Tuesday, March 26, 2024

THE RESURRECTION IS CENTRAL TO OUR FAITH

 

This is Easter Sunday. This is the high point of our Holy Week celebrations. Christ has died! Christ is risen!

 

In Western Christianity (that is European, North and South American) we need to work had to keep the balance in our spirituality and our focus on the great act of salvation. Jesus truly gave his life as a sacrifice of service and love (bring all humanity to God) and the divine has broken through in the resurrection of Jesus. We must always have both together.

 

Through the past one thousand years the focus has been very strong on the humanity of Jesus. We can imagine his face, his body, his sufferings but we have serious difficulties imaging his resurrection. 

 

The devotion “the Way of the Cross” was always incomplete. We come to the end of the fourteenth station and the dead body of Jesus is placed in the tomb – and we are finished. We walk away. But half the mystery has been neglected! Our salvation is lived and manifested in the events of the resurrection of Jesus. We have always had difficulty getting handles on that one!

 

The resurrection of Jesus is always the revelation of the Son of God to the disciples. Each appearance is a theophany (to use the proper Biblical description).  A theophany is a direct experience of the living God. Each appearance is a revelation, a showing, a showing forth of the very Son of God. Jesus is the second person within the Trinity. The people of the Church must devote as much time and energy to the resurrection as they do to the moments of Jesus’ sufferings. 

 

The resurrection of Jesus is the divine action manifested among the disciples. Now they can see that everything that Jesus said and did was a manifestation of the very person and nature of God. The human Jesus is God in the flesh. What he taught and the miracles he worked are  God’s actions and teachings. Jesus, in all he did and said, is God’s revelation to the human race. 

 

But our celebration of Easter must never be a one day event. It happened on a definite night. It would be a deficit if we marked the Easter event and now lets go on with life. The opposite must now happen within our lives. Now, the resurrection of Jesus must happen in each believer. Each one of us must become the resurrection of Jesus. This happens through our life of prayer; our connection with the living God. This happens through our service to the poor with their many faces. It happens when we take time to walk with the friend who is undergoing cancer treatment. We walk beside them in support, friendship and encouragement. The resurrection must happen in our lifestyle.

 

Have a very happy Easter with your family and friends. But may Easter always be a door opening to a greater life in and with the risen Christ. May our lives be a manifestation of the Risen Christ, moving and active among us.

 

 

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

THE DONKEY IS PART OF HOLY WEEK


 

There is one character (Mk. 11,3)  that we overlook every holy week. It is the donkey: no name and now owner named either.

 

Jesus instructed the disciples to go into the village and borrow a colt/donkey. The disciples gave their word that the donkey would be returned.  There is a play on images here. 

 

The entry into Jerusalem, with Jesus riding the donkey, indicates that he is moving towards glory and success (i.e., the salvation on mankind on the cross and in the resurrection). There is a play on images here. In worldly terms a conquering emperor or general would ride in triumph (with lots of fanfare and publicity) on a white stallion to make clear to the defeated population that this was their new ruler who will run the government and tax them. This was always a political act and was always a display of power.

 

The play on images here is that Jesus now comes in triumph; this is God’s rule and time being established. Jesus is faithful to who and what God actually is. Jesus comes humble, riding a beast of burden; a work animal. He does not come to dominate but to give life and walk with the people. This is God walking with the people, with the little ones, to lift them up. As Jesus moves toward triumph and glory, he moves with humility and powerlessness. 

 

The donkey is the sign of how humble God actually is. There is no beating the population down and getting rich off their hard labor. The donkey is the exact opposite of how human beings act by dominating power over others. Jesus is the humble God who comes to life us up.

 

This Palm Sunday, walk beside Jesus on the donkey. Ask in your prayer and in your actions to grow to into  the heart of God. As you walk beside the donkey, ask to be humble and to see the value and importance of each human being. Ask to have a heart that respects and cherishes each human being just as the very heart of God sees and values each human being.

 

During the past two years we have been burdened by two very criminal and stupid wars. Countless innocent people have been killed and how many children have been killed through the invasion of Gaza? 

 

We must never be defeated by the evil of war and the destructive power of falling bombs.

Walk beside Jesus (and the donkey) to practice a life of non-violence. Seek by your actions to break the spiral of violence wherever it is possible. Be the bearer of peace and justice.

 

People may conclude that the problem of war is so great , that I, as one person cannot make a difference. While you are walking beside Jesus, may the Holy Spirit empower you to see that every act of respect that you bring to another human being is planting peace in this world. As one individual, you can make a difference.

 

Pay attention this year to the donkey. He carries a humble Jesus. He carries a God who has come to change humanity into greater goodness. 

 

Walking beside the donkey will make your sharing in the Easter mysteries very enlightening. You are being empowered to become more and more like Jesus: humble and lifting up the poor.

 

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

GOOD FRIDAY IS A NOW EVENT

 


 

As we draw close to the three day festival of Easter (March 28-31,2024),  we want to reflect on the implications of the cross of Jesus.

 

The cross is a very powerful symbol of the workings of God. It was here that Jesus gave of his life in faithful service and obedience to God the Father and to all human beings. From the very beginning Christians have interpreted this event as the sacrifice of the Suffering Servant who offered his life as a sacrifice of redemption for all people. It was in and through this religious sacrifice that we were redeemed; our sins were forgiven and we were joined to God.

 

But from the earliest times Christians have not seen the cross as limited only to a historical moment in Jerusalem. The sufferings of the cross continue to happen today. Good Friday is very much a now event.

 

Whenever one human being suffers at the hands of another human being, the cross of Jesus happens all over again. In our pain and suffering we also cry out for redemption. What we are doing is joining our sufferings with the sufferings of Jesus.

 

The first place we want to identify is the victims of war and civil conflict. Who cares about the destruction of the homes of the elderly and the working people when the bombs fall in the Ukraine? In Gaza? Does anyone measure the pain and suffering of the people who are short on food in these war -zones? 

 

Who measures the pain and tears that result from domestic abuse? No longer can this be buried  under the table as a family secret, but as a society we are demanding responsibility for the damage that was done in domestic suffering. The cross can be so real in our own homes.

 

From time to time ,family members will deposit their elderly parent in the nursing home and then only show up on rare occasions. Someone else will take care of our elderly parent. We do not inconvenience our lives. The pain of loneliness and abandonment are a cross of great suffering.

 

During the liturgy on Good Friday ,we are all invited to reverence the wood of the cross. This has always been very meaningful to our parishioners. Their body language indicates that this is a very holy moment. They touch the wood of the cross, but their hearts are being touched by the hand of Jesus. There is a true encounter between the believer and the suffering Jesus in these moments. 

 

As the reader, you can add many more examples of the cross of Jesus happening today in our world and in our province. When we make the link our reverence for the cross of Jesus during the Good Friday liturgy will deepen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

YOUR GRANDCHILDREN WILL BE LONELY


 

Several years ago, after an all-day meeting, we went for a walk and decided to drop in for a treat at Starbuck’s. This was a fairly large restaurant. It was eight o’clock in the evening. I counted eight single adults, all sitting with a cup of coffee on their table and a book. Why so many singles on a weekday evening? 

 

This is Ottawa. Countless numbers of people, well educated, have found very good jobs in the service  of the Federal Government. Why are they  at  Starbucks, all alone?  Better to be around people than to be all alone in your apartment. Staring at the four walls is not reassuring. This is a sign of the loneliness in our society. but it is also a healthy manifestation of our human need to connect with others. 

 

In our modern economy we have to relocate; maybe several times, because of jobs and opportunities. There is an opportunity to advance yourself, in a job that suits you and that you find very fulfilling. You look forward to this new position. But you have to relocate and try to build up a new cadre of friendships. 

 

The reality of loneliness is manifested in our nursing homes. Every staff member will tell you sad stories about their residents who never have anyone come to visit them. The only social connections they have is with the staff. And the staff member whom the elder may connect with my find a higher paying position and move on. People all around in this nursing home and yet so lonely!

 

We are humans we need to be connected with others. There is the one or two long term friendships . But we all need many lesser connections such as co-workers, coffee friends, bowling teams members, cousins and just being able to interact with the people next door. 

 

When the medical people state that loneliness can be as harmful to your health as smoking fifteen cigarettes a day, no one questions whether or not this is true. We know that loneliness is very determinantal to human well-being. 

 

Here is where the local parish church community must do some serious reflection about how it tries to live our faith. Are  we a church where people come to do their Sunday mass, interact with almost no one else and leave unnoticed? Who notices if you are missing? 

Are we so tied up with doing the religious ritual correctly that we do not see the smile on the face of the other? 

 

In the past (over fifty years ago) the parish was also the focus of much of our social life. Our children played and interacted together. We knew almost everyone because we had washed dishes together or helped new-comers and refugees getting settled. We got to know each other and care about each other because we had learned to work and cooperate together. 

 

I would like to leave you with just one question: if a new comer arrives in town, will they first think, ‘I will go to church because they will welcome me’ or will they pick up their book and have a coffee, all alone, at Starbuck’s?

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

JESUS STRUGGLED WITH RELIGION


 

When we gather each Sunday for the Eucharist we read a small segment from the Bible. Over a three year period we read the entire New Testament accompanied by significant passages from the Old Testament. The idea of the three year cycle of readings is to bring the people of the Church to deal with the entire Scripture and not just the passages they like. It is meant to be a time for the Church to wrestle with the Word of God; when it is consoling and when it is very challenging. 

 

On this Third Sunday of Lent (year B) we hear of Jesus cleaning out the buyers and sellers in the Temple area (remember the Temple was like a modern day mall with several sections). The people could not bring in any money from the Roman or Greek government (they contained the image of the emperor whom the pagans regarded as divine). The pilgrims had to exchange this for ‘holy money’ that could be used within the precincts of the Temple. It was there that pilgrims could also purchase birds and animals for their sacrifices.

 

What started out as a thoughtful practice soon generated into a money making proposition. Remember, all the merchants took a cut on every b business transaction.

 

Jesus abhorred this practice and faithful to his mission, he sought to get rid of a religion that did all the right things but was not concerned about  living the right way. The outward forms of the religion were correct but the heart was corrupted! Jesus was trying to get rid of this religion. When he cleaned out this business section of the Temple he also was cutting into the profit-making business of the sellers.

 

When we tell the story of the cleaning out of the temple, we need to  examine where we as Christian people have put too much emphasis on acquiring material wealth, putting the meaning of our life in success and fame and looking for our security in power and our personal skills. Where have we been doing all the correct religious things but not been concerned about the transformation of our heart?

 

What type of religious practices and attitudes would Jesus want to eliminate from our religious framework?

 

Fortunately, we are living in a time when Pope Francis is challenging the people of the church to get out of their beautiful buildings (i.e., he labels them museums) and get out onto the streets to care for the poor and suffering. Listen to his speeches and homilies and discover what he is asking the church/Christianity to let go and embrace the heart of the ‘poor Jesus.’

 

This is a strong challenge for the Third Sunday of Lent. What kind of religion does Jesus want to get rid of?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

CAN WE TRUST GOD?


 

 

From the moment you took your first breath until your last breath, the big question of your life is ‘can I trust the other to care for me?”  Trust of others is more essential to life than food or water. Everyone here had parents and grandparents who immediately assumed care of you from the very first moment you entered this world on your own. 

 

As we grow older, we learn that there are people and situations that you cannot trust Most often it is only when your parents are very elderly that you learn that there were some people in their lives that they did not trust. 

 

The very next time you pull up to a stop sign and the Canadian traffic stops (even though there is no other vehicle at the same corner), you appreciate how much we can trust our fellow citizens to follow the traffic rules. We trust each other to obey the traffic rules.

 

We also must apply this to our relationship with God. Is God trustworthy? Faithful? 

 

The second Sunday of Lent this year we are given the story of Abraham and his dilemma to trust that God would be faithful to the promises made in the covenant between God and Abraham/Sarah and the people. He had been promised to be the father of a great nation. The promise was to be fulfilled through the birth of his son, Isaac. 

 

Along the line Abraham understood  he was to sacrifice this son (the child of promise) to God, the great One. Can you imagine the struggles and the contradictions that Abraham felt in his heart?

 

We know that Abraham trusted in God and was delivered from this horrendous sacrifice by the angel sent from God. Abraham was faithful and trusting and named the place “The Lord will provide.”

 

There are moments in our life with God when we also are put to the test. Crushing events happen to us, such as the accidental overdose of our twenty-four year old. How could we lose our only child? A liquor store in Winnipeg was robbed and your cousin was injured in the robbery. Where is God in all this senseless suffering?  Does God not protect us?

 

Why was this story of the sacrifice of Abraham in the Bible (child sacrifice was absolutely abhorrent to the Jews)? The only possible explanation is that when the story of Abraham was told the Jewish people were also telling their own story. They had suffered so much in the seventy years of exile in Babylon. They had learnt through many tears to trust in God. When they told this story they were telling their own story at the same time. 

 

This Sunday, take the story of Abraham and substitute your own painful situation and the moments that you cried out to God for protection.

 

Reflect back through your tears and frustrations when God proved to be faithful to your life and your family. When did you experience that “The Lord will provide?”

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

IT IS A STRUGGLE IN THE DESERT


 

It is Lent!

 

Why does the season of Lent have such staying power? Why is it so meaningful to generations of generations of Christian  people? We know that the practice of Lent goes back to about twelve hundred years. Now, that is staying power!

 

Lent puts us in touch with something that is very deep within the human spirit. We feel within ourselves an urging that moves us out of our ordinary structures and into the season of searching for the divine. Moving out into the wilderness, searching for the divine is found in many other religious traditions. It is a season within the life of the seeker;  they move out into the wilderness (i.e., what is uncommon) to search for the divine.

 

This year, begin with the gospel selection from the Gospel of Mark. The time of seeking that Jesus entered into is very briefly mentioned. It was the Spirit of God that drove Jesus into the path of seeking. But I ask you to pay attention to two little details: Satan and the angels! 

 

Discovering what God wanted of the life and mission of Jesus did not come easy. Jesus was a determined seeker. He struggled. 

 

When it is mentioned that he was tempted by the Satan (i.e., the opponent of God) we know that the forces of evil were trying to move him away from service of God and to seek his own glory and power. This is shocking to so many of our born-Christiains. They have  much difficulty that Jesus could have struggled, that Jesus could have been tempted to pull away from God.

 

And then he was cared for by angels. Angels are the worker-bees of God. Jesus was not abandoned but he was  supported  and encouraged by God; and directly by the hands of angels!

 

Now, as we begin Lent place yourself in the shoes of Jesus. Walk out into the wilderness and actively search for the divine (for a deepening of God’s life within you). 

 

The temptations of the evil one (i.e., the devil) may come in not wanting to have our daily schedule changed. We do not want to make time for daily prayer. Or, we may be annoyed that our perfectionist streak is disturbed by God wanting us to help another who is a hap-hazzard accident waiting to collapse on the floor. Our personal struggle with the evil one may come in the form of wanting complete control over the details of our life. We do not want people to come for help at an inconvenient moment.

 

The helping had of the angels (God’s assistance to us) may come in the Scriptures when a text or phrase that we just read over reaches out and gives us strength and insight at this particular moment.  It may be a reminder that comes to us unexpectedly, perhaps in prayer or perhaps when we are doing the evening dishes, that the care and assistance that we are bringing to our confused niece (age 18) is all worthwhile. It may be the subtle reassurance that we are doing the right thing in trying to help this emerging adult.

 

Begin your Lent close to Jesus in the wilderness. Listen to see that so many of your struggles and moments of grace are also the moments of Jesus’ struggles and the moments of divine assistance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE RESURRECTION IS CENTRAL TO OUR FAITH

  This is Easter Sunday. This is the high point of our Holy Week celebrations. Christ has died! Christ is risen!   In Western Christianity (...