TRUMP SAYS “ WEAK POPE.”

Today we are right in the middle of an international controversy. Donald Trump has reacted to Pope Leo’s condemnation of the war in Iran with the dismissive, He’s a ‘weak pope.’

 

People and governments  (who are very careful not to criticize other leaders )have reacted strongly demanding an apology. Trump refuses to back down. 

 

Now, this controversy has effects on all of us, believers and non-believers alike.

What truth must be spoken at this moment? What does this mean for the way that we live our lives?

 

At this very moment (Tuesday morning) Pope Leo is in Algeria which is almost totally  of the Moslem  religion. This visit is clearly an effort to build bridges and new understanding between the Moslems and Christians. 

 

Pope Leo has made it very clear that he will continue to teach about building peace and rejecting war-making. He will not back down from Trump.

 

But this is where all individual Christiains must also ask themselves: “How firmly dow I believe in peace making and how well do I reject war-making? This is a moment when we have to identify and claim our own standing on war and peace.  This crisis in th lives of individual believers and local churches is a very good thing. There is no room to be wishy-washy. 

 

Christianity nhas always had a difficult time justifying war. We came up centuries ago with the ‘just war’ theory. A country could go to war to defend itself from an unjust aggressor.

 

Wars always have a multitude of purposes (and many purposes downright nefarious). 

 

Christians must speak out clearly about the unjust war. We are living in this right now: Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine. The Ukraine has mineral wealth, huge agricultural wealth and a ice-free port in the South. Why wouldn’t Putin was to steal this wealth from the Ukraine?

 

What is the purpose of the invasion of Iran during these last five weeks?

 

I hope that Pope Leo continues to speak loudly about the evils of this war and continue to prod both sides toward laying down their weapons. The little people of the world continue to suffer as a result of these wars. 

 

But may the voice of Pope Leo always encourage and empower the ordinary Christiain person to rediscover the power of the peace of Christ and the mission toward peace that he has given to his disciples.

 

This ois a time a peace-making, bridge building and making it clear how evil this war actually is. 

WE ARE EASTER PEOPLE

There is a weak side to our interpretation and practice of our Christian faith. In Western Christianity (Catholic and Protestant) the emphasis has been so strongly on the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus. But the resurrection was almost an afterthought.

 

As good example of this would be the devotion to the Stations of the Cross. They finished with the burial of Jesus. Then what?  There is an unbalance here.

 

Now, with serious study of the Jesus story in the New Testament we are very conscious that the resurrection of Jesus  is the revelation that we need to be living today.  As we lived through the terrible tragedy of the Last Supper and Good Friday, we must walk with the breakthrough of God in the resurrection of Jesus.

 

This is the revelation and the outpouring of the very Son of God to us. The great mystery of our salvation, in Jesus, is being given to us in our own time and place. Jesus rose from the dead on a very specific night, but now the mystery of the resurrection must happen in us. Jesus must be lived and revealed in each believer. The resurrection is a present, a daily event. 

 

The mission of Jesus was to make present the great love and mercy of God toward humanity. Now, the resurrection of Jesus must happen in each one of us aa se try to bring respect to the life of each human being. This is so important as this time when so many people feel devalued because they are different from the majority of people who hold power in this culture. The resurrection of Jesus means living the life of the resurrected Jesus in our valuing of everyone, no matter how different they may be from the majority of people. 

 

As Jesus came to bring healing to the lives of broken people, so now, the resurrected Jesus living and moving within us moves us to bring healing to others.  At this point we go back to our roots. Very early on (actually about a hundred years after the death of  Jesus) it became very clear that Christians do not have any distinctive dress, nor any food retractions. The only sign that will identify them will be the good deeds towards others. 

 

Living the resurrection means living a life of care and concern, especially for those who are wounded or excluded. The opportunity to do good is right around each and everyone of us. 

 

We have a long way to go but these fifty day of Easter provide many opportunities to explore how we can live out the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 

INDEED .THE LORD IS RISEN!

 

In some cultures with a Christiain heritage ordinary people would greet each other on this Easter Sunday with “The Lord is risen.” The response would be, “Indeed. The Lord is risen.”

 

This was a simple but friendly way of recognizing the absolute change that God has brought about in the world. The tragedy and evil of humankind has been defeated and overcome. The goodness of God now reigns among humanity.

 

Marvel and rejoice that God has completely overturn and throw down all evil and selfishness. God has come to change the selfish and evil ways that one group of people trample over and exploit another group of people.

 

The resurrection of Jesus happened on a specific night. It is the act of salvation that is not limited to a historical moment. Now, the resurrection must happen in us. Each believer must be a living encounter with the resurrected Jesus. 

 

Jesus is God to the world. In the flesh, the teaching, the friendship, the healings and the prayer of Jesus we encounter God. Jesus is God in  living flesh.

 

Now, the mystery of the resurrected Jesus must happen in us. 

 

You have been chosen by God to be the living disciple of Jesus in this time and place.

 

Jesus revealed a humble God. The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was on a working animal; a donkey. God is truly one of us, but not among the rich and powerful who can dominate others, but a working human being riding a very ordinary donkey. Get in touch with the humility of God: a working person on a working animal.

 

He reached out to the poor and marginalized. It was often the people that society pushed aside that the ate with and brought healing to their pain and sufferings. Jesus was making a clear statement that God does not give attention to the powerful and the rich (i.e., get favours from them) but rather he brings friendship and recognition of the people are  left behind.

 

Now, the resurrection of Jesus must happen in all of us. The Spirit of God is given to us to be the living presence, the living person , of Jesus in this world. 

 

When you turn to God in prayer, that is the movement of the Spirit of  God. When you give some of your time to the lonely and forgotten elderly, there is the presence of the risen Christ. When you help the newcomers to our country find their way around, there is the love of the risen Christ living among us.

 

Be a resurrected people. Pray that the resurrected Jesus come alive in your life.

 

WHAT YOU MUST BRING TO HOLY WEEK

It is Holy Week. It is the most intense time of our Church year. 

Hard work is the only way to describe what we do during Holy Week.

 

In these few days we once again tell the story of the last days of Jesus. We walk with him in his great struggles to be faithful to God the Father and his tremendous patience with his disciples, who half -he-time  do not appear to know what was going on.

 

But when we pray and meditate over the sufferings of Jesus, we must also be very pro-active. We must be bringing to these Gospel stories the suffering and violence that people around us are suffering right now.

 

This is not written down in the gospel accounts of the suffering of Jesus but the people of the Church have firmly believed and practiced an understanding that whenever another human being suffers at the hands of someone else, the crucifixion of Jesus happens all over again. This is not a story of the distant past. It is being lived out in our own world, today.

 

This Holy Week bring all the ordinary people who have suffered so greatly at the hands of war.  Bring all the people who have had the houses, school and hospitals bombed; the people of the Ukraine, Gaza, Iran and the Sudan. Bring all the pictures you have witnessed in the news media, all the apartment buildings and schools – bombed and flattened to the ground! Bring the suffering of all these little people.

 

Bring all the people who have been the victims of scammers. The people who were trusting of what they thought was a legitimate request, only to find that they had been robbed by a scammer.

 

Bring all the people who need care in our nursing homes. No one comes to visit them or even enquires how they are doing. Bring the great pain of loneliness that pervades their life. It is one of the greatest pain we can endure in this life.

 

Bring your own cancer diagnosis to the cross of Jesus. Your own pain and confusion need support and healing. 

 

Bring all the pain of the world to this Holy Week. Allow the self-giving of Jesus to be shared with the suffering of our contemporary human beings.

 

May your prayer be deepened this Holy Week.

THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST MUST HAPPEN IN YOU

 

We are almost at the time of Holy Week. Now, it is an excellent moment to reflect on what  must happen in our life of faith, prayer and worship.

 

If someone is born into the Church they may go through life thinking that they were given a Christian label (i..e, identity badge) and that makes them a Christian person. Now there is a trap here. The label is often used to give the minimum of effort to living the Gospel of Jesus. 

 

Now, this  must happen in the life of every believer. It is not good enough to just believe in God. “I am a spiritual person and that is sufficient.”

 

The journey of faith (i.e., our life) must take shape like this for each  person.

 

God became flesh, walked this earth and revealed what is in the heart of God. He  suffered greatly at the hands of evil men who eventually sought to destroy him and erase his memory with the shameful death on the cross.

 

But God overpowered all evil in the resurrection. This is the outpouring and self-giving of the very life of God to us. The resurrection is not just a historical event that happened during the night, but it is the ever-present mystery that now must happen in the life of each believer. Jesus must be resurrected in us.

 

This is where Holy Week, 2026, can become such a gift to our life.

 

As best your can, listen and pray over the Scripture readings for the three days of Easter. Use your imagination, your memory to walk side by side with Jesus. Hear the tone of his voice, the pain and the frustration he experienced. Be with Jesus in the garden as he struggled and gradually accepted the horrible fate that probably awaited him next day.

 

Now, as Jesus gave his life in trust and fidelity to God the Father, you must also give your life to God the Father. But this is a prayer that seeks transformation. 

 

This is the direction of our life of faith. What has happened in the life of Jesus must now happen in each one of us. Each believer is meant to become the living face and the hands of Jesus in our own space and time.

 

The mystery of Christ must take flesh in our life.

 

May your living of this Holy Week lead to a stronger transformation in Christ.

May you become the face of Jesus.

THE CROSS IS OUR CROSS

 

On every Friday evening during the season of Lent we have the stations of the cross. It is prayer, meditation and prayer over the suffering and death of Jesus. There are many different ways of leading this devotion but it is always meaningful to the participants.

 

Now in the history of how we practice our faith we have always understood that whenever one human being does evil and damage to another human being, the suffering and cross of Jesus happen all over again. This is not in the Scriptures but it has been a strong belief and practice of the Christiin faithful down through the ages.

 

When we pray the Stations of the Cross we are not only reflecting on the historical details of Christ’s sufferings. We are also joining ourselves to the evil and pain that human beings are inflicting on one another this very week. Praying the Stations of the Cross is always a contemporary event.

 

Bring to your prayer/reflection all the little people who suffer in the war in the Ukraine, in Gaza, in the Sudan and in Iran. Those little people get killed, injured, their houses are destroyed and their fields destroyed with land minds. There is always incredible suffering in all wars. The cross of Jesus is located amidst all the bombing, fires and sufferings.

 

Then there are all the people who suffer violence and neglect in our Canadian families. The cross of Jesus is located in our houses where such suffering exists. During the meditation on the Way of the Cross bring all the domestic violence that happens in Canada.

 

We also include all the violence that innocent people suffer through scamming. The people that get robbed and taken advantage of also suffer much. The cross of Jesus is beaten by scammers who take advantage of the innocent and trusting folks.

 

Pray the ‘Stations of the Cross with strong devotion. Allow the sufferings of Jesus to penetrate your soul, your life and your emotions. But also bring the sin and sufferings of others to your prayer. This is not a new suggestion but a recovering of a very ancient spiritual practice from the wisdom of our foremothers and forefathers.

 

 

 

 

THE SCRIPTURES EXAMINE THE CHURCH

In the early Church the candidates who were working toward baptism would have a special questioning during the Sunday liturgy. The literal translation of this spiritual exercise was the scrutinies.

 

This name sounds somewhat harsh to our English ears but it was a time when the Scriptures were used to examine the Church. Were the people actually living up to their calling? Were the teachings of the Gospels become enfleshed in their lives?

 

It was not a time to see whether the candidates passed for failed the exam. It was a time when the teachings of the Gospels (i.e., the Scriptures) asked the people of the Church to see if they were living up to the teachings of Jesus.

 

We need to bring this practice back to today’s church. It is much too easy for people to staunchly maintain that they are living a good Christian life and are threatened with the challenges that the Gospel / Church teaching might bring.

 

God has created all human beings in his own image. Every human being is of equal worth in the eyes of God. How well are Christian people living this out in the way they respect all people (no matter the differences) as their equals. We know that in some countries certain groups of people are marginalized and not given equal opportunity for education and job opportunities. How are Christians living out our belief in the equal dignity and value of each human being? 

 

The earth and all parts of creation are the first part of God’s revelation. Human beings were given the earth in terms of stewardship. They were to  use and enjoy all parts of creation as a gift. But we know that so much of the earth has been exploited, polluted and laid to waste. Our religious teaching brings us to a new awareness of our responsibilities toward the earth. Does the average Christian work toward preserving and caring for the gifts of the earth? Are we handing on a planet to the upcoming generations that is liveable and will provide nourishment for their survival and their thriving as a human community? Are we listening to the challenges that our Christian faith place before us in our responsibility for the earth?

 

This is only a beginning but it lays out that the Scriptures and the teaching of the Church are active questions for each and every believer. We may experience resistance to such questions but it Is  a very healthy way to live our Christian faith. Think of these questions as physical exercise. The exercise will make us strong. It will keep us healthy.