Menu
(Photo background by Aaron Burden on Unsplash)
Jesus instructs his followers (that’s us) to be “perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” This is a most astounding and intimidating teaching. As its expression, the Lord says that we are not to resist the evil doer; to offer one’s cheek if one has been hit on the other; to go the extra mile with a person; to give to anyone who begs; and, to love one’s enemies and pray for those who persecute or hurt you. If I were look at his teaching and seek to put it into practice, I would soon realize that it is beyond my strength and some, even outside of my desires. How can I live his teaching, how can I be perfect as my “heavenly Father is perfect”? The answer to my question is “I can’t.” I can’t turn the other cheek. I can’t love and pray for those who treat me badly. I can’t be perfect as the Father is perfect. All I do is trip and fall, all I do is make mistakes and give into temptation. So what’s the use, what’s the point? I always make the same mistake – I forget that I do not seek to follow the Lord alone, but rather I’m always with the Lord and the Lord is with me. And we seek to follow the Lord by a faith that may be fragile, is stronger in its desire than our discouragement of our failures. The movement within our hearts is stirred and enflamed by the witness of what he has done for us.
St. Paul poses a question in the Second Reading. He asks us, “Do you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” I may think of myself in many different ways, but the notion that I’m God’s temple is not my usual first thought. Instead, I tend to think of myself as a disappointment to God. I may have moments of fidelity, but they are short lived. I’m like dead weight to the Lord and his more faithful followers. Yet, God has identified each of us as his temple. So much so that the Father has sent the Holy Spirit to dwell, to live within our hearts. It is amazing to comprehend that God refuses that there be an unbridgeable gap between himself and us. And so God lives within us and we are his temple. God’s identification does not permit debate or other possibilities. In our hearts we simply repeat those most beautiful words: God has chosen me to be his temple. It is from the acceptance of God’s will and judgement that we seek to follow the Lord and strive to be perfect. We come to know in our minds and hearts, little by little, that we are loved by the Father by a perfect love, a love that is eternal, is limitless. And so we put one foot in front of the other, seeking to love God back with a love that only grows and expands, to “be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”
God Bless and Take Care - Fr John
St. Paul wrote in the Second Reading, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” Through his incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection, the light that Jesus speaks of in this week’s Gospel is revealed to us. In the Gospel the Lord identifies us as “the light of the world.” He goes on to say that no one with such a light would ever cover it up, but rather the light would brighten the whole world. Sometimes we think of this light as being the particular gifts a person may possess, for example, a person may be a good speaker, a brilliant student, a graceful athlete, a beautiful singer, an efficient worker, and so we think that it’s about letting these parts of a person to stand out and be used or to shine. While it is true that we are to use the gifts that God has given to us, I think the Lord is speaking about something more primary, something much more foundational. To be the light of the world, to retain our “saltiness” is to live according to God’s creation of the human person. And our creation is that we are God’s children. As God’s children we are given a definite dignity, a dignity that cannot be lost or taken. When St. Paul proclaims nothing but Jesus Christ and his crucifixion, he is proclaiming the love of the Father for his daughters and sons. And so, when a Christian lives with this knowledge in one’s heart, one lives a life consistently shining forth God’s light and love to the world.
Pope Francis has described evangelization, the proclamation of the Good News, as being a work that resembles attraction. Our work in spreading the Good News is not about arguing or convincing others of some reasonable logic, but of shining forth the beauty of our faith in Christ Jesus; that every word we speak or action that we do emerges from our heart knowledge of being God’s children. If we were not God’s children the sacrifice of the cross would make no sense. When we know this in our minds and hearts we sort of “cross a line of no return.” The person cannot live as they once lived, but now must live according to God’s law of love written on their hearts. A child of God lives as Isaiah describes in the First Reading: “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless into your house; [and] when you see the naked, to cover them?” This Sunday we are again given a beautiful gift—to be who God has made us to be, that is, to be God’s beloved children. And in this all our good works will give glory to our Father in heaven.
God Bless & Take Care!
On Saturday, February 8, 2020 at our February Fiesta, held at Our Lady of Lourdes School, the winning tickets were drawn in our Car Raffle.
Our List of Winners:
Grand Prize: 2019 Honda HR-VLX or $22,019 cash -- Barry Stader Ticket # 01861
2nd Prize: $3,000 -- Fely Mawirat Ticket # 02977
3rd Prize: $2,000 -- Miriam Kelly Ticket # 01224
8 Prizes of $100.00
The Raffle was a great success! We raised $67,000 through ticket sales. Thank you to our dedicated volunteers who distributed and sold tickets and encouraged everyone to help us out. And a special thank you to everyone who bought and sold tickets. We could not have done it without you.
The other day I was reading about an entertainer who has had a prolonged battle with addiction, even to the point of attempting to take her life. She said that she was trying to find a sense of more in life, of peace and the fullness of life. She said she didn’t realize it at the time, but she was really searching for God, even if, in all the wrong places. Though with perhaps less extremes, I think we can all relate to what she is saying. We feel a desire that reaches out for something more. It’s as if we are reaching for something but we not exactly sure what or where it is. But we’re not grasping at “thin air,” we are grasping and reaching for Him. For our God, for our Father. And so the words of the Psalm reverberate within our hearts - “Lift up your heads, O Gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in.”
This Sunday we have the passage from Luke’s Gospel that describes the Presentation in the Temple. We see Mary and Joseph bring the baby Jesus to present him to God. In the temple there is both Simeon and Anna. Simeon and Anna have sought and longed for the coming of the Messiah. Both praise God when they see the baby Jesus. Simeon takes the baby in his arms and Anna speaks about the redemption of Jerusalem. On seeing the Lord, the “ancient doors” of their hearts were opened wide to receive the Lord into their lives. We too want to open wide the doors of our hearts to Him. And yet, at least for myself, despite my desire to open my heart, I can keep my foot on the door, ensuring it remain closed. There must be a reason why we seem to hesitate in letting the door be “opened wide.” The only reason that makes sense to me is that we are unsure what will happen if we let it be “opened wide.” We may long for something more, but we sure don’t want to put in jeopardy that which we already have or know. So the foot comes down and we keep it somewhat closed. But there is an answer to our hesitation, reluctance and uncertainty. It is found in the words of Simeon to Mary.
Simeon told Mary that “a sword will pierce your own soul too.” These words, spoken so near to Jesus’ birth, somewhat surprisingly point to his death on the Cross. As we read in the second reading from Hebrews: “It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, should make the source of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” While we try to find the trust, confidence and faith to let the doors of our hearts be “opened wide,” we can look to God’s actions. In Christ we see God seeking to reveal our salvation and redemption. God doesn’t force it upon us, but shows it to us in Christ. That is, the Lord came into the world for us; he gave everything he possesses for us; and, he gave even his life for us. Our hesitation and reluctance to let the Lord in fully is lessened by seeing clearly his motivation. It isn’t to coerce, to manipulate, to condemn, to destroy. It is to love. And this is the more we all long for. It isn’t a what but it is a who – it is the Lord!
God Bless & Take Care! - Fr John
Today we see our Lord among a hungry crowd. There are more than five thousand people gathered around him in a deserted place. They are hungry and there is little to no food, only five loaves of bread and two fish. This is not the first time God has heard the cries of hunger. In the Book of Exodus, the people of Israel were in the “wilderness” and were hungry. God sent them “manna.” In the Book of Numbers, Israel again complained of their hunger, remembering the fish they ate in Egypt. To their cry, God gave them quail. Christ hears their need and responds:
And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
And all ate and were filled. What was left over was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.
It is clear that God hears and knows our needs. God sometimes responds directly and concretely, as with the feeding of the five thousand, while other times, indirectly and subtly. No matter in which way, we are able to see how God feeds, nurtures and cares for us, as his children. In what way does God continue to hear our cry of hunger here at Lourdes? And in what way does he seek to take care of us?
We may not be wandering in the “wilderness,” or remembering the fish we ate in Egypt or sitting in a deserted place, but like those in the Bible, we are hungry. And we are hungry for a very particular thing. If you watch Hollywood movies, listen to popular music, read novels or just hear the needs of your heart, what becomes obvious to us is that we long for love. We may long for love in family, romance or friendship, but so too do we all long for a love that comes from “on high” and from within. We all long for a love that is never lost nor ever ended. We all long for an eternal love, that is, we all long for the love of God our Father. As in the case of the People of Israel and the five thousand, God hears and knows our need, and so God feeds, nurtures and cares for us.
In the Second Reading, Saint Paul reminds us of the words the Lord spoke at the Last Supper. Jesus took the bread and said, “This is my Body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” When he took the cup he said, “This cup is the new covenant in my Blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” At the end of the passage, Paul says, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” The Body and Blood of the Lord, the Sacrament of the Eucharist, is both a concrete and subtle response to our need and hunger for love. In proclaiming his death we are proclaiming his love. And not just any love, but a very particular love – a love that gives all and a love that does not end. No matter what happens in one’s life, the eternal action of God’s full loving in the Eucharist is never lost. It is offered by our Father to you always. When you receive Communion, you are receiving the infinite love of the Father within your heart.
The devil is a great liar. He tells us that unless we’re successful in this or that, unless we achieve a certain status or accomplishment or unless we possess a number of things we will not be held as valued or loved. But when I lived on Smokey Mountain, the garbage dump of Manila, I realized that many of those who lived there, while they do not have many things, are still drawn by the desire to one day possess them. For example, at night many of the people on Smokey Mountain would gather around the one TV and watch “The Voice,” a sort of talent competition.
eople would talk about one day getting on “The Voice” and winning. And if they won they would have a place in the world and be judged as valuable and loveable. While understandable it’s still a belief about oneself derived from an origin other than God.
In the Trinity, God makes clear the extent to which we are valued and loved. It has nothing to do with how much we have or how much we don’t have, rather it is evident from his proclaimed truth: “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son.”
In this single sentence we are given all. In Jesus Christ God shows us who we are. It is for us to imagine in our hearts that we are so loved by the Father that he would send his only Son, and for no other reason than to show us the value and the love God has for each of us. The more we point to things or achievements as signs of who we are or the discouragement we feel for the lack of things we have or succeed in, the more felt is our own poverty.
Before our Masses here at Lourdes, the Altar Servers, Ministers and Priests pray together in the sacristy. Sometimes a person may pray and ask that we not make a mistake. I find this an expression of sadness because it seems to say that God’s gratitude and love is dependent on our success. But Church, let us really listen to the words of Christ, “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son.” The Son was sent not because we did this or that correctly but because God desires that our relationship with him be marked more by love than by anything else. When we do something wrong we never have to be fearful of God’s rejection because, as St. Paul writes, “Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand.” The freedom that the children of God can know comes from this free and total gift of love in Christ. Our life-long task is not to accumulate the riches of this world nor to achieve a certain impressive status but it is to embrace in our hearts this total and free gift of God’s love. The life that we are invited to live is the life that is God himself, love that is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit can be ours as well. And so we can “boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God” knowing that this hope will not disappoint us, “because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Let us live free by living in love.
The first movie I saw in the theatre was Star Wars in the late 1970s. I remember being totally in awe of seeing battles in outer space, adventures on unknown planets and strange looking creatures playing music in a smugglers’ bar. I was definitely “Wowed” by the movie experience.
Since then I’ve been a loyal fan of Star Wars, even of the movies that weren’t so good. To be “Wowed” is to be impressed, it often makes us a fan, supporter or customer. This Sunday, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. When the Lord ascended to the Father, it seems to me to have been a “once in a lifetime” opportunity to “Wow” and thus to generate much excitement and total support.
If I were giving advice to the Lord on his ascension, I would have said that we need to make it a big show, to “Wow” the people of Jerusalem. Maybe ascending from the Temple. Maybe pick the busiest time of the day. And maybe ascend “with a shout . . . [and] the sound of a trumpet.” If this had been done, then I think all would have become followers of the Lord.
They would have been so “Wowed,” so impressed that their support would’ve been guaranteed. And yet, this is not what the Lord did. Instead, Christ went out of Jerusalem, somewhere near Bethany, brought with him some of his disciples, taught them, blessed them and then ascended. The key to understand the actions of the Lord is to be found in the second reading. Saint Paul wrote, “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints.” The Lord is not interested in “Wowing” us, is not preoccupied with impressing, rather he wants us to know who he is and who we are.
With the “eyes of your heart” we can come to understand that which is beyond understanding. We can glimpse the love of the Father for each of his children, of each of us. We live our normal lives. We go to work, we visit our friends, we dream of things probably never to be realized, we worry about our families, we relish moments of success and retreat from failure. We think we are just normal, everyday people, not too significant to the world or to God. And yet with the Ascension of the Lord, what does the Lord do? He brings our humanity into the very life of God. He brings you into him. With the “eyes of your heart” we can understand a little bit more the love of God for each of us and we can understand who we are. We are not normal, everyday people, rather we are his beloved children. And this is the “glorious inheritance” he has given to each of you. God isn’t so interested in “Wowing.” He is interested in loving.
One recent Friday morning, I was driving back to Lourdes after having said Mass at a convent. I came to an intersection and was waiting to turn right. I was delayed in making the turn because there was a person crossing in front of me and the person was crossing slowly indeed. At some point, the car behind me honked. I was mad at the person crossing the street so slowly and now mad at the person in the car behind me. And so I made a rude “gesture” with my hand to show my displeasure. So much for just having said Mass!
Such episodes are relatively common in a big city like Toronto. But I must admit that my initial delight of paying back rudeness with rudeness began to disappear and to be replaced by disappointment in my self. And this feeling remained with me throughout the day.
I realized that there are many times, when the road gets even a little bumpy, that the thinness of my faith is brought to light. I don’t want to be a Christian only when it’s easy or convenient, rather I want to follow the Lord all the time. Our faith is not to be like the one I demonstrated, on the surface, but it is to be at the core of our being, it is to be written on our hearts.
In the Gospel from St. John, as Jesus is telling his disciples that “I am going to the Father,” he also reminds us that he will not leave us empty handed. He leaves us his peace and, through him, the Holy Spirit will be sent. It is hard to imagine that those who were hearing the Lord speak felt the joy he was saying they should feel with this news. I think the beginning of the passage holds the clue for us. Christ speaks that those who love him “will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” Keeping the Lord’s word, his teaching, is not only a question of obedience. It isn’t merely a matter of having sufficient strength of will to follow his commands. It is much more!
God is offering his life to you. By cooperating with God’s grace, through the Holy Spirit, keeping his word is receiving his life in our hearts. Our redemption, salvation and transformation is through making his life our own life. But this gift is not easy to accept. It is made one’s own by an almost unconscious movement of following our hearts. As one’s relationship with the Lord deepens, so too does one’s trust; we creak open the doors of our hearts. Our hearts are more opened because we feel his peace within us and we want it even more. We want God to make his permanent home within us. We want to know his love not some of the time, but all of the time. In this way, our faith is not thin or superficial, instead it is everything. And it is everything because it is who we are coming to be.
Whenever I hear this Sunday’s Gospel (John 21:1-9), the Risen Lord’s appearance to some of the apostles by the Sea of Tiberias it reminds me of my first vows. This was the passage we six novices chose for the vows. At the time we probably chose it because of Peter’s three admissions of love. Over the years however, I’ve come to see the passage differently. It is not Peter’s admissions that are so interesting and moving but the Lord’s three questions. We can understand his repetition of questions in one of two ways.
The first is the Lord sort of asking “are you sure?” This means, in my understanding, the Lord saying to Peter “I know you denied me three times; I know you left my side when I was arrested; I know you did not keep the promises you made to me at the Last Supper, and so, are you sure?” This reading emphasizes our infidelity, our inconsistency, our sinfulness. A risen lord who is so critical of those he loves to such an extent that he gave his life, is not the Risen Lord that I have come to know and to love. For did not the Lord say that he was not sent to “the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved.”
The second way of understanding this Gospel, which is my preference, is to see something drastically different. We all believe that God knows us better than we know ourselves and so I believe that the Risen Lord knew the shame, the embarrassment and the dejection that Peter felt in his heart due to his actions. The Risen Lord’s three questions remind Peter that it is not shame, embarrassment and dejection that reside in Peter’s heart; rather it is his love for Jesus Christ. The corner stone of our Church was not moved by guilt, he was moved by love.
In a similar way we must never be moved by guilt in our Christian faith. Rather we must always seek to be moved by what is in our heart, that is, that we love the Lord in our own particular way. We may see what is lacking in that love, others may judge that we are lacking in love, but the Risen Lord makes himself weak and tenderly asks us “do you love me?” All our shame, all our embarrassment and all our dejection in the face of such honest tenderness slides to the side and we respond with corresponding honesty and tenderness, “you know that I love you.” So here at Lourdes we what type of community are we? Using the words of St. Francis Xavier, let us continue to grow into a “community of love.”