What’s in a name?
Homily for “January 1st, 2008 - Mary, Mother of God”
One day when our son Chris was about 5 years old, Audrey and I went shopping for groceries at a large store in Edmonton. As we moved along we each took turns holding his hand because he didn’t want to ride in the shopping cart.
Somehow, in all the shuffling, he became separated from us. Maybe I thought Audrey had him or vice versa. Anyhow, at one point we heard this loud cry from the next aisle – “Audrey, Audrey, Audrey”. So Audrey took off like a shot and found Chris standing there still shouting “Audrey”.
She went and picked him up and gave him a big hug to calm him – but once he had settled down she admonished him. She looked him square in the eye and said “I am your mother – to you my name is mommy – not Audrey”. He looked back at her and said “I know that. But this place is full of mommies.”
Today the church celebrates the solemnity of “Mary, Mother of God”.
When Catholics say that Mary is the Mother of God, we are not saying that Mary is the Mother of God the Father, or the Mother of God the Holy Spirit.
But rather we are saying that she is the real human Mother of God the Son, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity.
How can this be? Well, let me use an example. When you and I were born do you think that our mothers gave us an immortal human soul? No, they didn’t. Your Mom and your Dad gave you your body, but from the moment of conception God alone created your immortal human soul.
Yet, when your mother gave birth to you, she gave birth to all of you, an entire human person. Composed of body, blood and soul. She is the mother of all of you as a person.
In the same way, Mary did not give Jesus His Divine Nature, nor is she the source of His immortal Human Soul.
However, just as your mother did not give birth to a human body but rather to a human person, so also Mary carried in her womb an entire and complete divine person. This entire and complete divine person came forth and was born on Christmas Day. This person is Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity.
Sound confusing? Well it can be unless you stop to think about it.
Even though she is not the source of His Divinity nor is Mary the source of His immortal human soul, Mary did give Jesus His humanity - His body and blood. Then, she gave birth to the whole person - body, blood, soul and divinity - namely Jesus Christ and so therefore Mary is rightly called the Mother of God.
Listen to what Martin Luther had to say about Mary –
“In this work whereby she was made the Mother of God, so many and such good things were given her that no one can grasp them…. Not only was Mary the mother of Him who is born in Bethlehem, but of Him who, before the world, was entirely born of the Father, from a Mother in time at the same time man and God”.
And John Calvin had this to say “It cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of His Son, granted her the highest honour…. Elizabeth calls Mary , Mother of the Lord, because the unity of the person in the two natures of Christ was such that she could have said that the mortal man engendered in the womb of Mary was at the same time the eternal God.”
And Ulrich Zwingli “I firmly believe that Mary, according to the words of the Gospel, as a pure Virgin brought forth for us the Son of God and in childbirth and after childbirth forever remained a pure, intact virgin.
The title of Mary Mother of God is the greatest of all Marian titles and from it all other titles flow. The Immaculate Conception, the Assumption of Mary into Heaven, Her Perpetual Virginity, Mother of the Church and Mother of the Mystical Body of Christ.
Because she is the Mother of God, Mary was preserved from all sin – immaculately conceived to be a worthy vessel to receive God in her womb.
Because she is the Mother of God and immaculately conceived - she was fittingly assumed bodily into Heaven.
Because she is the Mother of God and spouse of the Holy Spirit, she would remain a perpetual virgin.
Because she is the Mother of God, Mary is also called the Mother of the Church.
The only way that Christians can call themselves brothers and sisters of Christ is by way of adoption. In other words, Jesus is, was, and will always be the Eternal Son of the Father. All Christians are children of God and brothers and sisters in Christ by adoption.
If Christians are brothers and sisters in Christ by adoption, then by adoption, they also inherit the same mother. Mary is mother of Christ by nature, and therefore she is the Mother of Christians by adoption.
Because she is the Mother of God, Mary is also called the Mother of the Church because she’s the Mother of Christ and according to St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians (1Cor 12:12-27, His letter to the Romans (12:4-4) and to the Colossians (1:18) the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ. So the Mother of Christ then is also the Mother of His Mystical body.
All of these titles flow from that first and greatest title - Theotokos (God Bearer), Mother of God.
And so we rightly pray:
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Deacon Bernard Ouellette
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Holy Family Sunday – 28.12.2008
Genesis 15:1-6;17:3b-5,15-16;21:1-7; Hebrews 11:8,11-12,17-19; Luke 2:22-40
Two thirds of North American families do not eat their meals together. Of the third of those who do, 50% are watching TV during the meal. The average child over 8 watches three and a half hours of TV daily, largely because the tired parents use the TV as a baby sitter at the end of a long day. (Economic Policy Institute).
The Feast of the Holy Family is not as old as one might think. Its origins are found only in the seventeenth century. Before then there was little need to offer the Holy Family as a model, for family life was largely in a healthy condition. But then came the Industrial Age and the birth of cities. Serious problems appeared on the family horizon. Strategist that she is, the Church looked about for a counterforce. Cleverly she hit upon devotion to the Holy Family.
And now in XXI century we are living in a time when the family is regularly, permanently destroyed and jeopardized. Since Jean Jacque Rousseau and French Enlightenment, the institution of family is denied, neglected, destroyed and the effects are more and more visible, more and more frightening … Let us simply see our families and ask ourselves one question: "How far away is my family from the Holy Family of Nazareth?"
Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family. In our natural attitude, we are tempted to look at the Holy Family as an ideal we can not realize in our families. But, Jesus, Mary and Joseph had their share of struggles. The Holy Family conquered their struggles through their faith-life. This must be the primary concern of our families.
The readings for this Sunday present some aspects of a Christian home. The first reading from Sirach says that children need to respect their parents. At first it refers to young children as it notes that mothers and fathers have their authority from God. Then it refers to older children when it says that children should take care of their parents when they age .Little children learn respect for their parents from the respect they see their parents giving each other and the respect their parents have for their grandparents. I have always believed that the way you treat your parents will be the way your children will treat you. If your relations with your parents are motivated by respect and love, and are evident in your kindness to them, your children will have learned this aspect of Christianity and will treat you the same way as your years mount.
The second reading deals with the interrelationships of the family. Paul tells the Colossians and us to deal with each other out of kindness, to be patient with each other, to forgive each other continually, not to let out pride determine what we say and do to each other. If we strive to live this way, than as a family we can pray together not just in Church, but in every aspect of our lives. "Whatever you do, whether in speech or in action, do it in the name of the Lord." Paul goes on to mention the roles of a family in his epoch. At that time the equality of women was not recognized. In the Roman empire women were seen as property that needed to be protected by their fathers ortheir husbands. The respect given to a woman was different from that given to a man. That's why we have the phrase, wives be submissive to your husbands. Closely followed by husbands love your wives. The heart of this reading is that husbands and wives must respect each other. This same line of thought continues with children being told to respect their parents, and parents being told not to nag, to continually find fault, with their children.
Genesis 15:1-6;17:3b-5,15-16;21:1-7; Hebrews 11:8,11-12,17-19; Luke 2:22-40
Two thirds of North American families do not eat their meals together. Of the third of those who do, 50% are watching TV during the meal. The average child over 8 watches three and a half hours of TV daily, largely because the tired parents use the TV as a baby sitter at the end of a long day. (Economic Policy Institute).
The Feast of the Holy Family is not as old as one might think. Its origins are found only in the seventeenth century. Before then there was little need to offer the Holy Family as a model, for family life was largely in a healthy condition. But then came the Industrial Age and the birth of cities. Serious problems appeared on the family horizon. Strategist that she is, the Church looked about for a counterforce. Cleverly she hit upon devotion to the Holy Family.
And now in XXI century we are living in a time when the family is regularly, permanently destroyed and jeopardized. Since Jean Jacque Rousseau and French Enlightenment, the institution of family is denied, neglected, destroyed and the effects are more and more visible, more and more frightening … Let us simply see our families and ask ourselves one question: "How far away is my family from the Holy Family of Nazareth?"
Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family. In our natural attitude, we are tempted to look at the Holy Family as an ideal we can not realize in our families. But, Jesus, Mary and Joseph had their share of struggles. The Holy Family conquered their struggles through their faith-life. This must be the primary concern of our families.
The readings for this Sunday present some aspects of a Christian home. The first reading from Sirach says that children need to respect their parents. At first it refers to young children as it notes that mothers and fathers have their authority from God. Then it refers to older children when it says that children should take care of their parents when they age .Little children learn respect for their parents from the respect they see their parents giving each other and the respect their parents have for their grandparents. I have always believed that the way you treat your parents will be the way your children will treat you. If your relations with your parents are motivated by respect and love, and are evident in your kindness to them, your children will have learned this aspect of Christianity and will treat you the same way as your years mount.
The second reading deals with the interrelationships of the family. Paul tells the Colossians and us to deal with each other out of kindness, to be patient with each other, to forgive each other continually, not to let out pride determine what we say and do to each other. If we strive to live this way, than as a family we can pray together not just in Church, but in every aspect of our lives. "Whatever you do, whether in speech or in action, do it in the name of the Lord." Paul goes on to mention the roles of a family in his epoch. At that time the equality of women was not recognized. In the Roman empire women were seen as property that needed to be protected by their fathers ortheir husbands. The respect given to a woman was different from that given to a man. That's why we have the phrase, wives be submissive to your husbands. Closely followed by husbands love your wives. The heart of this reading is that husbands and wives must respect each other. This same line of thought continues with children being told to respect their parents, and parents being told not to nag, to continually find fault, with their children.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
25 Christmas – Midnight (19:00 and 24:00)
Original essay by Dr James Allan Francis in “The Real Jesus and Other Sermons” © 1926 by the Judson Press of Philadelphia (pp 123-124 titled “Arise Sir Knight!”).
One Solitary Life
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman.
He grew up in another village, where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.
He never wrote a book, He never held an office.
He never had a family or owned a home.
He didn’t go to college.
He never visited a big city.
He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born.
He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He has no credentials but Himself.
He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against Him.
His friends ran away.
One of them denied Him.
He was turned over to His enemies and went through the mockery of a trial.
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.
While He was dying, His executioners gambled for His garments, the only property He had on earth.
When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure of the Human race. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one solitary life.
This Christmas night when we are celebrating the birth of this extraordinary person I ask myself only one question:
Has His life affected ALSO my life?
Otherwise what am I doing here?
Original essay by Dr James Allan Francis in “The Real Jesus and Other Sermons” © 1926 by the Judson Press of Philadelphia (pp 123-124 titled “Arise Sir Knight!”).
One Solitary Life
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman.
He grew up in another village, where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.
He never wrote a book, He never held an office.
He never had a family or owned a home.
He didn’t go to college.
He never visited a big city.
He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born.
He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He has no credentials but Himself.
He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against Him.
His friends ran away.
One of them denied Him.
He was turned over to His enemies and went through the mockery of a trial.
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.
While He was dying, His executioners gambled for His garments, the only property He had on earth.
When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure of the Human race. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one solitary life.
This Christmas night when we are celebrating the birth of this extraordinary person I ask myself only one question:
Has His life affected ALSO my life?
Otherwise what am I doing here?
Saturday, December 20, 2008
4th Sunday of Advent (B)
Throughout the entire Old Testament God prepares a chosen people for the Advent of His Son, both by prophesy and by prefiguration.
For example the great patriarchs of the Old Testament, like Isaac and Jacob and Moses, were all prefigures of Christ and showed by the way they lived their lives what could be expected in the life of the coming Messiah.
The great prophets of the Old Testament, like Isaiah and Jeremiah, pointed out the circumstances that would surround the Messiah - His birth, His life, and His death.
Then, as a final preparation for the Advent of the Son of God into the world, God sent John the Baptist, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, preaching repentance and sorrow for sin, for “the reign of God is at hand”.
The promise which was made to Adam and which was renewed in Abraham was about to be fulfilled. He whom the patriarchs prefigured and the prophets foretold had now entered the world.
In the fullness of time the promises and prophesies were fulfilled. A messenger from God, the Angel Gabriel appeared to a virgin in Nazareth with an offer to become the Mother of God. And when Mary freely accepted God’s proposal she said , "Be it done to me according to thy word," and God became man through the power of the Holy Spirit.
We have to realize that it was God’s choice to initiate the process of Redemption in this manner. This is how He chose to do it. To become man through the free choice of the Virgin Mary.
God didn’t have to come into the world through the Virgin Mary to save us. There are many, many ways in which God could have saved us. He is all powerful.
However, this is the way that God willed it should be and so it was.
He willed to be made man through the free consent of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Now Mary didn’t have to be Immaculately Concieved in order to be the Mother of God. No! God could do it any way that He wanted to. He’s God, after all, and all things are possible to God.
However, it is most fitting that God should be brought into the world through a vessel that was prepared and kept pure and Immaculately conceived.
It didn’t have to be this way, but that is the way God willed it to be and Sacred Scripture confirms that that is the way it was.
It was not because of necessity but rather it was because God chose to do it that way – and so by the will of God and with the free consent of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Word became flesh.
Nine months later He was born in Bethlehem and for thirty years lived at Nazareth.
lmmediately before Jesus began His public life, John the Baptist was sent by God to prepare the world for the coming of the Messiah.
John announced a new era of grace. He told the people that the exodus from Egypt and Babylon were only prefigurations of man's emancipation from sin.
“Repent” was John's cry. However, John's message is also full of joy because it announces a time of God's grace.
It is also quite serious because, having free will, we can still say yes or no to this coming of God’s grace. The Old Testament was now completed. The New Testament had now begun.
He who was foretold now appeared. The Jewish religion was completed. God now walked among men. The Messiah has come.
And just as the Old Testament looked forward to Christ, the New Testament looks back to Him. Jesus divided history in two. And just as the Jewish religion was founded to foretell redemption, Christ founded His Church to retell and to accomplish redemption.
The Church is related to the Jewish religion the same as a flower is related to its bud. The Church is the completion, the perfection, the accomplishment of all that had been foretold.
The Church like the Jewish religion of old looks to the future. Reminding all people of Christ's first coming, it is also must continue to remind everyone that Jesus will come again at the end of time to judge the living and the dead.
And just as the Old Testament prepared humanity for Christ's first coming, so also is the Church to prepare humanity for this second coming.
And so the Catholic Church’s constant teaching is simply to remind us that we live not for time, but for eternity, so that every day of our life we might prepare for it.
For we know not when the Master will come.
Eight centuries before Christ's birth the Old Testament informs us that the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem.
That the Messiah will be a great shepherd and king, not only of Israel but of all peoples and His kingdom will extend to the very ends of the earth.
St. Paul instructs his Jewish converts that Christ is truly the Messiah. All the sacrifices of sheep and goats in the Old Testament merely prefigured and foreshadowed His perfect sacrifice to His heavenly Father.
This was the divine plan of redemption. All that was promised in the Old Law was fulfilled.
And when Mary visited Elizabeth the first beatitudes of the New Testament were proclaimed: "Blessed is He who believed that there would be fulfilled what was spoken by the Lord."
And this is the beatitude that is given to us today, the blessedness of all those who have answered the call of John the Baptist and who have prepared themselves during Advent for the spiritual birth of Christ into their hearts.
By preparing our hearts for the birth of the Christ Child, by preparing our hearts to celebrate Christmas, by following the admonition of John the Baptist – by repenting and confessing our sins and by believing in the Good News we have shown that we believe that what God had promised throughout the centuries has been fulfilled. A redeemer has come. We have been redeemed.
And so now we live in the hope of God's further promise: heaven for those who love God with all their mind and and all their heart.
This is the kingdom of God foretold. This is the peace that was promised to all believers. This is the peace that is given to us. The Prince of Peace has come into the world – therefore this is the peace that no man can take it from us.
Deacon Bernard Ouellette
Throughout the entire Old Testament God prepares a chosen people for the Advent of His Son, both by prophesy and by prefiguration.
For example the great patriarchs of the Old Testament, like Isaac and Jacob and Moses, were all prefigures of Christ and showed by the way they lived their lives what could be expected in the life of the coming Messiah.
The great prophets of the Old Testament, like Isaiah and Jeremiah, pointed out the circumstances that would surround the Messiah - His birth, His life, and His death.
Then, as a final preparation for the Advent of the Son of God into the world, God sent John the Baptist, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, preaching repentance and sorrow for sin, for “the reign of God is at hand”.
The promise which was made to Adam and which was renewed in Abraham was about to be fulfilled. He whom the patriarchs prefigured and the prophets foretold had now entered the world.
In the fullness of time the promises and prophesies were fulfilled. A messenger from God, the Angel Gabriel appeared to a virgin in Nazareth with an offer to become the Mother of God. And when Mary freely accepted God’s proposal she said , "Be it done to me according to thy word," and God became man through the power of the Holy Spirit.
We have to realize that it was God’s choice to initiate the process of Redemption in this manner. This is how He chose to do it. To become man through the free choice of the Virgin Mary.
God didn’t have to come into the world through the Virgin Mary to save us. There are many, many ways in which God could have saved us. He is all powerful.
However, this is the way that God willed it should be and so it was.
He willed to be made man through the free consent of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Now Mary didn’t have to be Immaculately Concieved in order to be the Mother of God. No! God could do it any way that He wanted to. He’s God, after all, and all things are possible to God.
However, it is most fitting that God should be brought into the world through a vessel that was prepared and kept pure and Immaculately conceived.
It didn’t have to be this way, but that is the way God willed it to be and Sacred Scripture confirms that that is the way it was.
It was not because of necessity but rather it was because God chose to do it that way – and so by the will of God and with the free consent of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Word became flesh.
Nine months later He was born in Bethlehem and for thirty years lived at Nazareth.
lmmediately before Jesus began His public life, John the Baptist was sent by God to prepare the world for the coming of the Messiah.
John announced a new era of grace. He told the people that the exodus from Egypt and Babylon were only prefigurations of man's emancipation from sin.
“Repent” was John's cry. However, John's message is also full of joy because it announces a time of God's grace.
It is also quite serious because, having free will, we can still say yes or no to this coming of God’s grace. The Old Testament was now completed. The New Testament had now begun.
He who was foretold now appeared. The Jewish religion was completed. God now walked among men. The Messiah has come.
And just as the Old Testament looked forward to Christ, the New Testament looks back to Him. Jesus divided history in two. And just as the Jewish religion was founded to foretell redemption, Christ founded His Church to retell and to accomplish redemption.
The Church is related to the Jewish religion the same as a flower is related to its bud. The Church is the completion, the perfection, the accomplishment of all that had been foretold.
The Church like the Jewish religion of old looks to the future. Reminding all people of Christ's first coming, it is also must continue to remind everyone that Jesus will come again at the end of time to judge the living and the dead.
And just as the Old Testament prepared humanity for Christ's first coming, so also is the Church to prepare humanity for this second coming.
And so the Catholic Church’s constant teaching is simply to remind us that we live not for time, but for eternity, so that every day of our life we might prepare for it.
For we know not when the Master will come.
Eight centuries before Christ's birth the Old Testament informs us that the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem.
That the Messiah will be a great shepherd and king, not only of Israel but of all peoples and His kingdom will extend to the very ends of the earth.
St. Paul instructs his Jewish converts that Christ is truly the Messiah. All the sacrifices of sheep and goats in the Old Testament merely prefigured and foreshadowed His perfect sacrifice to His heavenly Father.
This was the divine plan of redemption. All that was promised in the Old Law was fulfilled.
And when Mary visited Elizabeth the first beatitudes of the New Testament were proclaimed: "Blessed is He who believed that there would be fulfilled what was spoken by the Lord."
And this is the beatitude that is given to us today, the blessedness of all those who have answered the call of John the Baptist and who have prepared themselves during Advent for the spiritual birth of Christ into their hearts.
By preparing our hearts for the birth of the Christ Child, by preparing our hearts to celebrate Christmas, by following the admonition of John the Baptist – by repenting and confessing our sins and by believing in the Good News we have shown that we believe that what God had promised throughout the centuries has been fulfilled. A redeemer has come. We have been redeemed.
And so now we live in the hope of God's further promise: heaven for those who love God with all their mind and and all their heart.
This is the kingdom of God foretold. This is the peace that was promised to all believers. This is the peace that is given to us. The Prince of Peace has come into the world – therefore this is the peace that no man can take it from us.
Deacon Bernard Ouellette
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Third Sunday of Advent – Cycle b
Isaiah 61:1-2,10-11; 1 Thess 5:16-24; John 1:6-8,19-28
CHALLENGING QUESTIONS
In today’s Gospel the priests and Levites ask John three questions:
- “Are you the Christ, the Messiah?”
- “Are you Elijah?”
- “Are you the prophet?”
And it is fascinating the humility of John answering all three questions:
“No. I am not the Messiah!”
“No, I am not Elijah!”
“No, I am not a prophet!”
In our world, where we are obsessed with being number one, where everybody would like to be on top, where the championship is the only one thing that matters …. the humility of John, denying his prerogatives or privileges is really fascinating and surprising. Jesus said about him, “Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist” and yet John see himself in a very humble manner: “I am not worthy to untie the thong of the sandals of the One Who is coming after me.”
So the priests and Levites ask John a fourth question:
- “If you are not the Christ, or Elijah or the Prophet then why are you baptizing?”
In other words who are you, for whom do you take yourself, what are your references and qualifications, where is your PhD, what are your recommendations, what are your credentials?
And the answer of John is once again very humble: „I am only a voice of one crying out in the wilderness. ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.”
We too face such questions. We too ask very often the questions: who are those, who dare to teach us are and what are their credentials? Often our questions are just as hard in our hearts as questions of John’s inquisitors.
Perhaps even during the last Advent Mission we were asking ourselves:
Who are these people, what are their credentials and qualifications to teach us, to tell us what we have to do and what we cannot do? How do they dear to impose us their ideas and convictions?
And???? the answer is like in the case of St. John the Baptist:
„I am only a voice of one crying out in the wilderness. ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.”
There is still a voice of one crying in the wilderness … because the paths of our lives are still crooked, twisted and dishonest.
Fr. Kazimierz Kubat SDS
Isaiah 61:1-2,10-11; 1 Thess 5:16-24; John 1:6-8,19-28
CHALLENGING QUESTIONS
In today’s Gospel the priests and Levites ask John three questions:
- “Are you the Christ, the Messiah?”
- “Are you Elijah?”
- “Are you the prophet?”
And it is fascinating the humility of John answering all three questions:
“No. I am not the Messiah!”
“No, I am not Elijah!”
“No, I am not a prophet!”
In our world, where we are obsessed with being number one, where everybody would like to be on top, where the championship is the only one thing that matters …. the humility of John, denying his prerogatives or privileges is really fascinating and surprising. Jesus said about him, “Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist” and yet John see himself in a very humble manner: “I am not worthy to untie the thong of the sandals of the One Who is coming after me.”
So the priests and Levites ask John a fourth question:
- “If you are not the Christ, or Elijah or the Prophet then why are you baptizing?”
In other words who are you, for whom do you take yourself, what are your references and qualifications, where is your PhD, what are your recommendations, what are your credentials?
And the answer of John is once again very humble: „I am only a voice of one crying out in the wilderness. ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.”
We too face such questions. We too ask very often the questions: who are those, who dare to teach us are and what are their credentials? Often our questions are just as hard in our hearts as questions of John’s inquisitors.
Perhaps even during the last Advent Mission we were asking ourselves:
Who are these people, what are their credentials and qualifications to teach us, to tell us what we have to do and what we cannot do? How do they dear to impose us their ideas and convictions?
And???? the answer is like in the case of St. John the Baptist:
„I am only a voice of one crying out in the wilderness. ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.”
There is still a voice of one crying in the wilderness … because the paths of our lives are still crooked, twisted and dishonest.
Fr. Kazimierz Kubat SDS
Monday, December 08, 2008
The Beauty of the Treasures of the Catholic Church
Presented by Tom and Kathy Gust
St. Matthew Parish and Missions
Advent Mission
Saturday December 6 and Sunday December 7, 2008
We would like to start by thanking Father Kubat for inviting us to share with you. We are humbled to be here speaking about what God has done in our lives. He has called us to His Church and to the beauty of the Catholic faith, for which we are so very thankful.
Tom Gust
Have you ever wondered what it is like to grow up in a pickle-jar? Let me tell you, if you grow up in a pickle-jar it is the sweetest place on earth. Only when you venture out for some reason, do you begin to recognize that you may not be in the sweetest place on earth. Growing up as a Protestant I thought I lived in the sweetest place on earth.
We are Tom and Kathy Gust and we live in Edmonton, Alberta. We are members of St. Thomas More Parish. We have two boys, now 15 and 13 years old. As a family we joined the Catholic Church at the 2007 Easter Vigil. We started RCIA in September 2006 and Father Kaz came to St. Thomas More in October, serving as the Associate Pastor. Father came directly from Africa via Poland into some less than pleasant weather. While the weather was not so nice for him, his arrival in Edmonton was a blessing for us. Fr. Kaz taught us in RCIA and brought us into the Church at the Easter Vigil 2007.
Before joining the Catholic Church we were Lutherans. I was baptized in the Lutheran Church as an infant. My family went to church every Sunday. The heritage of both my Father’s and Mother’s family is Lutheran. Kathy was baptized and grew up in the United Church; however, her family was not as committed to their faith as was my family. As a result, she was not actively practicing her faith when we met and got married. Kathy became a Lutheran after we were married.
In 2005, while both Kathy and I were serving our Lutheran congregation in leadership roles we were faced with the struggle of what to do with same sex blessings. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada church was set to vote on this question at their national convention. We both knew that blessing same sex unions was wrong. Sitting in a meeting one evening, the light turned on in my head. It was wrong that we were voting on a moral issue. We had no business voting. Why was our church voting on morality? It was then I thought, “Okay if it is wrong, what do we do? Why are we being asked to vote on morality? Who has the authority to set what the church believes?” We knew that was not our job.
What we did know was that the Pastor of our congregation, Paul Quist, had quit his job as a Lutheran Pastor and joined the Catholic Church. About 6 years earlier, a family friend who was also a Lutheran Pastor as well as a Bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada had become Catholic. This man was ordained to the priesthood in 2007. These were two men who we deeply respected. Each of them knew much more about the Bible, theology and church teaching than we would ever hope to know. The question was, what did they know that we didn’t?
At this point we knew that we were not in the right place; but where would we go? What is the right place?
For many years I would ask almost anyone who would set next to me in a Bible study, “Why don’t the Jewish people believe in Jesus? Why don’t they become Christians?” The story of Jesus is there in the Bible. It is historically verifiable. Jesus was Jewish. Why don’t they convert? Why do I believe and they don’t? Now my more pressing question became, “How do you define “Church”?” What does “Church” mean in the Bible? Many protestant denominations have been started as they tried to address this question. Many Protestants have tried to model denominations after the Church we read about in Acts. Remember that the word Protestant comes from “protest”. A Protestant is one who protests. From our readings we came to understand that there are some 30-50,000 Protestant denominations! Which one was right? With 50,000 denominations available to choose from, we knew there was no need to start another one. Which one was right? Who had the Truth? How do you define Church?
We asked our Lutheran pastor at the time to define “Church”. The answer followed Lutheran party line, which we already knew was not the answer. We asked the two men whom we respected and who were then new Catholics. They prescribed a number of books for us to read. I am so thankful that Kathy is a fast reader. She started reading the books which forced me to read. We found the answers to our questions; however, at times, the answers were hard to accept. Regardless, the more we read the more we learned. The more we learned the more things made sense. IT ALL FIT TOGETHER! NO GAPS! The Catholic Church was the answer to our questions.
It was at this time when we were doing a lot of reading that we found out about Marian apparitions. I read some books on Medjugore and did some research on the Internet regarding Fatima and other Marian apparitions. The thought came to me that I the Bible tells us about the Transfiguration and I believe it. Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus in front of Peter, James and John. If the transfiguration is true, why should I not believe that Mary can appear now? I have always felt God’s active presence in my life, but reading about the Marian apparitions made the church come alive even more — reading these things makes you think, WOW God is current and active in our world right now.
Now we were really in a difficult spot, what do we do with the things we have learned? If you learn to tie your shoes and you walk around with your shoes untied, did you really learn to tie your shoes? I say no. We knew what we had learned, that the Catholic Church is the Church that Jesus started and it is the Church we read about in the Bible. It should be easy then. Right? Wrong. If we learn something we must use it, put it into practice because if we don’t put it into practice, we did not really learn it. It’s like walking around with our shoe laces undone. We recalled this scripture from Philippians:
Philippians 4:9
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
At this point we now know that we can’t stay in the Lutheran Church. We know that the Catholic Church is “The Church”. We know what we have learned. We also know that we must act on the learning. The trouble is the cost! All our friends are Lutheran. My family is Lutheran! God in His wisdom knows what we need. There was always Scripture from which we could draw strength.
Matthew 10:37-38
37 "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
38 and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Okay, again it is clear, but the cost is high; what choice do we have? None. The new question is when do we make the change? This is a simple question for a Protestant, as a Protestant can switch churches easily. You leave one congregation one week and join another the next. To become Catholic however requires that you attend RCIA and study for nine months. In our case, when we were ready to leave the Lutheran Church, RCIA was 6 months off. That’s 15 months in all. How do we go that long without Holy Communion? Again the cost seems so high.
We agreed that we had to leave the timing in God’s hands, as Kathy and I were still in positions of leadership in our Lutheran congregation. Of course, His timing was perfect! Kathy’s term on the congregational council came to an end and she graciously bowed out of any new position. A number of timing issues were resolved for our children’s activities within the congregation. I remained in my role until I resigned my position and we informed our Pastor that we were becoming Catholic.
We thought that RCIA would be a long process—the prospect of taking a course from September to the Easter Vigil in April seemed like a long time. RCIA turned out to be a blessing and not a burden. When it was done, we didn’t want it to be over! In fact, we have stayed with the RCIA program at St. Thomas More because we want to assist other new Catholics coming into the Church.
As for not being able to commune for a year, after having started to pray the Holy Rosary on a regular basis, an answer came for that dilemma. In meditating on the Baptism of our Lord and after receiving a very good homily from one of our Priests at St. Thomas More, the light bulb snapped on again. Jesus submitted to the things that were required of him even though He was God. If Jesus can submit, how can I not? We must submit to God and to His Church. Many of the things we had learned were difficult for us to accept. We struggled, but we knew we had to submit. If we learned it, we must practice it. Not practicing is not learning.
We definitely had some changes to make. As Protestants we were accustomed to choosing what teaching we wanted to accept; but ultimately, we knew that was wrong and that choice of what or what not to believe was precisely the reason why we had to stop protesting and leave Lutheranism. The beauty of the Catholic Church is that the tools are available to bring about the change in us that was required to submit to the Church.
The beauty of the Catholic Church is its authority given to it by Jesus to Peter.
Matthew 16: 18-19
18 And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the Hades shall not prevail against it.
19 I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
As we submitted to the teachings of the Church, God has graciously provided us with opportunities to learn more about the specific teachings with which we struggled. With new knowledge, suddenly the teachings with which we struggled began to make sense and the burden was lifted issue by issue.
A gift for us in our journey into the Church was that we were received as a family unit. This only made sense to us. Kathy and I discussed our struggles, findings and reasoning with our boys throughout the journey. We wanted them to be educated and to be able to make an informed decision. They chose to join the Catholic Church with us. We recognized this as a good thing and as a blessing; however we thought that it was normal. Now we see that this was and is quite rare. It is only now that we better appreciate the magnitude of the blessing we received in this regard.
Of course, my new question is, “Why do Protestants continue to protest?” Why don’t they convert? I have a better understanding of this now; albeit not full understanding. God holds the answers. It is wonderful and beautiful to receive His call and have Him open your eyes and turn on the light!
Kathy Gust
One of the scariest days of our lives was the day that we first walked through the door at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Edmonton to go to Mass. We knew that the Catholic Church was where we had to be. We knew that the Catholic Church holds the Truth; but, we were afraid. Well, we did walk through that door and we have found and continue to find great beauty inside the Catholic Church. I will share with you some of that beauty which we have found.
The Beauty of the Sacraments
I’m sure you know that sacraments are outward signs that Christ instituted to give grace. The sacraments involve a physical, tangible symbol such as the water used in baptism and the oil used in anointing to represent a spiritual reality—that reality is the supernatural grace given by Christ
We have often said that as Protestants, as Lutherans, we had no tools in the toolbox. Lutherans have two sacraments. It’s true there is baptism and communion; but, communion is not truly a sacrament in the Catholic sense because the consecration of the bread and wine is not done by a priest who has received Holy Orders and is therefore part of the Apostolic succession that goes all the way back to Jesus and the apostles. We came to learn that this is a crucial distinction.
As a Lutheran, I would sit in the pews and I would hear my pastor preach about transformation. “Let Jesus transform you,” he would say. My response was, “Yes, I want to be transformed; but, how? Is it like a bolt of lightening?” What we didn’t know is that as Lutherans, we didn’t have the tools for transformation.
A common Lutheran teaching is that we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Martin Luther said that we are dunghills covered with snow. By that it is meant that we are wretched with no hope of getting better, no hope of improving, no hope of becoming holy—it is by Christ’s righteousness alone that we get into heaven. That’s it. What a depressing vision. I have always had a yearning in my heart to be better; to love God better, to serve God better. Why was that yearning there? Who put it there, if not God? I really wanted to be transformed. There were simply no tools in the Lutheran toolbox to help.
The Sacrament of the Sick. The first sacrament we discovered in the Catholic Church was the Sacrament of the Sick. We hadn’t even started RCIA yet. Our youngest son has Crohn’s disease. If any of you know about it, it is an up and down disease. When our son has flare-ups he is very ill. The flare-ups can last for a number of weeks. When we left our Lutheran congregation, our son was starting into a flare-up. We knew the scriptural underpinning of the sacrament.
James 5:14-15
14 Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint (him) with oil in the name of the Lord,
15 and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven.
We had read about the Sacrament of the Sick as we learned about the Catholic Church, and so, we asked our Priest at St. Thomas More, Father Sylvain Casavant, if our son could be anointed. Father looked at us and said, “Well, you’re not Catholic, but what could it hurt”. We have brought our son several times over the last few years to receive this sacrament—every time he enters into a flare-up. We recognize the grace and assistance we receive as a family as our son goes through these difficult times with his disease.
I had an injury to my Achilles tendon last year which became medically complicated and involved two surgeries. I sought out the Priest to receive the Sacrament of the Sick at that time. I was looking for strength to cope with the injury and the fact that I was facing a potential third surgery. The result was that I had a physical healing experience by virtue of the Sacrament of the Sick. My surgeon commented on the fact that the healing I exhibited was far in excess of what he would have believed possible. Thanks be to God!
Reconciliation. I was raised in the United Church of Canada and left as a teenager. At that time in my life, church wasn’t relevant or important. My father had stopped attending church and so I felt that I didn’t have to go either. I became Lutheran when I married Tom. As he was a practicing Lutheran and I wasn’t a practicing anything, I had no real choice about what denomination we would attend. I did have enough faith to believe that when we married that church would be a good thing for any children we would have.
As a Lutheran, I started to attend Bible studies. Somewhere along the line I realized that the scriptures were true and that I had to change my thoughts and opinions about a lot of topics. I realized also that the Bible didn’t present a smorgasbord but I had to buy the whole of it or nothing. It was at that point that I repented many things of my past actions and attitudes and started forward in a new way. This was a decade or so before we became Catholic.
At my first Reconciliation which was on my 48th birthday (so I would never forget), I went over those 48 years and received sacramental grace that was missing from my initial repentance. It’s one thing to pray and ask for forgiveness (which you are given). It is another thing entirely to enter into the Sacrament of Reconciliation and receive grace from Jesus Christ. As well, you receive wonderful nuggets of wisdom from the Priests to help you to move toward holiness and away from sin. Paul Quist says something which is wonderful and true about reconciliation. It’s not that we have to go to reconciliation as Catholics—it’s that we get to go to reconciliation.
The Eucharist. The most beautiful and amazing gift the Church has to offer is the Eucharist. This is something about which we came to understand and see the beauty in more gradually. As Lutherans, we had communion. Some Lutherans believe that the bread and wine are the body and blood of Jesus, some do not. We did believe that we were receiving the body and blood when we received in the Lutheran Church; but, as we studied, we came to understand that a Priest is needed to consecrate the bread and wine. Our Lord Jesus works through the Priest and during the consecration the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. We learned that apostolic succession is crucial. A Priest having received Holy Orders has the gift handed down through 2000 years of the Church that is needed to consecrate the bread and wine. We also saw the great difference in how the body and blood of our Lord is treated in the Lutheran church and the Catholic Church. In the Lutheran church, when communion is over, the body and blood are treated as regular bread and wine and are put away just as you would put away food after a meal.
Coming into the Church we were struck by the beauty of the way in which the Church adores the Lord Jesus in the Eucharist—the beauty in the way the Lord comes to us in the Eucharist—body, blood, soul and divinity. We were struck by the genius of God in taking the simplest of things—bread and wine—substances that are everywhere around the world and have been available for all time. He comes to us in that simple form—a form that we can easily take in. The body and blood of our Lord comes to us in the form of food that can easily be incorporated into our bodies to literally become a part of us so that we may become a part of our Lord and a part of the Body of Christ that is the Church. One day at Mass it hit me. This is how transformation takes place—the transformation that I had been wanting as a Lutheran! It comes incrementally as we become part of our Lord and his body and he becomes part of us.
The Beauty of Authority
Stephen Ray, a Baptist convert to Catholicism, has written several books, one of which called “Crossing the Tiber” had a very profound impact on us on our journey. Stephen Ray says that the problem for Protestants with regard to the Catholic Church is not Mary or the Saints or the Sacraments or the Pope—it’s authority. We couldn’t agree more. Authority is the reason we left the Lutheran Church and the beauty of the authority of the Catholic Church is a gift.
Did you know that the word authority does not refer to “power” or “control”. The word authority comes from two Latin words: auctoritas meaning authorship and augere which means to augment.
The Church’s authority comes from the founding event of the church the event that authored the church—the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Peter and the apostles were chosen to testify to what they had lived through and seen and had been taught. They augmented or testified regarding the founding event, the event that authored the church. The apostles handed down what they had been taught by our Lord. That teaching has been faithfully handed down to each generation of Bishops (the successor to the apostles) throughout the last 2000 years. In those 2000 years, the testimony has not changed. It makes sense to me that if God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow that the teachings of the Church won’t change at the whims of the culture or by the vote of a congregation as is the Protestant experience.
The Pope is even called the defender of Christian Memory. Through the help and assurance of the Holy Spirit, the Pope and the Bishops don’t make up new things; they keep the memory of the life, death and resurrection intact.
We are grateful that when we want to know something, that with 2000 years of teaching, the Church will have a position on whatever issue you’re struggling with. The Church has the answers but we have an obligation to find out. There are so many resources, books, CDs and DVDs available and so much depth to the Faith. I know that as long as I live, even if I study incessantly, I will barely scratch the surface of all that I can learn about the Faith.
Beauty of the Fullness of the Faith
While we are highlighting some of the differences between Protestant churches and the Catholic Church, we want to state that we are indeed very thankful for our Protestant past. As Protestants we learned to love the Bible; we learned to love Jesus, and we learned how to pray. Our journey to Catholicism is part of a continuum however. We feel like we are fulfilled Christians coming from our Protestant background into the Church. When we were still Protestants and searching and learning I remember saying to Carol Quist, what is the difference between the Lutheran Church and the Catholic Church? She replied simply that it is just “fuller”. At first I didn’t know what she meant; but, her words stuck with me and now I know too. As Protestants we had many parts of the Faith; but now we have the fullness of the Faith.
We now have a full toolbox with 7 Sacraments. We have a Pope and Bishops and Clergy who protect the deposit of faith that is 2000 years old, that hasn’t changed and won’t change with the whims of the culture. We have the Communion of the Saints—all those who have gone before us, who are models for us and who we can ask to pray for us and help us. We have the fullness of the Church in heaven and on earth; we have a family with God our Father, Jesus our brother, the Holy Spirit and our Mother the Blessed Virgin (who as Protestants we didn’t even know we had!). How can you have a Father and a brother and not have a mother? Of course, God would provide that for us!
We are thankful for the beauty of RCIA
Tom and I are now catechists in the RCIA program at St. Thomas More in Edmonton. It is a privilege to be part of the journeys of the new Catholics and to have an outlet to share the beauty that we have discovered with others coming into the Church. In some ways, it’s almost selfish too. We want to stay with RCIA because we keep learning.
At St. Thomas More many parishioners are coming to RCIA as companions on the journey—meaning that they are coming to learn with the new Catholics. In our short time with RCIA we’ve see the RCIA process change the lives of cradle Catholics as well as new Catholics as they learn about the treasures and the beauty of the Church.
The Beauty of the Priesthood
In our time in the Catholic Church we have been so impressed by the Priests we have met. The Priests we have met are holy and wise and they have made a huge sacrifice to be Fathers to all of us. The Priesthood is a beautiful gift.
In Protestant churches, pastors are at the mercy of their congregations. If they say things that the congregation doesn’t like, they can lose their jobs. Protestant pastors are hired and fired by congregations. The result is that the truth is often compromised. Pastors will tell the congregation what they want to hear or leave out the hard truths in order to keep their jobs. And, Protestant pastors have to shepherd their congregations, often while raising families of their own. The home lives of the families of Protestant pastors can be very difficult—more challenging I think than for the rest of us (and you know how challenging family life is today in our culture and society.)
We have two boys and while we often had said that we would not want our boys to be pastors in a Protestant denomination, if God in his wisdom calls one or both to the priesthood, we would support them 100 percent. God established the structure for His Church and within that structure the Holy Spirit upholds, protects and guides it. The Holy Spirit has done this for 2000 years and will continue until the end of the age, just as Jesus promised. We are happy to entrust our sons to Jesus and His Church.
The Beauty of Prayer Life
As Catholics, our prayer life has blossomed. Prayer is something so beautiful now, while before it was more of a challenge. As Protestants, you are taught to pray as the words come to mind. You compose prayers as you pray. Some people are very good at it. I am not. I would want to pray, start to pray and then have quickly exhausted my thoughts and words in a few minutes. As we investigated Catholicism, we learned about the value of beautiful prayers that had been in the Church since the beginning—prayers that you can meditate on while you pray; prayers that have layers and layers of meaning that make them inexhaustible; prayers that you can memorize so that when times are bad and you have no words of your own to pray, the words of the prayers you have learned stick with you and carry you through.
We also discovered the Rosary! While I was still a Lutheran, for lent one year, I decided to pray the Rosary every day so that I would learn how to do it. I remember being at a meeting at our Lutheran Church and everyone was talking about what they were doing and giving up for Lent. I didn’t dare tell anyone that I was praying the Rosary!
Meditating on the life of Jesus every day with the Rosary is a gift and a beautiful thing. It never gets boring or old. Our lives have changed just by the fact that we spend about a half hour together each day praying the Rosary. How can you forget about Jesus when you spend time with him each day meditating on all parts of his life? Suddenly, Jesus becomes front and centre in your life—right where he should be. And, we honour our Blessed Mother—the one we never knew we had until a few years ago.
As Catholics we have also discovered the beauty of praying before the Blessed Sacrament. We can go right to Jesus. We can go see Him at any Catholic Church! I think Tom and I are still somewhat awed by that. As Lutherans, we often had prayer vigils as a congregation. We would gather at the church building to pray. But, I will tell you that a Protestant church seems very empty indeed when there is no worship service going on. You get the feeling that you might as well pray at home as there is no real reason to pray at the church building specifically. In a Catholic Church, Jesus is there in the Blessed Sacrament. You can see Jesus any time. The fact that we can go right to Jesus has also changed our lives. The sacramental presence of Jesus is a beautiful gift.
These things that I’ve mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the beauty of the treasures that we have found in the Catholic Church. After the Easter Vigil in 2007, our RCIA Coordinator asked us to put into words what we were feeling after we had been received into the Church. For my part, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief and security. In Matthew 23, verse 37 Jesus said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” I felt the security of being under the wings of Jesus and Mother Church—no more voting on things we shouldn’t be voting on; sacraments to aid us on our journey toward holiness; the deposit of faith that hasn’t changed; the loving authority of our Pope, Bishops and Priests given to us by Our Lord. I felt like I could breathe out. For Tom the main feeling was gratitude. To this day, after he receives Holy Communion all he can feel and all he can express is thanks for having been brought home to the Catholic Church; thanks for being able to receive the Sacraments.
We love our Lord. We love His Church. We are forever grateful to be a part of His body. We are grateful to have come home to the Catholic Church.
Tom and Kathy Gust
Presented by Tom and Kathy Gust
St. Matthew Parish and Missions
Advent Mission
Saturday December 6 and Sunday December 7, 2008
We would like to start by thanking Father Kubat for inviting us to share with you. We are humbled to be here speaking about what God has done in our lives. He has called us to His Church and to the beauty of the Catholic faith, for which we are so very thankful.
Tom Gust
Have you ever wondered what it is like to grow up in a pickle-jar? Let me tell you, if you grow up in a pickle-jar it is the sweetest place on earth. Only when you venture out for some reason, do you begin to recognize that you may not be in the sweetest place on earth. Growing up as a Protestant I thought I lived in the sweetest place on earth.
We are Tom and Kathy Gust and we live in Edmonton, Alberta. We are members of St. Thomas More Parish. We have two boys, now 15 and 13 years old. As a family we joined the Catholic Church at the 2007 Easter Vigil. We started RCIA in September 2006 and Father Kaz came to St. Thomas More in October, serving as the Associate Pastor. Father came directly from Africa via Poland into some less than pleasant weather. While the weather was not so nice for him, his arrival in Edmonton was a blessing for us. Fr. Kaz taught us in RCIA and brought us into the Church at the Easter Vigil 2007.
Before joining the Catholic Church we were Lutherans. I was baptized in the Lutheran Church as an infant. My family went to church every Sunday. The heritage of both my Father’s and Mother’s family is Lutheran. Kathy was baptized and grew up in the United Church; however, her family was not as committed to their faith as was my family. As a result, she was not actively practicing her faith when we met and got married. Kathy became a Lutheran after we were married.
In 2005, while both Kathy and I were serving our Lutheran congregation in leadership roles we were faced with the struggle of what to do with same sex blessings. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada church was set to vote on this question at their national convention. We both knew that blessing same sex unions was wrong. Sitting in a meeting one evening, the light turned on in my head. It was wrong that we were voting on a moral issue. We had no business voting. Why was our church voting on morality? It was then I thought, “Okay if it is wrong, what do we do? Why are we being asked to vote on morality? Who has the authority to set what the church believes?” We knew that was not our job.
What we did know was that the Pastor of our congregation, Paul Quist, had quit his job as a Lutheran Pastor and joined the Catholic Church. About 6 years earlier, a family friend who was also a Lutheran Pastor as well as a Bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada had become Catholic. This man was ordained to the priesthood in 2007. These were two men who we deeply respected. Each of them knew much more about the Bible, theology and church teaching than we would ever hope to know. The question was, what did they know that we didn’t?
At this point we knew that we were not in the right place; but where would we go? What is the right place?
For many years I would ask almost anyone who would set next to me in a Bible study, “Why don’t the Jewish people believe in Jesus? Why don’t they become Christians?” The story of Jesus is there in the Bible. It is historically verifiable. Jesus was Jewish. Why don’t they convert? Why do I believe and they don’t? Now my more pressing question became, “How do you define “Church”?” What does “Church” mean in the Bible? Many protestant denominations have been started as they tried to address this question. Many Protestants have tried to model denominations after the Church we read about in Acts. Remember that the word Protestant comes from “protest”. A Protestant is one who protests. From our readings we came to understand that there are some 30-50,000 Protestant denominations! Which one was right? With 50,000 denominations available to choose from, we knew there was no need to start another one. Which one was right? Who had the Truth? How do you define Church?
We asked our Lutheran pastor at the time to define “Church”. The answer followed Lutheran party line, which we already knew was not the answer. We asked the two men whom we respected and who were then new Catholics. They prescribed a number of books for us to read. I am so thankful that Kathy is a fast reader. She started reading the books which forced me to read. We found the answers to our questions; however, at times, the answers were hard to accept. Regardless, the more we read the more we learned. The more we learned the more things made sense. IT ALL FIT TOGETHER! NO GAPS! The Catholic Church was the answer to our questions.
It was at this time when we were doing a lot of reading that we found out about Marian apparitions. I read some books on Medjugore and did some research on the Internet regarding Fatima and other Marian apparitions. The thought came to me that I the Bible tells us about the Transfiguration and I believe it. Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus in front of Peter, James and John. If the transfiguration is true, why should I not believe that Mary can appear now? I have always felt God’s active presence in my life, but reading about the Marian apparitions made the church come alive even more — reading these things makes you think, WOW God is current and active in our world right now.
Now we were really in a difficult spot, what do we do with the things we have learned? If you learn to tie your shoes and you walk around with your shoes untied, did you really learn to tie your shoes? I say no. We knew what we had learned, that the Catholic Church is the Church that Jesus started and it is the Church we read about in the Bible. It should be easy then. Right? Wrong. If we learn something we must use it, put it into practice because if we don’t put it into practice, we did not really learn it. It’s like walking around with our shoe laces undone. We recalled this scripture from Philippians:
Philippians 4:9
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
At this point we now know that we can’t stay in the Lutheran Church. We know that the Catholic Church is “The Church”. We know what we have learned. We also know that we must act on the learning. The trouble is the cost! All our friends are Lutheran. My family is Lutheran! God in His wisdom knows what we need. There was always Scripture from which we could draw strength.
Matthew 10:37-38
37 "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
38 and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Okay, again it is clear, but the cost is high; what choice do we have? None. The new question is when do we make the change? This is a simple question for a Protestant, as a Protestant can switch churches easily. You leave one congregation one week and join another the next. To become Catholic however requires that you attend RCIA and study for nine months. In our case, when we were ready to leave the Lutheran Church, RCIA was 6 months off. That’s 15 months in all. How do we go that long without Holy Communion? Again the cost seems so high.
We agreed that we had to leave the timing in God’s hands, as Kathy and I were still in positions of leadership in our Lutheran congregation. Of course, His timing was perfect! Kathy’s term on the congregational council came to an end and she graciously bowed out of any new position. A number of timing issues were resolved for our children’s activities within the congregation. I remained in my role until I resigned my position and we informed our Pastor that we were becoming Catholic.
We thought that RCIA would be a long process—the prospect of taking a course from September to the Easter Vigil in April seemed like a long time. RCIA turned out to be a blessing and not a burden. When it was done, we didn’t want it to be over! In fact, we have stayed with the RCIA program at St. Thomas More because we want to assist other new Catholics coming into the Church.
As for not being able to commune for a year, after having started to pray the Holy Rosary on a regular basis, an answer came for that dilemma. In meditating on the Baptism of our Lord and after receiving a very good homily from one of our Priests at St. Thomas More, the light bulb snapped on again. Jesus submitted to the things that were required of him even though He was God. If Jesus can submit, how can I not? We must submit to God and to His Church. Many of the things we had learned were difficult for us to accept. We struggled, but we knew we had to submit. If we learned it, we must practice it. Not practicing is not learning.
We definitely had some changes to make. As Protestants we were accustomed to choosing what teaching we wanted to accept; but ultimately, we knew that was wrong and that choice of what or what not to believe was precisely the reason why we had to stop protesting and leave Lutheranism. The beauty of the Catholic Church is that the tools are available to bring about the change in us that was required to submit to the Church.
The beauty of the Catholic Church is its authority given to it by Jesus to Peter.
Matthew 16: 18-19
18 And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the Hades shall not prevail against it.
19 I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
As we submitted to the teachings of the Church, God has graciously provided us with opportunities to learn more about the specific teachings with which we struggled. With new knowledge, suddenly the teachings with which we struggled began to make sense and the burden was lifted issue by issue.
A gift for us in our journey into the Church was that we were received as a family unit. This only made sense to us. Kathy and I discussed our struggles, findings and reasoning with our boys throughout the journey. We wanted them to be educated and to be able to make an informed decision. They chose to join the Catholic Church with us. We recognized this as a good thing and as a blessing; however we thought that it was normal. Now we see that this was and is quite rare. It is only now that we better appreciate the magnitude of the blessing we received in this regard.
Of course, my new question is, “Why do Protestants continue to protest?” Why don’t they convert? I have a better understanding of this now; albeit not full understanding. God holds the answers. It is wonderful and beautiful to receive His call and have Him open your eyes and turn on the light!
Kathy Gust
One of the scariest days of our lives was the day that we first walked through the door at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Edmonton to go to Mass. We knew that the Catholic Church was where we had to be. We knew that the Catholic Church holds the Truth; but, we were afraid. Well, we did walk through that door and we have found and continue to find great beauty inside the Catholic Church. I will share with you some of that beauty which we have found.
The Beauty of the Sacraments
I’m sure you know that sacraments are outward signs that Christ instituted to give grace. The sacraments involve a physical, tangible symbol such as the water used in baptism and the oil used in anointing to represent a spiritual reality—that reality is the supernatural grace given by Christ
We have often said that as Protestants, as Lutherans, we had no tools in the toolbox. Lutherans have two sacraments. It’s true there is baptism and communion; but, communion is not truly a sacrament in the Catholic sense because the consecration of the bread and wine is not done by a priest who has received Holy Orders and is therefore part of the Apostolic succession that goes all the way back to Jesus and the apostles. We came to learn that this is a crucial distinction.
As a Lutheran, I would sit in the pews and I would hear my pastor preach about transformation. “Let Jesus transform you,” he would say. My response was, “Yes, I want to be transformed; but, how? Is it like a bolt of lightening?” What we didn’t know is that as Lutherans, we didn’t have the tools for transformation.
A common Lutheran teaching is that we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Martin Luther said that we are dunghills covered with snow. By that it is meant that we are wretched with no hope of getting better, no hope of improving, no hope of becoming holy—it is by Christ’s righteousness alone that we get into heaven. That’s it. What a depressing vision. I have always had a yearning in my heart to be better; to love God better, to serve God better. Why was that yearning there? Who put it there, if not God? I really wanted to be transformed. There were simply no tools in the Lutheran toolbox to help.
The Sacrament of the Sick. The first sacrament we discovered in the Catholic Church was the Sacrament of the Sick. We hadn’t even started RCIA yet. Our youngest son has Crohn’s disease. If any of you know about it, it is an up and down disease. When our son has flare-ups he is very ill. The flare-ups can last for a number of weeks. When we left our Lutheran congregation, our son was starting into a flare-up. We knew the scriptural underpinning of the sacrament.
James 5:14-15
14 Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint (him) with oil in the name of the Lord,
15 and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven.
We had read about the Sacrament of the Sick as we learned about the Catholic Church, and so, we asked our Priest at St. Thomas More, Father Sylvain Casavant, if our son could be anointed. Father looked at us and said, “Well, you’re not Catholic, but what could it hurt”. We have brought our son several times over the last few years to receive this sacrament—every time he enters into a flare-up. We recognize the grace and assistance we receive as a family as our son goes through these difficult times with his disease.
I had an injury to my Achilles tendon last year which became medically complicated and involved two surgeries. I sought out the Priest to receive the Sacrament of the Sick at that time. I was looking for strength to cope with the injury and the fact that I was facing a potential third surgery. The result was that I had a physical healing experience by virtue of the Sacrament of the Sick. My surgeon commented on the fact that the healing I exhibited was far in excess of what he would have believed possible. Thanks be to God!
Reconciliation. I was raised in the United Church of Canada and left as a teenager. At that time in my life, church wasn’t relevant or important. My father had stopped attending church and so I felt that I didn’t have to go either. I became Lutheran when I married Tom. As he was a practicing Lutheran and I wasn’t a practicing anything, I had no real choice about what denomination we would attend. I did have enough faith to believe that when we married that church would be a good thing for any children we would have.
As a Lutheran, I started to attend Bible studies. Somewhere along the line I realized that the scriptures were true and that I had to change my thoughts and opinions about a lot of topics. I realized also that the Bible didn’t present a smorgasbord but I had to buy the whole of it or nothing. It was at that point that I repented many things of my past actions and attitudes and started forward in a new way. This was a decade or so before we became Catholic.
At my first Reconciliation which was on my 48th birthday (so I would never forget), I went over those 48 years and received sacramental grace that was missing from my initial repentance. It’s one thing to pray and ask for forgiveness (which you are given). It is another thing entirely to enter into the Sacrament of Reconciliation and receive grace from Jesus Christ. As well, you receive wonderful nuggets of wisdom from the Priests to help you to move toward holiness and away from sin. Paul Quist says something which is wonderful and true about reconciliation. It’s not that we have to go to reconciliation as Catholics—it’s that we get to go to reconciliation.
The Eucharist. The most beautiful and amazing gift the Church has to offer is the Eucharist. This is something about which we came to understand and see the beauty in more gradually. As Lutherans, we had communion. Some Lutherans believe that the bread and wine are the body and blood of Jesus, some do not. We did believe that we were receiving the body and blood when we received in the Lutheran Church; but, as we studied, we came to understand that a Priest is needed to consecrate the bread and wine. Our Lord Jesus works through the Priest and during the consecration the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. We learned that apostolic succession is crucial. A Priest having received Holy Orders has the gift handed down through 2000 years of the Church that is needed to consecrate the bread and wine. We also saw the great difference in how the body and blood of our Lord is treated in the Lutheran church and the Catholic Church. In the Lutheran church, when communion is over, the body and blood are treated as regular bread and wine and are put away just as you would put away food after a meal.
Coming into the Church we were struck by the beauty of the way in which the Church adores the Lord Jesus in the Eucharist—the beauty in the way the Lord comes to us in the Eucharist—body, blood, soul and divinity. We were struck by the genius of God in taking the simplest of things—bread and wine—substances that are everywhere around the world and have been available for all time. He comes to us in that simple form—a form that we can easily take in. The body and blood of our Lord comes to us in the form of food that can easily be incorporated into our bodies to literally become a part of us so that we may become a part of our Lord and a part of the Body of Christ that is the Church. One day at Mass it hit me. This is how transformation takes place—the transformation that I had been wanting as a Lutheran! It comes incrementally as we become part of our Lord and his body and he becomes part of us.
The Beauty of Authority
Stephen Ray, a Baptist convert to Catholicism, has written several books, one of which called “Crossing the Tiber” had a very profound impact on us on our journey. Stephen Ray says that the problem for Protestants with regard to the Catholic Church is not Mary or the Saints or the Sacraments or the Pope—it’s authority. We couldn’t agree more. Authority is the reason we left the Lutheran Church and the beauty of the authority of the Catholic Church is a gift.
Did you know that the word authority does not refer to “power” or “control”. The word authority comes from two Latin words: auctoritas meaning authorship and augere which means to augment.
The Church’s authority comes from the founding event of the church the event that authored the church—the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Peter and the apostles were chosen to testify to what they had lived through and seen and had been taught. They augmented or testified regarding the founding event, the event that authored the church. The apostles handed down what they had been taught by our Lord. That teaching has been faithfully handed down to each generation of Bishops (the successor to the apostles) throughout the last 2000 years. In those 2000 years, the testimony has not changed. It makes sense to me that if God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow that the teachings of the Church won’t change at the whims of the culture or by the vote of a congregation as is the Protestant experience.
The Pope is even called the defender of Christian Memory. Through the help and assurance of the Holy Spirit, the Pope and the Bishops don’t make up new things; they keep the memory of the life, death and resurrection intact.
We are grateful that when we want to know something, that with 2000 years of teaching, the Church will have a position on whatever issue you’re struggling with. The Church has the answers but we have an obligation to find out. There are so many resources, books, CDs and DVDs available and so much depth to the Faith. I know that as long as I live, even if I study incessantly, I will barely scratch the surface of all that I can learn about the Faith.
Beauty of the Fullness of the Faith
While we are highlighting some of the differences between Protestant churches and the Catholic Church, we want to state that we are indeed very thankful for our Protestant past. As Protestants we learned to love the Bible; we learned to love Jesus, and we learned how to pray. Our journey to Catholicism is part of a continuum however. We feel like we are fulfilled Christians coming from our Protestant background into the Church. When we were still Protestants and searching and learning I remember saying to Carol Quist, what is the difference between the Lutheran Church and the Catholic Church? She replied simply that it is just “fuller”. At first I didn’t know what she meant; but, her words stuck with me and now I know too. As Protestants we had many parts of the Faith; but now we have the fullness of the Faith.
We now have a full toolbox with 7 Sacraments. We have a Pope and Bishops and Clergy who protect the deposit of faith that is 2000 years old, that hasn’t changed and won’t change with the whims of the culture. We have the Communion of the Saints—all those who have gone before us, who are models for us and who we can ask to pray for us and help us. We have the fullness of the Church in heaven and on earth; we have a family with God our Father, Jesus our brother, the Holy Spirit and our Mother the Blessed Virgin (who as Protestants we didn’t even know we had!). How can you have a Father and a brother and not have a mother? Of course, God would provide that for us!
We are thankful for the beauty of RCIA
Tom and I are now catechists in the RCIA program at St. Thomas More in Edmonton. It is a privilege to be part of the journeys of the new Catholics and to have an outlet to share the beauty that we have discovered with others coming into the Church. In some ways, it’s almost selfish too. We want to stay with RCIA because we keep learning.
At St. Thomas More many parishioners are coming to RCIA as companions on the journey—meaning that they are coming to learn with the new Catholics. In our short time with RCIA we’ve see the RCIA process change the lives of cradle Catholics as well as new Catholics as they learn about the treasures and the beauty of the Church.
The Beauty of the Priesthood
In our time in the Catholic Church we have been so impressed by the Priests we have met. The Priests we have met are holy and wise and they have made a huge sacrifice to be Fathers to all of us. The Priesthood is a beautiful gift.
In Protestant churches, pastors are at the mercy of their congregations. If they say things that the congregation doesn’t like, they can lose their jobs. Protestant pastors are hired and fired by congregations. The result is that the truth is often compromised. Pastors will tell the congregation what they want to hear or leave out the hard truths in order to keep their jobs. And, Protestant pastors have to shepherd their congregations, often while raising families of their own. The home lives of the families of Protestant pastors can be very difficult—more challenging I think than for the rest of us (and you know how challenging family life is today in our culture and society.)
We have two boys and while we often had said that we would not want our boys to be pastors in a Protestant denomination, if God in his wisdom calls one or both to the priesthood, we would support them 100 percent. God established the structure for His Church and within that structure the Holy Spirit upholds, protects and guides it. The Holy Spirit has done this for 2000 years and will continue until the end of the age, just as Jesus promised. We are happy to entrust our sons to Jesus and His Church.
The Beauty of Prayer Life
As Catholics, our prayer life has blossomed. Prayer is something so beautiful now, while before it was more of a challenge. As Protestants, you are taught to pray as the words come to mind. You compose prayers as you pray. Some people are very good at it. I am not. I would want to pray, start to pray and then have quickly exhausted my thoughts and words in a few minutes. As we investigated Catholicism, we learned about the value of beautiful prayers that had been in the Church since the beginning—prayers that you can meditate on while you pray; prayers that have layers and layers of meaning that make them inexhaustible; prayers that you can memorize so that when times are bad and you have no words of your own to pray, the words of the prayers you have learned stick with you and carry you through.
We also discovered the Rosary! While I was still a Lutheran, for lent one year, I decided to pray the Rosary every day so that I would learn how to do it. I remember being at a meeting at our Lutheran Church and everyone was talking about what they were doing and giving up for Lent. I didn’t dare tell anyone that I was praying the Rosary!
Meditating on the life of Jesus every day with the Rosary is a gift and a beautiful thing. It never gets boring or old. Our lives have changed just by the fact that we spend about a half hour together each day praying the Rosary. How can you forget about Jesus when you spend time with him each day meditating on all parts of his life? Suddenly, Jesus becomes front and centre in your life—right where he should be. And, we honour our Blessed Mother—the one we never knew we had until a few years ago.
As Catholics we have also discovered the beauty of praying before the Blessed Sacrament. We can go right to Jesus. We can go see Him at any Catholic Church! I think Tom and I are still somewhat awed by that. As Lutherans, we often had prayer vigils as a congregation. We would gather at the church building to pray. But, I will tell you that a Protestant church seems very empty indeed when there is no worship service going on. You get the feeling that you might as well pray at home as there is no real reason to pray at the church building specifically. In a Catholic Church, Jesus is there in the Blessed Sacrament. You can see Jesus any time. The fact that we can go right to Jesus has also changed our lives. The sacramental presence of Jesus is a beautiful gift.
These things that I’ve mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the beauty of the treasures that we have found in the Catholic Church. After the Easter Vigil in 2007, our RCIA Coordinator asked us to put into words what we were feeling after we had been received into the Church. For my part, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief and security. In Matthew 23, verse 37 Jesus said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” I felt the security of being under the wings of Jesus and Mother Church—no more voting on things we shouldn’t be voting on; sacraments to aid us on our journey toward holiness; the deposit of faith that hasn’t changed; the loving authority of our Pope, Bishops and Priests given to us by Our Lord. I felt like I could breathe out. For Tom the main feeling was gratitude. To this day, after he receives Holy Communion all he can feel and all he can express is thanks for having been brought home to the Catholic Church; thanks for being able to receive the Sacraments.
We love our Lord. We love His Church. We are forever grateful to be a part of His body. We are grateful to have come home to the Catholic Church.
Tom and Kathy Gust
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Parish Advent Mission :
click here for poster
Dates:
Saturday December 06 – Wednesday December 10, 2008
Program:
Saturday December 06
- 7:00 PM - Mass in Rocky Mountain House, - 7:30 PM – First Conference
Sunday December 07
– 9:00 AM - Mass in Rocky Mountain House – 9:40 AM – First Conference
– 11:00 AM – Mass in Evergreen – 11:40 AM – First Conference
– 1:00 PM – Mass in Caroline – 1:40 PM – First conference
First Conferences after all Masses are presented by Kathy and Tom Gust, parishioners from St. Thomas More Parish in Edmonton.
– 7:00 PM – in Rocky Mountain House - Second Conference
Conferences 2 till 4 are presented by Carol and Paul Quist from the Office of Marriage and Family Life at the Pastoral Center – Edmonton Archdiocese
Monday December 08 in Rocky Mountain House
- 7:00 PM Mass
- 7:30 PM Third Conference
Tuesday December 09 in Rocky Mountain House
- 9:00 AM Conference in St. Matthew School for grades 4 – 8
- 2:00 PM Conference in St. Dominic School
- 7:00 PM Mass
- 7:30 PM Forth Conference
Wednesday December 10 in Rocky Mountain House
- 7:00 PM Penitential Service
- in Evergreen
- 7:00 PM – Conference and Penitential Service
click here for poster
Dates:
Saturday December 06 – Wednesday December 10, 2008
Program:
Saturday December 06
- 7:00 PM - Mass in Rocky Mountain House, - 7:30 PM – First Conference
Sunday December 07
– 9:00 AM - Mass in Rocky Mountain House – 9:40 AM – First Conference
– 11:00 AM – Mass in Evergreen – 11:40 AM – First Conference
– 1:00 PM – Mass in Caroline – 1:40 PM – First conference
First Conferences after all Masses are presented by Kathy and Tom Gust, parishioners from St. Thomas More Parish in Edmonton.
– 7:00 PM – in Rocky Mountain House - Second Conference
Conferences 2 till 4 are presented by Carol and Paul Quist from the Office of Marriage and Family Life at the Pastoral Center – Edmonton Archdiocese
Monday December 08 in Rocky Mountain House
- 7:00 PM Mass
- 7:30 PM Third Conference
Tuesday December 09 in Rocky Mountain House
- 9:00 AM Conference in St. Matthew School for grades 4 – 8
- 2:00 PM Conference in St. Dominic School
- 7:00 PM Mass
- 7:30 PM Forth Conference
Wednesday December 10 in Rocky Mountain House
- 7:00 PM Penitential Service
- in Evergreen
- 7:00 PM – Conference and Penitential Service
Saturday, November 15, 2008
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/
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/
Sunday, November 09, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
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
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
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
Saturday, October 25, 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
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
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
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