November 28, 2010
Posted in Homilies
at 12:29 pm
First Sunday of Advent, Year A, November 28th, 2010 – By Father Tim McCauley
How well do we listen, like Mary, to the Word of God? And how well do we treat each other? I think these are two very simple questions that can help guide our Advent journey. The liturgy of Advent highlights Mary on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, but throughout Advent, we do well to stay close to the Patronness of our Parish (whose feast day is December 8th) and take Mary as our model for our preparation for the coming of Christ. I invite you all to read the bulletin insert from Pope Benedict’s recent apostolic exhortation on the Word of God, with excerpts on Mary and the Word of God.
The Holy Father remarks that Mary was always docile, attentive and attuned to God’s Word. If we listen with her, what do we hear? . . . “It is now the moment for you to wake from sleep” (Romans 13:11). And in the words of the Word made flesh Jesus Christ, in today’s Gospel, “Keep awake!” (Mt 24:42).
What does He mean? We have to stay awake all night and pray? No! In the language of scripture, to be awake means to be spiritually conscious. Consider the example that Jesus gives us in today’s Gospel: in the days of Noah, people were “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away . . . keep awake therefore” (Mt 24:38-9, 42).
Jesus is suggesting that it is possible to eat and drink and live one’s marriage and one’s whole life as if one is spiritually asleep. How? The people in Noah’s time who were swept away by the flood never thought of God; they lived as if God did not exist. They did not make God part of their marriage or family, nor put Him at the center of their celebrations of eating and drinking. They were the kind of people who would have had Christmas without Christ. Do you know anyone like that?
To be asleep spiritually means to be ruled by instinct, to be a mere creature of habit, a victim of mood-swings, a slave to various desires. To be awake means to be free, to be the person God created you to be. To live and think and act according to your deepest identity, as a child of God.
As your spiritual father, I am concerned about my spiritual family, and reports I have heard recently of divisions between people, a neglect and absence of gentleness, kindness and charity within groups or families, between various individuals. Why? Why are we failing to live as Christians who love one another? We must have fallen asleep. Thank God Advent is here, and we can all wake up!
We are only on earth a short while. At an “unexpected hour” (Mt 24: ) we will meet Christ who will demand an account of our lives and how we treat one another. Why are we so impatient, so rude, so uncaring at times with “those we love”? We have to wake up and ask ourselves, “why did I just say that to my wife?” or “Why did I just yell at my children?” or “Why was I so rude to my parents? I must be asleep and I need to wake up! I don’t want to live as a victim of mood-swings that I inflict on others, no! I want to live as a child of God, to ‘live honourably as in daylight” not in “quarreling and jealousy’” (Rom 13:13).
Haven’t you noticed that at this time of year there are more temptations to impatience, discouragement, lack of hope? And you thought it was only you who felt this – no! It’s like that for everyone, because we are in a spiritual battle.
Just so none of you will ever be discouraged by your weakness, I will share with you a case of my own impatience. It was last Saturday morning and I was praying in Church; I might have been a little tired that day. It was before the Men’s Group meeting. All of a sudden, I heard Mike Sliva’s voice yell outside, “Let’s just go to the restaurant!” My first thought (being tempted to impatience) was, “What? They are going to skip prayer and go straight to the restaurant?
After a few minutes I called Bernard Crouzat, the coordinator, on his cell phone. I was tempted to say, “What the heck are you guys doing in the restaurant?” Instead, I said, “Hi, Bernard. How are you?” “Fine, but I am freezing.” “Why?” “Because the door is locked!”
So I went to the door and found that it was unlocked! Mike Sliva made a joke about it, as a metaphor for our relationship with God – the door is always open, we just have to try it. So: what could have turned into a moment of impatience, rudeness, lack of charity instead became a moment of humour. Could we not do the same with all the stressful moments of Advent, in our preparation for Christmas? Could we just not decide here and now that we are going to treat each other well this time of year? I think with God’s help, we can.
But remember, we are in a spiritual battle. In the Word of God in the second reading, St. Paul advises the Church in Rome to “lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light” (Rom 13:12) – armour for spiritual battle. Why? Because Christ is coming and the Evil One does not want us to receive Him.
He therefore tries to destroy the spirit of Advent, and spiritual preparation for Christmas, by replacing it with something else . . . I don’t know what to call it.
In our culture, it begins around December 1st and ends on December 24th.
It has all the trappings of Christmas without the soul – there’s music and decorations in the shopping malls, but there’s no faith or joy. I don’t know what to call it – Winterfest, Decemberfest, the Winter Solstice? It certainly is not Christmas.
It’s almost as if the Evil One spews out a flood of propaganda and commercials, telling people that they can be happy without God, buying and selling, eating and drinking as if God does not exist. The shoppers see a small group of people escaping the flood by going into the ark, the ark of the Church. But so many shoppers don’t enter the Church – why not? Instead, they are swept away in the flood, by waves of busyness, anxiety, impatience, emptiness, sadness . . .
But we put on the armour of light, and arm ourselves with the Word of God and the sacraments. We can weather the flood of “Winterfest” safe and secure in the ark of the Church, supported by our Christian brothers and sisters.
As your spiritual father, I want to remind you that . . I love you, and that you are a son or daughter of God who loves you. The light of your own love also shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it (John 1:5), the darkness of a world that can seem so cold, indifferent and hopeless, a world in which people eat and drink and marry as if God does not exist. You might think that you are weak, but there is power in your smile, your kind word, your readiness to forgive. What divine power you have to make Christ shine in the darkness!
And if we do stumble at times in the darkness, and give in to impatience, frustration, discouragement, and end up treating “those we love” rather badly, we can always begin again through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.i Don’t forget that Advent is also a penitential season, a season in which the Church is clothed in purple, the colour of penance. We have confessions here with visiting priests on December 14th, to help us all wake up and begin again.
To wake up and listen anew with Mary to the Word of God calling us to life, love and joy! I will say more (tomorrow night/tonight) about the Pope’s words on Mary as a model of listening to the Word of God. But I will leave you with this thought. The Holy Father writes about the close link between the Word of God and joy, a link evident in Mary the Mother of God. Mary first listened to the Word of God before she received the great joy of conceiving the Word made flesh in her womb. Pope Benedict writes, “every Christian believer . . . in some way interiorly conceives and gives birth to the word of God . . . what took place in Mary can daily take place in each of us, in hearing the word and in the celebration of the sacraments (Verbum Domini p.19). “The joy born of the Word can now expand to all those who, by faith, let themselves be changed by God’s word” (Verbum Domini, p. 64).
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November 24, 2010
Posted in pastor
at 11:13 pm
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In Pope Benedict’s latest Apostolic Exhortation, VERBUM DOMINI (The Word of the Lord), the Holy Father encourages all of us to learn to pray again with the Word of God. He proposes Mary as the model of prayerful listening to God’s Word (see bulletin insert).
I invite you to join me this Advent in reading Scripture with the heart of Mary, specifically the Scripture we associate so clearly with Advent – the BOOK OF ISAIAH, including his prophecies of the coming of the Messiah. Over the next four weeks, we can commit to private reading of the first section of the book – chapters 1-39 – written by the historical Isaiah.
The book of Isaiah is the Old Testament book most quoted in the New Testament (90 times) and has been called a “compendium of Old Testament belief.” Isaiah prophesied so many things about the Messiah that some even say he is an evangelist, not a prophet (Introduction to Navarre Bible p.29-42). What better way to prepare for the coming of Christ that to listen once again to the Word of God, the Word made flesh in the womb of Mary, whom we pray will come this Advent and Christmas into our hearts and homes, our parish and our world. In Christ, Fr. Tim
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November 21, 2010
Posted in Homilies
at 12:19 pm
Homily for the Feast of Christ the King
November 21, 2010 – By Deacon Thomas Stephenson
We come here to this church so often, we may not really pay as much attention to some things as we once did. Right now, please take a moment to examine the Crucifix…..
This is our King.
He isn’t wearing any regal robes…just a cloth, and that is only there for our sake.
His crown isn’t made of gold and jewels, but of sharp thorns, painfully forced into His head.
Instead of an elevated throne to sit upon, He hangs there, nailed in place and raised to display His humiliation.
Even the sign above His head, INRI, the first letters of the words which loosely translated into English mean “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”, was intended as a mockery, not just to Jesus but to the Jewish people as well.
This…is our King.
Although He doesn’t look like much of a king in the way we commonly think of it, we know that He is truly the greatest of kings, precisely because He is not like other kings. What kind of king allows himself to be crucified, without so much as the slightest struggle? He is the king who came to serve us, who came specifically with the intent of dying for us.
Of course, at that time, and continuing to the present day, some people didn’t, and still don’t, understand that. The leaders and the soldiers laughed at Him, thinking that if Jesus really was a king, if He had any power, He would not let this happen. No king that they ever heard of would have allowed that. Even the bad thief, hoping to save himself and only considering the immediate circumstances, taunts Jesus to save them…if He can. Yet, we see in the good thief some glimmer of knowledge, some idea of the truth. He asks to be remembered when Jesus enters His kingdom, the kingdom that transcends this earth, the kingdom that transcends death.
In the Gospel of John, when Pilate is interrogating Jesus, Jesus tells him that “My kingdom is not from this world”. But that does not mean that His kingship does not apply on earth. We often end our prayers with some variation on the words, referring to Jesus, that He lives and reigns forever and ever. He reigns, as King of the Universe, King of all creation. He reigns, present tense, now as much as at any other time, past or future, and beyond time, for eternity.
But the King’s orders are not always followed on earth. Because He is not like any other king, it can be difficult for us to comprehend why some things happen. Are you not the Christ? Save our land from the scourge of abortion! If you are the King of the Jews, save us from the lies and sinfulness that some people portray as truth and tolerance! If you are the Christ of God, the chosen one, eliminate war and unrest, eliminate hunger and poverty, eliminate evil in the world!
Christ does not use His power to enforce His will on us. He gave all human beings free will, to choose to obey Him or not. However, since He is our King, we, His followers, are His subjects. It is up to us, each of us individually and all of us as members of the Body of Christ, the Church, to do His work here, with the understanding that we will not bring His kingdom to earth, but that we can bring a glimpse of that Kingdom to those around us. Through our works we can help lead others to the kingdom, to salvation. This may take different forms: working on pro-life campaigns, visiting the sick and shut-ins, sponsoring a child in Honduras, volunteering at the Shepherds or the Mission – the list is as varied as the people in this parish, as limitless as the needs of people. It also includes reaching out to those who have spiritual needs, who have an empty place in themselves that only Christ can fill. And when we work to alleviate social and spiritual problems, we do so with the idea that the ultimate goal is reducing the influence of evil, and bringing people closer to Christ. I once had someone who told me that he didn’t like the fact that a certain charity working in a developing country based their efforts on their Christianity. He felt that they should leave Christ out of it and just help people. But, isn’t there something missing if we don’t also share with people the good news of Christ, the kingdom of God, and help them toward that kingdom? Think of our parish theme this year: Encounter Christ. Share Him with others.
That is why He died for us, so we could gain entry to His Kingdom. In addition to being the Feast of Christ the King, today is also the last Sunday of the liturgical year. During November, our focus has been on the end times, on earthly death and eternal life. We pray with hope, not only for our departed brothers and sisters, but hope for ourselves, too. Salvation, life in the Kingdom, is what Jesus promised the good thief. It is what has been promised to those of us who are faithful. This is our King; as His subjects, let us have the faith of the good thief, that the Kingdom awaits us, where He lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
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November 19, 2010
Posted in pastor
at 8:38 am
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This past week, the priests of Ottawa met for our annual study days. The main topic was the NEW TRANSLATION OF THE MASS in the English-speaking world, due out in Advent 2011 in the U.S., and hopefully very soon after in Canada. The updated translation is more faithful to the original Latin, and its language more dignified and beautiful, helping us to lift up our hearts and minds to God in worship. These changes offer all of us – priests and laity – the opportunity to re-discover the mystery of the Eucharist and the joy of worshiping God in union with the saints and angels in heaven, a foretaste of our eternal life.
In other news, Pope Benedict’s new apostolic exhortation on the WORD OF GOD, Verbum Domini, has recently been released in English (www.vatican.va), Our Holy Father encourages us to listen anew to God who speaks to us personally through His Word in the Scriptures. How blessed we are as Catholics, to enjoy our Lord so close to us in Word and Sacrament!
In Christ, Fr. Tim
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November 14, 2010
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Thirty-third Sunday, Year C, November 14th, 2010 – By Father Tim McCauley
While visiting some kids at Mother Theresa last week, I asked them if anyone’s favourite month was November, if anyone ever said, “I like it when all the leaves have fallen from the trees, and all the flowers have died, and everything is dull and grey. November is my favourite month!” No. No one has ever said that November is their favourite month. But guess what? I am very glad for November. We need November. Let’s not waste the gift of November.
The end of the year reminds of the end times. Deacon Tom spoke very well last week about November as the month of all souls, the time we in the Church pray for all the deceased. It makes sense that we remember the dead at the time of year when nature appears dead all around us. If we lived in a tropical country like Honduras, where the leaves are always green, we would not have the same sense of death and resurrection as reflected in nature, in the dying of November and the new life of spring. So let us thank God for the graces of November!
Let us cling to Christ and rejoice in Him by living the liturgical year. (This is a bit of an aside). The liturgical year means the Church year: ordinary time, Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter. Every time of year has a special significance in the Church. So let us live November well, and begin to make preparations now to live Advent well and keep Christmas out of Advent! I am highly recommending to you now to make plans to live Advent by refusing to put up Christmas decorations at least for the first two weeks of Advent. Come to our parish and live Advent with a time of silence before the insane busy-ness of our culture in December. Come for an hour during our 24 hours of silent adoration, from Friday, November 26th to Saturday, November 27th. Come to the Advent lesson and carols service Sunday night of November 28th. That’s just a bit of an aside as we look ahead, OK?
A few years ago I heard a talk in Ottawa by Michael O’Brien entitled “Are We Living in Apocalyptic Times?”, in other words, are we living in the end times as described by Jesus in today’s Gospel. Jesus prophecies the destruction of the Temple: “As for the things that you see” (the beautiful stones of the Temple), “the day will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down” (Lk 21: 6).
\Jesus then links the impending destruction of the temple with the end of the world, and all the trials that Christians will face in the end times: “you will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls” (Lk 21:19).
Michael O’Brien, as some of you know, is Canada’s leading Catholic novelist and a brilliant and prophetic writer and speaker on contemporary culture. We have a small parish book club that will be meeting soon to discuss his novel, “Island of the World.” So how did he respond to his question in his talk, “are we living in apocalyptic times, in the end times?” Yes, we are living in apocalyptic times, but before you get too excited or anxious, we have been living in the end times ever since the death, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ two thousand years ago.
But O’Brien also speaks of signs in the 20th century and our own time, signs of an intensification of the battle between good and evil, indications that we are closer to the actual fulfilment of history. In WWII, for example, we saw the spirit of the anti-Christ in the holocaust, in the murder of 6 million Jews. We see the spirit of anti-Christ today in our culture of death, in the murder of millions of innocent children through abortion each year. (I would like to remind anyone who has been involved in abortion either directly or indirectly to trust in God’s mercy. It is always possible to begin again with God).
With the increase of evil in the world, we are also experiencing an increase in the presence and power of God through the Holy Spirit. In fact, I would say that the greatest need in the Church today is the Holy Spirit; we need more of God – in our hearts, in our lives, in our families, in our parishes. And I would say that one of the greatest crisis in the Church in these end times is the lack of obedience to the truth.
But first, the Good News. Jesus promises an increase in grace and the Holy Spirit in apocalyptic times. In today’s Gospel, he prophecies that Christians will be arrested and persecuted (it is interesting to note that some pro-life students at Carlton were recently arrested for protesting against abortion on campus). Jesus said, “this will give you an opportunity to testify (to bear witness) . . . I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict” (Lk 21: 13,15). How? How will Jesus do this? How will He be present to those who are arrested and persecuted for their faith? Through the Holy Spirit. This is made explicit in Mark’s version of this passage, in which Jesus says, “it will not be you who are speaking but the Holy Spirit“ (Mk 13:11).
In the end times, we will experience a new, more intense presence of God for the sake of testifying, bearing witness, evangelization. We are seeing this in our times – the Holy Spirit is being poured out on the Church through the New Pentecost and the New Evangelization. We have experienced this in our own parish through the Life in the Spirit seminar, and now, through the small Christian communities to which all of you are invited, as we begin on Wednesday night with a 5 week study course on the Holy Spirit.
If we receive the Holy Spirit, we experience the reality of God, of His love, and we want more! People who have been through a life in the Spirit seminar invariably want to learn more about the Bible and the Catechism; they want more not less of Church teaching. They want to be more not less obedient to the truth of their faith. Many people see the Catholic Church as institution with merely human rules. But with the Holy Spirit, we see the Church as the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the presence of God on earth, and the more we love Christ, the more we love the Church and desire to obey all her teachings – all of them.
Michael O’Brien writes, “In an era of history dominated by fear and mistrust, the submission of heart and souls to the mind of Christ and His Church” (the obedience of faith) “is misinterpreted as anti-personalist” (as somehow controlling the freedom of the individual). “The new . . . hero is the autonomous individual accountable to no one other than his sovereign self, and the spirit of the age encourages us . . . to make petty gods of ourselves” (385). The Bible warns us of this in the words of St. Paul: “in the last days” people will be “lovers of self” (philautoi) and “lovers of money” (2 Tim 3:1-2) rather than “lovers of God” (philothenoi) (2 Tim 3:4).
There are many teachings of Christ and His Church that this world does not accept. The world hates it when the light exposes their sin, whether it is contraception, pornography, masturbation, sex outside of marriage, active homosexuality, divorce (in clear cases of selfishness), and so on. But the light of the Gospel calls every human being to the truth and the fullness of life. Church teaching is always Good News.
There are some of you listening to me right now who do not know the full teaching of the Church. Will you let the Holy Spirit enlighten you? There are some of you who doubt some of the teachings of the Church. Will you let the Holy Spirit lead you deeper? There are some of you who are arrogant and rebellious children who resist the Holy Spirit and defy Church teaching.
Will you allow yourself to be converted?
The next time your spiritual fatheri the priest calls you to obedience to the truth and the whole teaching of the Catholic Church, what will you do? Will you believe in the Good News and repent, or will you get up and walk away? Will you be a lover of God or a lover of self? The days are growing darker (even as the light of Christ shines brighter in the Church). The time is short. We are living in the last days. Whose side are you on? Which path will you follow?
The Holy Spirit is offered to all of you, to give you this gift of love for the Church and a holy desire to obey the truth of our faith. Whenever God gives us a law to follow, He always offers us the Holy Spirit to empower us to carry out his will. When you hear of a challenging Church teaching, the moment you hear of it, God offers you the Holy Spirit (and a supportive community) to help you live the teaching. But in that moment what will you do? Are you willing to become a trusting child to enter the kingdom of God? Are you willing to trust God and His Church, to accept the difficult teaching AND the Holy Spirit? Or will you give in to doubt, fear and pride, and end up rejecting both the Church’s teaching and the gift of the Holy Spirit?
Long ago, God spoke through Moses to His Chosen People, and so He speaks to us in these end times, “I have set before you life and death . . .(Which one will you choose?) Choose life!” (Deuteronomy 30:19).
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November 11, 2010
Posted in pastor
at 10:31 pm
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
This past week I spent two days, in my role as Vocations Director, visiting our Ottawa seminarians at ST. AUGUSTINE’S SEMINARY in Toronto. As I have mentioned before, we have 8 English seminarians, the most we have had in over 20 years. I attribute this to the prayers of many people – so please keep up those prayers for vocations!
During my visit, I could tell that our seminarians are happy. The Seminary offers a spiritually rich and fulfilling life centered on Christ, whom the men encounter in the Eucharist, personal prayer, study and fraternity. The seminarians also do some sort of community service in their second year, and spend a year working in a parish for their third year (pastoral internship).
I also want to assure people that the screening process is rigorous, and includes psychological testing; the seminarians are also reviewed by the Seminary each year. However, our goal is not mainly to guard against the possibility of future scandal, but to help form future saints! The Church in Canada and throughout the world can only be renewed by holiness, among bishops, priests, and laity. Let us continue to pray for the New Pentecost and the New Evangelization!
In Christ, Fr. Tim
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November 7, 2010
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time
November 07, 2010
“Now He is God not of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive.”
In this month of November, there is a focus on remembering and praying for those who are no longer with us, we began the month with All Saints Day on the first, followed by All Souls Day on the Second. And of course coming up on Thursday we have Remembrance Day, when we recall those who have given their lives in order that we may live in the relative peace and freedom we enjoy today. And our thoughts are not with the dead only on those three days, but throughout November. We have our Book of Remembrance here in front of the altar, where we can write the names of those we wish to pray for. So, whether we are remembering friends or family, those who have died recently or many, many years ago, there is one thing we must keep in mind. They are dead to us, but they are quite alive to God, hopefully living in His presence for eternity, and eventually they will be alive with us again in the resurrection.
That is the ultimate goal for all of us, isn’t it? To live eternally with God? How many of us are good enough, and have been good enough all of our lives, to say that we will be in God’s presence forever from the moment we die? Could we honestly say to God when we meet Him “Let me in Lord, I’m already so perfect, so pure that I deserve to be in Heaven right now.” Well, I can only speak for myself, but I know that after my death, I certainly will not be good enough or pure enough; I will need to be purged of the residual effects of my sins and my attachments to things of this earth. This is where Purgatory comes in, and that is why we pray for the faithful departed who may be there.
Although Purgatory is a punishment of sorts – if we are deprived of being in Heaven for some period, we would feel as though we are being punished – it is not intended to be punitive. But it is felt as punishment because those who are there cannot see God. A post from The New Theological Movement states: “the chief pain of purgatory is the delay of the beatific vision. The souls suffer immensely for they know that they will soon see God. They love God intensely and desire to be with him…Thus, the primary suffering of purgatory is the waiting – it is this waiting which is most purifying.” As the name implies, Purgatory is meant to purge us of those things that are still part of us and that make us unworthy of being in Heaven. Our purification is not only from our presence in Purgatory, we are also aided in that process by the prayers of those who are still alive here. In today’s first reading from the Second Book of Maccabees, we hear of their conviction of the reality that those who die obeying God’s law will be resurrected – so they are not lost, but will come back to life. Further on in this book, in Chapter 12, it says of Judas Machabeus: “Therefore, he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin.” We do the same thing ourselves, when we pray for our deceased loved ones, and especially when we have Masses offered in their name.
Now there is one group of people who we believe do not go through Purgatory, who are purified by the very circumstances of their death – those people who are martyrs for the faith. The brothers in Maccabees were martyrs; they persevered in spite of torture, did not give in to the demands of the king, and died for their faith. When we think of martyrs, the first thing that may come to mind is the early Christians who suffered under the various Roman persecutions. But we know that Christians have almost always been subject to martyrdom, from the time of the Apostles right up to our present day. We had a very disturbing instance of this last week in Iraq, when close to 60 Syriac Catholics, including three priests, at least one of whom was celebrating Mass, were killed in an attack by a terrorist group affiliated with al-Qaeda. News and further information about the attack is available from many sources, but for an excellent commentary, you can read Fr. Raymond DeSouza’s column from Thursday’s National Post. These people are true martyrs – they were killed because of their faith. They are not the kind of false martyrs who, in committing suicide, kill innocent people with the warped idea that somehow God will approve and provide them with certain earthly pleasures in Heaven because of their actions. The Catholics that were killed, who may have a different rite than us but who are in communion with Rome, went to Mass last Sunday, just like we have done today, never expecting to end up with God before the day was over. Even though we believe that these people are already in Heaven, it is still a good thing for us to pray for them, and also for their families and those who survived the attack.
It’s probably safe to say that most of us really would prefer not to be tortured and die as martyrs. Therefore, it’s important for us to actually be grateful for the existence of Purgatory. What a great blessing it is, that regardless of the fact that we are not perfect, even because of the fact that we are not perfect, God has provided for us the means to become perfect. But although Purgatory is available to us, we are nonetheless called to strive for holiness as much as we can in this life. The more suffering we endure here for the sake of Christ, the more things that we sacrifice in order to grow closer to Him and further from worldly attachments, the less need there will be for us to be purified in Purgatory. So let us pray for our deceased friends and family, that their time in Purgatory may be shortened, and work toward holiness ourselves, that our time in Purgatory may not be any longer than necessary. And pray that we may all be reunited in the resurrection of the dead, as much alive to each other as to God.
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November 5, 2010
Posted in pastor
at 7:33 pm
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
NOVEMBER is the month is the month of ALL SAINTS and ALL SOULS, the month we remember especially our beloved dead, and pray for them. On the subject of All Souls, Pope Benedict has written:
It’s very important for us Christians to live our relationship with the dead in the truth of faith, and to look at death and the afterlife in the light of Revelation.
The expression “eternal life” gives a name to (an) insuppressible expectation: not a progression without end, but the immersion of oneself in the ocean of infinite love, where time, the beginning and end exist no more. A fullness of life and of joy: it’s this for which we hope and await from our being with Christ.
Let us . . . renew our hope in eternal life, one really drawn in the death and resurrection of Christ. “I am risen and now I am always with you,” the Lord tells us.
Christian hope is never something merely individual, it’s always a hope for others. Our lives are deeply linked, one to another, and the good and bad each one does always impacts the rest. So the prayer of a pilgrim soul in the world can help another soul that continues purifying itself after death.
And for this . . . the church invites us to pray for our beloved dead and to spend time at their tombs in the cemeteries.” In Christ, Fr. Tim
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Homilies