PRAY ATTENTION TO YOUR WEAKNESSES

      

If you have a supervisor at work who is super-organized, everything has been outlined and there are no surprises. The staff will feel very secure.  But there is a downsize to this personality. Their great strength, their organizational skills is also their greatest weakness: they can be so hard on people whose performance does not measure up!

 

Your greatest weakness is located in your greatest strength!

 

Church is no different. We function in a liturgical church where things have been clearly worked out. People do not need to invent the wheel. Each year we pray, preach, study and apply the life and teachings of Jesus. We have our doctrines worked out in the Catechism which indicates clearly what we believe. We have organized the lines of authority through the ministry of the bishop, leader of the faithful of a particular part of the Church.

 

These are great strengths. We must never lessen their importance to the life of faith.

 

But the weakness is that too many people relegate their faith practice to  the rituals alone. The preaching church and the practicing church does not insist that we work hard to learn and integrate the teachings of Jesus into our daily lives.  We do not hear the ordinary parishioner insisting that we need more teaching and opportunities to deepen our faith. 

 

It is never sufficient to proclaim and teach the correct doctrines of the Church. We must ask ‘and how is this put into practice?’ Do the faithful of the Church give a polite nod to the more difficult  teaching of Jesus? Are they polite to the social teachings of the Church? Our weakness as Church is the neglect of listening to what is and what is not happening in the lives of the believers. 

 

We need to ask every bishop, ordained priest, religious sister and parish leaders, ‘how well are you working with your own personal weaknesses and limitations? How well are you working with the limitations of this parish community?

 

We are never going to be a completely redeemed people on earthside. We await full transformation in eternal life. But in the meantime, we must take into our hands our own limitations in responding to Jesus, Son of God.

 

Ask every person who claims to be a believer how well they are integrating God’s great love for all people into their daily lives. Do they view and treat people who are of a different skin color, a different economic and education standard, a different religion or a different ethic background as people of equal value? As people who deserve equal treatment and opportunities within their own society? 

 

We are a church of sinners. There is much in our lives that needs redemption but we come before God holding our strengths in one hand and all our weaknesses in the other. As we struggle with our weaknesses, our need for the redeeming power of Jesus Christ cries out from our bones. Our weaknesses can become our cry for redemption and transformation.

 

Neglecting our weaknesses will limit what we can do in life and in Church. 

 

When you apply the principle that your greatest strengths are your greatest weaknesses, what are you discovering?

IT HAS BEEN A VERY DARK WEEK

         

On Wednesday evening, January 06, I was glued to the news site watching the mob storm the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. I watched in total disbelief. This could not be happening to our neighbor. This country could not be enduring so much anger and chaos.

 

But when evil happens and when it is deliberately perpetrated by political leaders I must take hold of my Christian faith. In no way means that it lessens the power and the suffering caused by evil human beings. It does not mean that we deny or refuse to face the evil that is happening in our world. I am not retreating to try to deny  the reality of evil.

 

The resurrection of Jesus (and the promise that we too will rise and triumph as Christ) clearly proclaims that the powers of evil do not have the last word. Darkness will be overcome! Evil and death will be no more!

 

Where there is evil, sin and darkness I must turn toward the light that the very Spirit of God gives us in these terrible days. Where there is evil, I am being challenged to plant goodness, hope and compassion.

 

Our faith challenges us to believe (and gives us power to live our convictions ) that light is always stronger than darkness, love more powerful than hate and goodness will triumph over evil.

 

A piece of earthy wisdom that has given me strength is, “it is better to light one candle than to ever curse the darkness.’ 

 

When someone is so negative about a co-worker I am challenged to speak two good words about the person that you just tried to put down!

 

When someone hurls a racial slur about people of different color, ethnicity or religious background I am challenged to bring forth the goodness of the very persons you tried to stamp into the ground. 

 

Our churches, as leaders in this regard, must encourage and support us to always believe in the power of doing good. No act of respect for the human dignity of another human being will ever be lost. We must view all the good we do to the times of our childhood when we would flip little stones into calm, still water and there would be ripples that would flow out from the  place where the stone was dropped into the water. The ripples of goodness all flow into eternal life.

 

I hold the American nation in my prayer. They are so divided and angry. They are coping with the change of their demographics very poorly, but they are our neighbors! And they are hurting! I bring these people in prayer that God may give direction and a desire to work for healing. To use a very biblical image, may they cast aside their guns and ugly slogans and may they pick up hoes and rakes and grow food for each other!

 

It is still a very tough week for the world and for Canada. May goodness arise from the ashes of this very evil week!

 

 

HOW DO YOU LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE TRUST IS SO WEAK?

 Trust in another human being is as essential to life as breathing is Imagine yourself as an infant and you cannot trust that your mother will feed you, protect and keep you clean. Move to the opposite end of life and put yourself in the shoes of the elderly who cannot trust their own children to care for them and protect their remaining resources. 

 

Whenever trust is not fulfilled we become very unsure of the ground on which we stand. 

 

On Thursday, the Ontario Finance Minister, returning from a holiday in the Caribbean, resigned his position as minister of finance. The premier of the province of Ontario , in an honest effort to control the Corona 19 Virus has ordered a lockdown of Southern Ontario and demanded of everyone that there be no non-essential travel. His minister of finance did not obey the rules.

 

Serious damage has been done to the credibility of the Ford government. No one should be surprised if the ordinary citizen complains: there are rules for the ordinary people and then there are exceptions for the powerful. This unnecessary travel, i.e., Caribbean holiday, has brough disrepute on any further action by the Ontario Ford government.

 

No one should ever brush off the breaking of trust lightly. No one can function in a family if there is little or no trust among the members of the family. No society can function if there is no basic trust between the members of the society. We must be able to trust strangers and functionaries in the society: all government officials, police personnel, nurses, teachers, bus drivers and all the people who serve us in restaurants.

 

Now, consider how much stability you had growing up with a father or mother who always followed through on what they taught you. They never told you in words that you could not shoplift from a store. You knew by the age of five that if you picked up anything from the store without paying for it, they would march you right back in and demand that you give the stolen item back to the store. Their word was not only golden, it was iron and it worked!

 

We must not allow this breaking of the rules by a high ranking government minster fall off the shelf of public awareness. 

 

But as we begin the new year, 2021, it gives us pause to ask how trustworthy we are. How much weight can people e give to your word?  Do others know how trustworthy you actually are? 

 

God’s word is trustworthy! That is why it works in lives of people. God does not give up on us. Is your word as trustworthy as God’s word?

 

Now, to lighten up this reflection, pick up the phone and call some of your siblings. When you were teenagers and snuck out to be with your friends at some social event, how did your father/mother keep their word in what was proper and right? You should have a lot of stories to share on what it means to live in trust based on the word of your parents. 

 

Begin this New Year’s day with a smile on your face!

 

THE LONELIEST CHRISTMAS

                              

This will be remembered as the loneliest Christmas ever. Parents and grandparents lament that they could not gather with their daughter and her family (five persons), even though they live in the same town. Families are lamenting that the only place they could see their aged parents who live in the nursing home was through the window. It is very difficult to sing Silent Night while standing in the snow.  In some provinces health restrictions allowed single people to gather with one other family, once, during the holiday season.

 

Isolation is very painful. 

 

Being alone during the holidays (which have years of memories for families) brings sadness. It now makes sense that loneliness has very debilitating effects on our physical well-being. Families will tell stories of their aged mother who used to cook big meals for her large family, and always taking great pride in her culinary skills, now that she is alone does not even cook anymore. In the broad sense of the word, every human being needs to care for other human beings. This is how we are alive. It is together that we thrive.

 

Friends  of my grandparents typifies our need for each other. She was eighty-eight and her husband (a vigorous ninety-four year old was her caregiver in the nursing home). He was a gentle and caring man. When she died his daughters said: ‘It won’t be long.’ Eight weeks later he also died. He was no longer needed. Truly this was a man who died of a broken heart (his body was still functional).

 

We find meaning in each other. 

 

What do I hope we learn from this lonely season of isolation?

 

May we act on the conclusion that we must not go out and buy another ‘thing.’ Give yourself a gift and play cards with the grandchildren. Do not fuss over the floors of your house; go out and have coffee with your friends. Take your wife out to the high-end Asian restaurant and try a new menu. 

 

At the end of the day does it really matter that you did not get around to sweeping the garage floor?

 

This Christmas we experienced a distance from our faith community. Christmas always meant so much as we journeyed through Advent and celebrated Christmas. We missed the rituals and the deep meaning that they stirred up in our lives. We were missing our God.

 

Each person must evaluate what has happened through this lonely Christmas season. We could move forward and return to our very busy lives (we would have learnt nothing). Or we will integrate this pain and suffering into a more life-nourishing life. 

 

Life can become better if we can hold the hand of our aged mother in her dementia, listen to the stories of our grandchildren, have time to coffee with lonely co-workers and former curling buddies and just enjoy our daily time with God in prayer.

 

There is a new road forward out of this isolation.

BETHLEHEM IS GOD’S RADICAL STATEMENT

 

There are some very beautiful things that happen in families that build the Christmas crib as part of their Christmas decorations. This also provides grandparents with a teaching moment where they can take each of the figures and teach the grandchildren the story of Bethlehem.

 

But there is a downside to all of this. We focus on ourselves rather than beginning with what God is doing. This is first and foremost an act of God. Everyone must stand before the Christmas crib and ask, “and what is God doing here?”

 

Bethlehem is not sweet nor is it nice. These are people forced by the occupying force (the Romans) to make a trip to be registered – for taxation purposes by the enemy! This is an oppressive journey.

 

The birth of the child happens in the overflow area, you might say the parking lot, of the local inn. These are poor people who cannot afford the price of a night’s lodging. 

 

As we tell the Christmas story we must put ourselves in the shoes of Mary, Joseph and the shepherds (day labourers). Life was pretty rough and tough in Bethlehem!

 

God has chosen to be born, fragile and vulnerable, among us, but not among the rich and the powerful. He comes among the working poor of that society. 

 

What kind of statement is God making?

 

We see what God is doing in the actions and teachings of Jesus. He is actually God with skin on! The central act of God is God pouring out God’s-self to humanity. The birth of Jesus amidst a struggling humanity is God fully immersing God’s-self in the human reality.

 

God is making a statement that all human beings are wanted and valued. This grates against all societies where there are winners and losers. Everywhere there are groups of people who are under-valued and pushed to the margins. Bethlehem runs counter to the way we organize human society. The geography of the birth makes the statement that God is joined to everyone. beginning with the poor and the forgotten.

The shepherds are not some local business people who have resources and command respect. They were men who were day labourers and struggled to find sufficient work to feed their families. These were people on the edge of survival, and they were not always appreciated by the town people who had some resources and power.

 

Bethlehem is radical. God breaks into humanity and it does always make us feel comfortable because God’s actions are for everyone, especially the little ones of this world.

 

The next step of this challenging story is for us to be embraced by the powerful love of God for humanity. Our lives are meant to grow in compassion for the little ones of this earth.

 

May Christmas just expand your heart and your vision for living.

MAKING SENSE IN THIS DECEMBER’S DESERT

 

In the Vancouver area there is a wonderful family of three very talented and energetic daughters with a practical, down to earth Saskatchewan raised mother. Whenever the young people would make wonderful plans for their future or plans for a little holiday, their practical mother would add, “And how are you going to raise the funds to do that?”

 

Dreaming is nice but it demands action and hard work.

 

This is where we need such a healthy corrective to the perception of most born-Christians. Real life takes a lot of hard work. An authentic spiritual life takes a lot of hard work. This is not a one-way street where God does all the heavy lifting!

 

This year the season of Advent locates us in the desert. We long for our friends and social contacts during the past nine months. We feel the absence of not being able to gather together for prayer and the Sunday Eucharist. If we have lost a loved one during the past nine months we have a knowing emptiness that we have not celebrated their life properly.

 

But it is often in pain and absence that we can hear the movement and presence of God. When we pray over the pain of the Hebrews in Babylon (seventy years of suffering), we can begin to identify with their longing to return to Jerusalem and our own longing for the presence of God in this desert season.

 

There are many things we can only understand through suffering and failure. In our demanding society where we are always moving forward there is little space to take ownership of the truths suffering, loss and frustrations can bring. It is a very immature culture that teaches us that the only worthwhile projects are always successful; things that make us feel good.

 

Advent says, ‘step back. Take a good hard look at the deprivations of life. What in this darkness teaches you to live in trust with the goodness of God? Where in this absence do you experience a hunger for the strength that God will give you?

 

Stand with your family, friends, co-workers and fellow-citizens who are unemployed, feeling the weight of the dementia in their aging parents and the families that have lost a son or brother through a drug overdose. What is happening to your spirit when you open your heart to their tears and frustrations?

 

As we look forward to the birth day of the Son of God, we must do the hard work of walking with the pain-filled but hopeful Hebrew ancestors and our neighbors  who are experiencing the darkness of doubt and meaninglessness in this difficult season.

 

We may hesitate to embrace the gifts of Advent. This is very much a time when we need to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit in this time of darkness, confusion and insecurity. There is much to gain in this Advent season. 

 

 

 

 

CHURCHES WHO OPPOSE HEALTH ORDERS

 

 

On Monday morning, November 30, the media carried an article about three churches in B.C. who opposed the closure orders by the Provincial Department of Health. This was all based on our rights as Canadians to freedom to worship and opposition to government imposing restrictions on religious worship.

This opposition only arises out of a very small minority of faith communities. Have these faith communities (which includes faith communities from the World’s religions) thought there opposition through? Or are they trying to pick a fight with government, or anyone else, who is trying to make us do something that we oppose? What is the motivation here?

Our Christian understanding of our place in the society is one of charity and responsibility. We strong affirm that every human being has the right to worship in the way they responsibility choose. Religious practice must never be forced on a population. But that is only one half of the equation.

As human beings, and faith communities, we have the responsibility to defend and protect the health of the larger population. On one side there must be freedom to worship but it carries with it the responsibility to ensure that the population is protected from disease and oppression.

Bonnie Henry, chief medical health office for the province of British Columbia, was quoted: “I will always be accused of doing too much or not enough, that’s our life right now. I do not believe, at all, that we are affecting people’s ability to [practise their religion] under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” she said, citing recent comments from Pope Francis that churches should lead the way in co-operation with public-health orders. “This is about taking those measures to protect people from this virus and no more so than when we come together as a community indoors right now that puts people at risk.”

“On the weekend, the Pope said Christian churches and other religions “have a primary duty to offer an example of dialogue, mutual respect and practical co-operation.” [i]

Almost all Canadian faith communities have responded in a very responsible manner to protect Canadians. They have suffered because of their responsible actions but they are contributing to the well-being of the population of Canada.

These small fringe groups that oppose the health restrictions refuse to excise responsibility toward the common good of all citizens. We must not hesitate to point out their errors.

But we do not want to be smug and self-righteous. These lock downs have caused us much suffering. We experience the absence of communal worship, the support of face-to-face community, the absence of significant celebrations, especially funerals and the weakness of financial support during these long months. 

Responsibility and caring for the common good does not mean that we will not suffer painful consequences. But this is the price we must pay for living in a responsible and caring manner.

[1] Globe and Mail, Dec. 1, 2020

 

 

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