September 26, 2010
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Twenty-sixth Sunday, Year C, September 26th, 2010 – By Father Tim McCauley
How much did you pay for your current house? How much is it worth now? For decades, we have taken it for granted that the value of our homes would keep going up and up and up. That’s not the case anymore after the global financial crisis and the lingering effects of the recession. (Today’s readings deal with wealth, poverty and the economy, so I will make a few comments in that area).
In the U.S., it is reported that “one quarter of home-owners owe more on their mortgage that the property is worth” (Ottawa Citizen, September 21st, 2010). A priest from Ireland was telling me last week that after their economic boom and bust, there are some couples who paid 500 000 euros for a house now worth 250 000 euros. Could the same happen here? Perhaps not to that degree, but the international Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned Canada that we have an over-priced housing market that needs to cool off, especially because of Canadians’ record high debt levels and the danger that some people will not be able to make their high mortgage payments (The Globe and Mail, September 13th, 2010).
And how is it that a house can be worth 500 000 euros or dollars one year, then only 250 000 the next? It’s something called supply and demand, and how much people perceive a house to be worth, and how much they are willing to pay.
For generations, we have linked home ownership with happiness, so people are willing to pay a lot, and to make huge, even irrational sacrifices to own a home. The Vanier Institute’s latest study on Canadian families has indicated that home ownership is more and more of a gamble. “For 20 years, the average price of a house was 3.7 times household earnings. In February this year house prices averaged five times household earnings” (Catholic Register, September 5th, 2010)
There’s been a trend in our culture for many years of larger houses and smaller families, or no children at all – larger houses that people cannot afford.
Too many people are becoming “house poor,” living an unsustainable lifestyle with a very high mortgage. People are willing to sacrifice their “home” for the sake of the “house.” A married couple could be stressed out and fighting all the time over money, destroying their “home,” but at least they have a big “house” in which to argue all the time. This is insanity! Yet this is our culture.
(By the way, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with wanting to own a house. However, Leonard Stern, in an interesting editorial in the Citizen a while back, commented that you can still have a happy life and rent a place to live; you don’t absolutely have to own a house).
We have so many unconscious, unexamined and unspoken assumptions about money, happiness and home ownership. In so many ways in our culture, we have made an idol of these things, and we are not even aware of it until a financial crisis hits and we can no longer sustain our lifestyle.
I heard that there are approximately 10 million people homeless right now in Pakistan. They have no houses in which to live. They are surviving with other family, friends or in refugee camps. But people in rich, Western countries can barely afford to help them, because we need to make our massive mortgage payments on our over-priced and outrageously large homes.
The rich man in today’s Gospel could not help Lazarus sitting at his gate, because the rich man had to provide for his own needs in order to be happy; these needs included dressing in purple and fine linen and feasting sumptuously every day (Lk 16:19). This man is rich but is he happy? It almost sounds as if he lives alone and feasts alone, his only company the servants who wait on him. There is no love in his home, no pitter-patter of little children’s feet running around.
And why did he ignore Lazarus? He could have given him some food, or perhaps even hired him. The Pope has written that “ the poor are not to be considered a ‘burden’, but a resource, even from a purely economic point of view” (Caritas in Veritate, #35). Helping the poor develop their human potential is an investment in human capital which actually strengthens and improves the economy.
The children that we sponsor in Honduras, to help them get an education, is an investment in that country and their economy. The rich man might have hired Lazarus as a gardener. After some medical attention and a healthy diet, Lazarus could have recovered from his wounds and become the best gardener in Israel. But he was never given the chance.
We are so much like the rich man in the Gospel, because we need to own big houses in order to be happy, and we really can’t afford to have children, or help the homeless poor in our world.
Make no mistake: we live in a global village, and the Lazaruses of our world are truly at our doorstep. Through TV and other media, we are aware of the poor throughout the world, and God expects us to help themi.
In the Gospel, the rich man is condemned for his total neglect of poor Lazarus. In the first reading, the prophet Amos warns the complacent rich not of eternal punishment, but of impending exile, and the picture he paints is not one of the joy of the rich, but rather their miserable ease:
“Alas for those who are at ease in Zion . . . (who) lounge on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock . . . who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp . . . who drink wine from bowls . . . but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! . . . the revelry of those who lie in ease shall pass away” (Amos 6: ). Not only do these people neglect the poor, but their own souls as well. They are shallow and self-indulgent, seeking to soothe their empty souls with food, drink and entertainment – like so many people in our culture today, wealthy but depressed.
How do you measure the mood of a country? The mood directly affects the economy. As you know, I was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin last week for a vocations conference; it’s a lovely city with many historic buildings on the shores of Lake Michigan. But all of us Canadian priests who were visiting couldn’t believe how empty the downtown streets were – barely any people! For me, it reflected something of the mood in America right now – a lack of confidence, due in part to the recession and the housing and mortgage crisis, which was more severe in the States than in Canada.
The mood of a country directly affects the economy. If you are depressed, for example, you won’t want to go to work. An article from the Ottawa Citizen on Wednesday estimated that $51 billion is the financial toll that depression in the workplace takes on the economy. And if you are depressed and have no hope in the future, you also might not want to get married and have children (children who are the future of our society and our economic well-being).
The mood of a country is linked to faith and hope in the future; it is a spiritual phenomenon. The current economic crisis is a spiritual crisis as well.
The Pope addresses this crisis in his encyclical letter released in June 2009, entitled “Caritas in Veritate” on integral human development in charity and truth. It is fascinating reading for anyone concerned about the state of our society and our world.
I will limit myself to only one quote, in which the Holy Father makes an explicit link between marriage, family and children, and economic prosperity. He writes:
“Morally responsible openness to life represents a rich social and economic resource. Populous nations have been able to emerge from poverty thanks not least to the size of their population and the talents of their people. On the other hand, formerly prosperous nations are presently passing through a phase of uncertainty and in some cases decline, precisely because of their falling birth rates; this has become a crucial problem for highly affluent societies . . .
He continues, “These situations are symptomatic of scant confidence in the future and moral weariness. It is thus becoming a social and even economic necessity once more to hold up to future generations the beauty of marriage and family” (Caritas in Veritate, #44).
The Pope is saying that our below-replacement level of birth rates in Canada and in the West is a sign of “scant confidence in the future and moral weariness.” It is people with no faith who lack confidence in the future, who are so weary with life.
People who believe in Jesus Christ are people who love life, share life, give life, people of faith who have hope in the future, who love and want to share their love through marriage, family and children. The Holy Father points out that now in Canada it is a social and even economic necessity for people to get married and have children. And the kind of people who do that are very often those who believe in God, who love life and share love. And people say that love for Jesus has nothing to do with the economy? They don’t know what they are talking about it. Blessed be Jesus Christ our Lord and our God.
Permalink
September 25, 2010
Posted in pastor
at 11:14 am
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
We have begun THE LIFE IN THE SPIRIT SEMINAR and we ask for your on-going prayers for the descent of the Holy Spirit on the participants and on our parish. I invite you all to recite the following prayer, and to bring home a copy of the bulletin to pray this at home
Veni, Creator (Come Holy Spirit)
Come Holy Spirit, creator, come/ from your bright heavenly throne,/
come take possession of our souls/ and make them all your own
You Who are called Paraclete/ blest gift of God above,
the living spring, the living fire,/ sweet unction and true love.
You Who are sevenfold in your grace,/ finger of God’s right hand;
his promise, teaching little ones/ to speak and understand.
O guide our minds with your blest light,/ with love our hearts inflame;
and with strength, which never decays,/ confirm our mortal frame.
Far from us drive our deadly foe;/ true peace unto us bring;
and through all perils, lead us safe/ beneath your sacred wing.
Through You may we the Father know;/through You the eternal Son,
and You the Spirit of them both,/thrice-blessed Three in One.
All glory to the Father be,/with his co-equal Son:
the same to You great Paraclete,/ While endless ages run. Amen.
In Christ, Fr. Tim
Permalink
Posted in pastor
at 7:09 pm
Dear Brother and Sisters in Christ,
This past week I have been attending the NATIONAL VOCATION DIRECTORS CONFERENCE in Milwaukee (followed by a two-day holiday). The annual conference is a wonderful opportunity for vocation directors throughout North America to meet, share ideas and best practices, and to encourage one another in a ministry that does not always bear abundant fruit.
I do have very good news, however, for the Archdiocese of Ottawa for 2010-11. In part thanks to the Year for Priests and the prayers of many people, we have 8 seminarians for our diocese (the most in 20 years): Jonathan Kelly (St. Philip’s) and 7 at St. Augustine’s (Toronto): John Orban, Rick Lorenz, Gerard Plant, Hermy Jasmin-Nemorin, Matthew Keshwah, Matt Chojna, and Hezuk Shroff. Please say a prayer for these men, and I thank you for your ongoing prayers for me, for all priests, and for vocations. Let us also pray that God will bless our parish with a few vocations to the priesthood! In Christ, Fr. Tim
Permalink
September 12, 2010
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Twenty-fourth Sunday, Year C, September 12th, 2010 – By Father Tim McCauley
The Life in the Spirit Seminar, coming up in our parish September 22nd to November 3rd, is for sinners, saints, and everyone in between. It is for those who are far away from God, like the Prodigal Son before his conversion and his journey back to his father’s house. And it is for faithful Catholics who already dwell in the Father’s house, like the older son in the parable, but whose hearts might be distant from God and desire to be closer.
Every conversion and every step closer God is a work of the Holy Spirit. We see the hidden but powerful work of the Holy Spirit in the depths of the heart of the Prodigal Son when he “came to himself” (Lk 15:17). The same Spirit was at work in St. Paul, leading to his conversion, of which he writes so movingly in today’s second reading, that he was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and an arrogant man (hubristes) but that he was mercifully treated because he acted in ignorance in his unbelief (1 Tim 1:13).
This is one of my favourite readings from Scripture because it describes my own life. I was once a Prodigal Son. There might be a few others here today. Most of us are not like the Canadian martyrs whom we honour this month, who seemed to be saints from birth.
You may have children or grandchildren or friends who are, as we speak, living the lifestyle of the Prodigal Son. Then it is part of your calling to be like the Father in the parable, to be like our heavenly Father, who suffers with love for his wayward children. Keep praying. Be patient. The Holy Spirit is at work in their hearts too.
Some people outside the Church are lost in a distant country, very far from their Father’s house. Some have just started on their journey back. Some are wandering in between. Some are, as it were, at the very threshold of the door of the Church – they are this close to coming home! Many of these people are your friends and family. The Life in the Spirit seminar is for them! The Holy Spirit, who works in the depths of hearts, also needs to borrow your lips, so that you will verbally invite one of these people to the Life in the Spirit seminar.
What exactly is the Life in the Spirit seminar? It is the descent of the Holy Spirit upon a parish, leading people to a deeper, personal relationship with Jesus and our heavenly Father, through personal testimonies, prayer, discussion in small groups, Scripture reading and talks on God’s love, salvation, on-going conversion, etc . . ..
I participated in a Life in the Spirit seminar 15 years ago. I don’t remember all the details, but I do recall that it was part of a two-year process that included my confirmation and reception into the Church, as well as a year of volunteer service, and it changed my life! I went to the Seminary and became a priest!
The Life in the Spirit seminar is for everyone, from mature teens to senior citizens. And there’s nothing to be afraid of. No one will be put on the spot, forced to speak or share or emote or confess or do anything you don’t want to do. You can come and sit and listen, but of course we hope you will come with a wide-open heart and a joyful expectation of receiving the gift of God.
One of the greatest spiritual dangers facing Catholics today in our culture is that of becoming like the older son in the parable – comfortable but unhappy. The older son was unhappy partly because of his lack of trust in, and love for, his father, and his completely distorted view of his relationship with his father, as one of master and slave. He even told his father, “I have been working like a slave for you” and “you have never given me even a young goat to celebrate with my friends” (Lk 15:29).
But the Father replies, “Son, all that I have is yours” (Lk 15:31), in other words, “Son, I would have given you a young goat to celebrate with your friends at any time, but you never asked. All you had to do was ask.” The son neither asked, nor believed nor trusted in His father’s love; he was unhappy, even though he was living comfortably.
What a great danger for Catholics in this culture – to be comfortable but unhappy, because we are not living in the Spirit, close to the Father’s heart. We could all use a life in the Spirit seminar to remember and experience God’s love!
The dark side of our addiction to comfort in our culture is fear – fear of discomfort and difficulties, fear of risk and failure, fear of being vulnerable and alone, fear of change – the list goes on and on. I think that the older son was inhibited by many fears.
The prodigal son was willing to risk and fail, and he failed miserably. But his passion for life led him back to his father’s heart! What will the older son do? Will he come inside to the banquet for his younger brother? Is he willing to change – to change his view of his father, his brother, to change his heart, to open his heart to love? Or will he fall back into fear, and choose to remain comfortable but unhappy? What will he do? . . . What will you do?
St. Paul once wrote, “you did not receive a spirit of slavery, to fall back into fear. You received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Rom 8:15). We have already received this Spirit in baptism and confirmation. A life in the Spirit seminar will help to release and increase this Spirit.
For me personally, I can never get too comfortable. Whenever there’s a danger of that happening, something always happens: the bishop call: “Fr. Tim, I hear you are getting too comfortable, so I am giving you an extra job as vocations director!” And the bishop could call back at any time! Or the Holy Spirit calls! (I’m dramatizing this to make a point):
One night, I was just getting comfortable and ready to go to sleep when the phone rings: “Hello.” “Is this Fr. Tim? How are you?” “Fine.” “Do you know who this is?” “No, I don’t!“ ”It’s the Holy Spirit!” “Oh, hi, Holy Spirit, so good to hear from you . . . Is there something I can do for you? . . . You want me to do WHAT? Give up Wednesday night TV . . . every Wednesday? WHY? Oh . . . A Life in the Spirit seminar, then small Christian communities . . . OK . . . well, Holy Spirit you are God, after all, and all that I have and all that I am is a gift from you, so I suppose I could do this for you, and other people have been asking about this, so I think it’s a good idea . . . OK, I’ll see you at the Life in the Spirit seminar . . . well, I know you will be at Mass too . . . yes, of course, you are the Spirit that fills the universe and you are present everywhere, yes, I understand . . . I . . . love you too! Bye!”
Speaking of the Holy Spirit, Jesus once said to the woman at the well, “If you knew the gift of God, and who was speaking with you, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water” (John 4:10). The gift of God and the living water is the Holy Spirit. Jesus is urging us to ASK for this living water, especially in the Life in the Spirit seminar.
One of the problems of us fallen human beings, in our relationship with God, is that we ask so little . . . we expect so little . . . we believe, hope and love so little. The woman at the well at least came to Jesus with a bucket. So often, Catholics come to Jesus with one of these (prop). Can you at the back see what it is? It’s a thimble! We ask Jesus for the living water of the Holy Spirit and we come to Him with a thimble! “Oh, no! Just half a cup, Jesus! I don’t want to drink and drive!”
But if you come to the Life in the Spirit seminar, come with a wide-open heart and a big container (Prop – Culligan water cooler). “OK, Lord, here I am! I want it all! I’m ready for anything!”
Permalink
September 10, 2010
Posted in pastor
at 9:00 am
In keeping with the diocesan theme for this year, THE CALL TO HOLINESS, the bishop is proposing a particular saint for different months. In September, we honour the Canadian martyrs (normally the feast day is September 26th). Of the 8 martyrs, this year we remember in particular St. Gabriel Lalement, born 400 years ago in 1610. Below is a short biography:
St. Gabriel Lalemant, a Parisian, became a Jesuit at age 19. His ambition was to labour in the Missions and he asked to be sent to the Canadian Missions. He was “one of the most feeble and delicate in health.” A scholar, he was professor of Philosophy, and dean of studies in French Colleges. He arrived in Huronia in September 1648 where in words of Scriptures, he was destined to complete a long time in a short space. In Huronia seven months, just beginning to speak the Native tongue, he was sent to assist Brebeuf in February 1649. He was captured with Brebeuf and tortured for seventeen hours at the stake. Gabriel Lalemant died on March 17 on his 39th year, at St. Ignace, six miles from Ste.Marie.
St. Gabriel Lalement and your Holy Canadian Martyrs, pray for us! Fr. Tim
Permalink
September 5, 2010
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time – By Deacon Thomas Stephenson
September 05, 2010
The predominant message of Jesus is love – God’s love for us, and the requirement that we love, not only our neighbours, but also our enemies. So when we listen to today’s Gospel reading and hear Jesus tell us that we cannot be His disciples unless we hate our close relatives, and even our own lives, it’s more than a little disturbing. Many of the commentaries that attempt to explain this passage tend to water-down the harshness of what Jesus said. They say things like “Jesus didn’t really mean that”, or “the words He used meant something different at the time”. And there is some validity in those understandings; we know that Jesus is not encouraging hatred, as we know it, of anyone, much less those close to us. When He tells us to hate our families, or to give up all our possessions, He may be exaggerating somewhat in order to make His point. But the inescapable fact is that this is what He said, and we should not try to lessen the severity of the message.
There are many of Christ’s teachings that are difficult. Being a disciple, living as a Christian, as a Catholic, is not easy. It may cost us in terms of strained family relationships and friendships. When I first started in formation for the Diaconate, as Faith and I would get together with long-time friends, we would tell them that I was studying to become a Deacon. Now, some of our friends would be quite interested, and ask us to tell them more about what was involved. Others would get that stunned, deer-in-the-headlights look for a second or two, sometimes say “that’s nice”, and very quickly change the subject. Of that second group, we don’t see many of them anymore, mostly by their choice rather than ours. We certainly don’t hate them, but we love God more, and if the cost of that love is the loss of some friendships, so be it. And we continue to pray for them.
When it comes to families, it’s much more complicated than that. We are all aware of situations, in our own lives or the lives of people we know, where being a disciple causes friction in a family. Losing friends is difficult; dissension between family members is painful, even heartbreaking. This is particularly a problem when there is such a great difference between the believer and the spouse, or the children, or the parents, that there is actual hostility toward the believer’s relationship with God. Jesus does not demand that we create such divisions, but He recognizes, and we must recognize, that one cost of following Him, one natural result of our discipleship, will be the alienation of some of those we love. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man’s foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me”. He does not come with the intent of dividing families, but He understands that this division will be the unfortunate but inevitable outcome, when some people choose to follow Him and other family members cannot accept that. In early Christian communities, in many times throughout history, and in our present time, people have often struggled with the agonizing choice between maintaining family connections and being faithful disciples.
So whether it is friends or family, we can see that choosing Jesus is a serious matter, and Jesus’ use of the term hate is an indication of that seriousness. St. Jerome said: “After God, love thy father, thy mother, and thy children. But if a necessity should arise that the love of parents or children comes into competition with the love of God, where both cannot be preserved, remember that hatred of our kindred then becomes love to God.” We are to love God so deeply that we prefer loving Him to everything else. And in doing so, everything else is seen in the light of that love. It is through God’s love for us and our love for Him that we are truly able to love others, especially those we “hate”, so to speak, for their behaviour that is hostile to our relationship with God. We need to remember that, no matter what happens, they are our brothers and sisters in Christ, and they deserve our love – and our prayers. Depending on the relationship, we may need to persevere in that situation, maintaining the hope that through our example, through our faithfulness and commitment to Christ, we may eventually bring the other person closer to Him.
Being a disciple of Jesus has its costs, not only in our relationships with others, but in the sacrifices we must make, in the crosses we must carry. We may be reluctant to embrace Christ because of what we must let go. But, as Pope Benedict tells us “If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful, and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide…Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and gives you everything.” We may lose friendships, there may be strains with family members… yes, there definitely is a cost to following Him. But what we lose may be considered as nothing, compared to what He gives us. This can be really difficult, because our loss is present to us right now, and our gain may be far from being attained. But we need to ask ourselves: What do we fear losing? What parts of our lives do we not want to sacrifice as payment toward the cost of discipleship? Keeping in mind the words of our first reading today, only God can give us the wisdom to discern what pleases Him, and it is this wisdom that will save us. It is as disciples of Jesus that we must make our decisions to grow in our faith, to grow in our relationship with God. Let us pray for the courage, the strength, and the wisdom to accept the difficult teachings of Jesus and make the difficult decisions required of each of us to be His disciples.
Permalink
September 4, 2010
Posted in pastor
at 7:53 am
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Come, Holy Spirit! Let us begin this new pastoral year invoking the Holy Spirit upon our parish, that He will gently guide and direct us, that He will inspire our hearts with new fervour, that His gifts that we have received in Baptism and Confirmation will be released!
As I’ve mentioned, we are launching a seven-week LIFE IN THE SPIRIT seminar, from Wednesday, September 22nd (7:00 p.m.) until November 3rd. And we plan to continue each week with SMALL CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES based on shared listening to the Word of God for the coming Sunday Eucharist.
I am grateful to all those who have pledged to spend an HOUR OF ADORATION with Jesus in the Eucharist, during our 24 hours of continuous prayer, from Friday, September 10th at 4:00 p.m. until Saturday at 4:00 p.m. Let us all strive to be of one mind and heart, praying with Mary as the apostles did before Pentecost, persistently and confidently begging, “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of your love!”
In Christ, Fr. Tim
Permalink
Homilies