Better Late than Never...eh?

I realize this post is a bit tardy, almost a month has passed since I preached it.  However, I think it reads well even with the lag...

3^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

January 26^th, 2014

The liturgy today deals with themes of light and darkness: of gloom and anguish… joy and rejoicing.  “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in land of deep darkness – on them light has shone.”  These words are spoken of the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali – Saint Matthew remembers these words in the gospel as being fulfilled by the person of Jesus Christ.  Jesus is that light referred to by Isaiah, the great light – the light that overcomes darkness.  And the light that is Jesus is not dimmed by the passing of time; instead he longs to be the light in our lives – a light that extinguishes the darkness in us.  Nor is his call for some yesteryear, as we see him calling his first apostles today, “Come, follow me.”   No, his call is meant to be heard in our own hearts, as we go about our day-to-day lives – much like the apostles Simon Peter and Andrew.  And not only are we to hear, but the invitation is to respond, ‘Yes, Lord, I hear you calling me…I will go where you send me.  To wait on tables, to my place of work, to tend to my sick child, to answer the telephone, to my daily duties…I will go, and I ask that you come with me, do not let me go alone.’  We can also invite the all-holy one into our own darkness, especially that darkness which seems insurmountable, that area of our lives where we seem to always fail or fall short, this extends even to our place of despair, discouragement, and bitterness.  Perhaps it is possible to ask the Lord, in these situations, “Lord, come, follow me.  I want you to see this predicament; I need your presence in this storm, in this pain and sense of alienation.  Lord, come, follow me so that I may then follow you out into the light.”  It is to the light the Lord always wishes to guide us.  “The Lord is my light and my salvation.”  But this is no easy task…instead it is often very messy.  But God does not withdraw from us because of our messes, instead with great loving patience He draws closer to us – sending us helps along with way and enlightens our conscience by lights that come from within or outside ourselves.  Of course, these we are free to ignore or respond to, just as the fishermen that day were presented with the choice to follow him or not.  I wish I listened to these guideposts as regularly as I should, but I often struggle to do so because of fear.  However, sometimes I do listen.  There was an instance of this during the past week, it was getting on later in the evening and I was sitting up watching TV with Fr. McGowan.  He got up and left the room for something and it was like a little voice spoke in my heart – urging me to go to confession.  It had been a particularly rough week and I was in need.  A little struggle followed…“It’s late at night, Fr. McGowan needs his rest, maybe I shouldn’t ask”, but on this small point I was resolute, and when the padre returned to the room I made my request.  Although I had to fight to overcome my pride I was glad afterwards both for this small voice in my heart and the courage to listen to it.  I share this not to focus on myself but by way of example to share this concrete example.  No doubt there are many other worthy examples I might point to – but this one was ‘at my fingertips’ as it were.  I was grateful to the Holy Spirit for the nudge and grateful to have a priest in whom I could seek the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness.  In this way the ‘good news’ visited me this past week and I was encouraged to follow the Light in the midst of my darkness, strengthening me for the path ahead.

On a slightly different note, this past week marked the week of prayer for Christian unity.  On Wednesday Pope Francis addressed this event in his weekly catechesis acknowledging that for one hundred years this noteworthy event has taken place.  He went on to reflect from today’s second reading where saint Paul asks, “Has Christ been divided?”  With characteristic candor he said the following strong words:

Christ was certainly not divided. However, we must admit sincerely, with sorrow, that our communities continue to live divisions that are a scandal. The divisions among us Christians are a scandal. There is no other word: a scandal. “Each one of you – the Apostle wrote – says: ‘I belong to Paul,’ ‘I instead belong to Apollo,’ ‘And I belong to Cephas,’ ‘And I belong to Christ’” (1:12). Even those who professed Christ as their head were not applauded by Paul, because they used the name of Christ to separate themselves from the others within the Christian community. But Christ’s name creates communion and unity, not division! He has come to make communion among us, not to divide us. Baptism and the Cross are central elements of Christian discipleship which we have in common. Divisions, instead, weaken credibility and the effectiveness of our commitment to evangelization and risk emptying the Cross of its power (cf. 1:17).

We pray for unity among Christians and unity within the Church.  May God bless us and still give us his blessing, for which we long, we desire and we most certainly need.  Dear brothers and sisters, a blessed Sunday to you!  Do not forget, He is our light and our salvation.  His words open up new vistas.  He sends us help.  It is up to us to respond with a willing heart.  Let us pray for this willingness at this holy communion and offer up to God a small prayer of thanks and praise even in the brief silences we find at this Mass.  

Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory Nazianzen

January 2^nd homily

Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory Nazianzen

My best friend growing up was a boy named Josh Burcham.  He was about three years older than I but that didn’t seem to matter as we enjoyed the best friendship had to offer, Nintendo games at his house and hide and go seek at my house, with Jody Bertin, one of the residents at the home, always being ‘it’.

Today’s liturgy celebrates two friends, Saint Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen.  Their aim was not mutual entertainment but the goal of finding truth, of discovering God deeper and deeper in their lives and bringing that truth to others.  Their goal was learning, study and giving themselves completely to this task in monastic living.  “Our single object and ambition was virtue and a life of hope in the blessings that are to come (…) We spurred each other on to virtue.”  They lived amid the turbulent times of the Arian heresy, which claimed that Jesus was divine but not human.  Both of these men eventually left the monastery to be ordained bishops and to strenuously fight against this heresy, holding on to the orthodox claim of Christianity, that Jesus is fully human and fully divine, consubstantial with the Father.  Today they are remembered as doctors of the Church, having contributed significantly to the theological development (treasury) of the Church.  As Gregory writes

Different men have different names, which they owe to their parents or to themselves, that is, to their own pursuits and achievements.  But our great pursuit, the great name we wanted, was to be Christians, to be called Christians.

Theirs is a heroic example of following Christ despite great affliction and turmoil, the power of God at work amongst frail humanity.  May we not forget this power is open to us who approach the Lord in this great sign of his humility and love: the Eucharist.

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

January 1^st, 2014

World Day of Peace

Our Mother Mary is full of beauty because she is full of grace.  

 - Pope Francis (twitter)

Today, having arrived on the doorstep of the new year, the Church celebrates the Solemnity (High feast) of Mary, Mother of God.  Thus the Church begins the year by celebrating her mother, under the title “Mother of God” as the entrance antiphon proclaims, “Hail, Holy Mother, who gave birth to the King who rules heaven and earth forever.” 

Hail Holy Mother who gave birth to the King (…).  It is through Mary’s fiat, her ‘yes’ to the divine call that Jesus our Savior came to live among us and accomplish his great redemptive act on the cross, dying out of love for us, placing our sins on his shoulders and bringing new life out of death and shame.  It was our Mother who gave her ‘yes’ that brought our Savior into the world, the King of kings and Lord of Lords.  She was a woman blessed by God since her very conception – conceived without sin -  she is the crowning glory of creation…on her was bestowed a singular grace – a grace that would later be extended to those baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  

O God who through the fruitful virginity of Blessed Mary bestowed on the human race the grace of salvation, grant, we pray, that we may experience her intercession…

Grant that we may experience her intercession, intercession is another word for help, intervention…this hopefulness regarding Mary’s intercession, her help in our daily hardships and sufferings is placed in our hearts by the Church, which asks Mary to look upon us with the blessing of her intervention.  The Church asks Mary to intervene in her daily affairs and difficulties.  We turn to you, O Mary, Mother of God, and ask your help in all things.  Those accustomed to praying the rosary know what it is to be consoled by this great Mother whose eyes are continually turned toward her children, willing to extend a hand to lighten the burdens of those who turn to her with faith in God, the giver of all good gifts.

Turning to Mary, in my experience, is like lighting a candle – it is an act of faith and hope in the midst of the darkness.  Perhaps the skeptic might argue that his/her prayers were not answered immediately upon seeking the Virgin’s aid.  But one must pray with perseverance!  One must continue to pray – even in life’s hardships, hardships that seem too difficult to overcome.  Let us continue to turn towards our Blessed Mother that she might bring our requests before the Father, before her Son Jesus the Christ.  Everything she touches she embalms with her sweet fragrance, so too with our requests and prayers of God, when passed through the hands of so loving a Mother, they are embalmed with her love.  Let us turn to her without fear and without skepticism for she is our Mother - entrusted to us by none other than Jesus Christ on the Cross.  In his last moments of his crucifixion Jesus entrusted Mary to the apostle John, a symbol of the Church, and he entrusted John to Mary… ‘this is your Son…this is your Mother’.  

There was a time in the Church’s history when calling Mary the Mother of God was a dicey matter, does not God after all, by definition stand beyond the power of regeneration, how can we say that God has a Mother?  And yet, the Church maintains that this must be the case because she insists that Jesus is born at Christmas as fully God and fully man.  Jesus is God – not a mere prophet or wise scholar.  As such, God is born to a human mother, Mary (…) yet she is the ark of the covenant, prepared beforehand by grace to receive such a great gift – she is kept free from sin.  Mary is the ‘theotokus’ – the bearer of God – the one who bears God into our midst.  Celebrating her as Mother of the Church and Mother of God is only right and good.  She is our Mother.  Let us fly to her for consolation and aid.  Let us seek her in times of trouble, knowing that she is so close to her son, her son who spent nine months in her womb, whom she suckled at the breast.  We recognize the special relationship between Son and Mother, between child and mother.  We know by scientific studies that an infant brought into the presence of his/her mother regulates their breathing to that of the mother, their hearts beat in unison.  May our hearts beat in unison with our Mother, Mary…who is great not because of her own power but because of the power of God she allowed to work in her life – all throughout her life.

The first reading pertains to the blessing of Aaron for the people of Israel, how often I have used this blessing to bless those who ask (and it is good to ask!): May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make his face to shine upon you (…) and give you his peace.  This blessing is meant to convey to its hearer the tender love of God for them.   The psalm continues this theme and makes the request: May God be gracious to us and bless us.  The second reading identifies why we are to request the blessing of God, as Saint Paul points out, we are sons and daughters of God, due to the fact that God has sent the Spirit into our hearts crying, “Abba Father!”  What a gift!  Indeed the gift-giving, the blessing continues in our Gospel as we see that ‘Long ago God spoke to us through the prophets, but in these our days God has spoken to us by the Son.’  In the Gospel from Luke the shepherds bear the good news of God’s blessing to Mary and Joseph, telling them what had been said to them about the child in the manger – and they spread the news.  Imagine…to lowly shepherds were given the charge to spread the word – God uses the lowliest and most undeserving of hearts – what good news!  Mary alone we are told ‘treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart’.  She is the woman of the promise, she is the woman of the mystery.  Mary our Mother is full of beauty because she is full of grace.  And some of that grace allowed her to take time to reflect on all of God’s blessings going on around her and within her.  She did not skip over these blessings as we so often do.  She did not focus only on her fears and uncertainties. No.  She was strong in God’s grace and willing to seek Him out day by day.  May each day of the coming year find us doing the same!

On the Eve of Christ's birth

~Christmas Vigil Mass~

December 24, 2013

Our Lady of Fatima and St. Patrick’s parish

Tonight we remember the ancient Christmas story.  A story of how Joseph and Mary made their way to Bethlehem, about how no place could be found at the inn for Mary when it came time for her to have her child…and how this child was laid in the straw of a manger – rapt in swaddling clothes.  And we remember those famous first visitors of the holy family – the shepherds keeping watch in their fields…how an angel appeared to them (angels inspire awe and fear – you know).  And how the angel said to them: Do not be afraid; for behold I proclaim to you news of great joy.  For today in the city of David you will find a savior has been born for you who is Christ the Lord (...) and suddenly there was a great multitude of angels praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.”  We sense the inherent joy in the biblical passage, we insert ourselves in the scene and perhaps we allow ourselves to relish this joy, because we are spectators to it on this night or perhaps we are nostalgic for Christmases past.  There is something magical about this night, the children know it (with all the sugar pulsing through their veins) but we feel it too, at least on some level.  For others it can be only a bittersweet time of year.  But just as we remember the ancient Christmas story, the shepherds, the manger, Jesus the little infant in the crèche, the angels – there is more to the story.  Did you notice what a strange gospel we read from tonight?  It was not the familiar one that we’ve heard often and even look forward to.  Instead it was a seemingly unending family tree:  Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob and so on for about 14 generations.  What a strange gospel for such a celebratory night!  What can it (from Matthew’s gospel) possibly have to tell us that we don’t already know from the more familiar reading of the Christmas story?  (By the way, that familiar Christmas story from Luke is read at midnight Mass.)

It tells us how Jesus, born the son of God and son of Mary, came from a true human family, a lineage.  This may seem of passing importance but not for the Jews for whom Matthew was writing.  For them it was important to see Jesus’ lineage and I might suggest it could be for us too.  For one reason in particular, that Jesus’ family tree was not without its bad apples, ruffians, adulterers, murderers.  The sweet infant we peek in on at the manger scene, bathing in a serendipitous afterglow of Virgin birth indeed had a historical family with some serious misfits.  But isn’t it part of God’s good news that He can use what seems like only misfortune and heartache to produce new life and hope.  Surely this is a message many of our hearts need to not only hear but also experience this Christmas.  We are not forgotten by God – no matter how far we may have wandered.  Even to the heart enduring the most bitter resentment or shrill discontent there is hope in Christ. 

When we look at the family tree of Jesus its too easy to just hear middle-Eastern names like Salmon and Jesse, Obed and Boaz and pass quickly by them – they fail to register as significant after the first dozen or so – somewhat like the barcode of a toy flashing across the checkout line or the dull hum of the code as we punch in on our credit or debit cards after one of many Christmas purchases – after awhile we’re punchdrunk with it all, we fail to notice.  So I wonder if it would be ok to wonder whether Salmon ever had a falling out with his inlaws, Did Jesse ever have to overlook an offence or mend a fence after a row with his grandmother or mother.  How did Obed first learn that disobedience had consequences or how to smile at life even when it kicked him in the teeth?  When did Boaz first experience what it was like to be betrayed and how did it feel to till the grounds of forgiveness?  And when was it that he first began to look after his elderly father Salmon when he started forgetting who he was.  All of a sudden the lives depicted in this long list take on a shape not unlike that of our own and we see some of their difficulties – and some of our own.  Christmas is not a magic pen that eliminates these tensions like a Tide stain remover.  Instead its message seeks to put us into contact with one who can help us deal with these daily and sometimes dramatic dealings…and his name is Emmanuel – God with us (…) or as the gospel says, “Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.  Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.”

This Jesus, though a king in his own right, does not insist on us coming to him crawling on hands and knees, doing him obeisance.  Instead he appears on this holy night as a simple babe, of whom no one should be afraid to encounter, to approach, and to worship.  This Jesus broke bread for us and called it his body, he has called us here each Sunday to eat and be nourished for the rough road of the spiritual journey.  Tonight once again, through the priest’s hands, he breaks bread and pours wine, reminiscent, recalling, reengaging in the moment on the cross when he gave his all for us (…) Your mercy Lord, I will sing forever (psalm response).  This is the fulfillment of the words from the prophet Isaiah ‘you shall be called my delight and your land espoused…for the Lord delights in you.

The Lord delights in you.  Maybe not in everything you are doing or have done.  He certainly doesn’t delight in sin and bitter resentment and despair…and these we should turn towards him and the help that is around us, we should never give in to despair.  The Lord delights in you.  And that is why He has given you his son.  Jesus, the way, the truth and the life.

Alleluia! Tomorrow the wickedness of the earth will be destroyed: the Savior of the world will reign over us.

That’s a piece of good news you can hang your stocking on!

Penance: Keeping our Glasses Clean

ADVENT Penance Service

Wednesday December 18, 2013

One of the things I have a hard time with is keeping my reading glasses clean.  It’s usually not until my mother points out how ghastly they’ve become that I actually take the time to clean them.  Maybe you’re like me too, if you wear glasses.  It’s amazing how much dirt can be on them without us really taking time to notice.  Usually its someone else who points it out to us.  There could be a parallel here to the spiritual life.  We don’t know how funky our lives have become, how out of focus things have become because we so become used to our sins that we no longer notice them.  Then it falls to a penance service to help us regain a more realistic view, an opportunity to step back and examine more carefully our heart, our soul.  Sometimes we come internally kicking and screaming…we don’t want to be here, we’re skeptical, we’re uncomfortable, yet there is something which draws us – we’re not sure from quite what that something is and we’re not sure we like it.  Confession itself is something that takes a certain level of humility, and this is part of its primary blessing – to allow the penitent to speak the truth before God and before the representative of the Church, his priest.  It is a salve for the soul – its healing effects are not there just because your parents think it a good idea you be here, or your Catholic conscience which keeps pecking like a woodpecker at the back of your mind to come to the "sacred seal" – No, there is more going on here, and there is more at stake.  There is a battle we face with our human pride and a wrestling with inner demons that would prefer to be left alone – that we did not lay our burdens and sins at the feet of Christ in His confessional.  Or we struggle on the other end of the confessing spectrum, we feel despite our best recollection we don’t have any sins to confess and therefore find ourselves in the unenviable position of knowing inherently that we’re not saints yet but we cannot find much worthy of confession and this troubles our hearts.  Yet what a grace to do our best, in both these cases, to name our sins and to receive forgiveness – ahh, new life with the Father – the freedom for which we long, what a small price we are asked to pay for the beginning of all graces – being set right with God and His Church, knowing – or at least believing as we do that only in this way do we receive the forgiveness we seek.  I hope you will permit me a few more words, I pray they be not like the hot air that comes out of our mouths on a crisp day, words that serve only to fog up our glasses.  Let us strive to keep our inner eye, the eye of the heart, clear, by proving ourselves willing despite the battle within – willing to bring ourselves before God and his Church – not putting it off any longer!  Even baby steps and a small act of faith in moving towards the Eternal God is grounds for abundant blessings!

A word on sin.  From our first reading from the prophet Isaiah it is clear…sin offends God!  With one hand we shed blood and with the other we offer to God prayer offerings.  Think of our society.  We do indeed shed blood and yet think God does not see.  But God does see.  And this hypocrisy offends Him.  The ways in which we climb into bed with our secular culture and do not speak up when the opportunity presents itself.  How cloudy our glasses become…how quickly we fog up!  Yet Isaiah speaks rightly when he says, “though your sins be like scarlet, they shall become white as wool.”  Nothing stands in the way of God’s grace being poured out on the contrite person who confesses his or his sin…nothing overcomes God’s good news.  Sin offends God, repentance pleases Him – therefore let us do what is right and good and be blessed by the lightness of heart that comes to the reconciled – those who no longer listen to the lies of the enemy of our souls – those who escape from under his crude whip and walk again as sons and daughters of light.  With our blessed Mother Mary at our side we seek His face, to walk once again in light.  As Jesus proclaims in tonight’s gospel, “I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”  We either live in that light or we live in the darkness – there is no middle ground.  Tonight we choose where we want to live.  We claim as our own one of two places.  Aren’t we blessed to have the best choice in front of us, sitting alongside us, a fellow journeyman along the rough paths of life, a priest.  An imperfect man, a man who lives with his own limitations and in need of the great mercy of God, yet chosen to bring this mercy to his brothers and sisters.  What a privilege.  What a responsibility!  And both of us priests wear glasses so we will not dwell too long on your sins, for we have our own to consider.  And yet, being from the outside, we may be able to offer some word of insight or consolation…perhaps a word on fire with the love of God – spoken quietly to you – in hushed tones, by a poor priest who stands in need of God.  Do not be afraid to approach him.  He is but a poor vessel and he knows it!  Be not afraid.  Open wide the doors of your heart to Christ!