted.” As we go deeper in our relationships, let us also try to see farther, to see the eternal perspective.
“If for this life only we have hoped in Christ,” writes St. Paul in the second reading, “we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor 15:19). It is never for this life only that we love, marry, raise a family. If we have this deeper perspective on our vocation to eternal life and perfect happiness, then I don’t think we will ever take anyone for granted, whether our spouse or the real presence of Christ in the Mass.
Let us remember that in the wedding feast of the Mass, Christ the Bridegroom of the Church gives to us, His beloved bride, His Body and Blood to eat and drink: “This is my Body, given up for you.” May all married couples re-discover this marital dimension of the Mass, and the deep connection between living the Mass and living your marriage. God will reward you almost immediately for every extra ounce of love you inject into a marriage or into your participation at Mass. He will reward you in the very least with your own personal transformation.
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February 7, 2010
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time
February 7, 2010 – By Deacon Thomas Stephenson
Isaiah, St. Paul, and St. Peter. We hear of each of these three men in today’s readings. They are all great figures in the history of our faith, and based on what we have just heard, their stories share another common thread. They are all called by God, and they all know that, by themselves, they are unworthy of that call. We should be able to relate to these men, because in one way or another we pretty much find ourselves in a similar situation. We may not be in the Temple with the Lord like Isaiah (although we are here at Church, in Christ’s presence). We are unlikely to be stopped in our tracks by a light from heaven, like St. Paul. And we probably won’t be surprised by an abundant catch of fish, as was St. Peter. The similarity is that all of us are called, and all of us are unworthy without the grace of God.
Let’s focus on St. Peter. He is so human, so normal, so much like us in many ways. Throughout the Gospels, we hear of Peter behaving as just an average guy, reacting to different situations much as we ourselves might. We have to wonder, when Jesus told him to put out to the deep water and let down his nets, just what Peter was thinking. You can almost read between the lines; perhaps he thought: Jesus, you’re a carpenter, and you’re also a pretty good teacher, but we’re the fishermen, and we’ve been working all night, and there aren’t any fish out there. He does come close to saying that. Of course, we know that he does as instructed despite fatigue and his misgivings, and we know the results. This unbelievable catch causes Peter to realize that he is in the presence of someone who is at the very least a holy man with miraculous powers, and he recognizes just how unholy he himself is. “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” he says. This does not mean that St. Peter was any more (or any less) a sinner than anyone else, but his sinfulness is made more apparent in comparison to Jesus. It is important for us to see that Jesus does not deny Peter’s claim to being sinful – what Peter said is true, he is a sinner. But despite this truth, Jesus does not reject him. He still calls Peter, and admonishes him not to be afraid. Through God’s grace, Peter will be made worthy despite his sinfulness.
That admonishment is not just for St. Peter – it applies to us as well. We, too, are called by Christ, and we, too, by ourselves are unworthy. Our unworthiness cannot be used as a reason to ignore our call. I know someone who faced a real spiritual crisis a few months before his ordination. It wasn’t a matter of doubting his call, his vocation. He just had this overwhelming feeling that he wasn’t holy enough, wasn’t good enough. He spoke to his spiritual director who, like Jesus with St. Peter, did not disagree with the truth that this man was not good enough. But, he was wisely told, God calls us as we are, saint or sinner, and works with us, helps us to answer His call. Do not be afraid!
It is with the grace of God we can still answer our call as Catholics and Christians. On our own, we cannot possibly achieve what God has in mind for us. Exactly what God wants us to do, what He wants us to be, is unique to each of us. But some of what is expected is common to all of us in one way or another. We are all called to be salt and light in the world. We are called to share the truth of Christ to a world that desperately needs to hear it, and often doesn’t want to listen. Whether in our families, among our friends, or in our workplace, do we recognize the connection between our relationships and our faith life? Father Jude Sciliano puts it well: “To be better Christians…means living and proclaiming the Gospel throughout the week in the most ordinary situations, by words and a life that witnesses to the immense God of goodness and abundance that the people in today’s scriptures experienced”. That witness is more often by how we live than by what we say. One example – a few months ago, I started a new job in downtown Ottawa. It’s a five minute walk to St. Patrick’s from my office, so when my schedule allows I can go to 12:15 Mass. I even ran into a fellow parishioner who works in the same building as I do, and we have been able to go to Mass together a couple of times. Usually, there are at least a hundred people at that Mass, often many more. They come from offices and other workplaces all over the downtown core. The main thing is that it’s great to get to Mass, but by doing so we also can give subtle witness to our faith, when co-workers see someone making that effort. I’m sure there are many ways that all of us do this without even realizing it; perhaps we can do even more if we consciously try. Do not be afraid!
We may also be hindered by that feeling that we can’t share our faith with others because we aren’t perfect. How can we be a witness to others, how can we help others on the road to holiness, when we have so many faults ourselves? None of us are perfect, none of us are worthy, and it doesn’t mean you’re a hypocrite if you are a Catholic and a sinner – it just means that you have more work to do, and have to let God do more in your life.
When we have faith in God, we can allow His grace to work through us to answer His call. Peter and the others brought their boats to shore, left everything, and followed Jesus. They had faith. God took these uneducated, simple, but hard working men and transformed them into the foundation of the Church. When called, these men were not worthy; they could not have accomplished what God asked of them if they were only using their own abilities. Imperfect as they were, they are all now saints, living eternally in God’s glorious presence.
It can be the same for us. That’s the good news – if in faith we place ourselves totally in His hands, despite our imperfections God will work in us and through us to accomplish what He has called us to do. Then we can answer, as Isaiah did: “Here am I, send me.”
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Homilies