The 4^th Sunday of Lent – Year C

“The Prodigal Son”

The parable of the Prodigal son given to us by Jesus in today’s Gospel is really a beautiful story. It is a story about sin and hard Heartedness. A story about repentance and unconditional forgiveness.

When we hear a parable like this it often helps us to compare our own lives to the lives of the characters in the story. For example, let’s take a look at the younger son, the one called the prodigal son.

This younger son had a dissatisfaction with his present life. A sort of longing for something else. Perhaps he was bored with his lifestyle and felt he needed to get away and experience a little excitement in his life.

Maybe he felt stifled and so perhaps he felt that he needed to leave home, to get away from his parents and experience the excitement and pleasures that the world seemed to offer.

He had a longing for something and perhaps wasn’t too sure what it was that he was looking for. Often we too have a longing and are not too sure what it is that we are craving for.

And so maybe this son felt dissatisfied. Maybe his Heart was restless. And so he asked for and received his portion of the inheritance and took off for greener pastures.

He felt certain that the world and it’s pleasures would offer him the peace and satisfaction he was searching for.

And so he had to get away and get out there on his own and find out for himself what the world had to offer – away from the control of his father.

His father respected his son’s free will, gave him what he asked for and let him go.

And so after the young son had squandered all his fortune and was desperate he had to make a decision...

The bible tells us that He said “I will rise and go to my father” (Luke 15:18)

And so it was up to the son to make the decision to come back. The father was not going to force him.

That is the decision that we all have to make. At some point in time we have to decide. Do we stay with all the false happiness that the world offers or do we go back to our Father?

This image of the younger son that Jesus gives us in this parable is shocking but really it is just a symbol of the mess we can get ourselves into when we blindly follow the selfishness of the world.

When I foolishly think I can make it on my own without God or His grace, I become like the prodigal son. When I begin to believe that the really important things in this life are based upon what I do, upon my own abilities. When I insist on things being done my way, then I become like the prodigal son.

I demand what I believe is rightfully mine and off I go. This independent, self-sufficient approach to life is the fundamental sin of many of us. It is the refusal of grace. It is Adam and Eve reaching for the apple of happiness all over again.

But, self sufficiency can only take us so far, then sooner or later, like the prodigal son, we run into a brick wall. We run out of money, we run out of pleasures, we run out of drugs, we run out of time and we discover that in spite of all our temporary pleasures, we are still unhappy.

No matter how great they are at the time, none of the pleasures of life are lasting. After all is said and done there’s still something missing in our lives.

In 1965 the Rolling Stones released a hit song entitled “I can’t get no satisfaction”.

This song sums up our search in life for happiness based on the temporary pleasures that the world offers us.

After we have finished taking our pleasures, after we have finished eating our apples, we find to our unhappiness that a few hours later – we are still hungry.

We can’t get no satisfaction. And so we continue our search – because everyone seeks happiness, everyone was made for happiness. But not everyone knows where to look and so we search.

Our addictions make us cling to what the world proclaims as the keys to self-fulfillment: accumulation of wealth and power; attainment of status and admiration; lavish consumption of food and drink; and sexual gratification without distinguishing between lust and love.

There’s a lot of truth in the statement “An alcoholic tries to find God in the bottle while a drug addict tries to find God in the needle”.

And so like the prodigal son, who found out the hard way, we too, often find out the hard way. The pleasures that this world offers are a lie, a temporary illusion that doesn’t last.

Like the prodigal son we find out that the only way to true happiness is to return to the Father. To come home. To turn to God.

Yes, if we are still dissatisfied with our life no matter what we do, if we feel there’s something missing, if we feel unhappy - perhaps we are like St. Augustine who said “You have made us for yourself, O Lord and our Hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

I am sure that each of us can see some similarities between the younger son in this parable and ourselves.

Now let‘s look at the elder son and see if we are in any way similar to him.

The elder son, despite the fact that he was with his father all those years, was shocked that his father threw a party upon the prodigal son’s return. After all these years he still didn’t know or understand his father’s Heart.

The elder son was distant from his father and aloof. He was like the Pharisees and scribes who complained about Jesus’ ministry to sinners in Luke 15:2

For years the elder brother had done the right thing but for all the wrong reasons. “Lo, these many years I have served you.” Luke 15:29

The elder son didn’t even acknowledge his younger brother as his brother. Instead He says to his father “this son of yours.” Luke 15:30

The elder son is sometimes called the prodigal son who stayed home. He is also lost but this is more difficult to see. This parable of Jesus’ is really about a loving father and two prodigal sons. When we fail to see the love that our Father in Heaven has for all his children then we are like the older son.

The attitude of the older brother towards his younger brother is a mirror-image of the attitude that the Pharisees had towards sinners.

The Pharisees were very religious people – but what’s the use of religion if it doesn’t make us more compassionate towards those who have fallen?

If we find ourselves sympathizing with the older brother then that should tell us just how much of the Pharisee is in all of us.

All of us, to a greater or lesser degree, are in the shoes of either or both the younger son and the elder son.

Which of us can say that we have always been faithful? Which of us can say that we are without sin?

Which of us can say that we have not squandered God’s grace and misused His gifts? Which of us has been merciful to others – even when they don’t deserve that mercy?

Which of us would like to be treated by God according to His strict justice – don’t all of us need more of God’s mercy than His justice? Is He not the merciful Father?

It’s so important for us to understand that the father did not force his mercy on his son. The father’s mercy was always there – the son needed only to turn away from sin and return to his father.

But he did need to do that in order to receive the father’s mercy. He needed to repent and to come back. The father did not force him. The father only waited for him.

And now let’s look at this wonderful father, the father of these two sons.

Obviously, the father in the parable represents God, Our Father in Heaven.

God Our Father in Heaven who loves us so much that He throws a party whenever we come back to Him.

You see, love is a risk. Love depends so much on the response of the other person. Yet, God has taken that gamble with us.

What is God’s reaction when we don’t respond to His love? The prophets tell us that God feels like a spouse who has been abandoned by their mate when we forget about God.

Does God ever grow tired of loving us? No! God keeps believing in love and in our potential to respond to His love.

God wants to find me much more than I want to find Him. God is not the patriarch who stays home, doesn’t move and expects His children to come to Him and to apologize for their bad behavior. God does not wait for us to beg for forgiveness and our promises to do better.

No. God is the Father who leaves the house, who ignores His dignity by running towards us. He is a Father who pays little attention to apologies and promises of change.

Rather He is a Father who runs towards us in order to bring us to His table. A table that He has richly prepared for us.

Our sin always gives us a warped outlook on life and on God.

God made us in His own image and likeness but since the Fall of Adam and Eve, we have made God into our own image and likeness.

Jesus parable about the Prodigal son and the picture He paints for us of our Father in Heaven is a beautiful image of a loving merciful Father coming towards us to meet us with arms wide open, always ready to forgive and to forget.

Only Jesus, the sinless one, could paint such a picture of God.

Remember what the Father says to the elder son. “All that is mine is yours”. That is the same thing that the Father says to each one of us, His beloved children.

When we repent of our sins and return to the Father, He runs to meet us and tells us “All that is mine is yours”.

Isn’t that the most beautiful statement in the whole parable?

“All that is mine is yours”.

One of the songs that I love is one that we often hear during Lent. It’s called “Hosea”. It’s a song in which we sing words of God's invitation to us to "Come back to me, with all your Heart."

This invitation to come back to me with all our heart is not always easy for us to fully accept.

The next line of the song says, "don't let fear keep us apart," but I wonder whether or not it really is always fear that keeps us apart.

For sure, it requires us not to fear, or at least to have a willingness to go forward in spite of our fear.

But it seems to me there’s something more.

Something more like the statement of St. Augustine's, "Give me chastity and continence, but not yet."

“I want to come, Lord, but not yet completely. Not yet really with all my heart. Maybe only just a little bit or maybe a lot, but just not all the way”.

“There are some things here I'd really rather not put aside for your sake. I’m not quite ready to give you everything Lord.”

I think part of the invitation of Lent, then, is to focus on what is it that makes it difficult for us to fully embrace God's love, to fully respond to the invitation to come back with all of our heart.

We have to look at what is causing us to hesitate? What are we worried about giving up? What part of our lives have we not surrendered completely to God?

God is patient. He has waited a long time for us. And He'll keep waiting for us to figure it out. Like the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son, He is standing ready and willing to run towards us to welcome us with open arms, when we do decide to surrender everything to Him.

“Come back to me with all your hearts – don’t let fear keep us apart. Long have I waited for your coming home to me and living deeply our new life”.

That is Jesus’ message to us today. If we have strayed, He invites us to come back home to Him. All will be forgiven if we repent of our sins and forgive one another, and surrender completely to Him.

He is waiting to tell us “My child, all that is mine is yours”.

Today we are invited to think deeply again about these words of Jesus.

When we turn from our sins and come home, He will run towards us saying “Come back to me with all your Hearts –

I forgive you. I love you. All that is mine is yours”.

Deacon Bernie Ouellette

Second Sunday of Lent - Cycle C

Genesis 15, 5-12. 17-18; Psalm 27; Philippians 3, 17-4, 1; St. Luke 9, 28-36

Today we are called to reflect and meditate on the meaning and significance of the Transfiguration which can be called a mountaintop experience. the event of the Transfiguration of Jesus becomes God’s way of delivering the disciples from their crisis of faith. God opened the eyes of Peter and his fellow disciples and gave them a glimpse of God’s abiding presence with their Master Jesus. They were strengthened to believe that Jesus is the beloved Son of God and the Messiah, that he is the fulfilment of both the Law and the Prophets. God enlightened their vision and thereby they were reinforced in their discipleship.

When we are faced with absurdities of life, when we are disturbed by the experience of social injustice and discrimination, when personal and family crises—such as terminal illness, breakdown of relationship between husband and wife, between parent and child, and between friends—lead us to doubt the existence of God in our lives, we are all in need of this mountaintop experience. When our expectations arising from faith seem to be in total contrast with the actual reality of life, we are in need of this mountaintop experience to realize the abiding presence of God in our lives. Then shall we have the courage and the hope, knowing that through it all God is on our side.

As a missionary during my 16 years in Africa I sometimes experienced very touching situations. I remember one time when some African Christians were sitting in a village for a retreat. The subject was how to best spread the Gospel. Various methods were suggested running from literature and brochures, to videos, to radio announcements. Finally a young woman arose and she said, "When we judge that a pagan village is ready for the Lord Jesus, the first people we send in is a Christian family. It is their lives that will inspire the villagers to think seriously about becoming Christian. They are better than a hundred books or videos or radio announcements. They will be the keyhole through which others will see the Lord Christ. To spread the word and help the growth of the Church, Christians must not so much promote as attract." The woman's views carried the day.

As Albert Schweitzer, who was a superb "keyhole" or revelation to others by his own life, testified, "Example is not the main thing. It is the only thing."

There is a Christian proverb saying: “verba movent sed exempla trahunt” – which translated means: “words excite us, but examples attract and fascinate.”

"It’s also valid today in our daily lives. The best we can do in order to spread the message of Christ is to live our lives in such a way so that others can see God through us as they peek through the keyhole which is revealing how we live our lives."

The Lord "took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became dazzling white." (Lk 9. 28-29) Why does the Lord reveal his glory to the Apostles in this way?

St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that this grace was given to strengthen the Apostles for the Cross which was to come by giving them a glimpse of the Resurrection which would be purchased only by the blood shed upon the Cross.

The transformation or transfiguration of Jesus that the disciples experienced was not simply something they were to see and experience as happening to him alone. It was also an invitation for them to undergo a transformation and transfiguration of their own.

Like the Christ of today's Gospel, we too must become transfigured or transformed. The Teacher is saying to us, "Do not dwell on my Transfiguration overly long today. Rather, continue or perhaps begin to work on your own transfiguration." Christ is betting on each one of us here to become an attractive "keyhole through which others will see the Lord Christ.”

This then is what we are aiming for while Lent remains very young. Like the Christ of today's Gospel, we too must become transfigured. The Teacher is saying to us, "Do not dwell on my Transfiguration overly long today. Rather, continue or perhaps begin to work on your own." The Christ is betting on each one of us here to become an attractive keyhole.

I Sunday of Lent - C

Deuteronomy 26:4-10; Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13

Years ago the explorer, Richard Byrd, spent the winter alone at the South Pole. For almost 5 months he lived in total darkness, buried beneath the snow in a tiny room. The temperature in that room often dipped to 50 degrees below zero. Three times a day, Byrd climbed the stairs to the roof of his shelter, opened a trapdoor, pushed away the snow, and went out into the cold and darkness to record weather information.

Why did Byrd choose to live by himself during these months of total darkness? He answered that question in his book Alone where he says he did it because he wanted to get away from everything. He wanted to do some serious thinking. He writes: “And so it occurred to me . . . that here was the opportunity. . . . I should be able to live exactly as I chose, obedient to no necessities but those imposed by the wind and night and cold, and to no man’s law but my own.’’ After the first month of solitude, Byrd discovered something “good’’ happening. He discovered that you can live much more deeply and profoundly if you keep life simple and don’t clutter it with a lot of material things. Byrd emerged from his room a changed man. He ends his book with these words: “All this happened four years ago. Civilization has not altered my ideas. I live more simply now, and with more peace.”

We sometimes need to retire and go off into a desert to re-think our life and the forces present in it. We need to hide ourselves in a solitary place; we need to create a desert in our lives so to be able to think carefully about the demoniac forces and powers which try to terrorize our lives. And they are many.

There are the 7 capital sins or vices: pride, avarice, lust, gluttony, envy, anger, laziness.

1 - There is the temptation of the body which is famished and hungry, starving and lacking something, but not always necessarily food. The temptation of the body tries to dominate my life and tyrannize it. There is lust, the desire for any pleasure and not only what is sexual in nature. There is gluttony and laziness (a capital sin) – the bodily tyrants of our lives.

2 - The temptation of greed and materialism, the temptation of wanting to make more money, to possess more, and to have to be rich are all around us, these lead us to avarice and envy.

3 - And then there is the biggest temptation of all: pride - with our conceit, vanity and arrogance, the desire for power, the desire to dominate, and the arrogance of supremacy.

These forces are dominant in our contemporary society; these three temptations are present in the whole of our lives. Jesus had three proposals against these demoniac forces .... the three evangelical virtues:

1 - the virtue of chastity to counter the domination of the body - His answer: “one does not live by bread alone” – you are not only a carnal being, you are a spiritual being as well

2 - the virtue of poverty against the domination of money - His answer: “worship only the Lord your God” and not money, not material possessions

3 - the virtue of obedience to answer the domination of pride - His answer: “do not put the Lord your God to the test”. The obedience to the reason and not to the famished body, obedience to the conscience and not to the money, obedience to God and not human caprices.

These three “temptations” are dangerous because they reduce other people--- and even the material world--- to things that can be used purely for my personal gain. They are dangerous because they create a world and a society in which everyone has to compete to get as much for themselves as they can.

In such a rat race, a minority corners to itself a disproportionate amount of the world's goods while the majority is left without what they need.

Above all, living this kind of life are dangerous because they can create the prevailing creed of the society in which we live. They believe that undiluted happiness comes with winning millions in the lottery. They believe that the ownership of what they have acquired is absolute. But there is no absolute ownership of anything.

When we think of temptations, we tend to think of sexual sins, telling lies, losing our tempers, gossiping about people's real or imagined faults, getting angry, feeling resentment and the like.

But the really dangerous temptations are:

- to want material wealth for its own sake (the ability to turn anything into money ['bread']),

- to want status (everyone looking up to me),

- and power (manipulating people and things for my own ends), things which are seen as going with wealth, power and status.

Three key areas Rather than just seeing them as three consecutive temptations happening almost simultaneously at a particular moment, we should perhaps see them as three key areas where Jesus was tempted to compromise his mission during the whole of his public life. They were not just passing temptations of the moment, but temptations with which he was beset all throughout his public life.

Some real examples of these temptations can be found in the Gospel accounts:

- The Pharisees asked Jesus "to perform a miracle to show that God approved of him" (Mark 8:11).

- "Save yourself if you are God's Son! Come down from the cross!" (Matthew 27:40).

- After feeding 5,000 hungry people with an abundance of food, "the people there said, 'Surely this is the Prophet who was to come into the world!' Jesus knew that they were about to come and seize him in order to make him king by force; so he went off again to the hills by himself" (John 6:14-15).

Clearly, in varying forms, these temptations of Jesus can come into our lives too. They are certainly coming. What will my response be to them?

Ash Wednesday 2010

Vancouver Olympic Games 2010

2 621 athletes and almost 10 000 journalists are present and enjoying this extraordinary sportive event.

Estimated costs of organization 2 billion dollars (law estimation)

Some are estimating that eventually it could cost Canada up to 6 billion!!!

Many people in Canada are telling that this is “One of the biggest and most useless sports extravaganza”. Because at the same time so many Canadians are living on the streets and have no decent salary, no shelter, no means for arranging honestly their lives.

Forgive me please but I would like to put this event in the larger context

At the same time

• · 829 million people in the whole world are suffering a constant hunger and malnutrition (829 million people means 25 times the population of Canada)
• · 12 million children in the world are starving every year this is 35 000 every day

According to the final data Canada collected and sent to Haiti 5 million dollars. A beautiful and honest gest of human solidarity. But if we count this and compare to the “sports extravaganza of Vancouver 2010” it shows up that Haiti get 400 times less than the costs of organization of Vancouver 2010.

Will you tell me that the Olympic Games in this context are the expression of the beautiful ideas of honest competition, human solidarity and peace?

This is not to make you guilty, or to underestimate the beautiful idea of sportive competitions.

Ash Wednesday and Lent proposes us a frank evaluation:

How much money do I spend for useless or even sinful activities?

Is my life an honest way of sharing with those who are less fortunate than I?

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C

First Mass of Fr. Daniel Gurnick ofm

Once upon a time in a land... very close to here lived a young quiet boy named Daniel. Daniel was hard working, pleasant to be around and a behind the scenes type child. Daniel grew into a rather short young man; however his bank account grew rather large. When Daniel was finally ready to leave his family and make his place in the world, he bought his first home at 19 years of age. Daniel spent nearly 10 years in pursuit of wealth and seeking the glamorous woman that he would one day paint the white picket fence with. Oh dearest Daniel why do you dedicate so much energy to your own personal gain rather than looking at the common good? The white - keep the buffalo in type fence one day fell over, and Daniel became exhausted in his pursuit to buy all the houses on 47St. Reflipping his way of thinking and living, Daniel entered the seminary and later on the Franciscans in a different pursuit to become a Franciscan priest.

"Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God" (Lk. 6:21) "Blessed are you as you empty your bank accounts, wallets, purses, and piggy banks for Newman Theological College (NTC) and St. Joseph's Seminary (SJS) yours will be the kingdom of God.

The Beautitudes are unique to Jesus, and they challenge us to evaluate our ways of thinking and living. Philosophers and wise people of Jesus time would not have said such words as found in the beautitudes. The rich, satisfied, laughing and socially acceptable are blessed from a worldly point of view. The poor, hungry, grieving, and outcasts are blessed from Christ's point of view. How can the poor, hungry, grieving, and outcast be blessed - it does not make sense? The poor, hungry, grieving and outcasts all paint a portrait of the Crucified Christ. Christ on the cross was poor, hungry, sorrowful and an outcast, yet Christ was blessed because he followed the will of God the Father. God the Father's response to the poor, hungry, sorrowful, and outcasted Christ was the Resurrection. God the Father's response to suffering was to raise the Son Jesus Christ from the dead.

We may feel that Jesus was being hard on the rich, satisfied, laughing and socially acceptable; however, we need to realize that St. Luke wrote his Gospel to address the social and economically poor issues of his time. If St. Luke were to write his Gospel today then, he would be addressing the issues in Haiti and the homeless on our streets in Canada. The key for the rich, statisfied, laughing and socially acceptable is to recognize their comfort comes from God. "Blessed the one who trusts in the Lord" (Jer. 7:7). Woe to all those who do not realized that all their comforts come from God and "cursed to the one who trusts in mere mortals and makes mere flesh their strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord" (Jer. 17:5). I can relate with the emptiness of relying on my own strenth and the blessings that flow from turining to the Lord.

"Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man." (Luke 6:22). A very difficult verse to read and an even more difficult verse to put into practice. Christ prepared us by letting us know that every follower of his would face rejection. Be aware this rejection may come from any person on this earth. I find comfort in Christ's forwarning and a reminder that I need to turn to him for strength and courage.

We are challenged today to evaluate our own lives. Do we value the world or do we value Christ? When I say world here, I am referring to ways contrary to Christ. If we value Christ then we can easily support the men and women of NTC and the seminarians at SJS. For men and women at NTC and the seminarians of SJS desire to serve all of God's people - the rich, the poor, the hungry, the satisfied, the grieving, the laughing, the acceptable and outcasts. They are willing to accept suffering for the sake of Christ. At this Eucharist, may we value more deeply Christ's presence among us and have grateful hearts for all the blessings we receive.

Fr. Daniel Gurnick ofm