A Welcoming Catholic Church – Russell Ontario
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
In the accounts of the resurrection we find the risen Lord Jesus going to meet his disciples. In the proclamation of the Easter Message, he encounters men, women and children of every age, including our own.
Christ the Lord comes to share with us his joy and peace, his Holy Spirit and the special gift of himself “in the breaking of the bread”—Holy Communion.
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It seems that every Easter, the secular media comes out with some sort of attack on the Church. This time, some reporters have misrepresented the truth and tried to implicate Pope Benedict in an alleged refusal to prosecute a priest accused of sexual abuse of minors. Find out the truth by reading Fr. Raymond D’Souza’s article below.
I also recommend that Catholics read for ourselves the moving and inspiring letter that Pope Benedict wrote to the Catholics of Ireland in the wake of the sex abuse scandal recently exposed in that country. See Pope Benedict’s letter here.
Fr. Tim
A Response to the New York Times
Father Raymond J. de Souza
Saturday, March 27, 2010
The New York Times on March 25 accused Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, of intervening to prevent a priest, Father Lawrence Murphy, from facing penalties for cases of sexual abuse of minors.
The story is false. It is unsupported by its own documentation. Indeed, it gives every indication of being part of a coordinated campaign against Pope Benedict, rather than responsible journalism.
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Year C, March 28th, 2010 – By Father Tim McCauley
Jesus Christ is true God and true man, the “king who comes in the name of the Lord” (Luke 19:38). What a man He was, especially in His Passion!
I saw the place where He suffered and died for us, during my pilgrimage to Jerusalem last November. During my whole visit, there was only one moment when tears spontaneously came to my eyes. I didn’t weep upon seeing each and every holy site, partly because there is so little time to pray during these busy pilgrimages – simply seeing these places is not enough to move our hearts to devotion, repentance or love. We must also pray.
But our very first day in Jerusalem, we went to the Mount of Olives, where Jesus began His triumphal entry into the holy city. The Mount of Olives is a hill overlooking Jerusalem from the eastern side, with a spectacular view of the city of Jerusalem and the Temple mount. In between is a valley; the city of Jerusalem and the Temple mount are built on the opposite hill. In the time of Jesus, this included Herod’s temple, one of the wonders of the ancient world. Today, the view includes the Muslim mosque of the Dome of the Rock, an admittedly beautiful and impressive building.
As we heard in today’s opening Gospel, Jesus rode a colt on “the path down from the Mount of Olives” (Luke 19:29), and “the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God . . . saying, ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Luke 19:38). As He drew near the city, He wept over it, prophesying its destruction (Luke 19:41). I never realized before that the path that Jesus took down the hill passed through the Garden of Sorrows – Gethsemane, where He would later sweat blood during His agony (Luke 22:44).
As I walked the same path on which Jesus had ridden through the Mount of Olives, it hit me that this event in Scripture really happened – right where I was standing. For a moment, tears came into my eyes as I imagined how Jesus felt. As God, He knew that He had come into the world to suffer and die for us; in His love for the Father and for us, He wanted to give His life. But Jesus was also a man, whose body would naturally shrink back from suffering.
He heard the crowds hailing Him as the Messiah and King, but He could see the gates of Jerusalem and He knew that beyond them lay His enemies plotting His death. He knew He would be tortured and killed in a few short days, and that even some of His so-called disciples in the crowd would turn against Him, one would deny Him, another betray Him.
I’m sure Jesus was tempted to take the reigns of the donkey and turn around and go home. What is it like to be a soldier before a great battle in which you know you are going to die? How hard it must be to stare death in the face and yet still manage to march forward! Even if you know that the sacrifice of your life will help save others, does that make suffering and death any easier to bear?
What a man Jesus was! The Son of God and a King, yes, but also a man, and what an example for all men – husbands, fathers, young men, priests (I spoke more of women last week – the woman taken in adultery and the example of the conversion of a woman, Kathy Clark, so this week I would like to speak a bit more to the men, but women can also listen in).
Jesus was a real man! He endured His Passion because He had passion – for the glory of His Father and the salvation of the human race. In the book Wild at Heart, the author, John Eldredge, comments that if you look around the Church today, you would have to admit that the Christian man . . . is “bored” (7). Men of today need to re-discover their hearts, their passion!
Jesus as a man teaches us how to be men. In His Passion, He shows us that a real man is first of all one who is strong because he is humble. In the Garden, Jesus trembled with fear and humbled himself before the Father; He knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me” (Lk 22:42). But Jesus did not tremble with fear before His enemies. When they came with swords and clubs to arrest him, He “set his face like flint” (Is 50:7) to face them head on, strong and courageous. Throughout His human life on earth, Jesus was strong because He loved and served His heavenly Father in humble adoration. The more we men learn to bow down with the same humble adoration, the stronger we become.
I’m convinced that the Church and society will never be renewed until men – husbands, fathers, young men and priests – recover their manhood. There is a crisis in our culture of men who are cowards, and who refuse to commit – to a woman, to children, to Christ. And who refuse to stand up for the truth of Christ and His Church in our secular world. As Edmund Burke once said, “The only thing needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
There is a scene in The Lord of the Rings in which Gandalf says to Aragorn, “Sauron fears you.” Since perhaps less than half of you have seen the movie, I will explain: Aragorn is the true king of men, who alone could unite the various kingdoms to defeat the Dark Lord Sauron. But Aragorn has been more or less in hiding for years, carrying a sword but roaming about somewhat aimlessly, afraid to assert his real identity, afraid that he might fail, as his ancestor Isildur had done, failing to destroy the Ring of Power. Aragorn seemed to be a nobody, but Sauron feared him because he was indeed a king. In the book Wild at Heart, John Eldredge writes to men, saying, “The Enemy fears you” (166).
Men of the parish, the Enemy, the devil, fears you, because he is afraid that you might discover your deepest identity and become who you are – a man of God, a man like Christ, a man who is strong and courageous, ready to lay down his life for truth, for goodness, for beauty, for his family and for the Church. Men of the parish, you are already strong, and I respect that, but I would have you stronger! You are already courageous, and I admire so many of you, but I would have you even more courageous!
Every man here, by his baptism (and every woman too, but I am speaking particularly to the men today), every man is a priest, prophet and king! If you are a king, then why would you be a coward – in the work place or among family and friends who perhaps do not share your faith in Christ and His Church? Why be a coward when you are a king?
When I went on pilgrimage to Rome and the Marian shrines of Belgium back in 2007, a friend from Madonna House took me through a tiny Belgian village famous for two things: tarte aux riz, a sort of sweet rice cake, and a medieval crucifix of Jesus being crucified in the royal robes of a King. The story goes that the crucifix was buried during the French revolution, when godless men would have attempted to destroy it.
It was rediscovered by a farmer in his field later in the 19th century; it was lovingly restored and displayed in a place of honour in the local Church. Apparently, miracles have been associated with this crucifix, with those who prayed before it with faith.
This crucifix is a symbol of manhood in our times. As the crucifix was buried during the French Revolution, I wonder if manhood was somehow buried after the Sexual Revolution and the Feminist Revolution of the 1960′s. I’m not pointing any fingers because I’m really not sure of the exact causes of the decline of manhood in our times. What is certain, however, is the need for a restoration. As the crucifix was restored and displayed in a place of honour in the Church, so too must manhood be restored, so that men, who are a minority in every Catholic parish in the Western world, will once again stand with their wives and children in a place of honour in the Church.
Let us pray that all men will re-discover Christ, true God and true man, the Warrier-King who comes in the name of the Lord, who laid down His life for His Bride, the Church, whose Passion we recall on this Sunday before Easter. If men learn to imitate this Man and lay down their lives for the woman they love, for their children, for Christ and His Church, then I think that many, many women and children in our culture will rejoice, and we will see many new miracles.
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MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER
BENEDICT XVI
ON THE OCCASION OF THE TWENTY-FIFTH WORLD YOUTH DAY
(MARCH 28, 2010)
Dear Friends,
This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the inauguration of World Youth Day in response to the desire of the Venerable John Paul II for an annual gathering of young people of faith from throughout the world. It was a prophetic initiative that has borne abundant fruits, enabling the new generations of Christians to meet one another, to listen to the Word of God, to discover the beauty of the Church, and to have a deep experience of faith. This led many of them in turn to decide to give themselves completely to Christ.
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The culmination of the whole liturgical year is upon us – Holy Week and the celebration of the Passion, death and Resurrection of Christ. Let us all enter into these mysteries with our whole heart and attention. I encourage as many people as possible to attend the upcoming liturgies. On HOLY THURSDAY we commemorate the institution of the Eucharist and the Priesthood. (The priests of Ottawa will be renewing our priestly promises at the annual Chrism Mass, to which all the lay faithful are invited – Tuesday, March 30th at 7:00 p.m. at the Cathedral). On GOOD FRIDAY, we remember – and in a sense re-live – the Passion of Christ through Scripture, prayer and the veneration of the Cross. You are also invited to Russell’s ecumenical out-door “Way of the Cross” Friday morning at 10:00 a.m.
Finally, the highlight: the EASTER VIGIL, the greatest Mass of the entire Church year. For those who have never attended, I strongly urge you to experience the Vigil: the lighting of the Easter fire outside, the singing of the Exultet in a Church lit only by candles, the many psalms and readings – the entire Mass, followed by a jubilant reception in the hall. Mass begins at 8:00 pm and ends by 10:00 pm or earlier – it is longer, but well worth it! For those unable to come to the Vigil, we also celebrate the Resurrection on Sunday, during which we will also renew the promises of our baptism.
Let us recall that all the mysteries of Christ’s life, and all the graces they contain for the salvation and sanctification of humanity, are made available TODAY through the Sacraments, the Mass, and the liturgies of the Church year. Let us pray that we will truly encounter Christ through our celebration of Easter, and be transformed by His presence, His power, His love.
In Christ, Fr. Tim
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Friday, February 19th 7pm: Marian – Stations by Fr. Tim
Friday, February 26th 7pm: Stations led by guest priest, Fr. Bill Penney
Friday, March 5th: All-Day Adoration
Friday, March 12th 7pm: St. Luke Stations by the Knights
Friday, March 19th 7pm: Mary’s Way of the Cross by the CWL
Friday, March 26th 7pm: “Virtues” Stations by Fr. Tim
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Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year C, March 21st, 2010 – By Father Tim McCauley
Kathy Clark, a published author who lives in Kanata with her husband and six children, shares the story of her conversion from Judaism to Catholicism in the book Canadian Converts. I would like to read some of her story to you, because it is still Lent, the time for conversions. (I could share with you my own conversion story, but you know it already. I was a sinner; now I’m a priest . . . and still a sinner! But we are all a work in progress! God isn’t finished with us yet!). Kathy’s conversion, like every conversion, involves a personal meeting with Jesus, like that of the woman in today’s Gospel.
On our Lenten mission, Michael Dopp spoke of how sad it is that Church-attending Catholics sometimes miss out on this personal encounter with Christ. Hearing conversion stories can inspire us all to re-discover Christ, to bow down before the awe-inspiring mysteries that we hold in our hands but take for granted, this truth that is more marvellous than any myth or fairy tale: the revelation that God and man are one in Christ – that’s how close we are to God! And that this God-man founded one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church in which we are privileged to belong as brothers and sisters of one family. Conversion stories remind us of these gifts and also help us to be more deeply converted.
Kathy was born in Hungary of non-practising Jewish parents. She writes, “My childish conception of God was of some unknowable being who was often displeased with me but who might grant me some of my wishes if I asked.” She also shares that in the early years of her childhood, she was subjected to several physically and psychologically abusive situations. “Yet in all this,” she writes, “ I had a supernatural sense that I was loved . . .” (35).
She adds, “Without giving it much thought or knowing anything specific about it, I rejected Christianity. I assumed that it must be much like the Judaism that I was familiar with – a set of rules and rituals without any spiritual depth” (37)
But then she met her future husband, an evangelical Christian, so she decided to read the New Testament. She writes, “As I read through the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, I grew fascinated with the person of Jesus . . . If only he were alive now, I thought, he would understand me. He would be someone I could talk with very sincerely , and not be afraid of being judged” (45).
(We see the this mercy of Jesus so beautifully displayed in his interaction with the woman taken in adultery).
Kathy continues, “And then, I came to the Gospel of St. John . . . Before . . . I thought of Jesus as a very interesting man . . . As I read the Gospel of John it finally dawned on me that Jesus was claiming to be the son of God; of being one with God.” Furthermore, she realized that Jesus’ main message of love and forgiveness, his constant emphasis on God’s mercy, were the very things she had been searching for (45).
Then she explains how she went on a week-long hiking trip to the Bruce Peninsula, an opportunity for quiet contemplation. At the end of the week, she boarded a bus to return to her home in Waterloo. She writes, “As I neared the city, I knew that I did not want to return to my life the way it had been. I wanted to change; to overcome some of the bad habits and destructive lifestyles I had struggled with for years” (47).
Shouldn’t this be the same for us as we go through Lent? We too should say, “I do not want to return to my life the way it has been. I want to change . . . “
I want to die to my old self now, this Lent, and rise again to a new life, now, this Easter. Like St. Paul in today’s second reading, who writes, “I want to know Christ” and to become “like him in his death, if somehow I might attain the resurrection of the dead” (Phil 3:10-11). We participate in the death and Resurrection of Christ beginning in this world, by being converted, making a change, for example, by getting rid of one bad habit and acquiring one new virtue.
But any real change in our lives can only come about through an encounter with Jesus Christ, the God-man, who has made humanity a new creation in Himself; He alone can give us grace to “go and sin no more.”
At the same time that Kathy felt a need to change her life, she also felt a need to pray. She writes, “until this time, I had not actually prayed . . . but now, with my new insight into the nature of God as revealed by Jesus, I felt I could talk to Him because I could talk to Jesus, who was both God and man . . . I spoke to God directly, telling him of all that was in my heart, the life I was dissatisfied with, asking him to help me to be better” (47). Yes! In order to change we must talk to God directly and tell him of everything that it is in our heart, including our sins.
The very first step in this personal encounter with Jesus is the acknowledgement of our sin. The woman taken in adultery had to face her sins.
We are not told the details of her sin, but the vindictive men who drag her before Jesus report that “this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery” (John 8:4). For all we know, she could have been alone talking to a man who was not her husband, and in that culture, it could have been interpreted as “the very act of committing adultery.”
On the other hand, it’s not as if she were not guilty of anything at all, since Jesus told her, “go and sin no more” (John ). In facing the very real threat of death, she had to face the reality of her sin. Then, after, she received the mercy of Jesus and a new life. She truly went out and sinned no more. This personal encounter with the mercy of Jesus converted her and transformed her.
Kathy Clark later writes about one thing that drew her to the Catholic Church – “it was the only one that insisted on the necessity of confession – confession to a priest. I felt the need to go to confession and to actually hear that my sins were forgiven. I liked the idea that with confession I would receive a special grace from God to help me in my personal battles. In addition, I recognized that with time, it was inevitable that my faith would waver in its intensity. I sensed that the sacrament of confession would help to keep me on track and keep me from straying” (51).
(By the way, if anyone missed out on confession, on the Reconciliation service in our parish on March 9th, there will be another one in Metcalfe this Tuesday at 7pm – for this reason Mass will be at 9am as I will be helping hear confessions in Metcalfe in the evening).
If we live Lent well, confess our sins and die a little bit more to our old self, and rise again at Easter to a different life, we will discover something absolutely remarkable, which Isaiah mentions in the first reading. Thus says the Lord: “Remember not the former things . . . I am about to do a new thing” to form a people for myself, “so that they might declare my praise” (Isaiah 43:18-21).
As one commentator puts it, “The Christian who has sinned but then repented has no past any longer . . . he is a new man (a new woman) and is able to engage in the activity proper to the redeemed – the praise of God” (The Liturgical Year by Adrian Nocent, 172).
In Dante’s Paradiso, in his journey to heaven, he meets a saved soul named Cunizza, similar perhaps to the woman taken in adultery. Cunizza had had a “long life of love affairs,” and they say that she was “widely known to be a whore” (Hollander, 239, 242). But in heaven, “she no longer begrudges herself her sin” (243), for “all the pain of sin is utterly erased from the memory of every saved soul” (Hollander, 248). As one of the souls in heaven puts it, “Here we do not repent but smile instead” (IX.,103).
This is meant to be our destiny also. But in order to smile, we must first repent. It is impossible to forget our sins by repressing them and pretending we have no sins we need to confess. That will never give us peace or joy. We can only forget our sins once we have confessed them. We die first to our old self, before we can rise again to a new life. Lent comes before Easter.
What a beautiful destiny, what a heroic quest and supremely exalted calling Jesus Christ the God-man has given to us as His brothers and sisters: to forget ourselves, to forget our sins, and in the words of St. Paul, “To exist for the praise of God’s glory” (Eph 1:12).
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This weekend is the collection for DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE. I would like to quote from a recent letter on the issue from Archbishop Prendergast.
“Development & Peace is the official aid organization of the Catholic Bishops in Canada. It is the national body connected to Caritas Internationalis, the international Catholic aid organization based at the Holy See. When there are international crises—as with the tsunami in Southeast Asia and the earthquake in Haiti—there is immediate and sound transfer of funds to those who can assist.
With respect to development projects and life issues, the bishops share the same concern as the Holy Father and many Catholics. It is why we have established an oversight committee to verify the projects and policies of D&P. Our intent is to ensure that the bishops’ development organization – which D&P is – adheres to our Church’s teachings. The object is to ensure adherence, not to shut down what is an essential outreach of our Church.”
We can trust our bishops and the overwhelmingly good work being done by Development and Peace. Part of our Lenten journey includes almsgiving and care for the poor, so I encourage everyone to be generous with this collection. In Christ, Fr. Tim
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Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C, March 14th, 2010 – By Father Tim McCauley
The comedian Tim Hawkins talks about people with amazing testimonies of their conversions, like that of the Prodigal Son in today’s Gospel. He even expresses a little envy for those with truly remarkable conversion stories: “That guy has such an awesome testimony . . . My testimony is so boring . . . I wish I had been a crack addict . . . Thanks a lot, God!”
So maybe we don’t have amazing conversion stories like that of the Prodigal Son or a former drug addict, but all of us have had some sort of conversion in life, otherwise we would not be here today to worship God. There are just too many temptations, distractions and other things to do in today’s culture. We need some sort of conversion or we won’t be faithful to Mass and to the worship of God each Sunday.
And all of us are called to a deeper conversion. As we heard from our retreat director Michael Dopp, during our Parish Lenten Mission, we are all called to come to know and love Jesus Christ more and more, and to discover more and more of His personal love for us. All our efforts this Lent to be converted and to make one concrete change in our lives – to give up one bad habit and acquire one virtue – must be put in this context of God’s personal love for us.
This Fourth Sunday of Lent is also called “Laetare or Rejoicing Sunday” taken from the Entrance Antiphon, and for this reason I am wearing the rose-coloured vestments. We rejoice today and take a little break from Lent. Every Sunday is the feast day of the Resurrection. Every Sunday is a day of joy. Have a cookie! Have a piece of chocolate! Take a break. (But if you have given up smoking or cocaine, I would recommend keeping up that Lenten discipline!)
One source of our joy is to simply to be together as a family in our Father’s house, gathered to worship our Creator. Here we are safe and secure. We know we are loved. The walls of the Church are like the arms of our heavenly Father, always ready to embrace us when we return to Him after having sinned or strayed from His love.
Let us hope and pray for amazing conversion stories among our own families, friends and acquaintances, that they too will return to the Father’s house, to Mass and the worship of God, and know the joy of living in the Father’s loving embrace.
Some of you know from first hand how the father in this parable felt when his son rejected him, left home and rebelled against everything he had been taught by choosing a sinful, dissolute life. Some of you have your own prodigal sons or daughters who used to come to Mass and come no longer, who used to be close to you and are close no longer. This is a painful trial for any parent, but trust me, you are not alone. Many people are going through the similar trials. A priest-father has the same challenges. Every priest has spiritual children who used to come to Mass and come no longer, who used to be close to him and are close no longer.
Continue to love these prodigal children and pray for them, just as the father in the parable surely continued to love his son, pray for him, and await his return.
And remember that all your trials teach you about the real meaning of love. As Michael Dopp reminded us on our Lenten Mission, true love says, “I love you enough to suffer for you.” This is what Jesus Christ says in His Passion to each one of us: “I love you enough to suffer for you.”
Through your trials with your own children, God is giving you a glimpse into the hidden depths of suffering love in His own heart. How can we possibly know how much God loves us? If you have a son or daughter or someone else close to you who has rejected your love, and yet, you continue to love, forgive, suffer and love some more, then you have some dim notion of how much God loves you.
My brothers and sisters, make no mistake about it – just because you and I haven’t done cocaine or killed anyone doesn’t mean that we are without sin. God continues to suffer for us because of our pride, stubbornness, ingratitude, self-centeredness, our extremely limited response to His infinite love for us. Therefore, as God continues to say to you and to me, “I love you enough to suffer for you,” so we must be willing to say the same thing to the prodigal sons and daughters in our own life.
And let us extend this love to our friends and neighbours – not only to love our prodigal sons and daughters, but also our neighbours as ourselves, and tolook for an opportunity to invite them back to the Father’s house, back to Church, back to the Mass and the worship of God, because the Church and the Mass is the purpose of all creation . . . (Wait a minute . . . what did he say?) . . . You may have not heard this truth before. It was clarified for me in a book by Scott Hahn on Pope Benedict’s biblical theology. Have you ever thought about why God created the universe? He did so for the sake of the Church and the Mass. To some of you, that might sound at first ridiculous, but hear me out.
God created the visible universe for the sake of human beings. He created human beings to be part of His Family, to live in loving communion with Him for all eternity. The Church is the Family of God on earth, the brothers and sisters of Jesus. God wants to gather people from all nations into His Family by gathering them into the Church. Once in the Church, what do we do? We gather on Sundays to worship God in the Mass, in the Eucharist, which is what we will be doing with all the saints and angels in heaven for all eternity – worshiping God. That is the purpose of creation.
I’ll read you just one brief quote: “The ultimate end of all New Testament liturgy (worship) . . . is to make the world as a whole a temple and a sacrificial offering for God. This is to bring about the inclusion of the whole world into the Body of Christ, so that God may be all in all” (Covenant and Communion, 181).
The Church and the Mass is the purpose of creation. So it is not only good for us to be here together, safe and secure in our Father’s house, in His loving embrace, it is also very necessary for us to attain the purpose for which God created us.
I was chatting with the bishop the other day, and we were commenting on how the slightest thing can draw people away from Church and the Mass – they’re really busy one week and they stop coming; they go through a personal difficulty and stop coming; a priest says something they don’t like and they stop coming. Then the bishop said, “then the slightest thing can also draw them back.” It’s true.
Do you know how many people, among your own friends and neighbours, right now, are thinking that they should start coming to Church, that they want to start coming to Church, but they are so out of the habit that they don’t know where to begin? Some of them are this close ( ) to coming back; all they need is this much ( ) encouragement from you.
The Prodigal Son came back to his father’s house because, as we read in the Gospel, he “came to himself” (Lk 15:17). The Holy Spirit woke him up inside. It is primarily the work of the Holy Spirit. But the Spirit can also use human instruments. Imagine that the prodigal son had a friend, one of the other hired hands, who saw how miserable his friend was, and how much he was struggling, and said to him, “why don’t you go back to Israel? Why don’t you go back to your father’s house?” and this question also helped him get up and go. We can do the same with our friends and neighbour, being instruments of the Holy Spirit for some amazing conversions this Lent and throughout the year.
Don’t be timid! Imagine if you say to an unbelieving friend, “I was wondering if you might want to come to Mass with me some weekend.” “Mass? What’s that?” “It’s a sort of boring medieval ritual . . . but it used to be really popular in Italy in 1200!” What is your friend going to say to that? “Look, I’m really busy . . . I don’t think I have time.” And you reply, “I know – I’m sorry I even mentioned it! . . . Will you still be my friend?” Don’t be shy when inviting others to Mass! You are inviting them to fulfill the purpose for which the universe was created!
I received this card in the mail the other day (I’m not making this up). It says “Something’s been missing. You” (picture of a sad girl, sitting alone). Wow! Someone misses me! Who could it be? Are they old friends from my own prodigal son days, saying that they miss me and they want me to go out drinking with them on Friday night?
I open it up and it says, “we’ve missed you and want you back.” Isn’t that nice? Who’s it from? Look! There’s a coupon inside for a free Rogers digital box! Wow! They really love me! It’s not that Rogers wants my money (it’s the Church that wants my money!). No – Rogers really loves me and wants me to be happy by attaining the purpose for which God created me – HD TV!
Let’s be honest. Rogers wants our money. God and the Church want our happiness. By telling people, “We’ve missed you and want you back,” by inviting people to come back to the Father’s house, to come back to Church and the Mass, you are inviting them to discover the meaning of life and true happiness.
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Pope Benedict writes beautifully about today’s Gospel, the Prodigal Son, calling it the parable of the “Good Father.” It is a metaphor for our process of conversion as well. He writes that the son “seeks radical freedom. He wants to live only for himself . . . Is it difficult for us to see clearly reflected here the spirit of the modern rebellion against God and God’s law?” In his conversion, the Prodigal Son , “went into himself” (Lk 15:17). “Living far from home, from his origin, this man also strayed away from himself . . . What he finds (later) in himself . . . is the compass pointing toward the father . . . his whole life is now a steady progress leading ‘home’ – through so many deserts – to himself and to the father” (Jesus of Nazareth, 204-5).
Our Lenten journey of conversion is also a journey back to God. Let us pray for this fruit from our Lenten mission: that in coming to better know and love Jesus Christ – and His love for us – that Jesus will lead us back to the Father’s house, to a more trusting, intimate relationship with God our Father.
In Christ, Fr. Tim
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