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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EACH ONE NEEDS RANSFIGURATION

Each second Sunday of Lent, the Gospel reading gives us the Transfiguration of Jesus. 

This was a moment of divine revelation. God breaks through and reveals to Jesus , He is chosen and his destiny to suffering and glory.

 

I want you to pay attention to the fact that this was a moment of divine revelation. God takes the leadership and gives the direction. Jesus’ mission flows from this divine revelation.  Just as God choose the Hebrew slaves to be his people through the call of Moses, so now Jesus is the new leader in God’s plan for humanity.

 

There is a danger here that you might hear this as only applying to Jesus. All of his teaching and his ministry flows from this call by God the Father.

 

It does not stop here. We must pray and work as a church to reawaken in each person who claims to be a Christiian person, that they also have been called. They also have been joined to the great work of God of bringing humanity into the Kingdom of God. Very simply, this means humanity living and working in accordance with the plans and teachings of God. What Jesus is in his physical and spiritual body, his life, must now take shape in the lives of each one of the disciples.

 

Simply put, each one of us must have our ‘transfiguration moment ‘ where we hear the call of Jesus Christ toward our lives and our response to the call of God the Father.

 

Each one of us must hear in our bones that we are the chosen one of God. We are called to share in a much larger vision of our life than just getting by as a human being. The divine plan (i.e., the kingdom of God) must become incarnate in us, in our space and time.

 

We are people of prayer and worship. Just as Jesus lived in harmony with God, so we come daily to prayer (with its many varied forms). We share in the Sunday eucharist, in the great act of our salvation each Sunday. 

 

The life of Jesus takes new forms in us when we reach out to the poor of our societies. The simple act of bringing food for the food bank makes the compassion of Jesus touchable. It is in our care for others that the Gospel of Jesus is believable.

 

The work of the local parish is to bring people to become more aware of who they are meant to be in the life and mission of Jesus. Each person must reach the point where they  actually hear what God the Father asks of them. Each one must have their transfiguration moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TTUMBLER RIDGE, B.C.

The unimaginable happened in Canada, Tuesday, February 10, 2026: a school shooting with innocent children and a tacher being killed. Canada went into shock!

 

On Friday evening thousands of Canadians  joined in the vigil that was held to remember the victims, their families and all the first responders who brought their hands and hearts to help the victims.

 

Leaders asked us to pray.

 

Now, prayer must never be a stop-gap effort that we cry out to the supernatural powers because we have nothing else to hang on to. If that is the only time we pray, it sounds lke a drowning man grasping for  anything to hand on to in order to survive. 

 

We pray to the living  God who has created each one of us. Our lives are a blessing and a gift from the living God who is ever present and who always seeks each one of us, even if we walk away from God. The God we pray to is a passionate God who cries when we suffer, who laments when we wander away in sin and who seeks each and every one.

 

Prayer is never neutral. Each human can and should pray. Each prayer reaches the ears of God.

 

At the end of the Our Father we pray “deliver us from evil.” The more correct translation is ‘deliver us from the testing.” This means we ask to be delivered from such moments that we might give up on the goodness of God. Tuesday afternoon was such a moment. How could someone be so distributed by mental illness that they would inflict such destruction on another human being?

 

We pray for each victim of this shooting, and each family that has been so deeply hurt. We pray also to the teenage shooter who suffered so much from mental illness.

 

We pray for all the survivors who must live with and work through this horrible and painful experience. These memories will go with them for the rest of their lives. May they be given strength from the hand of God to deal with and survive these horrible memories.

 

We pray for the first responders, all health workers involved in the tragedy and all our political leaders who came together on the Friday vigil in Tumbler Ridge. The compassion and support shown in that vigil was one of the finest moments o our country Canada. We pray for every caring heart, every supportive hug that that given at that vigil.

 

We pray for the power that only God can give us when we ask for help and support. God will carry us through these horrible tragedies. 

 

Now, I would invite you in these days  to bring your own prayers to God for the victims and families of Tumbler Ridge.

 

 

TO DEEPEN YOUR LIFE IN GOD

Our life of faith was never meant to be static. Too many people who were brought up as children in the Church do not know where this is supposed to lead them in life. They know the believe in God ,but it does not go much further than that.

 

The life of faith is very dynamic. Once we recover the authentic nature of being baptised we realize that we have been joined to the life and mystery of Jesus Christ and now we are given the means (i.e., the Holy Spirit) to transform us ,more and more, into Christ. You were baptized (i.e., marked) to live out the mystery of Christ in your own life. 

 

As we progress through life , as we interact with the very Spirit of God, our life is meant to be deepened into the mysery of Christ. In other words, we are menat to live and be energized by the very spirit of God. Our prayer and worship is not just doing religios things but is a living sharing in the life and work of the Holy Spirit.

 

The life of faith does not seek to bring us to do good things, but to become so alive to the life of Christ that the good we do for others is actually lived and experienced as doing the good to the very person of Christ. This explains why the Last Judgment is pictured in such human terms. The risen Jesus will not say, “you did good to others.” (Mt. 25, 31-46) 

 

Rather he will say, “I was hungry and you gave me food.”  The act of doing good to others becomes an act of doing good to the risen Christ. The very human act of sharing bread with the hungry is actually sharing bread with Christ himself.

 

We are trying to recover the Biblical sense that all of creation is the first revelation of God.

The creation story at the beginning of the Book of Genesis opens with the goodness that God sees in all that is created. Everything, the earth, the trees, the birds and the fish and then human beings are seen to be good and very good in God’s sight.  Our faith is leading us to recover the sense of the value and the beauty of every created thing. Our faith is meant to open us to a new appreciation of the importance of creation. 

 

Human beings always struggle with the injustices and evil in this world. Some become powerful and greedy and walk away with indifference towards the poverty of their neighbor.

Our Christian  faith challenges us to turn toward our sister and brother in need. Our Christiaan faith opens our heart to the neglect we have toward the poor of this world.

 

Authentic belief in God is anything but static. It is moving us to become more and more the person that God wants us to be. There is so much more of life to be lived with and in our God.

 

 

 

  

THE DIFFICULT PARTS OF OUR FAITH

       

 

Whenever someone takes their Christian faith seriously they discover that there are parts of our faith that are difficult to live and put into practice.  Living out our Christiaan faith is not about what I am willing to put forth. It is all about living up to the demands that God makes of his people. 

 

God is not indifferent to the way that we humans treat each other. We are very reluctant to try to express the anger  in the heart of God over the way that human beings bomb each other in war. Is not God angry when Russian bombs hurt and destroy the lime and the home of a little Ukranian  grandmother? 

 

Is not God joyful when two teen age boys rush forward to lift an elderly person who has slipped on the ice while trying to board the city bus to go downtown?

 

Now the first part of divine revelation is in the act of creation when God has made woman and man in the image of God. Each human being carries within their very body, the sign, the value and the love of the Creator God. Each and every human being, no matter how limited, carries the very image of God. 

 

When we reflect on how well the parts of our body function ,we are amazed that each one of  is  a living miracle. Reflect on the functioning of your kidneys. They work twenty-four hours of day removing excess water from our blood and all sorts of wastes from our blood stream. They keep us incredibly healthy – twenty-four hours a day. 

 

Are you not a living miracle?

 

\Now the difficult part is recognizing that every human being is a walking, talking image of God. There are no exceptions. No matter what color their skin, what age, how brilliant and competent they are, no matter how mobile or immobile they are or no matter how intellectually function they are.  This one is the image of God!

 

Every day we are confronted with this challenge. As we live and work with people who are different from ourselves, we are being challenged to see the image of God in the other. We are called to respect and treat with kindness the divine image in the other.

 

Jesus challenges us in the Last Judgement (Mt. 25, 31-46). When we come before God the risen Jesus does not say “you did good to another.’ Rather Jesus identifies with the action towards our fellow human being. “I was hungry and you gave me food.” All good done to another is good done toward the Son of God.

 

Daily life is a challenge to see the image of God in the other. 

 

How wonderful that our Christian faith challenges us to live, breath and walk like the Son of God!

 

 

WHO REALLY COUNTS WITH GOD?

 

How do you help people who think they have a strong grip on God ? Th real God is always somewhat beyond them. From day one, humanity has always tried to shape the person of the divine in an image that human can control and bargain with when things get tough.

 

This Sunday we are  presented with the people that are fortunate, blest and lucky to be alive today. If anyone thinks that a successful life is material security, esteem and control over the forces of life, they will be disappointed in the teaching of Jesus. 

 

Jesus did not come to give us a set of rules to measure whether life is successful. He gives us the Beatitudes. (Mt. 5,1-12)  When we hear each of the statements that begin with “blessed” we need to understand that word in terms of the original Hebrew word. It carries the sense   “ lucky are you\;”’ you are fortunate. These are the successful ones in the eyes of God.

 

Follow the words of Jesus. He begins, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” He does not list the rich and the powerful as being fortunate. It is the little ones, the woman and men who know they need God and their fellow human being to get along.  When you hear this teaching begin with the people at the edges of your society and then move into all of our nursing homes. The little ones are so very close. So often they need to help of God just to get through the day. But it is the recognition of their need and connection to God and to one another denotes them as the ‘lucky” ones. Society may not count them as important but at the bottom line (that is God’s line) they are the fortunate ones.

 

Work through the Beatitudes.  This will upset many of the values that we think are important. What does it teach us about who actually counts with God.  The Word became flesh to lift up all the little ones of this earth to himself. 

 

As you read and study the Beatitudes what is this actually teaching you about God and what God values? What does God want of us human beings?