CANADA; NOVEMBER 11

There is a definite feeling that happens in Canada on November 11. There is no blaring proclamation, but our people walk with an attentiveness that you can sense. This is a special time for our nation to pray attention to the many soldiers that lost their lives or were wounded in the two world wars and the Koreean conflict. 

We pay attention and stop work at 11:oo am and embrace the two minutes of silence.

November 11 is not a strictly religious day but it is a day of embracing our service men and women throughout the world.

I want to be thankful to God and to my fellow citizens for the service that our military bring to the world. We can  easily overlook their service to the greater good of our country and other difficult spots in the world.

When certain parts of our country experience a natural disaster. We need help. We call in the forces of the military. Only recently our health agencies called in the medical services of the military to help during the 2020 epidemic. 

But we also need  to recall the peace-keeping deployment of our Canadian forces throughout the world in the past seventy years. Their presence calmed the make-war sides and reduced the temperature of conflict in the world.

Each year I, along with so many other Canadians, do take our moments of silence to remember and give thanksgiving for what our military people. Have given in our history and and the service they give to our country today.

November 11 may be very reflective and solemn but it is a day filled with gratitude e for each and everyone of our military personnel. 

 

OUR STRONG NEED AS A CHURCH

 

A human being grows into adult maturity when they have a good understanding of their strengths and their weaknesses. We may be very strong on being organized and well planned out, but we may be very limited on having a sense of humor. “He is great at getting things done but he seldom ever laughs!”

One of the best ways to describe our Catholic Church is that it is a “big tent church.” It involves the rich and the poor, the well educated and the people who are illiterate, it involves people who have a strong understanding of their Christian faith and those who barely know much more than how to make the sign of the cross.

One of our strongest needs is to educate in our faith. In other words, to help people understand and come to a basic experience of prayer, Eucharist and service to their fellow human being.  Simply put, we need to  put ourselves in the position where we can be educated in the  Christian faith.

It is not sufficient to have parents run their children through the sacramental preparation program and then think “Well, I ‘ve got them done.”

What we do with children must become a lifelong learning season of walking with our God. We are on a journey of transformation into the likeness of Christ.

We need an understanding and a commitment to the Christian way of life.  Born Catholics are so surprised when you outline that he Christian journey is  a lifelong process.

We need to encourage a prayerful reading of the four Gospels in the Bible and an understanding what each of the seven sacraments is all about.

Born Catholics are slowly being educated in the social teaching of the Church about justice, peace making and compassion toward the poor. There is just so much here that the average born Catholic is unaware of.

The Church is an educating church. It has the gospel mandate to go forth and share the good news with everyone. Today, we will begin with all our born Catholics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RESPONDING TO WAINWRIGHT

 I write these reflections two days after the horrendous fire that happened about 4pm at the training base in Wainwright, Alberta. Four service people have been killed. Thirty-eight are undergoing hospital treatment as I continue writing.

I share with God and with each reader my gratitude for the goodness of my fellow Canadians in this tragedy. All of Canada was hurt and deeply touched by this tragedy.

There are some citizens who are seriously upset with government power and regulations. But this is too narrow. Government actions are not all beneficial and well organized but we need to be reminded how good we have organized life in Canada when we stand beside so many other countries who struggle to make their societies  work.

I am thankful at the speed in which help (ambulances and firetrucks were on the scene) arrived quickly.  No matter what speed a EMT drives you cannot have a fleet of ambulances in the town of Wainwright within ten minutes! The rescue of the injured was marvellous.

The response of the helicopters and the airmen that parachuted into the football field to assist was commendable. This could not have happened if we did not have clear government structures that were well organized to respond to an emergency. 

Try to imagine if our medical system did not have any plans in place to  respond  toan emergenicy. What if an unprecedented storm blew up, or uncontrolled firee or some man gone off his rocker and starting shooting people in the streets. 

 

You can only respond if you have work-out plans and a clear line of authority to handle the crisis. Thank you for all the hard work that has been put into making these emergency plans work.

I want to be thankful to every  person who risks their own life and safety in helping others into the ambulances and all the medical staff in our hospitals.

I want to be grateful that we are a society that is wealthy enough to have these helicopers bring  medical personnel to the accident site and the ability to fly the injured to the Edmonton hospitals. Many countries in the world do not have the wealth and the technology to possess such resources. 

We have a long ways to go for all the injured to recover, but I come before God and all my fellow Canadians with gratitude.

 

 

BUT THAT IS NOT TRUE

 

 

In today’s world you need to carry in your verbal toolbox the observation, “But that’s not true.”

 

Three weeks ago during the forest fires in BC a picture of the fire came up on the evening news. The viewer beside me asked, “Is that picture real?”?

 

This picture could h ave been the creation of AI (a computer generated picture) or it could be an actual photo of the forest fire.

 

We live in a deluge of information.  It is very possible that some of the TV programs that you watch are not real people. The actors, script and situations are all AI generated. The first tool we must bring to this flood of ideas, news stories and commentates from all sorts of people, “Is this actually true?”

 

You are not being rude or unkind if you question whether something is true. You are working to establish the truths of this particular event. 

 

There are people who chatter but never check out of what they are speaking is actually true. These are the ones who take offense when you ask them if what they have just said is actually a true fact or do they just have a need to talk?

 

Be the person who seeks to receive and truth and only pass on the truth to others. If you hear it in the media, question it. 

 

Survival in today’s world means we must become critical (i.e., truth seeking) in all things. 

 

To use a good winter image, be like the Inuit in the far north of Canada. They have grown up on the land and know the water and forest well. One southern man observed, watching how the Inuit men travel over the waterways in the early part of the winter. “Watch, they know the waters so well that they never run over thin ice. They never fall into the frozen lake. Their feet are so well educated not to step in the wrong patch of snow or ice.”

We live in a church that has a long history of working towards the truth. There were vicious verbal fights in the early church over the identity of Jesus. Finally in council it was defined that Jesus was true God and true man. And this was hammered out into the Nicene Creed. Today we use the shorter version, “The Apostles’ Creed.”

 

We are always working towards the truth.  In your daily life, be a truth-worker.

 

Be critical. Be sharp towards receiving the truth.

 

Be firm and honest. There are things that you will hear today that are not true. From time to time we will have to say, “But that is not true.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE NEW POOR

 THE NEW POOR

When we look at someone or something we always have a value judgment that goes with our sight. We look at a piece of furniture (does not match anything in our house) and we say, “Well, some people might like it!”  But I certainly do not like it!

 

If we consider whose is poor in our Canadian society and we only evaluate these people in terms of their incomes we are certainly limiting our vision. There are many ways that people are poor – if we are honest enough to keep our eyes open.

 

The greatest form of poverty is not to be wanted. We see that happen in so many of our care homes for the aged. The families will “dop them off” to competent care and then rarely come to spend any time or effort with their aged parent. The loneliness is very difficult. 

 

Some family members will try to excuse themselves, “She doesn’t know who we are. She can never have a conversation with us.”

 

But this is probably the most important time the adult children can spend with their mother in her dementia. How can we help these family members see that  just to hold your mother’s hand is such a loving time. 

 

We also meed to teach family members not to go aloe to visit their aged mother in the afternoon. Take another person with you for some conversation. If you are all alome with your mother in the care home you might get bored and quit too early. 

 

The new poor are those who suffer family break up with all the hard feelimgs and sharp membrs that hamper the chance of a healing withing the family.

 

The new poor are the parents of adult children who are heavy into the fentanyl and cocaine and now sport’s gambling is wrecking havoc on peoples’ llives – especially men between 14 and 55. How much suffering is there in a parent’s heart when they see their son lose his house and vehicle through unpaid gambling debts?

 

The new poor are those who have drifted away from the Christian faith (i.e., they no longer identify with the person of Jesus Christ) but happily  claim they are ‘spiritual.’ Not having a livimg relationship with the very Son of God is a true sense of poverty.

 

Poverty has many faces!  We want to help people see the poverty (with its many faces) that surrounds them on a daily basis.

 

 

 

 

GOD, MAY I ALWAYS CHOOSE LIFE

 

There is always something so beautiful when the new-born is brought into the room. Grandmothers oue and awe over the new baby. Everyone wants to see the new baby and everyone comments on who she/he looks  like.

 

New life! It is such a moment of hope and joy. Remember that the same warmth and joy surrounded you when your mother brought you (the new-born) into the family and friends.

Your arrival was a tremendous moment of hope and joy!

 

From this moment we need to be lead to pray and seek to foster life and all its varied forms.

 

Pray that we always choose life and the thriving of human life – here at home and throughout the entire world. We want life not just for ourselves but for everyone in the deepest jungles of the Amazon to the high office towers in Toronto.

 

Pray that we treasure the life of every child in our school; no matter what their identity or their limitations. May each child be a joy in our heart for the life they will lead and the contribution they will make  to our human history.

 

Help us to value and rejoice in the life of every member of our family and to treat all the things we own as just “stuff.” Every computer and vehicle is just so much a tool to serve our daily functioning  but it is in the living of each family member that we rejoice. Pay that we keep our priorities straight: our possessions are just stuff, tools to serve us. 

 

May we keep our shopping sprees  a time to serve life and not get frantic when our shopping gets complicated.  Everything we buy is meant to serve life. May we seek to enjoy and contribute to the well-being of our family and community.

 

May you, divine maker of peace, move all humans to move away from all forms of violence and move to building community. May our striving for life all be a working towards the common good of all people in our country.

 

May our seeking of life move us to pay attention to the elderly, the people without jobs and the forgotten of our own province. May our concern for life broaden our vision and concern for others. May they always be sisters and brothers to us.

 

My only request today: May I always work to nourish, support and love all human life.

May the time I walk on this earth be care and  support for all life.

YOU MUST REDISCOVER GOD

 

As we journey through life and our spiritual life we discover that we are in the process of discovering God. 

 

Many people ( who got done as babies and made all their sacraments as children) are surprised when they discover that their understanding of God is inadequate. It is not uncommon for such persons to ask “was I taught falsely?”

 

If we want to follow the process of the Bible faithfully we see that God has no name. In the Bible if you have the power to name something or someone, you have some power over them. This is why it was the father of the family who “ named” the child. The authority structed was spoken clearly.

 

If humans could “name” God they would have power over God. No one has power over God!

 

When Moses asked God “who should I say sent me?” The answer came back, “I am” “I am with you.”  What was being spoken by the divine was that God’s name is a verb. Bod is an action, a living reality within the people. God lives and breathes in this world.

 

Our task is to discover God as he/she comes to us today. God is always a journey of disvoery.

 

This is why our Old Testament reading (Is. 55, 6-9)  is so helpful. Chew over the words “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways says the Lord.”

 

Think of the times that you have written someone off. You dropped that person to the bottom of the human pile. And then they surprised you with an incredible act of generousity. Was that God at  work moving that person to make such a substantial gift toward their fellow human beings? 

 

You prayed for your thrity-two you nephew who is heavy into the drugs. He has got fired from his last two jobs. You expected the worst in this man’s history. But today you got news that he has gone to treatment and wants to become healthy and sober.  You know that this is the prodding of God in this man’s life. God never abandoned him in all is drunken episodes.

 

This Sunday’s reading from Isaiah (chpter 55) is a wonderful gift.

 

Be calm. Be able to be surprised by God and God’s ways.

 

Now, spend some time reflecting  how God has surprised you?