Sign of the Times
About 1950 years back St. Paul in his second letter to Timothy uttered the following prediction:
“…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.4:3)
Prophecy, despite what we might have grown accustomed to thinking, is not actually about the future- it’s about the present, the now moment of grace and opportunity to respond to God’s will. If what God asks of us is not followed, is ignored or goes unheeded, then our failure to respond in this present moment of time will effect most assuredly our future.
Louis Armstrong, that great trumpet player and singer recorded a song which still seems to have great impact even in modern times, “What A Wonderful World”. It is a wonderful world, a world filled with wonder when we take stock of our lives and count our blessings in this mysterious adventure we call live. However, it is a song reflective of one who is singing of how great life can be when everything is going right and its view is one of positive contemplation of the things on the sunny side of life; friends shaking hands, the colours of the rainbow, fields of green, red roses too. It is not, a song reflective, of course, of the darker side of life which is all too apparent to any of us living in modern times.
We are living in a world that is upside down compared to just a few decades ago. The things we considered ‘common’ years ago are certainly no longer common, like, decency, courtesy, sense, knowledge. That isn’t to say that we are at the worst human beings have ever been, not at all. Anyone with any semblance of history knows that there have been some pretty atrocious days of existence in former times. But one thing that former times did hold fast to in a rather general sense was a respect for legitimate authority, God’s or otherwise. That today is a thing of the past when no one outside of the individual is recognized nor respected for their authority be it God’s, the popes, the prime minister’s or that of the police or a school principal.
The newest item up for grabs in the modern age is the exchange of the truth for a lie. My mother used to say that “error is half way around the world before truth gets its boots on”. One need only think of the more recent hoopla a few years ago over the DaVinci Code and all those who weighed in on the matter while making a buck at the same time. The greater question to be asked is, why would people today be so willing to exchange the time honoured truth for a lie generated as fiction? That is a good question but not one easily answered, though I have one or two theories of my own. Perhaps people are only too willing to believe that Jesus was not God and was married to Mary Magdalene and that he simply died having wanted to place her, Mary, as the head of his church because they would feel better to know that the institutional Church which is supposed to be the representative of God and the bride of Christ on earth is full of corruption, sin and deceit. It makes for a good story to those who would like to have their ears tickled, as St. paul said, and it could lead us believe that we’re not so bad after all – just look at the Church!
To believe this utter nonsense and mockery against revealed truth is to say that two millennia of world history has been filled with foolish people who have allowed themselves to be duped by the wild claims of Christianity and specifically through the Roman Catholic Church. It heaps scorn on all those men and women of history who have lived exemplary lives and who, as the saints, have pointed the way so beautifully to the reality of God in the world and the hope for the life that is to come. Most of all, however, it blatantly mocks the One who saved us, who died, arose from death and is with us in his Spirit still.
St. Paul, in nearing the end of his life wrote to Timothy about having ‘fought the good fight’ and having ‘finished the race’. Yet he made his farewell discourse one which pointed to the future and urged the follower of Christ to “proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching”.
I’m no modern martyr, to be sure, but I know only too well what it is to stick my neck out for what I believe to be true and what it means to pay the price for doing so and I know many, many others who have experienced the same. Yet, as St. Paul says, we are to proclaim the message of Christ’s life, passion, death and resurrection whether the time is favourable or not, in season and out of season.
(Peace, Fr. Charles)
KNOWING THE TRUTH
In this “information age”, as the electronic times of media and vast information availability has been dubbed, it is so vitally important that we become plugged into and take full advantage of the truth of Jesus Christ from reliable sources and not just the headlines and articles of the daily news media. So often in the modern media, persons do not matter as much as stories do. As Catholics we need to be reading, listening, contemplating and watching what is going on in our world with a full view of what the Church has to say, which is to say, what Christ has to say. Jesus said to Peter, our first pope and to the apostles, “He who belongs to God hears what God says.” (John. 8:47) The Church must be that tireless voice of the tireless Christ with the tireless message of good over evil, right over wrong, truth over falsehood and life over death. The question is, outside of going to Mass and listening to a homily, how are we being “fed” by the truth if we only have recourse to novels, movies of fantasy and what we hear on the radio, watch on television or read in the media?
If I could make any recommendation to Catholics seeking to know the truth it would be to refer you to a dynamic, intelligent, wise and learned priest from Boston, Fr. Robert Barron. His website, Word on Fire is, I think, one of the best sources of solid Catholic teaching and commentary for those who have use of the internet. The following article is from his website wordonfire.org and addresses the topic of blasphemy in a current commercial that was run during the World Cup of soccer.
CULTURAL BLASPHEMY REVISITED During coverage of the World Cup, a Hyundai commercial premiered which depicts a representation of the Catholic Mass that is dedicated, instead, to the sport of soccer.
“I just watched a commercial for Hyundai which relies, strangely enough, on the quasi-religious devotion that some people have for soccer. The piece commences with a group of devotees carrying a miniature soccer ball into church in a kind of monstrance and singing the Latin words, “Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi, ora pro nobis,” (Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, pray for us). Later in the video, a man kneels down at an altar rail and opens his mouth in the manner of a communicant about to receive the Eucharist, but the “minister” gives him, not a host, but a piece of pizza. And word has begun to circulate about a Comedy Central program which is in the works. It deals, apparently, with Jesus Christ as “a regular guy who flees to New York in order to get away from his oppressive father.”
I’ll leave aside for the moment the obvious double standard that obtains in the media regarding the mocking of Christianity and, say, Islam, but I would like to draw attention to the perhaps quaint-sounding issue of blasphemy. Blasphemy (from the Greek word meaning “to injure”) is a conscious attack against God or those things associated with God. In our country, up until recent years, there were laws in most of the states against blasphemy, and in the Middle Ages, blasphemy was seen as a crime greater than murder since it involved an attack, not simply against a creature, but against the Creator himself. Thomas Aquinas specified that blasphemy is an act of injustice, since it involves the denigration of the one who is supremely owed our thanks and praise. Thomas’ clarification allows us to see that blasphemy does not in any sense injure God; rather it injures those who blaspheme. When we give God the honor that is due to him, we become more rightly ordered both as individuals and as members of society. One of the great liturgical prayers of the Catholic Church catches this when it says, “Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth.” The point is that there is a causal link between the giving of highest praise to God and the establishment of right order among us. Concomitantly, when we denigrate God and holy things, we tend to fall apart, both individually and collectively, the act of supreme injustice conducing to the many lesser forms of injustice.
Now I don’t think for a minute that we ought to bring back anti-blasphemy laws, but I do think we should be attentive to the psychological and societal implications of mocking holy things. Bob Dylan gave an interview not long after issuing his recent Christmas album. The interviewer remarked that he was surprised that Dylan’s readings were so traditional and reverent. Bob Dylan responded simply, “Why should I be irreverent? Isn’t there enough irreverence in the world?” Wise words from someone who knows a thing or two about the relationship between honoring God and establishing justice.”
MIRACLES vs MESSAGE
Recall for a moment the scene of Christ hanging upon the Cross on the Hill of Calvary. The crowds beneath Him mock Him as soldiers deride Him and put in time as they wait for Him to die. For those closest to Jesus they suffer with Him in seeing one they love in great agony and suffering.
A voice from the crowd cries out, not in faith but in tempt of Jesus’ so-called divinity; “If you are the Son of God, come down from that cross and we will believe!” The word “if” is used, which means that the person is demanding proof of who Jesus really is. Even those who lived with Jesus, heard His teaching and witnessed His miracles did not completely know who Jesus was. Perhaps if Jesus had given in to this demand for yet another sign, some may have believed in Him but many others would not have. The thirst for the spectacular cannot be satisfied with a miracle as human minds and hearts quickly forget and look for something else. Jesus did not come down from the cross. He would not give them what they demanded but out of love for them and for all of us, hung there in agony, pain and abandonment for sinful humanity in all ages past, present and future. Jesus knew that beyond the miracles people must hear the message of His life, death and resurrection.
In more recent history great wonders have taken place in different parts of the world that are well documented and visited by many millions of people. Mary, the Mother of God, appeared to St. Bernadette in the first of 18 visions on February 11, 1858 in Lourdes, France when she was just 14 years old. At the request of the Queen of Heaven, Bernadette dug into the ground from which sprung healing, cleansing water that flows to this day. Many miracles have taken place in the lives of the faithful who have visited the Shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes as over five million people per year flock there from around the world. Yet the miracles only point to the message of Lourdes which is the universal call from God through His Mother to return to Him, to get rid of their sins and turn their lives over to the will and care of God. Even St. Bernadette’s body is a miracle in itself as it has remained intact and beautiful since her death on April 15th, 1879.
Our Lady appeared to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal on the 13th day of every month from May to October in 1917. The three children who ranged in age from 7 to 10 together saw the Blessed Virgin Mary and on the last day of her visitation with them were accompanied by over 70,000 people, many of them unbelievers, who witnessed the “miracle of the sun” as Mary had promised in an earlier appearance. The sun spun in the sky and appeared to dance, spinning off many colours, it went dark for a moment and then appeared to plunge towards the earth. Everyone screamed in fear thinking it was the Last Judgment and the end of the world. Suddenly, though, it stopped and returned to its place. Although it had been raining heavily and the ground had been muddy and everyone was wet, once the sun had returned to its place everyone and everything was completely dry and many who were sick or crippled were healed. Fatima is another sight where millions have traveled on pilgrimage. Yet there is also the message of Fatima which speaks still of the reality of hell as eternal life without God, the need for people to turn back to the Lord with their lives, and the summons to all to return to the love Jesus has for them.
In Medjugorje, Yugoslavia, on June 24, 1981, Mary, the Mother of Jesus began appearing to six young people in this remote area where they lived, went to school and played with their friends. She has appeared to them every day since for the past 29 years. Many pilgrims have gone there and the Church has opened an official investigation into the apparitions. Miracles have taken place, conversions are in the thousands, people line up to go to confession and God is once again speaking through His Mother, Mary. The message is the same: turn back to God’s love. Leave the ways of the world behind. Live for God and be prepared for His coming.
God can do anything. He also knows us through and through and knows that we look for signs and wonders in order that we might come to believe in Him. But the signs, the miracles, the wonders only serve to point to Him and the message we have been hearing as the Catholic Church for 2000 years through the Gospels. It is the same universal message and call we hear each Sunday when we go to Mass about God’s salvation and our need to return to Him and His great love, mercy and forgiveness.
Today, as when Jesus walked the earth, the miracles stand to make us ask the same question that so many asked of Jesus once they met Him: “Who is this?” Over and over again in the scriptures this same question has been asked as it has continually been asked through the centuries to the present. The miracles of Jesus served as announcements of who He was and what He was all about as God in the flesh and the Saviour. Yet we are not left or meant to remain with the miracles only and even the announcement of Jesus as the Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah. With the announcement comes the invitation to follow. The question found on the lips and in the minds and hearts of so many who have witnessed the incredible in God has been the same – “What must I do?” The answer is not to look at the miracles but to look at and live out the message which is always the same – return to God.
Our modern world marvels at the wonders of technology, the latest gadget, and the personalities of the rich, the famous and the godless. But these can only serve to help us forget that we are a world in trouble. Even so, so many of those who have been ‘baptized’ in the Faith have fallen away and freely give priority in their lives to everything and everyone else other than God. For those with eyes to see, the miracles of God continue every Sunday in churches and celebrations of the Mass throughout the world and will continue to do so until the Lord comes. Yet the message from God remains the same – “Come back to Me!”. (Fr. Charles)
ORDINARY TIME
(Anything but ordinary)
From Advent to Christmas, a brief space of time, and then the forty days of Lent followed by the fifty days of Easter and a few feasts following Easter – Trinity Sunday and The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, and we have the busiest part of the Church year celebrated. Ordinary Time consists of 34 weeks when we are not in one of the four seasons of the Church – Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter or celebrating a special feast.
As Advent looks at the original time before the birth of Jesus, it reflects upon all of the prophecies about a Messiah who would one day come to save the people from sin. It leads to the celebration of that event in the feast of Christmas. The season of Lent makes us pilgrims who follow Jesus through the desert of forty days and nights stripping ourselves of all those things that make following Him more difficult and troublesome. Easter, following the Great Three Days (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil) allows us fifty days to unpack the great mystery of Christ’s rising from the dead, culminating in His ascension into heaven and the giving of the Holy Spirit in the Feast of Pentecost, just celebrated last week.
So, the beginning and the end of Jesus’ earthly life are found in these special seasons and feasts of the Church year. But what about Ordinary Time? Isn’t this just the periods of time when there is nothing special to celebrate? No!
Ordinary Time, is the majority of the Sundays of the 52-week calendar when we look mainly at the three years of Jesus’ public ministry with His gathering of disciples, His teaching and preaching, healing and miracles. This is the stuff that makes a Christian people and the Church He founded and draws the characters in the stories of Jesus. We see our lives in the whole of salvation history – but it is far more than mere history – it is the recollection of our spiritual lives and our inheritance as the adopted children of God.
The “Ordo”, a small soft-cover book found in every sacristy and church across Canada, is published each year to serve as a manual to the entire Church-year to inform priests, deacons and lay ministers of the appropriate readings, which Mass to celebrate, the feast days and even the colour of the vestments to be worn on certain days. In its introduction to Ordinary Time (pg. 229) it states the following -
“In his apostolic letter approving the Roman calendar (14 February 1969), Pope Paul VI noted some important facts about the liturgical year:
X Over many centuries, Catholics had become accustomed to so many special religious devotions that the mysteries of redemption lost their proper place. This was due to the large number of vigils, holy-days and octaves, and to the growing dominance of various seasons over the Church year;
X St. Pius X and Pope John XXIII restored Sunday to its former dignity, so that everyone should once more consider it as the Church’s original feast day;
X The popes restated the traditional teaching of the Church: The celebration of the liturgical year has a special sacramental power and force which nourishes and strengthens the life of Christians. The Church year is not merely a recalling of the historical events by which Christ won our salvation;
X The reason for the restoration of the liturgical year is to help believers through their faith, hope and love to share more fully in the entire mystery of Christ as it is unfolding throughout the year.
Ordinary Time has resumed once again (following the Feast of Pentecost) when the priests and deacons will wear green vestments and altars will be adorned with green cloth, the colour of Ordinary Time. We will remain in this season until the Feast of Christ the King (Sunday November 21, 2010) just before we enter Advent once again. In the seasons of the Church are found the seasons of our lives and living. One leads to another and so it goes with us. The point of all of this is the wonder of the journey in following Jesus Christ, the One to whom all of the Church’s life and seasons point. He is our beginning and our end and everything in between. That “in between” called our earthly life will lead us to being with Christ forever where there will be no time, no seasons to mark our place, but fullness with Christ forever. (Fr. Charles)
THE SACRAMENT OF THE SICK
When people are asked to recall and identify the seven sacraments of the Church, they will rhyme off Baptism, Reconciliation, Eucharist, Confirmation Marriage, Priesthood, and Last Rites, and rightly so. [Speaking of Last Rites, a few years ago I received a call from a staff member of a funeral home who told me that they were at the home of a man who was dying. She explained that the since the man was not dead yet but was expected to go at any minute, would I come to the home and read the man his last rights? Can you believe it? Read him his last rights? Obviously she had watched too many police shows. I pictured in my own mind the scene with me going to the man’s house and stating: “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in the law court of heaven....”.]
Well, back to what I was saying…. People might not expect to find the Sacrament of the Sick or Sacrament of Anointing, as it is also called, among the seven sacraments, but it is there.
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church it states that:
“From ancient times in the liturgical traditions of both East and West, we have testimonies to the practice of anointings of the sick with blessed oil. Over the centuries the Anointing of the Sick was conferred more and more exclusively on those at the point of death. Because of this it received the name “Extreme Unction.” Notwithstanding this evolution the liturgy has never failed to beg the Lord that the sick person may recovery his health if it would be conducive to his salvation.” (CCC 1512)
So the sacrament of the sick is linked with ‘Last Rites’ but only in that it is for those who are seriously ill. A person with a hangnail does not constitute a person with a serious illness. The recipient of the Anointing of the Sick need not only be a person at the point of death but one from among the faithful who “begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age”. CCC 1514
Cases where the Anointing would be requested and administered would be before an operation or procedure or upon a diagnosis from a doctor or specialist of a disease or terminal illness.
The administration of the sacrament entails the laying on of hands and the anointing on the forehead and hands with blessed oil. The sacrament recalls the words of the Lord through St. James when he stated:
“Are there any among you who are sick? Let them send for the priests of the church, and the priests will lay hands on them and anoint them with oil. And the prayer of faith will save the sick person and the Lord will raise them up, and if they have committed any sins, their sins will be forgiven them.” (James 5:14)
The priest, after laying his hands on the sick persons’ head, anoints the person on the forehead and on the hands while saying the words,
“Through this holy anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up.” (from Pastoral Care of the Sick)
This is a powerful sacrament and one that is often either misunderstood or underestimated. Jesus can do anything and works miracles in our own times just as He did when He walked the earth two millennia ago. People are often not healed and never consider healing from the Lord because they simply don’t ask for it or never even consider it. Lazarus, Jesus’ friend, became ill and yet Jesus purposely stayed away. Once word had come that Lazarus was in fact dead, only then did Jesus lead his disciples toward the town of Bethany where Lazarus lived, just a few kilometers outside of Jerusalem. Martha, Lazarus’ sister, met Jesus as soon as he arrived in the town and she asked him to do something even though it seemed it was beyond His help. She said, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, He will grant you.” What Martha didn’t know was that she, in talking to Jesus her friend, was talking to God! Yet she had faith in Him that told her there was still hope and still a chance that something could be done for her brother even though he had already been dead and in the tomb for four days! Now, Jesus didn’t anoint Lazarus, He raised him back to life from the dead! There are so many accounts worldwide of people who have been given only a few short months to live and then, against all odds and the wisdom of their doctors, fully recovered.
God does not always heal. The greater good in suffering is realized in what it gives to the one who suffers and offers it up. We know that Christ suffered – He who knew no sin and was and is God. His followers would know what suffering was from the Apostles right down through the ages to the present.
When we are sick or seriously ill, even near death, we can feel like we are all alone and may fear we are slipping away from the world as we know it. Jesus tells us to trust in Him with a radical, believing trust that comes from the knowledge that God can do anything. It requires child-like faith.
I think of the story by the Jesuit priest, Fr. Armand Nigro, who wrote the following parable:
Out of the farmhouse and across the fields she ran to where her father was digging a new well. “Daddy, are you down there?” “Yes, I’m here.” “Mamma says dinner is ready.” “Okay”, replied her father, “but first jump and let me catch you.” His little daughter peered into the well, saw only blackness – and trembled. “I’m afraid to jump – I can’t see you!” Her father answered, “I know you can’t, honey, but I can see you. Now, jump and I’ll catch you.”
In our relationship with Jesus we often can’t see where we’re headed and what is to become of us, but by learning to trust Him we can learn to let God catch us. His sacrament of anointing is trusting in being caught and held in the hands of love. (Fr. Charles)
It’s All About Life
There are few things in life and fewer topics on the radio that can get me going as much as the topic of abortion. The word abortion has become a dirty word not only because of what it means but because it is a word that has become synonymous with controversy, strong disagreement and anger.
The other day while listening to a program on CBC Radio on the topic of abortion, I started to talk back aloud to the radio when I heard the most preposterous things being said by a guest who is definitely against protecting the life of the unborn. She spoke as if she represented the good of all women, though of course, she doesn’t. If I heard a man on the radio speaking on behalf of all men I would have been just as outraged. If you talk about a procedure, if you talk about rights and if you seem to be interested in upholding the interests of women’s health, then you don’t have to even mention the dirty word or, God forbid, even the word fetus and much less ‘baby’ and it would seem you’re a pretty good person and seeking the best for women’s health. Yet her words, like so many who are proponents for abortion, spoke not of death, murder, the taking of an innocent human life or anything like that, but of rights, choice, health, etc. It is a deliberate public cleansing of a dirty word that ought to remain dirty because it just is dirty and wrong and sinful and selfish and the taking of a human life – a human baby.
Just this week in the news there was the reported protests outside of the OSPCA Newmarket shelter because the shelter deemed it wise to euthanize hundreds of its animals due to a severe ringworm outbreak reportedly caused in part by the OSPCA’s failure to properly isolate animals who showed signs of the virus a few weeks ago. The protest was aimed at stopping the killing of the animals and turned ugly when death threats were being made toward some of the employees of the facility. Most people, including me, would have little stomach for the senseless killing or abuse of animals and even the idea of euthanizing hundreds of animals for a supposed necessary reason still leaves me cold. My point here is that there seems to be a growing sense in the public for the defense of an animals right to life than for a human life. And why wouldn’t there be? The OSPCA is a building which houses so many stray, unwanted, abandoned and often sick animals and it seeks to humanely treat these animals and find them good homes and adoptive families who will give them a new lease on life. The building is visible, stands clearly and visibly in the public eye and we know what goes on there.
With the killing of human beings through abortion we do things differently. Outside of abortuaries and hospitals, where the taking of life and the killing takes place, appear the words “Health, Clinic or Hospital”; it’s sanitized. In hospitals there are birthing units where women give birth to their children while in other areas of the same hospital women are giving up their children at the hands of those who are supposed to do all they can, according to the oath they took when they first became doctors, to save life. But even the Hippocratic Oath taken in modern times has been altered.
There are apparently three different versions of the Hippocratic Oath; the Original, the Classic and the Modern version. In paragraph 4 of the Oath it addresses specifically the term “abortion”, but notice how the modern version veers off course from the Original and the Classic and makes it abundantly clear that taking a life is permissible for the doctor provided that he/she is aware that he/she must be humble in his/her approach to death. Even the final line of paragraph 4 makes it clear that one charged with the responsibility of the care and life of a patient must not “play at God”, but what else is a doctor doing when he/she provides abortions or recommends them?
ORIGINAL: “I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.”
CLASSIC: “I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly, I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy.”
MODERN: “Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.”
I know of a couple whose doctor recommended that since their unborn child appeared to have a heart defect, she should abort her child. They came to me asking my advice and I told them that, while doctors may be gifted, intelligent and wise, they are not God and only God knows what is best. She ignored the doctors advise and said she was going to give birth to her child. She did, and this little boy they named Owen was born. As he seemed to be doing better than they had anticipated surgery was postponed for a few months. Owen later had surgery and while there were some tense moments with his health he has pulled through and has done remarkably well. To look on that child and think that he might not have been here at all due to the advice of a doctor is unimaginable for me. That little guy was well named, Owen, for we are owin’ God big time for that precious life.
A doctor’s power to take a life forfeits that doctors credibility for it goes against life itself to take it. If a doctors work is not about life and health and the value of one single human person, then how could a doctor be trusted with yours or mine or anyone’s life?
The issue of abortion is heating up once again in Canada and it is incumbent upon not only all Catholics and followers of Jesus Christ, but all people, to know the facts, to take a stand and to be a voice of truth in the midst of hype, rhetoric and much talk which seeks to veil and camouflage the ugly business of murder as a right. (Fr. Charles)
Buddy Remembered
Over two years ago I lost my long-time dog and friend, Buddy, a Shepherd/Collie cross. It was the same day actor Heath Ledger died. Over the past years I have often spoke and written about death and the fact that it comes to us all. On that fateful day of Tuesday January 22, 2008 my 10-year best friend and loyal companion, Buddy, died while lying on my bed as I was beginning my morning routine and getting ready for the day. It seems he had a sudden and massive heart attack and left his life with me and Bear, my Irish Wolfhound/Shepherd dog who was lying next to him on the bed, behind.
I remember the grief and the profound sadness I felt that was not so much for Buddy – for he had a far better life than many of the human beings who people this planet and he was cared for and loved while so many the world over have no one who loves them – but the grief was really for myself. My grief was co-mingled with the many memoires I had of this great dog and the suddenness of death that really nothing prepares us for and certainly had found my preparedness for his departure from this life wanting.
I remember that in the days following Buddy’s death I had the most difficulty in my regular routine because Buddy had been such an integral part of my life – even my priesthood. It seemed that everyone knew him and Bear as he spent his days in the parish office and greeted everyone as they came for appointments, Mass cards and ministry work. I used to say that people greeted the dogs before they greeted me. I remember that whenever I was counseling someone in my office and they had become emotional, Buddy would go over to them and lean against them and the visitors’ response would immediately be to pet him. He sensed their emotion and their pain.
I remember that whenever I was disgruntled over a jammed printer or was verbally expressing my frustration over something that was bothering me, Buddy would come over and lay his head on my lap, perhaps because he thought I was mad at him. It always brought me to my senses, gave me a sense of calm as I reassured him that he had done nothing wrong.
I got Buddy on February 2nd, 1998 as he was on a list of available dogs through the SPCA and was living on a farm near Wyevale, near Midland, Ont. He had been abandoned on a county road as a pup and as God’s way would have it, I ended up with a dog I was sort of related to! Let me explain.
You see, when I picked up Buddy on the farm that Feb. 2nd, I didn’t even have a collar and leash for him, so I asked the farmer if I could borrow the chain and collar that was on him with the promise that I would return them once I bought him new ones. So, a few days later I called the farm and said I would be dropping off the borrowed items. As I neared the farm on Woods Road I noticed that the neighbouring farms mailbox read “FORGET”. Once at the farm I was invited in for coffee and I inquired of Mrs. Woods about her neighbour next door who shared my same last name. “Oh”, she said, “that was Henry and Madelaine’s place”. I replied, “Henry and Madelaine Forget? Henry was my dad’s uncle and I had presided at Madelaine’s funeral at St. Margaret’s Church just last month!” “Well”, she responded, “isn’t that strange because that’s where we got your dog, Buddy!” She went on to explain that the previous spring she and her husband were visiting the Forget farm next door and were sitting out in front of the house having coffee when this little lost dog came wandering down their driveway and right to where they were sitting. They figured the pup was too small to have wandered off by itself and were only too used to seeing people drop off unwanted pets along the country road. When she and her husband left to return to their farm next door, the pup followed them home, so they kept him and he was tied to a chain beside the barn with a doghouse that was nestled into the ground. For a year of his life Buddy was tied up and lived in an old dog house that had served as the doghouse for many previous farm dogs. I had often thought about Buddy’s solitary life back then spending his days and nights all alone. Sure, farm dogs are used to being outside and some tied up, but to know Buddy’s warm and friendly personality was to know that this wasn’t the life for him – he was definitely a people dog.
Looking back I had a few frightful moments, like the time Buddy fell through the ice on Lake Joseph in 1996 but managed to pull himself out to safety. And there were the times when he got lose and put a scare in me because he wasn’t car-smart and would walk right across a busy street without looking.
People often wonder what happens to dogs and cats and all sundry animals when they die, and so do I. Humans and dogs and in fact all things that have life on the earth possess a soul which brings life to their bodies. While Jesus came to save sinful humanity and to die on the Cross in order that we might be saved from ourselves, the animal world is not capable of sin and, therefore, is not subject to the same need for salvation as we humans are. However, a close reading of Sacred Scripture and the liturgy of the Church would suggest that all creation has been effected by Christ’s redeeming love. In the story of Noah, the animals are included in being saved from the flood and after the waters receded God makes a covenant “with all living creatures” and not just the humans. When Jonah proclaimed that because of its sins, Nineveh would be destroyed, the king of Nineveh called for a fast which included not only humans but animals as well: “No man or beast, herd or flock, is to taste food, to graze or to drink water. They are to clothe themselves with sackcloth and call on God with all their might.” (Jonah 3:7-8)
Even the liturgy of the Church shares this idea that all creation is involved in God’s saving plan. In Euch. Prayer III we begin by praying: “Father, you are holy indeed, and all creation rightly gives you praise…”.
And to St. Francis, the humble founder of the largest Religious Order in the world, his vision of the world was centered on the Incarnation – which sent shock waves through the whole fabric of creation. To St. Francis, the Divine Word not only became human, but the Word of God became flesh, entering not only the whole family of humanity, but the whole family of creation, becoming one with the very dust of which all things are made.
I think we can make a good case for the hope embedded in each human heart, namely, that the whole of creation will someday share in the fullness of salvation won by Christ – and for humans for those who have lived for and in the hope of being saved.
God has a wonderful sense of humour. As I was tearfully walking Bear through the woods, after dropping Buddy’s body off at the vets for cremation, I recalled the words to a poem I have always loved:
Is there a leaf on a tree the Father does not see?
Leaves fall, so do we all; fall to earth to sod.
Sparrows and kings and all manner of things,
Fall, fall into the hands of the living God.
As I thought about those lines and walked with Bear, I suddenly heard a snapping of branches behind me and turned to see the strange and unexpected spectacle of a squirrel falling some distance out of a tree onto the soft snow beneath. “Falling into the hands of God…”. Amidst my tears and newfound grief, God winked at me… and so did Buddy! (Fr. Charles)
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
When I used to live in Barrie in my former parish of St. John Vianney, several times a day I would walk my dogs through the woods just across the street from the rectory on Baldwin Lane. Winter, spring, summer and fall I would walk the dogs through the small forest that made one feel as though they weren’t in a city at all. One day while walking the dogs I encountered a woman strolling down the street towards me, Jigs and Bear, and as she drew nearer she suddenly veered off of the sidewalk and across the boulevard towards the curb of the road. I asked her if she was afraid of the dogs thinking that she might be avoiding them, but she simply answered with a broad smile and a rich Scottish accent, “Ah, no, I was just picking up this water bottle someone discarded here”, and with that she picked up the tossed bottle and placed it in a bag she was carrying. We got to talking and she told me that when she goes out for a walk she always brings a bag and fills it with the litter tossed away by careless motorists and pedestrians. What struck me as we talked was the fact that she didn’t really seem to judge these people who throw garbage around but rather that she was glad she could do some small thing to help clean it up and reverse what had been done.
I’ve often thought of that women and her lone mission to keep fit while picking up the garbage others drop and the difference she is able to make in the areas she travels. She was not concerned about being noticed or thanked or about being considered strange; she did it because she wanted to do her part.
As people in a Universal Church which celebrates Christ’s rising from death to new life, we can easily feel sometimes that the work we do doesn’t really make that much of a difference to others or the big picture of life – but it does. Christ has gifted the individuals of the earth and of the Church to use the gifts given them to make a difference in the life of others and even the world. Doing our small part in changing the garbage of everyday life into the beautiful landscape God intended is part and parcel of those who are baptized.
There’s a story I once heard about a little girl who was walking with her father along the seaside at the waters edge. She saw many starfish strewn all along the beach, washed up on the shore and unable to get back to the water. There were so many starfish, literally thousands of them. The little girl picked up a starfish and threw it back into the water, followed by another, then another, and another until she was throwing many back into the waves. Her father, seeing what she was trying to do, told her that she shouldn’t bother because there were too many starfish to throw back, so what difference would it make? The girl replied as she tossed another starfish back into the sea, “Well, it makes a difference to that one!”
As baptized believers we are supposed to make a difference to others, perhaps even just one. The kind word, the opened door, the courtesy shown in traffic or the little things that make a big difference in someone else’s day – these all collectively change the world one person at a time. It’s easy to think that common decency, common courtesy, common sense aren’t common anymore, and perhaps they’re not. But why give up because you think the attempt to make a difference is useless and meaningless or won’t amount to much? Mother Teresa once said that “we are to do small things with great love”, and she was so right because looking at her life we know she did just that and yet we consider her great because of her tremendous love and for the overall big difference she made in the world.
No Christian, no believer is without a keen sense of just how difficult it is to keep going in the mission given by Christ. As a priest I often feel that I’m trying to sell something that few seem to want to buy. This is especially visible in the sacramental life when, let’s face it, most of the parents and children we are working with don’t go to church at any time nor do they intend to do so even after a sacrament like Baptism, First Reconciliation, First Communion or Confirmation has been celebrated. And while that is a true poverty and evidence of a lack of understanding about the real things Christ offers – most especially His relationship and His desire that we live in relationship with Him – it cannot be the cause for us to give up because surely Christ has not given up on them or us. It’s not easy.
We are living in some pretty strange and challenging times. Part of the challenge is to push forward in making a difference against all odds, especially if we are tempted to think that it won’t make a difference. One of the biggest challenges for church-goers is to share with others what makes you keep coming back to Christ and the Church each week. It doesn’t mean you have to preach to them or talk them into going to Mass on Sunday, in fact, you may not need to say anything initially. It can be as simple as someone asking you why you go to church and the answer you are able to give. If we recognize that all people, even and especially if they don’t know it, are looking for God. That which drives us all to look and find more and get more out of life is really a search for the only One who can satisfy that longing and desire – the Living God in Jesus Christ.
What it comes down to is personal mission. That’s right, personal. God has created you for His purposes and desires that the light of truth He has given you is meant to be shared with others and known. Your efforts accomplished in your desire to serve the Lord according to your baptismal calling as priest, prophet and king, small as they might seem, can make all the difference in the world.
(Fr. Charles)
NEXT WEEK’S HOMILY – “IT’S ALL ABOUT ME!”
Actually, it’s not all about me, but I will be sharing my vocation story in the homily at all of the Masses next weekend. I think it is important to do this so that you, the parishioners, may come to know a bit more about me than being just another guy who went through the priest factory.
OUR THANKS GOES TO… the many people in our parish who contributed through the offering of their services or their work in ministry which enhanced our parish’s celebration of the Easter mysteries during Holy Week. Thank you to our 3 Music Ministries; our Ushers; Money Counters; Extraordinary Eucharistic Ministers; Lectors; Altar Servers, and in particular all those leaders in these above ministries. Also, we recognize the teaching gifts and living witness of our parish catechist, Mr. Patrick Sullivan who led those who received the sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil through the RCIA process. Thank you also to parishioners and owners of Hotner’s Greenhouses who contributed the flowers adorning the sanctuary area. Special appreciation to Bob and Patrick Mott and Kim Chasse, who assisted me in setting up the church for Easter and to John Forget (my dad) who made the three stands which held the cross on Good Friday during the veneration. On behalf of a grateful parish we thank all of you! (Fr. C.)
First Holy Communion – Celebration Date
First Holy Communion will be celebrated this Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. Mass for St. Bridget Catholic School Candidates and Public School Candidates.
Confirmation Class
There is one class remaining of the four (4) mandatory classes to prepare your child for Confirmation. You are asked to drop your child off before 2:00 pm at the Parish Hall (entrance off Carson St.) Parents who wish to stay are asked to wait in the church and pray for the children. The remaining mandatory class is:
#4 – Saturday, April 24, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. (1 hr.)
Pitch-in Brooklin
On April 24 from 9 to 11 am everyone is invited to “Pitch In” at a local Brooklin park to clean up the grounds. This is all part of National Pitch-in Week and International Earth Week. Park Captains will be there to provide garbage bags and gloves. For more info. you can contact Michael_argue@hotmail.com.
E-Waste Collection is something new this year. Any computers and peripherals in good working order will be taken by the Rotary Club of Whitby Sunrise and donated to the Heritage Skills Development Centre. All non-working equipment will be reasonably recycled by MTC of Whitby. The collection site for this is at St. Leo the Great Parish back parking lot. The list of acceptable materials includes computers, monitors, computer peripherals, TVs, fax machines, printers, cell phones, digital cameras, VCRs and audio equipment. For a more complete list you can visit www.pitchin-brooklin.org.
Development & Peace will be selling Fair Trade products this Weekend after all the masses.
The St. Leo’s Knights of Columbus wishes to thank everyone who attended the St. Patrick’s Dance on March 19th with a special thanks to Jill Czuczman, Brigid Frank and Jennifer Feeley for their hard work. Funds from the dance were donated to pay for 3 ciboria for host distribution at Mass.
Mother’s Day Raffle
Tickets $2.00 or 3/$5.00
Sponsored by St. Leo’s Parish C.W.L.
ST. LEO’S EUCHRE CARD PARTY
St. Leo the Great Church Hall
(Entrance on Carson Street)
The next Euchre Card Party is Friday, April 30, 2010. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. (parking available behind church) $10.00 per person. 15 Games start at 7:00 p.m. SHARP. Please enter hall by Carson Street.
Mass Intentions – Week of April 18, 2010
Sunday - 9:00 a.m. – For the intentions of our
Parish Community
- 11:00 a.m. – Mary Lewis+
Tuesday - 8:30 a.m. – NO MASS
Wednesday - 7:00 p.m. - Jim Rankin+
Thursday - 8:45 a.m. – St. Leo School Mass
Friday - 8:30 a.m. – For the intentions of
George & Margaret Hodgkinson
Saturday - 5:00 p.m. – Ben deBoer+
DAUGHTERS OF ISABELLA PASTA NIGHT
Date: April 23, 2010 & Time: 6:00 p.m.
Holy Family Catholic Church
91 Ribblesdale Drive, Whitby
Adult Ticket – $6.00
Child under 10 Ticket – $2.00
For tickets call Barbara Regimbal at (905)404-2694
Life Jesus Higher Rally 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010, 8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Metro Toronto Convention Centre, North Building,
255 Front Street West, Toronto.
A grace-filled day with:
The Archbishop of Toronto, Thomas Collins
Marcus Grodi, Teresa Tomeo (EWTN)
Ralph Martin, Sr. Ann Shields and Peter Herbeck
Testimony of a Documented Miraculous Healing
Divine Mercy Celebration, Uplifting Music
Eucharistic Healing Procession
Confession and Holy Mass
Separate Youth Event
For tickets and information, please check www.lift-jesus-higher-rally.org or call (416) 251-4255 or (905) 270-2510.
Coffee Sunday is next Sunday. Coffee and refreshments will be served after the 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Masses.
The Cherub’s Cupboard Catholic Book & Gift Store will be in our Parish Hall next Sunday, April 25th with a display of Confirmation gifts and many other religious items.
The next C.W.L. meeting is on Tuesday,
April 27 at 7:30 p.m. and at 8:30 p.m. a presentation “Fraud and Scams” sponsored by C.W.L. All are welcome.
The St. Vincent de Paul Society is looking for new members. Husband and wife teams are encouraged to join. Please call the Parish Office to apply.
The next Leo’s Lunch is on Wednesday, April 28th at 12:30 p.m. Please purchase your tickets in the church vestibule next weekend after all the masses.
At the Mass of Chrism held on Tuesday of Holy Week at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Toronto, Archbishop Thomas Collins gave the homily which addressed the reason for the Chrism Mass recalling that Christ Himself instituted the Eucharist and the Priesthood. In his reflections on priesthood the Archbishop also spoke to the current situation in the Church as she deals with the sins of the past where some priests have abused their privileged call and used it for their own grave purposes namely in the abuse of children. He also touched on the issue of those leaders in the Church who made seriously poor choices in dealing with these cases. The following is an excerpt from the Archbishop’s homily.
“Ordination is not employment; it is consecration. We are consecrated, anointed with the Oil of Chrism. The priesthood is not what we do, it is who we are. Although common sense, humility, and the instructions from the manufacturer in Genesis Chapter one all dictate that priests need to be sure that there is appropriate Sabbath in their lives – there is one Messiah and it is not you or me nonetheless, we never, ever, take a break from being a priest. Our whole life is consecrated to Our Lord. That is why we need to be attentive to four pillars of priestly life: daily Mass, daily celebration of the Divine Office, daily time in prayerful adoration, and frequent confession. We are all vessels of clay, but we are consecrated to priestly holiness in the service of Jesus, our great High Priest, and to the people whom He entrusts to our pastoral care. That is what celibacy is all about: consecrated virginity in the service of Christ the King. We are called to give our whole life to consecrated service, to marry the mission.
Each of us here present can think of the faithful priests who were used by God to inspire us with the call to the priesthood. Their example of lifelong joyful priestly service speaks more than words can do of the significance of being consecrated as a priest. After Mass we will gather to celebrate the priestly service of those ordained 25, 50, and 60 years. This day we give thanks to God for their fidelity. In May we will celebrate the ordination of five more new priests, whom we welcome into the presbyterate of this Archdiocese.
We learn about the real meaning of the priesthood at ordinations, when we experience the beginning of the joy of the consecration to the priestly mission, at anniversaries, when we celebrate milestones of priestly service, and finally at the funeral of a priest, when we gather to give thanks to God for a life of faithful service.
People expect that one who is consecrated with the holy oil of Chrism, will act in an exemplary manner, and never betray the trust which people know they should be able to place in a Catholic priest. At his ordination we pray: “Bless this chosen man, and set him apart for his sacred duties”. And yet to our shame some have used the awesome gift of the holy priesthood for base, personal gratification, betraying the innocent and devastating their lives. When that happens, our first concern must be for those innocent young people who have been abused, to help them overcome their suffering, and to resolve to take whatever steps are needed to be as sure as is possible that this does not happen again. We have all had to learn through failures and mistakes and that is especially true of bishops, who have sometimes failed in their responsibility to act effectively.
For this diocese, (the Archdiocese of Toronto), anyone who looks at our website can see the policies that are in place to help us act rightly, but we must never be satisfied.
We cannot escape the horror of this by pointing out that almost all priests serve faithfully, though that fact is a grace that gives joy to the Catholic people, whose love and prayerful support sustains us all. But even one priest gone wrong causes immense harm, and throughout the world priests have done unspeakable evil.
We should be grateful for the attention which the media devotes to the sins of Catholic clergy, even if constant repetition may give the false impression that Catholic clergy are particularly sinful. That attention is a profound tribute to the priesthood which we celebrate at this Mass of the Chrism. People instinctively expect holiness in a Catholic priest, and are especially appalled when he does evil.
As we look to the continuing painful purification of the Church, we all need in a particular way to give thanks to God for the leadership of Joseph Ratzinger, as Cardinal and Pope, who has acted decisively, fairly, consistently, and courageously to purify the priesthood and to make the Church a safe place for everyone. Anyone with any knowledge of this terrible reality realizes that Pope Benedict has led the way in confronting this evil.
As this day we celebrate the Mass of the Chrism, and are reminded once more of the profound consecration to Christ that is at the heart of the priesthood, this year we celebrate the year of the priest. We call to mind the faithful priests who inspired us to respond to the call to the priesthood. We resolve to live each day as faithful priests, in joyful service of Our Lord.”