First Sunday of Advent - 2022

"People were eating and drinking"  <>  "Two working in a field, one taken, one left." Time is something we take for granted, ours to use at our discretion. But therein lies the problem. We do not create time; we are only the managers of time. Each day’s time is a gift given by God, for a purpose that has been determined by His divine will. (Psalm 139) As servants of the landowner, a portion of the “garden of time” is assigned to us, wherein to plant the works of holiness and reap an abundant harvest, as best we can. The gospels are rich in this imagery, given by Jesus in his parables, to help us to learn and understand the purpose of our existence in time. So, what kind of servant am I, how am I using my allotted time ? MISGUIDED: – increasingly, the shroud of secularism is spreading over the mind of this generation. With man now at the centre, time is exclusively ours to do with as we please. There is no other to whom we must account. My will, my way. NEGLIGENT: – those who have been informed with a conscience that teaches us of our responsibility for what happens in our time. Yet tomorrow seems to be the time of choice. (Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry! . . . Lk 12:19) SELFISH: – " ... my  will be done ...". WISE: – to see every day as my last day. At what good works will I be diligently engaged when He comes to call me to account? The First Sunday of Advent begins a new year of grace in the Church; a new year to study the gospels of wisdom and truth; a new year to learn how to be a true disciple/servant; a new year to  take up anew the works of holiness and charity; a new year to value as a treasure this new gift of time. What lies ahead is hidden. Only one thing is certain - we will be asked for an accounting of this time spent. This time of year all attention is focused on preparing for Christmas and the many holiday celebrations. As we sit down to make our list of all our holiday plans, let us not forget that the most important list we need to work on is how we will use this new gift of TIME in the service of God's will.

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Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe - 2022

Feast of Christ the King was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925. It was only a few years since the end of the catastrophic First World War. The minds of many were in search of answers as to how such an evil had overtaken the world. In his encyclical, instituting the Feast of Christ the King, the pope said this - In the first Encyclical Letter which We addressed at the beginning of Our Pontificate to the Bishops of the universal Church, We referred to the chief causes of the difficulties under which mankind was laboring. And We remember saying that these manifold evils in the world were due to the fact that the majority of men had thrust Jesus Christ and his holy law out of their lives; that these had no place either in private affairs or in politics: and we said further, that as long as individuals and states refused to submit to the rule of our Savior, there would be no really hopeful prospect of a lasting peace among nations.  Men must look for the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ; and that We promised to do as far as lay in Our power. In the Kingdom of Christ, that is, it seemed to Us that peace could not be more effectually restored nor fixed upon a firmer basis than through the restoration of the Empire of Our Lord. Pope Pius XI in 1925: The Pope barely had finished identify the real cause of humanities failures which lead to the First World War than an even greater catastrophic Second World War broke out; which was followed by the Cold War in which the very existence of humanity lay teetering on the threat of all-out nuclear war. Has the world finally learned the lesson the Pope articulated in his Encyclical Letter? I fear not. Listen again to the dialogue in today’s Gospel Reading. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!" The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!"  One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" Do we not hear the same challenges being hurled again Christ and His Church today? The words used to attack may be different, but they harbour the same cynical contempt. Now we hear - and where is the proof that there is any such God let alone that this man Jesus, even if he actually existed, was some kind of god?  And in mockery - you who worship this Jesus, what are you smoking, what are you drinking – a cocktail of make-believe?  And in derision - look at all that science and technology has done to save lives, who’s life has your religion saved lately? And that other voice heard now speaks;  “Lord, judge us not for such blasphemy hurled against you. Teach us the ways of your Kingdom of truth so that we make bring peace to our broken World.” Ps. 86 And the voice of Lord reply's: “I am with you always, and my truth has set you free. Remain in Me as I remain in you.” J0 8:32 So ends this liturgical year and the choice put forward at the Cross of Jesus remains no less true for us today. The words of Pope Pius XI remain ever true; that the evils in the world are due to the fact that the majority of people have thrust Jesus Christ and his holy law out of their lives; that as long as individuals and states refused to submit to the rule of our Savior, there will be no real hopeful prospect of a lasting peace among nations or a person’s own life.  To who’s kingdom will we bind our hearts, the kingdom man’s futility or God’s Kingdom of Light and Peace? A new year is about to unfold before us. May our choice be certain, one without compromise.

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Thirty-third Sunday - 2022

Commentary on the Sunday Gospel for  the Thirty-third Sunday, 2022 Dr. Brant Pitre, a Research Professor of Theology  at the Augustine Institute. View on Catholic Productions - LINK

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Thirty-second Sunday - 2022

Sadducees were one of the leading parties of the Jewish people in the first century AD. – small group, but they were very powerful and influential – people of high level, high ranking, very powerful, Jewish priests—who were functionaries in the temple, but who were also wealthy aristocrats in the city of Jerusalem. Now these Sadducees denied certain beliefs that were common to the Jewish people—the first one being the resurrection of the dead – they did not believe in any form of afterlife – once you died, that was it. You ceased to be. (Sound familiar?) They also did not believe in the inspiration of certain books of the Bible. They only accepted the first five books of the Bible, commonly called the books of Moses or the Pentateuch—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And they didn’t accept what we refer to today as the historical books, or the writings of the prophets—like Isaiah, Jeremiah. Jesus is teaching that there is to be a resurrection of the dead – a new eternal life to come. However, the resurrection Jesus is proclaiming is far beyond the notion of resurrection that the Pharisees believed and taught, or what the Sadducees understood as resurrection. So here the Sadducees are trying to entangle Jesus teaching by pitting it against the teaching of Moses. "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her."  Jesus answers straight forwardly (. . . the resurrection we believe in today) Jesus said to them, "Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed, they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection”. Today our belief in the resurrection of the dead is being challenged and denied, not by Sadducees but a more virulent and dangerous group – the secular atheists of today; their argument is rooted in a new kind of scientism – seeing is proof – you say you believe where is your scientific proof. Like the argument of the Sadducees the argument of scientism is hopelessly narrow – admitting only one source of knowledge – empirical science. For us gathered here today we may not feel adequate enough to take on this debate. Fortunately, we have the support of the Church and therein are many who are more than capable of dealing with scientism and all the other deniers out there. However, we must be careful about where we get our information, even that which claims to be that of the Church. In the “wild west of the internet” there are plenty who claim to be speaking in the name of the Church – as well as some who attack the teaching of the Holy Father. Satan is real and his method is “divide and conquer”. Just look at the political scene today.

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