Advent - 2009

Advent ... a time of waiting ... a time of preparing ... waiting and preparing for what?

for Jesus ...

But who is Jesus for me?

Do I even need Jesus in my life?

And what do my hands have to offer Him?

Am I self-sufficient, in organizing, planning and dealing with things - living in the illusion that I am capable of getting everything done on my own?

If so, then my hands are closed with a tight fist, in a posture such as a body builder who looks in the mirror to show off the muscles with pride.

Or, by living in the truth - do I take the posture of a poor beggar, seeing my weakness, my need for a Saviour who will pay the debt of my sinfulness?

In this situation, my hands will be cupped open and upturned, waiting to be filled with Gods graces of love and mercy ... ready to receive my Saviour.

Advent ... an opportunity to pray that my soul would be prepared and in a state of grace,

which would be open to accept the gift of God's Son,

at Christmas ... and at every Eucharist.

Humility is so important because God is ready to give everything to the person who credits nothing to himself...

"Reflections on Faith"

Advent is a time to welcome Jesus, the Son of God coming to you ... what are you waiting for!

Will you have the time for:

St. Matthew Parish Advent Mission

Dates: Saturday December 05 ç to è Wednesday December 09, 2009

Theme: Nothing More Beautiful than to know Jesus Christ

Program:

- Jesus Incarnate

Saturday 05 December

- 7:00 PM - Mass in Rocky Mountain House,

- 7:30 PM – First Conference

Sunday 06 December

- 9:00 AM - Mass in Rocky Mountain House

- 9:40 AM – First Conference

- 11:00 AM – Mass in Evergreen

- 11:40 AM – First Conference

- 1:00 PM – Mass in Caroline

- 1:40 PM – First conference

All Conferences after all Masses are presented by John Paul Markides

– Jesus Emmanuel

Monday 07 December in Rocky Mountain House

in RMH - 7:00 PM Mass

- 7:30 PM Second Conference Patty Higgins

in Evergreen - 7:00 PM Third Conference - Tim Hoven

- Jesus Messiah

Tuesday 08 December in Rocky Mountain House

in RMH - 9:00 AM Conference in St. Matthew School (grades 4-8)

- 2:00 PM Conference in St. Dominic School

- 7:00 PM Mass

- 7:30 PM Third Conference - Tim Hoven

Penitential Service

Wednesday 09 December in Rocky Mountain House

- 7:00 PM short conference and Penitential Service

in Evergreen

- 7:00 PM – short conference (Deacon) and Penitential Service

The schedule of the Christmas' and New Year's Masses:

Christmas Masses:

24.12. 2009 - Thursday - Christmas Eve

7 PM Mass for children

24 - Midnight Mass for all

25.12. 2009 - Friday - Christmas

9 AM - Mass in RMH

11 AM Mass in Evergreen

1 PM - Mass in Caroline

26.12. 2009 - Saturday - Boxing Day

7 PM - Mass in RMH

27.12.2009 - Sunday

9 AM - Mass in RMH

11 AM - Mass in Evergreen

1 PM - Mass in Caroline

New Year Masses:

31.12. 2009 - Thursday

4 PM Mass in Evergreen

7 PM - Thanksgiving Mass in RMH

01.01. 2010 - Friday - New Year - Solemnity of the Mother of God - Holy day of obligation

11 AM - Mass in RMH

1 PM - Mass in Caroline

02.01. 2010 - Saturday

7 PM - Mass in RMH

03.01. 2010 - Sunday

9 AM - Mass in RMH

11 AM - Mass in Evergreen

1 PM - Mass in Caroline

November 22, 2009 - The Feast of Christ the King “Year B”

Today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. Picture the scene in today's Gospel. Alone and unarmed Jesus stands in front of Pilate on trial for His life. He has been falsely accused by the Jews of stir­ring up trouble among the people, and of telling them that it was wrong to pay taxes to Caesar.

Pilate soon saw that Jesus was innocent of all those charges. He even said so. He declared Jesus innocent before the religious leaders. But the religious leaders began to exert political pressure on him. They threatened to re­port Pilate to Rome for letting someone whom they claimed was an enemy of Caesar, go free.

Now the focus shifted from Jesus to Pilate. Pilate was now the one on trial. Would Pilate do what was right even though that might make his life difficult or would he bow to political pressure and give in to the demands that might appease the crowd and make Pilate’s life more bearable?

Jesus tried to help him make the right decision by assuring him that Jesus' kingdom was no threat to Caesar. To Pilate’s questions Jesus replied “ Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. But my kingdom is not of this kind.”

And you can tell that that answer did bother Pilate because he strug­gled with it. But then he began to compromise. He considered what doing the right thing would cost him. He tried to appease Jesus' accusers — first by having Jesus scourged, and then by releasing Barabas. That should silence them and save the innocent man’s life. When even this didn't satisfy them, Pilate bowed to the political pressure and handed Jesus over to them.

Pilate knew what he had done. He called for water and scrubbed his hands in the vain hope of cleansing himself of the stain of innocent blood. And so, in the end, he is the one who stands condemned. He was in control. He had all the power. With just a snap of his fin­gers he could have set Jesus free. He knew that what he was doing was wrong.

Yet out of fear for his own position, he choose to do what he figured would take the pressure off of himself. He chose to do what he figured would make his life easier. Pilate allowed the most innocent person ever to walk this earth to go to his death. For the sake of convenience Pilate allowed Jesus to be crucified.

His cowardice contrasts sharply with the quiet courage of Jesus.

How many times in our lives have we bowed to pressure and for the sake of convenience, denied Jesus and His teachings in order to take the pressure off; in order to “make our lives bearable”, for the sake of convenience. Today our political leaders are frequently subjected to similar pressures. Pressure groups get on to them, threatening to put them out of office unless they get their way. And so at one time or another, all of us come under pressure. All of us find ourselves on trial. We have to constantly make decisions about right and wrong. By the way we live, but especially by our attitude towards faith and morals, we declare whether we are on the side of Christ and His kingdom, or whether like Pilate we take the way of evasion and cowardice or convenience.

Because, my friends, it is not possible to remain neutral. Our consciences won’t let us stay neutral. If correctly formed, our consciences will tell us whether or not what we have done violates the law of God. However, if not properly formed our consciences will mislead us and might even let us think that what we have done was the right thing. We won’t even feel bad about it.

Have we been misled by our poorly formed consciences?

We all hold positions now on Euthanasia, on abortion, on contraception, on same sex marriage, on divorce, on pre-marital sex, on adultery. Is our position the same as the Church’s on these issues? If not, why not? Have we made certain that the moral decisions we made were the right ones based on full knowledge of the teachings of the church.

Have we made decisions which will affect our eternal life based on lack of the truth, half truths or on the whole truth? How many people who have practiced contraception have ever read the encyclical Humanae Vitae (on Human Life)? If we have not then how could we in good conscience have practiced contraception? Could it be that we have formed our consciences based on the opinions of others rather than church teaching?

That is why not knowing what the church really teaches on any particular subject keeps us in the dark.

No wonder we can feel good about it and say it doesn’t bother us therefore it must be ok. What is ok? We have made decisions without educating ourselves and forming our consciences properly. We have dulled our consciences as to what is right and wrong. Why would we expect to feel bad about something we know nothing about?

Sometimes we may have let ourselves be led astray by someone in the Church whom we respect and whom we thought should have all the right answers. In that case it may not be our entirely our fault but rather the blame would be shared with those who have led us astray. But that still does not take away our responsibility to find out what God thinks about what we are about to do or have done.

There is a great deal of confusion—even among Catholics—about what our conscience really is. Some people think that if you don’t feel bad about something, if it doesn’t really bother you then what you are doing or have done must be ok. Unfortunately that is not the case. Conscience has very little to do with how you feel about it.

Sometimes we confuse our conscience with our emotions or our opinions, but conscience is neither of these either. It is not our conscience that decides whether something is right or wrong. Rather, the conscience tells us whether or not we have violated a known law of God. It stands to reason then that if we don’t know what the law of God is how can we violate it? We need to know what that law is and what God says about it before we can violate it.

It’s not our conscience that tells us that murder is wrong. Rather our conscience properly formed will tell us that we have violated God’s law against killing. Educating ourselves about that law is what we call forming our conscience. One of the main ways that Catholics form their conscience on any particular matter is to educate themselves on the topic through the teaching of the church.

The teaching of the church will tell us what God thinks about it. That’s the way God set it up. Not the church’s opinion but the church’s teaching. We need to know what the church teaches.

Otherwise we might think we are doing right and even feel good about it but could be acting in direct opposition to God’s law.

How many of us have turned away from the teachings of the Holy Father and the Church choosing instead to form our consciences from popular opinion or the teachings of dissenting theologians, bishops, priests, sisters or lay people without even bothering to read the church documents.

If we do that then we cannot say that we have properly formed our conscience. When we reject the church’s teachings without even reading them that may very well put us in a position of denying the truth.

Not the church’s opinion but the church’s teaching. Everyone else has an opinion – it’s the church who presents God’s teaching on the matter. And that’s why it’s the church’s teaching that should carry the most weight in forming our conscience.

After all, not educating ourselves as to what the church really teaches on the subject, and then doing something contrary to what the church teaches is in fact choosing to tell ourselves that we are right and the church is wrong on this issue.

And we need to know - that when we do that knowingly and purposefully - we are not exonerated from the guilt of the wrongful action we are about to commit or have committed.

We may just be washing our hands, and like Pilate proclaiming our innocence, but like Pilate we are not innocent but rather we are guilty as charged. Don’t you find it amazing that sometimes when we act contrary to church teaching we act as though we believed that the Holy Spirit has given us the truth because we wouldn’t want to do anything contrary to God’s will - and yet we fail to realize that in order for the Holy Spirit to have given us the truth, He must at the same time have misled the Holy Father and our Church in order to do so.

And if that is the case then Holy Scriptures are contradicted and Jesus is a liar. Think about it. This means that Jesus must not have meant it when He said to His Apostles and to their successors “Whoever hears you – hears me “. And, Lo, I am with you until the end of the age. He also told His disciples that “whatever you bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven.”

If we are in opposition to the church on any teaching, which one do you think is being guided by the Holy Spirit and which one is being guided by popular opinion and the world? If we are in opposition to a church teaching - one of us has to be wrong.

My friends, there is a battle being waged between the kingdom of dark­ness and the kingdom of light, the kingdom of lies and the kingdom of truth, the kingdom of evil and the kingdom of good. The culture of life and the culture of death. In the end what side do we want to be on? Where do we want to spend eternity with our King or away from Him?

In the end our decisions now will tell which side we were on. Because in the end that is the side we will be on for all eternity. Let us never forget, however, that the Father's love and mercy are at the heart of the Kingdom. Jesus didn't tell us to fear the last day, only to be ready for it.

What a joy it will be for us to belong to Christ and His kingdom. We can always repent and turn back to God. It’s never too late until we are dead. Salvation is always a gift of God. He gives it most freely to those who know they are poor and who ask for it with empty hands and expectant hearts.

And that’s the way it will be my friends if we turn away from sin and let our lives be ruled by His spirit. In our own small way we need to work for the spread of His kingdom – which is a kingdom of truth and life, holiness and grace, a kingdom of happiness and justice, a kingdom of love and peace.

God Bless you

Deacon Bernie Ouellette

Justice of the rich people ...

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B

Dan 12:1-3; Heb 10:11-14, 18; Mk 13:24-32

TODAY IS THE SECOND LAST SUNDAY of the Church year. Next Sunday we will celebrate the Feast of Christ the King.

On this Sunday the readings traditionally speak about the end of the world, the end of time, the final coming of Jesus to take all peoples and all creation to Himself. For Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega: the source and the end of all things.

In the passage immediately before today's Gospel, Jesus spoke about the fall and destruction of Jerusalem. It was a catastrophic experience for the Jews: even worse than the destruction of Rome and St Peter's would be for us. Because, for the Jews, Jerusalem and its Temple was the very dwelling place of God. It was not the first time the Temple had been desecrated and the Jews driven out into exile but this destruction has lasted 2,000 years. There is a Muslim mosque now on the site and that is not likely to change in the foreseeable future.

One of the essential parts of the good news of the gospel is the final and complete coming of the kingdom of God at the end of the world. Therefore, one of the essential characteristics of being a Christian is to positively desire the end of the world, and to look forward to it with great joy and hope and eager expectation. This is what we are actually expressing when we say in the Our Father, “Thy kingdom come” - that is, let this world end and let the kingdom of God come. And yet, the very thought of the end of the world fills so many with fear and anxiety rather than with joy and hope. One major reason for this is certainly that we have too easily understood the scriptural images and pictures about the end of the world in a completely literal sense, that is as if they were describing what will actually happen then. We have understood these images and pictures in a literal sense rather than in a symbolic sense, that is, as poetic, imaginative, dramatic attempts to express that God’s kingdom of justice and peace will completely prevail in the end, will do away with a world of injustice and sin, will destroy all the evil in the world, so that there will be a new heaven and new earth. In other words, Christ’s justice and power and glory and victory will burst forward and cover the whole world. It will be as extraordinary and startling and stupendous as would be a darkened moon and sun and fallen stars and shaken heavens over the whole earth. We might say that if the Scriptures had been written in our own time the writers would have used the contemporary images and pictures of a magnificent cosmic fireworks display to describe the wondrous grandeur of it all. That is, the world will not be destroyed or annihilated, because God created it and it is good; but rather it will be totally transfigured and transformed into a completely new creation, the very visible kingdom of God on earth.

So, the important thing is not the dramatic images and pictures themselves, but the message or meaning that they convey. If we concentrate on the dramatic descriptions as literal descriptions, then we can only fear and be afraid - in the face of such horrible things as universal darkness and fallen stars, shaken heavens and the fiery destruction of the earth. But if we look through the dramatic descriptions to the meaning, namely the mighty, all conquering coming of God’s kingdom of justice and peace, then we can look forward to that day with great joy and true peace, waiting for and earnestly desiring the final and complete coming of the kingdom of God at the end of the world. This is why we pray in every Eucharistic celebration: “Lord, in your mercy protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.”

32 Sunday in Ordinary Time - Mark 12:41-44

Sunday Reflection

“ I would like to buy three dollars worth of God, please.

I would like to buy just a little of the Lord.

Not enough to explode my soul and disturb my sleep.

Not enough to take control of my life.

I want just enough to equal a cup of warm milk.

Just enough to ease some of the pain from my guilt…”

The words of this poem, written by Wilbur Rees, reflect the difficulty that each of us has in surrendering ourselves totally to the care, mercy and love of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Unlike the widow spoken of in Mark’s Gospel (12:38-44), most of us find it too difficult to abandon the comfort and false sense of security that our possessions give us. This woman, desperately poor in material wealth, “…out of her poverty put in everything, all she had to live on”, a few pennies that she gave in faith to the temple treasury, while others gave merely out of their abundance.

Our attitude is rather the following:

“I would like to purchase a pound of the eternal in a paper sack.

If it doesn’t work, I would like to get my money back”?

******************************

A government social worker was visiting New England farms. He had the authority to give federal dollars to poor farmers. He found an elderly widow farming a few acres. Her house was clean but tiny. There did not appear to be much food in the house. The windows had no screens to keep out the summer flies. The exterior needed a paint job. He wondered how she could survive. He asked, "What would you do if the government gave you five hundred dollars?" Her answer was, "I would give it to the poor."

She was similar to the widow whom Daniel Webster had in mind. He was asked, "What moved you to become a Christian?" He replied, "Studying the way an old woman in New Hampshire lived."

The women of these two stories had much in common with today's Gospel widow. They were obviously cut out of the same bolt of exquisite damask. All three have much to tell us.

Our comparative tightness with our dollars comes despite Rousseau's admonition. "When a man dies, he carries in his hands only that which he has given away." We would do well to recall the question asked about the wealthy man who died. "How much money did he leave? The answer came promptly. "All of it!"

Research by Patrick Carney revealed that the highest percentage of Catholic contributions in the New York diocese comes from African-Americans in Central Harlem. Perhaps they have in mind Paul's advice in 2 Corinthians 9:7, "God loves a cheerful giver." Too often the comfortable give to God as though they were poor. And the poor give to Him as though they were wealthy.

Do most Catholics give a fair share of their income to the Church and to charities? A Gallup poll answered that query. In a recent year, American Catholics gave 1.3% of their income to parish and charities. But Protestants gave 2.4% and Jews 3.8%.

Someone has enumerated four different types of giving.

The first is called grudge giving. I hate to part with this twenty dollars but I will.

The second is shame giving. I must match whatever the Jones family is giving.

The third is calculated giving. We part with our money with what, someone deliciously called, a "lively sense of favours to come." Bingos, Las Vegas nights, and raffle tickets fit in very nicely in this category.

The final category is thanksgiving. I part with my funds precisely because God has been so wonderfully generous to me. The widow of today's Gospel fits comfortably into this area.

Now, returning to the widow of the Gospel reading, Jesus’ statement that she gave from her poverty her whole livelihood, could be seen as a praise of her generosity. It could also be seen as a condemnation of society who had left her so destitute that she, like the widow of Zeraphath, had nothing left to rely on than her certain death. The others gave from their surplus, she gave all that she had left. How had this happened? Had bankers mismanaged her money so that she had lost the little she had? Had religious leaders encouraged her to impoverish herself for the sake of the Temple treasury?

How had it happened that society could take advantage of the destitute? How does it happen that society continues to take advantage of those who have no protection?

Indeed, the strength of a society is measured by the care it gives to its weakest members.

Contrast

There is a striking contrast between the poor widow described in the second part of today's Gospel and the Scribes and Pharisees in the first part. The simple piety of this woman of no social standing is contrasted with the arrogance and social ambitions of some so-called religious leaders. She is also contrasted with the rich donors ostentatiously offering money they can easily afford. It is doubtful that what they gave involved even the slightest diminution in their standard of living.

How often have we foregone a vacation, or a weekend away or even a single meal in a restaurant because the money for it was given to people who were living on the edge of survival? Again, the Gospel is pointing the finger at us and not to people who lived a long time ago.

A daring act of trust

This poor woman, in a daring act of trust in God's providence, put into the treasury everything she had -- and it was next to nothing. She had two small coins. She put in both. She could have kept one for herself. But the service of God can never be in half measures.

The First Reading from the First Book of Kings has a similar story. It also features a poor widow and her son. Reduced to absolute penury she is on her way to get firewood to cook a last meal for them both from a little meal and oil, all that she has left. She sees nothing but death before them. Then Elijah, the prophet, himself hungry, comes and asks her for water and bread. When she tells him her situation, he still asks her to make a small scone for him. In a generous act of sharing, she does so and she is rewarded by their being enough for all three of them and the jar of meal and the jug of oil does not empty until the drought is over. The message is clear: when everyone gives, everyone receives.

November 1, 2009 - All Saints

Today's liturgy speaks completely of holiness. But to know what is the way to holiness, we must go with the Apostles up the mount of the Beatitudes to draw near to Jesus and listen to the words of life that come from his lips. Today too he says to us again:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven! The divine Teacher proclaims "blessed" and, we could say, "canonizes" first of all the poor in spirit, that is, those whose heart is free of prejudices and conditionings, and who are therefore totally disposed to the divine will. Their total and trusting fidelity to God presupposes renunciation and consistent self-detachment.

Blessed are those who mourn! This is the blessedness not only of those who suffer from the many misfortunes that belong to the mortal human condition, but also those who courageously accept the sufferings that result from the sincere profession of Gospel morality.

Blessed are the pure in heart! He proclaims blessed those who are not content with outward or ritual purity, but seek that absolute inner rectitude which excludes all deceit and duplicity.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness! Human righteousness is already a very lofty goal, which ennobles the heart of whoever pursues it, but Jesus is thinking of that greater righteousness which lies in seeking God's saving will: blessed above all are those who hunger and thirst for this righteousness. For Jesus says: "He who does the will of my Father who is in heaven shall enter the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 7: 21).

Blessed are the merciful! Happy are those who overcome their hardness of heart and indifference, to recognize in practice the primacy of compassionate love, following the example of the Good Samaritan and, in the last analysis, of the Father "rich in mercy" (Eph2: 4).

Blessed are the peacemakers! Peace, the sum of all messianic blessings, is a demanding task. In a world marked by tremendous antagonisms and barriers, fraternal harmony inspired by love and sharing must be promoted by overcoming hostilities and conflicts. Blessed are those who dedicate themselves to this most noble endeavour!

The saints took these words of Jesus seriously. They believed that they would find "happiness" by putting them into practice in their lives. And they realized their truth in everyday experience: despite their trials, moments of darkness and failures, they already tasted here below the deep joy of communion with Christ. In him they discovered the initial seed, already present in time, of the future glory of God's kingdom.

John Paul II, Sunday, September 24, 2000

Very often we think: "God is OK as long as he does not interfere with my essential purposes and priorities."

But the Saints didn't think this way. They were living totally the truth "God is first in my life".

Ecclesia Semper Reformanda

(The Church is Always in Need of Renewal)

5 Points for Renewing Church

PICKING UP PIECES: IOWA PRELATE PROPOSES PLAN

Trying to engage the world but forgetting what is distinctively Catholic has "wreaked havoc on the Church," according to the bishop of Sioux City, Iowa.

This is the claim made by Bishop R. Walker Nickless in his first pastoral letter, "Ecclesia Semper Reformanda" (The Church is Always in Need of Renewal). The document was published last Thursday.

"It is crucial that we all grasp that the hermeneutic or interpretation of discontinuity or rupture, which many think is the settled and even official position, is not the true meaning of the council. This interpretation sees the pre- conciliar and post-conciliar Church almost as two different churches.

"It sees the Second Vatican Council as a radical break with the past. There can be no split, however, between the Church and her faith before and after the Council. We must stop speaking of the 'Pre-Vatican II' and 'Post-Vatican II' Church, and stop seeing various characteristics of the Church as 'pre' and 'post' Vatican II.

"Instead, we must evaluate them according to their intrinsic value and pastoral effectiveness in this day and age."

Full text of Bishop Nickless' letter: www.scdiocese.org/files/Pastoral_Letter_updated100809.pdf

XXX Sunday – B (October 25,2009)

Gospel

Mk 10:46-52

As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd,

Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging.

On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say,

"Jesus, son of David, have pity on me."

And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.

But he kept calling out all the more, "Son of David, have pity on me."

Jesus stopped and said, "Call him."

So they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you."

He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.

Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?"

The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see."

Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you."

Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.

Blindness...

I just finished reading the book of Jose Saramago "Blindness".

Blindness is the story of an unexplained mass epidemic of blindness afflicting nearly everyone in an unnamed city, and the social breakdown that swiftly follows. The apocalyptic blindness is spreading around in a terrifying speed. The first few hundreds who become blind are quarantined in an old psychiatric hospital. They create an island of blindness, separated from the external word and their lives become a nightmare.

If one or few persons in the society are blind it's deplorable, but we can only imagine (or perhaps we cannot imagine) what can happen if the whole society become blind.

And I will dare to say that this is more or less the condition of our contemporary society. We are living in the society which is blind to needs of the most fragile, the most vulnerable, the defenceless, the unborn, the sick, the starving, the aged and the weakest members of this society.

We can however cry with Barthymaeus, the blind men from today's Gospel: "Jesus, son of David, have pity on us, and give us back our sight".

29^th Sunday In Ordinary Time “B”

World Mission Sunday

You know, one of the images the Bible uses for life is that of a cup. And, just as a cup can be filled with a bitter-sweet drink, so the life of each of us could be said to be a mixture of the sweet and the bitter.

Isn’t it so that there are times when the cup of our life is full of bitterness. It may be so bitter that we don't want to drink it, or feel we are not able to drink it.

But at other times the cup may be over-flowing with sweetness. At such times we can't get enough of it. And at still other times the cup may be flat and tasteless. Finally, there may be times when the cup of life seems to be empty.

In today’s Gospel James and John came to Jesus with a very selfish request. They asked that one of them be allowed to sit at His right hand and the other at His left hand in His kingdom. They obviously thought that Jesus' kingdom would be just like the other worldly kingdoms. In those kingdoms those in high places would enjoy honour, glory, and power.

How did Jesus answer them? Jesus answered by asking them a question: 'Can you drink the cup that I am to drink?' Thinking that it would be a very sweet cup they immediately said that they could.

But what Jesus was really asking the two disciples was, 'Are you will­ing to go through the suffering that I am going to go through?'

This is no easy thing — to drink a cup of sacrifice and suffering. In fact, when the time came for Jesus Himself to drink it, He seemed to shrink from it. Three times He asked the Father to remove it from Him: 'Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me' (Mt 26:39). But then He added, 'Yet not My will but Thine be done.' And then He did drink it, all of it.

The apostles didn't know at this time that the Lord's cup would be a very bitter one. Nor did they know their own weakness. So when the time came, rather than drinking the cup with Him, most of them left Him, and He had to drink the bitter cup alone.

In our own lives, we don't know in advance what the cup of life holds for us. We just find out as we go along.

Jesus, the Innocent One, chose to drink a very bitter cup. But, as we have seen, even He didn't find it easy. Yet He drank it to the very bottom. And He did so out of love for us. Love can make a bitter cup drink­able. (So can dire necessity – if you think of a bitter tasting medicine that must be drunk to be cured.)

It is love and dire necessity that makes our missionaries respond to the call to preach the gospel to drink the cup of life in far off places.

As we celebrate world mission Sunday today, we are reminded that the call to follow Christ “in mission” extends not only to missionaries but to ourselves also. Our call to follow Christ extends beyond sharing our faith and fortune with family, friends, neighbours and colleagues. This call extends to all peoples or, as Jesus said, even to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Only a few of us may be called and sent by the Church to serve as Missionaries overseas. And here we think of our own Father Kaz and other priest missionaries like him who have left home and country to serve God in foreign lands.

We think also of sisters such as Mother Theresa’s Sisters of Charity in India and others like them in Africa and the jungles of South America. We think also of those lay missionaries who have shared their time, talent and money working in missions overseas.

People like Del and Agnes Reider who for many years have served and helped the poor in far off countries.

And there are many others. You know them. But the reality is that most of us say “Yes” to our missionary vocation by staying at home and sharing the burden by way of prayer, personal sacrifice and financial support.

The first way that we can be a missionary and help our missionaries on the front line is through our prayers. Everything that we do in the name of the Lord is based on our connection with God through our prayers.

Today, we pray for all who serve the Lord in the missions through their missionary tasks. We also pray for the people that these missionaries are inviting to Christ through their words and their witness to His love. They do this by their teaching and healing, their care for the elderly and the orphans. They are there in person. We are with them in prayer.

Another way that we can support them is by personal sacrifice. Our personal sacrifice joins us in a unique way with Christ and with the Missions. We all have burdens, trials and anxieties. Even as we struggle under the crosses in our lives and drink the sometimes bitter cup of life, we can offer these trials and sufferings in union with Christ on the Cross for missionaries and for those that they serve.

Finally we can help by our financial support. And this is also most essential. Here is how we might understand the importance of today’s World Mission Sunday collection.

What is provided to the Missions today – by us and by all Catholics around the world, even those in the missions – is as critical to the missionary work of the church as the weekly collection is to our own parish. This collection for the missions is the basic lifeblood of some 1,150 mission dioceses.

Think about it. Can those missionary sisters really be sent to an isolated village in Ghana or Tanzania to teach and care for the sick without our support? Can a catechist be trained for a mission in India without our support? Can a priest travel 50 rough kilometers to say Mass at a mission in South America without our support?

In a very real way, we are the ones whom Jesus is asking to share from our plenty in order to help support these efforts to spread the good news to the very ends of the earth. Saying “Yes” to Jesus makes these missionary efforts possible.

Like the priest in Africa, the sisters in India, and the lay missionary worker in the far off jungle, it is our mission to move ourselves, at least in spirit, to those far off places to call others to Christ. Like the missionary priests, sisters and lay people, it’s our vocation to make ourselves instruments of Christ’s peace, touching even the ends of today’s broken world.

Yes, it is our calling to show Jesus to the poor, the poor of all the world and to invite them to live in that same faith which brings us all here today to share the Eucharist.

Though Jesus was without sin, He experienced weakness and temptation as we do. He understands our weakness. Hence, we should approach Him with confidence, knowing that He can and will help us to drink this cup.

If we find the cup of life particularly bitter, there is no need for us to pretend that it is sweet, or to think that we can drink it by our own strength.

Unlike the two apostles, let us not be afraid or ashamed to say, “No, Lord, I can't drink it. I don't want to drink it. But if I have to, then with your help I will. Let Your will be done – not mine.”

To drink the cup of life, especially a cup made difficult by a life of sacrifice and service to others, is to follow Christ. But those who share the bitterness of His cross will also share the sweetness of His Easter victory.

May God inspire us to be generous today in sharing that abundance of gifts that God has seen fit to shower upon us.

Following His example, let us drink this cup with Jesus. Let us help to spread the Good news and share our wealth to help the poor. It is Jesus, after all, who asks us to drink this cup.

Will we share with our missionaries or will we let them drink the bitter cup alone?

God Bless You,

Deacon Bernie Ouellette

28 Sunday in Ordinary Time – B

Mk 10:17-30

HOMILY

The teaching against our selfish culture

It's interesting:

For the question: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus does not answer: "Be free. Follow your conscience. If you feel good do whatever you wish" – like some of our contemporary liberalistic theologians.

Jesus' answer is precise and sharp:

"You know the commandments:

you shall not kill;

you shall not commit adultery;

you shall not steal;

you shall not bear false witness;

you shall not defraud;

honour your father and your mother."

We prefer to have the watered, nice and polite answers. But Jesus answers directly and sharply: Keep commandments! God gave us the commandments as an objective and reliable point of reference. We shall not dissolve them in the subjective and relativistic ideologies and politically correct theories. Like to the young men, He tells me also: "If you would like to inherit eternal life there is only one way; KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS!!!!"

So, do I realize that unless I keep the God's commandments I will NOT ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD?

I certainly know the commandments and I don't need to smooth and flatten them, make them easy and more human. There are the objective and the most reliable means of entering the eternal life.

But this is not the end of Christ's teaching.

Many or most of us, sitting in the pews are not killers, adulterers, thieves, chronic liars, sinister schemers of fraud, or parent abusers. Rather, we are observing the commandments with faithfulness. Perhaps there are many people in our congregation who might be able to say to Jesus with the young man from the Gospel – “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth”. Nevertheless, like the young, rich man, Jesus can most likely address each one of us with the words – "You are lacking one thing … sell what you have, and give to the poor".

And this is the climax of His teaching. This is the most difficult point of His Gospel, because we –in the individualistic society- we are convinced that it is my right to posses, to defend and to multiply my possessions. The whole world around me is telling me that I am the most important, the most precious person and my needs, my requirements and desires are on top and should be satisfied by all means. If there are not satisfied, I am disappointed; I am upset and even frustrated.

And Jesus in His teaching is going against this mentality. He says openly: "Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come and follow me."

Very sturdy and very difficult teaching ...

My rights to posses against the teaching of Christ …

The teaching, which is not at all smooth and nice. The teaching which openly states: "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!"

Why is it difficult for rich men to enter the Kingdom of God? Is it the richness a kind of curse? Is richness a sin? Or maybe it is rather because the richness makes me blind and so I cannot see anymore nor God neither my neighbour?

"How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!"

It is hard not because the richness as such is a sin but because being rich very often I become blind and selfish, self-centered …

It's my choice to listen to - or not.