XIV Sunday in Ordinary Time – B – July 05, 2009

Today's readings give us a lot of possibilities, a lot of topics to talk about.

Surfing on the internet in search of some good thoughts for today's homily I saw that some preachers are talking about the (!!!) virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary because in the Gospel there is a sentence:

"Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?"

Some others are talking about the psychological problems of St. Paul because in the second reading we have the sentence:

"... a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated."

I choose however, the subject which apparently is not very popular but which is present in both: the first and the third readings; means Jesus' or God's claims and our attitude, our "delicateness" or "fragility". Does God have the rights to claim something from us? Does He have the right to tell us that we are wrong in some of our acts and deeds?

In the Old Testament God sent prophets like Ezekiel to call people back to the right path. They did not listen because their faces had become hard. (Ez 2:4) Easy to recognize that hardness in others, but more difficult to see when we look in the mirror. If I am told that my behaviour is not correct or that I am doing something wrong, I feel immediately offended, upset, hurt or even insulted.

Ezekiel was not eager to take on the role of prophet. He knew the people would say, "Who are you to tell us what to do?" And this is the case of each prophet. This is the case of the pope or bishop. This is the case of those who were chosen by Christ to teach and to take care of the spiritual good of the flock of Christ.

St. Paul in his Second Letter to Timothy writes something which is perfectly fitting today's topic:

"I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths." (2 Tim 4,1-5)

In our lives everything should be nice, smooth, soft and pleasant. I don't pretend that it should be always rude, harsh, cruel and unkind or impolite, but ... should it really be always soft and pleasant?

To the priests Pope Benedict XVI said recently: "Do not try to be understood by the world, but rather to be of Christ in the truth." And this is what we have to admit, we have to be all "of Christ in the truth" even if sometimes this truth is very awkward and uncomfortable.

The same thing happened to Jesus when he went back to his home town of Nazareth. You would have expected the people to have received with honours. But instead of being proud of their most famous son, they reacted with envy. Jesus also received an unenthusiastic reception from his countrymen. “They took offense at him.” (Mk 6:3)

That kind of reception will become more common for those serious about their Catholic faith. They will be judged as offensive, harsh, unpleasant and so on. History professor Philip Jenkins has written an insightful book titled "The New Anti-Catholicism". Not a Catholic himself, he analyzes what has become the “last acceptable prejudice.” The prejudice shows itself not just in fringe groups who are openly anti-Catholic, but right in the mainstream: major even catholic newspapers, movies, television, and the arts. One reason for this hostility is the teaching of the Church on matters like divorce, contraception, abortion and homosexuality. Church is not soft, not kind, not tolerant ... these are the claims of those who feel offended or upset with the Church (and finally Jesus') teaching.

We have to be politically correct; we have to be by all means "tolerant" and kind, liberal and "charitable".

More generally it is the mentality coming up from the 60' and 70' conviction expressed in the principle: "If you feel good, just do it". And if you don't feel good it must be wrong, it must be an offence and injustice.

Pope Paul VI wrote the Encyclical Letter "Humane Vitae" and ... how many Catholics disagreed with Him and revolted against the teaching of the Church because they didn't feel good. Pope Benedict XVI said about the immorality of using the condoms and ... how many Catholics protested and even left the Church?

I read somewhere on the internet that over 10% of American adults have left the Catholic Church after having been raised Catholic. Two-thirds of those former Catholics, say they left the Church due to no longer believing in some of its teachings. Nearly six-in-ten former Catholics who are now unaffiliated said they left due to dissatisfaction with Catholic teachings on abortion and homosexuality. About half cited are upset about Catholic teachings on birth control.

Cardinal J. Ratzinger (present Pope Benedict XVI) in the book “God and the World” wrote:

“If the Church simply aims to please everybody or to avoid conflict, merely to ensure that no disturbances arise anywhere, then her real message can no longer make any impact.”

The Church which tries to please everybody and to be politically correct loses her credibility, and becomes a traitor, a betrayer of Christ, Her Founder.

Card. André Vingt-Trois – archbishop of Paris commented this problem in the words:

„Christ didn’t come to accept the opinions of the majority or to adjust to the politically correct ideologies of His time. He did have much greater ambitions; He came to call sinners to repentance and holiness.”

Because the Catholic Church does not claim to have the authority -other churches claim to have- to change “the Deposit of Faith” entrusted to her by Christ, she cannot allow such things as divorce, or priestesses, or sodomy or abortion, however fashionable these things may become in society. Her Lord is not ‘society,’ or the world, but Christ.

This was the mission of Ezekiel:

"I am sending you to the Israelites, rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have revolted against me to this very day. Hard of face and obstinate of heart are they to whom I am sending you. But you shall say to them: Thus says the LORD GOD!

And whether they heed or resist—for they are a rebellious house— they shall know that a prophet has been among them."

In today’s Gospel we have some men who did not want to have their minds disturbed. They thought they already knew Jesus – his job, his family. They had observed him growing up. Also his “brothers and sisters” although perhaps on that score they were confused as some people today. But hearing about miracles and wisdom, they did not want to investigate.

In that regard they are like people today. Many think they know who Jesus is – a good man, a great teacher, like the Buddha. However, they don’t want to consider his claims: “Before Abraham came be, I AM.” “The Father and I are one.” Jesus forgave sins, proclaimed himself Master of the Sabbath and the Bridegroom in whose presence no one fasts. In other words, he claimed divine status.

We need to see beyond appearances. Jesus Christ is the Son of God and His claims are justified. Something similar can happen if we open ourselves to Jesus and his teachings. I do not deny that Jesus – and his Church – make some astonishing claims. Like the Nazarenes we can take offense, be upset or feel bad – or, like Peter, worship. There is no middle ground.

If Jesus is the Son of God and He is the Founder of the Church, I believe and I trust Him and the Church. This is what we profess in Creed, when we say: "I believe in the Holy Catholic Church".

XIII Sunday in the ordinary Time – year B

Through death comes new life

In 1998 songwriter Shel Silverstein wrote a song that was sung by a group of country and western singers who called themselves the Old Dogs. Now, it was meant to be a funny song and so some of the lyrics went like this – bear with me as I read them to you.

So you're takin' better care of your body - Becoming more aware of your body. Responding to your body's needs. Everything you hear and read about diets, Nutrition and sleeping position and detoxifying your system, and buying machines that they advertise to help you exercise.

Herbs to revitalize you if you're traumatized. Soaps that will sanitize. Sprays to deodorize.

Liquid to neutralize acids and pesticides. Free weights to maximize your strength and muscle size. Shots that will immunize. Pills to re-energize you.

But remember that for all your pain and gain eventually the story ends the same... You can quit smokin', but you're still gonna die. Eliminate everything fatty or fried, And you get real healthy, but you're still gonna die. You're still gonna, still gonna, still gonna die.

You can even give aerobics one more try, But when the music stops playin', you're still gonna die. Put seat belts in your car, you're still gonna die. Cut nicotine tar, you're still gonna die.

Needless to say it wasn’t a very popular tune. As I said, it was meant to be a funny song but people didn’t like it. It just didn’t get played much. The tune itself was great but I think that the lyrics brought the reality of our immortality too close to home.

You can say all you want about the pleasures of this life – but if you mention that it might end at any time – people don’t want to hear it. We’re too preoccupied with living the good life – NOW and we don’t want to hear about it all ending any time soon. The reality of life followed by death is not a topic people want to hear about. Yet that reality surrounds us everyday.

Just this past week the world lost two famous entertainers. Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett.

A couple of reminders that bring the reality of that little song a little closer to home. No matter how famous you are – no matter how much you possess – no matter how healthy you are – we still will all face the same reality - we are all destined to die.

Unfortunately, for many people in today’s world, death is not something they want to talk about because for them death is a puzzle – what happens to us when we die? Why do we have to die?

For those of us who have some experience in being with those in palliative care – we can understand the worry – we have traveled with those who wonder if there is a God, what is the reason for suffering – why can’t we live forever?

And then there are those who say “if we are all going to die well then we might as well have a good time now – because after we die – who knows where we will be.”

It is our experience that patients who have no faith are at a real disadvantage compared with those who have been close to God all their lives. Those with little faith in reality endure a 3 fold suffering.

First, they suffer the disease that is taking their lives.

Secondly, they suffer on account of its apparent meaninglessness (for them a real puzzle).

Thirdly, they suffer because this has changed their lives and in fact suspends their life as they knew it.

They see their illness as something that has to be endured rather than lived. Their lives seem to be on hold as they wait impatiently for things to get back to normal so that they can begin to live again. They live in the future and not in the present.

On the other hand, patients with faith in God are in a much better position. Though faith may not deliver them from their illness nor diminish the suffering it causes them, believers often try to continue to live as intensely as before.

They can find comfort in God both in sickness as well as in health, and their sickness can turn out to be a fruitful experience for them.

A time of illness can be a difficult thing to deal with positively. But unless people do accept the reality, their time of illness often becomes a complete waste.

However, we must try to help the sick to see their illness in the larger context of their life. To see it not as some unfortunate episode in their life but rather as an intrinsic part of their life.

For those who do not believe in God, this time of dying can be a bitter, angry and painful experience. And we need to help them as best we can to prepare for the reality of facing their creator.

We need to give them hope in the Resurrection. We need to help them come to face the natural reality and necessity of their death. There is a reason for their existence.

We live and then we die. All of us. No exceptions. It is true that most of us will suffer before we die. That is the reality.

However we can find comfort in that fact that there is a God who loves us. A God who cares for us. A God who called us into existence for a reason. A God who has a plan for each one of us. A God who is waiting for us and who will relieve us of all our suffering.

And God’s love can be experienced even in this suffering. Besides having redemptive value, from our suffering we can derive a new understanding of our vulnerability as human beings.

A painful experience causes us to reflect on our lives and teaches us to be compassionate towards those who suffer. Compassion is not learned without suffering. Suffering and death are all part of the natural human experience.

Each year in our garden we plant seeds, the seeds seem to die in the soil but from their dying new life rises, flowers and vegetables come up.

In the fall the tree leaves turn brown and die. They fall to the ground and decay. In doing that they provide nourishment for the new life that will come in the spring.

Nature's cycle teaches us that what at first appears to be a tragedy - is not always so. In nature - out of death comes new life.

This Sunday's readings tell us the human side of this same natural cycle. Out of what seems to be tragedy in death comes new life.

The first reading from the book of Wisdom, begins by making it very clear what God's attitude is towards death. Death is not God's doing. God does not delight in the death of the living.

“For God created us for incorruption, and made us in the image of His own eternity, but through the devil's envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his company experience it."

Our immortality is directly linked to our relationships with God. The devil knew this and tempted humans to break with God. He succeeded, but he was not as completely successful as he thought.

In today's gospel, the woman who had been haemorrhaging for 12 years had undergone 'long and painful treatment under various doctors', without getting better. Of course, medicine then and up to quite recently was fairly primitive. For most of history people prayed for real miracles to cure their infirmities. Nothing stood between the individual and eter­nity except God.

But the world has changed dramatically since then. In our own time cures have been discovered for almost every human ailment.

We have all become fervent believers in the 'miracles of modem medicine'. In searching for cures Clinics have replaced churches for those who are ill. In many cases science has replaced God. It seems people no longer have any faith in a God of miracles.

In the gospel, Jesus is approached by Jairus. a synagogue official, who begs Him to come and heal his sick daughter. Jesus starts out towards Jairus' house, but before Jesus gets there, "some people came from the leader's house to say, 'Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?'"

Jesus however, says to the official, "Do not fear, only believe." Coming into the man's home. Jesus takes the dead child's hand and says. "Little girl, get up!" The girl immediately gets up.

Jesus overcame death. He restored life to the offi­cial's daughter. But the meaning of the miracle is much deeper than just that event. In the whole bible Jesus restores physical life to only three people: the little girl in today's reading, the son of the widow of Nain and Jesus’s friend Lazarus.

Christ claimed nothing else for these miracles than the faith of the participants.

"Do not fear, only believe."

To every member of the human race Jesus offers restoration to life. This restoration to life is really restoration to life in God in eternity. And this is a far greater miracle than the mere restoration of human life in this world — it is a promise of eternal life – and a promise made to each one of us. "Do not fear, only believe."

In John 3:16 the Bible tells us “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him, might not perish but have eternal life.”

The promise that Christ gives us is far greater than merely restoring our physical health, God promises us that if we have faith and believe in God – He will restore us to Eternal Life which is a far greater gift than simply adding a few more years on to our earthly life.

Death, then, is never what God wants. Richness of life is God's desire.

And can there be any greater gift than life in heaven for all eternity?

Yet true richness of life even life on this earth, springs from a willingness to give, to empty ourselves. It is only when we die to ourselves that we make room for new life.

And so, in the second reading St. Paul encourages the Corinthians to be generous to others. This reading at first seems to have little connection to restoration of life. But actually it does because this very act of generosity comes from the life which Jesus gives us.

As St. Paul says. "though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.” The life to which Jesus restores us thus enables us to help others in their need.

“Do not fear, only believe” Jesus told the synagogue official. Because of his faith, his daughter was returned to him.

To the woman who was cured of her haemorrhage, Jesus said “Your faith has restored you to health.

All that separates us from these miracles is the depth of our faith. Even modem medicine, in spite of its extraordinary successes, is rediscovering the import­ance of the patient's faith in their cure.

Christ, now as then, can certainly cure all of our sicknesses both physical and spiritual. All He needs is our faith. For modern day proof of physical cures we have places like Lourdes. Lourdes is proof, if proof were needed. With a little faith we could find it; with a little courage we could touch it. 'Do not be afraid,' He says to us, as He said to Jairus, 'only have faith'.

For proof of eternal life we have Jesus’ word. 1 Cor 2:9 tells us “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.”

And so our preparation for eternity is to be found in the way we live our moral lives. The nobility of the human person, body and soul, is to be found not in the ability to take and manipulate others, which is so dear to our modern culture, but rather in the ability to give. Making life more livable for others by living virtuous lives ourselves. We are called by our Lord to “Arise”.

At the end of our lives as we pass from this life to the next, if we have been faithful servants, Jesus will fulfill our dignity, take us by the hand and wake us, not just to the same earthly life, but to a new heavenly one. “I say to you Arise – Do not fear but only believe – Your faith has restored you to health”.

Deacon Bernie Ouellette

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12 Sunday in Ordinary Time June 21, 2009

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Last Friday, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, during Vespers at St. Peter's Basilica, the Holy Father inaugurated the Year of Priests. The celebratory year marks the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Mary Vianney the Curé d'Ars, the patron saint of priests worldwide, and is intended to “deepen the commitment of all priests to interior renewal for the sake of a more powerful and sharp witness to the Gospel in today's world.”

In his letter, the Holy Father praised “the courageous fidelity of so many priests who, even amid difficulties and incomprehension, remain faithful to their vocation.” Speaking of the great role of the priesthood, he recalls the words of St. John Mary Vianney, “O, how great is the priest! ... if he realized what he is, he would die not out of fear but out of love."

"St. John Vianney devoted himself completely to his parish's conversion by living a holy and dedicated life of poverty, chastity, and obedience. He taught his parishioners primarily by the witness of his life,” said the Holy Father, inviting priests around the world to follow St. Vianney’s example of offering himself as a sacrifice.

“It is the priest who continues the work of redemption on earth.” St. John Mary Vianney spent long hours in church before the tabernacle, inspiring the faithful "to imitate him by coming to visit Jesus with the knowledge that their parish priest would be there, ready to listen and offer forgiveness." Over time, penitents started coming from all over the country, and the priest would be in the confessional for up to 16 hours a day. Thus, his parish became known as "a great hospital of souls."

So, Pope invites us (not only the priest) to interiorize our faith, to make it deeper and more spiritual by the means of prayer, meditation of the Word of God and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. We are very often like Martha to whom Jesus said: "Martha, Martha, you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part."

Pope Benedict XVI is also aware of the difficulties and scandals caused by many priests in the contemporary world.

"There are also, sad to say, situations which can never be sufficiently deplored where the Church herself suffers as a consequence of infidelity on the part of some of her ministers. Then it is the world which finds grounds for scandal and rejection."

"How can one forget that nothing makes the Church -- the Body of Christ -- suffer more than the sins of its pastors, above all those that are 'wolves in sheep's clothing,' whether because they lead the faithful away with their private doctrine, or because they bind the faithful down with the ties of sin and death?"

From the letter we can find out what are the causes of this situation, this infidelity to the Church. In all cases we can point out the lack of prayer, lack of the meditation of the Word of God and the lack of humble adoration of Jesus present in His Holy Sacrament. The contact with the Word of God and with Christ in the Blessed Sacrament was replaced by private ideas and theories, by selfish arrogant conviction that I am able to save myself. And this is true not only for priests, but also for the persons living the consecrated life, as well as for the parents, for the teachers, for the formators, for all Christians.

The priests like all others are under a constant stress of success, under continuous pressure of achievement, under permanent tension of activity and even activism, a vigorous and sometimes aggressive action in pursuing a political or social ends. We have no time for prayer, no time for the meditation, no time for adoration. We are deeply convinced that the salvation of the whole world depends on our pastoral activity, meetings, gatherings, actions. And in this way we become like a barren soil unproductive and sterile. But all this is revealing also a deep lack of faith. Like the Apostles in today's Gospel we are afraid and anxious that the storm around us will destroy everything, that we will perish, and we have to do something, we must be active. And Jesus reproaches us "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?" Why do you relay only on your human resources, on your human wisdom and human means?

...In today's world, as in the troubled times of the Cure of Ars, the lives and activity of priests need to be distinguished by a forceful witness to the Gospel. As Pope Paul VI rightly noted, "modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses".

During this Year of Priests let us pray for the authentic witnesses in our parishes. But also let us not forget that the ultimate source of our salvation is not our own activism and not our achievements but Jesus Christ, whom even the wind and the sea obey.

And He is always present with us in a very special way in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood.

abortion survivor

Corpus Christi Sunday - this is My Body, ... this is My Blood

Pope Benedict XVI during His homily delivered on last Thursday (the Solemnity of Corpus Christi in Europe) was warning of a "serpentine secularization that penetrates the Church and is manifested in formal and empty Eucharistic worship."

The Holy Father illustrated the importance of faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, telling the thousands of pilgrims that this faith "cannot be taken for granted."

"Today there arises the risk of a serpentine secularization even within the Church, which can convert into a formal and empty Eucharistic worship. The celebrations lacking deep participation from the heart that is expressed in veneration and respect for the liturgy can easily slip into an empty and external activism.

The temptation is always strong to reduce prayer to superficial and hurried moments, letting oneself be carried away by earthly activities and worries. The Eucharist is the bread of eternal life of the new world that is given us today in the holy Mass, so that starting now the future world begins in us.

With the Eucharist, therefore, heaven comes down to earth, the tomorrow of God descends into the present and it is as if time remains embraced by divine eternity.

Stay with us, Christ, give to us the gift of yourself and give us the bread that nourishes us for eternal life. Free this world from the venom of evil, of violence and of hate, which contaminate consciences; purify it with the power of your merciful love." – He prayed.


Addressing his remarks to priests, the Holy Father said: "Becoming the Eucharist: let this be our constant desire and commitment! So that the offer of the Body and Blood of the Lord we make upon the altar may be accompanied by the sacrifice of our own lives. Every day we draw from the Body and Blood of the Lord the free and pure love that makes us worthy ministers of Christ and witnesses to His joy. What the faithful expect from a priest is the example of authentic devotion to the Eucharist. They like to see him spend long periods of silence and adoration before Jesus, as did the saint 'Cure of Ars' whom we will especially recall during the imminent Year for Priests".

"Aware that, because of sin, we are inadequate, yet needing to nourish ourselves from the love the Lord offers us in the Eucharistic Sacrament, this evening we renew our faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Such faith must not be taken for granted!

Today there is a risk of insidious secularisation, even inside the Church. This could translate into a formal but empty Eucharistic worship, in celebrations lacking that involvement of the heart which finds expression in veneration and respect for the liturgy.

There is always a strong temptation to reduce prayer to superficial and hurried moments, allowing ourselves to be overcome by earthly activities and concerns".

"With the Eucharist heaven comes down to earth, God's tomorrow descends into the present moment and time is, as it were, embraced by divine eternity".

June 11, 2009 in my home parish in Nowy Targ

The Feast of Pentecost

In today’s gospel Jesus tells us “when He comes, the Spirit of Truth, He will guide you to all truth”. And it is the fulfillment of that promise of Jesus that we celebrate today, The Feast of Pentecost.

Remember Pilate's question to Jesus: "What is truth?" Well that’s a question that is still being asked today. In today’s world where do we find truth? Whom are we to believe? What is the Truth? Are we skeptical?

There seems to be a certain “lack of credibility” in the air. A lack of credibility. Businesses have folded because of financial scandals. There have been scandals in our government because officials have been caught lying about important issues.

And in our Church some of our Catholic Bishops have lost credibility because of the sexual abuse scandals. All of these scandals have one thing in common – a lack of credibility – the lack of truth.

However, there is one whom we can believe. God has absolute credibility. God gives us the Spirit of Truth so that we may be able to discover what is true.

And that Spirit is at work in our church and in the world.

Yes there are times in history when the workings of the Spirit do not appear to be too evident – There are times when the Spirit appears to be silent. And in today’s world we may very well be living in one of those times.

But the Spirit blows where it will and it cannot be stopped. The Truth will always come out eventually.

To know the truth we need to open our minds and our hearts to the working of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is called "The Advocate." The word advocate, in Greek, means someone who goes to court with you, sits beside you, and gives advice and support. Very much like what we today would call an attorney or lawyer.

We do need an attorney when we are facing troubles. We also need an attorney when we have to make some big important decisions in life or in our business.

In today’s world as Christians, we are in deep trouble. We need some advice. We need some support. We have some very important decisions to make. Abortion, euthanasia, same-sex unions, assisted suicide.

We desperately need an attorney. We need the Holy Spirit who has been sent by God. We need the Holy Spirit to help us discern what is true.

The Holy Spirit offers us these gifts:

Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and the Fear of the Lord.

We need wisdom and knowledge to find the truth. We need Understanding to grab hold of the Truth. We need Piety and Fear of the Lord to accept the truth. And finally, we need Fortitude to live by the Truth.

All of these are gifts freely given by the Holy Spirit. But we need to be open to them. If our minds are closed to the gifts of the Holy Spirit our minds are then closed to the truth. We need to open our hearts and minds to the gifts being offered to us by the Holy Spirit.

If we accept the Truth given by the Holy Spirit it shall set us free.

Free from what?

You know, the lack of credibility in Business, in Government, and in the Church brings with it a feeling of helplessness, a paralyzing fear, a fear like the fear which made the disciples lock themselves up in that upper room.

What freed them from this fear? It was the coming of the Holy Spirit that set them free. It was the coming of the Holy Spirit that made them brave, brave enough to leave that room and to go out and fearlessly proclaim the truth about Jesus and His Good News.

And that Good News, that truth, was about a God of love and compassion, a God of forgiveness and reconciliation, a God for whom all people are important and no one is excluded or driven away from the table of the Lord, not even Judas.

Now that is the good news. Almost too good to believe. Almost incredible in itself.

Jesus said “I am the way, the Truth and the Life”.
Jesus is a God who sets us free, free to serve out of love, not out of fear.

The Good News of Jesus Christ. This is the truth that we seek in our hearts. This is the truth promised and revealed to us by the great Spirit of Truth.

And that is in direct contrast with our world of today. With our world of today often that which appears credible is most often untrue. But with God that which appears incredible, too good to be true, is in fact always true.

At Pentecost the Holy Spirit came to remain with the Church forever. When the Apostles received the gifts of the Holy Spirit the Church was publicly made known to the people. The Gospel began to spread among the nations.

The Holy Spirit is still with us today. We can’t see Him, but we can hear Him as He speaks to our hearts, we can see His moving in our lives and we can feel the power of His presence if we accept His guidance throughout each day.

Today the Holy Spirit continues to work through His church. Through the workings of the Holy Spirit the Church is able to carry on the work of salvation given to it by Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit guides the Pope, the Bishops and the priests of the Catholic Church in their work of teaching Christ’s doctrine, guiding souls and giving God’s grace to the people through the sacraments.

The Holy Spirit directs all the work of Christ in the Church – the care of the sick, the teaching of children, the guidance of youth, the comforting of the sorrowful and the support of the needy.

The Holy Spirit guides the People of God in knowing the truth. The Spirit prays in us and makes us remember that we are all adopted children of God.

And so the Spirit brings the Church together in love and worship.

Today as we celebrate the birth of the Church on this Feast of Pentecost may we open our minds to this Spirit of Truth and open our hearts to the fire of the Spirit of Love so that we may have the courage to continue to spread the Good News not only in our Church but also in our World.

Because it is a world that desperately needs to hear the truth. And the Truth shall set us free. God Bless You.

Deacon Bernie Ouellette

Sunday Morning – First Communion – Pentecost Sunday – St. Matthew

Today we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. The commemoration of the day when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles. This happened in the upper room where the apostles were hiding for fear of the Jews.

The Bible tells us that suddenly there was a great rush of wind and tongues of fire appeared over the heads of all those present. After this, strengthened by the Holy Spirit, the Apostles left the room and began to preach the Good News to all the world.

Today is also a special day because today you children will receive your first Holy Communion.

For the first time, you will receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ Himself.

Catholics believe that when Jesus said the words "This is my body - This is my blood;' He meant exactly what He said - the bread and wine truly become the very person of Jesus.

When a priest says the words of Jesus - the words of consecration - over the bread and wine, they still look and taste like bread and wine, but the bread and wine become Jesus Christ Himself, who is then as truly present to us as He was to the apostles.

We do not claim to understand how bread and wine become Christ's body and blood. We accept, as St. Peter did the "words of eternal life'.

We believe as St. Paul did, that the bread and wine are the "body and blood of the Lord”.

Jesus gave us the Eucharist to unite us to Him: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in Me and I in him" (John 6:56).

To really understand the meaning of this, you need to think about those special moments of human closeness: your mom and dad together, your parents holding you, time spent with your best friend. The Eucharist is all this and more. The Eucharist is union with Jesus, with the Father, and with the Holy Spirit.

That’s why we call receiving Jesus in the Eucharist as “Holy Communion”.

Holy Communion not only joins us to Christ but also to one another. Those who receive Jesus are one because they receive the one Christ: The Bible tells us “Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf'' (1 Corinthians 10:16-17).

On the night He was betrayed, Jesus took bread and gave it to His disciples, and said “Take this, all of you, and eat it; this is My Body which will be given up for you.”

When supper was ended, He took the cup. Again He gave thanks and praise, gave the cup to His disciples, and said: Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of My Blood, the Blood of the new and everlasting covenant, it will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in memory of Me.”

Our Lord changed bread and wine into His Body and Blood and offered Himself to God.

This was a sacrifice. This was His Body to be offered on the Cross. This was His Blood to be shed for the forgiveness of sins. He told the Apostles that He would die on the next day.

That would be the bloody sacrifice on the Cross. But Jesus wanted this unbloody sacrifice to continue on earth until the end of time.

When He told the Apostles to do as He had done, He made them priests and gave them power to offer this sacrifice.

Now kids, this is why Catholics also speak of the Eucharist not only as a meal but as a sacrifice. This is why we call our Celebration of the Eucharist the ”Holy Sacrifice of the Mass” Jesus gave His life; He shed His blood for us. The Sacrifice of the Mass is the same Sacrifice which Jesus offered on the Cross.

In every Mass Christ is present, both in the person of His priest and especially under the form of the bread and wine.

Catholics believe that the Eucharist makes present the death of Jesus. This does not mean that Christ dies again (Hebrew's 7:27). But the Eucharist is a miracle that rolls away the centuries and allows us to stand at the cross of Christ.

The Mass is a sacrifice where the Church not only remembers Jesus, but really brings Him and His saving death and Resurrection into the present to that His followers may become part of it.

In every Mass His death becomes present, offered as our sacrifice to God in an unbloody and sacramental manner, so each time we celebrate the Eucharist we remember that death.

The bible tells us that "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a partici­pation in the body of Christ? (1 Corinthians 10: 16- I7).

And so we believe that Christ is fully present in both the consecrated bread and the consecrated wine and that we receive the whole Christ when we communicate under either form.

That is to say when we receive the Body of Christ we receive the Body, Blood soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.

When we receive the Blood of Christ we are receiving the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.

At the same time we receive Him we are remembering that Christ once gave His life for us in the sacrifice of Calvary.

Now kids, you have to remember that in order to properly receive Holy Communion we need to be aware that we are truly receiving Jesus Christ Himself and therefore we should never present ourselves for Holy Communion if we are aware of any grave sin that has not been confessed and forgiven.

It’s also really important for us to respect the one hour of fasting, that is, no food, gum or candy for one hour prior to receiving Holy Communion. We must try to live in charity and love with our neighbours.

Now you kids are very important to God and He takes special care to warn us adults about how we are to take care of you in His name.

In Matthew Chapter 18 Jesus warns us:

“……whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”

And again In Matthew Chapter 19 Jesus says: “Let the children come to me and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

What does this mean to us adults who are your parents, your guardians, your teachers or your grandparents?

This warning means that as parents and guardians we have a very grave responsibility to ensure that you children are properly disposed to receive Holy Communion.

Not only must we ensure that everyone observes the one hour of fasting but we also have to ensure that we all arrive at Mass at a time which will allow everyone the opportunity to go to confession if necessary.

As adults we also have the grave responsibility of ensuring that our families do not miss the attendance at Sunday Mass.

There is nothing we can give God as a gift that is greater than His own Son. At each Mass we offer Jesus to His heavenly Father as our Greatest Gift to God.

We join with Jesus and the priest in offering to God this highest form of worship:

We do this:

1. To give to God the highest adoration and glory.
2. To thank Him for all His blessings
3. To make up for all our sins
4. To obtain all the blessings we need

In each Mass it is Jesus Christ Himself, God as well as man, Who is both our High Priest and our Victim, praying for us to His heavenly Father.

Missing our Sunday Mass obligation without a valid excuse is a serious sin and separates us from God.

When we prevent anyone from attending Mass we are keeping them separated from the Body of Christ.

As parents, guardians, teachers and grandparents we also have a grave responsibility to ensure that that which is being taught to the children is in line with the teachings of the Church.

Our personal opinions cannot and must not replace the teachings of Jesus Christ as presented to us through the ministry of His Church.

So kids, today as you receive Jesus Christ Himself in the Holy Eucharist - Let it be the beginning of a life of closeness and unity to the risen Christ. Our jobs as adults is to ensure that we help you to always remain close to Jesus and joined to each other through the family of God.

God bless you

Deacon Bernie Ouellette

Feast of the Ascension

Homily basing on the homily of Father Alex McAllister SDS - http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/

Today’s feast of the Ascension is quite difficult to understand.

In fact what we are celebrating is a crucial moment in the whole plan of salvation. We are commemorating the moment that Jesus handed the continuation of his great work over to us, the Church.

The Gospels tell us about the public ministry of Jesus and how he gave his life for us on the Cross and then how he rose from the dead and then as we have heard in recent Sundays how he appeared to the disciples.

Then comes the Ascension when Jesus gave the Apostles their final instructions to go out to the whole world, proclaim the Good News and Baptize in the name of the Father and the Sun and the Holy Spirit. He then withdrew from them and returned to his Father in Heaven.

We are therefore commemorating two important events 1) the return of Jesus to the Father upon accomplishing his work of salvation and 2) the entrusting of the continuance of his work to the Church. Let us take these in turn.

In dealing with his return to the Father we are implicitly acknowledging that Jesus came from the Father, and that he was sent by him to implement the Father’s plan of salvation.

The important thing therefore is that this work of salvation is truly the work of God entrusted to his Son Jesus, who when his task is accomplished returns to his rightful place at the side of the Father.

So Jesus’ miracles are the actual work of God, not any other miraculous power and his teaching is the true teaching of God and not some made-up message.

Here at the very end of his ministry the whole work of Jesus is validated by his return to his rightful place in heaven.

Images of the Ascension seem to focus on Jesus going up to heaven or sometimes, as in Medieval works of art, showing his feet sticking through a cloud.

But really these images should be of the Son taking his seat at the right hand of the Father, returning to the place from which he first came.

Now while we are focusing on Christ having completed his work we are also invited to think about the beginning of the work of the Church. For although Christ accomplished all that he was sent to do, that is not quite the end of the story; for now it is the task of the Church to spread this Good News to the entire world and to incorporate all believers into the Church through Baptism.

We can summarize this by saying that the Ascension means that the work of Christ is done, while the work of the Church begins.

You might think to yourself that Christ should have stayed on a bit and brought everyone to faith in him and only then returned to the Father and that would be the true completion of his work.

But this would violate the Father’s plan that all people should ‘freely’ worship him.

The lesson of the incarnation is that the Father wants us to be saved by one like ourselves and logically this leads to us hearing the Good News not from some Divine Being but from the lips of our brothers and sisters.

And it is for this reason that the Church is given its task to proclaim the Gospel to the whole of creation.

Christ achieves the work of salvation while we are the ones whose privileged task it is to tell our brothers and sisters about it and so enable them to freely embrace it.

The next great feast in the Liturgical Calendar is the Feast of Pentecost, what we often call the Birthday of the Church. This marks the occasion very soon after the Ascension when the Holy Spirit is poured out upon the members of the Church who are immediately impelled to begin their great mission of the proclamation of the Gospel.

The Church is filled with the Spirit and carries the Good News to everyone; it has a sacred mission, a holy task. And this is not given only to the full-timers –the priests, deacons and religious– no it is a task given to each member of the Church, that by our lives we communicate Christ to the world.

Christ has returned to the right hand of God but we are his ambassadors here on earth. And it was on the Day of the Ascension that this great task was laid on our shoulders. But this huge responsibility was not given to us without support from above.

As Jesus says elsewhere: I will not leave you orphans. Yes he has returned to the Father but this is to merely reassume his glory, his place at the centre of power. And it is from this place that he can reassume his majesty and exercise influence over the whole of creation.

By returning to the Father, Jesus is more able to be with us, more able to guide us, more able to work through us. We do not see him any more in human form as the Apostles did, but he is nonetheless with us.

His word speaks through us, we work powerful miracles in his name and extraordinary conversions occur as a result of his intervention. Yes, Jesus has gone from us but only so that he can be with us in a much more powerful and universal way.

As it says in the last line of our text: There at the right hand of God he took his place, while they, going out, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it.

Sixth Sunday of Easter - Cycle B - John 15:9-16

Truth, Freedom and Love

There are three words in our contemporary world which are strongly abused. These three words are: TRUTH, FREEDOM and LOVE.

1. To be right doesn’t mean necessarily to know the TRUTH, to respect the TRUTH, to live and abide in TRUTH.

2. FREEDOM is not about having a lot of choices; it is not about being able to pick and choose depending on our caprices. No, it is about doing what is good because that is what we most deeply desire. Real FREEDOM involves not making random choices but acting authentically from the very core of one’s being—where God is. It is in doing that which is best for us, doing only that which is in accordance with our true nature and our highest destiny.

3. To have the beautiful emotions and feelings to feel good doesn’t mean to LOVE.

Very often we confuse the TRUTH with being right, we confuse FREEDOM with anarchy. And we confuse LOVE with emotions and sentiments.

Jesus said in other place: “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the TRUTH, and the truth will set you FREE.” (John 8, 32)

And in today’s Gospel He says:

"If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my LOVE, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." (John 15: 10-11)

This gospel passage is filled with beautiful statements about the ever popular subject of love. Jesus tells us that the Father loves him, and that he in turn loves us, and that we should love one another. Perhaps we have heard these sentiments expressed so often that we no longer realize how profound and dramatic they really are. Or maybe we don’t even know what love is? We use so often this word that I dare to say that this is the most abused word in our dictionary. Because Jesus is talking about love and not about sentiments and feelings, not about pleasure and sex ...

This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you.’ This is the central text of today’s Gospel reading and indeed one could consider it one of the most fundamental texts of the Christian faith.

And yet it seems at first sight to contain a basic contradiction. How can one be commanded to love? We are all well aware that genuine love, real authentic love, must by definition be an entirely free choice. So how can Jesus ‘command’ us to express love one for another?

We tend to experience commands or laws or obligations as oppressive and as limiting to our freedom and personal autonomy. We think of rulers as overlords who wish to impose their will on us and we are instinctively reluctant to comply with external rules foisted on us in this way.

What we are dealing with here though is not the command of some dictator or oppressor but the command of God. This is the command of the only one who has our best interests at heart, the unique being who is more interested in us than we are in ourselves. It is the command of our creator, sustainer and redeemer and his command to love is entirely in our best interests.

J. Ratzinger, in „Bawarian Lectures 1963-2004” said:

“The hell is the solitude and loneliness where even LOVE is not able to penetrate”

In 1941, the German army began to round up Jewish people in Lithuania. Thousands of Jews were murdered. But one German soldier objected to their murder. He was Sergeant Anton Schmid. Through his assistance, at least 250 Jews were spared their lives. He managed to hide them, find food, and supply them with forged papers. Schmid himself was arrested in early 1942 for saving these lives. He was tried and executed in 1942.

It took Germany almost sixty years to honor the memory of this man Schmid. Said Germany's Defence Minister in 2000 in saluting him, "Too many bowed to the threats and temptations of the dictator Hitler, and too few found the strength to resist. But Sergeant Anton Schmid did resist."

Name a person who better obeyed the admonition of the Christ in today's Gospel. "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." The hero Schmid went beyond what even Jesus encouraged. He laid down his life for strangers.

What a welcome the court-martialed Anton Schmid must have received from Our Lord when he entered the Kingdom.

Being a Christian requires all the character we can summon up.

We have first at all to understand correctly these three words: TRUTH, FREEDOM and LOVE.

You have tried many times to be a Christian only to fall on your face. Do not grow tired. Reflect, as an historian tells us, that the first electric bulb was so faint that a lit candle had to be used along with it. Thirty-two hours were initially required to make the trip by steamboat from Albany to New York - a trip of but 150 miles. The initial flight of the Wright brothers in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina lasted but 12 seconds. The top speed of the first car was anywhere from two to four miles each hour. We know what those inventions can do today.

Remember the aphorism that God makes a great finish out of a slow start and nothing can be done until we take the first step. Be patient. It takes an oak fifty years to produce an acorn.

Is the love of God is evident in our own family structures? We have to have rules in our families. Out of love for our children and our teenagers, we have to set guidelines so they can grow, develop, and spread their wings while they are still under our protection. More important than these rules is the reason for their establishment: love. You make rules for your children because you love them. At the same time, we have to be careful that we never allow a rule to destroy love. But also never allow the sentimental and irresponsible love destroys the rules ... because you put in danger and the rules and love.