REVERENCE FOR OLD AGE

 

Are you afraid of old age? Are you adult children afraid of your years of diminishment?

 

Pope Francis has given us some rich reflections in his message for “Second world day for grandparents and the elderly (July 24, 2022).” He calls us to recognize how we are to be blest by  old age. This is a message which is so necessary in a “throw away culture.”

 

“The Scriptures teach differently. A long-life – so the Bible teaches – is a blessing and the elderly are not outcasts to be shunned but living signs of the goodness of God who bestows life in abundance. Blessed is the house where an older person lives! Blessed is the family that honour the elderly.” 

 

Every person will have difficulty to find meaning, purpose and joy in their diminishment. We must not be destroyed by the feelings of uselessness. God is present at every stage of life. “along with old age and white hairs, God continues to give us the gift of life and keep us from being overcome by evil.”

 

When people might be tempted to marginalize themselves into uselessness, they are challenged. “Old age is no time to give up and lower the sails, but a season of enduring fruitfulness: a new mission awaits us and bids us look toward the future.”

 

At the moment when a new war has emerged in Europe Pope Francis calls to our awareness: “All this points to the need for a profound change, a conversion, that disarms hearts and leads us to see others as our brothers and sisters. We grandparents and elderly people have a great responsibility: to teach the women and men of our time to regard others with the same understanding and loving gaze with which we regard our own grandchildren. We ourselves have grown in our humanity by caring for others, and now we can be teachers of a way of life that is peaceful and attentive to those in greatest need.”

 

Rather than fading to the sidelines he keeps the challenge up: “One fruit that we are called to bring forth is protecting the world.”

 

We are challenged to make better use of the most valuable instrument at our disposal: prayer. 

“Our trustful prayer can do a great deal: it can accompany the cry of pain of those who suffer, and it can help change hearts.”

 

We need this time to reflect the reality of old age, which everyone will reach as the years move on. Here we need to hear the challenges and possibilities that our old age can offer: meaning, hope , purpose and joy. 

 

Engage the message!

 

 

 

 

 

IF WE ONLY KNEW OURSELVES?

  

I paid a compliment to a mother of four children: “Your children are so well behaved!”

 

She fired back, immediately: “In public!”

 

There was a side of her children that was no so desirable!

 

Every human person is a composition of light and darkness. We all have strong lights of empathy for others, a sense of justice and respect for others and a certain joy in just living. But then there is the darkness. We can be very selfish towards our own family members. We can be stubbornly resistant to the suggestions of others. We live too much the “my way or the highway!”

 

For many people it is very frightening to see themselves exactly as other people see them. The quality of being determined and always working to get things done, may be experienced as domineering and being consistently inconsiderate of the truth of other people. Some of our qualities may be downright onerous on other people.

 

This is where the experience of school is so crucial to the development of personality. The most important things do not happen in the classroom. It is in learning to get along with others, the weight the give and take of all human relations, to deal with the school bully and to deal with the child who have special needs is key to growing up. We are learning at a very early age, our light side and our dark side.

 

As we go through life and make many mistakes, hopefully it is a good time to take ownership of our dark, our black side. We may get very angry that we got a speeding ticket through a school zone, only to discover through reflection that it was our own carelessness. No one else can be blamed! This is only a small way that we are discovering our true self.

 

Every relationship is an encounter with our light and dark side. Many people will only deal with us on our light side. They will speak very highly of the person they know of us. But our spouse and our adult children may have a different story!

 

When we deal with the person of Jesus we bring our light and our dark side. There will be moments when we are surprised by our selfishness and our hardness of heart. Jesus can push our bottoms and make us very angry! But this is a healthy part of living. There may be persons we deliberately avoid because they are so wounded, but Jesus may turn us around to reach out to them in all their pain. We may not be very happy with Jesus at those moments. 

 

As we journey through our life of faith, as we struggle with our many mistakes, may it lead to accepting our light and dark side and limiting the negative effects of our personality on others. 

May your journey of self-discovery lead you to see yourself as others honestly see you. 

 

If we actually know ourselves, we would all be sincerely humble!

 

 

 

 

 

 

BE AWARE OF WHAT PEOPLE ARE UP AGAINST

 

Whenever you step outside, always pay attention to what direction the wind is blowing! 

Air currents are never just static. They are vibrant. They move. And they challenge how we will move at the moment. 

 

In this society, we are trying to survive in a windstorm. We are being challenged from too many directions all at once. People are suffering tension trying to understand what values are being challenged, trashed or being newly planted. 

 

Be understanding at what the people of our society are trying to deal with at this time. There are too many challenges to their social values coming at them Some are coping well; many are very frustrated and confused. Be patient with those who are having a hard time walking into the winds of social change.

 

They are bombarded by warnings of global warming. If humanity does not change its consumption of fossil fuels, the future life of the planet could diminish drastically. There is a lot of guilt in these warnings. ‘We’ are the cause of the diminishment of the environment. But then there is the fear and reluctance to make the necessary changes in our lifestyle. Climate change is a double-edged point of tension for today’s citizen.

 

Then there is the walking away from community involvement and commitment to the common good of each other. The past three generations have been walking away from church, from all service organizations, from voting in civic elections and from marriage and family commitments. It all centers on the individual. We feel the disintegration of our society by this turn to rugged individualism.

 

People are bothered by the acceptance of same-sex marriages and the recognition of the gay reality in our high schools. People may not say too much in public conversations, but they are having difficulty adjusting.

 

People are speaking up on the issues of racism, sexism, First Nations issues and violence against women. Each issue touches something deep within us and can prove to be very disturbing.

 

When you view the news this evening, you have  doubts that our political leaders are actually working towards the best interests of the citizens. Too often, political leadership appears to be a battle to gain power. What does the little guy at the bottom of the civic totem pole receive? Is the political process stacked against the ‘little guy?’

 

Return to our roots in our faith experience. This is not the first time that life was so topsy-turvey.

 

We are at the point where Moses was with the freed Hebrew slaves (our foundation story). They were free from the oppression of their Egyptian masters. But they were fearful and resisted trusting that God would protect them as they moved into the desert. Their freedom came at a very exhausting price. It was only through many trials and struggles that they could trust that God would be their protector. 

 

This is where we are now. So much of the social grounding that makes us feel secure is shaking. 

Our only security is the hand of God who will accompany us into our future.

 

This is where we must listen and try to understand the pain, confusion and frustration of one another. And at the same time, we need to seek the hand of God. Where is God leading us through all this wind storm? 

 

Bravely, we seek the very help of God to get us through this time of trial and confusion. We seek to direction of God in these very confusing times.

 

 

 

EUCHARIST IS ALWAYS CREATIVE

   

When we delve seriously into the mystery of the Eucharist we discover that there is a power waiting to be enfleshed. The mystery of Jesus Christ must now take reality within us, the people. 

 

The unfortunate thing is that too many people look toward the Eucharist a something that is done for them. They are there to receive Jesus. They are on the receiving end of the sharing of the Word of God and the preaching. They are present to receive good music.  But always, they are there with their empty cup to be filled with Christ.

 

We must emphasize that the Eucharist is meant to empower us, to energize us to go forth into the world to make actual the goodness of Jesus Christ. This is an empowerment exercise that will move us from the comfort of our pew to embrace the poor and the suffering of this world. 

 

When the Eucharist is working at its best the people are entering into and sharing the very life, mission and heart of Jesus Christ. This is not a ritual to be performed correctly. It is an entering into the very reality and person of Jesus Christ. 

 

Each week the people of the Church gather together to be given the Word of God. They are meant to pray, reflect and wrestle with the word of God. Each person present is meant to make an  application of the Word of God to their own life situation. Some days the Word of God will be comforting and supporting. On other Sundays it will disturb us. This is the Church being embraced by the Word of God. 

 

The Word of God must never be like a piece of wonderful music on the printed page. Music is only real when it is played and shared. The Word of God is only actual when it becomes a part of our everyday life. During the Sunday liturgy we are meant to take ownership of the Word of God. It must become part of our flesh and our daily life.

 

The laying on of hands over the offering of bread and wine carries a powerful meaning. We are actually asking the Holy Spirit of make this the very body and blood of Jesus Christ, and in the same breath, the prayer is over our lives, that we become the living body of Christ. 

 

This is where the Eucharist becomes most dynamic. We are being brought into the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ;  we are meant to become his living heart and face in the world. 

 

It could mean that an  individual person is being given the Holy Spirit to reach out in support to an aging aunt whose dementia has brought her to the nursing home. The believer may be moved by the very Spirit of God to share her patience and presence with her aged aunt who no longer recognizes her. This may mean just taking this aged aunt’s hand and holding it with warm, human compassion.

 

The Sunday Eucharist was never meant to be something that we go through and get done. It is rather the living encounter with the risen Christ. And from here, we are being sent forth into the world to be and share the great love of Jesus Christ to the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

IT IS ALL ABOUT CONVERSION, HONEY!

                  

There are seasons in our lives when we are thrown down on the ground and have to come to terms with whom we really are. It may be the break-up of our marriage, forced unemployment by the corporation that we gave our best talents to, or the beak-down of our  health. 

 

When we are thrown down by the unexpected turns in life, we will only get up by taking hold of who we actually are. This is a painful season of life, but it most often the means a re-birth of the direction our life needs to move into.

 

We are living in a cultural shift that has become so individualistic. What actually counts is “what I say is important.’ The self becomes the standard of all action and values.  Very little attention is given to the common values that we all must share in order that our society and families may thrive.

 

Religion is being thrown down on the ground as people feel comfortable in their ‘own’ belief in God and being good. They feel very comfortable in the  walk away from organized religion and religious tradition.

 

In this suffering as we are thrown down on the ground, all believers are being challenged to rediscover that call of Jesus Christ and our call to conversion. The situation of being ignored by a large part of the culture is also the challenge to once again discover what it means to have faith in God’s plan of salvation.

 

Authentic religious faith is not located in getting religious rituals done. It is all about saying yes with our body and soul to the call of Jesus to become part of God’s great work of salvation. We are being called to share in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. The life of each believer must become a living extension of Jesus Christ. 

 

The beautiful gift of our Christian faith is that this can happen in the life of every single believer. There may be a female worker in a chicken processing plant who might relegate herself to being unimportant. We must tell her the truth. ‘You have been given the spirit and the energy  of the risen Christ. You are sent by Christ to make present the love and mercy of God among your fellow workers and your family. How you live your life is crucial to the salvation of the world. You may appear insigificant in the society but you are crucial in God’s work of bringing the world to salvation.’

 

Our Christian life is a journey with and through Jesus Christ. This is a life of turning toward and giving ourselves to the work of the risen Jesus among us, 2022. The work of our worker above may be to help her fellow workers learn to speak English in this new country; it may be supporting a fellow employee who is terribly confused by the addicted life-style of his adult son and it may mean bringing simple basic human respect to all our fellow employees. In all of these, be the very face of Jesus in your work situation.

 

It is a life-time to conversion and cooperation with the risen Jesus.  

KEEP THINGS STRAIGHT

                 

People want a religion that gives them meaning and direction in life. That is why they think it is so important to get the baby baptized; and to have funerals for their departed loved ones.

 

The focus of the Church (the evangelized people) must not be on providing religious services and photo opts for people. It is about bringing about disciples of Jesus. It is about nourishing the faith life of women and men so that they are living signs of Jesus Christ. 

 

The first approach is about providing religious services to people. The second approach is about forming people. We must ask the question that was asked many years ago in Europe: “Everyone is baptized, but where are the Christians?”

 

Jesus never told us to baptized babies. He never told us to have funerals for the departed or to bless peoples’ homes. But he sent his disciples to be so alive to the workings of God that they could participate in building the kingdom of God. They were sent to be living signs of who and what Jesus was all about. What Jesus did in his lifetime, his disciples must now do in their own place and time. 

 

The correct emphasis in on the people. The living disciples, (the people are the Church), must respond to the calling of the Holy Spirit to pray and work toward the project that Jesus first outlined. 

 

Born Catholics who just want the ‘service station church’ are confused and resistant. They can become very angry is anyone asks them about getting their children done, ‘did that do any good?’

 

In today’s society, where we live in a post-truth society, it becomes crucial that the disciples of Jesus have a clear understanding of who they are meant to be. The emphasis must be on growing in the faith; it must be incarnated into our flesh and blood. Our lifestyle must speak of Jesus Christ.

 

Everything in the organized Church, from the ministry of pope, bishop, priest and deacon, to the sacraments, the Catechism and the canon law of the Church is geared to nourishing the faith life of the people. It is all directed towards forming people. Church is ‘disciple-making.’

 

Perhaps a great number of Canadians will walk away from the Church. 

 

In this time of polarization and my-truth-only culture, our faith and commitment must be tested. We have been called to something much greater: to share in the great redeeming work of Jesus Christ. We are called by God to make present the love of God and the compassion for the poor that Jesus gave us. 

 

People come to faith in Jesus Christ because they have been influenced by the faith life of a Christian. They find the witness of their Christians to be credible. It rings true. It is grounded in the mystery of Christ. 

 

Always keep the focus straight. This is all about people, human beings living and sharing the very life of Jesus Christ. Everything else is just to support and nourish the people.

 

 

DO NOT LET USA OFF THE HOOK.

               

Last week, Tuesday, May 24, America experienced its twenty-first most serious mass killing.

The massacre happened in an elementary Texas school. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in this attack. At the end of the forty minutes the eighteen year old shooter was also shot and killed.

 

Countless Americans joined in the lament with sympathy and sincere prayers. Vigils were held to honored the victims. 

 

In this reflection we want to stand in solidarity with every person, their families and their country that suffers death and injury from a gun.

 

Do not allow our anger and grief to stop with the victims. All societies are living organisms. They function very well with their own values and approaches to life. Societies differ from one another. A society that is a hunter-gather society (which embraces most of the history of humanity) is very different form a highly organized and technological society such as ours. Societies have a personality and must be held to be responsible for what happens or what they allow to happen within their borders.

 

Do not hesitate to ask why in America the most common cause of death for a person under twenty years of age is by a gun. This rate of death is higher than death by traffic accidents for the under-twenties. Does this not tell us something?

 

We must confront the American society with the facts that countries such as the British Isles, France, Canada do not have as many mass shootings as America. When you put the totals together, if you live in the USA you have a twenty-six more chance to be caught in a mass shooting than if you lived in any of the other mentioned counties.

 

We know that among human beings that wherever there are guns humans will grab the most powerful tool to settle the scores when they differ with other human beings. This is settling our differences at the end of a gun. Weapons provide much greater opportunity for violence.

 

Ask all Americans, why do you have a country like Britain (not a small country), where the social functioning allows that “there are so many situations where the police do not carry a gun?” In light of the British situation, why is the violence happening in your country?

 

We in Canada need not stand in righteous anger. We too have our mass shootings, although they are much lower in numbers than in the USA. But Australia has a lower number of mass shootings compared to Canada. Australians can ask Canadians ‘why we have many mass shooting.’

 

It is not good enough to shake our heads in resignation. The evil of mass shootings need and must spur us on towards working for a more respectful and caring society. We must care about our fellow citizen’s desire to respect and promoting the well-being of every other citizen.

The unbelievable evil of killing school children in a classroom challenges all of us to work to build a society of peace, justice and respect. The evil of this mass shooting must never have the last word.