September 17th, 2006
The question Jesus asked Peter is a question we all must answer – ‘who do you say I am?’ We have to answer it but from a different perspective than Peter and the others. Peter named Jesus the Messiah, and he was right. At the same time Peter was wrong. His idea of the Messiah was the common one at the time – the Messiah would be a liberator who would free the Jewish people from Roman occupation and restore the Jewish nation to the glory days of King David and Solomon.
This was not how Jesus saw himself. He upsets not only Peter but all those in His hearing when he bursts their bubble of their expectations by telling them, “the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the powers that be, He will be put to death but in three days rise again.”
Peter can’t handle this. In Matthew’s gospel we hear Peter say, ‘far be this from you Lord, this must never happen to you.’ Jesus ends up by calling Peter Satan. That’s pretty strong language. Satan. Maybe Peter’s attempt to turn Him from His task reminded Jesus of His encounter with Satan in the desert at the beginning of His public life. We know this encounter as ‘the temptation in the desert’. Don’t be hungry, Satan had said, don’t be weak, don’t be unknown. Make yourself some bread out of that rock. Rule the kingdoms. Make God your tool to force the angels into catching you when you fall. You don’t need to suffer. You are the Christ.
Christ was not interested in riches, honors and control. He entered totally into our humanity, like us in all things. He accepts and experiences suffering, as we do. He accepts rejection, betrayal and death because these are human realities.
Peter’s confusion and disappointment of Jesus’ prediction of His future speaks to the fact that Peter and the others were expecting their Messiah to be a leader not a loser.
Neither the temptation in the desert not the cajoling of Peter would turn Jesus away from his appointed task; to suffer and die and reconcile the world to God – making peace by His death on the cross. That’s why the church applies the words of Isaiah to Jesus – ‘the Lord opened my ear – I did not turn backward – I gave my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who plucked out my beard – I did not hide my face from insult and spitting – I set my face like flint.’ These words speak of determination. Isaiah knew he had a task to do – and no matter what the obstacles he would accomplish it because he was convinced He who vindicates me is near.
Commitments cost. The commitment of marriage, the commitment of a vowed life, the commitment to social justice. the commitment to truth. The commitment to one’s faith.
There was an article in the Post about a young man named Benjamin Rubin. He is on the Quebec Remparts hockey team. This past Friday they began the defense of their 2006 Memorial Cup championship. Benjamin Rubin who is 17 years old did not play in the opening game, it’s on the Sabbath. Benjamin and his family keep the Sabbath. Imagine the pressure this young man must have under – from team mates, from fans. What’s so awful about breaking the Sabbath, why are you being such a goodie goodie. Don’t you know you’re letting your team down. Let’s have separation of church and sports. To his credit Benjamin stuck to his faith commitment.
Any person who has made any commitment will be tempted – when the going get rough, when things don’t go as expected and there are disappointments – to turn back, to take an easy way out. Jesus was committed to do the will of the Father, it cost Him His life. In the light of His commitment to us, we can look at our commitment to Him and to others in our lives – for all our difficulties – are we faithful?.
As we continue to celebrate this Mass we can pray for ourselves and for each other for the grace to be faithful to our commitments to God, to husband or wife, to our faith in Christ. – may we be graced ‘to set our face like flint ‘ and always be faithful to the Christ, Who was faithful to us – loved us and gave His life for us.
| Posted in Homily |
There is an organization out of the Toronto School of Theology called “Faith and the Common Good”. On Wednesday September 20th, they will be launching their new program “Greening Sacred Space” here at St. Gabriel’s from 2:00 until 4:00 o’clock in the afternoon. There will be several speakers including the Hon. Dwight Duncan, Minister of Energy and Peter Love, Chief Energy Conservation Officer of Ontario and Roberto Chiotti, the architect of our new church.
The event recognizes the efforts of St. Gabriel’s Parish in building an energy efficient church and the greening of sacred spaces. All are welcome.
Total: $10,590.16
ATTENTION – THESE EVENINGS ARE FOR PERSONS INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT THE CATHOLIC FAITH.
This is an invitation to come to our first meeting SEPTEMBER 18th AT 7:30PM in the Library.
Come with your questions, your curiosity, your point of view. They will be the basis of our discussions.
TO OUR PARISHIONERS: Because our Parish Community is considered the official teacher and guide for possible new members, it is important that some of you help by being present and by sharing your faith in various ways that are comfortable to you.
ADULT CATHOLICS: who wish to celebrate the Sacraments of Eucharist and/or Confirmation are welcome also.
For more information, please call Mary Landry at 416 – 221 – 8866 ext. 224
Time to study, time to learn about religious topics that interest you, puzzle you, concern you. We meet every second Tuesday evening. On Wednesday morning, we have two separate groups who meet alternate Wednesdays.
TUESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 3RD AT 7:30PM
WEDNESDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 27TH AT 10:30AM
WEDNESDAY MORNING, ECOLOGY GROUP, OCTOBER 4TH AT 10:30AM
will begin on Sunday September 24th during the 10:30AM Mass. For information please contact Holly Galway at 416-733-3163.
Your prepared chicken rice casseroles (frozen please) will collected at the Masses next weekend for delivery to the Good Shepherd Centre. More volunteers are encouraged to get a copy of the casserole recipe and a pan and give it a try. For more information, please contact Irene Albrecht at 416-221-2791.
Their chaplaincy is devoted to the Catholic deaf community from Mississauga to Oshawa and north to Midland.
Mass times: Holy Name Church – 71 Gough Ave., Toronto Sunday: 11:30AM – Signed St. Maximillian Kolbe church – 4260 Cawthra Road, Mississauga Sunday: 9:30AM – Interpreted Mass
This is a special group for those who are widowed, and seek to understand their loss and grief. The eight week program is on Wednesday evenings from September 20th until November 8th at 7:30PM. For further information, please contact Sr. Rita DeLuca, C.S.J. at St. Joseph’s Morrow Park at 416-222-1101 ext 107/258.
Single women 18 – 40 are invited to a retreat weekend October 20 – 22 2006, given by a team of Sisters of St. Joseph. For more information, please contact Sister Dorothy at 416-934-0042.
cordially invites the ladies of St. Gabriel’s to an Afternoon Tea on Tuesday September 19th at 1:00PM in the Parish Hall. The theme is “Getting To Know You”. This is an opportunity to meet new friends, renew acquaintances, and see old friends.
| Posted in Bulletin |
September 10th, 2006
| Posted in Events |
Just a couple of words on today’s gospel. Some good friends brought this man to Jesus. He couldn’t hear, he couldn’t speak correctly. They wanted Jesus to do something about it. Mark tells us this good man had an impediment. It’s an interesting choice of words. Impediments are literally those things which get in the way of the feet, from the Latin word pedes meaning “foot”. Freedom of movement is so important for us. The older we get, the more anxious we are about anything that could trip us up and cause us to stumble and fall. We have to watch where we’re going. We’ve come to apply this word ‘impediment’ to anything and everything that limits our freedom or our ability to do what we want to do. Jesus removes the barrier to this man’s freedom to hear and speak – Jesus removes his impediment and liberates the man to hear and speak.
People with impediments – with limited ability to see, hear, speak, walk – usually manage to compensate their limitations in amazing ways – they show us such courage, such determination, such ingenuity as they carry on with their lives. They refuse to allow regret or anger or self pity to be an even greater impediment in their determination to live full lives.
The Apostle Paul tells us we are to grow to full maturity in Christ – we are to put on Christ – we are to have the mind of Christ – as Paul said of himself we are to say of ourselves, ‘for me to live is Christ.’
But like Paul we recognize our own limitations – we can say of ourselves what Paul said of himself. ‘the good that I would, that I do not, the evil that I would not do, that I do.’ Our freedom to grow to our personal maturity in Christ is impeded by our own immaturity, insecurity, self centeredness, selfishness. Our lack of faith in God’s love for us, a love that drove God to send His son to the world, not to condemn us but to bring us to life, this lack of faith can be our impediment to growing to that full maturity to which we are called. Our lack of faith, our lack of trust in Christ’s love for us – a love that drove Him to empty Himself of divinity and take to Himself our humanity – becoming as we all are – a love that drove Him to a horrible death on a cross – this lack of trust in such love can be our impediment to growing to that full maturity to which we are called. If we are honest about it there are so many things in our lives that impede our growing, maturing as persons and as Christians – we struggle with anger and resentments over past hurts and betrayals, we struggle with our own passions and dependencies, we have yet to overcome our prejudices towards good people of other cultures, nationalities, religions, life styles – we have difficulties with people, things and ways of thinking that are different from ours.
Because of all these we are impeded from hearing the word of Christ clearly – love one another as I have loved you. We are impeded from speaking with love and respect to other people, we are impeded from seeing the good in other people, in other ways of thinking and living, we are impeded from seeing Christ in the very person in front of us. We are impeded from grasping the depth and the demand of Jesus Who tells us – ‘whatever you do to one of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you do to Me.
As we continue to celebrate this Mass in which we celebrate the liberating death and resurrection of Jesus, we can pray for ourselves and for each other for the grace to face honestly those ways of thinking, acting, living and relating that are our impediments, that trip us up and cause us to stumble in our efforts to put on Christ and be the Christ like people we are called to be. May we be blessed with honesty and courage to recognize our impediments and bring them to Christ trusting He will touch us as He touched the man in the gospel and free us from all that holds us back from growing to that full maturity in Christ to which we are all called.
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.
Learn about Passionists and our insignia »
Companion for the Walk of the Stations of the Cosmic Earth
St. Gabriel’s Garden – Guided Sensory Reflective Walk
