Twentieth Sunday of the Year - 2023

Not feeding the dog at table may be a rule at your home. Lucky for dogs there are a few young folks who aren’t getting the message. Lucky too for the Canaanite Woman in today's gospel text. Here we find that Jesus has moved into the northern regions, predominately occupied by the pagan Canaanite people. (Today Lebanon and Syria). The Jews despised these people, they considered them as cursed by God with no hope of redemption. Both Matthew (15:21) and Mark (7:24) have this account. Mark says that Jesus did not want people to know he was in the region. Matthew recounts Jesus asserting that his mission is only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Jesus may have withdrawn to this region for a time to avoid the growing hostility toward him by the Jewish leaders.  There appears a Canaanite woman who has a daughter possessed by a demon. She has heard of Jesus' reputation in such matters and has discovered where he is staying.  She came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." And he answered, "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Mtt: She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, "Let the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." But she answered him, "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Mk: Jesus enters into a little role playing with the woman. He plays the part of his antagonists with their misconception of God's plan of Mercy. She is given the role of true faith - faith that Jesus is revealing by his gospel.  Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly. The subject of God's mercy has been once again brought into focus for us by Pope Francis and the Year of Mercy he established. Once again we see there is a right and a left side to the way it is approached. On the right, like the Pharisees of old, God's mercy is seen as something earned, a reward for the righteous efforts made by one who judges themselves as righteous. On the left are those influenced by a secular humanist view, dominant in our day, that mercy is an automatic. Since any fault must lie within the limits of human nature and not the person, God does not hold anything against us. The woman in today's gospel becomes a model for us to contemplate. The direction and remedy for our lives is not found in the solutions we create, whether by our designing or our doing. It is found in the TRUTH we discover when we come to Jesus in humble faith, in person-on-person encounter. Only God's Truth can make us free. Mercy releases us from the folly of our lives and opens a path to a truly holy life.  Mercy resides in in the heart. The Divine Mercy of God is found in the heart of Jesus. The heart of Jesus is found only in the communion of deep and personal prayer. It is there that we too will hear these words,  "O my child, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire."

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Nineteenth Sunday of the Year - 2023

We know that among ancient peoples, they believed the gods lived in the high heavens. So, to communicate with the gods one must climb a high mountain to get close to them in hopes of getting a hearing. Throughout the scriptures mountains and high places became the favored places to hear God’s voice. Moses received the Ten Commandments on mount Sinai, and it was a fearsome, awesome experience. On the morning of the third day there were peals of thunder and lightning, and a heavy cloud over the mountain, and a very loud blast of the trumpet, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Ex. 19:16 No doubt this sight got the people’s attention. They must understand, the commandments are not just a bunch of nice suggestion. Clearly, God means business – these commandments must be obeyed. But the people eventually fell back into worshiping false gods. In today’s reading, the prophet Elijah ascends a mountain to tell God the bad news. “I have been most zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts, but the Israelites have forsaken your covenant. They have destroyed your altars and murdered your prophets by the sword. I alone remain, and they seek to take my life.” 1 Kings 19:10 But now a different manifestation of God is experienced. Not in wind and fire and earthquake, but in a sheer whisper – a gentle breeze – a foretelling of a voice of mercy to come.    This past Thursday, August 6th. we saw the God of Mercy revealed in the transfigured Jesus, with Peter, James and John – an image of the Church, gathered in worship on the mountain of the Lord.  In today’s gospel the merciful Redeemer Jesus, after feeding the multitudes, returns to the mountain and to union with the Father in prayer. His prayer is a prayer for the world in peril, represented by the disciple caught up in the stormy sea. For us the mountain is a metaphor, not only for this sanctuary of worship, but also that place where we go in private, in personal prayer. We are surrounded every day by a world caught up in a stormy sea of confusion and loss of faith, and at times, in our own lives, we find ourselves floundering. Today, Jesus shows us where to begin. We too must have the practice of prayer, daily prayer, person-to-person prayer with the Father, on our mountain place of prayer. It should be like this: o   Appoint a time and place for this encounter in prayer. If you are willing to meet, the Lord will be there. It is His desire that we grow in the knowledge of His love for us and the plans He has for our life. o  Have a scripture passage chosen. There are many approaches to choosing scripture for prayer. A scripture passage from the liturgy is a good place to start. The gospels, especially those passages that tell of Jesus encounter with others, are especially good for beginning this approach to prayer. When a particular passage stands out for you, returning to it several times gives more time for its message to unfold. Sometimes we come across a passage in an unexpected way. We might say such spontaneity is the Lord's way of leading us to a text. o   In John Ch. 14:23 Jesus promises, "If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him". We can be certain that if we sincerely make this appointment for prayer the Lord will be present. He is surely there with you. Look, listen and respond, be yourself. The Lord will take care of His part. Link to the Page: Praying On a Passage of Scripture

Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord Jesus

Each year August the sixth is set aside as the day the church celebrates the Transfiguration of the Lord Jesus. This year the 6th falls on Sunday, so the liturgy of the 18th Sunday is replaced by the liturgy of the feast of the Transfiguration. It is not uncommon to hear the expression, "glorious", used to describe something one beholds with their eyes, i.e. a theatrical production, a celebration, such as a wedding or an Easter liturgy, sunset and sunrise, the vista of a natural landscape. By glorious we mean something of breathtaking beauty, fulfilled to perfection, eclipsing all our superlatives. Jesus' disciples beheld such a vision in the transfiguration of Jesus. ( He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Mtt. 17:2) St. Paul beheld the glorious risen Jesus, which began his conversion. In Acts he describes it in his own words:  “But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ ... “And those who were with me saw the light, to be sure, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. Acts 22:6 Paul says that the glorious brightness of the light caused him to be temporally blinded so that he had to led by the hand into Damascus. What we may not understand is that this glorification, seen in Jesus, is the glorification God has planned for every soul that He will raise up into His presence. It is natural humanity transfigured into a new state, the state of grace. St. Catherine of Siena was given a vision of such a soul glorified. The Soul in the State of Grace- Catherine of Siena was permitted by God to see the beauty of a soul in the state of grace. It was so beautiful that she could not look on it; the brightness of that soul dazzled her. Blessed Raymond, her confessor, asked her to describe to him, as far as she was able, the beauty of the soul she had seen. St. Catherine thought of the sweet light of that morning, and of the beautiful colours of the rainbow, but that soul was far more beautiful. She remembered the dazzling beams of the noonday sun, but the light which beamed from that soul was far brighter. She thought of the pure whiteness of the lily and of the fresh snow, but that is only an earthly whiteness. The soul she had seen was bright with the whiteness of Heaven, such as there is not to be found on earth. ” My father,” she answered. “I cannot find anything in this world that can give you the smallest idea of what I have seen. Oh, if you could but see the beauty of a soul in the state of grace, you would sacrifice your life a thousand times for its salvation. I asked the angel who was with me what had made that soul so beautiful, and he answered me, “It is the image and likeness of God in that soul, and the Divine Grace which made it so beautiful.” (Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena ) The goal of the prayer of meditation/contemplation is to connect us consciously with the process of glorification that has begun in us, through our state of grace. This way of prayer opens a vista for us to see into our souls. We experience on a human level what is happening to us on a mystical level. The ways we perceive this experience can vary, from a sense of peace coming over our heart, to visions and revelations, such as describe by the saints and the spiritual writers, (like Catherine of Siena). It is important that we realize our glorification has already begun in us by the state of grace of our souls. People may not be blinded by our outward appearance as we walk around, but there is evidence that is perceptible to everyone. It is the fruit of our lives, the works of holiness and charity that we display by our actions. All the trees may look alike. You can tell the good ones by their fruit. (Mtt. 7:16)

Seventeenth Sunday of the Year - 2023

A woman purchased the 11.5-inch-long (29 centimetres) "lunar sample return bag" for $995 in February 2015, at an auction held on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service in Texas. Turns out it was actually the very bag Neil Armstrong used to bring back moon rocks from the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing.  The bag had been on loan to a museum whose curator ended up in count and the bag grouped in with other items was ordered to be put up for auction. Realizing its authenticity, NASA went to court to try to get it back but were unsuccessful. The woman eventually auctioned it off through Sotheby’s for $1,812,500 million dollars. A few years ago, a valuable painting by the Canadian folk artist, Maud Lewis, discovered at the New Hamburg Thrift Centre, run by the Mennonite Central Committee of Ontario. It was sold at auction for $45,000.00. Here you have a couple of examples of “Pearls of Great Price” being discovered and making someone very rich. (Before the Covid-19 restrictions) it was quite common for people to head out on a Saturday or Sunday morning to go hunting through garage sales and flee markets, looking for one of those “pearls of great price”.  And some of those folks may have walk right past a church, with its doors wide open in welcome, not realizing that inside that church there is a “True Pearl of Great Price” – the one Jesus is referring to in today’s gospel, the Pearl that can be had at no cost and who's value cannot be calculated. Churches are once again opening their doors. Yet, the fact remains that the numbers are few who value the great treasure they hold – that it is there at the Eucharistic table one encounters Jesus, who invites those seeking true treasures to find a personnel relationship with Him, as He gives Himself in this sacrament; bringing the gift of Salvation and Eternal Life. But this “Pearl of Great Price” must be carefully guarded, for we must never forget that there is a Thief on the prowl, everywhere today, seeking to steal away our Precious Gift – and many today have lost their “Pearl of Great Price” to Satan’s thievery and deceit. That safe place, where we keep our gift secure, is to be found in the practice of daily, personal prayer, together with a strong bond of ecclesial union within parish life. Alone, we are no match for the master Thief.  Now that garage sales are again in full swing you may get an invitation from a friend some Sunday, to join them on a garage sale/flee market hunt. And you may like to join them. But you, in turn, might also invite them to join you on your Sunday visit with Jesus, in his House of Treasures, where they too might find the Pearl of Great Price.