Sunday Homilies in St. Matthew Parish at Rocky Mountain House, AB

4th Sunday Ordinary B - Teaching with Authority

2012-01-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

In today's Gospel,we read that Jesus' teaching "madea deep impression on the people because unlike the scribes, (that is, theofficial teachers) Jesus taught them with authority." Jesus spoke with suchauthority that even the demons obeyed His command. The bible tells us innumerous places that Jesus then passes this authority on to His Church.

Knowing that Hewould soon be going to the Father Jesus entrusted His mission to His closestdisciples - the Apostles. He first ordained them priests who would act on Hisbehalf when in Luke Chap 22 we hear Him tell the Apostles "This is mybody" and "This is my Blood" and commanding them to "Dothis in memory of me".

By commanding themto do the same He thereby gives them the power to celebrate Mass in which theBread and Wine will be changed into the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity ofJesus Christ Himself. Then knowing that after He returns to heaven the faithfulwould be left leaderless, Jesus establishes a church with a leader who wouldcontinue His work and guide the people.

In Matthew chapter16 Jesus makes Peter, the first Pope, the head of His church on earth when Hesays "You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church". InJohn chap 21 Jesus tells Peter to guide the flock and to teach them when Jesustells him "Feed my sheep". In Matt chap 28 Jesus tells the Apostlesthat He will never leave His church when He says "I will be with youalways, until the end of the age."

And then Jesus givesHis Apostles, who are the first Bishops, the authority to act on His behalf inspiritual matters in His church when in Luke chap 10 He tells His Apostles"Whoever listens to you, listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejectsme." In John chap 20 Jesus gives the priests of His Church the power toforgive sins in His name when He said "Peace be with you. As the Fatherhas sent me, so I send you. He breathed on them and said to them "Receivethe Holy Spirit. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them. Whose sins you shall retain they areretained." This breathing on themis quite significant because the only other time that God breathes on anyone iswhen He created man.

Jesus gives to HisChurch the power of loosing and binding or in other words to make decisions andto rule His church on earth on Jesus' behalf when in Matt Chapter 18 Jesus says"Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatever youloose on earth shall be loosed in heaven".

The apostlesordained others to help them. The church began to spread throughout theworld. Bishops were ordained here andthere and they in turn ordained priests and deacons to help them.

We read in Acts 6"the apostles who prayed and laid hands on them", and again inActs 13 "they laid hands on themand sent them off". Paul ordained other priests to assist him as we readin Acts chap 14. "After they had proclaimed the good news to that city andmade a considerable number of disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconiumand to Antioch.

They strengthenedthe spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith saying"It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom ofGod."

They appointed priests for them in each churchand, with prayer and fasting , commended them to the Lord in whom they had puttheir faith." And this handing on of the faith and the authority to preachthe truth in Christ's name by appointing and ordaining priests in every churchcontinues even to this day. Father Kaz and I are both ordained ministers of thechurch. He is a priest and I am a deacon. We were ordained by a Bishop. This Bishop was also ordained by a Bishop whowas Himself ordained by a Bishop who was Himself ordained by a Bishop.

Bishop after Bishopafter Bishop going all the way back 2000 years to the Apostles and to JesusChrist Himself. It is an unbroken linkto the very first beginnings of the church. Just like a genealogist would do we couldtrace our spiritual roots all the way back to the Apostles who were ordained byJesus. This handing on of the teachings of Jesus Christ and His teachingauthority over the centuries by ordaining ministers without a break in it's2000 year old history is called Apostolic Succession.

What authority doesthe Church have to ordain minsters? It has no authority except that which wasgiven to it by Jesus Christ. TheCatholic Church teaches that Jesus gave His authority to His Holy Church at thevery beginning and that Christ' power is handed down to the Church fromgeneration to generation through this Apostolic Succession.

The church was areality and was flourishing 400 years before the bible even came intobeing. In fact, it is through theauthority of the Bishops of the RomanCatholic Church that we even have a bible. In the 4th century after Christ, itwas the Bishops of the Catholic Church who gathered together and decreed whichbooks were divinely inspired and which ones were not. This was ratified by thepope.

1 Timothy 3:15 theBible tells us that "the Church of the living God, is the pillar andfoundation of the truth." From the very beginning the Catholic Church hasbeen celebrating the Liturgy of the Mass with the Holy Eucharist as the centralpart of our liturgy. Holy Communion, where we receive the Body and Blood, Souland Divinity of Jesus Christ Himself. This is not a symbolic gesture but ratherthe actual Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Himself as Jesus says in Luke Chapter22 "This is my Body".

Catholics take thesewords just as Jesus meant them to be taken. Quite literally and that is why the Catholic Church considers theEucharist as the centre, the source and the summit of our Catholic Faith. In Actschapter 2 we read St. Paul telling us that "They devoted themselves to theteaching of the Apostles, and to the communal life, to the breaking of thebread and to the prayers."

Which is exactly what we continue to do todayin the Mass - we gather together as a community, we listen to Holy Scriptureand to the Sermon and then receive Holy Communion or as they called it in theearly days of the Church, " the breaking of the bread". The Apostolicor Early Church Fathers, that is those who were taught by the Apostlesthemselves or their immediate successors and were themselves ordained by theApostles or their immediate successors as Bishops - the Apostolic Fathers tellus about the Mass that was celebrated in those very first days.

When we read theirwritings we can readily see that today's celebration of the Liturgy of theEucharist models very closely the Liturgy of the Eucharist as was celebrated bythe early church in the very first days. Our Sunday celebration is not so muchfocused on the preaching and the music as it is on the Eucharist. This is thecentre of our celebration.

In the early churchPaul tells us that they gathered together as a community. So do we. Theylistened to the Word of God and to the teachings of the Apostles proclaimed intheir midst. We just listened to the word of God proclaimed in our midst andare now listening to the Homily.

They devoted themselves to prayer and to thebreaking of the bread. We also are devoting ourselves to prayer and soon wewill be breaking the bread and receiving Holy Communion. From the verybeginning of the church and for over 2000 years, the Catholic Church hascelebrated the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

To this very day throughout the whole world, everyhour of the day, 24 hours a day, and every day, not just Sunday, but everyday, the Liturgy of the Eucharist or theHoly Sacrifice of the Mass continues to be celebrated under the authority ofJesus Christ throughout the world.

Jesus Christ gaveHis church the command and the authority to do this and to pass on to othersthe Authority to continue to do this in His name.

Jesus Christcommissions His Church and commands it to spread the Good News. In MatthewChapter 28 "All power in Heaven and earth has been given tome....Go...make disciples of all nations... teaching them to observe all that Icommanded you". So it is under the authority of Jesus Christ that theCatholic Church worldwide endeavors to continue to do exactly that... to do this in Memory of Meand to teach, not just our local church, or not just the church in this countrybut all over the world, teach all nations to observe all that He has commandedus to do.

God rules, instructs and sanctifies His peoplethrough His Church. Under her teaching office, the Catholic Church preservesthe Word of God. Following His command the Church is the custodian, keeper,dispenser and interpreter of the teachings of Jesus Christ. And sheaccomplishes all of this under the protection of the Holy Spirit.

God Bless.

Deacon BernieOuellette

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B - Mark 1:14-20

2012-01-20T16:57:00.000-07:00

Somebody toldme once: "it's boring and frustrating to listen to your homilies, because youhave only one theme to talk about. And the topic is SIN."

Andit is true. The only one topic of all homilies should be "How to save people from their sins."There is no more important and no more urgent reality of our daily life.Eventually Jesus Christ came to the earth only and absolutely only for this purpose, to save us fromthe power of evil, from our sins and to liberate us from the fate andcondemnation of Hell. This exactly is the Good News, the core of the Euangelion, the message ofChrist. It's the Good News but not the nice news. Christ news is goodbecause it's about our liberation and salvation. Hallmark's news are nicebecause they are about nothing. They are simply irrelevant.

Thisis why Jesus is beginning His messianic mission with the urgent and strongappeal "repent and believe in the GOOD News" and He finishes withstrong and clear statement "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever doesnot believe will be condemned" (Mk 16,26)

All three of this Sunday’s readings present an urgentcall. Jonah tells the people of Ninevehthat their sins have resulted in their suffering God’s wrath. They would listen and repent. St. Paul tells the Corinthians that time isrunning out and they have to change the ways of their lives.

They need to embrace the Gospel before they have nomore time. Jesus begins his preaching by proclaiming, “The time of fulfillment is athand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.” In all these three readings the main themeis??? Yes -- REPENTANCE. Did something change since then? I don't think so.

The Gospel of St. Matthew finishes with the words ofJesus:

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of allnations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of theHoly Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you."Mt 28; 19-20

The Gospel of St. Mark ends with the words of Christ:

"Go into the whole world and proclaim thegospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;whoever does not believe will be condemned." (Mk 16; 15-16)

The last Jesus' words of the Gospel of St. Luke are:

"Thus it is written that the Messiah wouldsuffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for theforgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations,beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things." (Lk24; 46-48)

Do you think that Jesus was obsessed by the concept ofsin or the idea of repentance?

The penitent asked, "Does God accept repentance and is able toforgive my sins?" The priest asked in turn, "Doyou throw away dirty laundry?" "No," replied thesinner. The priest said, "Neither will God throw you away." Anthony de Mello writes, "Jesusproclaimed the good news, yet he was rejected. Not because it was good, butbecause it was new. We don't want new things when they involve change and mostparticularly if they cause us to say, 'I was wrong.'" We are toldthe only person who welcomes change is a wet baby.

"Repent and believe the good news" are the first words thatJesus the Christ spoke in the Gospel of Mark. So, one must conclude that thisbrief message must be of paramount importance to Him. They are but six wordsand yet they continue to turn the world upside down. And they send us intodenial.

The first word of Christ's message is that frightening word "repent." The sinner has only twooptions - to be pardoned or to be punished. Christ defines repentance as notmerely saying, "I'm sorry"but also "I will change my life." While God forgets the sin,He does not forget the repentant sinner. When God forgives us in the confessional,He suffers from total amnesia. Heaven, we are advised, is filled with convertedsinners and the good news is: "thereis room for billions more. But we must repent." Christ would remind us, "No matter what your past may resemble, yourfuture is spotless. And the saints are saints precisely because they kept ontrying."

Modern culture dismisses sin removes this word from the dictionary.But the Nazarene does not buy into that message. A New Testament concordancecontains a dozen columns on the subject of sin and only eight on love.God would remind us that He gave Moses on Mount Sinai Ten Commandments and not Ten Suggestions. He never said,"Keep my commandments unless of course you have a headache."

Somebody said, the difference between the ancient pagans and thenew or contemporary pagans is that

- Theancient pagans were aware of the reality of sin but they didn’t' have the meansof salvation

- Thenew pagans of our time they have the means of salvation but they not anymore recognisetheir sins.

The second term of interest in the six word message is the goodnews. The news is good precisely because it brings us to the truth. Until theadvent of the Teacher, people could only search for God. No less a personthan the mighty Job in 23:3 shouted out in pain, "Oh, that today I might find him,that I might come to his judgment seat!" But Christ says totoday's Jobs, "He who sees me sees the Father."

The good news brings hope. The ancients dwelled in a culture ofgloom. The Roman philosopher Seneca (3 BC-65 AD) spoke of "ourhelplessness in necessary things." Try as they might, people somehow couldnever get out of square one. They constantly found themselves behind theinfamous eight ball. Their feet were forever tied together. Christ's arrival changesthat scene. St Paul in Colossians 1:23 tells his readers that they must not be "shaken from the hope yougained when you heard the Gospel."French philosopher and Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin says: "The future is in the hands of those who cangive people valid reasons to live and hope." The good news offers everyone peace.

Virtue and evil are constantly fighting for the upper hand in eachof us. Morally we are split personalities, moral schizophrenics. St Paulidentifies with our human condition in the famous words, "Thegood I would do that I do not. The evil I would not do that I do."

Yet, if we surrender ourselves to the Christ, those two opposite personalitiesin us can at last become one worthwhile entity. St Paul advises (in Ephesians 6): "Let the shoes on your feet be thegood news of peace." If we take his recommendation, our feet willbecome unbound. We need not fear where they will take us. We will walk overpebbles and feel no pain.

Once Abraham Lincoln was asked what he thought of a sermon. He replied"it was good but had one defect. The preacher didn't ask us to be great."One cannot say that of Jesus in today's Gospel. We ask the mystic, "How does one get to heaven?" She answers,"The same way you get to Carnegie Hall. Practice! Practice! Practice! Therepentance …"

Mary, Mother of God January 1, 2012

2011-12-31T22:23:00.002-07:00

Is Mary the Mother of Jesus Christ? Yes. Is Mary theMother of God? To answer that questionwe first have to answer the question "Who is Jesus Christ? Our purposetoday is not to prove that Jesus is God or that Jesus is man. Given thenumerous references in the Bible, as Christians, we take that for granted.Jesus Christ is both God and man. Our purpose today is to look at Jesus Christin order to answer the question how can Mary be the Mother of God?

The Bible says that Jesus Christ, He who is God byreason of His divine nature, became man by taking unto Himself human nature. Thatis to say, God – a divine person – took unto Himself a human body with the samestructure and functions of the human body which each of us knows so well.

He took unto himself a human soul, a human mind,human feelings and emotions, no different from those with which we are endowedwith at birth. And when He did this, He did not thereby cease to be God. God,whose nature is entirely spiritual, into whose make-up nothing bodily enters,whose will power is omnipotent (that is to say all powerful, Almighty), whosemind is omniscient (that is to say all knowing) and whose life had no beginningand no end.

Jesus Christ is both God and man – As God JesusChrist is infinite, omnipotent, omniscient and eternal. At the same time, JesusChrist – as man is also mortal (as a human being he must eventually die), Jesusis limited in His physical powers, capable of fatigue and pain, subject togrowth in bodily stature and human knowledge. The same as every other man ineverything but sin.

This does not mean that His Divine nature becamehuman or that the infallible mind of God became fallible, or that the immortalnature of God became subject to death. At the incarnation the divine was in noway changed into the human. It does mean though that a Divine person reallypossessed human nature with all of its limitations because a human being, Mary,was His mother.

But because these two natures, Divine and Human arepossessed by the same person, Jesus Christ, then Mary who is Mother of Hishuman nature, is rightfully called the Mother of Jesus Christ, and since JesusChrist is God, she is rightfully called - Mary, the Mother of God.

Many, however, who speak freely of Mary as mother ofJesus, are hesitant to call her the Mother of God. They shouldn’t be. Otherwisethey do not have a full understanding of the meaning of the incarnation. Thereis no good reason why a divine person, Jesus Christ, who is truly man, couldnot be conceived and born according to this human nature.

This does not mean that His mother Mary, like somegoddess, would bring His divine nature into existence. It also does not meanthat as the mother of a divine person, she existed before him. Christ told usthat He existed before Abraham was born. As God, He is eternal; as man, Hebegan to live a human life when Mary conceived Him. Mary did not exist beforeGod.

Catholics get this information concerning Mary andJesus – not from the Church teaching us as though the Bible did not exist, butrather from the Church teaching us the full significance of what the Bible saysabout Jesus and His mother Mary. About their relationship and what significanceMary has for us today.

Mary as the Mother of God has an importantrelationship to you and me in the world today. She is our Mother and as ourMother she continually intercedes for us and leads us to her Son Jesus Christ. Sincethe early days of the Church Christians have expressed Mary’s relationship tous by addressing her with the title “Our Mother”. This, of course, does not saythat she was our mother in the natural sense of the term, but rather it is areal spiritual relationship.

Just as St. Paul in speaking to the Corinthians said“In Christ Jesus, through the Gospel, I have begotten you.” Mary could just astruthfully say to all of us “In Christ Jesus, through my consent to yourredemption, I have begotten you”. She was associated in our regeneration bygiving us Jesus Christ. And when Jesus Christ on Calvary said to Mary “Woman,behold your son” and to St. John “Behold your Mother” Jesus was proclaimingthis truth.

Mary is our Mother. Christians have alwaysconsidered St. John as representing in person all those who are redeemed andwho look upon Mary as their “Mother”. And so this scene at the cross is really the origin of our devotion toMary. Holy Mary, Mother of God, conceived without sin. Yes, conceived withoutsin and sinless throughout her life. Full of Grace. God’s Grace.

If you wonder why this freedom of sin at the outsetof her life is so important and why Christians have always acclaimed her tohave been immaculate and unstained, the reason is that she was sinless in orderto be fit to become the mother of the Redeemer. Sinless, she was then worthy tobe associated with the Son of God in a most intimate relationship. In Marythere was no shame of sin to reflect on her child. The flesh which the Holy Onetook from her as His mother was the flesh of one who had never been – in anysense – a sinner.

The absence of sin in Mary meant holiness – aholiness in which she steadily grew. When the time came for the angel of God tovisit her, he would salute her as “full of Grace” and “blessed among women.” Neverhad a messenger from God addressed a human being in such language. There had tobe a good reason. There are two important points which must be kept in mind infinding that reason. The first is that – God does nothing by chance or on thespur of the moment. The Eternal God simply does not act that way.

What God does in the world He has planned from thebeginning of time.

God did not just happen to send an angel to a smallJudean town looking for a nice Jewish girl whom He then selected to be theMother of the Messiah - after taking aquick omniscient look over all the others and then making a quick decision –there she is – she’s the one. No, the Virgin Mary, was in His mind from thevery beginning. When she came into existence it was to be as the Mother of God.God only needed her approval. It was the first and only time that a son got tochoose his own mother.

The second point is that when God gives anyone atask to do, He also gives them the ability and wherewithal to do it right. Inother words, God, by His grace, makes us fit to fulfill all that He calls us todo. We need only give our “yes” to God. God, then, who chose Mary to be Motherof Jesus the Messiah, gave Her the grace, the blessedness and the holiness thatmade her worthy of that great dignity. She was fit to be the Mother of God andto receive God Himself into her bosom. All that was needed was her assent. Marysaid “Be it done unto me according to thy word” and the incarnation wasachieved.

Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ. She is not theMother of the Trinity but she is the Mother of Jesus. She is the Mother of God.As the Mother of God and as our Mother she continues to intercede for us inHeaven. She continues to lead us to her Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Holy Mary,Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

May God, through the intercession of His BlessedMother Mary, bless you abundantly in this new year.

Deacon Bernie Ouellette

Christmas - 2011

2011-12-24T21:36:00.000-07:00

TrueChristian Christmas

Christmasisn't showy gifts

Orglittering decoration;

It'shonoring our Savior, Jesus Christ

Inhumble adoration.

It'sserving those less fortunate,

Meetingtheir needs before our own;

It'smaking sure at Christmas time

That noone is alone.

It'staking what we would have spent

Onthings that no one needs,

Andusing it to help someone

Withservice and good deeds.

OurSavior showed us how to live

Withcharity, faith and service.

Itmakes the holidays a joy,

Morepeaceful, and less nervous.

Solet's remember Christmas is

Aboutour Savior's birth;

That'sthe way to happiness,

The wayto peace on earth.

byJoanna Fuchs

Wishingyou a Merry and Peaceful Christmas with my gifts of prayer and spiritualsupport …

Fr. Kazimierz KubatSDS

IV Sunday of Advent - B

2011-12-17T20:41:00.002-07:00

IV Sunday of Advent - B

In thescene of today's Gospel we can see, first of all, that God is coming to Hishuman creation and asking permission to save this creation. In another words,God is submitting His will to the disposition and the response of human beings.It is always like that, because God gave us an unquestionable gift of freedomand will never do anything against our freedom. Mary is the perfect example ofthe correct attitude of a human creation towards God's salvific will. Whengreeted by the words: "The Lord is with you" and assured "Do notbe afraid" she quickly and honestly answers: "Fiat mihisecundum verbum Tuum" - "Behold, I am the handmaid of theLord. May it be done to me according to your word."

At thesame time we have to ask ourselves: "How often is our answer "Iam ready. May it be according to your will"? God is alwayssearching mankind, always running after him and begging him to accept God'sproposal of friendship, and mankind -since original sin- is running away,searching his own will, very often against the will of God.

We canask: WHY?

And theanswer to this question seems to be quite easy and yet disturbing. God isproposing to us truth and salvation, which –it is true- is not alwayseasy and comfortable, but we … we are searching something which is easy andcomfortable but –unhappily- not true and not valuable. And this is why we arerunning away from God's will and choosing what seems to us better, easier andmore convenient.

And thisis our misery. Is it not true that under a banner of freedom, human rights andindependence or even, sometimes science, we turn away from God and His proposalof salvation? Is it not true that when God became one of us, a human being –Jesus Christ, we are not able to accept Him because we are afraid that He willtake away our freedom and put our independence in danger, asking too much of us,and expecting something we don’t like togive?

The miseryof Adam and Eve in paradise was that they didn't trust God, and they wanted todo everything their way. And they lost everything: eternal life, the friendshipwith God, natural and supernatural gifts.

The beautyof Mary at the Annunciation is that She totally submitted herself to the willof God and … She won all and not only for herself but for all of us. Heracceptance, Her FIAT, was the beginning of the new creation, the beginning ofthe way back home for the whole of humanity.

But thereis one thing which has to be done by each one of us; I have to acceptpersonally, totally and honestly the will of God in my life. I have to repeatafter Her: "May it be done to me according to your word."

God, Whois always Emmanuel – "God with us" created us withoutour consent, but He cannot save us without our personal agreement. It would beagainst the most precious gift He gave us, against our freedom. And this is whyHe is asking and begging me: "Would you like to be saved?"Would you like to go the way I prepared for you, the way which is Jesus Christ,the way leading you to the house of the Father? It's true that this way is noteasy or comfortable, but it is sure. Would you like to be my child?

What willbe my answer?

Second Sunday of Advent – 04.12.2011

2011-12-04T08:02:00.001-07:00

Listening to the words of this beautifulAdvent's song

Come Lord, comeLord Jesus

Give your peoplehope

Come Lord, comeLord Jesus

and lead yourpeople home

I am thinkingactually how it is possible that being a Christian, a disciple of Christ, Hisservant and His follower I am very often miserable, unhappy, frustrated,disappointed, sad and depressed? Where from are coming all these awful feelingsand sentiments of hopelessness, irritation, anger, sadness and dissatisfaction?

With a sincere andhonest longing I am singing at the beginning of Advent this wonderful hymn:

O Lord of light,fill the night
Many have lost their way

O Rising Dawn, shine upon us,
darkness shall be no more

And then I read in the prophet Isaiah:

"Comfort, give comfort to my people, saysyour God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end,
her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD
double for all her sins."

Arethey not comforting … these words? And yet there is still some kind ofdiscomfort, grief and sorrow.

Where from does it come all this unhappinessand lack of deep, Christian joy?

And constantly is coming the refrain of thissong:

Come Lord, comeLord Jesus

Give your peoplehope

Come Lord, comeLord Jesus

and lead yourpeople home

And so, …. I am reading the Bible andsearching what is wrong with humanity, why despite of all our achievements,scientific and technological successes we are constantly unhappy and depressed.Last week I read a shocking information that in USA every ten minutes a teenageris committing a suicide !!!

O Lord of light,fill the night
Many have lost their way

O Rising Dawn, shine upon us,
darkness shall be no more

And yet still it is … depressing anddiscouraging, hopeless and helpless, irritating and annoying …

And in this pain comes the question: "Whyis He not coming? Why is He waiting and a why He abandoned me?

And then I read the Gospel of this Sunday withthe clear words of courageous John the Baptist:

"Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths."

And I realized in an instant that the originof my fear and desolation, unhappiness and misery isthe fact that I am not ready to receive Him, that I didn't prepare my ways, thesimple fact that I am still so strongly attached to my sins and my weaknesses,my habits and my caprices.

To sing –even very sincerely and devotedly:

Come Lord, comeLord Jesus

Give your peoplehope

Come Lord, comeLord Jesus

and lead yourpeople home

is helpless because the problem is not on the sideof Jesus, the problem lies in me …

And on top of this comes –like a lightning ofdiscovery- one simple sentence from Western Catholic Reporter, where for lastfew weeks Glen Argan is referring about the spiritual theology of St. Francisde Sales, who said in a very simple and yet strong and shocking way:

"The source of all your unhappiness andfrustration is the fact that you don't love and don't follow the will of God".Following your own will and your caprices you are constantly fighting againstthe HOLY WILL OF GOD. Do you think that you will ever win? And this is whyyou are unhappy and sad, frustrated and disappointed, depressed and irritated.

Come Lord, comeLord Jesus

Give your peoplehope

And firsthelp us to prepare the ways for you, make straight the paths of our crockedlife …

First Sunday in Advent – Year B - Nov 27, 2011

2011-11-26T13:49:00.001-07:00

After8 years work on the part of Bishops and experts from the US, Canada, England,Ireland, India, Australia and English speaking African countries, we have a newEnglish translation of the Roman Missal.

WhenLatin was the language in which the Mass was celebrated in every part of theCatholic world in the Latin rite, unity in faith and worship was not an issue.But since the celebration of Mass in the vernacular was allowed, things seemedto go wrong with the experiment. The Bishops were concerned about the accuracyof the various translations of the Roman Missal.

Andso every translation in use over the past 40 years was subjected to a thoroughreevaluation to ensure fidelity to the original Latin Text of the Roman Missal.

Forall the English-speaking Latin Catholic faithful, the new missal is a challengethat demands our time, our practice and our patience. We need to move on.

Todaywe start a new liturgical year. This is the First Sunday of Advent.

In today's Gospel there is a shortlittle parable. The parable tells us about a householder who had a number ofservants.

Once,before he left on a trip abroad, The Master of the household called all of hisservants together and gave each of them a job to do.

Heurged them all to be responsible saying, 'When I return I want to find youawake.'

TheMaster especially sin-gled out the doorkeeper for a special warning.

Now,Christ's story ends there with that warning ringing in our ears.

Butlet’s take that story a little further and let’s concentrate on that samedoorkeeper.

Probablythe great-est danger facing that doorkeeper was not so much that he might fallasleep on the job, but that he might grow too accustomed to doing the job.

Yousee in the beginning he’s all excited about the job the Master gave him. Infact, he feels honoured that his Boss has placed so much trust in him.

Heloves his new uniform. Whenever he puts it on he feels like he is somebodyspecial.

Heis very conscientious about doing a good job and for the longest time that’sexactly what he does – a good job, in fact a very good job.

Buttime goes by. Opening and closing doors can get very monoto-nous. Pretty soonthe novelty of it all wears off. Slowly but surely the dust of habit, of doingthe same old job over and over again begins to accumu-late on him and hisworld.

Adeadly routine takes over. He is still responsible, still unfailingly at hispost. But now he is merely going through the motions.

Theinitial love and enthusiasm have evaporated. His heart is no longer in it.

Whenthe Master returns he will no doubt still find him at his post opening andclosing the doors like a robot. You see, doing things routinely over and overagain without thinking gradually deadens us and in the end it snuffs out alllife, all enthusiasm for the task at hand.

Whathappens in ordinary life also happens in our Christian life too.

Wecan get into a deadly routine with the result that we are Christians by habitonly. We are Catholics in name only.

Weare merely going through the motions. Sometimes we live as though we figure wewill live forever.

Weare taking part in rituals that have lost all freshness and meaning. Isn’t it true that half the time we probablydon’t even hear the Gospel anymore and we certainly can’t remember what theGospel was once we leave the church, never mind the homily.

Itjust goes in one ear and out the other. The face of Christ has vanished fromour sight.

Sowhat's the solution?

Thesolution is that as human beings we need to be disturbed from time to time.

Weneed to be shaken out of our routine.

Thisis where Advent comes in. Advent issues a great 'wake up' call to us. Itprovides us with an opportunity to shake off the dust of habit, and to letChrist come alive in our lives once more.

Yes,the Lord IS coming. Yes, He WILL come to each of us at death, and to the worldat the end of time.

Yet,somehow that fact doesn’t seem to register with most of us.

Thepoint is that even though we don't know the day or the hour of His com-ing, welive our lives as though He never will come. As if we will be treateddifferently than others. Yet, we see the end of this life come every day to ouracquaintances, to our friends and even to relatives of ours.

Someday it will be our turn. It’s not thatwe should live our lives in morbid fear of death – after all Jesus said “Be notafraid. I go before you always. Come follow me”.

Butwe do need to realize that there is a judge and we will appear before Him andwill have to give an account of how we lived our lives, how we treated ourneighbour, what we did with the talents He gave us.

Basicallyit comes down to this. Did we love God with our whole heart, our whole soul andour whole mind? Did we love our neighbour as ourselves?

Thatwill determine whether or not we are counted among the sheep or among thegoats.

Anytime is the wrong time for the unfaithful servant. But any time is the righttime for the faithful servant.

Thefaithful servant doesn't fear the Lord's coming; he welcomes it. For thefaithful servant the time of the Lord’s coming will be a time of great joy. Arewe faithful servants? Are we ready?

Wehave to be ready. How? By being alive, alert, responsible servants of the Lordand of one another.

Adventis a time of waiting, longing and begging. It is a time of conversion. It is atime for all of us to pray “Maranatha….. Come, Lord Jesus.

TheLord be with you and with your spirit. Amen.

DeaconBernie Ouellette

2011-11-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time – A

Proverbs 31, 10-13.19-20.30-31; Psalm 128; 1 Thessalonians 5, 1-6;Matthew 25, 14-30

In today's GospelJesus is presenting us the parable of the talents. It challenges us to ask thequestion of what we are doing with our lives that God has given us as a talent,a treasure. But we can see many other parallels and similarities between thisparable and our life. We are constantly getting so many talents and treasures, weare showered by God with so many graces and gifts that sometimes we don't evenrecognize them as a grace, we rather see them as our rights and privileges.

Let us take forexample of a wonderful gift of the Eucharist. DoI realize that it is a GIFT, a TALENT, and a TREASURE given to us byGod for our salvation? What do I do with this treasure, what do I dowith the gift of the Liturgy, the Holy Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ?How often do I rather prefer to HIDE THIS TREASURE? How often do our faithfulCatholics are like the last one among the servants coming to the King, buryingthe treasure of the Eucharist, the gift of the Sunday Mass in the worries andpreoccupations of every day’s life?

Even the presentrenewal of the English Missal could be -for us- a treasure, a wonderfulopportunity of a deeper and moreprofound understanding of the Gift of the Eucharist, or we can miss oncemore this opportunity and burry the treasure in the ground, pretending that wedidn't get anything special, that it is our right, our entitlement and take itas granted.

Actually thereare two possible methods or tactics of approaching the new translationof the English Missal and the renewal of our postures and gestures during theMass:

1. I can pretend that it is a worthlessand absolutely unnecessary or even useless going backward to the so called"pre-Vatican" theology, I can be frustrated or disappointed, I cantry to resist or to disagree, OR

2. I can try to understand, to deepen anddevelop my understanding and my knowledge of the Eucharist, the precious gift,the talent given to the Church for the salvation of her members.

Let us take forexample the new wording of the Consecrationof the Blood of Christ. Why this "new"which is absolutely not new (!!!), so called exclusive language.

Whyfor "many" and not for "all"?

Nowthe priest says:

“Thisis the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlastingcovenant. It will be shed for you and FOR ALLso that sins may be forgiven.”

BeginningNov. 27 he will say:

“Forthis is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternalcovenant, which will be poured out for you and FOR MANYfor the forgiveness of sins”

Here’s why:

In the SacredLiturgy, there is no moment more important or more filled with grace than whenthe priest repeats Christ’s words, first spoken at the LastSupper, and the bread and wine become Christ’s Body and Blood.

For the past 40years, English-speaking Catholics have heard those words of consecration, whenspoken over the cup, translated as: “Take this, all ofyou, and drink from it: This is the cup of my blood, the blood ofthe new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Dothis in memory of me.”

Most of thosechanges won’t raise any eyebrows. Chalice, rather than cup (cup is toovernacular it is the mug, the goblet, etc.) the poured, rather than shed.Eternal, rather than everlasting. Each has its significance, andtogether they give a more reverent tone to the prayer, but none arecontroversial or puzzling. The same can’t be said, however, of the phrase, “foryou and for MANY.”

At first hearing,it sounds as if the Church is saying that Christ didn’t die for everyone,that there’s some special class of individuals who aren’t of “salvation-gradequality”. But that can’t be what the Church actually means. Or is it?

The answer is no... and yes. Christ did die for everyone. He offerssalvation to all. He invites ALL.But not everyone accepts what he offers. Not everyone accepts theinvitation. That’s what the phrase “for you and for MANY” reminds us. Jesus Christ is proposing His redemptive deathand resurrection to all, but because of the human freedom He is not forcinganybody to accept His proposal, and so … He is dying only for those who intheir freedom accepted this sacrifice.

Otherwise how Hecan die for those who a stubbornly rejecting, neglecting or denying Him and Hisredemptive death? Is it not against the fundamental gift freedom? Why by usingthe human translation which is “more inclusive” namely “ALL” we areforcing those who won’t like to be included into the Redemptive Sacrifice ofChrist? The atheists like:Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins are irritated and frustrated by thiskind of “all including catholic terrorism”. And that’s what theoriginal Latin says: PRO MULTIS and not FORALL.

In Latin, thephrase used is "QUI PRO VOBIS ET PRO MULTIS", which literallymeans “for you and for many,” or “for you and the many.” “The many” can meanthe same thing as “all,” but traditionally that’s not how the phrase has beeninterpreted, not by Catholics and not by Protestants who continue to use thewords “for many” in their own communion services.

In part, “formany” because the passage is a translation of the words Jesusspoke at the Last Supper, words which refer to a passage from Isaiah53 about the suffering servant who would make many righteous.

(Mt 26,28: Mk14,24)

( ²⁴και ειπεν αυτοις τουτο εστιν το αιμα μου το της καινης διαθηκης το περιπολλων εκχυνομενον)

Kai eipen autoistouto estin to aima mon to tes kainos diathekes to peri pollon ekshunomenon

²⁴ “This is myblood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them".

Do we pretendthat Jesus didn’t know what He was saying using the word: “peri pollon” - for many and not for ALL?

It’s also beentranslated as “many” rather than “all,” because of Jesus’ own words aboutheaven and hell in Matthew 7:14: “How narrow the gate and constrictedthe road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.”

On a spring dayoutside Jerusalem, the Second Person of the Trinity saved every member of thehuman race, potentially. It’s ‘potentially’because not everyone will be saved.The Lord says that in the Gospel. Again, however, that’s not to say thatJesus doesn’t want to save everyone. He does. But, in order to receivesalvation, something on our part needs to happen. We don’t earn oursalvation, but we need to embrace it and live it.

Our decisions haveconsequences. Our crucifixes have Christ’s arms spread wide to show thatsalvation is for the many. But if we eliminate human choice, thenmorality has no meaning or content, i.e., one can do whatever onepleases and just presume God will forgive all offenses without repentance. Butthat’s not how it works, and presumption is a sin against the Holy Spirit.”

By returning tothe traditional “FOR YOU AND FOR MANY,” theChurch asks us to remember that:

· The words remind us, that thereis no such thing as automatic salvation. Just because someone pouredwater on your head 50 or even 70 years ago doesn’t mean you’re saved!

· The language, these words, also forceus to confront our own sins which are the real sins causing the death ofChrist on the cross,

· They’re meant to be a call to anexamination of conscience. At every given celebration of the Mass,they’re an invitation to ask, ‘Where do I stand? I recognize Christ has died,so what have I done to accept it?’

· What did I do with the gift, thetreasure of Christ's Blood?

God is constantlygiving us some talents, but it's up to us to use these talents, to accept themas a precious gift and not as our rights and privileges. It is up to each oneof us individually to accept or to reject the Talent of the Eucharist, which ispoured for all, but unhappily not all are accepting this gift. And this is whyJesus used the words:

"… this isthe chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternalcovenant, which will be poured out for you and FOR MANYfor the forgiveness of sins".

Some principal ideas concerning the new translation of the Mass

2011-11-09T22:28:00.002-07:00

Some principal ideas concerning the new translation of the Mass

Reasons for change:

· The Mass is the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ; it ispublic worship and not a social meeting.

· We are invited to participate in this DivineSacrifice and liturgy. We do not come to be entertained but to be renewed.

· The Liturgy of the Eucharist was given to theChurch and not to any individual.

· Each Sacrament has its own form and matter – asis with the Sacrament of the Eucharist,

· Nobody can change anything on his own personalauthority, (Vat. II)

· The Mass is not about “feeling good”it is about “doing right”, following the instructions of Christ.

· The Mass was instituted by Christ for oursalvation not for our entertainment.

· The words the Mass contains aren’t there fortheir psychological meaning or reason. They’re there because they meansomething theologically, because they say something true and important aboutGod, the world and the human condition.

· Many of those words were first used in the Massby the apostles, the saints and the Church Fathers. They were drawn from thescrolls of Hebrew Scripture and the written and oral tradition of the Church.

· Indeed, some are the very words of Christ and wecannot alter them in a capricious way.

· Others are the words of those who followed Him.Through the centuries, the faithful have given their lives to say those words.They’ve also given their lives to ensure that the right words were said.

For all these reasons and more,the words of the Mass matter. They matter a great deal. That’s why theforthcoming changes to the translation that English-speaking Catholics use inthe Sacred Liturgy aren’t about theological quibbling (pedantry) or liturgicalminutiae (niceties). It’s serious business … although serious business thattakes a bit of time and study to understand.

So, what are some of the changesCatholics will encounter starting on Nov. 27, the first Sunday of Advent, thatseem small but are actually quite significant?

TheLord be with you …

Nowwe say, “And also with you.”

BeginningNov. 27, we’ll say, “And with your spirit.”

WHY

To start with, it’s accurate. Inthe original Latin, whenever the priest says to the people "Dominusvobiscum" (“The Lord be with you”), the people’s response is"Et cum spiritu tuo", literally “And with your spirit.”

The words of the Mass arethere for a reason. And the response “And with your spirit” conveyssomething different than “And also with you". The latter sounds like a cultural greeting,which was the point. The original translators wanted something that soundedmore like everyday speech. But it can sound like the congregation is saying,‘Right back at you, Father,’ or ‘You too.’”

Please notice that some priestswent even further and instead of the liturgical "the Lord be withyou" they were introducing a totally, not-liturgical, "Goodmorning (evening) everybody". This is an abuse.

And that’s not what the Latinphrase means. It’s not just another way of saying “hi” to the priest.

Rather, Et cum spiritu tuois “a liturgical greeting given to the priest at four significant moments, whenthe priest is about to do something that, by virtue of Holy Orders, he has beenordained to do:

· preside over the Mass,

· proclaim the Gospel,

· pray the Eucharistic prayers and

· dismiss the congregation”

The congregation’s response isintended to remindthe priest who he is, that he has been ontologically changed byordination, and that it’s the spirit of Christ, to which his own spirit hasbeen configured, which allows him to carry out those sacred tasks. It’smeant to be a reminder that what the priest is doing is not about him.It’s a reminder that this isn’t about Father and Father’s Mass. It’sabout Father allowing Christ to act in him.”

Likewise, “And with yourspirit” isn’t intended to suggest that the priest is any holier than hiscongregation. Rather, it “expresses a prayer that the ordained may be madeworthy of the dignity of their divine calling.”

The response also reminds thelaity of a thing or two. To start with, it reminds the congregation who the priest is.

· He’s not just a representative of thecommunity,

· He’s not a liturgical animator,

· He’s there and acting in the person ofChrist, - “in Persona Christi”,

· He is there as the ORDAINED MINISTER ofChrist, and not acting as an individual, elected and designated by thecommunity.

· He makes present the Passion and Deathof Christ Himself,

· He acts in the Spirit of Christ and not onhis own personal or private authority,

· So we are greeting his spirit, the Spirit ofChrist.

It also reminds the laity,that the priest is doing for them what they cannot do for themselves.Through the grace of the Holy Spirit he has been conformed to Christ and istherefore able to transform gifts of bread and wine into Christ’s Body andBlood.

Mass should be the Sacrifice ofChrist …and, if it is not it is a sacrilege!!!

There is a second change emphasizing the same idea:

Untilnow, after the preparation of the gifts, the priest was inviting us to pray:

Pray, brethren, that oursacrifice

may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.

StartingNov. 27 the priest will say

Pray,brethren (brothers and sisters),

thatmy sacrifice and yours

maybe acceptable to God,

thealmighty Father.

Once again it is not to make aseparation between "me"and "you", but to remind us the this is not mine or yours,or our Sacrifice but the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and thepriest pronouncing the words: " that my sacrificeand yours"is saying them "in persona Christi".

*****************************************

THE SECOND IDEA:

ProMultis

Nowthe priest says:

“Thisis the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It willbe shed for you and FOR ALLso that sins may be forgiven.”

BeginningNov. 27 he will say:

“Forthis is the chalice of my Blood,the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be pouredout for you and FOR MANYfor the forgiveness of sins.”

Here’s why:

In the Sacred Liturgy, there isno moment more important or more filled with grace than when the priestrepeats Christ’s words, first spoken at the Last Supper, and the breadand wine become Christ’s Body and Blood.

For the past 40 years,English-speaking Catholics have heard those words of consecration, when spokenover the cup, translated as: “Take this, all of you, and drink from it:This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlastingcovenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may beforgiven. Do this in memory of me.”

Most of those changes won’t raiseany eyebrows. Chalice, rather than cup (cup is too vernacular it is themug, the goblet, etc.) the Poured, rather than shed. Eternal,rather than everlasting. Each has its significance, and together theygive a more reverent tone to the prayer, but none are controversial orpuzzling. The same can’t be said, however, of the phrase, “for you and for MANY.”

At first hearing, it sounds as ifthe Church is saying that Christ didn’t die for everyone, that there’s somespecial class of individuals who aren’t of “salvation-grade quality”. But thatcan’t be what the Church actually means. Or is it?

The answer is no ... and yes. Christdid die for everyone. He offers salvation to all. But noteveryone accepts what he offers. That’s what the phrase “for you andfor MANY”reminds us. And that’s what the original Latin says.

In Latin, the phrase used is"QUI PRO VOBIS ET PRO MULTIS", which literally means “for youand for many,” or “for you and the many.” “The many” can mean the same thing as“all,” but traditionally that’s not how the phrase has been interpreted, not byCatholics and not by Protestants who continue to use the words “for many” intheir own communion services.

In part, “for many”because the passage is a translation of the words Jesus spoke at the LastSupper, words which refer to a passage from Isaiah 53 aboutthe suffering servant who would make many righteous.

It’s also been translated as“many” rather than “all,” because of Jesus’ own words about heaven and hellin Matthew 7:14: “How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leadsto life. And those who find it are few.”

On a spring day outsideJerusalem, the Second Person of the Trinity saved every member of the humanrace, potentially. It’s ‘potentially’because not everyone will be saved. The Lord says that in the Gospel.

Again, however, that’s notto say that Jesus doesn’t want to save everyone. He does.

But, in order to receivesalvation, something on our part needs to happen. We don’t earn oursalvation, but we need to embrace it and live it.

Our decisions have consequences.We’re not Jansenists, whose crucifixes were long and narrow, signifying thatonly a few would be saved. Our crucifixes have Christ’s arms spread wide toshow that salvation is for the many. But if we eliminate human choice,then morality has no meaning or content, i.e., one can do whatever onepleases and just presume God will forgive all offenses without repentance. Butthat’s not how it works, and presumption is a sin against the Holy Spirit.”

BY RETURNING TO THE TRADITIONAL “FOR YOU AND FOR MANY,” THECHURCH ASKS US TO REMEMBER THAT:

· The words remind us, that there is no suchthing as automatic salvation. Just because someone poured water on yourhead 50 years ago doesn’t mean you’re saved!

· The language, these words, also force us to confront our own sins.

And finally the third idea behind the returnto original text

MeaCulpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa

Presently, we say:

“Iconfess to almighty God and to you my brothers and sisters that I have sinnedthrough my own fault in my thoughts and in my deeds, in what I have done andwhat I have failed to do.”

BeginningNov. 27, we’ll say:

“Iconfess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatlysinned in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and what Ihave failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my mostgrievous fault.”

HERE’S WHY:

The new translation of the RomanMissal won’t just bring a change in words. It will also bring a change in tone,calling for greater humility from both the priest and the congregation.

Likewise, in the introduction tothe penitential rite, the priest no longer calls upon the congregationto “acknowledge our failures,” but rather to “acknowledge our sins.”

To some, the changes might sounda bit like an invocation to breast beating, rather like the Church is callingcongregants to indulge in some “good old-fashioned Catholic guilt”. But that’snot what’s happening.

As with the other changes, thenew translation is just faithfully rendering what’s always been there in theoriginal Latin. And what’s there isn’t there to make us think badly aboutourselves. It’s there to make us think correctly about ourselves.

The words are intended tohelp us realize how grateful we should be. In spite of the fact thatwe’ve gravely sinned and have grievous faults, we have a God of mercy who diedfor us. We need to realize the gift that our salvation is.

We also need to realize thatwe all need that salvation.

In our current culture , manypeople, Catholics included, have an ‘I’m OK, you’re OK’ attitude’. But we’re not. We’re broken people in need of beingfixed. We need God. We’re completely dependent on Him, and without him, we’renothing. Unfortunately, most of us only remember that in times of great need.The language of the Mass tries to help us realize that in good times as well.

It also reminds us that God isnot a vending machine for spiritual and material favours, dispensing grace atour command.

In the new translation, you hearthe priest saying things such as, ‘humbly we beg you,’ ‘we beseechyou,’ ‘be pleased to grant’. There’s less bossing, less ‘Lord dothis,’ and more petitioning, more ‘Lord, grant this we humbly pray.’

That can sound like groveling orbegging. But it’s not. It articulates the truth that we don’t dare just presenta list of demands to God. We’re not engaged in commodity trading. Everything isa gift and only because God is gracious and merciful do we dare approach him,let alone receive the gift of a response.

In articulating that, the newtranslation does what the Mass is supposed to do:

It puts us in right relationship withGod. It also reminds us who we are.

We are beggars before God. Weare not His equals. He’s not “our buddy”. He is our Creator, and as Hiscreatures we owe him adoration. We haven’t come to Mass to give orders,but to receive orders. The current texts have blocked that distinction.

All this matters, of course, because inthe journey to holiness, humility is a must.

Humility involves real knowledgeof self. Even the ancient pagan Greeks understood the importance of that. ‘Knowthy-self,’ said the Delphic Oracle. Christians recognize humility as the firstrung on the ladder to perfection. The final rung is charity, but the journeystarts with humility. It’s where the path of perfection begins.

Generally speaking the backgroundfor the more faithful translation is

Morepraise for God.

Throughout the new translation, God ismore fully and faithfully praised.

We stress the sacredness and holinessof the Eucharist.

We avoid the wrong"creativity" of some bold, self-confident and even arrogant priestsof the past.

PDF version

2011-10-15T13:48:00.001-06:00

29th Sunday in ordinary Time – September 16, 2011

"Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God." (Mt 22,21)

I don't know about you, but if I were forced to choose between Caesar and God, I know who I would choose. When I die, Caesar will not judge me. God will.

We have in our own day an abundance of conflicts between Church and state. Abortion, euthanasia, steam cell researches and biological experimentations, same sex unions … Is this a political matter or religious? If it's deemed political, many believe, the Church should have nothing to say. Attempts to muzzle God go back to the beginning of salvation history. The prophets were put to death for speaking God's truth long before the Pharisees and Herodians tried to entrap and silence Christ. He truth and lie are certainly not political but moral. And we cannot be silent.

" In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”

The abortion issue, many say, is a political issue, and therefore a matter for Caesar alone. Men of God, it is said, should be silent. Human life, in fact, is a moral issue, and when the laws of men are immoral, attacking the laws of God and the sacredness of human life, than Godly men should shout from every rooftop, priests should preach from every pulpit, every believing man and woman should speak out and protest. "Render...to God the things that are God's." All human life is sacred, from the hands of the creator. "For Thou didst form my inward parts, Thou didst knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise Thee, for Thou art fearful and wonderful, wonderful are Thy works!" (Psalm 139) When Caesar's laws are an abomination before God, then it is Caesar who must change.

Whether opposing the culture of death or any tyranny of the political order, the Christian gives first allegiance to the laws of God. "The citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel. Refusing obedience to civil authorities, when their demands are contrary to those of an upright conscience, finds its justification in the distinction between serving God and serving the political community." 'Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' (Mt 22:21) 'We must obey God rather than men.' (Acts 5:29)

'When citizens are under the oppression of a public authority which oversteps its competence, they should still not refuse to give or to do what is objectively demanded of them by the common good; but it is legitimate for them to defend their own rights and those of their fellow citizens against the abuse of this authority within the limits of the natural law and the Law of the Gospel.' (Gaudium et spes, 74) (CCC 2242)

"Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God." (Mt 22,21)

2011-10-08T12:04:00.001-06:00

28 Ordinary Time – A October 09, 2011
Isaiah 25, 6-10a; Psalm 23; Philippians 4, 12-14, 19-20; Matthew 21, 1-14

We see that in today's Gospel Jesus speaks about a king with a long list of people invited to a wedding banquet. The banquet is heaven - as our first reading makes clear: "a feast of rich foods and choice wines" where God "will remove the veil that veils all people...he will destroy death forever." Sadly the invited guests refuse to come. They have more important things on their mind. They even make fun of the king's messengers and mistreat them.
Don't you thing that it sounds familiar? What about the Eucharist and all our excuses and justifications, pretexts and apologies? We don't have time; we have something more important to do …

All are invited, but not all respond. It's hard for us to come to understand the fact that not everyone might be saved, not everyone might enter the Kindom of God. Yet that is the conclusion of today's parable: "Many are invited, but few are chosen."

I have to be honest. I do not like the idea that some might be excluded from heaven - especially when I consider that one of those people might be me. I am confident about God's love - but I am not so confident about myself. For that reason I ask: How could a person be excluded from heaven?

"Many are called." God's saving love embraces all of creation. But … "only few are chosen" … or rather should we say "only few have accepted the invitation". God is inviting everyone but is not forcing anybody. If you reject His invitation … don't be surprised that you will be not allowed to participate in the ETERNAL BANQUET.

Well, it is important to understand that heaven is a banquet. Everyone likes the general idea of a banquet, but regarding any specific banquet it depends on what is on the menu. Some people love oysters while others can hardly stand to look at the little mollusks. The same can be said about other foods. French eat "escargot" and Mexicans have a soup called "menudo." Escargots are ordinary garden snails and menudo is made from a cow's belly - tripe. A person has to be willing to try them in order to appreciate how delicious they might be.

Something similar applies to heaven. Not that it will make a difference whether we have a taste for oysters or tripe or snails. It will matter, however, if we have a taste for God. Even though we are made for God, in this life we have to develop a taste for God. It is easy to fill ourselves with other things - a kind of spiritual junk food. People often do not go to Mass because "it is boring." Well, a salad is boring in comparison to French Fries. But a person can cultivate a taste for salad - just like a person can develop a taste for God.

Hell is a self-made prison. A man builds his own hell out things such as anger, pornography, hurt feelings, vanity, false self-image and lies. They become his daily diet - and he loses (or never acquires) a taste for God. Heaven's banquet (which is nothing more and nothing less than God) holds no attraction for him - other things seem more compelling.

The "final judgment" is nothing more than
- that moment when our choice to love God is sealed by His eternal embrace of love in heaven,
- or when we face the consequences of our rejection of God's love by refusing to keep the commandments. Jesus teaches us, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."

So, yes, Jesus shed his blood for all - and he invites all to the heavenly banquet. But not all accept the invitation. In a few weeks we will hear a more exact translation of Jesus' words: "My blood...poured out for many." We can be part of that joyful multitude. By prayer, by the sacraments we can each day increase our taste for God.

In the parable, those who were first invited to the banquet would be the people of ancient Israel, who often violated the covenant and resisted the prophets. At the time of Jesus, they found it impossible to let go of their traditions in order to make room for his revolutionary message.

Those brought in from the streets to fill the banquet hall would be the outsiders; including the Gentiles who, in many cases, gladly responded to Jesus' universal invitation. However, some of them too were unwilling to be fully converted and thus were lacking the proper "wedding garment” of unselfish love.

One of the most dangerous temptations for traditional Christians is an easy assumption that they have responded to God's invitation and are now comfortably seated at the banquet waiting for their final and inevitable heavenly reward. This temptation is so insidious because it really is based on the fact of faithful religious observance.

Jesus desires deeply that all be saved, and so he invites all to the banquet, but He yet preserves our freedom to reject Him. This is a great mystery, but the answer lies in God's love. True love preserves the freedom of the one loved, to either respond with authentic, free, Godly love, or to reject. But why did the king tell this one man he was improperly dressed? Why did he speak such harsh words: "Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth"?

Well, the wedding garment is also a symbol. It represents our new life in Christ. It represents the Sanctifying Grace. When we accepted God’s invitation we left the old life of sin and began to live a new life of love and goodness. It is as if we left off our old clothes and put on new ones. We always feel much better wearing new clothes. We know we look good and often that helps us to act better.

So what about this man who is found wearing his old clothes at the royal wedding? The cloths of sin and perversion? The king is angry and has him thrown out. He represents us when we sin.

In those days the tradition was that when a poor man was invited to a royal feast and he could not afford a festive garment then the king would provide him one. Are we not provided with new cloths, with the opportunity of making our lives new in the Sacrament of Reconciliation? So there was no excuse for this man to be without a wedding garment; that is surely why in the parable it says: the man was silent. He could give no reason because there was none.

We have to be very careful how do we prepare to participate in the Eucharistic Banquet.

see: homilies

2011-09-17T17:59:00.001-06:00

25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time “A”

How many of us think that Jesus' parable today is telling us a story about a situation that is both unfair and unjust. I’m pretty sure every one of us can think of some injustice in our lives. If we think back over the years can we remember some things that have happened to us that we figure were pretty unjust?

I think most of us have some experience of injustice in our lives. Sometimes that injustice that has happened to us leaves a wound that takes a long time to heal. However Jesus’ story today is not about injustice because really there is no injustice done to anyone in it.

And Jesus’ parable is not about justice either, although for sure the story goes out of its way to tell us that justice is done.

Justice is a great thing and it is one of those things that is stressed over and over again in the Bible. But as I said, Jesus' story is not about justice either.

If it’s not about justice or injustice what then is this parable all about? The owner of the vineyard says 'Are you envious because I am generous?' And that phrase is the key phrase of the whole story. This parable is about generosity, a generosity unlike anything we've ever known or seen in our lives.

The eleventh-hour workers were not lazy people who didn't want to work. But they were people no respectable employer would hire. These people were the leftovers, the rejects. All the good workers were gone to work already.

And so the idea that any employer would take these people on at the eleventh hour, and pay them a full day's wage, was really unthinkable. Yet this is exactly what the owner of the vineyard did. And that action is the whole point of the parable. In this story Jesus isn’t talking about human generosity but rather He is talking about the generosity of God. In today’s First Reading it was said, 'God's ways are not our ways, God's thoughts are not our thoughts'. And so, in today’s Gospel God's generosity is totally unlike human generosity.

I mean who among us would have done what the owner of the vineyard did? Think about it. In today’s world, truthfully, who among us is going to pay someone the same wage for one hour’s work as we would for eight hours work. It’s not going to happen. Jesus aimed this parable directly at the Pharisees. You see, the Pharisees were critical of Jesus because He befriended sinners and so Jesus gave them His answer in this parable.

In this parable Jesus shows them and shows us what God is like: God is generous and full of compassion for the poor, the outcast and the sinner. God is generous and full of compassion for all of us. God deals with us in ways that are very different from the ways we normally deal with one another. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high is God's generosity above our generosity. The goodness of God is a great comfort to us. But it is also a great challenge to us, because you know what? We are called to imitate it. We are called to deal with one another the same way as God deals with us. And that is a great responsibility.

Therefore we are called to conversion, because a conversion is required before we can begin to act like God. Not an intellectual conversion, not a conversion of the mind but a conversion of the heart.

St John says: 'Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.' Once God has touched our hearts, and warmed them with His love, we will begin to love in our turn. And then we will truly know what God is like. God is love. This parable is about God's generosity to all of us. This parable is about giving. Giving what? This parable is about God giving us that free and utterly undeserved gift that we call grace and our response to that gift.

If we accept that view then we can see that it is about God's call to us, and blessed are those who listen to Him and respond to His call and in turn 'call to Him', realizing that 'He is close to all who call on Him, who call on Him from their hearts'. The landowner in the parable calls workers into His vineyard at daybreak, at the third hour, at the sixth and ninth hours and finally at the eleventh hour. When we listen to this story we have to all agree that this is a most peculiar way of going about things.

This parable is telling a story not about unemployment, it is not about wages, but rather it is teaching the Pharisees and us about how God has dealt with the human race throughout the ages. Jesus was speaking to His disciples who knew their Scriptures very well and, as He spoke to them, they remembered the call to Abraham who was called by God three times and each time Abraham answered the call, believing and trusting in God, obeying God and doing what God told Him to do.

That same call came to Isaac, to Jacob, to Joseph, to Moses who led the people out of the captivity of Egypt into the freedom of the desert. And it is here we can begin to understand the meaning of the divine call. It was there in the desert that God made a covenant with the people, a covenant, a union that later in the Old Testament is called a love-pact, a marriage between God and His chosen people.

God gave them a way of life called the Torah, which literally means “the law”, which includes the Ten Commandments but also a great deal more. Through Moses the people were called upon to promise that they would keep the law, and God promised to bind Himself to them and so they would be His people and He would be their God. This was all sealed by sacrifice when Moses sprinkled the people with the blood of the sacrificed animal saying, 'This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you.'

All seemed pretty good for the future of the chosen ones, but unhappily it was not so. As we know, in spite of repeated calls through the prophets over the centuries, in spite of all the various and painful turns of fortune for the Jewish people, time and again they failed to make an adequate response to God

And so it was in the fullness of time that God sent His Son, born of a woman, Mary of Nazareth, born a subject of the old law, that He might redeem those who were under the old law. And He came and dwelt among us and taught and called people to Himself, among them He called the twelve disciples and He called all the others, men and women, of whom we read about in the gospels. He called them, they responded, they followed, and they like ourselves were those who were called at the eleventh hour to experience the generosity of God. And our calling at the eleventh hour was completed by the New Covenant.

At the Last Supper, on the night before He died to show us and to show the whole of the human race how much He loved us, He said a prayer of blessing over some bread - Jesus said, 'Take and eat; this is my body.' He said a prayer of thanksgiving over the wine and offering it to the twelve said: 'This is my blood of the covenant. Take and drink.' This was and this is the sacrament of the New Covenant with the new People of God, brought into existence by the shedding of Jesus' blood and the complete free will offering of Himself to His Father.

As we read in the Gospel of St John, greater love, (and we could say here, greater generosity) no one could have than that He should give His life for others. That is the generosity shown in today's gospel.

So let us not forget that we also are being called. We are among the last to be called, those called at the eleventh hour, and therefore we have an obligation to respond to God's call by our daily living, by our lived faith, and by the love of God and for each other which we should return for the love that Jesus has shown us. We are in a sense privileged and at the same time we are not privileged. We are privileged in that through no merit of our own we have been called freely by God‘s grace into God's church out of the infinite goodness of God.

At the same time not privileged because, if like the people of old we fail to respond to God’s call, to God’s grace, if we fail to live for Him, if we fail to take our place in co-working with Him to bring about His kingdom, His reign, then we shall have forfeited whatever may seem to have been a privileged position. For by our disobedience and rebellion then the last shall become first but we who are first can also become the last.

And so, these are the questions that Jesus asks us in this parable: In our lives as faithful Catholic Christians, how are we responding to God’s grace? Are we responding to God’s call to live for Him, to put Him first in our lives, to obey Him and His church in order to help Him bring about His Kingdom, His reign?

Are we keeping our part of the bargain? Are we our brother’s keeper as God asks us to be? How are we responding to His call to forgive each other, to help each other, to guide and teach each other, to pray for each other? Are we truly obeying His command to love one another with the generosity that He has loved us?

Deacon Bernie Ouellette

2011-09-08T19:31:00.000-06:00

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sept. 11, 2011

First we have to notice that Christ's teaching is holistic, complete and universal. This is especially visible when we see the Gospel of the last Sunday and today's teaching of Christ. Jesus is teaching us seriously and talking honestly in the universal way. He is not just skipping the difficult topics to please to his disciples. For this reason we cannot take one part of His teaching which is pleasing to us and forget or reject the other part which is less nice or demanding. And this is –most probably- the biggest problem of the contemporary Christians. We are accustomed to "choose", to "pick-out" and to select. What is agreeable I accept, what is not I reject. I am choosing and selecting, I am deciding according to my wishes or caprices.

Last Sunday Jesus was teaching about our mutual responsibility, about our mutual duty to help each other in the situation of sin. Today He is teaching about the duty of forgiveness, mercy and compassion. But I cannot be merciful, I cannot forgive you, I cannot be compassionate if:

(and there are two NECESSARY CONDITIONS) …

- I don't see that something was wrong in your behaviour, so I CANNOT FORGIVE without judging, or assessing

- And secondly - if you don't recognise your errors and faults, if you claim that everything is OK and you don't do anything wrong,

If there is no sin, no error, not offence so …? What to forgive, what to excuse, why to be merciful and compassionate?

Fr. Alex McAllister SDS

http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/

In the Gospel today we hear Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness. Peter poses the question, an entirely practical one, by asking how many times we must forgive those who sin against us.

What was being taught at the time in the Synagogues was that one had a duty to forgive someone three times and so we can see that Peter by putting forward the possibility of forgiving seven times probably thinks he is doing very well. In giving the number seventy-seven Jesus is essentially saying that there should be no limits to the number of times we forgive those who have offended us.

In the parable that Jesus gives to illustrate his point there are two different currencies used. The servant owed the king ten thousand talents, a huge sum; but the man who owed the servant money only owed one hundred denarii. Since one talent was equal to six thousand denarii we can see that the man only owed the servant a tiny amount in comparison.

Jesus clearly intends the King to represent the Father and is by means of a parable is making the point that the debts we owe to one another are just chicken-feed in comparison to what we owe God.

Nothing we can do, can ever pay the debt we owe to God. Yet he offers his forgiveness freely to all. Somehow though, this extraordinary generosity seems to offend our human sensibilities. We find it difficult to cope with such unrestrained generosity. It goes against what we think of as natural justice. We feel that sins must be paid for; that recompense must be made for serious offences. We feel that justice must be done and seen to be done.

The willingness to make restitution is an important factor in establishing true repentance. But sometimes this can be difficult to achieve and this is why in confession these things are discussed with the priest who will determine what is appropriate in the given circumstances.

I was once in the prison a while ago saying mass and on my way out a young man came up for a chat. He had only arrived there the previous week from another prison. I asked him how long he had already served but was astonished at his reply: nineteen years.

It seems he had been given a life sentence. I asked him when he was due to be released. He said that he didn’t know as it was entirely in the hands of the parole board who he said were sure to knock him back. His best guess was another two years or so.

Now I have no idea what that man did to deserve life imprisonment; but we can guess that it must have involved murder perhaps with some aggravating circumstances. All I do know is that his crime was committed when he was quite young because he only looked about forty years old.

There are all kinds of things that have to be taken into account by a judge when he determines a prison sentence. He must consider the seriousness of the crime, the state of mind and personal circumstances of the criminal as well as other factors such as the potential danger to the public.

Sentencing policy is always controversial and governments are constantly adjusting the guidelines as a way of showing themselves to be sensitive to the wishes of the electorate.

But human justice can never be compared to God’s justice. And the fundamental difference between them is that only God can see into the very heart of man. Only God truly knows all that has to be taken into account. Only God can know whether someone is truly repentant. Only God can determine whether appropriate restitution has been completed.

Our problem is that we think that God is too lenient. We think that God will let major sinners off the hook if they express some slight repentance. And we frequently don’t think that this is right or just. We would be harsher; we tend to believe that punishment is the true expression of justice and that most criminals get off too lightly.

When it comes to our turn things get more complicated. There are two common approaches. One is the tendency think that our sins are relatively minor when compared to those of some others and God can’t or won’t withhold his forgiveness. And the other is the opposite, it is the surprisingly common belief that our sins are so bad that God can’t or won’t forgive us.

Of course, in both of these positions there lies a heresy and we realise that they are just plain wrong. On the one hand God certainly does not overlook our sins. But then neither does he withhold his forgiveness from those who truly repent.

And this is the key as far as God is concerned: true repentance. In thinking about what repentance consists in, I realised, just the other day, that it must be an aspect of love. We love the other person and through this love we come to realise just how much we have hurt them. Love then motivates us to make appropriate restitution and to seek forgiveness.

Sin is quite the opposite; it is the expression of lack of love. Selfishness is the real motivation for sin. Greed, abuse of power, hate –all these things are the opposite of love.

So the human project, the very aim and purpose of the Christian life, is to grow in love. And the best and most straightforward way to do this is to imitate Christ, the Lord of Love. The solution then for every sin, for every crime, is to grow in love. This is what brings about repentance both in this world and in the hereafter.

In talking to that man in the prison, I asked him how he had coped over these nineteen long years. He told me, only two things have kept me going –the love of my family and the fact that I found God. Without those, he said, I’d never have survived.

2011-09-03T17:22:00.000-06:00

23 Ordinary Time – A - 2011

Homily from Father Cusick

http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/lowhome.html

Meeting Christ in the Liturgy

Ezekiel 33, 7-9; Psalm 95; Romans 13, 8-10; Matthew 18, 15-20

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The first reading today from Ezekiel speaks about the responsibility that we have to each other. The Lord says that we are set as watchmen for his people. It is wrong for someone to ignore another person who is behaving improperly. There is an obligation to try to convince the other person to choose right over wrong. Of course, this is difficult because we can jeopardize our lives if we appoint ourselves as guardians of everyone else’s actions. For example, if you are in Wal-Mart and come upon a young Mom with eighteen month old twins in a stroller and a four year old who doesn’t want to hold on to her hand, and you hear her yelling at her four year old, your life might be in jeopardy if you tell her that she should speak nicely to her children. At the very least, you probably would get hit in the face with a diaper bag. Actually, Ezekiel’s is not speaking about people in general. He is speaking about being a watchman for the community of Israel. His main point refers not as much to people we don’t know as to those we do know. This is even more difficult. If we learn that our friend or a member of our family is doing something immoral, and we don’t say anything, we are condoning their action. It takes a lot of courage to say to someone, “Look, I can’t agree with what you are doing, and I hope you reconsider your actions,” but Christianity does take courage.

The Gospel reading today is dealing with someone who has offended you. It gives a set procedure: talk to the person about it. If this doesn’t work, bring two or three others to have a discussion about it. If this is not successful, then go before the community and discuss the matter. If the community agrees with you, and the person still continues to offend you, then he or she is no longer part of the community.

This sounds harsh, but is it not much better than our present system. Ideally, if we followed what the gospel suggests we would be much better and less stressed in our lives than with our "political correctness" AGENDA.

We do indeed "meet Christ in the liturgy". Learning this truth and living by it, every Catholic can learn to love the liturgy more and to participate in it more deeply, responding to the infinite graces that are present in each Mass. Many, unfortunately, are unaware that an encounter with Christ happens each time the liturgy is offered. Many allow themselves to become bored, are put off by the obligation to attend Mass, and many fall away. Yes, we must attend Mass each week in order to fulfill the commandment to keep the Lord's Day holy, but it is more perfect to do so out of love of God and the desire to praise Him. He is ever worthy of all praise and glory because of He is God. It is our great calling as creatures to find fulfillment and happiness in coming to know and love our Creator, and to worship Him.

The teaching of the Church about the presence of Christ in the Mass, or liturgy, comes from Christ's own teaching. Christ is present in the Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament, really, truly and substantially. The Eucharist is the great sign of the Church and the guarantee of Lord's abiding presence in the Church and in the sacraments.

Christ is also present through the authority of the Church to teach in matters of faith and morals in his name and, as it were, with his own voice. In today's Gospel according to St. Matthew, chapter eighteen, verses fifteen to twenty, we hear again that the Church has been given Christ's power to bind or loose, to forgive or not forgive sins. All of the Church's faithful enjoy Christ's presence, through the Holy Spirit, while assembled to praise and worship him and to pray in His name. The Catechism helps us in our understanding. Christ, glorified at the right of the Father in heaven, is now present among us in a number of ways, including in the earthly liturgy, or the Mass. "Christ is always present in his Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the Sacrifice of the Mass not only in the person of his minister, 'the same now offering, through the ministry of priests, who formerly offered himself on the cross,' but especially in the Eucharistic species. By his power he is present in the sacraments so that when anybody baptizes, it is really Christ himself who baptizes. He is present in his word since it is he himself who speaks when the holy Scriptures are read in the Church. Lastly, he is present when the Church prays and sings, for he has promised 'where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them.' " (Mt. 18: 20) (CCC 1088)

****************

The readings also tell us that we are members of a faith community and as such we are accountable to each other. Quite often, we miss this. We consider ourselves accountable only directly to God, and then convince ourselves that God understands the stress we have and will close an eye to our sins. We may convince ourselves, but we are assuming that God agrees with us. What we are overlooking is that God is present in the community. The Church is the Body of Christ. When we offend others, when we sin, we are sinning against the Body of Christ. If we hurt another person, we are offending Christ within that other person as well as offending the entire Christian community. If we claim we are Christian, we have a responsibility to all other Christians to behave in a Christian way. We are accountable to each other, and to all others in the Church.

Many of you have told me that you really felt your responsibility to others to act in a Christian way when you got married. Your wife, your husband, had a right to your respect, charity, patience and kindness. You have told me that you avoid the immorality of the world because you are accountable to your spouse. You who are married take care of yourselves physically, mentally and spiritually because you belong to each other. Others of you have told me that you really felt the depth of your responsibility to others when you had children.

2011-09-03T17:21:00.000-06:00

22 Sunday of the year – A – August 28, 2011

"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,

take up his cross, and follow me.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world

and forfeit his life" …

Last week we heard in our Gospel reading about Peter’s spontaneous profession of faith “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” This was followed by Christ’s great mandate to Peter and his successors, “Upon this rock I will build my Church.”

And yet here we are with the immediately following text where Jesus calls Peter a stumbling block and says, “Get behind me Satan”! It is hard to credit that these two things should be in the same Gospel, let alone in the same chapter.

Matthew has deliberately chosen to put these incidents together. First we have the profession of Peter’s faith together with Jesus’ declaration that it is on the rock of Peter that he will build his Church and then immediately following we have the text today about him becoming a stumbling block and the famous phrase “Get behind me Satan.”

Matthew puts these two things together as a warning to us, the members of the Church, the people to whom this Gospel is primarily addressed. It is a warning that we should not take the first part of the text in any sort of triumphal way. We should not become so confident that we are members of the true Church of Christ that we start to believe that this means we can do no wrong. This is the warning against our human capacity of making all things smooth and "nice". This is the warning against our temptation of "organizing" and "shaping" our salvation relaying on our human capabilities and resources. Western civilization is so successful and efficacious in so many domains that we start to believe that we can achieve our ultimate salvation through our own efforts and means. This is why Jesus is telling me: "You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." Be careful and don’t rely on yourself on your possibilities.

Actually, what he is telling us is that we have to tread very carefully indeed so as not to become the very opposite of what we are meant to represent.

Peter did not mean to offend Jesus, and he certainly did not want to do anything to obstruct Jesus’ plan of salvation; it is simply that he didn’t understand it in all its fullness. He tried to be politically correct. Peter was simply saying the kind of thing any other human being would say in the circumstances; he can’t really believe that Jesus would need to suffer and die. Because he loves Jesus he does not want him to die and so comes out with his statement of disbelief.

One can’t help but think of how human Peter was; his very impulsiveness being one of his most endearing characteristics. It seems that in the Gospels he always speaks from the heart even if what he says is a bundle of contradictions.

We find this to be very reassuring. Jesus did not choose the perfect man on which to build his Church. No, he chose a man like us; someone with all the same sorts of faults and contradictions that we recognise within ourselves and yet someone who is essentially good and straightforward.

Even when we get to the moment of Peter’s greatest betrayal, when he denies Christ three times, we find that it is not something blatantly bad that he is doing. Actually he is trying to be near Jesus, to find out what is going to happen to him and, one is tempted to think, try to help Jesus if he can.

What happens is that his cover is blown, he is recognised and it is the panic that this induces that causes Peter to deny that he even knows Jesus.

And here in our text today we see that Peter’s real intention was not to be a stumbling block so much as to try to protect Jesus from harm. We are inclined to think that Jesus is being a bit hard on poor Peter in order to stress very clearly what is going to happen and that anything that gets in its way is contrary to the will of his Father.

The underlying assumption of Peter is that suffering is bad and it is something that we should be protected from, and this is an assumption that we all share in our everyday lives. Christ, though, tells us something different; he tells us and shows us in his own life that suffering is redemptive. He tells us that suffering is essential to his work of salvation.

One of the greatest problems in the world is that people do not seem to understand this anymore. And indeed one of the most common arguments against the existence of God put forward by ordinary people today is that God allows the innocent to suffer. What they fail to take into account is that suffering has a meaning. They fail to understand that it is often only through suffering and struggle that a greater good can come about.

Now this is not to say that suffering and pain are good in themselves or we would feel obliged to flagellate ourselves every five minutes! No this would be a distortion of God’s intention. But we do know that in suffering there is something deeply mysterious, valuable and redemptive.

In time Peter was to come to understand the meaning of the Cross. We know that when faced with his own crucifixion at the hands of the Romans he asked to be crucified upside down because he did not feel worthy to imitate Christ.

There is another tradition which tells us of Peter leaving Rome to escape persecution and as he passes down the Via Appia meets Christ travelling in the opposite direction, towards Rome. He greets Christ with the words “Quo Vadis, Domine?” Where are you going, Lord? Only for Jesus to respond that he was going to Rome to be crucified once again. At which point Peter turned around and returned to the city to face his own death.

This little story might be apocryphal but there is something in it for each one of us. Our following of Christ will inevitably lead to the Cross and it is how we regard the Cross that will determine our response to it. We will then face the moment of truth; which we hope, with God’s help, will be the moment of our salvation.

2011-08-26T11:29:00.001-06:00

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

In today’s gospel we hear Jesus asking the question “who do you say that I am?” This is a very important question because it is one that applies to all time and all places. Therefore, it is a relevant question for today’s church. When Peter, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, comes up with the right answer – What does Jesus do? Jesus makes Peter the first Pope at the head of His Church, the Body of Christ.

You remember when Saul was persecuting the Church, he was stopped by Jesus and asked the question “Saul, Saul why do you persecute me? Saul said “Who are you Lord?” Jesus said “I am Jesus, the one whom you are persecuting.” As a result of his conversion Saul becomes St. Paul - one of the greatest saints and teacher of the Catholic faith. Now Jesus asks us the same question “And who do you say that I am?”

This is something that we need to think about because it is asked of us by Jesus. Therefore it is an important question. For us Jesus is truly the Son of the living God and we are members of His body, the Church. But which church are we members of? And is that important?

Although it is one, Christ’s church also is plagued with division and dissension from within and without. The Bible tells us that there will always be those who do not accept the authority of Jesus’ teachings, the teachings of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is the only universal Christian Church that has existed since the time of Jesus. Think about it.

We should not be ashamed of our faith – we should not be afraid to talk about it in front of others – we should not be afraid to mention our differences for fear of offending anyone. But we should always do so in the spirit of Christian charity – no one should be afraid of the truth.

Isn’t it true that every other Christian group is an offshoot of the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches broke away from unity with the pope in 1054. The protestant communities were established during the reformation, which began in 1517. Most of today’s protestant groups are actually offshoots of the original protestant offshoots. For example the Church of the Nazarene just started in 1908. The Mormons in the early 1800’s and the Jehovah’s Witnesses started in the late 1870’s by Charles Taze Russell.

The Anglicans began with Henry the 8th of England break with Rome in 1534. The Lutherans, who have fractured into many different Lutheran divisions, were started in the early 1500’s by Martin Luther while the Dutch Reformed Church which follows the teachings of John Calvin began around 1571. In 2004 the Dutch Reformed church reorganized and merged with the Evangelical Lutheran church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and now call themselves the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. Those who did not want to change broke away from them and now call themselves the Restored Reformed Church.

There have been so many break always in the protestant community that it is a difficult task to keep track of them all. For example in the United States alone there are over 35,000 different Christian denominations each one of them calling themselves the one true church.

Most of these protestant communities are fairly recent and there are more coming every day as they continue to split amongst themselves mostly over doctrinal issues.

Think about it. Only the Catholic Church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century and in the first century – if you were Christian in those years you were Roman Catholic. It is the truth that the Catholic church has been faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ to the apostles, omitting nothing. It is true also that the line of popes can be traced back in unbroken succession to Peter himself. This is unequalled by any institution in history.

Even the oldest government in the world is new compared to the papacy. So with all of this diversity in the Christian community how do we find this one true church? And is it important for us to do so? How do we do so in Christian charity without causing further division? Actually the one true church is easy to find. Look for the church that is still One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic.

One because Jesus established only one church not a collection of differing churches. The Bible says that the church is the bride of Christ. Jesus can have only one spouse and that spouse is the Catholic Church, which teaches one set of doctrines. The same set of doctrines which were taught by the Apostles. This is the unity of belief to which scripture calls us (Phil 1:27, 2:2)

Although some Catholics dissent from officially taught doctrines, the Church’s official teachers – the pope and those bishops who are united with him – have never changed any doctrine from the very beginning. Over the centuries, the Church comes to understand some doctrines more deeply but it never understands them to mean the opposite of what they originally meant.

The Church is Holy. By His grace Jesus makes the Church holy, just as He is holy. This doesn’t mean that each member is always holy. Jesus said there would be both good and bad members in the church (John 6:70) and not all members of the Catholic church will go to heaven (Matt 7:21-23). But the Church itself is holy because it is the source of holiness and is the guardian of the special means of grace Jesus established, which are the sacraments (Eph 5:26)

Jesus’ Church is called catholic, which means universal in Greek, because it is His gift to all people. He told his apostles to go throughout the world and make disciples of “all nations” (Matt 28:19-20). Nowadays the Catholic Church is found in every country of the world and is still sending out missionaries to “Make disciples of all nations”. The church Jesus founded is apostolic because he appointed the apostles to be the first leaders of the church and their successors were to be its future leaders. The apostles were the first bishops and since the first century there has been an unbroken line of Catholic bishops faithfully handing on what the apostles taught the first Christians both in Scripture and oral tradition (2 Tim 2:2)

These beliefs include the bodily Resurrection of Jesus, the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the sacrificial nature of the Mass, the forgiveness of sins through a priest, baptismal regeneration, the existence of purgatory, Mary’s special role in salvation, how we are saved and much much more, even the doctrine of Apostolic succession itself.

Early Christian writings, especially those of the early church Fathers, prove that the first Christians were thoroughly Catholic both in belief and practice and looked to the successors of the apostles as their leaders. What the first Christians believed is still believed by us, members of today’s Catholic Church. No other church can honestly make that claim.

It is One because Jesus wanted it so. It is Holy because it is the Body of Christ. It is Catholic because it is universal having members in every country in the world. And it is Apostolic because it can trace its roots all the way back to the Apostles. Next Sunday Jesus will tell us that if we would come after him, we must die to ourselves and carry a cross.

Just think. What if Jesus had left this world without giving us a Church to support and guide us on that journey? How much more difficult it would be. We could so easily be led astray by false doctrine and Gospels. Even those in the church who do not agree with all the teachings of the church, stay with it because they know that it is the one true church. They do not want to make the same mistake that Martin Luther did. And how do we know we are in the church the Jesus wants us to be in? How can we be sure we are in the "right" church, and what makes our church unique?

Let’s look at some of these differences. In a protestant church the emphasis is mainly on the preached Word and the music. Therefore if you have good preaching and good music and the preaching fits with your thinking you will want to go to that church. If the preaching or music doesn’t suit you, you are free to find another church that has what you want to hear.

In a Catholic Church, while the preached word and the music are important, more important is the Holy Eucharist. Christ said: "Let me solemnly assure you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you ... for my flesh is real food, and my blood real drink" (John 6:55). Many of those who were listening to Jesus were shocked. Why? Because the drinking of blood was unthinkable to a Jew. To even touch blood required ritual purification.

All Jesus had to say here when they started to grumble at this was, "No, no, no. This is merely a symbol!" But he didn't. Jesus said, "Does it shake your faith? ... What then if you were to see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before ... ?" (John 6:61, 62). No, Jesus knew that what He was going to institute, namely the Eucharist, and He knew also that it was going to require a radically new way of thinking for His followers. And so many left Him that day and sadly it is a fact that today many still leave Him over that same doctrine.

Catholics believe, as the Apostles taught and as it says in the Catechism, “In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really and substantially contained" [Council of Trent]. "This presence is called 'real' ... because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present" [Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei] (CCC 1374).

So we see that the Catholic Church is being faithful to the Scriptures in believing in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. When parents lament that their children have gone off and joined other religions, We should encourage them not to worry. If they ever really find Christ, they'll be hack for the Eucharist. Consider next the Mass. In Matt. 26:26-28 Jesus said of the bread at the Last Supper, "Take this and eat ... This is my body," and of the cup, "Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, to be shed for many for the forgiveness of sins." Giving one's body and shedding one's blood for the forgiveness of sins are biblical expressions that speak of a true sacrifice.

It is this divine, timeless sacrifice of Jesus' death that We "re¬present" in the Mass: "The Mass is at the same time, and inseparably, the sacrificial memorial in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated and the sacred banquet of communion with the Lord's body and blood" (CCC 1382).

Without the real presence, you can't have the real sacrifice. Next major difference - Confession or the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Jesus said to his disciples whom He sent forth in John 20:23, "Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven; whose sins you shall retain they are retained." The Catholic Church fulfills this by both forgiving and retaining sins (depending on the case) in the sacrament of penance and reconciliation. It would be impossible to "retain" sins if the penitent's disposition were not known to the priest in confession. What a great gift we have in this sacra¬ment of mercy. Christ said in Matt. 7:17, 20 "Every sound tree hears good fruit .... Therefore from their fruits you shall know them." The "fruits" of the Cath¬olic faith are the saints.

Has any other religion besides our own been able to produce the likes of Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, John Vianney, Catherine of Siena or Therese of Lisieux, Mother Theresa, Pope John Paul 2nd? What awesome examples they are! And how helpful to read about their lives. If Jeremiah and Onias were able to pray for their people after having died (2 Mac. 15:11-16), and the saints offered "the prayers of God's holy people" before God (Rev. 5:8), does it not make sense for us to seek the saints' intercession?

There can be no doubt that Jesus lived perfectly the Fourth Command¬ment: Honour your father and mother. If Christ lives in us as he did in Paul (Gal. 2:20) shouldn't we venerate Christ's mother as he did, especially since veneration was offered to angels in Josh. 5:14 and Dan. 8:17? How much greater than the angels is Mary! The Catholic Church honours Mary in imi¬tation of her son.

What a marvelous intercessor we have in Mary, who so beautifully manifests the mercy and tenderness of God! What saint failed to honour her? In summary then what does the Catholic Church teach us about how we are saved? God’s plan for us is simple. Our loving Father wants to give us all good things – especially eternal life. Jesus died on the cross to save us all from sin and the eternal separation from God that sin causes. When God saves us He makes us part of His body, which is the Church (1 Cor. 12:27-30).

We thus become united with Him and with Christians everywhere (On earth, in heaven and in purgatory). Best of all, this promise of eternal life is a gift, freely offered to us by God. We can accept or reject it. Our initial forgiveness and justification are not things that we “earn”. Jesus is the mediator who bridged the gap of sin that separates us from God. (1Tim 2:5).

He bridged the gap of sin by dying for us. He has chosen to make His church partners in the plan of salvation (1Cor 3:9).

The Catholic church teaches what the apostles taught and what the Bible teaches. We are saved by Grace alone, but not by faith alone (James 2:24) When we come to God and are justified (that is, we enter a right relationship with God) nothing preceding that justification, whether faith or good works, earns grace. But then God plants His love in our hearts and in response we should live out our faith by doing acts of Love (Gal 6:2) Even though only God’s grace enables us to love others, these acts of love please Him (Rom 2:6-7, Gal 6:6-1-) Thus these acts of love or good works are meritorious.

When we first come to God in Faith, we have nothing in our hands to offer Him. Then He gives us grace to obey His commandments in love, and He rewards us with salvation when we offer these acts of love back to Him (Rom 2:6-11, Gal 6:6-10 and Matt 25: 34-40). Jesus said it is not enough to have faith in Him: we also must obey His commandments. “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, but do not do the things I command?” (Luke 6:46, matt 7:21-23, 19:16-21)

We do not “earn” our salvation through good works (Eph 2:8-9, Rom 9:16) but our faith in Christ puts us in a special grace-filled relationship with God so that our obedience and love, combined with our Faith, will be rewarded with eternal life (Rom 2:7, Gal 6:8-9) Our Catholic Church is wonderfully unique, because of the Eucharist, confession and the forgiveness of sins, because of purgatory, because of Mary and all the saints. We are blessed to be part of it! And we should be eternally thankful that He in His great love has called us to it.

When Jesus asks us “Who do you say that I am?

What answer do we give Him and, more importantly, how does this answer affect our daily life?

God Bless you.

Deacon Bernie Ouellette

2011-06-28T22:47:00.002-06:00

Corpus Christi (A)

Almost everyone who calls themselves a Christian believes in the Holy Trinity. Last Sunday we celebrated Trinity Sunday. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Three Persons in one divine nature. Think about it – we don’t understand it – yet we believe it. Why?

Because God has revealed it to us. While the word Trinity itself does not appear in the bible, the concept is clearly there. Remember when Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan – the Father’s voice was heard and the Holy Spirit descended as a dove (Mark 1:10). So, in this one scene we have the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Another reference is when the risen Jesus tells His disciples to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19. Based on God’s word alone we accept the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity. And God has revealed another truth about Himself. In today’s Gospel Jesus says “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh”. How many of us who firmly believe in the Trinity – basing our belief on the Word of God also believe in the real presence – How many of us believe that the Sacred Host is really and truly the actual body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ Himself? Jesus tells us it is. He reveals this to us. “This is My body given for you.”

The Doctrine of the Trinity and the Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist. One mystery is just as big a mystery as the other. Yet many believe in one but not the other. It seems that more and more believe that it is merely a symbol. That we have this Holy community meal mostly as a remembrance of Jesus Christ and it is nothing more than that. From the very beginning, the Catholic understanding and teaching is that this “remembrance” is actually a real “making present” on our altars.

The bread and wine has changed into the body and blood, the soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus said it would. “This is My Body given for you”. And Jesus says more. Jesus says and I quote “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life; for My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in them.” unquote.

Jesus is telling us that if we eat His body and drink His blood He abides in us and we abide in Him. Is it important that we abide in Him? What if we don’t abide in Him? In the Gospel of John Chapter 15, Jesus tells us: “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bears much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.

Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; Such branches are gathered, thrown into a fire and burned.”

So, it is quite clear by these words that abiding in Jesus is very important.

Why? Because the Eucharist is an experience of the real presence of Christ. Until Christ comes in glory, there is no more intense way of experiencing His presence than by receiving Him in Holy Communion. This is not “Holy and Blessed bread” that reminds us of Jesus. This is Jesus, sacramentally present to be with us on our journey. The Holy Eucharist is the source, the centre and the summit of the Catholic Faith.

John uses the whole of Chapter 6 in His Gospel to explain this to us. It is recommended that we prayerfully take our bible and read chapter 6 of John’s Gospel. The Eucharist is also a participation in the Sacrifice of Christ. Jesus offered Himself on Calvary in generous, unselfish love, in the midst of evil – giving and not counting the cost.

We, the baptized, through the sacramental sacrifice of the Mass, are joined to the one sacrifice of Jesus. We don’t crucify Him all over again but rather we mysteriously and sacramentally join in the one sacrifice of the cross. We transcend time and space and are there at Calvary and with the angels and the whole of the heavenly host, who are present at every Mass. And receiving Him we fall on our knees in adoration of this most Blessed Sacrament.

The Blessed Sacrament is so important to our salvation and is so central to our worship that the bible has something very important to instruct us about the proper preparation for receiving Holy Communion. Writing around the year 57 to "the church of God which is at Corinth" (1 Cor. 1:2), St. Paul praises the Christians there for maintaining the traditions he had delivered to them when he preached the Gospel there six years earlier (1 Cor. 11:2) [1].

He rebukes the Corinthians, however, for their divisions and for their liturgical abuses (1 Cor. 11:17-22). St. Paul does not consider liturgical abuses to be a small thing, for these abuses violate the sacredness of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, which shows forth Christ’s death again and again until the end of time (cf. 1 Cor. 11:23-26). In particular, St. Paul is really concerned about the unworthy reception of Holy Communion because this unworthy reception of Holy Communion profanes the Body and Blood of the Lord.

St. Paul says "Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died" (1 Cor. 11:27-30).

"Christ’s invitation to receive Holy Communion-"Take this" (Lk. 22:17), for "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you" (Jn. 6:53)-demands a worthy response from us.

Following St. Paul who says that we must examine ourselves, the Church teaches that this worthy response means that we have to make an examination of our conscience before receiving Holy Communion. In making this examination, the faithful should discern whether or not they have any unconfessed mortal sins.

We need to ask ourselves when was the last time we received Holy Communion. Did we examine our conscience prior to receiving Holy Communion. Were we conscious of grave sin in our lives. When was the last time we went to confession. "Anyone conscious of a grave sin," the Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms, "must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion."[4]

The Church also exhorts the faithful to think deeply upon their love of God and love of their neighbor before receiving Holy Communion. Our Lord warns His followers to be reconciled with their brothers before offering their gifts at the altar (Mt. 5:23-24); He cautions His disciples not to partake of the Eucharistic marriage feast without the wedding garment of charity (Mt. 22:1-14).

Again following St. Paul, the Church exhorts the faithful to discern the Body of the Lord so as to receive Holy Communion worthily. This discernment consists in reflecting upon both the majesty of the Blessed Sacrament and our own unworthiness to receive it:

We should also reflect in the silence of our own hearts how unworthy we are that the Lord should bestow on us this divine gift.[6] The words of the Holy Mass assists us in making this discernment.

The Catechism teaches, "Before so great a sacrament, the faithful can only echo humbly and with ardent faith the words of the Centurion . . . ‘Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul will be healed.’"[7] Discerning the Body helps ensure that the faithful approach Holy Communion with the necessary dispositions.

The liturgical abuses in Corinth, (1 Cor. 11:21-22), also pointed to the desirability of fasting in preparation for Holy Communion. For most of the Church’s history, Catholics were required to fast before receiving Holy Communion and a fast of one hour prior to reception of Holy Communion has become part of the Church’s current canonical discipline:

§1. A person who is to receive the Most Holy Eucharist is to abstain for at least one hour before holy communion from any food and drink (and this includes candy, pop and chewing gum), except for only water and medicine. §3. The elderly, the infirm, and those who care for them can receive the Most Holy Eucharist even if they have eaten something within the preceding hour.[12]

During the week as we live out our baptismal priesthood through faithful discipleship, we prepare once again to meet our risen Saviour at Sunday Mass. At the same time, as each day goes by, we realize our frailty, and our need for the grace that we receive at the Eucharist.

Sunday is a time to stop, look and listen. We need to have a break from our daily work. Sunday is the time to be with family, to be with God. Sunday Eucharist allows us to get our priorities straight, and strengthens us to be more faithful disciples.

It is so easy for us to forget the awesome reality of the presence of Christ, since the way in which He comes to us is, as always, so quiet, so unobtrusive. Therefore, whenever we enter a Catholic Church we look to the red sanctuary lamp which burns there as a reminder of His real presence. We genuflect in acknowledgement of this. And entering the pew we fall to our knees in prayerful adoration. Because it is the Lord. The awesome reality is that we are now in the real presence of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ Himself.

2011-06-25T21:54:00.001-06:00

Rockyford – 25.06.2011

Maybe to begin I will shortly present myself …?

I am a member of the Society of the Divine Saviour, briefly Salvatorians.

I am a priest for almost 30 years.

I used to work for 15 years as a Philosophy professor in different seminaries and universities in Africa, means in Congo, Tanzania and Comoros Islands.

As you –certainly- can hear I have this specific John Paul's II polish accent, because I am also originally from Poland.

Since 2006 I am working as a pastor in the diocese of Edmonton precisely in the Rocky Mountain House Parish.

I am seriously and deeply interested in the studies of Cosmology which is the science of the Beginning and the Evolution of the Universe …

You now this Big-Bang theory, galaxies, origin and the end of stars and solar systems, and the stuff like …

However, through these studies in astronomy, cosmology and theoretical physics I was able to discover and to see the wonderful and astonishing unity of God's revelation whereas in the created nature or in the Holy Scripture.

God doesn't contradict Himself, God is truthful and reliable … GOD IS GREAT IN S DEEDS AND WORDS!!!

I can assure you out of my personal experience "GOD NEVER, NEVER, NEVER misleads, cheats or deceives us". If you are honest and searching Him sincerely … even if sometimes you commit a sin, and you feel bad … He will never abandon and never forget you as long as you honestly search Him and as long as you are able to tell Him: "Jesus I trust You, have mercy on me".

Because He created us and He (and only HE!!!) knows us, better than anybody else ... He knows you even better that you know yourself.

I like fishing and especially ice-fishing … but maybe enough about myself …

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First I have a very serious question and a very personal one to ask you:

Do you think that Jesus is hones with us?

Do you think that we can trust Him or rather be very cautious or wary?

Because, if I really trust Jesus in my life I will be following Him fully and without restriction, but if I don’t trust Him … so where are the sense and the meaning of my life?

We all are in the constant quest for love, meaning and sense, for happiness and fulfilment in our lives.

Would you like to be happy?

Would you like to be loved and to have deep and meaningful relationships?

Would you like to see your life to be fortunate and sense full?

Or rather you will tell me I DON'T CARE !?

By the way, do you remember; what were the first words of the Pope John Paul II when he was elected pope 33 years ago?

He said: "Don't be afraid! Open the doors to Christ!"

During the World Youth Days 1984-2008 John Paul II and Benedict XVI were constantly repeating:

"Don't be afraid! Open the doors to Christ!"

and

"Don't Be Afraid to be Saints"

So why are we afraid? Why we are scared of Jesus?

Is it not because we don't trust Him? We don't believe in Him, we try to live our life according to our caprices, feelings and impulses? And yet we are constantly unhappy, empty, unsatisfied, unfulfilled and disappointed.

Jesus is certainly not an "easy going fellow" who doesn't care what you do and what is your life like.

He will never tell you "DOESN'T MATTER" … or "KEEP SMILING" or "TAKE IT EASY".

He will rather say … "do not be afraid I am the One who can help you and lead you out of the mess you encountered I your life." But be a little bit more careful and cautious because sometimes you are going too far and you follow very dangerous paths. If I am giving you the commandments it is not to make your life miserable, not to make it difficult or to limit your freedom … it's rather a kind of warning. By the commandments I would like to prevent your fall, your disappointment your failure and depression. Trust and believe me … what I am telling you is only for your good and not to cause you misery.

So I have to re-examine perhaps once more the question: "What or Who is the center of my life?"

A story of a drug addict let us call him Peter …

He started at the age of 12 when he was still in the elementary school …

he started out of simple curiosity just to know what it means to feel cool …

he started with very mild drugs an in the very tiny doses…

I meet him when he was already 22, ten years later and close to die … in a hospital for terminally sick patience …

You know father … - he told me- it was like going downhill on the skies or on the snowboard. At the age of 16 –while physically still quite good and healthy – he was a skier or rather he was very good in snowboarding. He won even some international European competitions in snowboarding … he was really good. But –as he said sincerely- he was also sliding down and rapidly into the drugs, more and more, deeper and deeper, stronger and stronger … And nobody was able or RATHER NOBODY WOULD LIKE TO HELP HIM …

He said:

"I have had so many friends and colleagues but nobody even dare to say me … "Peter you are sliding quickly into hell". And actually I was sliding into hell – he said. And now I know – I am in hell because I see that I am dying and I cannot live more than two – three hours without a dose …"

At the beginning I was able to live without "shot" even for months … but after few years it was impossible for me to stay "dry" even for two or three days."

I needed more and more often. And there was no force, no power which can stop me or end this nightmare.

T was cool but only at the beginning, later on it became a kind of necessity and obligation. I cannot stop it I can do nothing, I was like forced and spell bounded by a mysterious force …

It became a real nightmare … terrifying and dreadful awful and frightening …

One night when I was sitting at his bad in the palliative care facility he asked me:

"Father, can you please read me the Gospel, this passage when Jesus is talking about the building the house on the sand and on the rock?"

So I read it for him the passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew chapter 7:

Jesus said to His disciples: "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.

He interrupted me here and said:

"This is very truth Father, for last ten years I was going the very broad and wide road of pleasures and self-indulgence … I was listening to nobody, than to my feelings and desires … and now I can say honestly it was the way which leads to destruction."

And he called the nurse, who came to administer him once more the dose of painkiller, because he was not able to support the pain and the hunger for narcotics anymore.

After the nurse left I continue with the reading of the Gospel:

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them.

And once more he interrupted me saying:

"How true are these words, how true? I was living in a fancy world of false friends and buddies who were really like the wolves in sheep's skins. Where are they now? Where are now all those friends and palls who were repeating me that it is cool? Why nobody told me that I can't go out of this? Why I was so stupid and so week to continue my way which was leading me to hell? And nobody intervened or had enough courage to save me? I didn't trust Jesus however I believe that He is the Lord, but … I didn't took seriously His teaching"

Father please continue the reading"

So I did continue the parable of Jesus where He says:

Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven"

Father – he interrupted again asking – do you think that I am a rotten tree? Do you think that I am dying and I will be condemned?

Do you think that when Jesus says: " Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. " it applies to me, that I will be cut down and thrown into the fire?

I feel so bad, so bad physically but even worse psychologically … I totally destroyed my life. Please read further the Gospel.

And so I did continue:

Jesus said: "Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock."

And he interrupted once more: "I think that I can win my life and now be in a totally different situation, studying and having some wonderful perspectives in my life if only I build my life on the rock …, but …

Please read the last part of this Gospel.

And the last part is:

"And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined." (Matthew 7:13-29)

Do you think Father that I am an example of this last part of Jesus' Gospel? I did build up my life on the sand of sentiments and feelings and I am now ruined. Do you think that I cannot be saved?

I don't think – I answered- that you cannot be saved, because finally recognised your error and I pretty sure Jesus Christ will certainly see your honesty and will find for you the way to His Kingdom.

He looked at me with a certain hope and seems to be relaxed.

Thank you Father but can I ask you one think? Please tell others about my life and help them to understand how stupid is to build up their lives on the sand of emotions, feelings and desires. Please tell other young people to trust rather Jesus than their false friends and wrong teachers.

How do I build my house? Do I build it on a rock or on the sand?

We are living the civilisation of feelings, emotions and sentimentality.

Cult of sentimentality,

If you feel good do it,

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And Jesus is telling us something very different. He is not playing with our emotions. He is rather making an appeal to our reason, to our intellect and our will, our honesty.

2011-06-23T12:58:00.002-06:00

Holy Trinity Sunday 2011

In the story of salvation we usually attribute creation to the Father, redemption to the Son and sanctification to the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, though they are distinct as persons, neither the Father nor the Son nor the Holy Spirit ever exists in separation or acts in isolation from the other two persons of the Godhead. The inner relationship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in such a way that each of them is fully and equally God, yet there are not three Gods but one is incomprehensible to the human mind. It is a mystery.

At Confirmation, the archbishop asked the children for a definition of the Holy Trinity. A girl answered very softly, "The Holy Trinity is three Persons in one God." The archbishop, who was almost deaf, replied, "I didn't understand what you said." And the young theologian before him replied, "You are not supposed to. The Trinity is a mystery."

The word "Trinity," what does it mean? Does it mean that God is a mystery? No! Is the Blessed Trinity another Person of God? No! Then, what is it? The root of the word "Trinity" originates from the Latin word "trini" which means "three each," or "threefold." "The term has been used as early as the days of Tertullian (200 A.D.) to denote the central doctrine of the Christian religion. God, who is one and unique in His infinite substance or nature, or Godhead, is three really distinct Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each of these Persons is truly the same God, and has all His infinite perfections, yet He is really distinct from each of the other Persons. The one and only God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; yet God the Father is not God the Son, but begets the Son eternally, as the Son is eternally begotten. The Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but a distinct Person having His Divine nature from the Father and the Son by eternal procession." (The New Catholic Dictionary, Van Rees Press, NY, Copyright 1929)

In other words, in Jesus dwells the Father and the Holy Spirit. And the same can be said about the Father and the Holy Spirit. In each one dwells the other two Persons of God. This truth is supported by a verse in The Letter of Paul to the Colossians. "In Him (Jesus) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell bodily." [Col. 1:19; 2:9] "All the fullness of God means the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Already this short presentation of the catholic dogmatic teaching about the Holy Trinity shows us how incompetent, inept and even useless or hopeless is our human language. But try please to define or to describe only the human reality of love, the mother’s love of the child, the husband’s love of his spouse, the love between bride and bridegroom. And you will find the same difficulties and problems to express in our human language the reality which is however purely human. So what about the reality of God? Is our human reason and language competent in trying to describe the uncreated reality of GOD?

The story is told of St Augustine of Hippo, who wanted so much to understand the doctrine of the Trinity and to be able to explain it logically. One day as he was walking along the sea shore and reflecting on this, he suddenly saw a little child all alone on the shore. The child made a whole in the sand, ran to the sea with a little shell, filled his shell, came and poured it into the hole he had made in the sand. Back and forth he went to the sea, filled his shell and came and poured it into the hole. Augustine went up to child and said, "Little child, what are doing?" and the child replied, "I am trying to empty the sea into this hole." "How do you think," Augustine asked her, "that you can empty this immense sea into this tiny hole and with this tiny shell?" To which the child replied, " And you, how do you suppose that with this your small head you can comprehend the immensity of God?" With that the child disappeared.

Like Augustine we may not be able to understand the how of the Trinity but I think it is very important to understand the why. Why did God reveal to us this mystery regarding the very nature of the Supreme Being? The importance of this doctrine lies in this: we are made in the image of God, therefore, the more we understand God the more we can understand ourselves. Experts in religion tell us that people always try to be like the God they worship. People who worship a warrior God tend to be warriors, people who worship a God of pleasure tend to be pleasure-seeking, people who worship a God of wrath tend to be angry people, etc. Like a God, like the worshipers. So the more important question for us to ask today is: What does the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity tell us about the God and what does this say about the kind of people we should be? And here I have tree points to share with you.

1. God does not exist in isolated individualism but in a community of relationships. In other words, God is not a loner or a recluse. This means that a Christian in search of Godliness (Matthew 5:48) must shun every tendency to isolationism and individualism. The ideal Christian spirituality is not that of flight from the world like that of certain Buddhist monastic traditions where the quest for holiness means withdrawal to the Himalayas away from contact with other people and society.

2. True love requires three persons. You remember the old saying "Two is company, three is a crowd." The Trinity shows us that three is community, three is love at its best; three is not a crowd. Taking an example from the human condition we see that when a man is in love he looks for a woman so that together they can create a child, the third person. Father, mother and child — love when it becomes complete becomes a trinity. In this context we can ask: “the abortion, the killing of an unborn child, the third person of the conjugal trinity … is it not an offense to God?”

Over and above that, each one of us becomes fully human only when we are in relationship with God and in relationship with others. In that way our life becomes Trinitarian like that of God. Then we discover that the I-and-I principle preached by Bob Marley and practiced by the society at large leaves much to be desired. The doctrine of the Blessed Trinity challenges us to adopt rather an I-and-God-and-neighbor principle. I am a Christian insofar as I live in a relationship of love with God and other people. May the grace of the Holy Trinity help us to banish all traces of selfishness in our lives and to live in love of God and of neighbor.

3. The Eucharist: During the institution of the Lord's Supper, Jesus "took a loaf of bread, and gave it to His disciples, saying, 'This is My Body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.'" [Lk. 22:19] In the mystery of the Consecration of the Bread and Wine, they become the physical Body and Blood of Christ who remains with us today. As Jesus said when departing from this world, "And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." [Mt. 28:20b] In the Holy Eucharist is manifested the fullness of the Blessed Trinity. As the Father and the Holy Spirit dwelled in Jesus while He walked the earth, the Father and the Holy Spirit dwell in Jesus in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, the fullness of the Blessed Trinity being manifested bodily.

The teaching about the Trinity is one of the most fundamental in our Christian faith. We often refer to it as a 'mystery' and therefore something which can be affirmed but cannot be fully understood, still less fully explained. In the Christian Testament, the word 'mystery' primarily refers not to something which is obscure and difficult to understand but, on the contrary, to something, formerly hidden, which is now being made known to those on the "inside", something which we otherwise would not know.

The Trinity, namely, that God is triune, one in three Persons, is really a mystery in this sense. We could not know about it, if we had not been told. Of course, it is also difficult for us to see how one being can be three persons just as it is difficult for us to understand how Jesus can be both God and a human person (the 'mystery' of the Incarnation).

But we have to ask us some more fundamental questions: Does it really “mystery” contradict or challenge the human reason? Is it not rather our style of life -full of moral contradictions- which truly challenge our reason? The mystery of faith doesn’t contest our human reason. Is it not rather our human cruelty and egoistic style of life which contradict our human reason?

The mystery of faith is not contradicting, offending or opposing our rational faculty but it is rather showing that we have the truly infinite perspectives if only we don’t contradict God’s commandments and God’s love. Human reason is contradicted rather by sin, immorality and pride than by the mystery of faith.

The Age of Information has provided us with whatever facts we need at our finger tips, but it has also assaulted the very concept of faith. Because explanations can be found for most of the questions we may have, we feel cheated when we come upon unanswerable questions, questions like: "Why do good people die? What happens after death? Does God exist? What is God like? Who, really, is Jesus Christ? How has the past become the present and the future? How is it that the Christ can be with the Father yet still with us?"

People of faith realize that mystery can be found throughout life. Instead of questioning the unknowable, people of faith see in the very presence of mystery the presence of God, the Holy One. Holy, by the way means completely separate from the material world. Sadly, many people refuse to recognize the existence of Mystery. Their lives revolve around the here and now, the physical. They have led our society into mayhem. "If it feels good do it," is the modern expression of ancient Hedonism. It has resulted in a total lack of responsibility for actions, a total rejection of the greater good of society, a total assault against the concept that we are accountable to God for our lives. It has produced the insanity that really reached a new lows in the arguments supporting partial birth abortion that refuse to consider the possibility that the child feels pain and suffers. The rejection of the spiritual, the rejection of Mystery, has led to chaos in our society.

And most probably this is why so many of our contemporary people abandon their faith, because they cannot deal with a mystery. Mystery is for many of us an unsupportable challenge and offence to their reason. And yet God does not exist in isolated individualism but in a community of relationships. In other words, God is not a loner or a recluse. Ultimately we humans are the revelation of the mystery of the internal life of God, because "God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them." Genesis 1:27

In the middle of this, we come to Church this week and are confronted with the Doctrine of the Trinity.

2011-06-11T17:58:00.003-06:00

Pentecost Sunday – 2011 – year A

Acts 2, 1-11; Psalm 104; 1 Cor 12, 3-7. 12-13; John 20, 19-23

Today we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, the commemoration of the day when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles. This happened in the upper room where the apostles were hiding for fear of the Jews.

Pentecost literally means "fifty days," and for Jews it was a harvest festival. For Catholics it comes fifty days after Christ's resurrection.

The Risen Lord tells the apostles, "Receive the Holy Spirit" and then the Lord gives them the power to forgive sins (John 20:23), and later He commands them to teach and baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19).

The Holy Spirit's action in the Church begins with the day of Pentecost. The Church, which had just been born in this way on the day of Pentecost by the work of the Holy Spirit, was immediately revealed to the world. It is not a closed community, but an open one--it could be called a community thrown wide open--to all the nations "even to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Those who enter this community through Baptism become, by virtue of the Holy Spirit of truth, witnesses of the Good News and are ready to pass it on to others. It is therefore a dynamic, apostolic community, the Church "in a state of mission."

The Holy Spirit first "bears witness" to Christ and this witness pervades the heart and soul of those who participate in Pentecost. They in turn become witnesses and proclaimers. The "tongues of fire" (Acts 2:3) which appeared over the head of each one present are the external sign of the enthusiasm enkindled in them by the Holy Spirit. The apostles extended this enthusiasm to their listeners, as already happened after Peter's discourse on the first day: "Some three thousand were added" (Acts 2:41). In this way the community gave evidence of its own awareness of being moved by the action of the Holy Spirit.

How far are we from this inspiring experience of the power of the Holy Spirit? (JPII)

*********************

(inspired by http://www.homilies.net/index.asp)

The story is told of Napoleon Bonaparte boasting to a Vatican cardinal that he would destroy the Church. The cardinal insouciantly replied to the perplexed emperor, "Good luck, Your Majesty. We, priests have been attempting to do just that for centuries."

In effect, the bishop was doffing his scarlet biretta in salute to the Holy Spirit. That Spirit dwells comfortably and sometimes, I suspect, very uncomfortably within the Church. Try what anyone might; the Church will not go away precisely because the Third Person of the Holy Trinity is on the job around the clock. Napoleon thought the prelate was pulling his imperial leg. He took on the Church. He was rudely dethroned. The Church survived. The former emperor wound up beating off mosquitoes as a full-time occupation on the damp island of Saint Helena somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.

The same happened to Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, and all those who in the XX century tried to destroy the Church ….

Don't you think that all those who try to destroy the Church from inside as well as from outside have to recognize that the Church of Jesus Christ is indestructible precisely because Christ equipped Her (His Bride, His Mystical Body) with the Power of the Holy Spirit?

Without the Holy Spirit, the Church would be at best a third rate operation or, perhaps better, a non-operation. But with the Spirit the Church is today able to survive its many difficulties. With the Holy Spirit the Church survived the centuries of persecution, the attempts of Napoleon and French Revolution, the efforts of the Mexican and Spain’s revolutions, the communistic domination in Russia and East European countries. With the Holy Spirit at work the Church survived the diabolic attempts during the II World War, and is still surviving the most atrocious persecutions in Communistic China. The Holy Spirit is at work in the Lord’s Church, but He is also, or at least should be in work in us.

A brilliant man, a man of education, with Doctorate Degrees and honors from most major universities, took a sabbatical. He decided to devote as much time as it would take, one year, two years or more, and learn all he could about Jesus. He studied ancient Greek and ancient Hebrew and Aramaic so he could read the earliest texts about Jesus. He studied Ignatius, Justin, Augustine, Aquinas, and all the famous theologians of centuries, always focusing on learning about Jesus. He read the works of modern theologians. He took courses in various foreign languages so he could understand theologians in their original language.

After studying and studying he wrote his own book about Jesus. It was an instant success not just in the academic circles, but in every Christian and even non-Christian Church. The man, the esteemed professor, was called upon to give talks about Jesus to all sorts of different groups, from seminarians to atheists. His lectures always ended with a question and answer period. Usually, there was no one in audience who could ask a question that the brilliant man had not been asked before or for which he did not have an answer at the tip of his tongue.

No one, until an elderly man raised his hand after one lecture. The old man asked: “How is it that someone who has studied as much as you, has learned so little?”

What? What type of an arrogant simpleton would dare question the great scholar, the great professor? After the commotion settled down, the scholar responded, “I am sure that I have much more to learn about Jesus, but why do you feel that I have learned so little?” He had the old man. At least until the man said, “You have Jesus in your head, but you do not have him in your life.”

Knowledge of Christ come from the head, but knowing Christ comes from the heart. His Spirit must be within us. We have to give Him a permission to work in us, to operate in our hearts. Otherwise we will not know our Lord and Redeemer.

And this is the great gift of Pentecost, the solemnity we celebrate today. The Spirit of the Lord has been given to us so that we don’t just know about the Lord, but that we know the Lord.

But, there is something more: After the coming of the Holy Spirit, as we have seen, the disciples did not stay in that room luxuriating in what they had been given. They burst out to tell the world, to announce the Good News.

May the Holy Spirit work in us and through us … May we never oppose the Holy spirit in our lives.

2011-06-04T14:42:00.001-06:00

Ascension 2011

Gospel Mt 28:16-20

The eleven disciples went to Galilee,

to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.

When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.

Then Jesus approached and said to them,

“All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father,

and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

HOMILY

No back-up plan

Jesus gave to his followers the task of completing his work by sharing the Good News with the rest of the world.

There’s an ancient legend about the ascension of Jesus into heaven. According to the legend, when Jesus reached heaven, his body still showed the wounds of his crucifixion. His hands and feet still bore the prints from the nails. His side bore the mark from the spear. His back bore the stripes from the whip, and his head bore the wounds from the thorns. When the people in heaven saw these marks, they fell on their knees before Jesus.

They were astounded to see how much he had suffered. Then the angel Gabriel rose up and said to Jesus:

“Lord, how greatly you suffered on earth! Do all the people on earth know and appreciate how much you went through for them and how much you love them?’’

Jesus replied: “Oh, no! Only a handful of people in Palestine know that. The rest haven’t even heard of me. They don’t know who I am. They don’t know how much I suffered, and how much I love them.’’

Gabriel was shocked to hear this. Then he said to Jesus: “How will all the rest of the people on earth ever learn about your suffering and your love?’’

Jesus said: “Just before I left, I told Peter, James, and John, and a few of their friends, to tell the rest of the world for me. “They’ll tell as many people as they can. Those people, in turn, will tell other people. In that way, the whole world will eventually learn about my love for them.’’

Gabriel looked even more confused now. He knew how capricious people are. He knew how forgetful they are. He knew how prone to doubt they are. So he turned to Jesus and said: “But, Lord, what if Peter, James, and John grow tired or frustrated? What if they forget about you? What if they begin to have doubts about you? “And even if none of these things happen, what if the people they tell become frustrated? What if they forget? What if they begin to have doubts about you? “Didn’t you take these things into account? Don’t you have a back-up plan—just in case?’’

Jesus answered: “I did take all these things into account, but I decided against a back-up plan. This is the only plan I have. “I’m counting on Peter, James, and John not to let me down. I’m counting on the people they tell not to let me down.’’

Twenty centuries later, Jesus still has no other plan. He counted on Peter, James, and John, and they didn’t let him down. He counted on the people they told, and they didn’t let him down. And now Jesus counts on us.

**************************

The feast of the Ascension celebrates the departure of the Risen Lord from this world to the place reserved for him in heaven. As such, it is the continuation of his Resurrection and the completion of his victory over the forces of sin and death.

The final words of Jesus ought to be memorized and repeated over and over again: "I am with you always, until the end of time." Jesus is saying these words to us every moment of every day … but too often we are not listening! We hear all the prophets of doom and gloom and we live in fear of their dire predictions. But we need most of all to hear the far more truthful words of Jesus, who has all power in heaven and on earth, and who will never abandon us if we trust in his love and if we don't abandon Him. In the presence of that love, even death can be changed as long as we are faithful to His teaching.

As Jesus spoke, he was covered by a cloud (the sign of God's presence) and taken from their sight. He's gone - or is he? They all just stood there, says Acts, gaping upwards to the empty sky. Then two "messengers" (angeloi) appear: "Men of Galilee, what are you doing looking skywards? This Jesus, who has been taken from you to God, will return in the same way you saw him go."

They will not now find Jesus in the sky, in "heaven". They are, as the hymn advises, to "lower their eyes". They have to go back to Jerusalem. Jesus is to be found and made present by them and in them in Eucharist and in daily life.

They - and we - in word and deed are to tell and re-tell the story of Jesus' life, suffering, death and resurrection. They - and we - are to call people to a radical conversion, to forgiveness of their sin through an intimate reconciliation with God, with their brothers and sisters and with the world in which they live and are a part.

Today, on this feast of the Ascension, that mandate is given to each one of us again. And it is in carrying it out that we truly honour the meaning of this feast.

2011-05-28T14:39:00.000-06:00

6^th Sunday of Easter

In today's Gospel, during the last supper, Jesus tells His apostles how He wanted them to live after He was gone.

One of the things He said to them was: 'If you love me, keep my commandments'.

What did Jesus mean when He said “If you love me, keep my commandments”?

When He said this Jesus was not talking about keeping a specific set of commandments but rather about following a specific way of life.

Remember in last Sunday’s Gospel Jesus told Thomas “I am the way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father, except through me”.

Do we believe those words? Do we believe that there is only one way to go to the Father?

It’s true. There is only one way. If we want to get to Heaven Jesus shows us the way. We need to follow His way. We need to follow the Truth. Following Jesus will lead us to Eternal Life with the Father.

We can't truly call ourselves disciples of Jesus…. we can’t really call ourselves Christian if we don’t listen to His words and make a sincere effort to follow them.

We wouldn't be much of a Christian if we didn't try to live as Jesus taught us to live.

But if we are to live as Jesus taught us to live, we must be clear about one thing.

We don't keep His commandments so that He will love us, rather, we keep His commandments because He loves us.

During that same supper Jesus said, 'Love one another as I have loved you.'

It was He who first loved the apostles, and He loved them unconditionally.

Isn’t it true that the greatest need each one of us has is for love, to love and to be loved? Real, unconditional love.

Sometimes we find it very hard to believe but that is exactly how God loves us. With real unconditional love.

Perhaps it’s a holdover from our childhood but isn’t it true that often we have a tendency to believe that God will love us only if we are good, and therefore we should be good if we want God to love us?

Many of us when we were children, particularly at Christmas, were enticed to be good for goodness sakes so that Santa could bring us presents. And we were told that if we weren’t good, we would not get presents.

Has this type of thinking carried over to how we think of God? Do we still think that way?

The Truth is that God loves us, not because we are good, but rather God loves us because God is good.

We exist because of God’s love. God's unconditional love for us is the Good News.

Our response should be to try to return that love not out of fear but out of obedience to God’s will for our lives.

And we do that by listening to His command to love one another.

Jesus knew that the Father loved Him. He responded by loving the Father.

How did Jesus show that He loved the Father?

He showed His love for the Father through His obedience, even unto death – death on the cross.

And it is through this same obedience that we are to show our love for Jesus.

What does this mean for us in practice?

It means listening to His word and putting that word into action.

To love is to obey. And to obey is to love.

But sometimes our pride gets in the way. Too often it seems we know a better way.

Sometimes, with the help of Satan, it seems we know a better truth.

That’s often when we look for a better life in this world than the one that is offered to us by God.

Sometimes we do this by proclaiming our love for God with our words and asking God to intervene and give us the life that more correctly follows our vision of how it should be.

All to no avail and so then in our pride, we deny God with our actions or by trying to force our own vision of what we believe our life should be.

This is not love of God but rather love of self.

Real love of God is shown by doing the right thing. You see, others know us by our actions, not so much by what we say with our lips but rather how we respond in obedience to God’s words.

It is true that it is not easy to live as a disciple of Jesus in this modern world.

Very often to be a Christian means we have to swim against the current, we have to go against the popular opinion.

Too often we are concerned about what others will think rather than if what we are doing is the correct thing to do.

Sometimes we have to swallow our pride and stop trying to make it our own way, with our own truth and our own way of life.

It is as though God has made a mistake with our lives and now we are going to help God correct it - come Hell or high water.

At other times it seems to us that the cross God has given us seems too heavy to carry. We begin to think that this cannot be God’s will for my life.

We forget that to follow Jesus quite often means we are called to go against the easy way.

It is not an easy thing for us to go against our pride and submit ourselves to God’s will for our lives.

Perhaps I am trying to carry the cross by myself? It never was an easy thing to follow Jesus.

But it is precisely for that reason that Jesus has given us an Advocate.

The word Jesus used for the Holy Spirit is the word 'Advocate'.

Advocate is a legal term for one who defends someone at a trial.

The Holy Spirit was the great defender of the disciples in the times of trial which they faced.

When we are weak and especially in times when we are battling our pride we must pray to this same Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit comforts us in times of sorrow, enlightens us in times of darkness, and like He did for the apostles, this same Holy Spirit will enable us to be brave and strong in times of weakness.

The Holy Spirit will help us to humbly accept and follow with courage the path that God has chosen for us in this life.

All followers of Jesus can expect to suffer. But, as St Peter says (Second Reading), it is far better to suffer for doing the right thing than to suffer for doing the wrong thing.

Isn’t it true that quite often, in our pride, we suffer in this life for the wrong thing.

But, we have the example of Christ who, even though He was innocent, humbly and obediently, suffered and died for our sins.

He calls us to join in His suffering and thereby giving our sufferings true merit.

“If you wish to be my disciples, daily take up your cross and come follow me.”

The apostles knew that Jesus loved them. And we know that Jesus loves us too. There is no mistaking God’s love. You can feel it in your heart.

If we choose not to love others then we are also choosing not to love God. If we choose not to love God then we are choosing not to go to the Father.

Love is our connection to God and through Him our connection to each other.

It is time to swallow our pride and to put our words into action.

If we want to go to heaven then we must humbly follow Jesus’ command:

'Love one another as I have loved you.'

2011-05-25T14:35:00.000-06:00

5 Sunday of Easter – A

The Truth ... extremely dangerous word. Pilate was afraid of the truth, when Christ stood before him. Also were afraid of the Truth: high priest Annas and Caiaphas, and the Pharisees, and Sadducees, scribes and priests in the temple ... and those for whom Christ was uncomfortable.

They were afraid of the TRUTH all the totalitarian leaders and autocrats.

They were afraid and still are afraid of the Truth politicians, but also small everyday liars. The truth does not cease to haunt all those who miss it.

He who in his own words is true, Jesus Christ, before Pilate clearly states: "For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth.

I'm afraid of - the Truth ... and perhaps especially this little truth about myself - I too ... I do not want to accept it, because it exposes my petty-mindedness, the Truth tears off my mask and makeup.

Some are trying to drown it, others to kill it, or muzzle. Still others pretend that it doesn't exist. For all those who are uncomfortable with the truth – the only one solution is relativism, and individualism …

Some people try to avoid it diplomatically, to dispose of a smile of pity or brutally close the truth's mouth, or yell, drown out the slogans, music, or even cleverly manipulated with quotes from Scripture.

There are those who did not want to hear about truth and neglect it in irony, mockery, scorn, ridicule, demonstrating that it does not exist ... that is relative, it depends on the system, on the situation, the culture, my health and many other "objective factors".

And Christ is the Truth; He is a signpost on the road, the road leading to the life. Christ is the truth that leads to Life. He is the True Way of Life. He is the Way in the Truth to Eternal Life.

He repeated constantly: "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and ye shall know the truth and the truth will make you free." (John 8:32) And maybe because we are not free, we do not want to know the truth? Perhaps, because there is no life in us that we escape from the truth? And what is my relationship to the truth?

Jesus to say, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

Just eight words but arguably the most important words spoken in the 5000 years of recorded history.

Thomas a Kempis wrote in the 15th century:

"Without the Way, there is no going. Without the Truth, there is no knowing. Without the Life, there is no living."

And what about you and me? Do we know the Way we are going in our lives? Do you know the ultimate Truth? Are these: Truth and the Way leading you to the eternal Life?

2011-05-14T22:15:00.000-06:00

4^th Sunday of Easter – Good Shepard Sunday – Vocation Sunday

Jesus said:

“My sheep hear my voice;

I know them, and they follow me.

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.

No one can take them out of my hand.

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,

and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.

The Father and I are one.”

Homily

How to talk today about vocations? How to talk in the present situation of constant attacks against the Pope and priests about priestly vocations? It seems that priesthood becomes the least desirable “job”, one of the most dangerous and the most loathed and despised vocation.

I think we have to realise that there is one principal and fundamental vocation we forgot for so many years. It is the first and the most basic vocation, the first even in a chronological sense. When God created humanity, He created it as man and woman and gave them an order: “"Be fertile and multiply”. I put into your hands a creative power. You are my co-workers in the task of creation.

And it doesn’t means only in creating human body but in creating the human being in his totality, the human personality, human attitude, human morality. Parents have an opportunity to model the lives of their children, to really and deeply form them. Is this a guarantee that their lives will be problem free ... of course not. It is a guarantee that the children will always have God in their lives ... to help them through hard times. But, it’s up to the parents to form the human’s values in their children, and it is parents’ primary vocation, the most fundamental and the most indispensable vocation, to create the human, the fully mature and responsible person.

We can even say that the school and the church, even the seminary is not able to correct or to supplant what was distorted in the family life.

And the enemy of God know this perfectly, and this is the reason that he is attacking so furiously just the family life. Fathers who have never time for their children, because they are so busy, mothers pursuing their goals and zeal, and children being form by TV.

Few days ago I got from one of our parishioners an interesting story:

A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small Texas town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.

As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were only complementary instructors: Mom taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger...he was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies.

If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind.

Sometimes, Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honour them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home... Not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our long-time visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol. But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing.

I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked... And NEVER asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my parents' den today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

His name? ....

We just call him 'TV.'

He has a wife now....We call her 'Computer.'
Their first child is "Cell Phone".
Second child "IPod"

We have to be aware of the responsibility, parents’ responsibility and vocation. If we have problem with priestly vocation, if we have problem with our entire life … is it not due to the fact the the formation of our children we left to the stranger, whose name is TV?

If Jesus is telling us in today’s Gospel: “My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me”, we have to ask ourselves a serious question: whom are we listening to, whose voice is forming our children, who has the bigger influence in our families?

September 11, 2001, the Pentagon was slammed by a hijacked airliner. People were trapped in the flaming building. A police officer ran inside and kept repeating in the darkness, "Follow my voice." Six people did. They owe their lives to that voice.

Who is my shepherd? Whose voice do I listen to and follow?

Do I follow the voice which is telling me the kind and nice things or rather the voice telling me the truth even if it's not kind and sometimes difficult and disturbing?

Where this voice is guiding me? To freedom or to slavery?

Who is my shepherd? Whose voice do I listen to and follow?

2011-05-10T16:54:00.001-06:00

I Communion 2011

This Sunday we celebrate the great gift of Communion. Let's humbly ask the Lord that we may receive him in a way that will lead us to salvation.

The Church is the Body of Christ …

"God needs the Eucharist more than you and I do." It is the way He fulfills his desire to be with us till the end of the ages.

Pope Benedict XVI prayed:

With the Eucharist, therefore, heaven comes down to earth, the tomorrow of God descends into the present and it is as if time remains embraced by divine eternity.

Stay with us, Christ; give to us the gift of yourself and give us the bread that nourishes us for eternal life. Free this world from the venom of evil, of violence and of hate, which contaminate consciences; purify it with the power of your merciful love."

Thanksgiving after Receiving Holy Communion

Dear Jesus, I believe that You are present within my heart.

You said, "This is My Body and My Blood."

And I know You love me and want to be with me.

From my heart, I thank You for all You have given to me: my life, my parents, my health, Baptism, protection, and all that I have.

Make me more grateful still.

Generous Lord, I ask for still more: Protect my soul and body.

Be good to those I love.

Watch over me and make me good and faithful to You.

Jesus, I promise to receive You often in Holy Communion.

Remain with me, dear Jesus, today and always.

Never leave me in life and be with me in the hour of my death. Amen.

2011-05-10T16:52:00.002-06:00

3 Sunday of Easter – A

Last Sunday's Gospel was the Gospel of Doubting Thomas. This Sunday's Gospel is the Gospel of the Confused Disciples.

It was Easter Sunday evening. Two disciples were walking to Emmaus, a village seven miles from Jerusalem. Their discussion went something like this: How could it be that our master, Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet mighty in word and deed, could be put to death last Friday? He really seemed to be the long sought Messiah, the Christ. But He is dead. Now we hear about some women who claim that He has risen from the dead. They told His closest followers; so they went to the tomb. They found the tomb empty, neither Jesus nor His body. We don't know what to make of this. They talked. They questioned. They remained confused.

Then Jesus started to walk with them. He explained the Scriptures, the Word of God, how the Messiah would first suffer and then enter into His Glory. He ate with them. During the meal He recreated the Last Supper. He took bread, blessed it and gave it to them. And they recognized Him in the breaking of the break, the first Christian name for the Eucharist.

So often, we walk along the road of our lives confused. We have difficulty solving our problems. We doubt our own ability to come up with the answers we need. Some people tell us to look into ourselves for the answers, as though we had a secret chamber someplace within us, or as early heretics would call it, a hidden Gnosis, where all the answers to our questions can be found. This early heresy of the Church still continues in those who think they have all the answers within themselves. It is true that through baptism God dwells within us. It is also true that we need the gifts He gives us to find direction in our lives and, eventually, to help us understand His Life and His Kingdom. We need the gifts of Word and Sacrament.

Sometimes we act as though we have all the answers to life. We don't. In fact, we don't even know the correct questions to ask. So many people spend their lives seeking the answers to the wrong questions. For example, most people try to answer these questions: How can I become prosperous? How can I become rich? Their whole lives are spent chasing the illusion that happiness can be bought. If they are among the few who do become rich, what do they have to show for their lives? A bank account? A lot of stuff? Does that make a life really successful? There is a reason why we have never seen a luggage rack on the roof of a funeral car.

Another question that so many people spend their lives trying to answer is: How can I become better than everyone else? Again this is not a question that our lives should revolve around. We want to be the best person we can be, but we become arrogant and proud when we consider who we are in relation to other people. "Look at that tax collector," said the Pharisee in the Temple. "You know, Lord, that I am a lot better than him. I do lots of good things. Let me remind you in case your forgot." But the tax collector merely beat his breast and said, "Have mercy on me a sinner." Only he left justified. When we devote our lives to answering the question How can I be better than others? whether it is better than others before God, a better parent than my neighbours, a better teacher than the girl in the next classroom, a better priest than another man, etc., we are simply asking the wrong question, one that leads to arrogance. The question we need to ask is, How can I be a better person than I am?

We think we have all the answers. We don't even know the right questions. Another questions we should be asking ourselves is one that we are secretly afraid to ask: How can I be different than what modern society claims is the norm? The norm of society tells Teens that drinking, taking drugs and doing things that belong in a marriage is all part of high school and college. The norm of society tells adults that cheating on their jobs, and in their marriages is part of life. The norm of society tells people not to get carried away and sacrificing too much of themselves to help others. It is difficult to ask How can I be different? because none of us want to be different from everyone else. We want to fit in. We want to be part of the boys, part of the girls. We don't want people mocking us. It is a difficult question to ask How can I be different? and, yet, that is what holiness is. To be holy is to be different, set apart for the Lord.

There are many other questions we all need to ask ourselves, questions about how to be a good husband, wife, father, mother, Teen, child, priest, deacon, etc. We are not given the answers to our questions today, on Confused Sunday. But we are told where the answers can be found. Jesus led the disciples on the road to Emmaus to the Truth through Sacred Scripture. The Bible is not just the Good Book. It is the living and effective Word of God. We go to Scripture to seek the answers to our problems. We need to meditate on Scripture and let the Word of God work on us.

And Jesus broke the bread for them.

What Jess is doing nowadays for us? Every Sunday? Even every day? He opens for us the scriptures and brake the bread

Peace can be found in the middle of confusion when we are open to the second great gift presented in today's Gospel, the Eucharist. Those disciples finally recognized Jesus in the Breaking of the Bread. They said to each other, "Were not our hearts on fire?" We may not have the answers to the profound questions of life, or even to the daily concerns of life, but we do know where peace is found. St. Paul put it so beautifully in the conclusion of the Letter to the to the Philippians, "The peace of Christ that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." That's Philippians 4:7. We cannot understand our world or even our lives, but as long as we have the Peace of Christ, our hearts and our minds will be guarded from all that can destroy our happiness. In Him alone we find our joy. We cannot understand His Peace. But we can enjoy it. Those disciples who had this marvellous encounter with Christ ran back to Jerusalem, to Peter and the boys, and told them what they experienced. They had not become profound theologians. But they had become committed Christians. That was their joy, the gifts of Word and Eucharist.

Without these two GIFTS - the WORD and the EUCHARIST … We will never discover the answers we need to life. We will always be confused about what happened to us in the past, what we should do in the present, what the future holds. Some may ask: Why is it that I did everything I could possibly do as a parent, or as a husband or wife, and life turned out rather messy? Others may ask: Why is it that I followed everything my parents asked, worked hard in school, and I am still not good enough for them? All ask: Why is it that other people break the rules and have it all?" We cannot answer all the question of life. Still, we can be at peace, even in the face of unresolved issues. We can be at peace because we have our anchor, Sacred Scripture, and our joy, the Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. We may not know why things have happened, or even what things have happened. We may not know the best course for us to take in this or that situation, but we do know this: If we stay united to the Lord in Word and Sacrament, we will never go wrong.

We need to trust God and let that Peace which is beyond our understanding guide our lives. Then we will no longer be confused.

Homily from Father Joseph Pellegrino

http://www.st.ignatius.net/pastor.html