May 29, 2011
Posted in pastor
at 5:01 pm
Mark Lalonde and I have just returned from our mission trip to Honduras. In the next few weeks we will have an opportunity to share some photos and stories with you, and give you an update on the children we are sponsoring. For now, I would like to share another quote from Pope Benedict’s encyclical on social justice, Caritas in Veritate, on some of the causes of poverty and “underdevelopment” in other parts of the world.
He writes: “Underdevelopment has an even more important cause . . . ‘the lack of brotherhood among individuals and peoples’ (Paul VI). Will it ever be possible to obtain this brotherhood by human effort alone? As society becomes ever more globalized, it makes us neighbours but does not make us brothers. Reason, by itself, is capable of grasping the equality between men and of giving stability to their civic coexistence, but it cannot establish fraternity. This originates in a transcendent vocation from God the Father, who loved us first, teaching us through the Son what fraternal charity is” (Caritas in Veritate #19).
How true. It is God our Father who has made us brothers and sisters of one human family. This truth inspires all our social justice efforts and all our desires to help the poor. Thanks again for all the ways you show your love and solidarity with our poor brothers and sisters at home and abroad. In Christ, Fr. Tim
Permalink
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A, May 29th, 2011 – By Deacon Thomas Stephenson
We are taught from an early age to distinguish right from wrong, good from evil. Development of our conscience usually starts with our parents letting us know when we have done something we shouldn’t have, and sometimes warning us ahead of time that certain actions are not acceptable. Before too long, though, we learn a more formal reference for determining how we should behave: the Ten Commandments. We memorized them as children, and probably most of us probably still refer to them as the primary basis for examining our consciences before going to confession. But, there is more to this than just obeying the laws. In addition to the Ten Commandments, we also have the answer that Jesus gave to the question of which is the great commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, this is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbour as yourself”.
In the Gospel today, Jesus tells us: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Our love for Him is revealed through our obedience to His word, in the way that we live our lives. So, does the fact that we don’t always keep His commandments mean that we don’t love Him? And, will He, therefore, not love us?
When we fail to follow the commandments, when we commit sin, it is an offence against God, and it damages our relationship with Him. It works in a similar, but of course not identical way, with our other loving relationships. We love our spouses, but do we never, ever do anything to offend them or hurt them? For one reason or another, we sometimes do or say things that we shouldn’t. That doesn’t mean that we don’t love our spouse, or that she or he will stop loving us. We are not perfect, and we sometimes fail. But, because we love our spouses, our sincere desire is that we will not hurt them. We are moved by our love, not by a requirement to follow a set of rules. In the same way, because we love God, our sincere desire is that we will keep His commandments.
We do recognize that there is a connection between our behaviour and our love of Christ. As Catholics, as Christians, we are called to live up to a certain standard. It should be our love of Christ that motivates us to strive to attain this standard. Father Jacques Philippe writes: “What the law tells us to do is good. But taking the law as the foundation for our relationship to God contradicts the truth that salvation is freely given, and ends up killing love.” The law is necessary, but it’s not enough; it’s only the starting point. The Pharisees scrupulously obeyed the all the Jewish laws, but only for the sake of the law. Keeping the commandments means more than just obedience; it goes deeper, into our hearts, so that we follow the law, not for it’s own sake, but for the sake of Christ.
This applies not just to our actions in refraining from sin, but also in following His command to love one another, including the various good works we perform. Our faith must be expressed in concrete actions, for each us in different ways according to what we are able to do. We have many people in this parish doing great things for others, motivated by their love of Christ, and keeping His commandment to love our neighbour as ourselves. A great example of this is the mission trip to Honduras that Father Tim and Marc Lalonde just returned from. Now, we can’t all go on mission trips, but we are all called to show our love for Christ through our care for others.
Jesus outlines a natural progression of events: our love for Jesus leads to faithful obedience; faithful obedience leads to Jesus’ asking the Father to send another Advocate. The sending and presence of this Advocate, the Spirit, is directly related to the love we have for Jesus, and our striving to obey Him.
At the end of the Gospel, Jesus says: “I will love them and reveal myself to them”. Our love for Jesus will be rewarded, not only by His love for us, but by Him revealing Himself to us. Through this, we will be given a greater understanding of Christ, and will enter more deeply into our relationship with Him. The more we keep God’s commands because we love Him, the more we can remove the obstacles that hinder the growth of our faith, and become closer to Him. It is that true love we have for Christ, that genuine desire to be with Him, that will lead us to eternal life in His presence.
Permalink
May 22, 2011
Posted in pastor
at 12:50 pm
While Mark Lalonde and I are on our mission trip to Honduras, we have the opportunity to meet “the poor” but also reflect on the various forms of poverty in human life. I am touched by our Pope’s comments in his social encyclical “Caritas in Veritate” in which he writes:
“One of the deepest forms of poverty a person can experience is isolation. If we look closely at other kinds of poverty, including material forms, we see that they are born from isolation, from not being loved or from difficulties in being able to love. Poverty is often produced by a rejection of God’s love, by man’s basic and tragic tendency to close in on himself, thinking himself to be self-sufficient or merely an insignificant and ephemeral fact, a “stranger” in a random universe. Man is alienated when he is alone, when he is detached from reality, when he stops thinking and believing in a foundation.”
The Holy Father continues: “all of humanity is alienated when too much trust is placed in merely human projects, ideologies and false utopias. Today humanity appears much more interactive than in the past: this shared sense of being close to one another must be transformed into true communion. The development of peoples depends, above all, on a recognition that the human race is a single family working together in true communion, not simply a group of subjects who happen to live side by side” (#53).
Let us continue to pray and work, each in his or her own way, for this integral development of all peoples, rich and poor. In Christ, Fr. Tim
Permalink
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year A, May 22nd, 2011 – By Father Allan MacDonald
Introduction
Introduce myself – CC newsletters – Last here with you in July, 2005! – Fully 6 years ago and Fr. Tim tells me you are still saying, “Thanks be to God” at the end of Mass with enthusiasm!
Well, keep it up! – You may have heard that there are some Mass prayers & responses that will be changing beginning on the 1st Sunday of Advent when the new English translation is started to be used – But, “Thanks be to God” (“Deo Gratias”) will stay the same.
There is an “App” you can get on the “New Mass”.
One new prayer wording will be the embolism prayer after the Our Father:
Here’s the new translation:
“Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.”
The one petition in this prayer that strikes me is: “protect us from all anxiety” (current translation) or “… be always … safe from all distress” (new translation) – I try to verbally emphasis this point.
Is this not Jesus’ admonition to us in today’s Gospel = “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” (G) or “Do not be worried or upset” (Good News translation)
In other words, “Don’t be anxious!”
A. What is Anxiety?
i. An emotion (which can have physiological affects) leading to nervousness, fear, worry, distress, mental pre-occupation, etc. over a real or imagined threat, danger or consequence.
ii. It’s greatest cause? = FEAR! – But 90% of what we worry about never happens!
“F.E.A.R.” = “Forget Everything And Run” or “Face Everything And Recover”
iii. Why do we get anxious, or have hearts that are “troubled” (G)? =
We try to do too many things on our own.
We take too many burdens upon ourselves.
We think we’re indispensable and can’t say, “No!”
In the (1st) the Apostles were busy about many things and they were becoming anxious – So … they prayed for guidance and instituted deacons to help them so they would not be overwhelmed!
Anxiety is an emotion – Emotions are amoral – It’s how we deal/react that determines whether we are growing in virtue, or not.
B. What are We Anxious About?
i. Some level of anxiety is good for us – i.e. being nervous before a musical performance helps keep us in shape and on our game.
From a purely human point of view, Jesus would have experienced anxiety = He did in the Garden of Gethsemane (He sweated blood).
ii. What are we anxious about?
Am I going to keep my job and pay my bills.
Wondering if a summer job can be obtained.
Maybe there are health problems in our familes.
Determining one’s vocation.
Whatever …..
iii. What is that one person/place/thing that causes us to have hearts that are troubled (G)?
Invite Jesus to come into that area and let Him be with us! = “Let your love be upon us, Lord, even as we hope in you.” (Resp. Ps.)
To hope, is to turn it all over to Jesus!
C. Turn it Over to Jesus
i. Take Jesus at His word – When we pray, “… protect us from all anxiety”, or (in the new translation), “… safe from all distress” … He hears this prayer!
ii. What can change for the better by being anxious about it? – Why do we let people/places/things occupy a space of anxiety in our heads/hearts – They are taking up space in our heads and are not even paying rent = Kick them out! – Evict them!
iii. This will involve making a decision to cooperate with the grace of God = We need to cooperate … because faith without works is dead!
The work is turning our will and our life over to the care of God = Letting go, trusting, surrendering, stepping out knowing that Jesus is here to catch us if we fall!
It won’t happen miraculously without our effort!
The Lord wouldn’t inspire the Church to pray a prayer to Him only to sit back and laugh at its futility!
Conclusions
i. We are called – and entitled – to be a joyful people – not an anxious, troubled, worried or distressed people!
ii. Why? – We have a Father who loves us and has prepared a “dwelling place” (G) for us! – A Saviour who died to pay the price of our sins and shows us the “Way” (G) – A Holy Spirit who infuses us with courage and zeal and gives us, “Life” (G)
iii. God is not so transcendent as to be unknowable or unapproachable – He is very immanent and close = “Come to the Lord ….” (2nd)
He is only as far away as a prayer, or His voice spoken to us through a piece of prose that He inspires in the human heart.
One such piece of prose that has indeed helped me to turn over anxiety in my life to Him is called, “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” = It has helped me (and I hope it helps you) when our hearts are troubled, to instead have hearts that are serene:
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
There are two days in every week we should not worry about, two days that should be kept free from fear and apprehension.
One of these days is yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains.
Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed. Nor can we erase a single word we’ve said. Yesterday is gone.
The other day we shouldn’t worry about is tomorrow, with its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and poor performance.
Tomorrow is also beyond our control.
Tomorrow’s sun will rise either in splendour or behind a mask of clouds but it will rise.
Until it does, we have no stake in tomorrow, for it is yet unborn.
This leaves only one day – today.
Any person can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when we add the burdens of yesterday and tomorrow that we break down.
It is not the experience of today that drives people mad – it is the remorse or bitterness for something that happened yesterday, and the dread of what tomorrow may bring.
Let us, therefore, live one day at a time!
***
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.” (G)
Permalink
May 15, 2011
Posted in Homilies
at 1:55 pm
Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A, May 15th, 2011 – By Father Tim McCauley
Good shepherds don’t grow on trees. That may seem like an obvious statement, but for the past 50 years or so, the Catholic Church in the West has been acting like good shepherds, good priests, do grow on trees. Because of this complacency on the part of bishops, priests and lay people, the Church has been suffering from a lack of good shepherds, contributing, in more than a few cases, to half-dead parishes and a near total absence of evangelization.
Today is “Good Shepherd” Sunday, and the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, an opportune time to remember that good shepherds don’t grow on trees; they come from strong, healthy and holy flocks of sheep. The good shepherd is first a lamb of the flock of the parish; the priest is first a man, a Christian, and a brother. Only after does he become a shepherd capable of following the example of Christ the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep (John 10:11)
Recent scandals in the local Church have brought to mind again the question of good shepherds. I need not repeat the details here; the Ottawa Citizen and the Ottawa Sun gives us all the details we need, and more. Sometimes good Catholic people can become discouraged by such media reports, wondering if there is anything at all you can do to improve the Church, which necessarily includes renewing the priesthood. I am here to tell you that there is so much you can do, not only by your prayers, but in your role of support and accountability of the shepherds of the Church.
In this Easter season we are filled with great hope for the Church and the world, as I mentioned last week. Christ is risen! The Church in every age and every place participates in the death and Resurrection of Christ. In our own diocese, there are a very hopeful signs of spring and resurrection in the priesthood and the Church.
I was chatting with some of the priests of Madonna House recently about renewal in the priesthood and the Church. One asked, “What is God blessing? Where is the Holy Spirit at work?” The answer? In the new ecclesial movements.
This refers to movements within the Church since Vatican II in the 60′s, movements like CCO, Net ministries, the neo-Cathecumenal way, Madonna House, and Opus Dei, Marie-Jeunesse and Miriam Bethlehem in Quebec, and many more.
In our own parish, we have one of these ecclesial movements – the small Christian communities or cell groups.
I have learned much from these movements about where good shepherds come from – healthy flocks. In neo-Cathecumenal way, for instance, all of the priests were first members of the community as laymen, and after their ordination, they remain a member of their “small Christian community” in which they also listen as a disciple to the Word of God, and share their faith with their brothers and sisters in the community. In this model, the priest and people strengthen the faith of one another.
Imagine for a moment that every parish in Ottawa had to produce its own priests. That would get us thinking and praying, wouldn’t it? There are men in this parish that God is calling to the priesthood. It is the duty of the whole community to pray, discern and look around and ask, “who could we send to the Seminary? Good shepherds don’t grow on trees. They come from healthy flocks.” The community might point to a young man, “you go to the Seminary for us! We need someone to celebrate Mass for us and forgive our sins in the name of Jesus!” He might say, “No, not me! I can’t do that!” But it might be fear speaking. With the real and on-going support of the community, he can be helped to discern and respond to the call.
If a parish community is actively involved in producing and promoting vocations to the priesthood, it changes our awareness of the source of the priesthood, and the lay people’s relationship with the priest sent to the parish by the bishop. Let’s say a young man from this parish went to the seminary, was ordained, then sent to another lively parish in Ottawa. Someone from another parish in Ottawa (or even from another country), is sent here. When he arrives here, instead of saying, “we do not know where this man is from. Why should we listen to him?” You will say, “We know where this man is from. He is from a parish like ours. He is first of all a man, a Christian, a brother, who listens with us to the Word of God.” (Don’t forget that I also began discerning my vocation at my first Catholic parish of St. Francis Xavier in Brooklyn, NY).
This knowledge of where good shepherds come from will make every parish aware of a crucial fact in the renewal of the priesthood and the Church – the priest remains a man, a Christian, a brother, in need of both support and accountability.
After almost 9 years as a priest (on May 18th – please say a prayer for me), I am absolutely convinced that there can be no renewal of the priesthood nor a successful New Evangelization apart from greater support and accountability for priests from bishops, brother priests and lay people.
For too long in parishes in the Catholic Church, we have assumed that a priest’s faith is a direct, unmediated gift from God. Like the Holy Spirit descending upon Mary, God gives the gift of faith directly to the priest, in an unfailing, unbroken, continual fountain of grace.
No. I repeat: the priest is first of all a man, a Christian and a brother, whose faith needs to be nurtured. One thing that constantly erodes the faith of the priest (and can be quite demoralizing) is celebrating the Sacraments, n various situations, for people without faith. The priest needs to come in close contact with lay people with living faith, who love Christ and His Church, and who will give the priest an opportunity to share his faith, to grow in faith.
And the priest needs to be held accountable to the same people from whom he expects support. The priest has every right to seek and receive support from the bishop, other priests, and from parishioners. Therefore, these same people have the right and duty to hold the priest accountable – the bishop, the other priests, and the parishioners.
I will share with you one of the reasons for bad shepherds in the Catholic Church – a near total lack of accountability. For 50 years or more, the Church has been assuming that it was being done, that someone else was taking care of it, someone else was holding the priests accountable. But no one was doing it!
For example, these are the type of questions that someone needs to be asking priests on a semi-regular basis: “Father, are you praying your breviary, as you promised to do on the day of your ordination? Or are you too busy? And if you are too busy to pray, what are you doing? . . . Are you taking your annual retreat? Do you have a spiritual director? Are you going to confession?” Such little questions are essential for avoiding bigger problems that later appear in the newspapers . . .
Bishops, brother priests and lay people must start asking these questions now. You lay people also have a right and duty to ask these questions, in charity. I don’t suggest forming a posse go after a new priest and force him to confess his sins on the spot to a pre-approved spiritual director! However, in every parish there are holy and committed lay people with a real love for the priesthood and the Church – these kind of people have a role to play in the renewal of the priesthood, by supporting priests AND holding us accountable.
In our prayer for vocations in the Archdiocese of Ottawa, we begin by saying, “Lord God, in every generation, you have provided shepherds after your own heart . . . “ In every generation, Christ the Good Shepherd provides shepherds for the Church and inspires men to follow His example, to lay down their lives for the flock.
On Tuesday night at St. Patrick’s Basilica, some of us attended the play on the life of St. John Vianney, patron saint of parish priests, who gave his life for the salvation of all the people in his little parish of Ars. In the play, we glimpsed how out of the ashes of the French Revolution, God raised up holy men and women to renew the Church in 19th century France. And he is doing the same in our times.
One style of diocesan priesthood is dying (that of the one-man show, the individual operator . . . or even the rogue agent) to make way for a resurrection of a new form of diocesan priesthood that is slowly emerging like a shoot of green from the spring soil. (And by the way, on Friday night we saw one of the signs of this new springtime – we had an ordination in Ottawa of our newest priest who is a very good, holy and prayerful man named Fr. Hezuk Shroff).
Finally, to the young men in our parish considering the priesthood, I say: don’t be discouraged by problems in the Church or negative media coverage. Instead, be brave and answer the call of the Good Shepherd; be a part of the resurrection of the diocesan priesthood, the renewal of the Church and the evangelization of the world.
Permalink
May 13, 2011
Posted in posts
at 2:13 pm
To all parents of children in Grade 2
As the school and parish year comes to a close, we are looking forward with joy to the children’s First Communion with Jesus Christ (June 5th and 26th weekends) and we look back with gratitude over this past year.
As you know, the focus on our sacramental prep program this year has been the Mass: attendance at Sunday (or Saturday evening) Mass, of the children with their parents, is the best preparation for receiving Communion at Mass. We are grateful for all the parents who have been participating in our program by filling out the children’s worksheets (at least 7 for the year) and dropping them off in the box at the Church entrance. We trust that the experience of worshiping God in the believing community at Sunday Mass makes a profound difference in our lives, as God’s presence, love and peace become a more tangible reality in our hearts and our relationships.
For those who were unable this past year to participate in our parish program, we want you to know that the sacraments are simply delayed, not refused. If at any time you would like to make the commitment to bring your child to Mass in order to teach him/her about worshiping Christ whom they will receive in Communion, then simply fill out the worksheets and return them. Whenever you complete the 7 worksheets, call the parish office to schedule your child for First Communion (which can be done on any Sunday).
Sincerely,
Fr. Tim McCauley
Paster
Stephanie Montojo
Parish Sacramental Prep Coordinator
Permalink
May 11, 2011
Posted in pastor
at 1:22 pm
My theme this week is our upcoming MISSION TRIP to Honduras (Fr. Tim May 16-26. Mark Lalonde May 19-27). Mark and I will be visiting the children we sponsor at two schools in Tegucigalpa, the capital city. I will also be spending a few days visiting another mission in El Salvador, where I have been several times.
My relationship with El Salvador and Honduras began through Dr. Simone of CANADIAN FOOD FOR CHILDREN, a non-profit organization that sends one 18 wheeler truckload per day of food and clothing to missions throughout the world, including Padre Patricio’s children in Honduras. Canadian Food for Children is run completely by volunteers – no one is payed a single cent. You can be assured that your donations help the poor directly.
The poor are deeply grateful not only when we send money, which is essential, but also when we come to visit them face-to-face, to shake their hands, to spend time with them, to share their sufferings. Many blessings flow for us as well, such as greater gratitude to God for what He has given us, and the inspiration to live a more simple and generous life.
Mark and I need your prayers! A mission trip is a great spiritual joy, but also involves sacrifice and suffering. We are counting on your prayers to sustain us, and in this month of May, we humbly ask that each of you might consider praying one Rosary for this intention.
Thanks to all those who sponsor children in Honduras. We will share our photos and stories when we return. God be praised! In Christ, Fr. Tim
Permalink
May 8, 2011
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Third Sunday of Easter, Year A, May 8th, 2011 – By Father Tim McCauley
The 50 days of Easter are at least as important as the 40 days of Lent – probably more important. So why do we as Catholics faithfully observe the 40 days of Lent and completely forget the 50 days of Easter? Most of us did something different during Lent, giving something up, praying more, etc . . . But what about the 50 days of Easter, from Easter Sunday to Pentecost on June 12th?
I would like to propose one simple practice for all of us to observe this Easter season (in addition to Sunday Mass and Sabbath rest): Hope. To preach to ourselves and proclaim to others every day of Easter, “Christ is risen! All things are possible. We are filled with hope all the time.”
Political analysts suggest that one reason Jack Layton and the NDP won a record number of seats was his message of hope and change. People always want to hear a message of hope and change. If this is true in Canadian politics, how much more in the Catholic Church. As Christians who believe in the Resurrection of Christ from the dead, we must be heralds and sowers of hope and change in our society, especially in the pro-life cause (today is pro-life Sunday and Thursday is the March for Life).
The disciples on the road to Emmaus in today’s Gospel were converted by their meeting with the risen Christ – converted from isolation and despair into hope and mission, sharing the good news of the risen Christ.
They begin their tale of woe to this mysterious stranger by saying, “we were hoping that (Jesus) would be the one to redeem Israel” (Lk 24:21). We were hoping, implying that they are no longer hoping; they have lost hope. Why? Because the worst thing imaginable had happened: their beloved leader and friend, Jesus the prophet great in word and deed, had been crucified. After the rejection of God by the first human beings in the Garden of Eden, the crucifixion is the worst crime in the history of the human race. We murdered the Son of God! What could be worse than that? What is going to make that situation better? Just sweep it under the rug? It’s not that bad – we only killed God! It is sickening and horrifying that we did this. Nothing was going to improve this situation except something totally unexpected and “impossible”: the Resurrection of Christ from the dead.
We live in a culture without hope, a culture of death. It’s almost as if we live in the shadow of the cross, with the guilt of the crucifixion hanging over our heads, because of the 3 million children in Canada that we have murdered through abortion since 1969. Because of our darkened consciences, we have “normalized” what is sickening and horrifying; we think, “well, it’s been part of the fabric of Canadian society for over forty years. Even though we are murdering innocent children, about one hundred thousand a year, it can’t be that bad. The sky hasn’t fallen. Life goes on.”
Actually it doesn’t. We live in a culture of despair because we have built a culture of death that murders its own children, its own future, that murders its own hope.
And yet, all of us present here today are the fruit of hope – something we should celebrate on this secular holiday called Mother’s Day. Our mothers and fathers were filled with great hope in our conception and birth. They did not look upon us as burdens, as annoying cry babies, more mouths to feed. They accepted, embraced and loved us, and that’s why we are here today – the fruit of hope and love.
Mothers and fathers who kill their own unborn children through abortion are people without hope. It is a downward spiral. They live without hope and abort their children, leading them deeper into despair until they repent and trust in God’s mercy. Statistics from Ontario from 2007 report that for every 100 babies born in Ontario, 37 others were aborted. Among adolescents aged 15 to 19, the number rises to over half of children being aborted (Project for an Ontario Women’s Health Evidence-Based Report). Such crimes against humanity leave a deep scar on the hearts and minds of everyone involved.
What is going to help these mothers and fathers to climb out of their despair, to hope again? We Christians must be heralds and sowers of hope in our culture of death. We must preach the Resurrection to ourselves, and proclaim it to others: “Christ is risen! All is not lost. You will see your child again. Christ has died to take away your sin, and He has been raised so that you can begin a new life.” At a general audience on April 29th, Pope Benedict said,
“It is our task and our mission: to arouse in our neighbor hope where there is despair, joy where there is sadness, life where there is death.”
Some people say that the prevalence of abortion in Canada is impossible to change. It’s simply too deeply ingrained, just like the grip on power of the Bloc Quebecois in Quebec. Impossible to change. Those separatist Quebecers are never going to vote for anyone but the Bloc. What’s the alternative? The Green Party? The NDP? What a joke! . . . Wait a minute . . . The “impossible” just happened in a Canadian election a few days ago – the immovable Bloc was completely swept aside in Quebec by the Orange Wave, a truly miraculous phenomenon that no one predicted or even imagined a few weeks ago!
Canadian politics can change. The grip of the pro-abortion lobby on the hearts and minds of the people and politicians of Canada can and will be broken. But it must begin with Christian hope, as St. Peter writes in the second reading, that God raised Jesus from the dead “so that your faith and hope are set on God” (1 Pet 1:21). Out of the worst crime in human history, the crucifixion of the Son of God, came the greatest miracle – the Resurrection. Out of the horror of abortion will come a new culture of life – through the power of Jesus Christ risen from the dead.
But only if we Christian meet the risen Christ and become His apostles of hope. Many commentators have remarked that the structure of the Emmaus story is the same as the Mass. The first part of the Mass is the liturgy of the Word, paralleled to what Jesus did on the road to Emmaus, explaining how all the Scriptures referred to him. The second part of Mass is the liturgy of the Eucharist or the “breaking of the bread.” Jesus disappeared the moment the disciples recognized Him in the breaking of the bread, almost as if to suggest that they don’t need to see Him with their bodily eyes, because He is truly present to them in His Word and in the Eucharist, the breaking of the bread, the Bread that is His Body (Lk 24:13-35).
The risen Christ is equally present to us today, but we usually do not recognize him, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus – their eyes were kept from recognizing Jesus (Lk 24:16). Pope Benedict comments on another scene in which the disciples failed to recognize the risen Jesus – when He appeared to them by the sea of Galilee. There we read that “none of the disciples dared to ask Him ‘who are you’ because they knew it was the Lord” (Jn 21:12). Pope Benedict remarks: “they knew from within, not from observing the Lord’s outward appearance” (Jesus of Nazareth, p 266).
What good would it do for me or you to have a miraculous vision of the outward appearance of the risen Christ? Without a change of heart, it would only make us proud, thinking we are better than others. Knowing this, the risen Christ wants to open our eyes by changing our hearts. We have an equal opportunity, like the apostles, to know the Lord “from within.” We can meet the risen Christ today, so that we really know it is Him, in the Scripture, in the breaking of the bread, in the other person.
Jesus walks with us “on the way” through life, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus. He really cares about what we are thinking and feeling. He really wants to enter into a conversation with us, asking,“what are you discussing on the way? What are you thinking? What are you feeling? Why are you losing hope?” He will listen to us, and then proclaim to us the Resurrection.
It is this central mystery of our faith that we must also preach to ourselves, and proclaim to others, every day this Easter season: “Christ is risen! All things are possible! We are filled with hope all the time.” Let us be heralds and sowers of hope in our culture of death, transforming our society, one person at a time, into a culture of life, a civilization of love.
Permalink
May 1, 2011
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Second Sunday of Easter, Year A, May 1st, 2011 – By Deacon Thomas Stephenson
The busiest and greatest parts of the year, Holy Week and the Triduum, have passed, and we might think that things are now slowing down a bit. But, this weekend is also quite busy. Our celebration of Easter continues; even the beginning of the Gospel we just heard takes place on the evening of the first Easter. And, this Sunday is the Feast of Divine Mercy, which was instituted by Pope John Paul II in the year 2000. The other big event of the weekend is the beatification of Pope John Paul, beatification being the step immediately preceding canonization, or being pronounced a saint.
We can see that there is a relationship between God’s Divine Mercy and sainthood. All those we call saints are understood to be in heaven. Therefore, they have had the benefit of God’s mercy, without which they could not have made it. Anyone who is in heaven, all those who have died in a state of grace, are considered saints, whether or not they are canonized. Although loved ones or others who have died are sometimes described as now being angels, the truth is that if they are in heaven they are saints, the same as any saint that the Church has formally canonized.
In order to become canonized, there has to be some evidence of the person’s being in heaven. Without going into all the details, this usually means either being martyred, or there being two confirmed miracles that have occurred through the prospective saint’s intercession. It should be clearly understood that it isn’t the saint that has performed the miracles – God has performed the miracles, the saint having asked God for His help. Knowing that there are saints is another indication of God’s mercy, that through His Church He has given us people in heaven that we can identify with, and through whom we can petition for our needs. This does not in any way diminish the importance of our own prayers directly to the Lord, but as the Vatican II document Lumen Gentium tells us: “Being more closely united to Christ, those who dwell in heaven fix the whole Church in holiness …they do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, as they proffer the merits which they acquired on earth through the one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus…so by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped.”
Christ is the only mediator between God and man, but He is not our only intercessor. Our Blessed Mother, and all the other saints in heaven, including all those we love who are there, can ask on our behalf for God’s help.
So, if we have saints, people who are in heaven, and we all hope to be saints some day, are there some who do not become saints? In other words, do some people end up in hell? There was a story in last Saturday’s paper about an evangelical preacher who claims that no one goes to hell for eternity. As has become common in the last few years, during Lent and especially around Holy Week, the secular world brings out all kinds of things challenging our Christian belief. Most of these are totally baseless, or wildly inaccurate. Never trust the media on any religion story – if they should happen to get it right, it’s probably by accident. But, the story appears to give a fair appraisal of this man’s premise, much of which is unquestionably wrong from any faithful Christian viewpoint.
We know that hell exists; it is referred to in the scriptures, and it is specifically mentioned by Jesus. Yet, it can be very attractive to think that God is so benevolent that He would not really condemn anyone to spend eternity there. And actually, He doesn’t; it is the person who condemns himself or herself, through “a wilful turning away from God…and a persistence in it to the end.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1037). God does not want to lose any of us; He created us to live with Him for eternity. He also gave us free will, and our choices sometimes move us away from Him. We are responsible, and we will be held accountable, for our actions. However, this is not a reason to despair. The good news is that when we are repentant after we have sinned, God in His mercy will forgive us, He will wipe the slate clean. So, yes, God’s mercy is necessary, it is so necessary that in His mercy, He sent His Son to suffer and die for us. In the Nicene Creed, we say of Jesus: for us men and for our salvation He came down from heaven.
In one way or another, all of our readings today mention our salvation. The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, ends with “And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” From the Psalm: “The Lord is my strength and my might, He has become my salvation.” Peter tells us in the second reading “you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” And, in addition to giving the Apostles the power to forgive sins, instituting of the sacrament of reconciliation, which is critically important to our salvation, John concludes by telling us that through our belief in Christ, we may have life in His name.
If we want this life, it is up to us to choose it. God will not force us to be saints. But if we really desire to be saints, we must start right now. We may recall that the diocesan theme this year is “Called for holiness: the saints among us.” Being holy, being saints, doesn’t mean that we must be perfect. You may be aware that Pope John Paul II went to confession once a week. So, even though he is being beatified, he was not perfect. What is required is a sincere, contrite heart and a strong love of God.
We are now all sinners. Let us pray that, through God’s Divine Mercy, we may one day all be saints.
Permalink
Homilies