July 8th, 2007
Do you remember the phrase, ‘carrying a lot of baggage’? It usually refers to someone who is burdened by a lot of negative, painful memories that he/she drags through life. It could be memories of alcoholic or abusive parents, the feeling of never having been appreciated, and memories of being bullied or belittled at school, memories of betrayed trust or friendship. Whatever these memories, the person carrying them just can’t seem to drop them by the wayside and get on with living. For it’s easier said than done.
In today’s gospel Jesus sends out his 72 disciples – a reminder of the 72 helpers Moses had during the Exodus. They are to carry the message of God’s peace, love and forgiveness for all people. The gifts given them to heal and liberate would show the presence, power and care of God for all those with whom they came in contact. Jesus lets them know there is so much work to do, the harvest is so great, the labourers so few.
As Jesus sends them on their way He tells them to be baggage free – no purse, no bag, no sandals, don’t clutter up your lives, in fact don’t even stop to talk with anyone – keep moving, you’ve got work to do.
You’ve probably heard the saying, ‘don’t keep the faith, spread the faith.’ We can add to this, don’t keep the faith, live the faith and by so doing you will spread the faith.’ Jesus tells us that our light – the way we live our Christian faith – must shine before others so that they may see our good works and give glory to God.
Everyone of us is meant to share our Christian faith by the way we live our lives – we are meant to be distinctive, we are meant to live and value things like integrity, honesty, respect for people of different races, cultures, faiths. We are meant to care about social justice, we are meant to care about homeless men, women and children, and we are meant to see an end to good people surviving on food banks. These are what we call ‘gospel values’, they spring from the life and teachings of Jesus and the prophets before Him.
Every day of the week Jesus sends each one of us out to be a witness of God’s love and care for all people and we do this in the ordinary living of our ordinary lives.
We do this best if we are baggage free, like the 72 are baggage free. Free of the baggage of bigotry and prejudice, that keeps us from acknowledging the good to be found in all faiths. We best do this when we are free of the baggage of intolerance that keeps us locked up in our own certainties failing to respecting the rights of people to hold other points of view and see our certainties differently.
We do this best if we are free of the conviction that we have a corner on the teachings of the church on controversial issues and refrain from judging good people we call ‘pick and choose’ Catholics. We do this best if we are free of a need to spread certain private devotions and practices instead of focusing on the importance of the Eucharist and the Sacraments. We do this best if in all our dealings with people we meet in the course of a day we do our best to live Christ’s great commandment, ‘love one another as I have loved you’.
As we continue this Mass we can pray for ourselves and for one another that we will begin each day conscious of the fact that Christ is sending us out to friend and stranger to bear witness to the truth that God so loved the world He sent His Son to the world and the Son so loved us, He gave His life for us. May each of us be gifted to live this Mass outside these walls in the lives we live, the work we do, the prayers we pray and the service we give.
| Posted in Homily |
July 1st, 2007
The scriptures today are about urgency. Luke tells us that the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up and He sets His face to go to Jerusalem. Jesus knew what was ahead of Him. He knew He had to confront the infidelity and hypocrisy of the religious leaders. He knew He had to speak the truth of God and that this would cost Him. Nothing would divert Him from His task. In Luke’s gospel when Jesus talks about His inevitable confrontation with the authorities and how He would be betrayed into the hands of sinners and would die, Peter couldn’t imagine such a thing happening and he says to Jesus, “this must never happen to you”. Peter would do anything to avoid this clash between Jesus and the authorities. But Jesus tells Peter, “Get behind me Satan because the way you think is man’s way, not God’s way.” No, Jesus was committed to following His vocation to preach the good news of God’s love and truth no matter what the cost. All this is summed up in the simple phrase, “He set his face to go to Jerusalem.”
A number of years ago someone gave me a circle made of felt and in the centre of the circle were the letters twit – ‘twit’. The article is called ‘a round twit.’ How often have we heard ourselves saying, ‘when I have the time I’ll get around to it,’ or ‘one of these days I’ll get around to it.’ Right now I’m too busy, I’ve got other things to do.
Elijah calls Elisha to the urgent task of prophecy but Elisha was in that ‘around to it’ mentality. He had others things to do, he was busy. In time he would get around to the task.
It’s the same with the people in the gospel. They were interested in following Jesus but there were other matters to be attended to – their message was, ‘ listen, I’m really interested in following you, learning from you but I’ve got other things going on right now. I’ll get around to it one of these days.’
Years ago the Ontario government promoted a winter works program and its motto was, ‘why wait for spring, do it now.’ There is a wisdom in ‘doing it now’ because it is all we’ve got. How many people do we know who have said, ‘when I retire I’m going to do this or that? When I retire I’ll have the time to get around to doing all the things I’ve wanted to do, but I was too busy. And how often has it ever worked out? Why wait for retirement, do it now.
We are so like Elisha and the people in the gospel. We are so often, ‘a round to it’ people. One of these days I’ll get back to church, one of these days I’ll try to spend some time in quiet and prayer, one of these days I’ll take my faith seriously. One of these days, but right now I’m too busy.
A friend of mine was telling me about a friend of hers who was dying of cancer. I guess she’d been a very busy, active person, raising a family, being the chauffer driving children to hockey, soccer, and ballet lessons, whatever. And as she lay dying she said to her friend, “I always thought that at some time in my life I would have the time, the leisure to take my spiritual life seriously. I’d get around to it.”
Remember Harry Chapan’s song “The Cat’s in the Cradle”? It could be the theme song for ‘around to it’ people – I’m busy to spend time with you now, but one of these day… and of course in the song what goes around comes around: the father not having time for his young son and the grown son being too busy with his life to have time for his aging father, the refrain of the song is ‘but we’ll get together soon son, we’ll get together soon.”
Remember the saying, ‘carpe diem’, seize the day? Today is all we have. Yesterday is gone, who knows if there will be a tomorrow?
Today’s scripture could really make us face our ‘around to it’ attitude toward life, toward our faith, toward our relationships. Today’s scripture show us the insufficiency of our ‘one of these days’ attitudes. Why wait for spring? Why wait til someone dies before we realize and tell them how important they were to us? Why wait for a stroke of a heart attack before we appreciate our good health? Why wait for a family tragedy or serious illness before we think about God, about prayer? Why wait to tell someone we are sorry for what we said or did, why wait to tell someone we forgive them for the hurt they caused us? Why wait?
As we continue to celebrate this Mass, we can pray for ourselves and for each other that we face the ‘around to it’ situations in our lives, as regards God, our family, our friends. May we be blessed with the grace to do what must be done, to say what should be said, to heal what can be healed – now, this day?
June 24th, 2007
Today has been called “little Christmas’ as opposed to ‘big Christmas on December 25th. In about the 4th century the church decided to celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25th, right after the winter solstice – the shortest day of the year. The Romans had celebrated the feast of the unconquerable sun to celebrate the fact that after the shortest day of the year the days began to get longer. The church decided to baptize this pagan feast to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the unconquerable Son of God.
To counter balance this decision they made June 24th the celebration of the feast of the birth of John the Baptist.
On one occasion as Jesus began His own public ministry John the Baptist, who didn’t want to be mistaken for the Messiah said of Jesus, “He must increase, I must decrease,” in other words my task of preparing the people for Jesus is over, I have to get out of His way. On this past Thursday we celebrate the summer solstice the longest day of the year. I hate to say this but from now on the days will be getting shorter. The church decided to celebrate the birth of John the Baptist on this day in recognition of John’s own conviction – He must increase, I must decrease. Their two birthdays are linked around the winter and summer solstices.
Maybe we can apply John’s words to ourselves. “He must increase, I must decrease.” Anything in my life that is not of Christ – that does not image Christ – that does not proclaim Christ – must decrease – so that Christ’s life in me may increase – so that I may image the love, the mercy, the healing of Christ to others. I love quoting those power words of Paul, a man determined to put on Christ when Paul says of himself, “I live now not I but Christ lives in me and the life I live, I live trusting in the Son of God who loved me and gave His life for me. Paul spent his life putting on Christ, trying to be as Christ like a person as he could be, he would say, ‘for me to live is Christ.’ It wasn’t easy. For all his efforts Paul still admitted, “The good that I would that I do not and the evil I would not do that I do, who will deliver me? His answer was ‘the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ It is by God’s grace, God help and gift we can succeed in decreasing so that Christ may increase in our lives, that Christ may be manifested in our relationships with other people that we can be Christ-like in the way we treat and respect and support others, friends or strangers.
Whenever we pray the Our Father we say, ‘Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.’ Thy kingdom come to that part of me which is yet to be redeemed, that part of me that holds me back from putting on the mind and heart of Christ.
On the feast of this great and humble man, John the Baptist, we can pray for ourselves and for each other for the grace, the gift to decrease, put aside our egos, set aside our un-Christ ways of thinking and love – and let Christ increase, in a way, let Christ take us over, so that the Father may see and love in us what He sees and loves in Jesus – God’s unconquerable Son.
9:00AM – 5:00PM — MONDAY TO FRIDAY 1:00PM – 6:00PM — SATURDAY 8:00AM – 2:00PM — SUNDAY
A limited number of tickets for Fr. Paul’s Birthday celebration on October 27th will be available at the Parish Office until June 30th, or by contacting Betty Ivory at 416-223-5367 or ivoryfamily@rogers.com. The ticket price of $125 per person includes hors d’oeuvres, a three-course dinner with wine, and a contribution to a special gift for Father Paul.
Total: $8,963
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Meetings will begin on Monday, SEPTEMBER 17, 2007 at 7:30 PM. THESE EVENINGS ARE FOR PERSONS INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT THE CATHOLIC FAITH. Because the Parish Community itself is considered the official teacher and guide for potential new members, it is important that some parishioners participate by being present and by sharing their Faith in various ways. Adult Catholics who wish to celebrate the Sacraments of Eucharist and Confirmation are welcome. For more information call Mary Landry at 416-221-8866 ext 224.
If you are a couple who would be interested in assisting us in delivering this course three weekends a year, then contact the Parish Office at 416-221-8866.
2006 SHARELIFE TOTAL: $163,159.52 2007 TO DATE: $156,802.10
DREW BOYLAN KAYLA MADISON DOLPHIN JOSHUA MILES MacKINNON AVERY CAELYN FARRELL JILLIAN VERNICE CHUA
A big thank you from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul to all those who filled the truck with their donations last weekend. For those of you who missed this opportunity, a list of the other parishes and upcoming dates of collections are on the notice board in our church gathering space.
If you are in Grade 5 or higher and are interested in becoming an altar server you may contact Thomas Li at 416-756-4995. The orientation and training for the new members will be held on Saturday, October 13th from 2:30 PM to 4:15 PM.
More volunteers are encouraged to get a copy of the casserole recipe and a pan and give it a try. During the summer, casseroles will be collected on the weekends of July 28/29 and August 25/26. For more information, please contact Irene Albrecht at 416-221-2791.
We are currently organizing an evening for mixed couples, ladies evening and ladies afternoon bridge. If you wish to join one or more of these groups and make new friends then call Maureen Cullen before the end of July at 416-222-8755.
| Posted in Bulletin |
June 17th, 2007
Today’s readings deal with people who made a mess of their lives, received mercy and love from God and their personal response to that mercy and love. King David misused his powers as king, committed adultery, and had the husband of the woman he slept with murdered on the battle field. Faced with his crime and sin, David admitted his crime-filled sin and said “I have sinned against the Lord,” only to told, ‘the Lord has put away your sin.’ David writes his beautiful psalm “have mercy on me O God, have mercy on me – against you alone have I sinned what is evil in your sight I have done – create in me a clean heart, put an upright spirit within me.” By God’s grace David turned his life around.
We all know Paul’s history. He had a deep hatred for those who followed Christ. He wanted to put them in prison. Then Paul had his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and his life was turned around. From that graced moment Paul would say of himself, “I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me and the life I live, I live trusting in the Son of God Who loved me and gave his life for me.” For the rest of his life Paul endured shipwrecks, flogging, stoning, prison and death to share with everyone the merciful love he personally experienced in his encounter with Jesus.
We have the gospel story of the Pharisee inviting Jesus into his home. He felt he was doing such a favor to Jesus that he never bothered to show him the common courtesies of the time, such as the kiss of peace and washing his dusty feet. Then we have this woman with not too good of a reputation brazenly coming into the house and doing for Jesus what the host neglected to do – washing his feet and kissing him. Simon is shocked that Jesus would let this woman touch him. Jesus tells Simon a short story to prove a point. Two debtors are both forgiven their debt. The one who owed the most is the most grateful to his creditor. The host Simon really saw himself in no need for Jesus’ forgiveness; in fact, he acts as if he’s doing Jesus a favor by inviting Him into his home. Simon had no concept of what was going on in the heart of this woman so Jesus lets him in on the secret; it’s not that the woman loved Jesus and therefore He forgave her sins. It’s just the opposite: He forgave her sins and so she loved Him – overwhelmed by the graciousness of Jesus she loved him with all her heart. As Jesus tries to explain to Simon, “Her many sins have been forgiven her that is the reason she shows me such love that is the reason her love is so great. Jesus tells Simon, ‘If she had been forgiven only a little, her love would be small, as your love is small.’
Have you ever had the experience of hurting a family member or a friend with a hurt so great that it causes a deep rift in your relationship? You know you’ve done wrong, you feel shamed at what you’ve done, but you get the courage to go to that person and ask for a forgiveness you feel you don’t deserve. Your friend embraces you and tells you “everything is ok, let’s put it behind us and get on with living.” You’re stunned by such generosity, such acceptance, such love and you grow in a deeper appreciation of that friend and what he or she means to you. Like the woman in the gospel, because you have been forgiven so much, you love so much more in return.
The same thing can happen in the sacrament of reconciliation when you have the courage to un-burden yourself to a priest and externalize the sin that burdens you, and hear the wonderful words of absolution, “I absolve you of your sins”. Sensing that forgiveness gives you a determination to try harder to be the kind of person you want to be and Christ calls you to be.
The same can be said about our sense of gratitude. There’s been a lot in the papers about students’ sense of ‘entitlement’; ‘I have a right to a passing mark even though I wrote a crummy exam.’ Maybe we all think we are entitled to God’s love and thinking so, we are weak on any sense of gratitude to God for the countless gifts with which our lives are blessed. We’ve forgotten the words of John, “this is the wonder, not that we love God, but that God first loved us and sent His Son to take away our sins.” I think that it is only when we take the time to really think about the boundless love of God we celebrate in this Eucharist – Christ Jesus handing over His very life for us on the cross – this is my body, this is my blood, this is my life given in love for you – that we can come to that attitude of gratitude I’ve spoken of so often.
The message of today’s scripture is that because we’ve been forgiven so much, because God has blessed our lives so much, our response should be that of the woman in the gospel – this is reason enough to thank and love Christ in return. As we continue to celebrate this Mass, we can pray for ourselves and for each other that we be blessed with the insight to know how much we are loved by God, forgiven by God, and, in response to such goodness, try to live more faithful and loving lives.
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