January 11, 2009 Baptism of the Lord Sunday –Cycle B
Isaiah 42:1-4.6-7; Psalm 29; Acts 10:34-38; Mark 1:7-11
The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is a very good opportunity to remember our own Baptism. The most important part of the baptismal rite is the faith commitment that we bring to it. Our sponsors may have made this promise for us many years ago but we must now claim that commitment in our own names. And that means nothing less than a deeply personal decision to follow Christ by living in a truly unselfish manner. It also means to renounce the alluring but false suggestion of Satan that self-indulgence leads to happiness.
Let us see a little bit closer some theological aspects and life implications of the Sacrament of Baptism. We know that the Baptism as all 7 Sacraments is the visible sign of the invisible grace.
What are the visible signs in the rite of Baptism? One is certainly the water - the same sign which was used by Saint John when baptizing Jesus in the waters of Jordan. The second one are the words: “I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit”. These words are known as the sacramental formula which was given to the disciples by Christ Himself before His Ascension. St. Matthew’s Gospel is ending with the following words:
“Then Jesus approached and said to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."
So these two visible signs are the external symbols of the internal graces we receive in the Sacrament of Baptism. Those graces are at least four:
- childhood or divinization - by the Baptism God adopted us as His beloved children in whom He is well pleased. He instituted a new relationship between me and Him, He became my Father, and I am –since then- His child. Do I realize what my dignity as the child of God is?
- forgiveness of all sins and reception of the sanctifying grace of God. By Baptism God forgives all my sins and creates the conditions of an intimate Communion with Him. Only because of His Sanctifying Grace we are able to approach Him and to call Him “Our Father”.
- through Baptism we are buried with Christ for sins and we are born anew to a new life of freedom, as the coheirs of the Everlasting Life, as brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.
- and finally we became the members of the People of God, the Church.
We will never be able to understand full the first three graces we receive through the Sacrament of Baptism. We will be able to see the fullness of these graces in Heaven once facing God as He is. But already here we have to be aware of the dignity we received, the dignity of the children of God, brother and sisters of His Son Jesus Christ, invited to participate in the Community of God.
But this dignity is also a source of our moral obligations. As Jesus commanded His disciples: “to baptize all nations teaching them to observe all that He have commanded …”. And what does it mean? The answer we can find in today’s second reading, where St. John says:
“In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God consists in this, that we keep his commandments.”
During the rite of Baptism our parents and godparents where asked some questions and they answer on our behalf. Let us remind us these questions:
Parents and Godparents, if your faith makes you ready to accept this responsibility, renew now the vows of your own baptism. Reject sin; profess your faith in Christ Jesus. This is the faith of the Church. This is the faith in which the child is about to be baptized.
Priest: Do you reject Satan?
P and G: I do
Priest: And all his works?
P and G: I do
Priest: And all his empty promises?
P and G: I do
The second part of the dialog is what we know as the Creed. We repeat it every time we participate in the Sunday Eucharist. It will be maybe necessary to reflect upon this text, so to realize fully what I believe as a baptized child of God.
But we have also to see clearly that from the fact of being baptized originate not only the graces and supernatural gifts but also some rights and obligations.
As a member of the Church, the community of saints founded by Jesus Christ I have some rights … like for example the right to other sacraments, the sacrament of the Reconciliation and the Holy Eucharist included or also for example the right for Christian burial.
But I have not to forget that as the child of God and the member of the Church I have also some obligations.
It will be absolutely incomprehensible to enjoy the rights without following the obligations. This is the meaning of the words of Saint John in today’s second reading: “the love of God consists in this, that we keep his commandments.”
Do we not know what the commandments are? We know the 10 commandments from the Old Testament, we know the 2 commandments from the New Testament, we know the 6 church commandments … we know our moral obligations, we know that our first and the most important obligation (at the same time our most priceless right) is the participation in the Holy Eucharist.
And what??? What is our answer? We are quite good in claiming our rights but at the same time we are rather forgetful or even neglectful in fulfilling our obligations.
I read somewhere a frightening diagnosis of the contemporary Christianity:
An atheist said:
"If Christians are the light of the world, somebody has forgotten to turn the switch on.
Since 1960, there has been a 560% increase in violent crimes, more than a 400% increase in illegitimate births, a quadrupling of divorce rates, tripling of children in single-parent homes. And what about the abortion and euthanasia, what about the other moral issues? The world does seem to be going to hell in a hand-basket.”
Very harsh characteristic of our Christian conditions, but is it far away from the truth?
I was baptized and what are the results of this fact in y life? The commandment of Christ: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” is continually valid and legitimate, but also challenging … me too.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
04.January, 2009 - Feast of the Epiphany
Homily basing on the text of the sermon by Father Alex McAllister SDS - http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/Sermon/B/B-Epiphany-2009.htm
We celebrate today the Epiphany of the Lord —by which we mean the Manifestation of Christ to the World.
We commemorate the arrival of the Three Wise Men at the stable in Bethlehem. It is in some way curious that Christ does not go to them or reveal himself to them at some later stage when he is more able. No, they find their way to Christ unaided by him when he is but a tiny child.
Matthew in his Gospel presents us with two contrasting approaches. God reveals himself through the Scriptures and in the words of the Prophets to the People of Israel but he also reveals himself through natural phenomena such as the star the wise men followed.
Ironically God’s direct revelation is ignored by those who should know better. Yet his very indirect and almost tenuous revelation through the star is noticed by the wise men who undertake a laborious journey to find the Christ Child.
These things are not confined to ancient times but are just as relevant to us today.
It is sad how many people who know the scriptures, and who have had the Good News explained to them in great detail throughout their childhood, manage to drift away from their faith.
This is a problem we face every day in the church and in our families. God gives us the great privilege of being brought up in a practicing family and reveals himself to us in all kinds of ways and yet this is not sufficient to bring some of us to faith.
And on the opposite hand we see these Wise Men who go to extraordinary lengths to find faith and give due homage to the Christ Child.
I have often participated in the RCIA meetings, for those who wish to become members of the Church and have sat in amazement as I listened to wonderful stories of how people have been gradually but irrevocably drawn to Christ over a period of many years. Last Parish Mission is also a great example of this. Kathy and Tom, Paul and Carol … According to the statistics done by “Coming Home Network” 1586 ministers of 101 different denominations converted to the Catholicism within last 10 years. They have frequently undergone all kinds of difficulties and overcome extraordinary obstacles to finally get to the point where they can profess their faith in God and find their true home in the Church.
Each one of us has a story of conversion. For some it might be simple and straightforward, for others it might be very convoluted. But all our stories have at their foundation the simple fact that God is calling us to faith in him.
We come by different routes, some of them very curious, some of them very painful. But we are all being led through life on a great pilgrimage of faith sometimes despite ourselves. And the destination of that pilgrimage in not the pew in which you are sitting now but that greater seat that awaits us all around the banquet table of heaven.
This Feast of the Epiphany with its marvellous story of Wise Men led first to Jerusalem and then on to Bethlehem and their avoidance of the trap laid by King Herod is not something just for the history books.
Nor is it merely a fable to demonstrate Christ’s openness to the Gentiles from the first moment of his presence in the world.
No, it is also a challenge to all of us. It underlines just how important it is that Christ came to reveal the Good News of the Kingdom to absolutely everyone in the world. And we who are his disciples are commissioned to spread his Good News to the ends of the earth.
That does not mean that we need to rush out and buy a ticket for some poor benighted place no one has ever heard of in order to preach the Gospel to its natives, though this should never be excluded.
There are plenty of people living right around us who have never heard the Gospel, or while they might have heard it never really understood what it meant.
Often enough, we don’t even have to step outside our own front door to complete this mission. Our task might even be restricted to within our own families.
The symbolism of the star should not be overlooked as we celebrate this feast in which it plays such a significant role. The star represents the Light of Christ which drew the Wise Men to the truth.
Christ is indeed the Light of the World since he came into our world to bring light into darkness, knowledge to dispel ignorance, hope to overcome despair. He is indeed the one who all sincere searchers are seeking.
In Ancient Times this Feast of the Epiphany was considered more important than Christmas and indeed still in the East it is kept as a higher ranking feast. It achieved this status early in the history of the Church surely because the many converts from paganism saw in the story of the wise men their own story.
These wise men were guided by a star; they were led by God to the stable in Bethlehem where they offered the Christ Child their gifts and paid him homage.
The early converts to Christianity, like any convert today, realised that like those Wise Men they too were guided by God and led on a journey of faith and brought to belief in Christ. When they finally encounter him they place all they have at his disposal and worship him as the Son of God and the one true Saviour of the World.
They may not be rich like those Magi, but they know that they have come to the knowledge of the greatest treasure anyone could possess—belief in Jesus Christ.
****************
The good news of Epiphany is that Jesus is the revelation of God as one who offers himself to us in love. Jesus is the epiphany of the invisible God in all the events of his life: as a helpless child lying in a manger, as a young man dying on the cross -- the ultimate revelation that God's glory is love. This feast reminds us that each Sunday's liturgy with its gospel reading is an epiphany of the Lord to be reflected upon in the quiet of faith.
As in every offering of love, the Lord awaits the response of our heart. Will it be that of Herod who perceives it as a threat to his own autonomy and power? Will it be that of the magi who perceive this offering of love as the fulfillment of the human quest? Epiphany is the revelation of the purpose of the Incarnation: that God and we, God's creatures, might enjoy each other in the embrace of love. Who could be afraid of a God like that?
The church anticipates the good news that the mutual exchange of divine and human love is the deepest meaning of the Incarnation by giving us a reading from the Song of Songs at an Advent Mass a few days before Christmas. This "greatest of songs" is a love poem describing the wonder and excitement of the divine-human exchange of love in beautiful erotic images. The poem can help us realize a bit of the astonishing mystery we celebrate. The Lord says to each of us: "Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come" (Song 2: 10). One is also reminded of Christina Rossetti's lovely epiphany poem "In the Bleak Mid-Winter."
What can I give him, Poor as I am? If I were a shepherd I would bring him a lamb; If I were a wise man I would do my part; Yet what I can I give him Give my heart.
The epiphany of the Lord is actualized in every celebration of the Eucharist. Jesus reveals himself and identifies himself as the bread of life. One could not imagine a more powerful sacrament or symbol to reveal that the ultimate meaning of Jesus is to give himself to us in love. Bread has no meaning by existing for itself. Bread exists in order to give life to those who receive it as food. The prayer after communion for the Mass of Epiphany expresses this mystery of faith: "Help us to recognize Christ in this Eucharist and welcome him with love."
Homily basing on the text of the sermon by Father Alex McAllister SDS - http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/Sermon/B/B-Epiphany-2009.htm
We celebrate today the Epiphany of the Lord —by which we mean the Manifestation of Christ to the World.
We commemorate the arrival of the Three Wise Men at the stable in Bethlehem. It is in some way curious that Christ does not go to them or reveal himself to them at some later stage when he is more able. No, they find their way to Christ unaided by him when he is but a tiny child.
Matthew in his Gospel presents us with two contrasting approaches. God reveals himself through the Scriptures and in the words of the Prophets to the People of Israel but he also reveals himself through natural phenomena such as the star the wise men followed.
Ironically God’s direct revelation is ignored by those who should know better. Yet his very indirect and almost tenuous revelation through the star is noticed by the wise men who undertake a laborious journey to find the Christ Child.
These things are not confined to ancient times but are just as relevant to us today.
It is sad how many people who know the scriptures, and who have had the Good News explained to them in great detail throughout their childhood, manage to drift away from their faith.
This is a problem we face every day in the church and in our families. God gives us the great privilege of being brought up in a practicing family and reveals himself to us in all kinds of ways and yet this is not sufficient to bring some of us to faith.
And on the opposite hand we see these Wise Men who go to extraordinary lengths to find faith and give due homage to the Christ Child.
I have often participated in the RCIA meetings, for those who wish to become members of the Church and have sat in amazement as I listened to wonderful stories of how people have been gradually but irrevocably drawn to Christ over a period of many years. Last Parish Mission is also a great example of this. Kathy and Tom, Paul and Carol … According to the statistics done by “Coming Home Network” 1586 ministers of 101 different denominations converted to the Catholicism within last 10 years. They have frequently undergone all kinds of difficulties and overcome extraordinary obstacles to finally get to the point where they can profess their faith in God and find their true home in the Church.
Each one of us has a story of conversion. For some it might be simple and straightforward, for others it might be very convoluted. But all our stories have at their foundation the simple fact that God is calling us to faith in him.
We come by different routes, some of them very curious, some of them very painful. But we are all being led through life on a great pilgrimage of faith sometimes despite ourselves. And the destination of that pilgrimage in not the pew in which you are sitting now but that greater seat that awaits us all around the banquet table of heaven.
This Feast of the Epiphany with its marvellous story of Wise Men led first to Jerusalem and then on to Bethlehem and their avoidance of the trap laid by King Herod is not something just for the history books.
Nor is it merely a fable to demonstrate Christ’s openness to the Gentiles from the first moment of his presence in the world.
No, it is also a challenge to all of us. It underlines just how important it is that Christ came to reveal the Good News of the Kingdom to absolutely everyone in the world. And we who are his disciples are commissioned to spread his Good News to the ends of the earth.
That does not mean that we need to rush out and buy a ticket for some poor benighted place no one has ever heard of in order to preach the Gospel to its natives, though this should never be excluded.
There are plenty of people living right around us who have never heard the Gospel, or while they might have heard it never really understood what it meant.
Often enough, we don’t even have to step outside our own front door to complete this mission. Our task might even be restricted to within our own families.
The symbolism of the star should not be overlooked as we celebrate this feast in which it plays such a significant role. The star represents the Light of Christ which drew the Wise Men to the truth.
Christ is indeed the Light of the World since he came into our world to bring light into darkness, knowledge to dispel ignorance, hope to overcome despair. He is indeed the one who all sincere searchers are seeking.
In Ancient Times this Feast of the Epiphany was considered more important than Christmas and indeed still in the East it is kept as a higher ranking feast. It achieved this status early in the history of the Church surely because the many converts from paganism saw in the story of the wise men their own story.
These wise men were guided by a star; they were led by God to the stable in Bethlehem where they offered the Christ Child their gifts and paid him homage.
The early converts to Christianity, like any convert today, realised that like those Wise Men they too were guided by God and led on a journey of faith and brought to belief in Christ. When they finally encounter him they place all they have at his disposal and worship him as the Son of God and the one true Saviour of the World.
They may not be rich like those Magi, but they know that they have come to the knowledge of the greatest treasure anyone could possess—belief in Jesus Christ.
****************
The good news of Epiphany is that Jesus is the revelation of God as one who offers himself to us in love. Jesus is the epiphany of the invisible God in all the events of his life: as a helpless child lying in a manger, as a young man dying on the cross -- the ultimate revelation that God's glory is love. This feast reminds us that each Sunday's liturgy with its gospel reading is an epiphany of the Lord to be reflected upon in the quiet of faith.
As in every offering of love, the Lord awaits the response of our heart. Will it be that of Herod who perceives it as a threat to his own autonomy and power? Will it be that of the magi who perceive this offering of love as the fulfillment of the human quest? Epiphany is the revelation of the purpose of the Incarnation: that God and we, God's creatures, might enjoy each other in the embrace of love. Who could be afraid of a God like that?
The church anticipates the good news that the mutual exchange of divine and human love is the deepest meaning of the Incarnation by giving us a reading from the Song of Songs at an Advent Mass a few days before Christmas. This "greatest of songs" is a love poem describing the wonder and excitement of the divine-human exchange of love in beautiful erotic images. The poem can help us realize a bit of the astonishing mystery we celebrate. The Lord says to each of us: "Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come" (Song 2: 10). One is also reminded of Christina Rossetti's lovely epiphany poem "In the Bleak Mid-Winter."
What can I give him, Poor as I am? If I were a shepherd I would bring him a lamb; If I were a wise man I would do my part; Yet what I can I give him Give my heart.
The epiphany of the Lord is actualized in every celebration of the Eucharist. Jesus reveals himself and identifies himself as the bread of life. One could not imagine a more powerful sacrament or symbol to reveal that the ultimate meaning of Jesus is to give himself to us in love. Bread has no meaning by existing for itself. Bread exists in order to give life to those who receive it as food. The prayer after communion for the Mass of Epiphany expresses this mystery of faith: "Help us to recognize Christ in this Eucharist and welcome him with love."
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
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
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
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
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