June 26, 2011
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
Corpus Christi, Year A, June 26th, 2011 – By Deacon Thomas Stephenson
Recently, a Catholic priest attended a wedding reception where he met one of the guests, an Anglican seminarian. The young student approached the priest and asked why he, although a Christian, was not allowed to receive Holy Communion at the wedding Mass. After a friendly conversation about transubstantiation, consubstantiation, transignification, and other interesting points of theology, the seminarian maintained that there was really no difference between the Eucharistic beliefs of Catholics and Anglicans. The priest then posed this question to him: “When you are ordained, and you celebrate the Lord’s Supper for the first time, will you adore the Host with the same adoration that you give to God alone?” After a pause, the seminarian answered “No, I suppose not”, to which the priest responded, “That’s the difference.” (1)
That is the difference; as Catholics, we can adore the validly consecrated Host because we recognize who that Host has become: Jesus Himself, completely present, body, blood, soul, and divinity, under the appearance of a wafer of bread. The children here today to receive their First Communion have learned that in their preparation. In a homily he gave on Thursday, Pope Benedict said: “The beautiful and eloquent expression “receive communion” refers to the act of eating the bread of the Eucharist. In fact, when we carry out this act, we enter into communion with the very life of Jesus, in the dynamism of this life which is given to us and for us.” As Jesus tells us in the Gospel, this bread is truly His flesh, which He is giving for the life of the world. Jesus is not in the bread and the wine; the bread and wine are Jesus.
Presumably, all Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. But, most of our protestant brothers and sisters do not share our conviction, and the differences in belief are part of the reason that they are not able to receive communion with us. This is not done to exclude them – we welcome them to come to Mass, and here at our church, to come up in the communion line with their arms crossed for a blessing. Because the Host truly is the Lord, the person receiving is required to be united in faith, to be in communion with the Church, in order to receive.
The children have been taught the basics, just as we were. However, teaching only gives us the beginnings of what we need for understanding. Our greatest knowledge of the Real Presence doesn’t come from classes; it comes to us and grows from our experience of receiving the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Our Lord in communion; and it comes from having faith, faith that helps us to grasp, however incompletely, what is otherwise incomprehensible. Our faith and our experience of the Eucharist help us go beyond what we are taught to what we know.
Because the Host truly is Jesus, we show it the respect and adoration due to the Lord. That is why we genuflect toward the tabernacle. That is why the sanctuary lamp burns all the time. And, that is why there is a difference between our church and other places. This is not a theatre, or an auditorium. A Catholic church is a sacred place, and a sacred space, primarily because of the Presence of the Lord in the consecrated Hosts reserved in the tabernacle. We can become so accustomed to being here that we may lose the sense of this sacredness. Our behaviour is affected by our awareness of the space we are in, and our behaviour during, and especially after Mass, should reflect this. Should we all file silently out of church at the end of mass, heads down and not looking at each other? Of course not! One of the wonderful things about this parish is the feeling of community that is so evident, that so many people speak with each other and visit after Mass. Being at Mass is a joyous occasion, and it’s natural for us to want to share that joy with those around us. And it’s great to exchange greetings and catch up with each other on what’s happening in our lives – as we exit the church and either head downstairs to socialise, or perhaps outside when the weather is good. Today, celebrating the joy of First Communion, people may want to remain in the church a little longer, and perhaps take a few pictures. Usually, though, out of respect for the Lord, the proper place for our extended conversations is outside the main part of the church. Of course, extended conversations with Jesus are encouraged, and are more easily accomplished in an atmosphere of relative tranquility.
As long as there are consecrated Hosts in the tabernacle, Jesus is physically present here. He is just as present as we are. Not just in spirit, but in body. Each Host, even each fragment of a Host no matter how small, is the Lord. And we get to receive Him, to let His body give nourishment to our bodies and our souls. Bishop Sheen reminds us that all living things on earth consume something in order to live. So it is fitting that Jesus should give us Himself to consume in order that we may live, that we may be nourished on the divine and the human levels.
When we are given Holy Communion, the priest, deacon, or Extraordinary Minister says “the body of Christ” or, in the case of the Precious Blood “the blood of Christ”, to which we reply “Amen.” This is our agreement that we believe that what we are receiving is truly the body or blood of Jesus. As Saint Augustine said, “To say Amen is to add your signature.”
To those children making their First Communion, this is a special day, one that calls for celebration, and a day that you should remember for the rest of your life. It is a great privilege to be able to partake of Holy Communion, a privilege that no one should ever take lightly. This occasion helps the rest of us to recall when we made our own First Communion, and also to remind us, in the words of Saint John to Saint Peter: “It is the Lord!”
(1) Adapted from Homiletic & Pastoral Review, Volume CXI, No. 8, Fr. Stephen Bartlett Reynolds, p. 39
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June 18, 2011
Posted in pastor
at 8:29 am
Thanks be to God for the good weather and the joyful celebration of our PARISH PICNIC (despite the power failure)! About 240 people came for the great food, fun and fellowship. Thanks especially to our barbecue king Danny Gernon, who spent the whole day at the parish cooking for us. Thanks also to Meghann Baker, Allison Fortier, Kristine Steele and other members of Parish Council for their hard work behind the scenes to make this event such a success.
We already have a vibrant, active, and friendly parish, based above all on our worship of God, the source of our unity and charity. I am sad to leave such a beautiful parish family. Before going (August 1st) I want to urge you not to be complacent! Your new pastor will need your support and commitment to the life of the parish.
I would like to take this opportunity to invite others to become involved. Events like the parish picnic does just happen. People need to give of themselves, their time and talent. Our parish needs more volunteers in every area: parish council, temporal affairs, readers and Eucharistic ministers, pastoral care, office help, library committee, and so on. You don’t have to wait to be tapped on the shoulder to say “yes” to volunteering in your parish. We need you now!
In Christ, Fr. Tim
P.S. As announced last week, I am away this week on a Liturgical Retreat for Priests at Mundelein Seminary near Chicago. Please say a prayer for me, and warmly welcome Fr. Stephen Nwabuike.
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June 12, 2011
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
June 12th, 2011 – By Father Tim McCauley
These pictures (one of me talking to the kids we sponsor) capture one of the most joyful moments of my life in the past few years, a Pentecost moment when the Holy Spirit descended. These children are some of the 40 children that we sponsor. I was asking them in my simple Spanish what were the names of their “godparents” in Canada. I would hear them stumble over the names in bad English . . . Yoonay Pare . . . who? Oh June Pare I know her!
For me, it was a miracle to hear your names B the names of parishioners of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Russell, Ontario, Canada — on the lips of these children a thousand miles away. You are like angels from heaven to these children who have no idea who you are or why you are helping them go to school, giving them life and hope for the future. What he could possess these strangers from the Great White North to help people they have never met? It must be love, love for God and for human beings. Love that is a sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and our world. Alleluia!
Mark and I want to share with you some photos and experiences of our mission trip to Honduras, mainly to thank you for your support. But first, I must give a brief homily on Pentecost. I could easily speak for an hour on this theme, since our parish has been living a real Pentecost this past year, with the Life in the Spirit seminar, our small Christian communities, and so on.
The Holy Spirit inspires us to surrender control of our lives to Jesus Christ, to be missionaries in our daily lives, and to receive the gift of joy.
The Holy Spirit has been teaching me a lot about surrender this year. I don=t think we would have even hosted a life in the Spirit seminar without the willingness of many people to take a risk and to surrender. This is a necessary pre-requisite to receive any gift of the Holy Spirit. By they way, if at Mass we find ourselves lacking joy and a spirit of praise and worship, it might be because we are trying to control you lives instead of surrendering to Jesus Christ. The apostles had already given their lives. And thus they were open to receiving the Holy Spirit and his charismatic gifts such as speaking in tongues (as we heard in the first reading).
The Holy Spirit who inspires us to surrender also leads us to be missionaries, as Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn 20:21). It was not easy for Mark or myself to go to Honduras. It was a risk, a real act of trust in God. The Holy Spirit of joy does not visit the self-centered; He (the Spirit) did not come upon us while we were at home watching TV. He descended that day we met the children, because we first responded to the invitation of the Spirit to try, for a day, for a week, to forget ourselves, to think of others, to be missionaries of God=s love.
You can do the same thing even without leaving paradise (and believe me, Russell is paradise in comparison with Tegucigalpa). Do you want to receive joy and experience the Holy Spirit? To receive the Paraclete or Comforter, as Jesus calls Him, we must be willing to leave our comfort zone, take a risk, surrender. One simple way is to share your faith in Jesus Christ with someone in your family, a friend, neighbour, co-worker B someone!
The same Holy Spirit that sends a person on a mission to help the poor is the same Spirit that sends us to the rich who have no faith. If we care about educating poor children in the global South, we must also care about rich adults in the North who have an education and a house and a car, but do not know Jesus Christ or the purpose of life. The same deep joy and satisfaction that fills us when we realize that we are helping to save the lives of poor children in a place like Honduras is the same deep joy that we will receive when we proclaim Jesus Christ in places like Russell and Ottawa.
Thanks to all those who sponsor a child in Honduras.
Here more pictures are shown and explained.
Consider also sponsoring a rich adult in Canada who does not know Jesus Christ. Sponsor them by your prayers, your witness, your love, and your verbal proclamation of the name of Jesus, and your invitation to Mass, so that they too may receive the joy of the Holy Spirit.
show you how your $250 a year is literally saving souls. For a child to go to school is the only way to escape poverty B not only material poverty, but the mental and spiritual poverty that contributes to despair, alcoholism, drug addictions, gangs, violence, murder, family and social disintegration and so on. Helping these children go to school literally helps save their lives, their souls. Thank you.
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June 11, 2011
Posted in posts
at 8:26 am
Come and join us for our annual parish picnic on Sunday, June 12th at 3pm.
For more info click Here…
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Posted in pastor
at 8:25 am
On this feast of Pentecost we do well to remember that the Holy Spirit, often the most neglected Person of the Holy Trinity, is indeed a Person with whom we can have a relationship. In his book Your Life in the Holy Spirit, Alan Schreck calls to mind various Scriptural titles for the Spirit – breath, wind, water, fire, cloud, gift, oil – but emphasize that Jesus speaks explicitly of the Spirit as a Person, as the Paraclete or Counselor.
He suggests “a personal image of the Holy Spirit that embodies all that he is and does for us: the Holy Spirit is ‘the friend closest to our hearts.’”
He adds that the Holy Spirit “is a sort of second Emmanuel – ‘God with us’ – but even more profoundly, God within us. As St. Paul puts it, we actually become “temples of the Holy Spirit” where God resides and abides” (p. 15-23).
Let us frequently invoke His Presence with the simple prayer, “Come Holy Spirit.” Let us ask him to help us surrender our lives to Jesus, to receive the gifts of the Spirit, and to be sent on mission by the Spirit, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with our friends and neighbours.
In Christ, Fr. Tim
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June 5, 2011
Posted in Homilies
at 9:00 am
(And First Holy Communion) Year A, June 5th, 2011 – By Father Tim McCauley
In 1958, a man named Jean Hoerni was thinking about his company’s problem trying to design a better high speed transistor for smaller and more reliable computer micro-chips (to make technology smaller such as in cell phones, computers, etc). One day he was taking a shower, and he noticed the way the water flowed over his hands, and it gave him an idea. If the transistors could be coated in the right substance, then they could be protected from the damaging effects of dust and moisture that would just flow right over them. He then thought of silicon dioxide, the perfect material for the job. His solution eventually led to the the silicon chip (www.neatorama.com /tag/jean-hoerni) on which all our modern computer technology is based.
Isn’t it amazing that human beings are so intelligent that we can put so many gigabites of information into such a small space? If we can do it, why can’t God do it? Why can’t God put even more information into an even smaller space? Why can’t God put even Himself into the smallest space possible, such as a host, a little piece of bread?
God first made Himself small in the womb of the Virgin Mary and was born into our world as a little child. We know the rest of the story. Jesus died on the Cross on Good Friday to take away our sins. He rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. In the first reading today, we read how “after his suffering (and Resurrection from the dead), he presented himself alive to (the disciples) by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking to them about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). Then, on this day, the feast of the Ascension, he was lifted up into heaven and the disciples no longer saw him with their bodily eyes, but Jesus was actually closer to them than ever before, as we will discuss.
The night before Jesus died, He gave the apostles bread and said, “This is my Body” and a cup of wine and said, “This is my Blood.” Jesus found a way to make himself small enough for us to receive Him. The same God that came down from heaven into the womb of Mary is the God who comes down from heaven in the Mass under the appearance of bread and wine. He makes Himself small out of love for us, so that we can better understand Him, love Him, receive Him.
I think children understand this better than adults. We see what the eleven adult disciples did in today’s Gospel – some doubted! We heard in today’s Gospel that“they worshiped him, but some doubted” (Mt ) – even though they saw Him risen from the dead! It’s sad when people doubt the existence of God and His love, the Resurrection of Jesus and eternal life, the real Presence of Jesus in Holy Communion. I believe every child is given the gift of strong faith in our baptism, but sometimes, the noise of the world, the pain of life, and the poison of sin can weaken our faith.
I’ll share with you one little story from my own life. I remember once when I was your age, on vacation with my family on Prince Edward Island. During a week at a campground, I became good friends with a boy from another family. Back then we didn’t have email, so I didn’t know how we could realistically keep in touch. So when I was climbing into our family car to say goodbye, I saw him across the way and said, “See you in heaven!” My father was surprised and asked, “what did you say to him?” “See you in heaven!” My father sort of laughed but didn’t say anything. Even though I was only a little boy, I knew it was true. Everyone on earth we have ever met, who believes in Jesus risen from the dead and lives a good life, we will see again in heaven. Children know this, right? Children usually have more faith than adults.
Children, guard the faith of your baptism and pray that it will grow. All of you children here to receive your First Communion have been baptized, meaning you have become children of God, and the Holy Trinity (the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) has come to live in your soul. If you pray, receive Holy Communion on a regular basis, and live a good life, God’s life will continue to grow in you and you will be happy. I beg you not to do what I did. I lost the faith I had as a child – partly because of the world around me, and partly because of my own decision to follow my own desires instead of God’s loving plan. You have been given a great gift in your baptism and in your First Communion. Don’t waste it.
Jesus has risen from the dead and ascended into heaven so that He can be even closer to us. In today’s Gospel, Jesus promises, “I will be with you always, until the end of the world” (Mt 28:20). One way Jesus is with us is through the Holy Spirit, which we will discuss next week. Another is through Holy Communion. Look at the tabernacle containing the host that is the Body of Christ. Look at the vigil light, the candle, that burns day and night proclaiming, “I am with you always, even until the end of the world.”
Jesus can be present in Holy Communion only because He has risen from the dead. Jesus now seated at the right hand of the Father, has a spiritual body which can be present anywhere at anytime. If people doubt this mystery of our faith, it might be because they are trying to fit God into a neat and tidy box Just because we can put a lot of information into a small space does not mean that our peanut brains can understand the infinite and almighty Creator of the universe.
Adults who doubt need to become more like children who trust! I am reminded of two phrases from Catherine Doherty who spoke of “folding the wings of our intellect” and thinking with “our heads in our hearts.” I challenge anyone here who has doubts about God or the teaching of the Church. Think with your head in your heart. Trust. Take a risk. Surrender. Do not be afraid. Live as if God is real, as if God is love, as if everything that the Catholic Church teaches is true. You will see it will make a difference in your lives, not because you are telling yourself a beautiful lie, but because you will be living the deepest truth of your being.
Can you imagine, if before people were married, they expected to understand each other perfectly? “Well, I really love this girl but I want to wait until I understand her perfectly before I marry her.” What? No one would ever get married! Instead, when people get married, although they know something of each other (you don’t marry a stranger) they give themselves to each other in love, then they understand each other better – with their hearts, not their heads.
It’s the same with God. We give ourselves to Him in love and trust, then we will understand Him much better. Jesus alludes to this in his words in the first reading, “it is not for you to know the times and season that the Father has appointed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses . . .” (Acts 1:7-8). It is not for us to know and understand everything about God. But even without fully understanding, we can receive the power of the Holy Spirit and be witnesses of Christ risen from the dead. It will make perfect sense to us that a perfect and loving God would suffer and die and rise for love of us, that He would remain close to us and make Himself as small as a host in Holy Communion, in order to live in us and give us eternal life.
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June 3, 2011
Posted in pastor
at 8:48 am
As some of you may have heard, the pastoral appointments for the Archdiocese were announced on Thursday. Ever since the bishop named me Vocations Director in 2008, he has been looking for ways to make me more available for vocations ministry. For this reason, he has appointed me chaplain at Carleton and pastor of a small nearby parish, St. Margaret Mary’s, effective August 1st. (It is true that my renewed appointment here was supposed to be for 3 years, but sometimes the needs of the diocesan Church take priority!). Fr. Paul Nwaeze, a very fine priest and a friend of mine, has been appointed pastor of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.
Of course I believe and trust this is God’s will, but at a human level, it is extremely difficult for me to say goodbye to the town and people I have come to love. I would have gladly stayed in this parish for as long as St. John Vianney stayed in his first parish – the rest of my life!
At the same time, I understand how this move serves the needs of the Church in promoting vocations to the priesthood.
I am also consoled by the thought that we all remain united by our common mission. If we look at our lives from the perspective of comfort, all changes is painful, or at best, inconvenient. Instead, all of us must remember our mission! Our parish theme for the past year has been to encounter Christ and share Him with others – to live the New Evangelization. We have begun to do so in part through our faith studies in our small Christian communities.
As you continue your mission, I continue mine. Let us persevere in praying for one another as people of the same diocese, and as brothers and sisters of the same Body, the Church. I will have more to share with you in the coming weeks. In Christ, Fr. Tim
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Homilies