November 16, 2008
Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle A

Readings: Proverbs 31: 10-13, 19-20, 30-31; 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-6; Matthew 25: 14-30

Once upon a time a TV commentator delivered a very pessimistic editorial on a Friday evening broadcast (taped earlier in the day).

 The world was in grim shape, he told the camera.
 Global warming was worse than anyone had thought it was.
 The population of the world would double again in the next twenty year.
 It was likely that an asteroid would hit earth before the end of the next century.
 Rage was increasing the third world countries against our wealth.
 The races were polarizing in America.
 The crime had turned up again.
 Our schools were total failures and would not, could not get any better.
 There was a drug and alcohol epidemic in white suburban high schools.
 Divorce rates were increasing.
 Abortions were at an all time high.

A wave of bad news was sweeping the earth and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

When the taping was over, he got into his Mercedes and drove rapidly into the country to escape the Friday night traffic rush. At his house on the shore of the lake, he relaxed in the sauna, sipping from a large glass of Barolo wine, swam in the pool, wrapped himself in a silk robe, and sat on the deck as the sun set. He poured himself a second glass of wine and, as the sky turned red and then purple he thought that life was very good indeed.

Let us look at the parable we are presented with today.

 First, a talent was not a coin, it was a weight in gold or silver of about 40 Kilos, so it was a very considerable treasure that this man was trusting to his servants. One talent was probably equivalent to a whole lifetime’s wages for such a servant—he had entrusted them with something precious beyond their wildest dreams.

 The second point is that the Master took a very long time to come back. This is a tiny but important detail in today’s Gospel. It shows the Master’s love for his servants that he gave them more than ample time for the treasure of the talents to yield bounteous fruit.

What is the precious thing that God has entrusted to us? Is it not our own gifts or talents, as we try to understand it sometimes? Is it not our live which is a wonderful gift of God? It is, of course, but also it is the Good News of Salvation.

The great treasure that we have been given is the gift of the Gospel—the realization that Jesus is our Savior and that through our faith in him we will find salvation. It is what we do with these gifts: our life our talents and the gift of the Good News, that makes all the difference.
We are surely all at quite different stages in relation to this gift of faith. What am I doing in my life with this gift? Do I develop it, do I increase my faith, do I take care of it or I simply bury it in the soil, or maybe I neglected it and forgot?

Like the man in the Gospel
“'Master, I knew you were a demanding person,
harvesting where you did not plant
and gathering where you did not scatter;
so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground.
Here it is back.'”

The man with one talent did not lose it. But, he did not do anything at all with it. If he had tried and failed, he would have met compassion and forgiveness. But he simply denied his responsibility, or he has chosen the easiest way … I will loose nothing because here I have my secured ticket to the Kingdom. I will bury it and at the proper time I will unearth it … Clever. Isn’t it?

 Some of us may not even be sure whether they have it or not. This might be a particular problem for some of our young people, but not only them. There are many long-standing members of the congregation who suffer doubts and experience long periods of darkness and disbelief.

But if I do nothing to develop, to improve, to increase my faith why am I astonished that my faith is dying, failing and vanishing? God gave me all what I need; it’s now up to me to do something with it.

 Others of us might find it a bit of a burden—knowing and believing in Jesus and his message but feeling quite inadequate to the task of transforming the Gospel into daily life.

God gave me the gift; He gave me the necessary skills and means. It’s now up to me to do something with this. It is astonishing; how clever and intelligent, bright we are when dealing with the multiplication of our earthly assets and how lazy, clumsy and naïve whence going about our eternal life?

 Then some of us might feel full of faith and have put a lot of effort into carrying the precepts of the Gospel over many years and who yet feel that for one reason or another God has let them down badly. They certainly haven’t lost their faith but feel a bit depressed about it and don’t know where Christ is leading them.

This is the situation when I declare: “I believe in God” but I don’t believe HIM, I don’t trust Him. Or rather I don’t trust Him thoroughly. Should I not search how to strengthen my faith, should I not “invest more” in the religious growth and development?

 Still others might be experiencing a new joy as they experience some wonderful grace or blessing from God. This is the situation when I cooperate, co work with God’s grace, with God’s gift. Somebody asked me not so long time ago: Father, do you have never doubts or suspicions that, what are you believing and doing as a pastor is wrong? Don’t you have any doubts that God is deceiving you? Don’t you doubt God’s existence and Mercy? My answer was direct: To doubt God’s existence means for me to deny my own reason and this is the end of myself, but I know also that, this is the great gift of God, with which I try to cooperate through my whole life ….

The parable tells us that faith is a real and wonderful gift from God. It is entirely unbidden—as in the parable the servants are given no clue in advance what the master is about to do.

Faith is also given to us according to our ability to deal with it—each in proportion to his ability, as it says in the parable.

But the most important aspect of the Parable is that the Master will eventually return. The parable is about Christ’s Second Coming and the judgment we will all face at the end of time. We know that we will be called to account for how we have handled this gift of faith that we have been so generously given.

 This first thing to realize is that it is not a burden; it is a gift.
o For how many Catholics the faith is a burden?
 The second thing to realize is that the man who is punished is condemned because he has buried his talent. He has refused to deal with it. He has simply ignored the gift and literally buried it.
o How many of us did the same with the talent of our faith, how many of us simply buried it?

So the message of hope is that whatever stage of life you are at, whether you are doubting, whether you are struggling to make sense of the Gospel message, whether you are teaching the love of Christ to your children, whether you are rejoicing in some new grace or blessing, whether you are going through the dark night of the soul, whether you are groping in darkness and searching for some chink of light—whatever might be happening with your faith at least something is happening!

Yes we will face judgment and we will have to give an account of ourselves. But it will be a long and convoluted story and we will have a wonderfully sympathetic listener (who knows the story all along because he was an essential part of it) and whose judgment will be merciful and who wants above all other things our happiness.

His whole aim is to give us joy—not a superficial joy, but a deep and lasting and fulfilling joy based on a life of engagement with him.

The most dangerous situation, the situation of disaster is when you bury your faith, and do nothing!!! So, DO SOMETHING WITH YOUR FAITH!!! Don’t sleep!!!
Fr. Kazimierz Kubat SDS
basing on the homily of Fr. Alex McAllister SDS
http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/

09 November 2008 – 32 Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

Ezekiel 47: 1-2, 8-9, 12; Psalm 84: 3-6, 8, 11; 1 Corinthians 3; 9c-11, 16-17; St. John 2, 13-22

Today we are commemorating two different occasions.

Firstly, today is kept as Remembrance Sunday in Canada and many Commonwealth countries. And so we call to mind those who lost their lives in the two world wars and in the many conflicts since.

It is appropriate that we keep alive the memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we might live our lives free from tyranny. We should not forget that, while war is something to be avoided whenever possible, it is also important that certain God-given values should be defended at all costs.

So it is fitting that we pay tribute to those who gave their lives in these conflicts. But it is also our earnest prayer that future generations may live their lives in an atmosphere of peace and trust between nations.

If the Gospel means anything at all, it means the avoidance of war and the promotion of peace and mutual understanding. With the unforgettable words of Christ “Blessed are the peacemakers” in mind, we also pay tribute to those who work for the promotion of peace in the world of today.

The second occasion we are commemorating is the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. You might think that this is a rather strange thing to be celebrating but in every church throughout the world the day of its dedication is kept as a feast.

The Mother Church

Nearly 1700 years ago, in ancient Rome, Christians wanted a parish home and they built the first church, the Lateran Basilica. Today, we join all Catholic churches throughout the world to celebrate the dedication of the Lateran Basilica. History tells us why.

Newly converted to Christ, Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in the year 313. After three centuries of persecution, Christianity was now a legal religion within the Roman Empire. Followers of Jesus finally had the right to public worship.

The Church of St. John Lateran. Historically, the first church built after Christians were legally permitted to hold public worship. We celebrate its dedication.

Our Mother Church is our parish. What did I do to fulfill my responsibility for this church, for this community where I am living?

Does Jesus has to reproach me too: “stop making my Father's house a marketplace.” (J 13:16). What is my behavior in the church, do I see it as the holy space consecrated to God, or rather as a


"We Are the Church"

Reminds me of the song "We Are the Church." The song begins, "The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people."3 "We are the church, we are the people of God."4

Paul said it in his letter to the Corinthians, our second reading today. He wrote, "Brothers and sisters: You are God’s building.... you are the temple of God, ... the Spirit of God dwells in you.... [And,] the temple of God, which you are, is holy."

The Greek word Paul uses for the word "you" is plural. In English, we do not distinguish between "you" meaning one person, and "you" meaning several people. Writing in Greek, Paul uses the plural word for "you." By the "temple of God" Paul means the community of believers, the church. Gathered as the followers of Christ, we are church, we are the temple of God.

Am I not destroying this temple of God?

Our Sacred Place

That being said, to assemble, we need a building. The Christians in Rome built the Lateran Basilica; we build a parish church. Here in our parish church we do the sacred actions of the people of God.

That’s the purpose of our church, to make God present to us. At church we receive the Sacraments. We hear the Word of God proclaimed, telling us about God and giving us guidance on how to live the holy Christian life.

The center of our church life is Eucharist. When we take Communion, we have a face to face meeting with Christ. I like the dialogue used for Communion in some eastern Rites of our Roman Catholic Church. The person will whisper his or her name to the priest, who then says, "Robert, servant of God, receives the Body of the Lord," or "Catherine, handmaid of God, receives the Body of the Lord." Our dialogue is simpler. The priest says, "The Body of Christ;" we respond, "Amen." When we receive Holy Communion, there is no doubt that God knows us by name (Isaiah 43:1).

In this building, we encounter God. Perhaps we stop for a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, to say a prayer before the Tabernacle. Perhaps we come as a prodigal son or daughter to meet the merciful Lord in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Perhaps we come as a young couple to proclaim our love before the altar, and to ask that God to bless our married life together.

The word “church” has different meanings and connotations:

- Written in capital C – is the Body of Christ, the community of His disciples, the Bride of Christ, the Holy Church of God – whom I am destroying by my sins and negligence

- written in small c – is the building where I am suppose to meet the Church in capital C, the community. But this building should be also honored, because it is the place where I meet my God. Do I not behave in this sacred (consecrated) place like in the cafeteria or town hall?

In its history, our church has withstood the persecutions of a hostile Roman Empire, endured scandals of both of our times and of other times, has stood firm against heresy, and even endured when people showed a general lack of interest.

As we celebrate the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, let us keep our church, our Father’s house, as pure and holy and Christ wants His church to be.

02 November 2008 - All Souls

The Catholic practice of praying for the dead originates in Sacred Scripture and from the Church's living tradition.

You may recall that while He was on earth, Jesus corrected the Pharisees and others for false practices but He said nothing to correct them when they prayed for the dead.

In fact Jesus Himself along with Martha and Mary, prayed for His friend Lazarus who was already 4 days dead in the tomb.

Since praying for the dead was already a tradition of the Jews, the first Christians had no doubt that praying for the dead was part of their earthly vocation, especially when they gathered for Mass. Why pray for the dead?

The twenty-fifth session of the Council of Trent taught: I quote "purgatory exists. and that the souls detained there are helped by the prayers of the faithful and most of all by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar.

We thus come together in the Eucharist to pray for the dead because such prayer within the Mystical Body hastens and assists our dead who are being graciously purified of all they refused to let go of while on earth.” Unquote

We see therefore the practice of praying for the dead enforced in the ancient Hebrew church and in the Jewish synagogue of today. We see it proclaimed age after age by all the Fathers of Christendom.

We see it incorporated in every one of the ancient Liturgies of the East and of the West.

We see it zealously taught by the Russian church of today, and by that immense family of schismatic Christians scattered over the East.

We see it as a cherished devotion of three hundred millions of Catholics, as well as of a respectable portion of the Episcopal church.

It was the protestant reformers who first believed that praying for the dead was unbiblical but now we have some Catholics who also refuse to believe in purgatory even though it is a dogma of the church and must be believed by all Catholics who wish to remain in full communion.

Why would some of us prefer a private opinion that purgatory does not exist compared to this immense weight of learning, sanctity and authority who through the ages has proclaimed that indeed it does exist?

I have found it easy to teach this dogma to young children because children don’t seem to have any problem with understanding the concept nor do they reject the teaching out of hand – rather they accept it.

I think it’s because they find this teaching reasonable but then again they never seem to have any problem with understanding any teaching of the church.

It seems that children accept and understand Jesus’ teachings a lot sooner than adults do - this should not surprise us because today’s Gospel does say:

I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants;



Time and again Father and I have encountered young children who not only understand the gospel message but make it clear by their answers that their understanding is quite in line with the official teaching of the church throughout the ages.

We adults would do well to listen to the voices of the children when it comes to the teachings of Christ.

Because is it not foolish of those who do not believe, to stand aside with sealed lips while the rest of the Christian world is sending up an unceasing prayer for their departed brethren?

Do you think a child would be so arrogant?

Would it not be cold and heartless of any of us not to pray for our deceased friends, on account of our prejudices and opinions which have no grounds in Scripture, tradition or reason itself?

Do you think a child would be so heartless? Perhaps it could be that a child, unlike an adult, has not had a chance to improperly form their conscience and then conveniently close their ears and refuse to hear anything more on the subject because hearing the truth might conflict with the private interpretation of what we have conveniently come to believe.

Listening to the truth might cause their conscience to bother them wouldn’t it? And then they’d have to do something about it.

I think a child is wiser than that.

Look at it this way, if my brother leaves me to cross the Atlantic, religion and love for him prompt me to pray for him during his absence.

And if the same brother crosses the narrow sea of death to pass to the shores of eternity, why would I not pray for him then also?

When he crosses the Atlantic his soul, imprisoned in the flesh, is absent from me; but when he passes the sea of death his soul, released from the flesh, has also gone from me.

What difference does this make to my intercession on his behalf? For what is death? Death is a mere separation of body and soul. The body, indeed, dies, but the soul "lives and moves and has its being."

Those who have passed away are as alive today as they ever were. They hear and see us and are close to us.

It is we who have the veil across our eyes. And we shall see them all again – God willing that they are with Christ and we also end up with Him.

Our souls never die – we live forever.

And so life for the soul continues after death for all eternity, as before, to think, to remember, to love.

And does not God's dominion and mercy extend over that soul beyond the grave as well as this side of it?

Who am I to place the limits to God's empire and say to Him: "You go only so far and no farther?"

Two thousand years after Abraham's death our Lord said: "I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.

And of course all three of these guys were long, long gone from this earth. By this our Lord is telling us that He is not the “God of the dead, but of the living”.

So if it is good for me to pray for my brother while he is still alive in the flesh, why would anyone think that it would be useless for me to pray for him once he’s passed away from this life?

For while he was living I prayed not for his body, but for his soul. If this brother of mine dies with some slight stains upon his soul, a sin of impatience, for instance, or an idle word, is he fit to enter heaven with these blemishes upon his soul?

No; the sanctity of God forbids it, for "nothing defiled shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven."[Apoc. 21: 27.]

Will I send him then, for these small offenses, to eternal torments with adulterers and murderers? No; the justice and mercy of God forbid it.

Therefore, my common sense and simple logic demands that there must exist a middle place for cleansing of the soul before it is worthy of enjoying the companionship of God and His Saints.

Purgatory. So we see that the teaching of the Dogma of Purgatory is supported by Scripture, Tradition and our own common sense.

God has equipped kids with a lot of common sense so perhaps that is why they accept the teachings of the church more readily than adults do.

When have you heard an adult say “ I don’t understand this – but if God says so then I guess it is”. We hear children say this quite often.”

No wonder Jesus tells us that unless we become like little children we shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

That is not to say that we should not question. Of course we should. But sometimes it just takes faith.

God "will render to every man according to his works,"-- to the pure and unsullied everlasting bliss; to the reprobate eternal damnation; to souls stained with minor faults a place of temporary purgation.

This means those who are in Heaven don’t need our prayers, those who are hell – our prayers can’t help them – our prayers can only help those who are in purgatory.

I can’t bring to mind any Dogma of the Church more consoling to the human heart than the article of faith which teaches us the effectiveness of our prayers for the faithful departed.

It robs death of its sting. It surrounds our mourning with a rainbow of hope.
It softens the bitterness of our sorrow, and reconciles us to our loss.

It keeps us in touch with the departed dead just as much as correspondence keeps us in touch with the absent living.

It preserves their memory fresh and green in our hearts. We know they are always with us.

As for Purgatory ... Many English-speaking Christians (both Catholic and non-Catholic) are somehow under the ridiculous impression that it is some kind of medieval invention of the Church and not the ancient and consistent belief of Apostolic Christians.

It may not have been called purgatory from the very beginning but both Catholics and Jews have been praying for the repose of the souls of the dead from the very beginning.

We are members of the communion of saints, which includes all in Heaven and Purgatory, and all those living the Gospel on earth.

The Church invites us to pray and do penance for those in Purgatory, and to give alms to the poor and offer indulgences for the souls in Purgatory.

The Mass is even more important than indulgences.

Of all we can do to help those in Purgatory, there is nothing more precious than to offer the holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

This month we invite you to include the names of those of your dearly departed whom you wish to remember in our book of Rememberance here at St. Matthews.

During Mass we will remember all those included in the book for, as I said, there is no greater prayer we can offer for them than the Sacrifice of the Mass.

Imagine the joy of one day entering Heaven and having hundreds, per¬haps thousands of souls whose Purgatory we lessened by offering Mass¬es and indulgences, to greet us and thank us for our efforts.

And, certain¬ly the souls we have helped leave Purgatory and enter heaven are already praying for us while we are still here on earth.

Through our prayers, Masses, indulgences and other good works, "May the souls of the faith¬ful departed through the Mercy of Christ, rest in peace. Amen."

Deacon Bernard Ouellette

01 November 2008 - All Saints

To strive to become a saint means to strive to achieve purity in body and soul. A saint is a person who has fully surrendered their life to Jesus Christ.

The greatest desire that anyone can have in this life is to strive passionately after holiness of life, in order that we might enter heaven once this life is over.

There are some people who think that since God is all loving and only humans are judgmental everyone will go to heaven no matter what. God in His mercy will see to it.

So why bother worrying about sanctity? Somehow through the mercy of God, I’ll get to Heaven.

We often hear this idea expressed at funerals where everyone automatically is placed safely in the arms of Jesus no matter what kind of life they lived. To do this is a falsity that is contrary to the Gospel.

And so we know then that, unfortunately, not everyone will be safely in the arms of Jesus when they die although everyone will have had the chance to do so.

In order to go to heaven one must be a saint. And sainthood is only achieved by the Grace of God.

If we end our lives on this earth as a saint without the smallest stain or imperfection on our soul then we immediately enter heaven.

If we end our lives on this earth as an unrepentant sinner with serious sins such as murder or adultery on our souls then we end up in hell. If we die with a slight sin on our souls such as impatience or an unkind word to our neighbour then we will enter the next life in purgatory and be cleansed of our small imperfection before we can enter heaven.

This is all biblical teaching.

If we had no time for God in this life then certainly we will not want to be with Him in the next and no beautiful eulogy by our friends in this world will place us safely in the arms of Jesus in the next.

However, every sinner in this life is called to be a saint in the next. And this is not impossible because God always provides, we need only accept the free gift of grace at any moment in our lives.

Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. Hence, since there is so much sin in our world today, there must also be so much grace avail¬able for those who desire to gain sanctity.

The wisdom of the saints is that they recognized this and were able to tap into the rich treasures of the Church during difficult periods of human history.

God's love and mercy are always present, even in a corrupt age such as our own but we must be willing to accept the changes necessary in our lives in order to achieve sainthood.

So where are these fountains of grace and mercy that will allow a per¬son to become a saint in our day? The answer to that is easy.

The means of attaining holiness have always been in the Church.

It is within the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church that God is able to purify His people and make them holy, and this happens through the sacraments and the observance of all the teachings of the Church.

In our first reading today, we learn from St. John's vision that the souls of the saints have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. At first we might think: "since when does blood make something white?"

However, the blood of Jesus is pure and is able to wash us clean from sin. We receive this blood through the worthy reception of Holy Communion, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

Saints know this, and this is why every saint had a great love for the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Furthermore, as in the Gospel today, Jesus gives us the Beatitudes so that we might be able to live lives that are in right relation to God.

The Beatitudes help us to realize that living the Christian life is not always easy. We will be persecuted and ridiculed, but we are assured that we will be called "Blessed" for our faithful observance of the commandments of God.

The world does not understand the power of holiness and a life lived in intimate union with God, Our Lady, the saints and the Church.

The saints followed the wisdom of the Cross which, ultimately, every single person that is put on this earth will have to carry at some point or another. The Cross will be offered to everyone.

Unfortunately, many people look at the saints and think: "I'll just never be able to live up to that standard, so why even try? I’m not a saint nor will I ever be. I’ll simply live my life as best I can and rely on God’s mercy in the end" .

This is a very sad position to take when it comes to God's call and desire for each per¬son in this world to achieve sanctity. If sanctity were impossible, God would certainly not ask, call and require it of us.

Yet, because God wants us to be holy, God will give us the strength to do it.

Becoming holy is cer¬tainly not easy, but nothing that was ever worth having was ever easy to attain.

We cannot achieve our own salvation even with all our good works. It needs more than that. It means we need to accept that we are powerless before almighty God and that we need Him to save us from ourselves.

We need to abandon ourselves to God. We need to surrender completely to Jesus – to try to live as He lived and to accept the cross as He accepted it.

Personal crosses are often very hard to carry, but once we understand that our suffering can be used to grow in holiness, they become precious treasures that lead us to freedom and happiness. Christians are certainly not sadistic people.

On the contrary, through the example of Jesus Christ and those faithful men and women that have followed His exam¬ple, the saints, Christians like you and me are given the wisdom to know that the cross points to a triumph that leads to ultimate freedom and hap¬piness.

Just like a mother in labor soon forgets her suffering on account of the joy of having given birth to a baby, so the Christian knows that the cross is not an end in itself, but a passage through which joy and happi¬ness are attained.

"Washing our robes in the blood of the lamb" means that we are will¬ing to live the beatitudes of Jesus and learn how to love sacrificially in a world that will reject, scorn and hold us in disdain.

The wisdom of the saints is the wisdom of the cross. The wisdom of the cross is a wisdom that knows sacrifi¬cial love conquers all things. Without sacrificial love no one will ever become holy: without sacrificial love no one will ever become happy and free.

The saints are those whose love is so radical that they are willing to surrender their lives to the wisdom of the cross at every moment. By the grace of God, you and I are not beyond this.

We, too, can become saints in the eyes of God if we surrender our lives completely to Him and have the courage to live a life of radical, life-giving, liberating love.

In all honesty, there is noth¬ing else worth investing all of one's life in. Sanctity and personal holi¬ness are the ultimate goals of human life.

That’s why we are here, born out of the Love of God, we are all called to become saints – for only saints will enter heaven.

In the Beatitudes Jesus teaches us that if we are faithful to His teachings – rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven where we will be with God forever in the place which He has prepared for us from all eternity.

Deacon Bernard Ouellette

Sunday of week 30 of Ordinary Time

Exodus 22:20-26; 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Matthew 22:34-30


“LOVE - AND DO WHAT YOU LIKE” is a statement attributed to the great St Augustine. He did not say simply, “Do what you like” but “LOVE, and do what you like.” The word ‘love’ changes the meaning of the statement completely. We have a similar theme in today’s Gospel. It touches on the very heart of the Christian message and indeed of all human living.

Some Catholics, especially many young, argue, "I come to church to worship God. Spare me the message on the poor. I get that on the TV all week." This is telephone booth theology: just me and God and nobody else. Here they obey the first great commandment and forget the second.

Other Catholics operate on social worker principles. They put out for the poor not because it pleases God but because it pleases them. Very often they don’t love neighbor but themselves. Jesus is squeezed out of the package. They obey the second great commandment and disregard the first. Such people are humanists but not Christians.

But there are also others who argue: Jesus teaches about love and don’t tell me anything about moral obligations and commandments. Don’t challenge me with the difficult questions and don’t touch my private life. They obey their own vision of God and they create their own understanding of love. They neither worship true God nor love their neighbor.

And who said: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” (John 14,21).
And John in his first letter adds: “Whoever says, "I know and I love him, but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” (1 John 2,4).

Some others say:
- “I love God, and God loves me”. It’s true that I am greedy, egoistic, impolite, and merciless but God’s love is infinite and He will certainly forgive me”.

- “It’s true that I neglect His commandments and I am not a churchgoer but He requires only to love Him, not to go to the church, so don’t upset me with Sunday Masses on a regular basis”.

- It’s true that I am living already for 20 years in non-sacramental marriage but I love my wife (or my husband) so don’t upset me with something what is not in the Gospel. God loves me and He will certainly save me, because I love my spouse.

Is it not a misunderstanding of the Gospel message? Is it not a total failure in understanding Christ’s teaching? Are we not turning the Gospel message upside-down trying to adjust it to our lousy life?

Is it not true:
- that the love of God without love of the neighbor is a kind of very grave and serious hypocrisy? You can not love God whom you don’t see if you don’t truly love neighbor who is near to you.

- but it is also true that the so called love of the neighbor (sentimental and romantic) without being rooted in the love of God is a kind of idolatry and self-deception.

It is true and certain that the central point of the Good News is the message of love, but we do forget very often that Jesus was crucified not for preaching love of God and neighbor but for preaching the very difficult and sometimes uncomfortable truth - HOW THIS LOVE SHOULD BE UNDERSTOOD. And this truth is very challenging and sometimes very upsetting, because I won’t like to accept it, and so I modify the understanding of God’s love to fit my convictions and my idea of comfortable Christianity.

We should not forget that Jesus’ understanding of love is very different from our understanding. God loves us and he requires the same from us, but this love is not emotional, not sentimental, not silly or romantic. Jesus is not a “Hollywood sappy lover” who dies in a melodramatic way. He is the God, He Himself is the LOVE, but at the same time He said “I am the Truth, I am the Way, and I am the Life. Who would like to come to my Father has to come through me.”

The word, love, has become devalued - like a currency that once bought a steak dinner, but now can barely purchase a donut. Much of modern Christian life seems like a bad version of a Hollywood cheap, romantic story rather than the morning of Resurrection. We need to revalue the meaning of love.

Emotions of course are important - and we should do all we can to have positive feelings toward family members, co-workers and fellow parishioners. But love itself is not a feeling. Love is a decision. Sometimes it is a very difficult and very challenging decision. And I should add that it is a gift of the Holy Spirit, because none of us on our own is capable the love Christ requires of us.

Can I say that parents who decide to punish their child to prevent him or her from biggest troubles don’t love the child? Even if the child is sometimes very upset …

Can I say that mother stressing some obligations and duties in the formation of her child does not love him? Love is also shown by caring enough to discipline the child. Preventing the child from hurting himself or someone else.

Can I say that only the sentimental and non upsetting emotions are good?

The commandment of love of God and neighbor are not original to Jesus and there is nothing new about their being placed together; what is new is that Jesus presents them as dependent on each other or even interdependent. According to Jesus they are inseparable one from the other.
Also new to him is that he widens the definition of neighbor to include everyone and stress the proper and not sentimental understanding of love. You cannot pretend that you love God if you don’t keep His commandments.

I AM THE LORD, AND THERE IS NO OTHER.

This first reading from Isaiah is God indicating clearly that He alone is the Lord of the universe.

A little while ago I visited St. Matthew School and was talking to some students in class. We were talking about the Trinity. Three divine persons in one God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As the discussion went on - I asked a question. I said “Can anyone here tell me why there is only one God?"

One hand immediately shot up. You could almost hear the gears grinding as this little girl looked like she was sorry she put her hand up. I told her to go ahead. She hestitated a bit and then said loudly “There is only one God because He's everywhere and because He’s everywhere there is no room for any other god."

There’s logic there.

Some five hundred and fifty years before the birth Christ, God used Cyrus the founder of the Persian Empire to free God's people from exile and return to Jerusalem. Isaiah calls Cyrus “God’s anointed” because even though Cyrus did not know God, without violating his free will, the Lord directed Cyrus’ steps. God shows us that as Lord of heaven and earth, He can use any earthly power to benefit His people.

And the responsorial psalm that follows, Psalm 96 calls for all the earth to sing a new song to the Lord and declare His glory among all the peoples. The Lord is to be revered as the only God. He made the heavens. Therefore, all must worship the Lord and say among the nations, The Lord is King!

GIVE TO GOD THE THINGS THAT ARE GOD'S.

In this Gospel from St. Matthew, Jesus reminds us that we are citizens of two countries.

Give to the emperor what belongs to the emperor. We are citizens of the country in which we live. To Canada we owe many things, such as safety, public services, education, health, etc. etc.,

A Christian is a person of honor, and so each Christian must also be a responsible citizen. Every Christian has a duty to the earthly ruler for the privileges which that ruler provides. We have a duty to Canada.

But the Christian is also a citizen of heaven. Therefore, Jesus says, Give to God the things that belong to God. Therefore God, to Whom we owe everything, deserves our complete submission.

All that we are and have is from Him. As it says elsewhere in the Bible, in Him we live and move and have our being.

If there is ever any conflict between our dual citizenship, if there is ever any conflict between God and Canada, then there is no question that we must choose in favour of God.
For God is the higher power and He made the Canada that we live in.

The image of the coin that Jesus asks for, has a deep meaning for us. The coin for the tax has the image of the head of the emperor on it. Therefore, it belongs to the ruler, Caeser.

We, on the other hand are stamped with another image. We are stamped with the image of God. God made each of us in His image and likeness.

Therefore, we belong to God. That is what gives us our great value and dignity. Because we belong to God we give ourselves completely to Him.

We render to Caeser what belongs to Caeser and we render to God without question what belongs to Him.

But, even though we render to Caeser what belongs to Caeser, do we do so without question?

Do we render blind obedience to the state? Is the state on par with our obedience to God? No, it is not.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church points out three circumstances where citizens are obliged in conscience to refuse obedience to the civil authorities.

Citizens are to refuse obedience when the laws are 'contrary to the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons and to the teachings of the gospel.'

When the laws are “contrary to the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons, and laws which are contrary to the teachings of the Gospel. (and that includes the rights of the unborn and the aged – because we don’t need to have a legal definition according to Canadian Law of what is life and what is not.

Why? Because we already have a definition in accordance with God’s Law – a Christian protects life from conception until natural death)

It’s pretty cut and dried isn’t it?

We recently had a Federal Election – How often did any of the Candidates mention the right to life of the unborn.

How often did you hear any candidate mention euthanasia? Did you hear any politician speak about Canada’s obligations to the poor people in our country and in the world?

And yet these topics should have been front and centre. They were not. Why not?

Because the politicians can chose the topics and issues at will.
They often pick the safe topics – never the controversial ones.

They talked about some things like the economy, or the environment and left out or were quiet on other topics such as the right to life for the unborn and the right to life for the aged.


As a Christian we have not only the right and but the serious obligation to bring up these topics up at public meetings and by writing to the press. Did we do so?

We need to ask ourselves – did any of us bring up the topic of abortion or euthanasia in this election? If not, why not?

Because if we did not then we are accomplices by omission. If we say nothing then we are really giving our approval.

If we do not speak against abortion it means we approve of it. With our silence we approve of the murder of Canadian babies, 900 a month in Alberta alone – all of it funded by our tax dollars.

How many lives might have been saved by 300 million dollars given to feed the poor of the world, instead of 300 million dollars spent on an election?

If we say nothing against euthanasia then it means that we condone it.

We need to ask ourselves the fundamental question - How do we act when the demands of the church and the state are in obvious conflict?

Jesus’ opponents try to trap Him by raising the question of the realtionship between politics and religion.

Jesus does not give an answer to their tricky question but rather He states a principle, making each of us responsible for acting in accordance with our informed conscience.


When the state requires more than it’s due and we are tempted into idolatry we must disobey the state. A Christian cannot adopt a civil religion which believes in “my country, right or wrong”.

But how often in our modern times has Caeser been given what belongs to God! The right to life as dictated by the state and paid for by it’s citizens whether they agree to it or not.

We cannot serve two masters. We can only serve one. If we choose God then we are obliged to speak up against all evil no matter what the cost.

If we must stand alone after a moral decision – will we have the courage of our convictions?

In the second reading St. Paul is encouraged by the Thessalonians faith in action which he sees as a gift of the Holy Spirit. Faith in action is what it takes.

We are not policitians and so we often do not control the agenda. But we can and must continue to influence people. We can and must speak out.

We must use the media to convince people so that there is fertile ground next time the question of the right to life enters the political forum. We must keep up the pressure.

Catholic voices in this country are many and they must be heard. They cannot remain silent.

Often our only resort is persuasion. Persuasion is always a gentle art. We best persuade by living our Christian lives to the full, remembering always that 'the anger of man works not the justice of God.'

In this last election the Prime Minister of Canada Steven Harper went on record stating that he would never allow the topic of abortion to be discussed – not by anyone. All the other politicians and it seems most Canadians obeyed this order.

However, number 2242 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that:

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."We must obey God rather than men.'

Politics are a moral matter no matter what the politicians say.

On this Mission Sunday it is up to all of us as Christian citizens of this great country to not only be sure to exercise our voting rights each time we have the opportunity but also to make sure that our policitians are held accountable whenever they contravene God’s laws.

In this way we make a positive contribution to social life in our country and the world and thus we play our part in rendering to God what belongs to Him.

What the Lord said to Cyrus, He says to all of us: “I have grasped your right hand, I call you by your name.

I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no God. I am the Lord, there is no other.”

Deacon Bernard Ouellete

23 Sunday - A

“Thus says the Lord:
If I tell the wicked, “O wicked one, you shall surely die,”
and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way,
the wicked shall die for his guilt,
but I will hold you responsible for his death.” (Ez 33:7)

“My brothers, if anyone among you should stray from the truth and someone bring him back,
he should know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19-20)

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.” (Mt 18:15)

The Bible is telling us clearly about the necessity of fraternal correction. But we hate even the idea that somebody can try to correct us. I am immediately very deeply upset even if somebody tries to help me and protect me against fall and sin. I am UPSET!!! Because:
- I am not a sinner,
- I am perfect,
- I don’t need any correction or
because as I condemn others, I am afraid that everybody who tries to correct me condemns me as well?

XXII SUNDAY – A – 31.08. 2008

Jeremiah 20: 7-9; Psalm 63; Romans 12:1-2; Matthew 16: 21-27

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, "You are Cepha, and 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. Did you notice what happened in today’s Gospel? Why such a change in Jesus reactions?

Matthew has deliberately chosen to put these incidents together to teach us something really deep.

„Get behind me, Satan! You are stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things”.

In the original Greek text Jesus uses even the stronger words: “Go away Satan, You scandalize me and others, because you take the things not in the God’s manner but you try to please the people”.

Why is Jesus so harsh with Peter today? Because Peter starts to think in worldly terms, to please the people, to gain popularity and crowds. When Christ says he has to go to Jerusalem, to suffer, and be killed, Peter went into shock. Peter still thought Jesus would make Israel the powerful kingdom, just like when David was king. This means: thinking in the worldly manner. But there is something more, Peter tries to erase, to eliminate the cross from the Gospel, from the history of salvation? He tries to “take it easy”, to soften, and to moderate the strong teaching of Jesus. He is afraid that this teaching about the cross and suffering will be absolutely not attractive, nobody will buy it. “God forbid it., Lord. This must never happen to you!!” Take it easy Jesus, don’t be so serious, so tragic and catastrophic, you will scary the people, nobody will follow you!

What -many of our contemporary Catholics and even priests- try to do nowadays? Don’t they try to erase the cross from the Gospel? Don’t they try to please rather humans than to follow God’s way? Deep commercialization touched even the Gospel. If something is not nice and contains even a smallest suggestion of pain and suffering, people will not buy it! We have to take care and not bother or scary our parishioners. Everything in the church must be nice and easy, every homily must be smooth and kind, otherwise people will feel upset. I have to feel good in the church otherwise I quit. Is it not the worldly style of thinking, is it not the “scandalon ei eimon”?

The problem plagues us to this day. How often we think in worldly ways, how easily we ignore the ways of God. We do not like to suffer. We don’t even like to hear about the commandments. But, here's the point. Sticking with God, we have to take up our crosses. Jesus said to Peter, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." “Who loves me will keep my commandments.” We do not like the cross, we do not like even to mention the idea of commandment. It’s offending my feeling of freedom, it’s humiliating and mortifying me. Pain and difficulties and hard times come into our lives, and we ask, Why me? God din not create us for suffering but for joy and happiness.

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. Peter was simply saying the kind of thing any other “good pastor” 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. But also Peter tries to avoid the unpopularity of the Jesus’ teaching. He is afraid that speaking about suffering, crosses and dead will certainly not gain for Jesus new disciples. This is what sometimes we can hear from the “good pastors” nowadays: “father don’t scary the people stressing to much the commandments, talking about the cross and suffering, otherwise the church will become empty.”

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. Even more, the suffering is essential and necessary to our life and our 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:

- the source and origin of suffering is not God but wrongly used human freedom, and
- the 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 few times a day! 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.

We don’t need to be afraid of the cross in the church, we don’t need to change and accommodate the message of Christ to make it easy and acceptable by the “Hallmark culture” of nice and pleasant life.

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.

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.

TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - (August 24, 2008)
Isaiah 22:19-23 Romans 11:33-36 Matthew 16:13-20

Three Unavoidable Questions

Today's readings confront us with three questions:
- of God's existence,
- the divinity of Jesus and
- the divine authority of the Church.

There are three questions that no thinking person can avoid.
Everything depends on how one answers them. The three unavoidable questions are:

1) Does God exist?
2) Is Jesus God?
3) Did Jesus found the Church?

Today's Scripture readings address these questions. Regarding God's existence, St. Paul exclaims: "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his way!"

St. Paul knows that God is far beyond human reason. Still, in that same letter to the Romans, he explains that it is reasonable to believe in God. In fact, argues Paul, what is unreasonable is to deny God's existence: those who deny his existence have clouded their own thinking process. You can read Paul's argument for yourself. (You will find it in the first chapter of Romans.) What I want to underscore is that the gift of faith - while it transcends reason - does not ultimately go against reason. Faith completes reason, gives a new power to human understanding.

Now, if a person recognizes that God exists, then the second question follows: Is Jesus God? Today Jesus asks the disciples who people say that he is. There are a lot of opinions. Some say that Jesus is a sage, a kind of guru who leads his followers to a new level of consciousness. Others say he is a good man, maybe the best of men, but still only a human being. Others say he was a great moral teacher like Socrates or Confucius.

But Jesus will have none of that. He looks each disciple in the eye and asks: "But, you, who do you say, that I am?" You have to answer that question for yourself, directly to Jesus. No one can force you. What you say to Jesus depends on your own heart. I can, however, tell you my answer: Jesus is God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father. In a few minutes I will invite you to make that profession of faith with me.

Before doing that, I would like to consider the third question: Did Jesus found the Church? In some way this is the most difficult question, because it demands so much. It is one thing to believe in God and in Jesus, but something else to believe in the divine authority of the Church. People can keep God and Jesus at arm's length - or at least try. It is not so easy with the Church. For better or worse, the Church has had a significant role in human history - and a considerable presence in the modern world.

I say "for better or worse" because the Church is composed of human beings with negative (as well as positive) tendencies. We readily admit the weakness and fallibility not only of little people like you and me, but also the top leaders in the Church. But the question is not whether the Church is composed on sinful human beings. Rather, we have to ask what Jesus meant he when told Simon Peter that he was the rock upon which he would build his Church.

Peter the Rock
There now follows a passage which will be the foundation for the authority given to the disciples and to Peter in particular in the post-Resurrection community. In response to Peter's declaration of faith, Jesus now says, "You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church." In the English translation, the play on words here is lost. In the Greek, 'Peter' is Petros ()' and 'rock' is petra () while, in the Aramaic language which Jesus and his disciples normally spoke, both words would be represented by kepa. Hence, Peter is called Cephas in some New Testament letters. cf. for example, Galatians 2:11.

Peter is the rock, the foundation of the community which will carry the name and the authority of Jesus to the whole world. On him, together with his Apostolic companions as the faithful communicators of Jesus' life and message, will be built the Church, the ekklesia , the assembly of God's people. (In all of the four gospels, this word ekklesia appears only twice, here and in Matthew 18:17, "And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church [ekklesia]...").

And what happened to the keys that Jesus gave to Peter? Are they buried in his tomb under St. Peter's Basilica in Rome? I don't think so. We have an early list of popes. It says that - after Peter - a man named Linus received the keys with their power to open and close, loose and bind. After him, Cletus, then Clement and so on. Today Pope Benedict XVI holds those keys. It is not just an earthly power, but a divine authority. Jesus said, whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.

Now, I know that there are many congregations more attractive and more dynamic than Catholic parishes. And I may as well admit it - the most attractive would be a new congregation composed of me and those think like me. It would be called the "church of Phil Bloom." Its doctrines would be the Bible verses that I - and those who agree with me - like the best.

The "church of me and mine" is tempting (sort of) but that is clearly not what Jesus had in mind. He did not say to look for a community where you feel most comfortable. He founded a Church with divine authority - the power of the keys. The keys do not lock us in. What they do is unlock our hearts. They open us to people who may not - at first - attract us. And, above all, the keys open vistas that the "church of Phil Bloom" could never imagine.

Today we consider a text that is crucial to the Church’s understanding of itself. The words of Jesus addressed to Peter, “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church.

I suppose this is one of the most famous puns in the whole of history, Peter meaning rock. But that aside, the claims that the Church has made based on those few words are very great indeed. And they have provoked a good deal of criticism and have been an obstacle to many.

The claims are these: that Jesus gives authority to Peter and his successors to lead the Church, that the Holy Spirit will keep the successors of Peter free from error in matters concerning faith and morals, and that being in communion with the successors of Peter (i.e. the Popes) is essential to being a member of the one true Church of God.

We must remember the context in which these words of Jesus arise; Peter has just made an extraordinary confession of faith in response to Jesus’ question “Who do you say that I am?” Peter’s reply, as we all know so well, is, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus then declares that this extra-ordinary statement of faith was directly inspired by God the Father.

So clearly Peter is important, indeed vital, to the work that Jesus was to accomplish. It is clear also that leadership for the Church, for the followers of Jesus after he returned to his Father, was needed and it was the intention of Jesus that Peter should fulfil this role.

A special kind of leadership
The leadership of Peter and his successors is not one of coercion and political power but of example and service. As long as faith, hope, and love are strong in the community, it will survive and flourish. It is not just a matter of unquestioning obedience to the decrees of an institution, issued from some far-off headquarters.

Today we see in the pope the successor of Peter. He shares the same charism or gift of leadership, a leadership of service. Traditionally the popes have called themselves Servus servorum Dei, the 'servant of the servants of God'. The pope is not a dictator with absolute powers, as he is sometimes depicted. He is limited by the faith of the whole Church. He is not the originator of that faith; he does not decide what we should believe. Rather, he communicates to the Church at large what it already believes. He is the focal point of unity of that one faith, the unity in the Spirit. The pope is the servant of that one community united in one faith.

Point of unity
In a Church where there are now so many conflicting theologies and spiritualities, there has never been a greater need for a focal point not of uniformity but of Christian unity. "There is one body and one Spirit... there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, there is one God and Father of all, who is Lord of all, works through all and is in all..." (Ephesians 4:4-6) This is something which many of our Anglican and Lutheran brothers and sisters have become strongly aware of. It is something whose importance is so well realised by our Catholic brothers and sisters in China, scattered and cut off from each other as they are.

The pope is our point of reference, whom we must always take into account, as we search for new understandings of what it means to be a disciple of Christ in a constantly changing world. He is the shepherd that keeps us in fellowship with Christians everywhere but who must not stifle the creativity of the Spirit in living out the Gospel in such a huge variety of contexts. For we are simultaneously one Church and many churches. For us here in our own church, our concern will be to remain in close union with fellow-disciples everywhere while at the same time living a Christian life in a way that most effectively will bring the spirit of the Kingdom among us in these challenging times.

Who contests the authority of Peter contests also the authority of Jesus Christ. Who contests the authority of Christ contests also the authority of God. I cannot claim that I believe Jesus Christ and at the same time refuse the authority of Peter and his successors.

If Jesus tells Peter:

“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Who am I to deny His authority?

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

The meeting of Jesus and the pagan Canaanite woman was providen¬tial. It led to a miracle and to her and to our deeper understanding of faith.

That woman believed that Jesus was the Messiah even though she knew very little about the Jewish prophets who were sent by God to prepare the way for the Messiah. She grew in her faith from the "scraps" that fell from the Old Testament table.

The Catholic Church often finds great faith particularly amongst those outside her visible membership. Through His church the Lord has prepared a table full of spiritual gifts for his children.

What a pity though that some of those children receive only some of those gifts! Fortunately, they may still achieve salvation with what they have received from the Lord, namely, the Scriptures and and often Baptism which brings them grace, virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Just think, how much better off these children of the protestant reformation would be if they were able to receive their full inheritance!

Often protestants once exposed to the truth will accept it fully and join the Catholic Church.

One would think that those exposed to the fullness of truth have the greatest chance for salvation but sadly, receiving the full inheritance of the truth is not a guarantee of salvation either - for receiving and accepting the Truth are two different things.

It has been pointed out that one of the biggest phenomenon of today’s Christian world is that many of our separated brethren still attend the Catholic Church.


Many still minister in it even though they do not believe in all the truths of the faith.

Others still consider themselves Catholic while rejecting Catholic teaching, all the while taking part in many of the Sacraments but often with a different point of view then those who are orthodox and in full communion with Rome.

During the protestant reformation it was common for those who dissented from Church teaching to leave the Catholic Church and start another church of their own. Martin Luther led the way.

But nowadays it is very common for those who openly dissent from church teaching to stay with the church to try to change it from within, for they have received the fullness of truth but for various reasons reject all or part of it and often teach others to do the same.

So then we see that evangelization has as its goal not only to plant the seeds of faith among the unbaptized but also to win back those Christians souls separated from the church both within and without.


The Church has the mission “to build up the body of Christ till we become one in faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, and from that perfect man who is Christ come to full stature” as St. Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians.

Revealed truth can never change. Any "reformation" within or without that seeks to do this becomes heretical. The Catholic Church, however, constantly works hard to better explain the revealed truths and to offer to her children a deeper under¬standing of them.

"Is there to be no development of religion in the Church of Christ? Certainly ... But it must truly be development of the faith, not alteration of the faith" (Liturgy of the Hours IV, p.363).


Sadly, in today’s Catholic world we live in a church which continues to be divided by dissent. We have many “protestant” Catholics amongst us.

Dissent is that situation whereby some people accept some of the truths taught by the Catholic Church but are selective in denying other truths. Often for personal reasons or pride they dissent from certain teachings of the church and then often misuse conscience as their excuse.

One of the highest ranking Americans in the Vatican has written an eye-opening and deeply personal retrospective on the world shaking events which took place in the Catholic Church 40 years ago with the signing of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae (On Human Life). The non-celebration of which was observed in July this year.

Cardinal James Stafford says that the deadliest thing to hit the Church in the last 40 years was not the encyclical itself which re-stated again and reaffirmed the Church’s continued and historical stand against contraception – but rather the dissent that came as a result of the Church’s affirmation.

Cardinal Stafford says that (I quote) “The summer of 1968 is a record of God’s hottest hour. The memories are not forgotten, they are painful…. They inhabit the whirlwind where God’s wrath dwells. In 1968 something terrible happened in the Church.

Within the ministerial priesthood ruptures developed everywhere among friends which have never healed. And the wounds continue to affect the whole church. The dissent, together with the leaders manipulation of the anger they fomented became a supreme test,. It changed fundamental relationships within the church.”

The Cardinal explains that dissenting theologians, led by Charles Curran and other dissident clergy, attempted to bully their fellow priests into signing on to documents of formal dissent represented by the Washington Statement of dissent.”

Quote “The violence of the initial disobedience was only a prelude to further and more pervasive violence”, He writes.

“Contempt for the truth, whether aggressive or passive, has become common in Church life.

Dissenting theologians, priests, sisters and laypeople have continued their coercive techniques. From the very beginning the press has used them to further its own serpentine agenda”. Unquote.

Unfortunately, Father Richard Rohr, Father Richard McBrien, Father Timothy Radcliffe and other priests as well as religious sisters continue to openly foster dissent in the church. It is unfortunate because the fact that they are priests, religious sisters and well educated men and women increases their credibility amongst the faithful and because of this many have fallen into error with them.

In 1968, just before issuing the document, Pope Paul the VI called for episcopal unity on Humanae Vitae because it truly presented the teaching against contraception which stems from the law of God, and not from the Church.

The Pope was therefore deeply dissapointed when the Catholic Bishops of Canada even after the Pope’s appeal to them issued a devastating letter to Canadian Politicians which encouraged and permitted them to support the legalization of contraception in Canada. And in that way the floodgates of the Culture of Death were opened in Canada.

Pope Paul the VI prophetically foresaw that dissent against Humanae Vitae would open the door to pre-marital sex, an increase in divorce, co-habiting couples, abortion, same-sex marriage. All of it came true.

In the upcoming edition of Catholic Insight magazine, Canada’s greatest defender of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical, 92 year old Msgr Vincent Foy called the letter by the CCCB “an incredible betrayal of Catholic teaching on the intrinsic evil of contraception.”

And then this was followed up by what Msgr Foy calls the “Winnipeg disaster of Friday Sept 27, 1968” when the Catholic Bishops of Canada published a Statement on Humanae Vitae embracing the error of allowing married couples to break God’s law by the subterfuge of subjective conscience. Thereby thousands of Canadians fell and continue to fall into error.

This formal statement on Humanae Vitae called the “Winnipeg Statement” has never been retracted and still stands today.

“For 40 years rebellion has been widespread in Canada, says Msgr Foy.

For 40 years we have experienced the deadly fruit of turning away from Christ in the most critical area of life and marital love.

Pope John Paul II called dissent from Humanae Vitae the “Great Lie”.

This lie remains in Canada like a festering, cancerous wound”.

Canadian Catholics have a right to ask their bishops to revoke that statement……In concrete terms it is not our defiance of the episcopacy but love of the episcopacy which leads Catholics to ask our bishops to restore orthodoxy” Unquote.

Jesus foresaw such problems.

Jesus warned his followers to be on guard against false prophets and wolves in sheep's clothing. He advised patience in the struggle with his parable of the Good Seed and Weeds.

The good seed and weeds refer not only to individuals but also to correct doctrine and errors.

Someone has said, "To know history is to be Catholic." This is so true because history proves that Jesus has always fulfilled his promises.

Jesus promised, "And know that I am with you always, until the end of the world" (Matt. 28:20). This promise was made to His Church.

Jesus also promised St. Peter, I for my part declare to you, you are `Rock,' and on this rock I will build my church, and the jaws of death shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18).

Almost prophetically Psalm 95 says in part “Today, listen to the voice of the Lord; do not grow stubborn as your fathers did in the wilderness, when at Meriba and Massah they challenged and provoked me, although they had seen all of my works.

40 Years I endured that generation. I said “They are a people whose hearts go astray and they do not know my ways” So I swore in my anger, “They shall not enter into my rest”.

You know somebody said to me that it must be quite depressing for you and for those who listen to you to continually hear this message about the bad news – the disobedience and dissension in the the church – is there no hope? Is there no good news?

Yes, there is good news and that good news is Jesus Christ. In spite of our sin – and we are all sinners – He came so that we might have life – and that to the full – eternal life for those who believe in Him. We have to remember that He created us for Heaven not to condemn us to Hell. We need to accept the truth. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Accept the good news – turn away from sin – turn to Him – for He is our hope.

Despite over 40 years of struggle against the dissent, 92 year old Msgr Foy still sees hope. “Yet there is hope on this 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, “writes Msgr Foy “God’s grace, always sufficient, will be mercifully given and generously if there are faithful bishops, priests, religious and laity prayerful and ready to make the sacrifices required.”

The best defense has always been good religious instruction of the faithful and prayer.

After 40 years, as the dissenters of our church grow older and pass away one by one we can be certain that their heresies, their works and their errors like chaff will eventually pass away with them. But the words of Christ will not pass away.

So in spite of scandals, errors, claims and counterclaims, it is always possible for us to discover which is the Church that Jesus founded and where are those in it who are teaching the truth. Who in our Church may we believe? Who is teaching the truth - for there are many wolves in sheep’s clothing. The answer is:

"Where Peter is, there is Christ's Church!" and the gates of Hell have not and will not prevail against it. Whoever stands with the Vicar of Christ stands in the truth.

In chapter 16 of his letter to the Romans, St. Paul warns us with these words: “I urge you brothers, to watch out for those who create dissensions and obstacles, in opposition to the teaching you have learned; avoid them. For such people do not serve your Lord Christ but their own appetites, and by fair and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the innocent.

In Chapter 15 he prays for unity in the church. “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to think in harmony with one another, in keeping with Christ Jesus, that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Following the exhortation of St. Paul let us therefore join Msgr Foy and pray for a united church, one in truth, one in Christ, one in obedience and one in unity under the visible Head of His Church on Earth, the Vicar of Christ, Pope Benedict XVI and we pray also for the Archbishop of our Edmonton Archdiocese, His Grace, ArchBishop Richard Smith as he seeks to maintain unity and truth in our Archdiocese. They both seek to lead us all to Christ by continuing to always and everywhere proclaim the Good News – The Good News of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the world. Our Creator who came to earth so that we might all join Him in Heaven. That is His plan and that is Good News Indeed!

Deacon Bernard Ouellette