August 28th, 2016
I once read that another word for pride is ‘ego enhancement.’ We can imagine ourselves to be more handsome, more talented, more intelligent and more popular than we really are. These can be our ways of our presuming to take the place of honor among our friends and acquaintances.
My doctor wants me to use a cane in case I have a fall. I told him I didn’t want to and he asked me why. I told him I was too proud, in other words I didn’t want to appear to be dependent on a cane or other people. He asked me, ’and what is it that come before the fall?’ Pride, the first of the deadly sins. I have the problem of ego enhancement; I don’t like to be dependent on other people.
A number of years ago I received a letter from a young man who was interested in joining the Passionists. He signed his letter, the Lord’s humble doormat. I wrote back and told me that our community was not into accepting doormats. I imagine he was trying to impress me with his humility
We can have very distorted ideas of humility. We may see ourselves as of no value or as failures. We fail to acknowledge the gifts with which we have been bless or we may squander them. We put ourselves down; we think of ourselves as something like door mats and think we are humble.
Jesus tells us that those who humble themselves will be exalted. We are truly humble when we have a conscious awareness that we are gifted men or women. We are humble when we recognize the truth that before the world began God chose us in Christ to be God’s adopted sons and daughters. We are humble when we become aware of and accept the natural and supernatural gifts with which God blessed us. Humility is that gift of God by which we acknowledge our status before God which is, we are sons and daughters of God, not doormats, never doormats.
The blessed mother was being totally humble when she told her cousin Elizabeth, ‘henceforth all generations will call me blessed because he who is mighty has done great things for me.’ We are being humble when we acknowledge, he who is mighty has done great things for me. We are humble when we develop a personal attitude of gratitude, always grateful for the gifts with which we have been blessed. This can be our true ‘ego enhancement’ proud of whom we are before God, his beloved son or daughter.
May the Lord bless us and give us peace and keep us humble.
| Posted in Homily |
August 21st, 2016
Have you ever been asked that annoying question, ‘are you saved’? I wonder who asked Jesus that question as he travelled through their town, ’will only a few be saved?’ Always remember that Jesus our Christ did not come to earth and die on that shameful cross to send any of us to hell. He died to save us, to bring us to God. By his wounds we are healed. By his death we are all invited into eternal life with God. We are all invited into that banquet of life Christ has prepared for all of us. It is up to us to accept that invitation and, we might say, the dress code our invitation to life entails.
The dress code can be found in the teachings of Jesus and they can be very demanding. Love one another as I’ve loved you. Forgive others as I’ve forgiven you. Be there for your brothers and sisters in need as I am here for you. What you do for others you do for me.
This dress code requires discipline, self -control. It takes discipline, self –control to rein in our tendency to gossip or pass on a juicy bit of gossip. It takes self -control to determine what we watch on the internet and the amount of time we spend watching it. We all need discipline to restrain our tendency to racism or sexism or homophobia. Any doctor we visit reminds us how we have to watch, control what we eat and drink. How many of us have a discipline that sets a time for reading scripture or saying the rosary or setting a time to be quiet in private prayer? It takes discipline to come to celebrate the Eucharist with the parish family every week. It takes discipline to decide what our value system will be in the living of our lives; what is of first importance.
This evening many of you will be watching the closing ceremonies of the Olympics. The men and women who stood on the podium to receive medals of gold, silver or bronze climbed that podium because of their determination to succeed and that determination required discipline.
St. Paul reminds us they struggle to achieve a perishable crown whereas we struggle to achieve the imperishable crown of eternal life.
Lord, will only a few be saved? Are you saved? We are all saved because Jesus our Christ died on the cross for us. But will we know our salvation; will we know the glory of the daughters and sons of God? That depends on another question, are we willing to accept the dress code that came with our invitation to live the abundant life Christ offers each of us.
Maybe we should hear again the words of the opening prayer of this Mass; grant your people to love what you command and to desire what you promise, that amid the uncertainties of this world our hearts may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found. That takes discipline fortified by grace.
August 15th, 2016
| Posted in Events |
August 7th, 2016
I read a story of a young seminarian who took a leave of absence and went to work with Mother Teresa in Calcutta. He needed time to sort things out. He wasn’t sure he had a vocation. One morning after Mass he asked Mother Teresa to pray for him. She asked him ‘what do you want me to pray for?’ He told her ‘pray that I have clarity’. Mother Teresa told him she would do not such thing. He was shocked. He asked why she wouldn’t pray that he had clarity about his vocation. He said to her you always had clarity, you always knew what you were going to do. Mother Teresa told him, ‘I never had clarity; what I’ve always had was trust. So I will pray that you trust.
Personally when I use the word faith I really me trust. Trust means believing in someone even though circumstances at the time might tempt one to question my trust. St. Paul calls Abraham our father in faith. Abraham trusted God and God’s promises even when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac, the son of his old age. He trusted God would keep his promise that he would be the father of a mighty people.
On his way to the cross Jesus trusted his Father’s love for him, even when called out, ‘my God, my God why have you abandoned me. He trusted that in the end all would be well. He trusted that the hatred and contempt that swirled around as he hung on his cross would not prevail. He trusted that his love for each of us would prevail.
At this Mass, at every Mass we make present the death of Jesus. We place the sign of death, separated body and blood. We remember and celebrate the love Jesus has for each one of us as he gave his life for us. St. Paul reminds us that it is difficult to give one’s life for a good person but what proves Christ’s love for us is that even while we were sinners, even when we were estranged from God, Christ died for us.
Every day of life we are challenged to trust, trust the love of the crucified Christ for each of us even though there are days when we don’t even trust ourselves, days when we find it hard to trust that even though we are mistake making beings, even though we may be so disappointed in ourselves, Jesus Christ loves us and will always love us.
Recently Victor Frankl died. He was a survivor of the death camps where he lost his whole family. He wrote a book titled, Man’s Search for Meaning. He was reflecting on how he survived the horror and the cruelty he witnessed during his years in the camps. Basically he said that a person can survive any ‘what’ so long as they have a ‘why’. His why was the conviction that he would see his wife again. For this to happen he must survive, he must live.
Our ‘why’ our reason for living and loving, our reason for putting up with our weaknesses and failures, our reason for not giving up on ourselves, our reason for giving thanks for the blessings and the people that enrich our lives is the truth and the wonder that God chose us before the world began to be his adopted sons and daughters. No matter what the ‘what’ of our lives may, illness, discouragement, lost love, lost job, the ‘why’ of our lives is the awesome truth that, while we were still sinners Christ died for us. As we celebrate this Eucharist together and are nourished by the Bread of Life we pray we live our daily lives in the conviction of our ‘why’ for living and loving and never giving up, that Jesus Christ loves us and gave his life for us on the gibbet of the cross.
July 31st, 2016
We know these words of Jesus to be true, ‘one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions’ but greed and our need to possess, collect and hoard things always seems to win out. The real danger of having many things, being financially secure robs us of our sense of our need, our dependency on our gracious God.
This self – satisfied farmer thought he had it made. His bountiful crop would be stored in bigger barns; his ample goods would see him through for many years. He was just going to sit back and enjoy his good fortune. He might even increase his wealth. He plans to be ready for future lean years when crops fail and the cost of grain rises. He plans to cash in during these hard times when needy neighbours come to him to borrow or buy grain. He plans to sell his grain at exorbitant prices putting his neighbours at his mercy. His future looks rosy.
We all heard the saying, ‘if you want to make God laugh tell God you plans.’ God had something else in mind for this man. That very night his soul would be demanded of him and the fortune he amassed would be left for his family to fight over, relatives who did not toil for it would be the ones to enjoy his wealth.
There is nothing wrong with financial security. There is nothing wrong with a secure stock portfolio or a solid pension plan.
St. Paul asks, ‘what have you that you have not received and if you have received it why do you carry on as if you had not received it?’ He also said, ‘our sufficiency is from God.’ The message of today’s scripture is simply this, our lives are ultimately futile and meaningless if viewed in and of themselves apart from God.
Life lived in love for God and others is the life well lived. Life lived in love for God and others is a life that will reap us an abundant harvest. God grant that each of us, in our own way, be blessed to live such a life, and we will if we always have an attitude of gratitude.
Founded by St. Paul of the Cross, every Passionist takes a special vow to spend his or her energies in promoting remembrance of the sufferings of Jesus, the memory of the Cross, and reflection of the meaning of the Cross for the world.
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