The Reason for Our Hope

Faith - a Gift to Treasure and Develop

2012-01-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

A couple of important events to note this coming week.

First, the personnel of Edmonton Catholic Schools will gather on Tuesday for their annual faith development day. About 3000 people - trustees, administration, teachers, support staff - will assemble to celebrate the Eucharist and reflect together upon the gift of faith. Not a bad idea, that. Faith in Jesus Christ is the heart of our Catholic school system. It is also the heart and fuel of every Christian life. What ECS is doing is a sign of what must occupy all Christians at all times: the development of the faith.

Reflecting upon the upcoming Year of Faith to which he is summoning the Church, Pope Benedict, in an address last Friday to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, stated that the renewal of faith must be the first priority of the Church in our day. This Year, he said, is "an opportune moment to point out to all the gift of faith in the Risen Christ, the clear teaching of the Second Vatican Council and the invaluable doctrinal synthesis offered by the Catechism of the Catholic Church."

Faith in the Risen Christ means: acceptance that Jesus is who he says he is, trusting in his fidelity to us and in the life-giving power of his Resurrection, believing that he is with us as he promised. In short, faith is believing in the love of God for us (cf. 1John 4:16). Such faith in the person of Christ leads naturally to full acceptance of his message. The Lord's teaching has been handed on in the Tradition of the Church. Hence the need to pay special attention to the great signposts of that Tradition. Pope Benedict is highlighting in particular the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Developing the faith means growing in our knowledge and love of Christ and surrendering ever more fully to his message. May there be, indeed, a profound renewal of faith throughout the Church.

The second event will take place on Thursday, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. This is also the World Day for Consecrated Life. Its purpose is to focus our attention and esteem on the great witness of consecrated life in the Church and world, as well as to offer men and women in religious life the opportunity to renew their commitment to the evangelical counsels. I have known many wonderful sisters and priests in religious orders and have been moved by their example. Think of the priests and sisters who have touched your lives and offer a prayer of thanks to God for their witness. May the Lord of the harvest bless the Church with an abundance of consecrated and holy women and men, whose witness will inspire many to faith in Christ.

Salt and Light Television - A Beacon of Hope

2012-01-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Toronto from Tel Aviv Saturday evening, and now have a series of meetings both here and in Ottawa over the next couple of days before returning to Edmonton. This has given me the opportunity to drop by the Toronto studios of Salt and Light Television today. I saw their setup, met with the staff and celebrated Eucharist with them. Founded by Father Thomas Rosica in the wake of the 2002 World Youth Days in Toronto, this Catholic network is dedicated to being what the Lord has asked all of his followers to be: salt of the earth and light for the world.

Particularly striking is the youth of the entire team. (Except for Fr. Rosica, that is. Since he and I are the same age, we can only qualify for "young at heart".) At Salt and Light one encounters young adults who are truly committed to the new evangelization. When I met with them as a group, their questions revealed a real desire to make known to others the joy and excitement they have received from their relationship with the Lord and the service of His Church. And this is precisely what they are doing through their beautiful and very professional programming. If you are not yet familiar with them or their work, check them out at www.saltandlighttv.org. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Fr. Rosica and his team, together with their benefactors, for their ministry of evangelization and catechesis in the world of modern communications.

On another note, this is the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Christians throughout the world are gathering to pray for the unity so deeply desired by the Lord for his followers. The unity of the Church is inextricably linked to the new evangelization. As Jesus himself taught, it is precisely through the witness of unity among His followers that others will come to believe in Him. Division weakens our credibility before the world. Please be sure to offer prayers, not only this week but always, that the Holy Spirit will lead us to overcome our divisions and thus one day rejoice in the unity for which Christ gave His life.

Jesus - He who has broken down the dividing wall

2012-01-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting at the shore of the Sea of Galilee, resting with some tea after a wonderful two days here in the area of Capernaum. Once the meetings of last week were concluded, I entered a week-long period of retreat in the Holy Land. Eighteen years since I've been here, and it is terrific to be back to this place where it all began.

The contrast between this week just beginning and the last is striking. The meetings of the Holy Land Coordination focused, as I mentioned in my last post, upon the situation of the Church here and sought to offer solidarity to our suffering brothers and sisters in the faith. (Click here for our final communique.) We heard stories of frustration, separation and tension as people struggle to find a solution that will bring lasting peace to this troubled part of the world. This current week, visiting the holy sites associated with the earthly life of our Lord, is a reminder that the solution has been given.

Today I went to the Mount of the Beatitudes, and read once again: blessed are the pure in heart, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the peacemakers, and so on. In this teaching we touch the essence of the Gospel of peace, the recipe for abiding reconciliation among all peoples. Ultimately, of course, the solution is not a teaching but a person - Jesus himself. In a land where an immense concrete wall has been erected to separate Palestinians from Israelis, indeed in a world where we all can place innumerable barriers - both literal and figurative - to separate ourselves from others, from our true selves and, yes, from God, we need to reflect again on the teaching of St. Paul. Jesus, he tells us, "is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us." (Ephesians 2:14)

Putting an end to hostility. Reconciling. There is the Christian project. Hostility separates; love reconciles. Today I celebrated Mass at the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, the very place where the Word became flesh, where Love became incarnate, in the womb of the Virgin Mary. To destroy the hostility that divides, to be for us the peace we seek, God became one of us in Jesus. He came to earth because we cannot save ourselves, because we cannot be our own remedy. We need the grace of God to be at peace, to live in "ordered and reconciled societies," as Pope Benedict put it in his recent address to the Holy See's diplomatic corps. Jesus is our peace, and our mandate as his followers is to receive that peace and extend it to our relationships with others.

I will be praying often during this week for a real and lasting peace in this land of our Lord, and would be grateful if you could do the same.

Digging Deep

2012-01-09T13:42:00.002-07:00

Meeting a parishioner in Gaza (© Mazur/catholicnews.org.u)

I write this post from Jerusalem, where I am representing the CCCB at the annual meeting of what is called the Holy Land Coordination. For the last 12 years, at the request of the Holy See, Bishops representing the episcopal conferences of North America and Europe have been coming here with the aim of demonstrating solidarity and communion with the Christians of the Holy Land. It is an opportunity to meet the local Bishops and their people and to learn about the very complex reality of life in this part of the world.

Most of the sessions take place in Jerusalem, but I have also already visited a parish in the Gaza Strip and tomorrow we travel to Haifa. A statement from the participants will be issued at the end of the visit, so I can make that available for you next week.

Since I arrived two days prior to the start of meetings in order to get over the jet lag, I had an opportunity to visit some of the holy sites here in the city. What struck me from the outset is how far below the present surface are artifacts that date to the time of Jesus. Centuries of conflict, destruction, rubble and rebuilding mean that articles scholars say pertain to the time of our Lord are often meters below the surface. You have to dig, and dig deeply, to get to the reality of things around here.

Much like the journey of our soul, come to think of it. We tend to bury our true identity under multiple levels of pretence, illusion, guilt and so on, leaving ourselves with the need for some "excavation" to discover the truth of ourselves. This is what the Holy Spirit does for us.

We just celebrated the Feast of the Lord's Baptism, at which the Father's voice from heaven identified Jesus as His well-beloved Son. Immediately prior, John the Baptist had said that Jesus would be baptizing with the Holy Spirit (cf. Mark 1: 8). When we receive this same Spirit through the sacraments of the Church, we are given the gift of vital union with Christ such that, in him, we become the well beloved sons and daughters of the Father. Our deepest reality is fashioned and brought to light.

Here in the Holy Land, when the reality beneath the surface is discovered, great efforts are made to preserve what has been found. There is nothing more precious than our identity in Christ. Let us ask the Lord to reveal it anew to us by the gift of the Spirit. By that same gift, may He help us to preserve our identity by living lives that accord with it - lives of virtue, holiness and joy.

What Makes a New Year Happy?

2012-01-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

On January 1st, the world marks the passing of time, usually with great fanfare. This is a new beginning, and as we reflect back on events of the past year, especially the most difficult and tragic, we instinctively hope for a better and happier year ahead. Hence the common greeting, "Happy New Year". But what will make the new year a happy one? What is the source of our happiness throughout the passing of time? The answer is linked to the meaning of time itself. What is time?

This is an important question. One brief glance at our lives will show how much we allow ourselves to be governed by time. Either we have too little and are always racing against the clock to get things done, leaving ourselves exhausted, or we have too much, and we waste time in meaningless pursuits. In either case we are constantly asking, "What time is it?" A better question to pose is: "What is time?" Its answer can change our lives radically and usher in the happiness that we so earnestly seek at this and every new year.

As the entire world marks the passing of time, the Christian Church proposes its deepest meaning. Time is the succession of minutes, hours, days, months and years in which history unfolds. In the Christian worldview, this history is neither meaningless nor arbitrary. It unfolds according to a plan, God's plan, and is filled with purpose, namely the salvation of the human race. This is why Christians refer to history as salvation history. God is Creator, the author of this world and all that marks it, including time. We may mistakenly allow ourselves to think that time governs us. The truth is that God governs time and shapes it in accordance with his saving purpose.

Throughout history, God has intervened in our lives. He called Abraham and formed a people; he sent Moses to give us the law; he spoke through prophets to summon us to fidelity. Finally he so acted as to reveal perfectly the meaning of time and bring it to its fulfilment. "When the fullness of time had come," St. Paul tells us, "God sent his son, born of a woman." (Galatians 4: 4).

At the centre of salvation history stands a child and his mother. The child, God's own son, was born in time of the Virgin Mary and named Jesus. He, the eternal Son of God, entered time and assumed our human nature so that he might rescue it from sin by his death on the Cross and resurrection from the dead.

What is time? It is the "place" or "space" in which God, who dwells in eternity, comes to us in the gift of His Son, born of Mary. Jesus has ascended to heaven, but he continues to meet us in time through the gift of the Holy Spirit. When we open our lives to this encounter, we discover the meaning of time and the true source of happiness within it.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T12:43:00.004-07:00

As I read over the Scripture passages for Christmas midnight Mass, I could not help but go back in my mind to an image that has stayed with me since the visit to Haiti: the image of darkness pierced by light. In many parts of that land there is no electricity. Every evening after nightfall there are many regions with absolutely no light. People too numerous to count walk in darkness. It is, literally, a land of deep shadow. Occasionally, though, in a hovel or tent you could see a flicker of a candle flame – the darkness pierced by a light that enabled the people around it to see.

Here, too, in our so-called First World, light is needed. We experience the darkness of a spiritual poverty, of a life from which God is eclipsed; the deep shadows of moral confusion, in which what is wrong is celebrated as good; the black night of homelessness, violence, addictions, family breakdown, unemployment and so on. Differently from the people of Haiti, yet no less truly, we are a people walking in darkness. We need a light to pierce it so that we, also, can see again.

Isaiah: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of darkness – on them light has shone.” This message of hope is directed not only at the people for whom it was first written thousands of years ago, but also at us. Then it was a promise of what was to come; today the Church announces that promise as fulfilled. Isaiah linked the coming of the light with the birth of a child: “For a child has been born for us, a son given us.” The Gospel announces this child to be the one born of the Virgin Mary: “and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger….” With this birth the glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds keeping watch nearby. The light has come in the child born in Bethlehem.

Why is he the light? As St. Paul puts it, in Jesus, the grace of God has appeared. Jesus is the very Son of God, who has assumed our human nature. There is no darkness in God, only light, so in Jesus we can see. In him we see the truth of God’s love and mercy. In this light, we also see the truth of ourselves: God’s beloved children in need of rescue from the darkness we bring upon ourselves through sinfulness. As we celebrate the birth of our saviour, let us offer to him any areas of darkness in our own lives - fear, anxiety, guilt, despair – and ask him to dispel it by the light of his love and mercy so that we might know the hope and peace he came from heaven to bring.

Merry Christmas!

Back to School!

2011-12-20T17:33:00.006-07:00

Our last visit of our last day was to a school recently constructed with the assistance of Development and Peace. It is run by the Haitian Province of the Missionaries of the Immaculate Conception, a religious congregation founded by Mother Delia Tetreault of the province of Quebec. The former school operated here by this community was destroyed by the earthquake, and now it is completely rebuilt. Yet another sign of hope. The Sister Provincial, together with two of her sisters, were obviously very proud and excited as they showed us around this new Catholic girls' school, which provides education to nine hundred children aged six to eighteen. They used the occasion of the visit to present D&P with a plaque expressing the gratitude of the congregation and the students for this beautiful new school.

The day had begun with a visit from the President of the Episcopal Conference of Haiti, Most Reverend Chibly Langlois. This gave both Archbishop Durocher and I the chance to speak with him about the priorities of the Haitian Bishops as regards the ecclesial reconstruction that needs to occur. Then our delegation made a whirlwind visit to officials of the Canadian International Development Agency stationed in Haiti. Since their offices are housed in the Canadian embassy to Haiti, this gave us the opportunity to greet briefly our Canadian ambassador. From there we stopped into an organization that offers formation for a whole network of community radio stations operating throughout Haiti, including a few associated with the local Church. I hadn't realized the importance of such radio stations until I came here. Since more than fifty percent of the population is illiterate and too poor to own televisions, this is for many their sole source of information for what is happening in the community, what to do in the case of emergencies and so on. Our final visit before proceeding to the school was to the offices of the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Haitian Episcopal Conference. We spoke there of their priorities and work and of our desire that the presence and work of D&P and its partners be a support to them.

Tomorrow we visit with the Apostolic Nuncio to Haiti and then make our way to the airport. Time will be very tight tomorrow, so this is my last blog post from Haiti.

Perhaps what has remained most strongly with me is my memory of a woman whom we met earlier in the week during our visit to MPP. She had arrived at their centre following the earthquake. So traumatized was she by that event, on top of all her other problems, that she snapped and was in need of professional psychological assistance. God knows - I'm afraid I would have just as easily lost it in the midst of this terrible reality. By the time we met her, however, she was smiling and laughing. Able to laugh. Because of the love and attention of the community, and the professional help that they were able to provide for her, she is now well and ... able to laugh. This is my prayer for the people of Haiti - that they will find a renewal and restoration that brings them joy.

The earthquake of which we are all aware is but an external sign of the interior tremors that have been shaking the people of Haiti for generations. The crushing weight of absolute poverty has left countless persons without a sense of their personal worth and dignity. The work of D&P and its partners is obviously very modest in comparison to the overwhelming needs here. Yet the renewal and hope that they bring to the people they assist is an indication of the personal reconstruction that our Lord wills for each and everyone of his people here in this country. As Christmas announces God's accomplishment of the impossible, let us not fail to pray that what is truly humanly impossible - the restoration of the Haitian people and society - will by the grace of God and the agency of people dedicated to the poor become a reality.

A Tent Cathedral and a Forest Nursery

2011-12-19T22:12:00.003-07:00

A once magnificent building that now stands in ruins. Next to it a number of tents under which the people now gather to celebrate the Eucharist. This is what I discovered when I celebrated Mass at the "cathedral" on Sunday at the invitation of the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Most Reverend Guire Poulard. The cathedral was totally destroyed by the earthquake, as were adjacent Caritas and diocesan offices. The Archbishop most graciously invited me to preside at the Mass with his people, during which Archbishop Durocher preached a wonderful homily on the virtue of hope.

The building is in ruins but the Church is alive - it is alive in the resilient hearts of the people. Their suffering -- who can imagine the depth of it? - is etched on their faces, but they continue to lift up their lives to the Lord, whom they know to be near, especially in the Eucharist.

Our Eucharistic Lord calls us to be the agents of this presence to others. The Eucharist, which draws us into the self-offering of Christ himself, sends us forth to offer our lives for those in need. Celebrating the Mass in the very midst of incredible hardship brought this home to me very strongly.

Following our celebration we traveled over the mountains to Jacmel, where Development and Peace has been partnered for a long time with an organization founded in 1989 by Canadian religious sisters, Les Soeurs du Bon Conseil, to help women escape violence.
Called Famn Deside (Femmes Decidees), this is a group of women who have organized themselves to resist violence, and to educate both women and men as to the rights of women not to be violated, to be educated, and to be honoured. It began under the Sisters' direction with thirteen women, and now counts more than 800 members. We met with a group of them who welcomed us warmly. Very moving were their stories of pain and courage, especially now as they have to struggle against an increase in violence in the camps following the earthquake. Due to their efforts the violence in areas where they make themselves present is slowly diminishing. When we met afterward with the Vicar General of the Diocese of Jacmel, he shared with us how much the work of this organization is appreciated and supported by the local Church.

The next morning we visited some of their projects. Deep into the forest we went. En route we visited an edifice being constructed as a shelter for women and their children fleeing violence, and I was honoured to bless it at their request. From there we continued into the countryside, and to say that we went "off the beaten track" would be a huge understatement. It was the first time I've driven into a river in order to cross it. When we arrived at a small forest village, we proceeded into the bush on foot for quite some distance to an area where women have fashioned a nursery for the cultivation of tree seedlings, which are then transplanted to produce food for personal and familial sustenance as well as for the market, and to contribute at the same time to the reforestation of the land.

The women living and working in this area met us very warmly as a group (age range: 19-80) and shared with us the new hope that they have received from the assistance offered by Famn Deside. Many of them were learning to read and write for the first time in their lives, and I will not forget the look of happiness and pride as they told us so.

Equally etched in my memory are the songs of determination and hope that they shared with us, before treating us to a beautiful lunch from their own produce.

After this a three and a half hour ride across the mountains back to the chaos of Port-au-Prince. As I looked at the endless stretches of misery, I kept thinking of the people I had just met, especially their deeply held conviction that they are contributing to the rebuilding of this country in a substantial way by their work. They are right and deserving of our support.

Flower Gardens

2011-12-17T21:57:00.002-07:00

Up into the mountains today just outside of Port-au-Prince. The goal was to visit some of the projects of the Port-au-Prince bureau of Caritas Haiti which are supported by Development and Peace. We spent hours on steep and unbelievably rough mountain roads, largely washed away by the deluges of the rainy seasons. (Someone remind me NEVER AGAIN to complain about the quality of Edmonton streets!

Supported by a variety of partners, Caritas Port-au-Prince runs a continuum of projects that help people rebuild and sustain their lives. One of these is in the mountain village of Duval, where ninety per cent of the dwellings were destroyed by the earthquake. Slowly but surely residences are being provided to the people - simple concrete structures comprising two bedrooms, a dining area and a storage room. As I approached one of them I saw a flower garden planted outside and up against the house. It had obviously been carefully tended - a sure sign of the family's pride in their new home and in themselves. I'm not good at naming plants, so don't ask me what they were. No matter. The family had been helped to recover their sense of dignity, which is so easily lost when one has no place to live.

From there we went further up into the mountains where two important projects supported by Development and Peace were being directed by Caritas. Both had to do with teaching the local peasant farmers how to conserve the soil which is so easily damaged and lost during the torrential rains. In both locations the local people all banded together for the work, in this case for the construction of walls along the slopes of the mountain. As we visited, some of the workers came up to us and began to chat. I was particularly struck by the comments of one man, who expressed his deep gratitude, not only for the assistance being given, but also for the simple fact of having been noticed. Referring to Caritas, he said, "If it weren't for them, no one would know we were even here." By the presence and assistance of Caritas, the local people knew that not only were they known but also that their existence was valued. Other projects supported by Development and Peace, which are equally aimed at helping the people attain sustainable living, are micro-financing, risk management in the face of other possible natural disasters (we dropped in on one of the classes being held in a simple parish school) and the raising of livestock.

We were also introduced to two local priests. Each lives in the midst of the people, and their placement isolates them from their diocese and their brother priests. Truly devoted men. The people spoke to me very warmly about the priests, in whom they find a shepherd who loves them and whom they love in return. In the person of these priests and in the workers of Caritas, these people in need know that the Church is near to them and from this they draw hope. It is this hope that I saw in the flower garden.

Giving Children a Childhood

2011-12-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

We returned this morning from Hinch to Port-au-Prince. Words simply cannot describe the squalor in which thousands upon thousands are striving to live in this city. Yet words are even more inadequate in the face of the interior devastation wreaked upon thousands of children who are referred to as the "restavek". This is creole for the French "reste avec" (stay with). It refers to the terrible reality of what amounts to human trafficking. Families in the city "acquire," through intermediaries, children of the country to do domestic work in their homes. The parents of these children, eager to give their children hope but without any understanding of the reality of the city, "give" their children over to the receiving families with the understanding that they will be cared for, given an education etc. The truth is the opposite. Children ranging in age from six to fifteen years old are brought into the homes as domestic workers, and only a very small percentage of them are given any education at all. In effect, most are treated as slaves and suffer various forms of maltreatment. They usually remain separated from their families for years.

In response to this horror is an organization called Foyer "Maurice Sixto." A partner of Development and Peace, it seeks to create harmonious relations between the parents of the children and the children themselves as well as with the receiving families, sensitize society to this phenomenon, work at preventing the spreading of this problem, and give both basic education and professional formation to the children themselves so that they might have hope for integration into society. Within it all they strive to give the children a childhood. Many do not know their birthdays and have therefore never been celebrated personally. Many live without being hugged with genuine affection and love. The Foyer surrounds them with love and the affirmation of their personal worth and dignity. They give them the opportunity to play and develop their inherent talents. They celebrate birthdays. In short, they make it possible for these kids to be kids.

When we arrived the children that were gathered for their school day broke into a song of welcome. You can probably imagine how emotional that was for all of us. Thank God for this group that works so tirelessly to draw the children to this oasis of love and hope.

At the end of the day we met officials from Caritas Haiti, a D&P partner for many years. They explained to us the network that exists between the national office and the various local diocesan Caritas bureaus. Much effort has been expended to help rebuild their people and their society, and our plan is to see some of those projects tomorrow.

The Gift of Hope

2011-12-16T07:11:00.000-07:00

I've just spent a couple of days here in Haiti, visiting projects of some partners of Development and Peace. I'll be here with our delegation until the 21st of this month.

The suffering and poverty of the people here defies description. There is some progress to the redevelopment, but it proceeds at a snail's pace. In the midst of the destitution there are many who are striving with great love and dedication to help people rebuild, not only in material but also in personal terms. It is bearing fruit in a sense of renewed hope for the people to whom I have been introduced, a hope which is giving birth to new beginnings.

We visited one of our partners, Mouvement Paysant Papaye, a partner of D&P, which has been working among peasant farmers in the countryside for many years, forming them in necessary life skills that they may be self-sufficient and earn at least a modest living. The results are gradual, but very promising. I met a woman with nothing, who only recently began to benefit from the accompaniment and help of this movement. She is learning the art of setting up a garden which will provide her and her children with the necessary food and extra that she can sell at the market. Another woman who, with her husband and eight children, has been helped by MPP for about fifteen years, has actually been able to send her first three children to university. Finally, we met ten families, who escaped Port-au-Prince into the countryside following the earthquake. They tried to go back to the city, but found that, since they had lost everything, they could no longer live there. They returned to the area served by MPP, and now find themselves in a little village constructed for them. In all of these situations what has struck me the most is the smile of the people that expresses hope. One can sense the return of pride in themselves as they look forward to a new future. Very moving and very encouraging.

Please keep this trip, and especially the people of this beautiful country, in your prayers. More later.

¿Como se traduce?

2011-12-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

I’m struggling to learn Spanish. I believe this isimportant, because it is, after all, the language of about half of the Churchworldwide. Fortunately, I am blessed with a very patient instructor. Apart fromthe fact that I find it difficult to find time for a lesson and then do myhomework – not! – he is constantly having to field my questions aroundtranslation: What does this word mean? How do I translate that? How would yousay such and such? Spanish is a truly beautiful language, and its beauty inspiresme to learn it better. One day I hope to be able to listen to it and speak itwithout the intermediary of translation, but I’m certainly not there yet – farfrom it.

The most beautiful language of all is that of the Gospel.Its inherent, unsurpassable beauty awakens within us a strong desire to listento it deeply and speak it to others. In our day, though, it needs translation.For many, the Gospel is little more than words without meaning. What does itsignify? What is its relevance? Here is the challenge facing the Church as weembrace the new evangelization. How does the Gospel translate such that it isnot only understood but also embraced?

Properly translated, the Gospel means joy. Yesterday, thethird Sunday of Advent, was GaudeteSunday. Gaudete – rejoice! The Scripture readings were a summons to joy. In thefirst reading (Isaiah 61: 1-2, 10-11)we heard Isaiah rejoicing in anticipation of the dawn of salvation. St. Paul inthe second reading (1Thessalonians 5:16-24) rejoiced, and summoned others to share in this joy, at the fact that theSaviour has come in Christ and remains near to his people. In addition, asChristians we rejoice in that the Lord, who is near even now, will come againwith definitive salvation for his people.

How does the “act of translation” take place? How do thewords of the Gospel become joy in our hearts? Consider John the Baptist in theGospel passage of Sunday (John 1:6-8,19-28). In response to the queries of those sent by the Pharisees to questionhim as to his identity, he made this striking statement: “Among you stands onewhom you do not know.” He is referring to Christ, whom John did know.Furthermore, John knew himself in relation to Jesus. “I am a voice crying inthe wilderness…” Here is the point at which the Gospel translates into joy.When we know Jesus Christ – not just know about him, but truly know him – andwhen we know ourselves in relation to him, then we find joy. Perhaps better,joy finds us. “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, andthat your joy may be complete.” (John15:11) Christian joy is that which comes from abiding in the love of Christ.

This is very different from the pleasure and excitement thatseems to be the sought-after goal of so many today. These are superficial thingsthat are but transitory, fleeting, and that leave us not satisfied but longing,looking for more, running after the next “thrill.” This is not joy. Real joy isdeep and lasting. It is that which we find in the Gospel, which offers asharing in Christ’s own joy.

¿Como se traduce? How does this translate? My prayer is that,for each of us, a deeper personal knowledge of Jesus Christ and ofself-knowledge in him will translate into that deep lasting joy which is thetrue meaning of the Gospel.

Waiting with Patience and Hope

2011-12-04T13:28:00.002-07:00

The other evening I was on a flight from Ottawa to Edmonton. It took off exactly on time, but very early into the flight, about one half hour after takeoff, the pilot announced that he was not at ease with the performance of one of the engines, so we would have to return to Ottawa. Once we were safely on the ground and back into the airport we were told we would have to wait until another plane was found, as well as another crew. And so we waited, and we waited, and we waited, until finally we were able to leave again and arrive home safely. Passengers were not complaining – well, not much, anyway - because we knew the pilot had made the right decision to land the plane. But we just wanted to get home, and because it was out of our control, we knew that we would have to wait and rely on others to get us home.

Wanting to get home; reliance upon another; waiting. This pretty well sums up all that we hear from the Sacred Scriptures throughout this Advent season. “Home” is to be with God forever. It was for this, in fact, that God created us in the first place. And yet, very early on, humanity was diverted by the tragic failure we call sin, the refusal to trust God and his wisdom, the preference for self-reliance over dependence upon the Lord. This left us grounded, able to go nowhere, and needing to wait for one to come who could restore us on the right path that would, indeed, lead us home to our heavenly Father. And humanity waited, and waited and waited.

Yet this long waiting of humanity for a saviour was of an entirely different quality than that experienced in the airport. Ours on Thursday night was filled with anxiety. As numerous departure times were promised and not fulfilled, we began to worry that the airline would not be able to fulfill its promise to get us home that night. In contrast, the waiting of our ancestors for a saviour was filled with hope, because they knew that God would, indeed, be faithful to his word. A specific time was never promised. Occasionally this would give rise to great cries of longing from the people, calling on God to act soon, especially as they endured periods of suffering. At moments like these the prophets would call them back to trust in God’s wisdom and to remain steadfast in hope. An example is given in the first reading from the Sunday Mass of yesterday, where Isaiah, the great prophet of salvation, spoke words of comfort and hope to those who were waiting (cf. Isaiah 40: 1-5, 9-11). The Lord is coming soon, he said, and he will come as a shepherd to gather his sheep and lead them. Trust, have hope, be at peace. And, of course, God was faithful. He sent his Son, Jesus, to be our shepherd and lead us home to the Father.

As we waited at the airport, we had been told that a new crew would soon arrive to operate the plane and take care of passengers. Therefore, when we saw pilots and stewards arrive, that was a sign to us that what was promised would soon be fulfilled. Isaiah foretold that the arrival of the awaited Messiah would be heralded by a voice in the wilderness that called people to prepare the way of the Lord. That voice would be a sign of the imminent coming of the saviour. The Gospel of Sunday (Mark 1:1-8) identified that voice as John the Baptist, who did live in the wilderness and who did, in fact, call people to prepare by changing their lives, by repentance.

This message of John the Baptist remains relevant for us even today, because we remain in a time of waiting and expectation. We are no longer waiting for God to send the saviour. He has done so in his Son, Jesus Christ. We are waiting for Jesus to come again in glory at the end of time, as he promised. It remains true that we must be prepared by repentance for his arrival. We do not know when it will be, only that his day “will come like a thief”, as St. Peter told us in yesterday’s second reading, that is to say, suddenly and unexpectedly, so the time to repent and be ready is always now.

As we waited at the airport, time seemed to drag on as we waited for the airline to fulfill its promise. Everything was closed and there was little to do. Some might be tempted to think that the Lord is rather slow in fulfilling his promise. It has been more than two thousand years, after all! The teaching of St. Peter (cf. 2Peter 3:8-14) is very much to this point. God is beyond time. To him a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow; he is patient, patient with us, because he wants us to share in his gift of salvation and not to perish. Therefore, in this time of expectation and waiting, there is much to do: examine ourselves and make the necessary changes so that we lead lives of “holiness and godliness.”

This is the message of Advent: wait with patience and hope in the expectation of the Lord’s coming, be aware of our need for the Lord to take us to our destination, and prepare for him by an honest and thorough examination of our lives. In this way we open our lives to welcome the Lord, the shepherd who leads us home.

A Moment of Change

2011-11-28T10:34:00.003-07:00

As you know, yesterday we began using a newly revised English-language translation of the Roman Missal. This change is occurring not only in the Archdiocese of Edmonton but also throughout Canada and, indeed, the English-speaking world. The Roman Missal is the book that you see the priest use as he presides at Mass. It contains all the prayers and indications that guide us in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Why the change?

The Roman Missal's official edition is in Latin, and it is this official edition that is translated into all the languages of the world. This official edition was revised by the authority of Blessed Pope John Paul II in 2002. This revision was not to change the Mass, obviously. The Mass remains the same. The revision of Pope John Paul II was made in order to include some new material, such as feasts of newly canonized Saints, some new Prefaces for the Eucharistic Prayer, and clarifications in the way we celebrate the Holy Eucharist. This change to the official edition necessitated the preparation of a revised version in the various languages of the world, including, of course, English.

As a result of the new English translation, you will notice a few changes to the prayers, acclamations and responses. Most of the changes in wording occur in the prayers offered by the priest. With time and patience, all of these prayers will become as familiar to us as those we have been using over the last few decades.

Also to be implemented are some changes to posture. At the beginning of the Missal is a section called The General Instruction on the Roman Missal (GIRM). It stipulates the norms to be followed for the correct celebration of Mass, including directives pertaining to posture. These directives have as their intention to assure consistent practice and conformity with the universal law of the Church. This is very important. The oneness of our faith is to be apparent in the unity of our gestures and posture at the Sacred Liturgy.

This moment of change is a wonderful occasion for a renewed appreciation of the mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist. For a while we shall naturally be focusing upon what to say, not to say, when to kneel, stand, sit and so on, but let us not forget the sublime mystery that underlines it all. In the celebration of Holy Mass, the Lord himself is present to us, present with us. In the transformed gifts of bread and wine, the sacred body and blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ becomes truly and really present. In the Mass, we worship God, we give thanks for his countless gifts, especially the gift of salvation, we listen to his Word, we receive from the altar the sacred body and blood of Christ, and we are sent forth to be his agents of love in the world.

The Mass is the central event, the highlight, in the life of every Catholic. In its celebration we encounter our Lord and draw life and strength from his love. For this reason, our liturgical celebrations must be beautiful and dignified. For this reason, we must give careful attention not only to the way we celebrate but also to our interior dispositions as we approach the Mass and enter into its celebration. Have I reviewed the readings for Mass before coming to Church? Have I made an examination of conscience and confessed serious sin? Have I reflected upon the countless blessings that God always pours out upon me and offered thanks?

Perhaps the most important question for us is this: how shall we translate our encounter with the Lord into the way we live our lives? The new Missal is a translation from Latin to English. Yet this is in service of a much deeper and more significant translation that must take place: the translation of the mystery of the Eucharist into daily living. Here we meet the love of God for each of us. Do we translate that into love for others? Here we encounter the mercy of God towards us sinners. Do we translate that into the forgiveness of those who have hurt us? Here we receive the gift of salvation. Do we translate that into lives of hope? In the Gospel for Sunday we heard Jesus tell us to be ready to meet him when he comes again. His return will be at a time we simply do not and cannot know. This means to be ready now. As we enter this holy season of Advent, may the Lord help us ready ourselves by translating the encounter with Christ in the Eucharist into lives of Christian holiness.

On Saturday night I gathered at our Basilica with a group of people who translate their encounter with Christ into work and prayer for the protection of all human life. We marked the beginning of the new liturgical year with solemn evening prayer for nascent human life. This event springs from an initiative of Pope Benedict XVI himself, who last year invited all dioceses to gather for this prayer. We repeated it again this year and plan to do so henceforth every year at the beginning of Advent. We must not fail to pray for nascent human life, for life in its beginning stages, initiated at fertilization and now wondrously developing in the womb of the mother.

We are all called to speak in defense of this life and to witness to its beauty in the face of so many threats against it. Yet without sustained prayer such efforts will bear little fruit. What is needed in our society is an awakening of conscience and a profound conversion of heart. This is brought about by the grace of God, and so let us ceaselessly implore the Lord to touch the hearts of all people and effect a new beginning of respect for all human life, especially at its most vulnerable stages.

Always a Gift

2011-11-21T13:17:00.002-07:00

I returned to Edmonton late Saturday evening. The minus-30 temperature was sure a shock to the system, but – hey – this is home and I’m glad to be back.

This evening (Monday) I have the great privilege of joining with the priests of the Archdiocese to celebrate a Mass in honour of those of our number celebrating this year important jubilees of ordination. It is perhaps providential that our Mass occurs on the Feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple. The traditional teaching that Mary was brought at an early age by her parents, Saints Joachim and Anne, to the Temple has been handed on in the Church since the early centuries.

Although it stems from non-historical sources, nevertheless it has been kept and honoured liturgically because it reflects an important theological intuition of the Church, namely, that Mary, from her earliest years, was entirely dedicated to God. It complements and flows from the truth of her Immaculate Conception. Mary was prepared from the beginning by God for her unique role in salvation history, and when that message from Gabriel came to her, she said yes. It is a pleasure to honour the men who have modeled their priestly lives on Mary’s docility to the Word of God and who have thus greatly enriched the life of the Church and the lives of the countless people entrusted to their care.

Yesterday we celebrated the Solemnity of Christ the King, and heard the passage from Saint Matthew concerning the Last Judgement. It is a story that never fails to rivet our attention, because it spells out clearly that for which we shall be held to account by the Lord: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these…” Students at exam time would give almost anything to see the examination questions in advance so that they can prepare. That seldom happens. Yet that is precisely what Jesus is doing for us in this Gospel passage. He is giving us the questions in advance. How have you loved?

In other Gospel passages he tells us that the greatest of all commandments is love of God and of neighbour, and in this one from Matthew he spells out that we obey the greatest commandment through the corporal works of mercy: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and the prisoner, and so on. Furthermore, he so identifies himself with the needy that, in our care for them, love of God and love of neighbour mysteriously become one: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.”

Last week brought to our attention brothers and sisters in particular need of love and mercy: the dying. A report by a special parliamentary committee that was examining the state of palliative care services in Canada was released. I was encouraged by its obvious deep concern for the terminally ill and by its call for adequate compassionate and palliative care services. A statement by the CCCB in support of the report can be found on our Archdiocesan website. By way of very stark contrast, a report by a panel of persons commissioned by the Royal Society of Canada was released only a couple of days prior. It calls for the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide. I was able to give it only a quick read, but even that was enough to make me heartsick. It is not too difficult to find in it the not-too-subtle suggestion that helping people kill themselves or allowing doctors to kill them would help to ease the “burden” of care felt by families or the financial “burden” placed upon our health care system. The human person at any age and in any circumstance is always a gift, not a burden, and we should aim, as the parliamentary committee’s report says, at ever new ways for social inclusion of our weak and vulnerable, not exclusion.

We need to keep our eyes on this issue and be ready to speak out in defense of life. I recommend you keep abreast of this by referring to the website of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition(check out Alex Schadenburg’s blog). For reference I also recommend the statements issued by the Catholic Organization for Life and Family, which you can find at http://www.colf.ca/mamboshop/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=85&Itemid=119.

God bless and have a good week.

Adapting to Conditions

2011-11-15T05:56:00.001-07:00

Still inRome for meetings of the Presidency of the CCCB with the Holy See, I read thismorning in an online report of some nasty road conditions in Edmonton as theresult of snow and icy roads. According to the report, civic officials were atpains to remind people to adapt to the conditions as they drove their vehicles.Pay attention, they said, not to the speed limit but to the conditions andadjust your actions accordingly. Just plain common sense, that. Yet,remarkably, many of us continue to be governed by habit and proceed as ifnothing around us has changed. Cruise control with blinders. A commute alongicy winter roads will demonstrate very quickly just how dangerous an attitudethat is.

Harmfuloblivion to our surroundings is not limited to winter driving. It is sadlycharacteristic of a society marked by self-focus and self-absorption. Often weneed a rather unpleasant "wake up call" to bring us out of ourselves,notice what is happening around us and adjust our behaviour. A sudden fenderbender on the highway is one example. The global financial crisis is another.The world is now suddenly alert to the interconnectedness of lifestyles, bothindividual and national, and realizing that we need to "adapt toconditions", such as we see happening through governmental change inGreece and here in Italy, and the imposition of financial austerity measures.

In theGospel for Mass on Monday of this week (Luke18:35-43), Jesus turns to a blind man who had been calling out to him and askswhat he is seeking: "What do youwant me to do for you?” The blind man replied, “Lord, please let me see.”

It seems to me that this is a request we would all do well to bring to theLord. Please let me see. Please let me see, Lord, the reality around me. Let menot be so closed in upon myself - my desires and preoccupations, my worries andfears - that I actually become blind to the world around me. Please let me see,and help me adapt to the conditions around me - the conditions of the poor, thehomeless, the sick, the lonely, the despairing. Help me so to adjust mylifestyle that they have a place in the ordering of my life. Open my eyes tothe wondrous beauty of human life; help me to see clearly the current threatsagainst it, and so to adapt my life that I do not neglect to speak and act inits defense. Expand the horizon of my view beyond the immediate. When I watchnews reports of poverty and hunger in the Third World, help me really to seewhat I am seeing: one in desperate need who is, in fact, my brother or sister,and whose plight may in large part be due to lifestyle choices here at home.Assist me to know how I must adapt to these conditions and give me the desireand determination to do so.

Please,Lord, help us to see and to adjust our lives to your will and to the conditionsof our brothers and sisters.

Gift of Wisdom

2011-11-07T11:29:00.001-07:00

TheGospel passage from yesterday's Sunday Mass (Matthew 25:1-13) ended with these words of the Lord: "Keepawake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour." When I hearthis teaching I often go back in my mind to visits I would make as a parishpriest to the homes of my parishioners. I would usually do so in one of twoways: I would either call ahead and make an appointment, or I would just showup unannounced. You can imagine the difference between the two in the receptionI received. In the first case the door would be opened immediately as thepeople welcomed me into their immaculately clean home. In the second, thecurtain of the living room window would be pulled slightly back to allow oneeye to peek out, followed by muffled cries of panic within. The Lord isteaching us that he will come again, but without calling ahead. We need to beprepared NOW to receive him.

We heardSt. Paul (1Thessalonians 4:13-18)refer to this return of the Lord in terms both of our own death and of the endof time. We know also that the Lord, faithful to his promise never to abandonus, is with us even now, especially through the gifts of the sacraments andthrough the indwelling Holy Spirit.

In thepassage from Saint Matthew the parable told by Jesus unveils the deepestpurpose of the Lord's return. He comes to us as the bridegroom. In other words,he will come to us in love, seeking a communion, or covenant, of love with hispeople. That same parable uses the image of ten bridesmaids waiting with lampslit so that they could go out to meet him when he arrived. The point here isthe meeting. Christian life begins with and is nourished by the encounter withJesus Christ (Deus Caritas Est, 1).Jesus desires to encounter us with his love and to draw us to himself, to ashare in his own life.

Adistinction is made in the parable between the five bridesmaids who are wiseand the remainder who are foolish. The wise are those who brought extra oil andwere prepared to wait. This is an important image for us, especially today aswe find ourselves in the midst of so many crises. This extra oil symbolizeshuman limit. It represents a recognition that the Lord is in charge, that heacts in accordance with his wisdom and providence and at his own determination,and that, therefore, we can but wait upon his guidance and action. The Lord isnot on call, responsive to our whims and determinations. Wisdom recognizes thetruth of God, the truth of ourselves, and the truth of our dependence upon him.Folly is the illusory presumption that we can determine actions and outcomes onour own without needing to be prepared to wait for the Lord, to rely on hisprovidence, and to trust in his wisdom. We are witnesses to the tragic resultsof such folly in the economic and political crises of our day.

The firstreading from Mass yesterday taught that true wisdom is God's gift. It is clearthat this gift has been bestowed in abundance upon our Holy Father, PopeBenedict XVI. As I mentioned in my last post, I am in Rome right now for aseries of meetings that are undertaken in the course of an annual visit to theHoly See by the President, Vice-President and General Secretary of the CanadianConference of Catholic Bishops. We shall have about twenty-seven meetings in allby the time we leave here. The highlight occurred today. I am speaking, ofcourse, about the audience granted to us by the Holy Father.

Hewelcomed us very warmly to his office, where we had the great honour ofpresenting him with official copies of the new English-language Roman Missalapproved for use in Canada and of the book produced by the CCCB PublicationsService to commemorate the dedication of the new St. Joseph Seminary.

God has,indeed, greatly blessed us with the gift of Pope Benedict. We are in such goodhands! He listens to his people with great attentiveness, manifests always aprofound respect for each individual, and, as we know from his teaching, guidesus with unparalleled insight into the human condition and the circumstances ofthe day, interpreting all in the light of the Gospel. Let us not fail tocontinue to support him with our love and prayers.

Behind the Masks

2011-10-31T13:14:00.000-06:00

Halloween.I just received a picture of my niece (10) and nephew (12) in the costumes theywant to wear this evening for "trick-or-treat". I think it best thatI not share them with you. When they become adults they'll be embarrassed andmight have a word or two to say to their uncle.

The dayof masks. The day when our true identity is concealed. Would that it were onlytoday that this happened. Many seem to find it necessary to hide their trueselves all the time, and not only from others but also from themselves. Variousforms of masks and pretensions are assumed in order to be"acceptable". This is a tragedy. Each of us is created unique andbeautiful in the eyes of God, a gift to be shared, not an embarrassment to be hiddenaway!

Significantly,the masks come off on the following day. That is All Saints Day. As we know,the word Halloween comes from All Hallows (i.e. Saints) Eve, the eve, or vigil,commemorated before All Saints Day. The saint is the one who does not wear amask, who lives peacefully before God his or her own truth. Sainthood, orholiness, is a gift that arises from a vital union with Jesus Christ. Theencounter with the Lord awakens us, yes, to our weakness, failings andmistakes, but also to our belovedness in the eyes of the One who manifestedthat love in his death on the Cross. This love sets us free to be ourselves andoffer ourselves as gift to others. Often in the Gospel we hear Jesus say,"Those who humble themselves will be exalted." Humility is truth. We "humbleourselves" when, under grace, we accept the truth and the giftedness ofourselves and refuse to put on masks that we falsely think will"exalt" us in the eyes of others. The exaltation of which Jesusspeaks is the lifting up out of falsehood that happens when we accept the truthof his love, and in that love, the truth of ourselves.

At ouropening session last Thursday evening of Year 4 of Nothing More Beautiful, the witness, David Wells, spoke of thefreedom he experienced when he was brought to an awareness of the infinite loveof God. He recalled for us the moment when he first held his newborn child inhis arms. The love he felt for the child was obviously not earned by the baby,and was so great that he knew he would do anything to make the world a betterplace for his child. Then he thought, "If God loves me this way, then I amgoing to be all right." No matter how greatly the parent might love thechild, God's love is greater still. Infinitely greater. Yes, we are going to beall right, because of that love. We do not earn it. We cannot. It is freelygiven in superabundance. No masks or pretensions are necessary. The Lord seesus as we truly are, and He loves what he sees. May our own awareness of thislove help us so to humble ourselves that we shall be exalted, lifted up, to alife of truth and freedom.

I am inRome for the first part of November for the annual visit to the Holy See of thePresident, Vice-President and General Secretary of the Canadian Conference ofCatholic Bishops. This is a wonderful opportunity to share with the Holy Fatherand officials of the various dicasteries (departments) of the Vatican theblessings and challenges of the Church in Canada. Please keep these meetings inyour prayer. Grazie!

The Magic Kingdom and Greater Wonders

2011-10-25T15:14:00.000-06:00

I amwriting this blog post from Orlando, where I am attending with some people frommy Diocese the International Stewardship Conference. And no - I am not gettingoutside in this beautiful weather to enjoy a round of golf - unfortunately! Notmuch time for that, I'm afraid.

Afterlast week's plenary meeting in Cornwall of Canada's Bishops, I boarded a planeSunday morning from Montreal to come to Orlando. The first thing I noticed wasthe large number of children boarding with me, which reminded me that theInternational Stewardship Conference is not the only major attraction in thiscity. The children were excited, to say the least! It was wonderful to see, but- I must confess - more than once on the flight I found myself thanking God forthe invention of noise-canceling headphones. The young ones were coming to seeMickey and friends. They kept asking their parents about what they would see,and were not at all shy about telling complete strangers what they were mostlooking forward to experiencing. Some were on a plane for the first time, andin their cries of "cool" or "awesome" as the plane liftedoff, the children gave voice to what is one of their most beautifulcharacteristics - the capacity for wonder and awe. They were dazzled by theplane and soon would be marveling at the exciting adventure awaiting them atDisney World.

More thanonce in the Gospel Jesus calls us to be like children. Among other things, thiscall of the Lord is an invitation to marvel, to stand in awe, not before theachievements of human ingenuity or imagination, but at the love of God and athis wonders, above all the mystery of his grace working in our lives andthroughout history. As a people of faith we naturally marvel at God's greatdeeds of creation and redemption, but frequently in the Gospels Jesus calls usalso to recognize with awe how one can point to and give insight into theother. "The kingdom of heaven is like ...." The marvels of creationdirect our hearts and minds to the infinitely greater wonders of the kingdom ofGod. For example, the wondrous mustard seed, at once the smallest and thegreatest, gives intimations of God's ways, whereby in his kingdom the last isfirst, the weak shame the strong, and what is judged small and of no accountwill by the power of God transform this world. Or again, the amazing propertiesof leaven kneaded thoroughly through dough reflect the mystery of grace, whichbeginning from our Baptism comes to indwell us through and through - ourhearts, minds, memories and imaginations - so that we might rise from therather flat existence of life without God to the fullness of joy, tasted evennow and held out for us without limit in the kingdom of God.

TheChristian life is imbued with this awe - awe before the beauty and majesty ofGod who comes not only to teach us through his self-revelation, but also totouch and transform our lives and draw us to himself. This awe deepens as werecognize we are standing in wonder before what is true, what is real. Theconference I am attending is taking place next door to a major centre offantasy, the capital city of the unreal. It is a place of escape from realityinto illusion. The Gospel is a call to change direction and run from illusiontoward the real, from the "magic kingdom" to God's kingdom. That"real" is the marvel of salvation history, God coming to andremaining with his people through the wondrous workings of his grace. Engagingthis reality, stepping fully into this history, is not without difficulty andpain, because we are speaking of the wonder of God's freely bestowed graceencountering human freedom weakened by sin. It is a history that thereforeworks itself out in the great struggle of conversion and longing. But it is ahistory of which God is the beginning and end, and Jesus the centre. Thus, inthe final analysis, it is a history of hope, because it exposes the sentimentof being alone and on our own as illusion, and makes known as very real indeedthe truth of God's love and proximity.

Wonderand awe before this truth leads naturally to surrender, to fiat, to the act of faith. Christians are those who say"yes" to the presence of God in their lives. This "yes" isgiven unconditionally when born of a heart awakened to the marvelous truth ofGod's plan and to his infinite wisdom. It is the very heart of Christianstewardship, and determines the use we make of our time, talent and treasure.

Aschildren of the Father, may we never cease to marvel at the truth of our Godand his love and always be ready to surrender in faith to his call.

To Caesar and to God

2011-10-16T19:36:00.001-06:00

“Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

We heard these famous words of Jesus in yesterday's Gospel. They teach us that the various responsibilities we assume and exercise in life should receive both their shape and motivation from our commitment in faith to live by the grace of God.

Our participation in civil society involves us in a multiplicity of relationships, many of which bring with them the expectation of allegiance to a variety of standards and expectations. We adhere to civil law. We follow the industrial standards of our profession. We are faithful to policies of the institutions to which we belong. In these and in many other ways we "render unto Caesar," and we recognize the need to do so for the sake of our social order.

From the variety of our allegiances God must not be eclipsed. “Give unto God what belongs to God.” The external fidelity that we give to our multiple allegiances must not supplant the interior surrender that we owe to our Lord. In fact, our submission in faith to the God who loves and calls us is foundational to all other life decisions, and informs our choice of the particular allegiances we assume in freedom.

In the Gospel we hear that the people of our Lord’s day were reminded of their civil obligations by looking upon an image, that of Caesar on a coin. The image which, as we gaze upon it, reminds us of our duties to God is the human person, fashioned in the divine image and likeness. When we encounter our family members, colleagues and fellow citizens, we meet people who each possess an inalienable dignity and an eternal destiny, both of which were wondrously affirmed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We meet people who, in virtue of the divine image, are acting subjects never to be objectified, persons wondrous and beautiful, unceasingly deserving of respect. We honour God, we give back to Him what is His, when we honour the dignity of each other, the people for whom God sent His Son, His children for whom Christ gave His life.

Perhaps it would be helpful to keep this teaching in mind as we reflect upon the current global "occupy" protest. Citizens around the world are gathering to express their frustration and anger. News reports tell us that the protest is lacking in focus, a rather generalized rant. Yet we would do well to listen not only to the words chanted by protesters but also, and more importantly, to the emotions behind them. Personally, I am hearing underneath the words a lot of fear and anxiety. In the midst of serious challenges in our financial markets, people are very worried by the current burdens people are carrying as well as by a future whose contours seem to be anything but hopeful. I noticed on news reports yesterday that parents and grandparents are joining the protesters, so concerned are they for their children's and grandchildren's future. The voices speak of an urgently felt need to be not only heard but also taken into account.

A market system that "gives unto Caesar" without "giving unto God" is one in which the primacy of the human person is discounted, even ignored. It measures market value without consideration of human worth. This, it seems to me, is the underlying cry of the protesters. It is also the lament of Pope Benedict XVI. In his encyclical Caritas in Veritate he calls for a global economy that places at its centre the dignity of the human person and our shared responsibility for the common good. This extraordinary document provides us with some much needed guidance right now.

On the weekend I visited two institutions in the Archdiocese that stand as reminders to the community of a primordial "giving unto God". Newman Theological College held its convocation ceremonies, and degrees in theology and religious education were awarded to some very happy graduates. The president, Fr. Shayne Craig, told us that enrolment at NTC is up 38 percent, and the keynote speaker, Joan Carr, superintendent of Edmonton Catholic Schools, challenged the graduates to live by God's grace as authentic disciples of Jesus Christ. At St. Joseph's College, on the campus of the University of Alberta, I installed its new president, Father Terence Kersch of the Basilian Fathers. This community of priests has looked after St. Joe's since 1963. There, by researching and teaching the truths of academic disciplines lovingly, selflessly and for the sake of the student and society, the College demonstrates a giving to “Caesar” that is informed and shaped by a prior giving to God.

Monday marks the opening of the annual plenary meeting of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. It takes place in Cornwall, Ontario, and runs until Friday at noon. Please keep us and our deliberations in your prayers. Thanks.

Thanksgiving for True Gifts

2011-10-11T10:03:00.000-06:00

Lastevening, at the end of our Canadian Thanksgiving Day, a national news broadcastfeatured interviews with citizens of two towns that had recently suffered greatloss from natural disasters: Goderich in Ontario, which was recovering from atornado strike, and Slave Lake here in Alberta, which lost nearly one-third ofthe town to wildfires. The interviewer was asking them about their thoughts onThanksgiving Day and their responses were very moving.

Inevery case the respondent was surrounded by family members. Without hesitationthey said that they were most thankful for the gift of life and of theirfamilies. Even though some of them had lost everything in terms of materialgoods, they knew in their hearts that, on the level of what truly matters, theyhad lost nothing. In fact, their appreciation for what is most important, thepresence and love of family and friends, had deepened.

Onthis same day, the news was reporting record sales of the new iPhone. Greatexcitement! It is so easy to get caught up in what is ultimately unimportant tothe neglect of what is always of the greatest importance. I must admit I likethe "gadgets" as much as anyone else. (In fact, I'm writing this blogfrom an iPad.) But what is truly exciting is any opportunity to be togetherwith family and those we love in order just to spend time enjoying oneanother's company and the unique gift that each person is.

Ilove to cite the following from Pope Benedict's first homily as our HolyFather: "We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Eachof us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us isloved, each of us is necessary." Have you ever thought of yourself as aresult of a thought of God? You are! Thank God for the gift of being alive.Have you looked upon others as precious in the eyes of God, willed and loved,persons who count and matter? They are! Thank God for them, especially for thegift of their presence in your life. How do they enrich you? What do you miss mostabout them when they are absent?

Thethanks we lift up to God for what is truly important and beautiful should notbe limited to Thanksgiving Day. It should be given every day. Why not take sometime - today - to think of thosepersons who truly matter in your life, thank God for them, and ask Him for thegift of a renewed appreciation for what truly matters.

Embrace the "little way"

2011-10-03T11:50:00.001-06:00

Thispast Friday, Saturday and Sunday, St. Joseph Seminary was host to 14 menfor a "Come and See" weekend. This is an opportunity for men who feelthey may be called by the Lord to priesthood to share their experience with othersand find help to discern the voice of the Lord in their lives. They spend timein the seminary setting in order to get a sense of daily life there, and, mostimportantly, to speak with formation team members and other seminarians aboutthe principles and dynamics of discernment.

Providentially,Saturday was the memorial feast of St. Therese of Lisieux. Her example is awonderful aid to anyone who seeks to be open to the call of Christ. In her wesee the model of what it means to become childlike, that stance before the Lordto which Christ frequently called his followers. What does it mean to bechildlike?

I hadoccasion to reflect on this when on Thursday I visited and blessed two schoolsin the Archdiocese: Theresetta school in Castor and Christ King school inStettler. Many of the parents of the students were there for these events.Watching the youngest members of these schools (kindergarten and Grade 1) Iwas reminded of what it is to be like a child. Youngsters allow themselves tobe led. Where the parents go, so, too, do they. They approach their parentswith open arms, full of trust. They take their parents at their word; they holdsomething to be true because "Mommy or Daddy said so."

St.Therese approached God with arms wide open, trusting absolutely in His love andtenderness. She took God at His Word, the Word spoken in Christ, the Word thatassures of of divine presence and care, the Word that calls us to life throughthe obedient following of Christ. Wanting to be led only by the Lord, shetenaciously sought to know the Lord's will in order to follow it in loving andtrusting obedience.

Atthe Come and See weekend, we offered this great saint, now a Doctor of theChurch, as a model to the men seeking toknow the Lord's will. She is, in fact, a model for all of us. God is near. Heloves us as a Father, wanting to provide for our every true need. He summons usto life through communion with His Son. When we take God at His Word andreceive that word with open arms, we shall know how we are called and we willbe graced with the faith necessary to follow.

As Imoved into the Sunday liturgies of the weekend, I realized that St. Therese haseven more to say to us. How vitally important it is for us to grasp and followher example was underscored by the Scripture readings for Sunday Mass (cf.Isaiah 5:1-7; Philippians 4: 6-9; Matthew 21: 33-43).

Boththe first reading and Gospel use the image of a vineyard and its produce. Inthe passage from Isaiah, the vineyard is an image of the people of God, who hadplanted within them His seeds of love and mercy and nourished them with Hiscommandments. However, instead of the cultivated grapes of justice and peacethis vineyard has yielded the "wild grapes" of injustice andbloodshed.

Suchan image makes us ask some serious questions about the "produce" thatwe, the Lord's vineyard of today, are bringing forth. Through Baptism we havehad planted within us the seeds of life, love, justice and eternity. And yetthe produce yielded is too often the opposite: threats to the dignity to humanlife and pressures on family; poverty; homelessness; widening gaps between richand poor; and so on. Not a very healthy vineyard, to say the least.

TheGospel parable of the vineyard owner and the evil tenants gives the diagnosisof the underlying illness that needs to be confronted. At produce time theowner sends messengers to the tenants to collect the produce. He even sends hisson. All are beaten and killed as the tenants rebuff the owner of the vineyardand take control for themselves. Such a parable invites us to examine seriouslyhow we are rebuffing God, both as individuals and as a society. Throughoutsalvation history God has sent us messengers of His love, such as the prophets,and above all He even sent His Son. They were rebuffed by sinful humanity. The injustices suffered by humanity, bothpast and present, show clearly that we continue to choose to exclude God fromany meaningful place in our lives, relying not upon Him but upon ourselves.

St.Therese exemplifies the antidote to this blight. She felt the Lord calling herto be love in the midst of the Church. This led her to embrace what has sincebeen called her "little way": to be loving and faithful in the littlethings, in the ordinary and everyday events and relationships. To reverse thecurrent trend of society, great heroic feats on our part are not what isnecessary. What is needed is the "little way" of St. Therese. Shetaught us to trust God, to let Him into our lives, to trust and follow His Word,and to be faithful in consequence in the ordinary events of our lives. Such alittle way, if followed by all, can effect a great turnaround in our world. Letus embrace her example and follow it.

Service Through Christ

2011-09-29T10:20:00.003-06:00

Thisis the title of a striking statue unveiled and blessed yesterday morning on thegrounds of the Alberta Legislature. The beautiful bronze monument has beensculpted as a lasting tribute to the religious sisters who, beginning more thanone hundred and fifty years ago, gave of themselves tirelessly in service toothers and laid the foundation of what are today our institutions ofhealthcare, education and social outreach. Sisters came to the property of ourlegislative assembly from across Western Canada for the event. There they werejoined by Premier Ed Stelmach and his wife, Marie, and other governmentofficials, together with the good people at Covenant Health who spearheaded theproject. I was there with Archbishop Huculak and Bishop Motiuk, both of theUkrainian Catholic community. We were joined by large numbers of our priests,religious and lay faithful, including students from our Catholic schools.Clearly, the idea of creating a lasting expression of gratitude to the Sisterstouched the hearts of many. They are precious to us.

Thepoint of the event was not only to say thank you, however. It was also anoccasion to reflect upon their legacy and ask ourselves how we, in our day,need to take up the torch and carry this inheritance into the future. This isno easy task, because what they have bequeathed us is in many ways the oppositeof developing trends in our society.

Westernsociety is sinking rapidly into a utilitarian assessment of human worth, wherebyone's value is measured in terms of talent, intellect and the ability tocontribute. Human worth is thus extrinsically assigned by others who presume tojudge the value of another. The legacy of the sisters is the opposite: humandignity is inherent and inalienable, grounded in the fact of our creation inthe image and likeness of God. From the first moment of existence until naturaldeath, the human person is wondrous and beautiful, irrespective of skill orcircumstance, always a gift and never a burden, and unceasingly deserving ofrespect, care and attention.

Inour day a worrisome individualism has taken hold. The claiming and assertion ofindividual rights is very often made with scant regard for the impact onothers. A materialist vision of happiness leads to a consumerism thataccumulates possessions to oneself with little thought given to theconsequences for the poor and destitute elsewhere in the world. By way ofcontrast, the sisters were dedicated to building up the common good. Theirexample reminds us that our essentially social nature as human beings givesrise to the duty to care for one another and ensure that no one is without whatis needed to live a decent life.The sisters did not think only of themselves.In fact, others came first, and they went without in order to be present toothers and respond to their needs. From this concern for the common good arosethe institutions that have grown to become an essential part of the fabric ofour society. If we do not want this society to unravel, we must move away frommyopic self-absorption and embrace the same broad view of humanity that guidedthe sisters to give of themselves for others.

Thegrowing secularism we see today seeks to pressure people of faith into a typeof schizophrenia; the dictates of conscience and religion should be lived onlyprivately, while in the public arena one is expected to live as if God did notexist. Eclipsing the question of God from all public discourse robs society ofits only reliable basis for trust. The ensuing fear and anxiety turns peopleaway from others and into themselves and thus becomes a seedbed of societaldivision and even violence. The Sisters have given us a convincing testament tothe unifying, liberating and life-giving power of faith, publicly professed andlived. It was in response to a divinecall and out of confidence in the providence of God that the Sisters travelledcountless kilometres by rudimentary means of transport to come to WesternCanada. What motivated them above all else was their knowledge of the love ofGod and the desire to be agents of that love to others. They arrived with nextto nothing and knew well the limits imposed by human weakness. They gave overtheir little into the hands of Almighty God, trusting in faith that He wouldmultiply it in His own time and according to His saving purpose. We see todaythat that faith was not misplaced. Their faith opened their lives and ministryto the power of God, and this province is the beneficiary of that witness.Their legacy is a call to us to embrace the truth, not only as individuals butalso as a society, that God who loves us is near, wanting to be involved in ourlives and having the power to turn all things to the good if we but call uponHim and surrender to His ways.

Theirlegacy is a call to respect every human being at all stages of life, placeothers before ourselves, and profess faith in a God who loves us. There aremany signs of this legacy being carried into the future.

Forexample, on Tuesday morning of this week I met with people from our faithcommunities who are working together in support of Edmonton's ten-year plan toend homelessness. We are particularly focused upon reaching out to newly housedmen and women to embrace them with a network of friendship and support.Receiving a dwelling is one thing. Experiencing it as a home requiresparticipation in a web of relationships that affirm and enable. We are workingto create a programme with just this aim in mind. It will be entitled"Welcome Home", and some representatives from Catholic SocialServices outlined to the group a vision of how this might unfold. I was verymoved and edified by the loving seriousness with which these good people aretreating this issue.

Asanother example, I celebrated Mass Tuesday evening with the volunteers involvedin the Saint Vincent de Paul Society of the Archdiocese. These are people whogive of their time to visit the poor and provide them with the concreteassistance they need. Here I would like to highlight one particular dimensionof their outreach. They visit thepoor. They do not wait for them to show up; they go out to them. From a visit Iknow that I have been noticed. When that visit has been made for no othermotive than to help me, I know that I matter. The worth of each and every humanbeing was made visible when God visited us in His Son. Now we assure others oftheir worth by visiting them in order to be of assistance and give them thehelp they might not otherwise have been able to find.

Sisters,thank you!! Thanks as well to all who give of themselves to carry into thefuture their legacy of loving service through Christ.

Disciples behind the scenes

2011-09-19T09:03:00.000-06:00

Thispast week I issued a new pastoral letter, outlining the priorities that willguide and shape the life and ministry of the Archdiocese of Edmonton in theyears ahead. If you'd like to take a look at it, you can access the letter Pastoral Priorities of the Archdiocese of Edmonton.

Fornow, I would like to sing the praises of a remarkable group of people whoexercise ministry on what we call our Catholic Campus. Yesterday at Mass Iintroduced to all who were gathered at St. Joseph's Basilica the women and menwho work at our Pastoral and Administration Offices, Newman TheologicalCollege, Saint Joseph Seminary or Villa Vianney (our home for retiredpriests). These buildings co-exist on a beautiful piece of property overlookingEdmonton, and the collaboration in ministry exercised among them is captured inthe term "campus." They are among the most dedicated people I haveever met! They love the Lord and his Church, and give themselves fully to theservice of God's people. Most times they work "behind the scenes," soI thought it was time to lift them up, thank them, and, above all, invoke God'sblessings upon them.

Gatheredin the Basilica were the people who, in our Pastoral and AdministrationOffices, work in evangelization, catechesis, ecumenism, interfaith relations,on behalf of life and family, the missions, liturgy, and social justice and forthe evangelization of youth. Those who support parishes with new evangelizationinitiatives, guidance for parish councils and the fostering of stewardship werethere. We have people who dedicate themselves to the pastoral care of the sick, homebound andprisoner, who promote vocations to the priesthood and support our permanentdiaconate, and who minister sensitively to the hurting through our marriagetribunal while providing other canonical services. Communications is exercisedby an office dedicated to this work as well as by the folks at the WesternCatholic Reporter.

FromNewman Theological College we had present the faculty, administration andsupport staff, and from our seminary the formation team and administrativeassistant.

Supportingit all are our offices of finance and accounting, of development, of humanresources and of operations.

As wegathered to thank and honour these dedicated disciples, we heard from theGospel of St. Matthew (20:1-16a) the parable of the owner of the vineyard whohired labourers at a various hours of the day and yet paid them all the same wage. Viewedentirely from the perspective of human quid-pro-quo logic, the owner wasmanifestly unjust. Yet Jesus is speaking in this parable of the sovereign andfree love of God, who may call people to ministry at varying stages of life yetrewards all equally with the joy that comes from knowing and serving him, orwho may touch people's hearts with the knowledge of his love and call tosalvation at different times, yet who bestows his saving grace not on the basis of any merit (wecannot earn salvation!) but out of his sovereignly free generosity. Our peopleon campus have worked there for periods of time ranging from many years to afew months. At differing times in their journeys have they felt the summons ofthe Lord to follow him through their particular form of service in theArchdiocese. Length of service may differ; the joy is the same. Oh, I suppose somedays may be more joyful than others, but that's normal. The challenges facingus are many, but we confront them with the sure and hopeful knowledge that weare led and strengthened by the grace of God.

Iexpress my sincere thanks to all who work so tirelessly and with such deepdedication at our Catholic campus. The Archdiocese is immeasurably blessed byyour presence and efforts, and I want you to know that we are all verygrateful.

Digesting Difficult Fare

2011-09-12T06:10:00.000-06:00

A few years ago I was traveling in a foreign country. Often one of the first adjustments to be made when traveling abroad is to the local diet. It is often quite different from the one to which we are accustomed at home. One day I was invited to a meal at the home of a wonderful family, who wanted to treat me to the best of their traditional fare. I stepped into the dining room to see the table laden with a smorgasbord of local dishes. Unfortunately, someone made the mistake of telling me in advance the identity of the two principal dishes: goat and cow stomach! Thanks be to God there were plenty of other dishes which were reasonably similar to "home cooking" that I was able to fill up on those, because, for the life of me, I just could not stomach eating stomach.

It has occurred to me since then that this experience offers an analogy to describe the challenge faced by members of the Church as we respond to the call of the new evangelization. When we announce the Gospel we are offering a diet that many today, unaccustomed to the beauty of its teachings, find very difficult to digest. To a society growing increasingly accustomed to consuming vast amounts of falsehood and illusion, the truth proposed by Christ seems to have a very bad taste. Similarly, the call of Christ to a discipleship that involves self-denial and the carrying of one's cross is bitter to the taste of one who is accustomed to a diet of hedonism.

Particularly difficult for many to swallow is the teaching given in the Gospel passage of Sunday's Mass (cf. Matthew 18:21-35). There the Lord speaks in no uncertain terms of the need to place mercy and forgiveness at the centre of one's life. Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of the terrible terrorist attacks on the United States. The horrible loss of life from those deranged and evil acts gave birth, understandably, to an anger so deep that any talk of forgiveness became for many impossible even to hear, let alone heed. Think, too, of the situation in the Middle East, where for decades now terrible atrocities have left many of the peoples of that region hating one another. Many in this context find the idea of forgiveness unthinkable. Of course, even apart from these extreme situations we can know in our own day-to-day lives the difficulty of forgiving. Broken relationships, words spoken in anger, betrayal of a confidence – these and other circumstances can so hurt us as to leave us bitter and not wanting to forgive.

Yet at the same time we also know the truth of Jesus’s words. It is clear that violence simply breeds more violence in a never-ending spiral of animosity and despair. The only antidote to the poison of bitterness is mercy. Forgiveness halts violence in its tracks and restores ruptured relationships. We know this to be true, we want to forgive, yet at times it is so hard to do, especially if the hurt is deep. And the imperative is clear: as Jesus points out by means of the parable in the Gospel, we live by the mercy of God and are therefore called to be agents of that mercy to others. In fact, if we want God to forgive us, Jesus says, we must forgive others.

This need to be forgiving of others is related to the new evangelization. To be effective, we must be people of integrity whose lives correspond to our words. We must be people of mercy. Indeed, we must be people who are seen to have consumed all that the Gospel proposes and have so digested it that it consumes us. You know, when I faced that table full of what I thought was inedible food, I also saw my hosts merrily gobbling down the dishes that I could not imagine eating. Because they enjoyed it so much I thought to myself, "Maybe I will try that someday." Admittedly I did not eat the stomach that day, but certainly was disposed to the possibility because of the witness of those who ate it with delight.

When we happily consume that banquet of truth and joy given in the teachings of Jesus Christ and so digest them that they truly become a part of us, we invite others, by our very actions, to "taste and see the goodness of the Lord" (Psalm 34:8) and to share the joy we have found in a life of Christian discipleship.

I am on retreat this week with the Priests of the Archdiocese of Edmonton. Please remember us in prayer and send up an Ave or two for our intentions. Thanks.

Nada te turbe

2011-08-29T10:37:00.004-06:00

Nada te turbe.
These are the first words of a beautiful and oft-quoted poem of Saint Teresa of Avila. I am now back in Canada after the pilgrimage to Spain for World Youth Days, yet the words remain with me after a visit to Avila, where St. Teresa lived and worked for many years.

“Nada te turbe; nada te espante; todo se pasa; Dios no se muda, la pacienza todo lo alcanza. Quien a Dios tiene, nada le falta. Solo Dios basta.”

Let nothing disturb you; let nothing frighten you, all things pass away. God never changes. Patience obtains all things. He who has God, finds he lacks nothing. God alone suffices.
-St. Teresa of Avila

My, how we worry and fret! So much to do, so many concerns. Anxiety reigns and we long for peace. Nada te turbe! Todo se pasa. Solo Dios basta. God alone is enough. When we live in communion with Him and surrender to His loving and providential care, the realities we face continue but worry about them ceases. These thoughts were running through my mind as I spent a prayerful day in the beautiful medieval town of Avila. I went there following World Youth Days in Madrid for a bit of rest.
This gave me the opportunity to visit the Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation, where Saint Teresa lived for more than thirty years, three of them as prioress. There I celebrated Mass and offered it for our own Carmelite community in Devon, just outside of Edmonton.

I also was able to visit the Monastery of St. Joseph, the first foundation established by Saint Teresa as she began her work of reform. Certainly her life was not free of headaches! She had plenty of them as she initiated an important reform of her community. And yet in the midst of all the ceaseless difficulties, she could still peacefully teach: nada te turbe; nada te espante....Solo Dios basta. Whatever difficulties you are facing, do not fret. Anxieties arise when we face problems alone, relying only on our own abilities. Give it to God. Nothing is too big for Him. Surrender to the Lord and all comes into perspective. Solo Dios basta. When we live in communion with God and know His love and presence, we find that what we once thought was important and caused us grief begins to fade into insignificance, and we discover with joy and peace that all we truly need and desire is given. We lack nothing. Quien a Dios tiene, nada le falta.

From Avila I went to Barcelona with only one purpose in mind: to see the Church of the Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) designed by Gaudi. It is truly a building of jaw-dropping magnificence, well worth the trip. Yet in the midst of this extraordinary edifice, what captured my mind and heart above all was a beautiful bronze sculpture on a wall in the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.

It is of the Holy Family, and surrounded on its frame by the word “Amen”, written three times. In striking fashion it conveys the Amen given by the child Jesus to his earthly father, St. Joseph, a sign of the perfect Amen given to his heavenly Father, as well as the wondrous Amen that both Joseph and Mary gave to Jesus, and through him, to the saving plan of the Father and their role within it. Their Amen serves as the model for our own. It is the surrender that gives peace, and awakens our hearts and lives to the truth of St Teresa’s words: Solo Dios basta.

Some important things to note for this coming week. First of all, I join with many in mourning the loss of two wonderful priests: Aloysius Cardinal Ambrozic, the former Archbishop of Toronto, and our own Father John Nowakowski. Fr Nowakowski served in this Archdiocese of Edmonton for more than fifty years, and is remembered as a dedicated priest, faithful to his calling from the Lord. While I was a Bishop in Ontario for five years, I had the opportunity and blessing of working closely with the Cardinal, and quickly came to admire his strength of conviction, his courage to speak, as well as the remarkable humility with which he listened to others. He, too, was faithful to his Lord. Each in his own way gave his Amen to the saving plan of the Lord and to their particular calling within its unfolding. May they rest in peace.

Also our school divisions are celebrating Masses this week to mark the opening of another school year. Let’s not fail to pray often for our schools. They are a great gift and task. May they continue to grow to be environments of faith, where our students learn to give their Amen to the love and calling of Jesus, so that, by living in union with him and in joyful obedience to his call, they will, with St. Teresa, know within their hearts that solo Dios basta.

"An Undertaking of Immense Consequence and Promise"

2011-08-21T15:12:00.003-06:00

This is how the Holy Father described World Youth Day in his farewell address just prior to his return flight to Rome. This endeavour of enormous import is, precisely, "that of helping young people to become more deeply rooted in Jesus Christ."

And millions of young people are searching for exactly that. It is very difficult to put into words what I have experienced in my encounter with the young gathered in Spain over these past few days. I spoke in my last blog post of the deep questions that, in part, define their search. Well, on Saturday night and again on Sunday morning I was with them as they gave visible expression to their awareness that the ultimate answer to those questions is a person: Jesus Christ. I am speaking of the breathtaking assembly of over a million young people with the Holy Father at Cuatro Vientes in Madrid. The gathering at the vigil was officially estimated at 1.4 million! Those present at the Mass the following morning would have exceeded that number. (The photo above, by Sergio Perez of Reuters, courtesy of CNS, shows just a few of them!)

For me, the most impressive moments were those of silence. Hard to describe to those not present. We are familiar with the images and sounds of so many young people at WYD giving joyful, loud, and exuberant expression of their happiness in the Lord. And that was certainly present in abundance at the vigil and Mass, let me tell you! Even the rain and thunder that interrupted the vigil for a brief time could not dampen (apologies for the pun) the enthusiasm. In fact the more it poured the greater were the cheers and laughter. I am very encouraged by their zeal and resilience, but what has moved me most is their silent reverence before the Lord.

Pope Benedict introduced Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament to the celebration of the WYD vigil . When the sacred Host was brought forward and placed in the monstrance, all fell perfectly silent. All 1.4 million. And again at the final Mass, following the Pope's homily when those gathered we're invited to meditate upon the Word of God and the teaching of the Holy Father, silence. Perfect silence. The same was true for the post-communion period of thanksgiving. Millions united in one act of openness, listening, adoration, praise and thanksgiving, the profundity of which was expressed in the depth of the silence. Incredible.

It was at these moments that I knew for myself the accuracy of the Pope's words. The consequence and promise of this and all WYD experiences is immeasurable in its scope. When this many young people open their hearts and lives to be more deeply rooted in Jesus Christ, great good will come. And there are millions more of them! Think of the many other WYD events that have occurred over the past 26 years, each of which has drawn young people together in numbers that no other event has done or can do. WYD is very clearly a powerful work of the Holy Spirit that will bear wondrous and plentiful fruit for generations to come.

Now our pilgrims are heading home. To say that they are exhausted would be an understatement. They have endured full days in blistering heat, often sleeping in the most basic of accommodations. Yet their energy and enthusiasm remained, even if it did take a while in the early mornings to get kick-started after only a few hours of sleep. Their perseverance taught me a great deal about their commitment to the Lord and his Church, and I am extremely proud of them.

Next WYD will be Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in 2013. Can't wait!

La Juventud del Papa

2011-08-21T14:52:00.004-06:00

As we formally welcomed Pope Benedict to World Youth Days last night, the cry that kept leaping up from the countless thousands of young people gathered with him at Plaza de Cibeles was: Esta es la juventud del Papa! We are the Pope's youth! There was incredible joy and excitement as the young people saw the Pope, many of them for the first time in their lives. They knew that he was not only their spiritual leader, the head of the Church, but also, in a real way, their father, and the love and joy they felt as they saw him was clear, loud, and contagious. For example, at the end of the ceremony, once they had finished their extraordinarily beautiful music, the huge choir erupted with: Estos son los musicos del Papa! (We are the Pope's musicians). Even one of my brother Bishops got in on the act and started to hollar: Estos son los obispos del Papa (We are the Pope's Bishops!). In other words we all felt deeply our oneness as members of the Catholic family, united around our "papa," the Holy Father, and this was the source of great joy.

The excitement had started earlier in the day. I was at the parish of the Incarnation to give a catechetical teaching, and there the officials arranged for a live broadcast of the Pope's arrival at the airport to be shown on a wall of the Church. When the young people saw the Pope step out of the plane, they went nuts! Cheers and clapping like you haven't heard! They knew that he had come to visit them, to spend time with them, to manifest in this way his love for them and closeness to them, and they received his presence with great and joyful gratitude.

At his opening address at the airport, where he had been greeted by Spain's King and Queen, Pope Benedict gave a beautiful address in which he summed up the reason why our young people are drawn to World Youth Days. I quote a portion of it here:

"Why has this multitude of young people come to Madrid? While they themselves should give the reply, it may be supposed that they wish to hear the word of God, as the motto for this World Youth Day proposed to them, in such a way that, rooted and built upon Christ, they may manifest the strength of their faith.

"Many of them have heard the voice of God, perhaps only as a little whisper, which has led them to search for him more diligently and to share with others the experience of the force which he has in their lives. The discovery of the living God inspires young people and opens their eyes to the challenges of the world in which they live, with its possibilities and limitations. They see the prevailing superficiality, consumerism and hedonism, the widespread banalization of sexuality, the lack of solidarity, the corruption. They know that, without God, it would be hard to confront these challenges and to be truly happy, and thus pouring out their enthusiasm in the attainment of an authentic life. But, with God beside them, they will possess light to walk by and reasons to hope, unrestrained before their highest ideals, which will motivate their generous commitment to build a society where human dignity and true brotherhood are respected. Here on this Day, they have a special opportunity to gather together their aspirations, to share the richness of their cultures and experiences, motivate each other along a journey of faith and life, in which some think they are alone or ignored in their daily existence.

"But they are not alone. Many people of the same age have the same aspirations and, entrusting themselves completely to Christ, know that they really have a future before them and are not afraid of the decisive commitments which fulfil their entire lives. That is why it gives me great joy to listen to them, pray with them and celebrate the Eucharist with them."

We Bishops share that joy. In our catechesis sessions we are privileged to have posed to us the questions with which our youth from all over the world are grappling as they strive to live authentic Christian lives. Over the past three days the questions that have come to me included:

"How do I, as a college student surrounded by friends and peers who do not believe, find necessary support on a daily basis to live faithfully as a Christian?" or

"In my attempt to discern God's call, how do I distinguish the voice of the Lord from what are simply my own desires?"

There were also many questions that demonstrated their deep desire to know Jesus more deeply, such as:

"Why the Cross? Could not God have saved us some other way?"

"How do I open my life so that I may see myself as Jesus sees me and thus know how I am called to change and grow?"

The enthusiasm that is so present among the young people is not superficial, transient emotion. It is real joy, rooted in Christ and in the lived experience of being a part of the family that is the Church, united with and under our Holy Father. Please continue to pray for us as we step into the final days of this magnificent encounter.

(Pictured above are some of our group at the train station.)

We are "Canazuelanias." A Message from WYD.

2011-08-15T10:01:00.004-06:00

As I write this particular blog post I'm traveling with about three hundred of our pilgrims by train from Malaga to Madrid for World Youth Days. We have just spent some incredible days in the south of Spain for that immediate preparatory period called Days in the Diocese. We are overwhelmed with the wonderfully warm and joyous welcome we have received from the local people here. During this time our pilgrims were dispersed throughout the region of Andalusia, in the city of Malaga as well as in the towns of Antequerra, Marbella, Velez-Malaga, Torre del Mar and Nerja. I stayed at the local seminary in Malaga, which gave me a wonderful opportunity to meet some of the Bishops living in the Diocese, and from there I went out each day to visit the pilgrims in their various locales.

I am finding it particularly moving to visit with the pilgrims who are experiencing WYD for the first time. To meet so many young people from other countries (about 30 countries had pilgrims in Malaga with us) is for them very encouraging, because they have confirmed in a very tangible way that they are not alone in their love for the Lord, for the Church and in their desire to live a Christian life. Wait till they get to Madrid! There will be hundreds of thousands of their peers joyously celebrating their faith.

And wait till Madrid meets us! I'm sure the city won't know what hit it. Typically, pilgrims run and dance through the streets, waving their national flags, and making very visible their joy in the Lord. This is my fourth WYD, and I can tell you that the youth's enthusiasm is contagious. I have seen first hand that many who are critical of the faith or of the Church are moved and changed by the witness of our young people. It is clear that the Christian life, joyously and visibly lived, has the power to change lives.

The bonds the pilgrims form with one another are lasting. Speaking with me about their experiences, some of the pilgrims taught me a new word they created to express the bond that they now feel with the Spaniards and the Venezuelans with whom they have spent the last few days. Together they are Canazuelanias, which is their attempt to unite Canada, Spain and Venezuela. They don't know how to spell it, and neither do I, but I think you get the idea.

Our pilgrims (I am so proud of them!!) are really serious about growing in the faith. Some told me of spending time with others reflecting upon their hopes for WYD. They spoke of faith, hope, renewal of the world, and then agreed that the grace they seek from this experience is renewal in the faith with the hope of a united world. Beautiful. After coming up with this theme they visited some churches whose art reflected the same hope and they knew within their hearts that this was a confirmation of the Holy Spirit with them and guiding them. They are completely convinced that their presence in Spain in WYD is the result of the Lord working in their lives to bring them closer to him and to one another. I share that conviction.

Speaking of churches, there are so many here! And all beautiful. The small village of Antequerra, with a population of 50,000 has 32 churches. Particularly striking for us is how each city or town has Our Lady as patron under one of her titles. Malaga, for example, has a sanctuary dedicated to Our Lady of Victory (Nuestra Señora dell Vittoria). It was very fitting, therefore, for us to leave for Madrid on the 15th of August, when the Church throughout the world celebrates the Assumption of our Lady. Signs of her maternal protection surrounded us during Days in the Diocese. This morning we celebrated Mass together prior to boarding the train, and asked for her intercession that our time in Madrid will bring us all to a new encounter with Jesus. I ask for your prayers as well, as I promise you mine.

The technically savvy young people have set up a Facebook site where they will be uploading their pictures. If you want to get a taste of what's been happening, feel free to check us out at www.facebook.com/caedmwyd. If there are no pictures there yet, stay tuned. I'm sure there will be as soon as our folks have Internet access!

Hasta pronto!

Something to Eat

2011-08-01T08:49:00.002-06:00

“You give them something to eat.”

As recorded in the Gospel of Sunday (cf. Matthew 14:13-21), these words were spoken by Jesus to his disciples when they saw the vast hungry crowds gathered around the Lord. The disciples wanted to send them away, but Jesus told them that they were to give the people something to satisfy their hunger.

This command of the Lord touches the essence of what it means to be a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ. Jesus is entirely “for others.” He “emptied himself” (cf. Philippians 2:5-7) in obedience to the command of the Father and entered world history to save us by offering his life on the Cross. Anyone who lives in union with Christ as his follower, therefore, must be a person “for others”, one who seeks out the hungry and offers them “something to eat.”

Our television screens have been filled with images of countless numbers of people hungry for food, especially in the Horn of Africa. The Lord’s command to the disciples sounds forth today: “You give them something to eat.” We might protest that we have very little and would not make much of a difference. The disciples raised the same concern: “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” Jesus multiplied these meagre gifts such that there was more than enough for everyone. This means that when we give to others what little we have and do so by offering it to and through Jesus Christ, it will be more than enough.

If you have not already done so I encourage you to give to help those who are starving. Your gift can be given through the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace at www.devp.org. Thank you.

There are many “hungers” beyond the need for food that cry out to be satisfied, such as for justice and peace. This was the message I shared Sunday morning with nearly 500 young people who gathered in Edmonton this past weekend from all over Western Canada. Members of Youth for Christ, which is part of the Couples for Christ family, they came together over three days to reflect upon their life of faith. To be “for Christ” means inescapably to be “for others” and the way we are “for others” is to bring Christ to them. Since Jesus Christ is the Son of God made flesh for our sake, only He can fully satisfy our longing for love, for communion, for meaning and for peace. “You give them something to eat” thus becomes a call to witness before others to the joy and peace we have found through a life lived in union with Christ in the communion of His Church.

In the afternoon I gathered with a group of people deeply dedicated to the cause of life to bless the new location of the Edmonton Pregnancy Crisis Centre (EPCC). For twenty-seven years the good people of this organization have been “giving something to eat” to over fifteen thousand women who have sought their help and counsel. What “food” have they given? Well, for one thing they have fed people with communal support. Many women with unexpected pregnancies can feel alone and uncertain, and the EPCC exists to surround them with love and companionship so that they know they will have whatever support they need as they bring their child to birth. EPCC also feeds those who enter its doors with proper perspective, and this in at least two ways. First, in a society when life is not always accorded its proper dignity and protection, EPCC affirms the worth and beauty of every human life, from the very beginning to natural end. Second, they help people who are dealing with unplanned pregnancies to know that, in God’s design, the child within the womb is always part of God’s plan. As Pope Benedict said in his very first homily, every man, woman and child is the result of a thought of God. Therefore, in God’s heart each human being is never “unplanned” but always willed, loved and necessary. In these ways, EPCC nourishes its visitors with hope, which enables them to step into the future with courage and peace. You may wish to visit their website at www.edpregnancy.ca. I am very grateful to the women and men who give of themselves tirelessly in the service of life, and am particularly pleased to have EPCC present in the city of Edmonton.

“You give them something to eat.” Let’s be attentive to the many forms of hunger we encounter this week, and offer our resources, however great or small, through Christ, confident that, by His grace, what we have will be more than enough.

The Real Prize

2011-07-25T09:19:00.010-06:00

As I write, the Edmonton Indy is on. From my den I can hear the roar of the engines as the cars race around the track. Thinking about this car race can provide us with a helpful metaphor that invites us to examine the way we live in Western society. The cars race at very high speeds as the drivers try to outmanoeuvre one another in pursuit of the prize. Yet they are driving I don’t know how many miles, using up untold gallons of gas, going through many sets of tires - and going nowhere. They simply go around in circles without ever leaving the site of the race.

Reminds me also of what we see in fitness centres equipped with treadmills, stationary bikes, rowing machines, etc. People run like mad, peddle like crazy or row for all they’re worth, and go absolutely no place. Kind of like the lives many are leading today. We live in a fast-paced society that is increasingly competitive and aggressive. People run around without ever getting anywhere. Often we can’t even articulate the goal we are pursuing. Such a life leaves us exhausted and frustrated.

On Sunday I met with a large number of young people who have decided to get off the treadmill, leave the track, in order to undertake a journey that actually leads somewhere meaningful. These are the young men and women who will travel with me to World Youth Days in Madrid during the month of August. The destination is not a city; it is a person - Jesus Christ. The intention of World Youth Days is to help men and women aged 18-35 encounter Jesus Christ in the context of a meeting of their peers. The first international gathering was in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1987. They have been occurring in their international dimension every two or three years since then. I have been privileged to participate in the ones that took place in Toronto, Cologne, and Sydney. Remarkable experiences! This year nearly 500 delegates from the Archdiocese of Edmonton will make their way to Spain to join about 6000 other Canadians and more than one million young people from around the world for this wondrous celebration of faith.

Jesus is our destination. In him we find the peace, joy and meaning for which every human heart seeks. This is the message of the Sunday Gospels, which record Jesus’s parables about the treasure in a field, the pearl of great price and the net that brings in a great catch of fish. Each is used by the Lord to speak of the kingdom of God. “The kingdom of God,” he says, “is like a treasure hidden in a field ..., one pearl of great value..., a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind ...” (cf. Matthew 13:44-52.) The phrase “kingdom of God” is also translated as “reign of God”. The place where we need and want God to rule is, of course, our hearts. There the Lord reigns not with oppression, tyranny or caprice, but with love, tenderness and the goal of leading us to Himself forever. When we encounter Christ and experience his love and mercy, then we know with unshakeable conviction that we have arrived at our destination, that we have discovered something, someone (!), who is more precious than anything else we could ever hope to find. Then we gladly leave behind the treadmills and race courses, the meaningless pursuits, to focus on “the one thing necessary” (Luke 10:42), which is life in communion with Jesus Christ in submission to his reign of love.

This is not to say that this submission is easy. It leads to joy, certainly, but is not without sacrifice. This is because the pilgrimage to Christ is the journey of conversion. Consider that parable of the net. It brings in a great catch of fish, both good and bad. Then the bad are separated out from the good. When we truly encounter the truth of Christ and allow him to reveal to our eyes the truth of ourselves, we discover in our hearts an admixture of good and bad. Submission to his reign thus necessitates the willingness to allow the Lord to strengthen that which is good within us and to clear out what is bad. This requires humility and a willingness to be changed, to let go of any attachments – behaviours, thought patterns, illusions – that keep us from following the Lord as true disciples and leading the life of purposefulness and joy that he wills for each one of us. This can be difficult, but like the one who sold everything he had to buy the field or acquire the pearl, we gladly make the sacrifices necessary to possess, or better, to be fully possessed by the love of Christ.

Please keep us and all WYD pilgrims in your prayers as we make our pilgrimage and meet one another and the Pope (!!) in Madrid. The Edmonton pilgrims will gather in Malaga August 11th-15th, in the south of Spain, for what is called the “Days in the Diocese” as an immediate preparation for the Madrid encounter August 16th to 21st. It promises to be a wonderful occasion of grace.

Solidarity with Christians in the Holy Land

2011-07-21T11:06:00.002-06:00

I returned home to Edmonton last evening from London, England. The great blessing I have been given, and the reason for my travel there, has been the opportunity to represent the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops at a two-day international forum July 18-19, 2011, co-hosted and co-chaired at Lambeth Palace by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, and the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams. At their invitation approximately ninety people came together from North America, South Africa, the Middle East, the United Kingdom, Europe and the Holy See to discuss how to manifest solidarity with and support for the Christians who are living in the Holy Land.

The conference brought together Palestinian Christians and Israeli Jews, a Muslim woman, representatives from the British Parliament, the European Union, and the European Parliament, members of the ecclesiastical and secular media, and, of course, Church officials who live in the Middle East or who work for peace in the Holy Land, including Cardinal Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, Cardinal McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, His Beatitude Fouad Twal, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and Bishop Suheil Dawani, the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem.

During our two days of presentations and conversation we heard a variety of voices speak of the immensely complicated and difficult situation of many Christians in the Holy Land. Restricted mobility in their own land, unemployment, educational difficulties, and the inability of families to live together are just some of the issues with which they must grapple on a daily basis. The cry that came to us loudly and clearly was for solidarity, which I believe they experienced very tangibly in our time together.

Even though the stories we heard were of great suffering, the conference was, in fact, hope-filled. I believe this is because the very frank conversations revealed a deep desire, shared among all participants, whether Christian or not, to affirm the gift and mission of the Christian presence in the Holy Land and to work together toward a transformation of the status quo that will ensure a real and sustainable peace, based upon a recognition of the common humanity and dignity of all people in the Holy Land. The challenges are enormous, but the commitment to dialogue and action, rooted in hope, is strong. Please join with me and with all of the other participants in frequent prayer that the privileged place of God’s revelation, the Holy Land, will be a place of true peace.

On a personal note I went a few days early to London with my parents to do a bit of sight-seeing and, most importantly, to visit the place of my paternal grandfather’s birth. William Ernest Smith was born and baptized in Woolwich, which is part of Greater London and is in the Archdiocese of Southwark. I had made arrangements beforehand with the pastor of St. Peter the Apostle parish, and he and his parishioners welcomed us warmly. The visit afforded us the opportunity to see the Church of my grandfather’s baptism, to pray at the baptismal font, and to offer Mass for him at the altar. We also found and visited the street where he lived before emigrating to Canada with his family. A very moving experience, indeed. It gave us the chance to “touch” family roots. It also was a powerful reminder of the roots that all Christians share in Jesus Christ, who draws us into union with him through Baptism and thereby makes us sons and daughters of our heavenly Father.

The experience at the parish Church of being part of a universal Christian family was deepened still further when I met with the conference participants. When a family member suffers, we all suffer. Our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land are struggling and suffering in ways that many of us would find difficult even to imagine. May they know the hope that comes from real solidarity and the strength that is given by shared prayer.

A Different Sort of Construction Season

2011-07-11T08:46:00.003-06:00

Driving around the city of Edmonton these days is enough to try the proverbial patience of Job. Construction is everywhere. Of course, it's necessary; we all know that. But still! Long lineups and extra time needed for the commute add up to a great recipe for a lot of impatience and frustration. What's more, a recent study proposed that an additional twenty-two overpasses be constructed over the city freeways in the course of the next 30 years. This won't be over any time soon, it seems.

There is a point to this rant. We are witnessing, and eventually benefiting from, repairs to the city's infrastructure. Roads need to be prepared for the sake of smooth flows of traffic, and this contributes to the overall good of citizens. But what about social infrastructure? This is every bit as, if not more, important than roadways. I am referring to how we relate to one another as fellow human beings. It is very clear that, here too, much repair work needs to be done. Our society is becoming increasingly competitive and aggressive, even violent. Witness the high incidence of domestic violence everywhere, and, in our own city, a growing number of homicides. Work on the social infrastructure is long overdue. It will take time and effort, it will be slow, it may encounter roadblocks and the frustrations that flow from them, but it is necessary.

The way forward is given to us in a small but important conference that is being held in Saint Albert this week. I dropped in on the group last evening. It is an annual event called Directions in Aboriginal Ministries and is aimed at strengthening relations with our aboriginal brothers and sisters in the Church. The focus this year is healing and reconciliation. This is the heart of any effort at repairing the social infrastructure. We need to be reconciled with one another, to live not in competition but in solidarity with one another, especially with the vulnerable. Yet before we are reconciled with one another, each person must be reconciled with himself or herself, reconciled with the truth of themselves. When we live peacefully with our own reality, i.e. with our goodness, on the one hand, and with the truth of our weakness, vulnerability and failings on the other, then we can live in peace with one another. Struggle to be someone other than I truly am leads directly to competition with others. Inability to accept my own weakness will prevent me from accepting weakness in others.

Such reconciliation cannot happen if God is eclipsed from our lives, both individually and communally. We encounter God in Jesus Christ, and in this encounter we meet truth. Take some time with paragraph 22 of Gaudium et Spes, the document from the Second Vatican Council on the Church in the Modern World. There the Church teaches that in Christ is revealed not only the truth about God but also the truth about the human person. God is Love, and the encounter in Christ with this divine love reveals the truth of our dignity and destiny, our immeasurable worth in the sight of God. Herein lies the ground of peace and openness to others. Yes, we are weak, but God is near. Yes, we have made mistakes, but God forgives. By the gift of the Holy Spirit, God heals us and transforms us, adopting us as his beloved sons and daughters in Christ. In other words, God reconciles to himself, an act which, if we embrace his mercy, leads us to reconciliation with the truth of ourselves and prepares us for reconciliation with others.

Our friends gathered this week at Saint Albert are facing head on the need for healing and reconciliation in the Church and in their communities. It begins with the love of God, which moves them to love themselves, as they are, and hence reach out in love, healing and reconciliation to others. May we learn from their efforts and commit ourselves to healing and reconciliation as the "cement" that will not only repair but also strengthen our social infrastructure.

Celebrating Our Identity

2011-07-05T13:39:00.005-06:00

A couple of wonderful events to share with you this week.

First, on Sunday I joined with hundreds of members of the Franco-Albertan community to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the town of St. Albert. The celebration of the Eucharist was the summit of an intense programme of activities, which also marked the 22nd fete franco-albertaine.

This momentous anniversary allows not only the Franco-Albertan community but also the entire province of Alberta to acknowledge and celebrate its roots. Indeed, without an understanding of one’s heritage, one cannot fully grasp the full significance of one’s identity as it is lived in the present and will unfold in the future.

The founding of St. Albert makes it clear that our roots here are established firmly and deeply in the Christian faith. Together with many other Oblate missionaries, Father Lacombe travelled to the West of Canada and established Saint Albert and other missions for the purpose of announcing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These missionaries were francophone. This means that both the Christian faith and the francophone community were implanted here in Alberta through the one and same action. Familial and communal roots define us. “La francophonie” in this province is defined inescapably by its roots in the Christian faith. So, too, is the life of this entire province influenced by those same roots. The missionaries laid the foundation for the wonderful systems of healthcare and education that we enjoy today.

The Scripture passages proclaimed at Mass that day take the awareness of our identity further still as they unveil our deepest roots in the love of God. In love God has fashioned us; out of that same love, God has redeemed us in his Son. In the Gospel Jesus speaks of the infinite communion of knowledge and love that he shares with the Father. That communion is extended to us by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Saint Paul teaches us in his letter to the Romans that this Holy Spirit is the true source of our life. By its bestowal we are given a share in God’s own life and are drawn into communion with one another. From simple human experience we know that identity is inseparable from relationship. Our deepest identity springs from the relationship that God has given us with Himself in the gifts of His Son and Holy Spirit.

By revealing our rootedness in the love of God, Jesus also makes known the “genetic code”, if you will, that shapes the way we live. From our sharing in the very life of God we know that our DNA is missionary. Jesus was sent by the Father, and the Holy Spirit was sent by the Father through the Son to the Church. Empowered by this Spirit, the missionaries such as Father Lacombe were sent here to the West. In virtue of our Baptism we continue in that line. Our call is to be the voice by which Jesus issues today the same invitation that he gave to his contemporaries: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

And in our day we do not have to travel far to be missionaries. The overburdened are all around us; they are also among us. It may be the burdens life and its trials place upon us, such as sickness, financial hardship or grief. It might be the burdens we place upon ourselves, such as unrealistic expectations or the inability to forgive ourselves for wrongs we have done. Whatever the burden, Jesus wants to lift it from the shoulders of those he calls his friends and set them free, give them rest. Today, He sends us to be the carriers of His invitation, just as He sent those missionaries that brought it here one hundred and fifty years ago. Our identity is Christian; our identity is therefore missionary.

The second event occurred yesterday, July 5th. More than 160 golfers gathered together for the 19th annual Newman Golf Tournament. (That's Ave Spratt pictured beside me in the photo.) It was a great time, in spite of the mosquitoes that are plaguing this area in record numbers right now. St. Joseph Seminary and Newman Theological College receive support annually from this tournament. One great sign of the depth of love for and commitment to these two institutions is the large number of participants who have participated in the tournament every year from its inception. I take this opportunity, once again, to thank the sponsors, particularly the Allard foundation, and the many volunteers who gave of themselves to plan and successfully execute this great event.

The Healthy Spiritual Diet

2011-06-27T08:08:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we celebrated the solemn feast of Corpus Christi. On this day we bow down in wonder and in awe before the great gift that Christ has left us of his own Body and Blood. In our Masses we reflected upon this mystery, and in many places not only in the Archdiocese but also throughout the world Eucharistic processions were held.

In the Gospel from Saint John (6:51-58), we heard again the words of Jesus: “My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.” We are all aware of the strong emphasis given by our society today to being and staying healthy. This involves, among other things, paying attention to our diet. We hear the constant message that we should avoid fast foods and junk food and eat only that which is healthy, good for the body. Our feast day of Corpus Christi poses the question: how are we nourishing our souls? With true food or junk food?

The “true food” for the soul is Jesus. He is the Son of God made flesh, that is to say, He is the One sent from the Father to assume our human nature in order to share with us His own divine life and lead us home to the Father for eternity. He nourishes us with His teaching and with the knowledge of God’s unfailing love for us. Even more, He feeds us with Himself in the mystery of the Eucharist. At Mass simple gifts of bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ. By the word of the Lord, spoken by the priest who acts in His person, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, the bread and wine are so completely changed that they are bread and wine no longer, but now truly our Lord’s Body and Blood. This is why Jesus speaks of Himself as the Bread of Life. He alone is the true bread, the true food that gives us life. And not only food for this earthly life but also, and above all, for eternal life: “This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:58)

And what about junk food? Sadly there is a lot of that around. There is abundant opportunity to feed on messages and images which are very unhealthy, even dangerous, for the spiritual life. The solemnity of Corpus Christi contains an important call to each of us to pay attention to this diet. What television shows are we watching? What magazines are we reading? What Internet sites are we surfing? Do they lead us away from the Lord? Do they tempt us to infidelity? Do they suggest ideas or implant images that are contrary to the teaching of the Gospel or to human dignity? If they do, they are junk food and should be discarded immediately.

Only one food truly satisfies and that is Jesus. This is why the Church constantly calls us to celebrate the Mass regularly, especially the Sunday Eucharist every week. By failing to do so we separate ourselves from the true food and true drink which is the Lord Himself. Not a good idea, to say the least.

We also honoured the Lord and gave witness to our Eucharistic faith by processions with the Blessed Sacrament. This is an important and necessary action today. In our time there is great want among our brothers and sisters that remains unfulfilled by what the world has on offer. There is hunger for clear meaning and direction in the midst of moral confusion; yearning for hope in the midst of despair; thirst for peace amid division and strife; longing for justice in the face of suffering. By means of the Eucharistic procession we announce to the world that the fulfilment of this craving is Jesus Christ, who makes himself the Bread of Life and gives himself to us as the only food and drink that can satisfy.

At the same time the procession with the Blessed Sacrament is a reminder to Christians that we are called each day to give this same witness by the sign of our transformed lives. When we allow ourselves to become what we receive at Mass, that is to say, when we allow ourselves to become more authentic disciples of the Lord, members of his Body, by our consuming of the Body and Blood of Christ, then our lives themselves become a type of “eucharistic procession” before others. Witness to the abiding real presence of the Lord is not limited to the solemn processions of Corpus Christi, as wonderful and beautiful as these are. It is a perpetual call, which we answer by the witness of transformed lives.

Willed, Loved, Necessary

2011-06-20T08:48:00.000-06:00

These are the words of Pope Benedict XVI when, in his first homily as Pope, he spoke of the wondrous truth of each and every human being. When I first heard them I realized that this is the message that needs to be affirmed again and again for the people of our day. The full citation is: “Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is. We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.” When we encounter the truth of God in Christ we realize the truth of ourselves.

This becomes clear when we ponder the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. In the Sunday Mass of yesterday, we bowed down in wonder and awe before the mystery of God, Who, though One, is a communion of three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We know this on the basis of God’s own self-revelation, which He accomplished by sending to the world His Son and Holy Spirit, and so we accept it in faith. God, as Triune, is a perfect communion in love, sufficient unto Himself and in need of nothing. From this it follows that, if God created the world and, and the human being as the summit of creation, it was not because God needed to do so. It was his sovereign free choice, moved solely by love. Out of this love, God chose to create and then to save the world. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Here we see the original purpose for which we were created and for which Christ came to save us: to participate in God’s own life forever!

Herein we discover the ground of human dignity: freedom. God has made us “in his image and likeness” (cf. Genesis 1:26-27); He has fashioned us for Himself, for an eternal covenant of love. That we might respond fully to His offer of love, God endowed every human being with the gift of freedom. Only when I give myself freely in love to another is my self-gift authentic. God has freely chosen to create us and call us to Himself, and endowed us from the beginning with the gift of freedom that we might truly love Him in return. When our freedom was abused through sin and we became captive to our sinfulness, He sent His Son to liberate our freedom (cf. Galatians 5:5), that we might live freely as His children (cf. Romans 8:21). Our dignity lies in the wondrous fact of our God-given freedom to respond in love to God who has loved us first, a free response that expresses itself in love for our brothers and sisters. (cf. 1John 4:19-21).

How different this message is from that of our secularized society! In this context the basis of human dignity is not freedom but success. If one is “successful” as judged according to such standards as wealth, achievement, influence, fame or beauty, then one thereby earns the esteem of others. Notice the difference. In the secularized world, human dignity is not inherent to the person but something earned. This leads necessarily to competition and thus inevitably to a sense of counting for little or nothing if I do not measure up to the standards of success imposed by others. The root of the difference is our approach to the question of God. Recall the citation above wherein the Holy Father teaches that we come to know the truth of life and the ground of our dignity only when we encounter the truth of God in Jesus Christ. When God is eclipsed, as in our secularized environment, we necessarily fall back upon ourselves. As a result, dignity is no longer a God-given gift but a human construct; no more an inherent and inalienable given of every human being but an externally assigned assessment based on illusory standards. In consequence, the fundamental equality of every human being in the heart of God is forgotten and replaced by the fantasy of inequality in the judgment of men and women. Is it any wonder, then, that we have fractured homes and societies, and that countless men and women feel not willed but discounted, not loved but judged, not necessary but dispensable?

“God so loved the world....” When we allow ourselves to be embraced by this love we discover our dignity as free human beings and are set free to love others. Have you ever thought of yourself as “the result of a thought of God”? Well, you are. You are willed, loved and necessary. This is the truth revealed in Jesus Christ. Embrace it, and be set free.

Living in the Spirit

2011-06-13T12:47:00.001-06:00

This is the time of year when Bishops celebrate Confirmation. It is certainly a wonderful moment for the recipients of the sacrament, as they receive the same Holy Spirit bestowed upon the Church at Pentecost, which we celebrated yesterday. At the same time I like to encourage people who have been confirmed to reflect upon their ongoing relationship with the Holy Spirit. Witnessing the many who are now receiving the sacrament is a reminder that the Holy Spirit has been bestowed upon us. This is a permanent gift (the Bishop says to the confirmand "Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit"). Therefore growth in our relationship with the Holy Spirit is an ongoing gift and responsibility.

How does one assess the state of this relationship? The teaching of Saint Paul is a necessary discernment guide. In Romans 8 he teaches that, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, we have been made the children of God in Christ, and that those who live as children of God follow the promptings and lead of the Spirit. The contrary is to live in the flesh, following our own self-will.

The fifth chapter of Galatians includes an important listing of the telltale signs of living in the flesh: "Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these." (vv. 19-21) If a serious and prayerful review of our lives leads us to admit in truth that any of these characterize us, then we have allowed ourselves to drift away from surrender to the Holy Spirit and are more reliant upon our selves.

In that same chapter Paul goes on to list the sure indications of a life lived in accordance with the Holy Spirit's promptings: "By contrast the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." (vv. 22-23) By the presence of these we can know that we are growing in fidelity to the Spirit. By their absence we can be certain that we need to call on the Holy Spirit for the help He is sure to give.

That help will involve the transformation of our lives. Yesterday at Mass we heard about the change that was wrought in the apostles when they received the Holy Spirit. Formerly fearful and lacking in understanding, now they proclaimed with boldness and clarity the truth of Jesus Christ. They did so with a formerly unpossessed ability to speak many languages. In other words, they were changed for the purpose of serving the will of God. So, too, with us. God's will is that we be holy and that we be convinced and convincing witnesses before the world of the truth of His love revealed in Christ and poured out in the gift of the Holy Spirit. When reflection upon St Paul's list of the works of the flesh and fruits of the Holy Spirit reveals that we are not living in accordance with the divine purpose, it is time to call upon the Holy Spirit to bring about in our lives the required change.

Veni Creator Spiritus! Create us anew!

World Communications Day

2011-06-06T15:04:00.002-06:00

This morning I hosted a media breakfast. It is something I have been doing the last couple of years, and it is timed to coincide with World Communications Day, which this year fell on June 5th. This is an occasion where I can have a conversation with members of the local secular and Catholic media about issues of the day or about the challenges we each face in our respective milieux. Quite often the Church and media will interact, so I find these occasions very helpful for growth in mutual understanding and collaboration.

Our conversation today revolved very much around the message of Pope Benedict for this year’s World Communications Day. In it he speaks about the benefits and challenges of our new digital world, and calls the Church to be present within it in order to proclaim that life-transforming and hope-giving message which is the Gospel.

The Holy Father reflects upon how our new digital reality is changing the traditional way the media serves as a vehicle of communication. The producer-consumer model is being relativized as communication now occurs in the context of sharing. Just think of the abundant opportunities that now exist not only to receive news but to comment about it online or to send in an email to a television station with one’s own point of view. Social networking is all about sharing and connecting and serves a positive role when it facilitates the innate human desire for community.

Among the challenges, the Pope highlights what the new digital world is doing to our capacity for authenticity, for genuine personal relationships and for reflection. In our digital world it is very easy, the Holy Father observes, to present ourselves to others only partially or maybe even falsely. Relationships which are purely virtual can erode our capacity to enter into genuinely human relationships, which call us to be personally and really present to another. A communications world which places most importance upon what is popular, or that goes “viral” on the Internet, and in which news items attract only fleeting attention, can seriously challenge our ability and even desire to pause for deep reflection upon the issues of the day.

It was upon this latter point that we had most of our conversation this morning. I noted, for example, how the recent Speech from the Throne spoke about the need in our health care system to prepare to care for an aging population. This involves far more than statistics concerning costs or numbers of beds or wait times, all of which are important. Our changing demographic should also call us to deep reflection on how we best care for the whole person in their later years, especially as they approach death. How will we, as a society, surround our elderly with loving and supportive companionship as they deal with illness or the dying process? Will we so provide them with loving attention that they will know that they are never a burden to others, but always a gift? Are we taking measures to ensure sufficient availability of palliative care for the terminally ill? Burgeoning health care costs should never distract us from this sort of reflection.

We also touched upon the challenges the Church faces when it comes to conveying the Gospel through modern communication channels. Our task today is to convey in intelligible fashion with modern means a teaching that is founded upon two thousand years of deep philosophical and theological reflection undertaken in the context of prayer and the laboratory of life. This does not fit easily into a sound byte or a “tweet”. What to do? Not an easy question and we need to come up with the solution together. Here we are touching upon one of the challenges of the new evangelization, i.e., how to find new methods and expressions to communicate the timeless good news of Jesus Christ.

As the reporters questioned me on this, they raised the very good question of the Church being just one more voice in the digital world of a multiplicity of voices; therefore, might our necessary use of the new media actually prove to be a venue that mitigates against being heard? It occurs to me that the Church might well be another “voice”, but it is one that serves the one Word which counts above all others, and which speaks to the needs of the human heart like no other message can do. The Church is the voice for the Word of God, which pierces to the heart and addresses as it awakens the deepest longings that reside therein.

Our celebration yesterday of the Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord reminds us that the message of the Gospel conveys to the human heart a hope that is sure and that our world cannot give. Let us pray together that, in our increasingly complex world of modern communications, space will be made in the hearts of today to both receive and appropriate this message.

Gifts of the Spirit

2011-06-01T12:11:00.002-06:00

Like many Bishops I am involved in celebrating a lot of Confirmations these days. When people gather for these celebrations, I will address the candidates for Confirmation, of course, but I also like to invite the family, friends and parishioners present to use the occasion to reflect upon their own Confirmation and their relationship with the Holy Spirit. Confirmation is conferred only once in a person’s lifetime, never to be repeated, because the gift remains. At the moment of sacred anointing, the words spoken by the Bishop are “Be sealed, with the gift of the Holy Spirit.” This speaks of permanence. So I ask all gathered to remember that they, too, if they have been confirmed, have received this special outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Do we call upon the Spirit in our daily living to assist us to lead a truly Christian life? The Holy Spirit, by uniting us to Jesus, makes us sons and daughters, in Christ, of our Heavenly Father, and we live as God’s children by allowing ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit (cf. Romans 8:14). But do we, in fact? How do we discern this?

This is a complex question, but one indication is the degree of anxiety in our lives. After the confirmand is anointed with the sacred chrism, the Bishop says “Peace be with you.” This is very significant. When we open our hearts and lives to the Holy Spirit, and allow him to lead us to ever deeper communion of life and love with Christ, and when in the power of the Holy Spirit we follow the commandments out of love for Christ (cf. John 14:15), the result is peace. This peace is the will of Christ for us (cf. John 14:27). Union with Holy Spirit deepens this peace and thus lessens the fear and anxiety in our lives. This means that if our lives are particularly anxiety- or fear-filled, it could be a sign that we are relying more upon ourselves than upon the power of the Holy Spirit, or focusing more on the trials of our lives than on the love and nearness of the Lord, who often told his disciples not to be afraid.

The Church will soon celebrate Pentecost. In these days leading up to this Solemnity, the readings from Scripture at daily and Sunday Mass contain many references to the promise of Jesus to send the Holy Spirit upon the apostles. As we listen once again to Jesus speak of the promise and mission of the Holy Spirit, let us not fail to call upon that same Spirit, whom we have received in Baptism and Confirmation, to awaken within us the gifts that we need for the Christian life.

A home of eternal security and peace

2011-05-24T08:03:00.002-06:00

This past week our attention has been riveted by the plight of the people of Slave Lake. As you know, nearly half the town was destroyed by fire. This situation touched the hearts of people not only in Alberta but also across the country, and many have been making donations in order to help the people affected by this tragedy. Much has been lost due to the fire. What perhaps strikes the deepest chord in our hearts is the loss of people’s homes. We all know the importance to family of having a home. This is where our closest relationships are fashioned and developed. The thought of losing our homes so suddenly and completely sends a chill through each of us, and in solidarity many people have reached out instinctively to offer assistance. Particularly moving are the stories of people who, as they escaped with loved ones the fires that came upon them so suddenly, thought first of taking pictures and family mementos. For them these were far more important than other material assets because they preserved in memory the precious events that had occurred in the home.

The Scripture readings for last Sunday’s Mass (cf. Acts 6:1-7, 1Peter 2:4-9, John 14:1-12) are all about “home.” They speak of a home that has been fashioned for us by God; one that is eternal, that nothing can destroy, and whose construction begins here on earth.

In the Gospel Jesus is speaking to his apostles just before his suffering and death. He tells them that he is going to prepare a place for them in his Father’s house, which is in heaven and in which there are many rooms. He will do so because he wants to have them with him forever. The will of God has been revealed in Jesus and fulfilled in Jesus. That will is to make a home with us forever in heaven. For that purpose Jesus was sent from the Father. Because it is God’s will and work, nothing can destroy it. It is a home of eternal security and peace.

In the second reading St. Peter teaches us that this house that we shall form together with God begins even now in the mystery of the Church. “Come to [Jesus],” he says, “and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house.” The Church has been fashioned by the death and resurrection of Christ and the subsequent gift of the Holy Spirit. United to Christ, we are in union with one another and form a “spiritual house” in him.

As we know from our own experience, what makes a house a home are the relationships that are formed and nurtured within it. It is the same with the Church. Because of our relationship with Jesus, first of all, and that which we form with other Christians, the Church is always our home. It is here that we belong as we journey on the pilgrimage of life to our eternal home with God.

Both St. Peter and the first reading from Acts tell us something of the kind of relationships that are expected of those who dwell in this spiritual abode that is the Church.

St. Peter tells us that those who live in this spiritual house have been made members of a royal priesthood, called to make of our lives a spiritual sacrifice to God. This means that we make every aspect of our lives an offering to God. Our words, our thoughts, our deeds all must be kept in conformity with the Gospel, such that the entirety of our lives is one continuous act of praise and thanksgiving to God for his saving love.

In particular, we are to be mindful of the poor. In the narrative from Acts recalled in our first reading, there was a dispute in the early Church regarding an unequal distribution of food among the Church members, specifically between the Jewish and Greek widows. This was unacceptable to the Apostles, so they appointed the first deacons to ensure that care was provided uniformly to all in need. Care for the poor remains a hallmark of those who dwell in the Church. As Pope Benedict said in his first encyclical on Christian love, “within the community of believers there can never be room for a poverty that denies anyone what is needed for a dignified life” (Deus Caritas Est, 20).

Jesus has prepared a home for us, both in heaven and on earth. No external force can destroy it. May the Lord help us to treasure more and more the gift of the Church, this spiritual house, as our home. As we strive to offer God lives of praise to Him and of solidarity with the poor, may we be ever mindful of the needs of others, such as the people of Slave Lake or any who suffer, and be ready to come to their aid.

What is it with me and bears?

2011-05-20T10:31:00.000-06:00

I am in Jasper with our priests for our annual assembly. This time last year I had a close encounter with a black bear on the Jasper golf course. It happened again Wednesday, only this time it was a grizzly! As our foursome came over the ridge of a long par five, we could see park rangers about two hundred yards ahead, waving at us to stop as they tried to get the bear off the course. Reminiscent of last year’s experience, the more they tried the closer the bear came toward us. Fortunately it did not come anywhere near as close as did his black-furred cousin twelve months ago. Nevertheless, the priests are having a field day with this. One even suggested I add a bear with a golf club to my coat of arms. Very funny. Such ready fraternal support is really touching.

The topic of our assembly this year was Catholic education. We heard from a lawyer who is an expert on the constitutional status of our schools, as well as from district superintendents, religious education consultants, a principal, a youth minister, a parish sacramental preparation coordinator and a priest who is a district chaplain. From their perspectives, as well as from those of the priests gathered from the Archdiocese of Edmonton and the Diocese of Prince George, the gift and challenge of Catholic education in our day was discussed. However, the foundational and guiding standpoint came not from ourselves but from the Sacred Scriptures. On the first full day of our Assembly we listened at Mass to a passage from the Acts of the Apostles (cf. Acts 11:19-26), which told of the reaction of Barnabas when he first arrived at Antioch. It recounted how Barnabas rejoiced because he “saw the grace of God”. He recognized God already at work among the people and witnessed their response to God’s saving love. The presence and action of God was the cause not only of his rejoicing but also of his pastoral work. He went for Paul and, upon returning with him to Antioch, taught the people in the ways of the Gospel. It is easy enough for us to focus upon the challenges in our schools. Instead we should discern first the grace of God at work in the hearts and lives of our young people. This transforms anxiety into hope and provides the impetus to teach the beauty and joy of the Christian life.

Sometimes adults feel so distant from the reality of young people today that they wonder if they really have any hope of connecting with them. It is true that youth inhabit “worlds” that might be foreign to adults and thus difficult to understand. (I recently held a “town hall session” with a group of senior high school students, and they told me of influential television shows and role models that I had never heard of!) Yet connection is possible because the needs of the human heart are universal. According to the education specialists, the greatest need of the youth they encounter is to know that they are loved and that they matter. It means a great deal to them for an adult to be present and manifest an interest in their lives. This is something we can all do. Our Catholic schools are a privileged place for this encounter to happen. We simply need to be more deliberate, committed and engaged in our schools to bring this about.

Our young people may not often meet a bear on a golf course, but they certainly do meet dangers every day, often without knowing it. We need think only of the variety of messages they receive daily through television, music videos and other media. Not all of those messages are healthy, and some are dangerous. Like the bears, the dangers are not easily scared away and sometimes, in spite of our efforts, still come close to our young. By working to ensure that our schools form an authentic Gospel culture we help them know that the One who loves and protects them draws even closer. In our schools we want them to know, love and follow Jesus Christ and experience the joy and peace that He wills for them. From the brief dialogue that we have been able to hold at Jasper among representatives of the various stakeholders in Catholic education, I am convinced of the desire we all share to foster that encounter with the Lord. I am looking forward very much to working together with our priests and with the officials engaged in Catholic education to build upon the good that is there by the grace of God, and to form our beloved youth to become adult disciples of the Lord.

Grace in Abundance

2011-05-10T06:44:00.011-06:00

This past week in Edmonton has been one of wonderful grace! Like the disciples in Sunday’s Gospel we have felt the Lord walking with us, clarifying our vision, and causing our hearts to “burn within us”.

It opened, of course, with the beatification in Rome of Blessed Pope John Paul II. United with Catholics throughout the world, we rejoiced! Many recalled his visit to our city when he came to Canada in 1984. I remembered meeting him a number of times, and thought of how those who encountered him would often remark afterwards that they had just shaken hands with a saint. His beatification is a beautiful reminder to all of us of our universal call to holiness. God makes saints; we do not make ourselves holy. Our call is to open our hearts to the working of grace in our lives and to surrender to the transformative power of divine love.

We felt that grace in abundance in a number of events that occurred through the week. In the immediate wake of the beatification I gathered with Bishops, priests and lay faithful in our new Saint Joseph Seminary for the dedication of its chapel and the blessing of the entire building. The liturgy of dedication is rich in symbol, and in its beautiful celebration we truly knew that the Lord was walking with us. He had accompanied us throughout the transition from the old facilities to the new and we were gratefully aware that his love would carry us into the future where untold blessings await us.

On Wednesday Edmonton Catholic Schools held its annual Celebration of the Arts at the Jubilee auditorium. God is the author of beauty. Therefore, the talents of artists reflect the divine splendour. It was a delight to see the children ranging in age from pre-kindergarten to grade 12 showcasing their talents and doing so to the praise and glory of God. Through the love of teachers and staff for the children I could feel the grace of the Lord “walking with” the children and delighting in them.

Friday evening was the annual Friars’ Ball. For the forty-second consecutive year, the people of the Archdiocese of Edmonton and the Ukrainian Eparchy gathered for an evening of dinner and fun. Its purpose every year is to raise funds for seminarian formation. The enthusiasm that infused everyone that evening was a wonderful sign of the love of our people for the priesthood and of their desire to support with their gifts those in formation. Our generosity reflects our appreciation of just how generous God is with us. Our Lord, who will not be outdone in generosity, walks with us to provide the gifts we need for the accomplishment of the mission he entrusts to us.

From Thursday through Saturday inclusive, the Archdiocese of Edmonton was blessed with the presence of Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher to the pontifical household. He traveled to Edmonton for Nothing More Beautiful on Thursday evening, where he was joined by our witnesses, Cam and Nadine MacDonnell, and for the Anthony Jordan lectures, hosted Saturday at the Basilica by Newman Theological College. In between the two events he led a morning retreat Friday for the clergy of the Archdiocese and then visited that evening our Italian parish of Santa Maria Goretti. Father Cantalamessa explained to me that, in all he says and does, he wants to convey the message that Jesus, our Risen Lord, is truly present with us as our life, joy and hope. This is precisely what the many who heard and witnessed Father Cantalamessa felt; our Lord “came up beside us” and walked with us and we knew he is alive.

In the Emmaus narrative, the hearts of the two disciples on the road were downcast until they realized that Jesus had risen and was with them. There is much that can cause sadness in our own lives, too. In fact, during the very same week that we were experiencing such grace, we were reminded of the reality of evil in the world. The death of a terrorist leader reminded us of the horrors of terrorism and of the many who have been killed by this evil. The guilty plea of a Canadian Bishop to possession of child pornography recalled to our minds the great pain inflicted by sexual exploitation, and the deep sadness we feel when a member of the clergy is involved. Of course, we each struggle with what Blessed John Paul referred to as the mysterium iniquitatis, the mystery of evil, and are painfully aware of its damaging effects in our own lives and the harm we can do to others when we surrender to it. Without an awareness of the presence of the risen Lord in our lives, we remain downcast and vulnerable to despair. But the truth is that Jesus is alive, that he remains with us, and that he will never abandon us. As St. Paul tells us, wherever sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.

We have experienced that superabundance of grace this past week, clarifying our vision, dispelling our doubts and filling our hearts with joy. The sure presence of the superabundant grace from Jesus, the risen Lord, is the abiding reason for our hope.

The Call to Holiness

2011-05-02T08:31:00.001-06:00

As I followed the events surrounding the beatification of Pope John Paul II, my mind went back to the years in the early 1990's when I was a student in Rome. Living in the Eternal City gave me the wonderful blessing of being able to participate in numerous papal liturgies.

Always memorable were those held in St. Peter's Square at Christmas and Easter. As was the custom, Pope John Paul II would address greetings on those occasions in languages too numerous to count! After each greeting a loud cry would go up from some section of the huge crowd. This was a tremendous experience of the diversity of our Church united around the Successor of Peter. He was everyone's Pope and we knew that we belonged together as one family because of the common bond we shared with him.

Now Blessed John Paul II is uniting us again. This time he does so through the Church's official confirmation of his sanctity. His extraordinarily rich papacy was a great blessing for the Church, but it is not the reason for his beatification. He is beatified because of his holiness of life. The call to holiness is universal, shared by all the baptized. The events of May 1st in St Peter's Square remind all of us that our unity as Catholics is maintained not only through communion with the Holy Father but also, and fundamentally, by living out faithfully our common vocation to become saints.

In service of this vocation I dedicated today our new Saint Joseph Seminary. In collaboration with its sister institution, Newman Theological College, it is dedicated to helping people answer the call, issued especially to the young by Blessed John Paul, to become saints of the new millennium. By fostering in the hearts of our seminarians an intimate communion of life and love with Jesus Christ, the seminary desires to help them know personally the transformative power of God's grace and the joy of new life in the Lord. Only in this way will they be able later as priests to remind others, by both word and witness, of the call to holiness and encourage them to embrace it.

The new blessed has also influenced our seminary by clarifying the context in which it must fulfill its mission. To the Church the new Blessed gave Novo Millennio Ineunte as the map to guide us across the threshold of the new millennium. He took as his principal source for reflection the first encounter between Jesus and St. Peter as recorded in the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Pope John Paul focused upon the instruction of the Lord to St. Peter, and extended that same injunction to the entire Church: “Duc in Altum!” Put out into the deep! Jesus knew exactly where the nets were to be let down on the Sea of Galilee, and he knows precisely where the Church must cast its nets in the deep waters of today.

This call, Duc in Altum, is echoed symbolically in the bronze doors of the chapel of our seminary, because it is counted among the very first seminaries to be built in the new millennium. The design serves as a reminder to all that we are training men to be priests of the new evangelization, sent into the deep waters of our day under the direction of Jesus Christ. Only if we begin in and from the Lord will the catch be abundant. Apart from him, we shall simply “work hard all night but catch nothing.”

Thank you, Blessed Pope John Paul II! We implore your intercession, that we may embrace with joy and hope our call to holiness and be courageous witnesses in this new millennium to the beauty and power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-25T15:38:00.000-06:00

In the Easter season we celebrate the reason for our hope: Jesus Christ is risen from the dead!

As human beings we cannot live without hope. Despair robs us of life and encloses us in on ourselves. Hope opens us to the future and fills us with purpose and joy. Sadly, though, much of our world is searching for hope, and in its absence is suffering from anxiety and fear. Many struggle with difficulties and consequently have hearts filled more with dread than delight. The Mass of Easter proclaims that there is no need to be afraid; there is no reason to fear. On the contrary, there is every reason to live a hope-filled life, and that reason is a person: Jesus Christ risen from the dead. The Scripture readings for Easter Sunday illustrate this for us.

I draw your attention to three aspects of the passage taken from the Gospel of St. John. It is the narrative of Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter and the beloved disciple going to the tomb where the body of Jesus had been placed after his death.

First, this narrative takes place in the dark. It is still early morning. We can well imagine Mary, and then the two apostles, moving in the darkness with lit torches, trying to pierce the dark with some light so that they can find their way. This is an image that describes many people today. Darkness pervades our lives when we get lost on paths of our own making; when we lose sight of any real meaning or purpose to life; or when the shadows of moral confusion blind us to what is true and good.

Second is the image of the tomb. Jesus has died, his body is placed in the tomb, and a very large and heavy stone is rolled across the opening. There is a terrifying finality expressed here, the death of hope. The disciples had placed all their hope in Jesus, and now he is dead. The heavy stone of the tomb seals their fear and despair. How many people today are anxious because they, too, feel that all hope has gone, never to return, when they experience the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, family dysfunction, a natural disaster, or look out upon the violence that continues to rip peoples apart?

Third, consider the people of the Gospel passage. They don’t yet understand what is happening. Mary Magdalene finds the stone rolled away from the tomb; Simon Peter goes in and finds only the linen wrappings lying on the ground; the beloved disciple sees and believes, but he, like the other two, does not yet fully comprehend. The three stand for many people today who, like Mary and Peter, see the signs but don’t know what to make of them, or who, like the beloved disciple, have begun to believe but do not fully understand Jesus and the faith of the Church. They feel the first stirrings of hope, but have not yet fully awakened to the full and glorious truth of Jesus Christ.

For those first disciples, everything changed when they came to realize that Jesus had risen, just as he had foretold. The darkness of anxiety was dispelled with the dawn of new life, death’s finality was transformed into a new beginning, and the opaqueness of doubt gave way to the light of faith, when they met the risen Lord. The encounter with Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, changed everything for them and filled them with real hope. When Jesus appeared to them after the resurrection, his most often repeated words were “Peace be with you” and “Do not be afraid”. Be at peace, have no fear, because I have risen, I am alive and I am with you.

So it is with us, so it is with anyone who meets the risen Lord. Life changes. Something of the change that awaits all who meet Jesus is seen in the life of St. Peter. In the Gospel we heard that he saw but did not yet understand. Yet the first reading of Easter Sunday records a speech later given by the same Peter. It is full of understanding and boldness as he begins to lay before the people the full truth of what God has done for the world in Jesus. What caused the change in him was his meeting of the risen Lord and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

The same possibility is held out to our world today, to the world of all ages. It is possible to meet Jesus and be filled with his Holy Spirit because he continues to come to us and wills to change us by the power of his love. We encounter him in the community of the Church, because he promised that where two or three gather in his name he will be there; we meet him in the poor and needy, because he said, “as often as you do these things to the least of my brothers and sisters you do them to me”; and we touch the Lord above all in the Eucharist, because he said, “this is my body, this is my blood”. In fact we meet him in all the Church’s sacramental celebrations, which Jesus himself instituted as the place to encounter him in the power of his resurrection. Let us not fail to go out to meet the Lord where and when he comes to us, so that we might discover, or re-discover him as the one and only reason for our hope.

Following the Lord with a Lively Faith

2011-04-18T12:49:00.000-06:00

With the liturgy of Passion Sunday, we enter into the most sacred time of the year: Holy Week. The solemn liturgies of yesterday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter celebrate those events through which Christ brought salvation to the world, by which he gave to all people the hope of eternal life. They reveal that, contrary to the distortions offered by the chief priests and Pharisees at the end of St. Matthew’s passion narrative, Jesus is no deception. He is truth. The wondrous events of Holy Week reveal that he is, truly, the Saviour of the world. At the end of the week, at Easter Mass, we shall be invited to renew, in solemn fashion, our baptismal promises and thus recommit ourselves to following Jesus as his disciples. To borrow words from the beginning of yesterday’s Mass, we shall be invited to dedicate ourselves once more to follow the Lord with “a lively faith”. This means with complete devotion and full understanding.

The question that thus poses itself at the beginning of this week is: on what understanding of Christ do I base my decision to follow him? The people we recalled in yesterday’s Scripture passages underline the importance of this question, because their decision to follow Jesus was founded upon a misunderstanding of who he is. The crowd of jubilant supporters, who welcomed him to Jerusalem and placed palm branches before him, thought that he, the Messiah, had come to liberate them from political oppression and tyranny by displays of power and might. Jesus is, indeed, the Messiah. But he came to liberate them and all people from the tyranny of sin; he would do so by handing himself over to death. In fact, he had forewarned his closest disciples that the Messiah was to suffer and die before rising from the dead.

As the events foretold by Jesus came to pass, the truth that he was no political liberator dawned on the people. Suddenly, those who had followed Jesus into the city were nowhere to be seen. The jubilant crowds were replaced by multitudes who called for his crucifixion. Even among his apostles, his closest friends, there was Judas who betrayed him with a kiss, and Peter who denied him. Indeed, they all fled from him and abandoned him to his fate. It became clear that to follow Jesus would mean following him to the Cross. At that time even the apostles were unwilling to do that. But that willingness did come later, when, in the power of the Holy Spirit, the apostles came to know the full truth of Jesus and boldly proclaimed to the world the power of his death and resurrection. That proclamation did, indeed, take them to the cross as they were martyred for their faith in Christ.

We are the recipients of their apostolic message. Therefore, we enter Holy Week in the full knowledge of our call to follow the Lord to the cross. This means imitating in our lives the pattern of his. As St. Paul exhorts us, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” He was humble and obedient to the will of the Father. He gave his life, that all might have life. We who follow him are to do the same.

Throughout this week, as we commemorate with gratitude and joy the death and resurrection of Christ, let us pray that we become ever more faithful disciples of the Lord. Throughout the week let us prepare to commit ourselves anew to follow Him all the way to the Cross, by living each day the pattern of Christ’s life.

Faith or fear?

2011-04-11T08:37:00.000-06:00

Why do we fear? At first glance such a question seems silly. There are many things that fill us with fear, usually circumstances that are beyond our control, and before which we know ourselves to be powerless. Fear touches each of us. Nevertheless, the question is legitimate in the light of Sunday's Gospel passage from St. John (cf. John 11: 1-45). When we consider what that passage recounts, the question that springs to the mind and heart is: "Why should I ever be afraid of anything?"

It is the astounding narrative of the raising of Lazarus. Although he is dead a full four days (!), nevertheless Jesus restores him to life and calls him forth from the tomb. This is our God who has drawn near to us and remains with us. He has power over all things, even death, and he is here. This is enough for us - to know that Jesus is here. Think of the disciples when they were caught in a storm, terrified. Jesus came to them and gave them the one reason that suffices to calm fear: "It is I." (Cf. Matthew 14:27)

Very pointedly, Jesus poses a question to Martha, who is grieving the loss of her brother Lazarus. The same question is directed at us: "Do you believe?" Faith or fear? In the face of difficulties where we are powerless, do we choose to believe or to fear? Martha's answer is very beautiful and moving: "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one coming into the world."

To make this act of faith, which dispels all fear, we need the Holy Spirit. St. Paul teaches that no one can acknowledge Jesus as Lord unless by the gift of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1Cor 12:3). In the second reading of the Mass the Apostle affirms that this same Spirit of God dwells in us. Promised long ago through the prophet Ezekiel (cf. first reading) the Holy Spirit was bestowed upon the Church at Pentecost and is now poured into our hearts through the sacraments of the Church. The mission of the Spirit is to unite us to Jesus, to his love and to his power. Therefore, why be afraid?

Faith or fear? If you are facing something particularly difficult right now, ask the Holy Spirit to enable you to renew your act of faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In him there is no room for despair. There is only hope. In the words of Saint Paul (cf. Romans 15:13), may he fill you with peace as you believe in him.

Revelation Along the Journey

2011-04-06T08:38:00.000-06:00

Pretty messy around here these days. The warmer temperatures are welcome, of course, but the melting of the snow is exposing a lot of dirt. As the snows recede, what comes to view is a lot of litter, as well as the sand that has been used for traction on the winter roads. Spring rains and city cleaners will be busy with the cleanup! This might be a helpful metaphor by which to approach the Scripture readings from last Sunday and thus to understand the Lenten journey on which we find ourselves.

In the first reading from 1Samuel, the Lord reminded Samuel, who was about to anoint God’s chosen as king of Israel: “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.” We bring our “hearts” before the Lord during Lent, so that He who sees within might bring to light what is of darkness (cf. the second reading from Ephesians) and heal us of our infidelities. This can at times be painful for us because the movement of God’s grace melts our hearts frozen by pride and self-reliance and gradually brings to view the “dirt” of our sin. He thus brings us face to face with the truth of ourselves, as he did with the woman of Samaria as recounted in the previous week’s Gospel passage. What is exposed may be very difficult to acknowledge. Yet the Lord wants only to heal and transform, and our sin is brought to our view so that he might “wash it away” with his love and mercy.

From this perspective we realize that the blind man healed by Jesus in the Gospel is representative of all of us. Apart from an encounter with Jesus, we cannot see properly, and are blind to the truth of our need for his saving grace. Recall how Jesus healed the blind man; he used mud that he formed from the dust of the earth. This evokes the teaching of Genesis, where we are taught that God created the human being from dust. This Gospel passage is teaching us that Jesus Christ, “through whom all things were made” (cf. John 1:3), has come to recreate us as the children of God and lead us home to the Father.

Ironically, when the blind man began to see, others could not “see” him, i.e., they did not recognize him at first as the same man who had had to beg. We are changed when we meet the Lord, and others will notice the difference. The blind man accepted the questioning as an opportunity to tell others of Jesus. We, too, must do the same.

I had a wonderful experience over the weekend with some young adults of the Archdiocese who are seeking to be such witnesses. They are the team leaders in one of our Archdiocesan youth camps, called Our Lady of Victory Camp. We celebrated the Eucharist together, and then had a brief Q&A session around the theme of evangelizing the young people of today. I was very impressed and heartened by their commitment to the Lord and His Church, and their urgent desire to be authentic witnesses of the Lord’s transformative love.

The following day afforded me the opportunity to meet with the priests who have come to this Archdiocese from other countries. As is the case in other dioceses where there are insufficient numbers of priests to serve the pastoral needs of the faithful, these men have made great sacrifices to be present here in service. We can well imagine it is not easy to move away from family, friends and native country to work in a new culture. Yet they do so gladly and we are grateful. Their presence enriches us with the reminder that we are part of the universal Church of Christ, responsible for one another. Our encounter with the mercy of the Lord happens wondrously in the sacraments of the Church, and their ministry among us makes this possible for many.

Allow the Lord this Lent to bring about whatever “melting” needs to occur in your life in order to lead you to forgiveness and freedom. In this way we discover in our own personal experience what the blind man found through his: that Jesus alone is Saviour of the world and only He is the reason for our hope.

The Encounter that Changes Everything

2011-03-28T10:27:00.000-06:00

From the very beginning of our Nothing More Beautiful series in aid of the new evangelization, we have been encouraging everyone to open their hearts to a new personal encounter with Jesus Christ. Indeed, Pope Benedict XVI stated in his very first encyclical (Deus Caritas Est, 1) that the Christian life springs not from intellectual assent to ideas and concepts but from a personal encounter with the Lord. Notably, the Holy Father referred to this as an encounter with an event. Something happens when we meet Jesus Christ. Life changes and is never the same.

Insight into this “event” is offered in the Scripture readings for the Third Sunday of Lent (cf. Exodus 17: 3-7; Romans 5: 1-2, 5-8; John 4: 5-42). The passage from the Gospel according to Saint John is the familiar and beautiful story of the encounter between Jesus and the woman of Samaria at the well of Jacob. Much can be, and has been, said about this passage. Here I wish to focus on the fact that Jesus knew everything about the woman’s life even before a word was spoken. By the time they had ended their conversation, she went away to the town saying, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done.”

This dimension of the narrative reminds me of the other passages in Scripture where the simple glance of the Lord penetrated to the complete truth of the person he beheld. Think of St. Peter. When he first met the Lord, Jesus said to him, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas (which is translated Peter).” (John 1:42). Jesus saw and named his true identity. Nathaniel also found himself to be known by Jesus. When the Lord saw him under a fig tree, he said, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” (John 1:47). Jesus looked within and saw his goodness. At other times the Scriptures tell us that the look of the Lord unveils a person’s wrongdoing as well. The Samaritan woman experienced this as Jesus spoke of her previous marriages and current cohabitation with a man not her husband. So, too, was Peter brought to a deep awareness of his betrayal of the Lord from the simple fact that the Lord looked at him (cf. Luke 22:61-62). These examples teach us that when we encounter the Lord, he brings us face to face with the truth of ourselves, a truth of which we may not have been aware, or tried to avoid or cover up.

Yet this same encounter also brings us face to face with the truth of Jesus. He is the one, St. Paul tells us in the passage from Romans, who died to save the ungodly, who gave his life for us sinners, and thus manifested the wondrous and unconditional love of God. He is the one through whom that love, the gift of the Holy Spirit, is poured into our hearts. To encounter Jesus is to encounter this love and to hear his invitation to accept his truth by the act of faith and accept the truth of ourselves as loved and wanted by God. The encounter with this love changes everything. It is “the gift of God” that comes to us as “living water” to quench fully the deep thirst in our hearts for peace and happiness.

These were wonderful readings to accompany sixteen men who visited our seminary this weekend for the annual “Come and See” discernment days. This is an opportunity for men thinking of a call to priesthood to visit the seminary and meet the formation team and seminarians. I was able to join them Sunday for Mass, followed by lunch. Impressive was the seriousness with which these men were discerning a possible call to the Lord. The readings reminded them, as they do all whose hearts remain open to the will of God, that discipleship begins with and is nourished by a deep personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. When one’s heart is open to the Lord’s “glance”, the truth of his full knowledge and complete love is experienced. This encounter awakens trust in the goodness of the Lord and invites one to give all to the Lord in the act of faith.

Thank you to all who prayed our novena to the Holy Spirit for vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Let’s continue to pray that those the Lord is calling to these particular and beautiful forms of holiness will be open to encounter his love and respond in faith to his call.

To Whom do we Listen?

2011-03-21T08:41:00.000-06:00

To whom do we listen? Where do we place our trust? What voices most influence us? These are the questions raised by the Scripture readings for the Second Sunday of Lent. There are many “voices” that speak to us in innumerable ways, and not all of them influence us in healthy ways. The news media, TV shows and movies, popular song lyrics, majority opinion, literature, the arts and the social network all speak to us. To what are we listening? To whom are we paying attention as we navigate the realities of life and make decisions that shape the way we live?

“While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’” This is taken from the Gospel reading for Sunday (cf. Matthew 17:1-9). It is the voice of our heavenly Father, speaking from a cloud that descended upon the mountain where Jesus was transfigured in the presence of chosen disciples. As the divinity of Jesus shone forth, his identity as Son of God was confirmed by the witness of the Father’s voice. That voice commanded the disciples, as it now commands us, to listen to Jesus.

Long ago, according to Sunday’s first reading from Genesis (cf. Gen 12: 1-4a), Abram heard the divine voice as it summoned him away from his home, from all that was familiar. Not knowing where that voice was leading, he obeyed. Obedience to the voice of God continued to shape the life of Abram, such that he became for all the father of faith.

God’s voice continued to resound throughout history, reflected in the voices of those He chose as his prophets. Finally, that voice was given perfect expression in Jesus, who is the Son of God, the Word of God made flesh. He is the One sent from the Father as “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). His voice echoes in the words of Sacred Scripture and in the Sacred Tradition of the Church.

To whom are we listening? Let us pray this Lent that the Lord himself will reveal to us the answer to that question. May his grace free us from all harmful influence and dispose our hearts and minds to accept his voice as that which alone can lead us to life.

This past week attentive listening to the Word of God culminated in the gathering together of many people of different faith traditions to pledge themselves and their communities to help the homeless. In Edmonton, as in other cities in Alberta and Canada, the city has formulated a ten-year plan to end homelessness. Members of the faith communities want to be part of this by providing to the newly housed connection and welcome to community. The gathering last week was to announce and launch a plan whereby the various congregations in Edmonton can take action to reach out to those previously homeless and, by our presence and love, affirm their human dignity and offer them the experience of belonging to community as integral members of society. At the event the chair of our local Interfaith group, Rabbi Kunin, read from the prophet Isaiah the Word from Scripture to which we are listening and responding: “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? (Isaiah 58: 6-7) It was a very moving event, one that filled all in attendance with a deep sense of hope. Please keep this initiative in your prayers.

When we listen to the voice of the Lord and choose to obey and follow it in trust wonderful things happen. God alone is worthy of our full trust. He has spoken in Jesus. Let us heed the voice of the Father and listen to His Son.

Spring ahead? Gladly!

2011-03-14T09:35:00.003-06:00

The moving forward of the clocks this weekend heralds the onset of Spring. Here in Alberta it can’t come soon enough! Lots of snow and plenty of cold this year. A picture recently sent to me by one of my brother Bishops sums up rather well the readiness of Albertans for a change in the season. We can’t wait for the awakening of new life that is brought about by the warmth of the sun.
This past week another event announced imminent new life – Ash Wednesday. We now find ourselves in the holy season of Lent.

It is that sacred time when we ask the Lord to allow his light to shine in the depths of our souls and show us where our life of faith and discipleship has gone into deep freeze and become lifeless. The very arresting sign of ashes placed on the forehead gives dramatic testimony to our awareness of our need for conversion and our dependence upon God’s mercy for new life. Although the truth revealed may be difficult to accept, and although there may be tears of sorrow and repentance, nevertheless it is a very hope-filled season because we are drawing closer to the Lord by the movement of his grace. Let’s be sure to pray for one another as we seek together to be renewed by God’s love.

The hope that is ours in Lent was buoyed this week by a number of wonderful events. On Monday I blessed the new Villa Caritas in West Edmonton. Part of the family of Covenant Health, the Catholic health care provider in Alberta, it is a geriatric mental health facility set up to provide care, security and love to some of our most vulnerable brothers and sisters. The true meaning of caritas was revealed by Christ on the Cross. It speaks of a love that pours itself out for the other in complete self-gift. It is a love that is inclusive, and that announces that the beloved matters and is important and necessary. I am proud of the facility and I congratulate the board and executive of Covenant Health. They are people truly committed to serving the well-being of all Albertans, especially the most vulnerable, and to do so as part of that wonderful communion of caritas we call the Church.

Tuesday evening was the occasion for the blessing of the new home of Newman Theological College. In recent weeks about four thousand people have come through this new facility as well as that of St. Joseph Seminary. I have been greatly encouraged by the huge amount of excitement and enthusiasm among our people at the presence of these two important edifices on what we now are calling the Catholic campus. Tuesday was the occasion for asking God’s blessings upon all that takes place at NTC. We prayed that students, faculty and staff will seek together to encounter the Lord and be seized by the beauty of his truth in order to share with others the joy and hope that is ours in Christ. All gathered could sense that God is blessing us richly and we are humbled, grateful and hopeful. Early May will see the dedication of the seminary.

On Saturday I spent the entire day with about 200 young adults, most of whom are preparing to travel to Madrid for World Youth Day. We set as our theme “Come away and rest awhile,” the words of Jesus to his disciples. It was a welcome respite to the busy and noisy lives that we lead. There was ample time for prayer, collectively and individually, in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. In addition I offered two reflections, after which we had an extended period of time for questions and answers. I was very impressed by the evident depth of commitment of these young women and men to their faith. Their questions demonstrated what I would call a “joyful seriousness.” They want to understand the faith; they want it to be the light that helps them make sense of some of the more pressing issues with which society is grappling today; they experience almost daily the challenge of living the faith with integrity in the midst of a society that in many ways has grown allergic to the Gospel; yet there remains among and within them a palpable joy that springs from knowing the Lord is near, transforming their hearts with his love and summoning them to true life in Him. A day that inspired great hope.
In many dioceses throughout the Church, the Rite of Election is held on the First Sunday of Lent. This was the case in the Archdiocese of Edmonton. On Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon I was blessed with the joy of calling about 200 women and men to the Easter sacraments. These are people who have felt the call of the Lord to follow him in the communion of the Church and have been preparing for a long time to respond to this call. Now they are at that point where they have been judged ready to proceed to full initiation into the Church at Easter through the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist. They were present at the Basilica with others who, already baptized, now wish to complete their initiation into the Catholic Church, as well as with their teachers and sponsors. I had occasion to meet each of the new “elect” and the broad smiles on their faces said it all. It is beautiful and exciting to know the Lord and to be called to membership in his family, the Church.

This coming week will see the launch of our interfaith housing initiative in the city of Edmonton. It will be an occasion of great hope for all, especially the homeless. Leaders of our faith communities will pledge their support of and commitment to the city’s ten-year plan to end homelessness. I’ll have more on that in my next blog post. Please keep it in your prayers.

And speaking of prayer, don’t forget our Novena for Vocations to priesthood and religious life, which begins this Wednesday, March 16th. I would be very grateful for your participation.

Have a great week!

A Notice Regarding the 2011 Alberta March for Life

2011-03-09T14:32:00.001-07:00

The Alberta Bishops have decided not to participate in the 2011 Alberta March for Life. Since we have had over the last few years a visible role of leadership and support in this march I feel it is important that we explain the reason for this decision.

My fellow bishops and I have worked closely in recent years with the March for Life Association to promote the march and foster its growth. United and joyful public witness in defence of all life is necessary, and we have been generally pleased with what has been accomplished thus far. At the same time we have observed the presence of large images of aborted children on increasingly prominent display in the march. In our estimation the public display of large, graphic images of aborted babies offends the dignity of the human beings pictured and so is at odds with our mission to promote and protect that dignity. Such displays can also be extremely upsetting to mothers who have suffered through abortion and to children – both of whom we want to encourage and support through our pro-life activities.

We have no issue with the March for Life organizers. Like us they are deeply committed to defend the dignity and sanctity of all human life and express that commitment in many beautiful ways. However, from many discussions over this issue in the last several months, it is clear that the March for Life organizers are unable to pledge that the event will proceed without the graphic displays. It is not that they will not do so; they simply cannot because it is beyond their control. Therefore, the Alberta Bishops have chosen not to join in the march this year. The visible leadership that we have given to the march, together with the practice of preparatory consultation between the March for Life Association and my office, would lead many naturally to the conclusion that the Bishops support the display of graphic images. We want to make it clear that the Bishops are not affiliated in any way with such expressions and do not approve of them.

Of course, people have a right to free expression. Nevertheless, the graphic images are a particular form of expression which, in our view, is not in keeping with what has otherwise been a very positive public affirmation of the dignity and sanctity of human life. The Bishops will not interfere in anyone else’s decision to participate in the march.

As you may know, at St. Joseph’s Basilica in Edmonton we have held a vigil on the eve of the March for Life, and a Mass for life the following morning. We shall continue to do so, and I encourage our Catholic priests and lay people to participate in both. I pray also that we will all remain united in prayer and will continue to reflect on ways we can move forward together in the future in the cause of life.

Lent Countdown

2011-03-06T14:50:00.001-07:00

Ash Wednesday will be celebrated this week, the gateway to the Lenten season. The Scripture readings that were proclaimed at Mass on Sunday offer great assistance to us as we prepare to enter these holy days of repentance and renewal. They pose a fundamental question: trust in God or reliance upon self.

This question is, in fact, raised many times in a variety of ways throughout Sacred Scripture, which proclaims clearly that only by relying trustingly upon God – upon his love and his guidance – will we know happiness and peace, even in the midst of hardship or difficulty. In the first reading from Deuteronomy, Moses poses the question in terms of obedience or disobedience in relation to the commandments of God. The former, he says, leads to blessing; the latter to curse.

Jesus, God’s Word incarnate, places the question before us by means of an analogy with the construction of a house. Only a house whose foundation is built upon rock can withstand the storms that will inevitably come against it. One built on unstable sand will fall. Listening and acting upon the words of Jesus is the way to construct our lives on a sure rock foundation. Reliance upon self is tantamount to choosing sand as our life foundation and setting ourselves up for collapse.

Notice that Jesus insists it is not enough simply to listen to his words. Only those who hear and act upon them are establishing a trustworthy foundation for their lives. He said the same thing in different words in the first part of the passage. It is not those who simply say “Lord, Lord” – not those, i.e., who are Christians in word only – but those who do the will of the heavenly Father who will enter the kingdom of God.

The will of God, revealed in Christ, can be summed up in one word: love. Love of God and love of neighbour. This means that we hear and act upon the words of Christ when: the worship of God, especially at Mass, is the centre and highpoint of my day or week; I seek forgiveness of those I have hurt and strive to make amends; I grant forgiveness to any who have hurt me; I make every effort to be conscious of the needs of those around me, locally and globally, so as to give of myself to help them; I abandon pride and acknowledge my need for God and others; I turn frequently to the sacrament of Penance for the grace of forgiveness, etc.

Trusting in God or self-reliance; God’s will or mine? This is the fundamental choice confronting us each day, and which informs the myriad other choices that we need to make. How might this translate into a particular penitential practice this Lent? We usually give up something. What about fasting from fear? Occasions when we feel anxious or worried are opportunities to choose to give the situation over to Christ and to deliberately trust in his loving power. Faith or fear? Trust in God or trust in self? Let’s pray that God’s grace will make known to us in this Lenten season the option out of which we are living, the choice we have chosen as our foundation, and restore us to reliance upon his love and trusting obedience to his will.

Novena for vocations

Speaking of choices, this was the theme of the Central Alberta Youth Rally that I had the privilege of visiting on Saturday. It took place in Red Deer and developed around the Gospel passage proclaimed at Sunday Mass. I was deeply impressed with the level of engagement of the young people. They gave up the whole day – 9 in the morning to 8:30 at night – to encourage one another in their faith and to draw closer to Christ. The day ended with a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament, and the Scripture passage they chose for reflection was the call of Samuel. When this young man finally realized that the Lord was calling him by name, his response of openness and trust was the simple “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”

This call of the Lord is not, of course, limited to Samuel. Each of our young people is being called to follow the Lord in some way. To help them give the same trusting response to Christ that Samuel gave when he was called, we will have in the Archdiocese of Edmonton a special novena for vocations. Details can be found on our website at Novena for Vocations. I would be grateful if you would join with us in these days of prayer for vocations to priesthood and religious life.

Consolation with a Challenge

2011-02-28T09:19:00.000-07:00

The Scripture readings from the yesterday’s Mass are among the most consoling of the Bible. At the same time they are among the most challenging.

The consolation springs from the nature of God himself. Jesus, who, as Son of God incarnate, is the perfect revelation of God, teaches that God the Father knows the needs of his children and never fails to provide for them (cf. Matthew 6: 24-34). Why are you anxious, he asks? That is a question addressed not only to his contemporaries but also to us. Anxiety very frequently inhabits us. Job worries, family difficulties, illness and so on often leave us worried, distracted, on edge. There is no need to be so, Jesus tells us. God our Father will never abandon us. His love is deeper even than that of a mother for her child, as the prophet Isaiah had reminded the people so long ago. Though a mother forget her child, as difficult as that is to imagine, God will never forget us (cf. Isaiah 49:14-15). When we allow this truth of God into our minds and hearts, it brings a consolation that enables us to live with real hope and peace, even in the midst of great difficulty.

At the same time, this truth of God, if it is to take root in our lives, calls for a number of changes to our ways of thinking and acting. Herein lie the challenges of the Scripture passages. There are at least three, one explicit and the others implicit.

First, Jesus calls us to a proper ordering of our lives. “Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” he says, “and all these things will be given to you as well.” In other words, put God first. How do we begin each day? Do we find time to pray? Do we even give a thought to God? And if we do pray, how? Seeking his kingdom means asking him to reign in our hearts. Seeking his righteousness means asking him, by the gift of his grace, to transform us into the children and disciples to which we are called by Baptism. Do we ask for the coming of his kingdom in our lives and in the world, or is our prayer dominated by our own “agenda”, as if we were using God as the instrument for the accomplishment of our own will? A proper ordering of one’s life begins by placing ourselves at the service of God’s plan, surrendering to his will, and trusting in his providence.

Doing so, however, presupposes that we accept realistically, and again with trust, the truth of our own human nature. We are creatures, who have limits and who are completely dependent upon the love and gifts of God. In other words, we are poor. Implicit in the call of Jesus to place God and his will first in our lives is the challenging summons to accept the truth of our poverty, of our need. The original sin of our first parents was to allow trust in God to die in their hearts and to live from their own strength, buoyed by the lie that they could become “like gods” and escape their nature as creatures. We are all impacted by the catastrophic results of that sin, which we perpetuate every time we choose self-reliance over dependence upon God. How do I handle the reality of limit and need? If these give rise to frustration, anger or despair, then perhaps I am forgetting the truth of my poverty and dependence and living too much from an illusion of self-sufficiency.

Also implicit in the words of Jesus is the call to stewardship. Our heavenly Father provides us and his children everywhere with all that we truly need. At the same time we are painfully aware that billions of people on this planet are in want and hungry, living without adequate shelter and clothing. This discrepancy challenges us of the so-called First World to examine our attitude towards our possessions. From the truth of our common poverty and dependence upon God arises the awareness that we are called to be stewards, not hoarders, of the gifts that God gives. The scandalous inequities among the peoples of our planet stem not from a failure on the part of God to provide for his children but from the injustice that dominates our relations with one another. I direct the reader to the Church’s social doctrine as it pertains to the principles of solidarity, which refers to the interdependence of all people and our responsibility for one another as brothers and sisters under God (cf. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church, nn. 192 ff.) and the universal destination of goods, which arises from the desire and plan of God so to provide for the earth that its goods are given for the benefit of all, without exclusion or favouritism (cf. CSDCC, 171ff.). How do I as an individual, how do we as communities and nations, steward the blessings God has given us? How does this social doctrine of the Church challenge us to new ways of relating to what I possess?

“Strive first for the kingdom of God….” Words that, when followed, give birth to profound peace in our hearts and a radical change in our way of life.

Letting Love Speak

2011-02-22T08:27:00.000-07:00

“A Christian knows when it is time to speak of God and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone speak.” We were reminded of these words of Pope Benedict XVI (Deus Caritas Est, 31c) by Lesley-Anne Knight, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis, in her moving witness presentation offered at our Nothing More Beautiful event last Thursday evening. The Holy Father is teaching that the practice of caritas, of love, speaks eloquently and effectively of God, whose very nature is caritas (cf. 1John 4:16). At a time when the Church is very aware of the need to find a new language to speak to our current world the unchanging truths of the Gospel, a recovery of the meaning and demands of caritas is necessary.

As regards the meaning of caritas, I invite the reader to reflect upon the teaching of the Holy Father in that first of his encyclicals. There Pope Benedict unfolds how Jesus Christ, precisely as the Son of God incarnate and crucified, unveils the full truth of love as complete self-gift. The self-gift of the Lord, he reminds us, abides in the sacrament of Eucharist, where participants are drawn into its very own dynamic. This sharing in Christ’s own act of perfect love enables us to love. St. John teaches that, because God has loved us first, we must love one another (cf. 1John 4). Not only must we do so; we can do so by the love of God that has been given to us and which transforms our hearts.

God’s loving initiative enables us to fulfill the demands of caritas. Such requirements are often beyond our ability to meet unaided. Just consider, for example, the teaching of Jesus in Sunday’s Gospel. “Love your enemies…. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” (cf. Matthew 5: 38-48) Many would find this an impossible teaching to accept. Just think of the many horrible atrocities perpetrated against people in the violent conflicts of today, giving rise to deep levels of hurt and rage. Violence breeds more violence, and the only antidote to this fast-spreading virus is mercy. Love of the enemy is expressed in forgiveness. Yet only when the heart knows the transformative power of the love of God is such forgiveness possible.

Another demand of caritas is solidarity. Western society emphasizes individual self-pursuit, which closes us in upon ourselves. The love of God lifts us out of ourselves and opens our eyes and hearts to the needs of those around us. Although this experience of divine love is a personal event, nevertheless it is not a private possession. God loves all equally and his love draws us, therefore, to one another. God’s caritas awakens us to stand in solidarity with one another, especially with the weak and vulnerable, with those unable to speak for or help themselves.

This is the motivation underlying all that the Church does to help the suffering. The many who gathered at St. Joseph’s Basilica Thursday evening to listen to Cardinal Oscar Rogriguez of Tegucigalpa and Lesley-Anne Knight, respectively President and Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis, heard firsthand of the extraordinary work that this organization does in 165 nations to bring the love of Christ to the suffering. Their presentations raised important questions for us. Am I conscious of living as a member of a world-wide communion, in which many of my brothers and sisters are suffering? How do my lifestyle choices impact them? How does the call to solidarity and charity challenge me to make changes to the way I live? To what acts of caritas am I called by the suffering of my neighbours here at home?

Important questions were also raised by a conference for Bishops I attended in Dallas last week. Every two years the National Catholic Bioethics Center, with the support of the Knights of Columbus, hosts a workshop for Bishops on bioethical issues. The focus this year was the need for a new language in order to communicate the Gospel of Life. As I listened to the presentations it occurred to me that, once again, the language we speak is that of caritas. Our teaching on respect for all human life, on artificial contraception or reproduction, on stem cell research and so on is often presented negatively, as if the only word the Church uses is “no”. The exact opposite is the truth. God’s loving initiative awakens within us a powerful “yes” to life; indeed, it makes us voices of God’s own “yes” to life. The love of God reveals the truth of the beauty and dignity of every human life. This love moves us to speak out in defense of human dignity whenever and wherever it is under threat.

Let love speak. It may be in words, it may be in actions, but our call is to let the love of God speak clearly in order to share the truth of his presence and mercy to our world and be the reason for our hope.

The Loving Response

2011-02-14T13:56:00.001-07:00

This past weekend I had the opportunity to be with my family for the celebration of a sibling's milestone birthday. (Survival instinct prevents me from divulging the name and actual age.) While home I had the chance to watch my three-year old nephew in action. I find that children can be very instructive when it comes to understanding the teachings of our faith. A case in point is insight into the teaching of our Lord in yesterday's Gospel.

The little one, like most his age, can be rather rambunctious. At least once this weekend he was given a "time out." When that ended his mother insisted that he apologize before returning to play. He did, but something tells me his heart was not quite in it. I think the apology was more a means to an end, namely, getting back to his toys. On the other hand there are times when a child acts spontaneously from the heart with expressions of love. The drawing of a flower, for example, may not be great art but a parent thrills to receive this sign of love or gratitude springing from the heart of the child.

"Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." These words of Jesus accompany his teaching in yesterday's Gospel about the commandments of God. Pharisaical righteousness is mere formalism, that is to say, external observance of God's commands with the heart far from God. It is clear in the Gospel that Jesus is calling his followers to a very high standard. Equally clear is his expectation that obedience to the commandments of God should be an expression of our love for God and not merely rote observance.

This latter expectation should be at the heart of our examination of conscience. Are we growing in our love for Christ? Is our living of the law of Christ formalistic or an expression of our loving response to Christ who loved us first?

This reminds me that I heard in the news about a new "app" for the iPad and iPhone, one to help prepare a person to make a good confession. I also heard that it is among the top sellers! Could that be due to a misunderstanding that the app would replace going to confession, that one could be absolved by a simple touch of the screen of a gadget? Imagine that! A good example of Pharisaical righteousness that would be! Of course, the app is actually no more than a way to help people prepare for confession by posing questions that aid an examination of conscience. Great idea! The central question to guide the whole examination, though, has to pertain to our personal relationship with Christ. Am I sincerely sorry for sin, because by my sin I have harmed my relationship with Jesus? "Unless your righteousness surpasses ..."

Let's pray this week for a deepening relationship with Jesus, so that, by his grace, we will be enabled to live ever more authentic lives of discipleship, rooted in his love.

Word and Image, Word and Sign

2011-02-07T15:20:00.001-07:00

Off to Baltimore today for a meeting of the Bishops of America. Pope John Paul II's apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in America called upon the members of the Church in the Western Hemisphere to look upon themselves as part not of numerous "Americas" but as one "America." The point was to emphasize our communion in the Lord and to live out in consequence a vibrant solidarity with one another, especially the poor. It was in that document that the Pope specified that the new evangelization to which he constantly called the Church was to be new in method, ardour and expression. In response to the call of the Holy Father, the Bishops of America - North, Central and South - began to meet together annually through representatives, namely, the members of the executive committees of the episcopal conferences of Canada, the United States and Latin America. We meet to discuss common concerns in the context of the new evangelization. It is to this year's meeting that I am en route. Our topic is communications.

With this in mind I am struck by the powerful images emerging lately from Egypt. The protesters are communicating very effectively to the world the message of their hopes for freedom. They are communicating by words, naturally, but also by sending out images via modern communications technology. This latter is very effective. We may not remember all that the protesters say, but the pictures of thousands of people gathered together remain with us.

This is instructive for us who, as Christians, are charged with the responsibility of communicating the message of the Gospel, the truth of Jesus Christ. At Mass yesterday we heard St Paul say to the Corinthians that, when he was first among them, he resolved to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and him crucified. This is the centre of our message to the world: Jesus Christ crucified and risen for our salvation. In the death and resurrection of the Lord is revealed the merciful love of God and the great depth of human dignity. We are called to communicate this message, and to do so in both word and "image".

What image do we show forth as a Christian community? In yesterday's Gospel we heard Jesus tell us clearly to let our good works be seen so that glory will be given to God our Father. In and through our good works we communicate the truth of the love of God, whose mercy liberates us from self-centeredness in order to be servants of one another. A community that demonstrates its freedom in Christ through love of one another communicates very effectively in image the saving truth of the Gospel.
Isaiah, in Sunday's first reading, spoke very concretely of the loving communion that God wills to exist among his people. It is one in which the yoke of injustice is broken, the hungry are fed, the naked are clothed and the homeless are housed. It is one from which all false accusations and malicious speech are removed. The love of Christ makes such community possible if we but surrender to his transformative power and live not for ourselves but for Him.

Word and image. Word and sign. Together these constitute Christian witness, the way Christians have always communicated the Gospel. For this message to be both intelligible and credible, we must by our actions "say" exactly the same thing as we do with our words. May the Lord help us so to love one another that, by this love, we will make known to the world the saving truth of Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead.

Setting out into Deep Waters

2011-01-31T12:45:00.000-07:00

Back at the blog now after some time away for retreat and holidays. Ah, warm temperatures and golf. Nothing like it for recharging the batteries. I’m mentioning this here because, for some reason, the good folks at the office don’t want to hear anything about it. Might have something to do with the 60 centimetres of snow that fell on Edmonton and temperatures that dipped to 30 below while I was teeing off. Not sure. Just a guess.

John Paul II in Edmonton, 1984

During my time away some wonderful news was announced to the whole Church and, indeed, to the world. On May 1st, Pope John Paul II will be beatified by Pope Benedict XVI. By God’s grace, the impact of this beloved man from Poland on the Church and world was dramatic and profound. Among his vast legacy of writings, one of my favourites is the apostolic letter he wrote to prepare the Church to welcome the new millennium, Novo Millennio Ineunte. Basing himself on the first encounter between Jesus and Peter as recorded by Saint Luke (cf. Luke 5), John Paul challenged the Church to “put out into deep waters” (duc in altum) and let down the nets for a catch. He invited us further, again borrowing the words of the Lord, not to be afraid. This call to set out into the very deep waters of our day, and to rely at all times on the power and love of the Lord, has remained with me. Whether it is the “deep water” of modern communications technology, current and potential bioethical developments, the perilous situation of the family, the needs of our youth, or poverty and injustice at home and abroad, we are called not to turn away but to step into these realities with the life-giving message of the Gospel. We might well find it intimidating to do so, but Christ is with us. Be not afraid, as John Paul said when he first addressed the world upon his election as Pope.

The chapel doors

The seminary we have just completed in Edmonton is among the first to be built in North America in the new millennium. For this reason I wanted the call of Novo Millennio Ineunte to be reflected somehow in its design. Through the seminary and its sister institution, Newman Theological College, future priests and lay leaders of the new millennium are being prepared to encourage our people to put out into the deep and to rely at all times upon the Lord. In response to this particular request, a beautiful artistic rendition of Christ’s call to Peter has been etched into the bronze doors leading into the chapel seminary. It is a reminder to all of us of the exciting mission that is ours as members of the Church.

Visitors admire the new seminary chapel

This excitement was tangible on Saturday as we opened the doors of our seminary and college to the public in the first of two open houses. An estimated 1,300 people came through to see the buildings built on the foundation of their prayers and gifts. These two institutions are very dear to the people of our Archdiocese and beyond. We have had a seminary since 1927. In the wake of the Second Vatican Council, following the vision of Archbishop Anthony Jordan, Newman Theological College was founded in 1969 as a place where both seminarians and lay people could obtain advanced theological degrees.

College bookstore open for business

Their former site was in the way of a major freeway development around Edmonton, so we relocated to the grounds of our Catholic Pastoral Centre. Parishioners and neighbours have been watching the development of the new facilities for a couple of years now. Saturday was the first opportunity for many to see them. It was a delight and a great source of encouragement for me to witness how pleased and enthused our people were as they saw the new, beautiful, state-of-the art facilities in which the missions of St. Joseph Seminary and Newman Theological College will continue.

On a very different and more sombre note, the world is watching developments in the Middle East very closely these days. Much of the attention is focused on developments in Egypt. It is striking to hear the words of the Lord in Sunday’s Gospel at the same time as we see the television images. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those persecuted for the sake of righteousness.” Trusting reliance upon the wisdom and gifts of God is what makes for peace and what leads to beatitude or happiness. Let us not fail to pray for a peaceful resolution to the deep and complex issues now rising to the surface in the Middle East.

Called to be Light

2011-01-04T13:53:00.000-07:00

In recent days the liturgies of the Christmas season have announced the birth of Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God, born in time of the Virgin Mary. The Scripture texts of our celebrations have recalled the announcement to Mary, to Joseph and to the shepherds the wondrous news that their long-awaited Messiah had come to them in this child. On Sunday, the feast of the Epiphany, we were given an “epiphany”, a revelation, of the grand scope of the saving purpose for which God sent His Son. Jesus has come not only as the Messiah of the Jewish people, but also as the Saviour of the world. Epiphany is the manifestation of God’s saving plan, namely, to unite all peoples of the world into one in His Son, Jesus Christ. It is to this mystery of universal salvation that St. Paul is referring when he says: “the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (cf. Ephesians 3: 2-3, 5-6).

Long ago, the prophet Isaiah had foretold this unifying intervention of God in history by speaking of nations gathering from far and wide, drawn together by the light of God’s presence. Using images appropriate to his day, he says: “A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord” (cf. Isaiah 60:1-6). In other words, God will act in history to bring about the unity of all people, gathered together in one act of praise and worship.

The Gospel for the feast of the Epiphany (cf. Matthew 2:1-12) announces that the centre of God’s plan of salvation is the child born of Mary. To Jesus the magi are drawn. Before Jesus they bow down in worship, offering their gifts. These wise men are not Jewish. They come from foreign lands, thus representing that the vision of universal salvation given by Isaiah is to be fulfilled in Christ. Their gifts of gold and frankincense signify adoration and worship; Jesus is God and king. The gift of myrrh, a perfume used in the anointing of bodies for burial, is a symbolic anticipation of the death by which this child would save the world. This child is, indeed, born of the Jewish people. Yet he is revealed as the saviour of all, your saviour and mine, the saviour of the world.

One cannot recall the story of the visitation of the wise men and not think of the fascinating image of the star. Perhaps more than any other in this story, the image of the star has captured the imaginations of men and women through the centuries. By the light of this star, the wise men were led to Christ. Today is a fitting occasion to give thanks to God for the “light” by which each of us was led to our saving encounter with the Lord. Perhaps it was by the light of parental example that we found Christ. Many of us were brought to the Church as infants by our parents for union with the Lord in baptism, and then taught by them to love and serve Christ as the way of salvation. Perhaps we were led to the Lord by the light of charity extended by Christians to people in need. The witness of love draws us to its source, who is Christ. Perhaps we came to Christ by the light of the Scriptures. The words of truth in the sacred texts fully satisfy the human search for meaning and direction and summon us to membership in the Church. In these and many other ways, the Holy Spirit gives us a light which leads us to the one, true Light, Jesus Christ. On this feast we offer our prayers of profound thanks to the Father for leading us to His Son and giving us life in Him.

Yet not only does this feast move us to gratitude for the light by which we have come to Christ. It also impels us to mission, to be “light” for those who are seeking the Saviour. In the Gospel, God assigns to a star the task of leading the representatives of the nations to His Son. Now, that mission has been entrusted to the Church. As a member of Christ’s Body, each of us is called to be a light which will lead the men and women of our day to the Lord. Christ has come for all, yet so many have yet to know him. He has come to give unity, yet barriers of hostility continue to divide peoples and nations. He has come as the light of truth, but the darkness of moral confusion still causes many to stumble. There is a deep yearning in the human hearts of today for peace and happiness, a longing that is ultimately a hunger for God. This yearning is only fulfilled by encountering Jesus Christ. We are called to be the light which leads others to Him.

We fulfil this role by the holiness of our lives. Living with integrity and joy the consequences of our baptism, we shine out as a light which draws men and women to Jesus Christ. Sin dims the light and weakens the credibility of our witness. The importance of our mission, then, calls us to constant self-examination. For example, we could ask: Is there anything of King Herod in my heart? He was frightened by the news of Christ’s birth, recognizing in the child a threat to his rule. In what ways am I resistant to the rule of Christ in my heart? Am I ruled more by my own selfish desires than by His plan of love? Or I could ask: Am I like the chief priests and scribes? They told Herod that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, yet they were indifferent to the news of Christ’s birth and made no effort to go to him and see for themselves. In what ways am I indifferent to the good news of the Gospel? Have I grown complacent, no longer seeking to be more deeply converted to the Lord? Such questions cannot be avoided if we are to be faithful to the call to lead others to Christ. When we examine our lives with humble confidence in His mercy, He will transform us by His love and enable us to be a light of hope in our world.

The Symphony of Salvation

2010-12-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

Last week I had a truly wonderful experience. On Thursday evening I joined the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra as the narrator in one of their Christmas presentations. This necessitated being seated on stage next to the conductor. I have always loved symphonic works, and from that particular vantage point I found myself not only surrounded by stunningly beautiful music but also able to see in a manner not otherwise possible the marvellous interaction between the conductor and his musicians. At the appropriate moment he would indicate that one group of instruments should play and another be silent; at other times all would be heard together, and occasionally one instrument would be featured. Everyone had his or her role to play. Some instruments seemed to be more predominant than others, but all were equally necessary. The lack of participation by any one particular instrument would have diminished the whole. What guided it all was, of course, the musical score, but the notes on the page could only be communicated as beautiful music via the musicians under the direction of the conductor.

This experience was very fresh in my mind as I encountered the Scripture readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent. They speak of a “musical score”, so to speak, namely, God’s plan to save the world from its sins. Individuals are assigned a part so that, through them, this plan would become a reality. Central to this plan is Jesus, the one who is Emmanuel, “God with us”, whose advent would be signalled by his birth from a virgin (cf. Isaiah 1: 10-14; Matthew 1: 22-24), and whose name indicates his salvific mission (cf. Matthew 1: 21). At the same time, the readings indicate others called to play their part in service to Jesus and to the Father’s plan.

Mary is chosen to be the mother of the Saviour. Joseph is chosen to be her husband and to take to his home both Mary and the child conceived within her by the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us in the second reading (cf. Romans 1: 1-7) that he has been chosen to be an apostle in service to the Gospel. Each role is unique, yet they are united by what St. Paul refers to as the “obedience of faith”.

Faith is the response to the Gospel, and by “faith” is meant a complete surrender of one’s life to God, motivated by complete trust in His love and wisdom and expressed in obedience to God’s will, even if such obedience means a profound change in our lives. The normal human expectations that Mary and Joseph would have had for their married life together had to be set aside for the sake of God’s plan. St. Paul had to undergo a radical transformation in his life from persecutor of the Church to proclaimer of Christ.

Each of us, too, is assigned a role in the continued unfolding of God’s saving will. It is, fundamentally, to accept the call to holiness that stems from Baptism and then to be attentive to the gifts God has bestowed upon us and to how he chooses and calls us to place them at the service of the Gospel. This will likely involve change, sometimes total, yet we accept this in the obedience of faith, trusting lovingly in God’s love for us.

The beauty of the Gospel has inspired the most beautiful of all music. Some of that was shared last Thursday evening. Indeed, all that is truly beautiful has its roots in the One who alone is Beauty, God Himself. May we accept the call God gives to each of us to communicate in our own way the beauty of Jesus Christ and the Father’s plan fulfilled in him.

Two Very Different Experiences of Anticipation

2010-11-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday marked the beginning of the holy season of Advent and, with it, the opening of a new liturgical year. This deeply significant religious moment coincided with a secular event here in Edmonton that has had the city in a frenzy: the Grey Cup. Two very different experiences of anticipation, and their contrast highlights the importance of the threshold we have just crossed in the liturgical calendar.

To watch and listen to the sights and sounds of the thousands of fans who have come to Edmonton for the Grey Cup festivities, one could be led to believe that there is nothing more important than this particular football match. No doubt many of the fans of the victorious Alouettes are absolutely convinced of this right about now. Yet, of course, there is something far more significant for not only our earthly but also our eternal lives. It is that event of which we are reminded in every Advent season: the return of the Lord in glory. Central to the Christian faith is the belief that Jesus Christ, who came to earth born of the Virgin Mary, and who comes to us now in the gift of the Holy Spirit, particularly in the Church’s sacramental celebrations, will return at the end of time. Of this we are reminded in the Sunday Scripture passages.

Preparation for the Grey Cup event unfolded around set dates and times. Everyone knew, for example, the date and time of the game itself. With that knowledge other preparatory events could be organized and their times and venues were well publicized so that those who wished to participate could do so. Likewise fans could plan their travel to the game because of known and advertised LRT and bus schedules. To be in a state of readiness it is very helpful to know what will happen when.

The event above all others for which we want to be ready is the return of the Lord. The difficulty is that, as the Lord himself tells us, the time of this is unknown (cf. Matthew 24: 37-44). Nevertheless he calls us to be watchful and ready to meet him when he comes. This means, obviously, that there is only one “time” to get ourselves ready, and that time is now.

What does it mean to be ready? In yesterday’s second reading St. Paul speaks of this readiness in terms of our individual moral lives (cf. Romans 13: 11-14). Being alert and ready means living lives in the light and casting off deeds of darkness such as the various instances of immorality that he mentions in the passage. Isaiah teaches in the first reading that our preparedness must also have a communal dimension (cf. Isaiah 2:1-5). He looks forward to the day when obedience to the teaching of God and surrender to his light will give birth to real justice among peoples and nations. From this we know that readiness to meet the Lord when he returns means acting now to address and remove real situations of injustice among God’s children.

With the Grey Cup there is a winner and a loser. Only one receives the cup; only one has a victory parade. When it comes to salvation God wants no losers. He sent his Son to die and rise so that all might live with him forever. Yet this is no reason for complacency on our part. God works within us to transform us and lead us to himself, but he expects us to use the freedom that he has given us to respond in faith and obedience to his teachings and to his promptings. When he comes we will be judged on our response to him and will be called to render an account of how we have used our gift of freedom.

As we look forward to his coming let’s pray that he will keep us both watchful and ready to greet him and enter into his joy.

Exciting Events in Rome

2010-11-22T09:13:00.001-07:00

I am in Rome as I write this blog post. For more than a week I have been here with the President and General Secretary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops for our annual visit to the dicasteries (departments) of the Vatican. It is truly a wonderful opportunity to share with officials of the Holy See the blessings and challenges of the Church in Canada, and to benefit from insights, clarifications and counsel that they are able to give. The conversations are very fraternal and a great experience of the communion of the Church in Canada with the Holy See.

Some exciting events are taking place while we are here. First was the Consistory on Saturday when the Pope elevated twenty-four men to the rank of Cardinal. Most of the new cardinals were from the Roman Curia, but there were others who represented different parts of the world. These were accompanied by delegations from their own dioceses, who gave loud expression to their joy as their own Bishop received the red berretta from the Holy Father. It was a very moving experience of the universality and the communion of the Church, gathered around our beloved Pope.

Second is the release on Tuesday of this week of a new book-length interview with Pope Benedict XVI, entitled Light of the World. As you likely know by now because of media coverage, the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, published the Italian version of twenty-one very brief excerpts from the various topics addressed by the Pope. Included was the topic of sexuality, in the context of which the Holy Father addressed the issue of condoms. Perhaps not surprisingly, it was this one particular issue which attracted all the media attention and made the headlines. In order to assist the reader to know what the Pope has actually said I include here an excerpt from the book, provided the website of Catholic World Report. This will be followed by a statement from the spokesperson of the Holy See, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., who clarifies how the Pope’s words are to be understood.

Excerpt Provided by Catholic World Report (the italics indicate the question being posed by the interviewer Peter Seewald):

“From Chapter 11, "The Journeys of a Shepherd," pages 117-119:

“On the occasion of your trip to Africa in March 2009, the Vatican’s policy on AIDs once again became the target of media criticism. Twenty-five percent of all AIDs victims around the world today are treated in Catholic facilities. In some countries, such as Lesotho, for example, the statistic is 40 percent. In Africa you stated that the Church’s traditional teaching has proven to be the only sure way to stop the spread of HIV. Critics, including critics from the Church’s own ranks, object that it is madness to forbid a high-risk population to use condoms.

“The media coverage completely ignored the rest of the trip to Africa on account of a single statement. Someone had asked me why the Catholic Church adopts an unrealistic and ineffective position on AIDs. At that point, I really felt that I was being provoked, because the Church does more than anyone else. And I stand by that claim. Because she is the only institution that assists people up close and concretely, with prevention, education, help, counsel, and accompaniment. And because she is second to none in treating so many AIDs victims, especially children with AIDs.

“I had the chance to visit one of these wards and to speak with the patients. That was the real answer: The Church does more than anyone else, because she does not speak from the tribunal of the newspapers, but helps her brothers and sisters where they are actually suffering. In my remarks I was not making a general statement about the condom issue, but merely said, and this is what caused such great offense, that we cannot solve the problem by distributing condoms. Much more needs to be done. We must stand close to the people, we must guide and help them; and we must do this both before and after they contract the disease.

“As a matter of fact, you know, people can get condoms when they want them anyway. But this just goes to show that condoms alone do not resolve the question itself. More needs to happen. Meanwhile, the secular realm itself has developed the so-called ABC Theory: Abstinence-Be Faithful-Condom, where the condom is understood only as a last resort, when the other two points fail to work. This means that the sheer fixation on the condom implies a banalization of sexuality, which, after all, is precisely the dangerous source of the attitude of no longer seeing sexuality as the expression of love, but only a sort of drug that people administer to themselves. This is why the fight against the banalization of sexuality is also a part of the struggle to ensure that sexuality is treated as a positive value and to enable it to have a positive effect on the whole of man’s being.

“There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality.

“Are you saying, then, that the Catholic Church is actually not opposed in principle to the use of condoms?

“She of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but, in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality.”

Statement by Fr. Lombardi (from Catholic News Service)

“At the end of Chapter 10 (Chapter 11 in the English edition) in the book, ‘Light of the World,’ the pope responds to two questions about the struggle against AIDS and the use of the condom, questions that refer back to the discussion that followed the pope’s comments on this topic during his trip to Africa in 2009.

“The pope underlines clearly that, at that time, he did not want to express a position on the problem of condoms in general, but he wanted to affirm strongly that the problem of AIDS cannot be resolved solely with the distribution of condoms, because much more must be done: prevention, education, assistance, counsel, being close to people, both so that they do not become sick, and also in cases where they are sick.

“The pope observes that even in non-church circles a comparable awareness has developed, as is seen in the so-called ABC theory (Abstinence-Be Faithful-Condoms), in which the first two elements (abstinence and fidelity) are much more decisive and fundamental in the struggle against AIDS, while the condom appears as a last resort when the other two are lacking.

“It should therefore be clear that the condom is not the solution to the problem.

“The pope then takes a wider view and insists on the fact that concentrating only on the condom signifies the ‘banalization’ of sexuality, which loses its meaning as the expression of love between persons and becomes like a ‘drug.’ To fight against the banalization of sexuality is ‘part of the struggle to ensure that sexuality is treated as a positive value and to enable it to have a positive effect on the whole of man’s being.’

“In the light of this ample and profound vision of human sexuality and its modern challenges, the pope reaffirms that the church ‘of course does not regard (condoms) as a real or moral solution’ to the problem of AIDS.

“In saying this, the pope is not reforming or changing the teaching of the church, but reaffirming it by putting it in the context of the value and dignity of human sexuality as an expression of love and responsibility.

“At the same time, the pope takes into consideration an exceptional situation in which the exercise of sexuality may represent a real risk to the life of another person. In such a case, the pope does not morally justify the disordered exercise of sexuality, but maintains that the use of the condom to diminish the danger of infection may be ‘a first assumption of responsibility’, ‘a first step in a movement toward a … more human sexuality’, as opposed to not using the condom and exposing the other person to a fatal risk.

“In this statement, the pope’s reasoning certainly cannot be defined as a revolutionary shift.

“Numerous moral theologians and authoritative ecclesiastical figures have maintained and still maintain similar positions; however, it is true that until now we had not heard them expressed with such clarity from the mouth of a pope, even if it is in a colloquial, and not magisterial, form.

“Benedict XVI therefore courageously gives us an important contribution that clarifies and deepens a long-debated question. It is an original contribution, because on one hand it maintains fidelity to moral principles and demonstrates lucidity in refusing an illusory path like ‘faith in condoms’; on the other hand, however, it shows a sympathetic and far-sighted vision, attentive to discovering small steps — even if they are only initial and still confused — of a humanity that is often spiritually and culturally impoverished, toward a more human and responsible exercise of sexuality.”

For my part I am very much looking forward to picking up the book when it is released. We are told by news analysts and bloggers who have had an opportunity to see the book in advance that it is an opportunity to hear directly the mind of the Pope on some of the most vexing problems facing the Church and the world today. He faces every question forthrightly, with his customary brilliance, clarity and humility. It will be yet one more wonderful gift that this Pope gives to the Church and world as he shares with us his extraordinary intellect, by which he expounds the beauty of the faith and makes manifest his own deep love for the Lord and for the life of Christian discipleship.

Catholic Education Sunday 2010

2010-11-08T16:23:00.002-07:00

Yesterday morning many of us benefited from an extra hour of sleep. We have reached that point in the calendar when we turn the clock back one hour to return to standard time. I mention this because on that same day we marked Catholic Education Sunday, and this image of the clock, turning it either back or forward, can serve as a helpful analogy to appreciate the great gift and opportunity that Catholic education is in the province of Alberta.

In one dimension of Catholic education there can be no thought of turning back the clock at all. We need to think only of technological advances in the fields of computers and communications, where change is happening so rapidly. Our children catch on to these far more quickly and easily than people of my generation and older, and they have become essential to providing education in our day. In this area Catholic schools are not distinguished from their public counterparts. In either system there can be no turning back of the clock when it comes to educational methods and tools.

However, if we continue to use the clock analogy we become aware of other very significant ways in which Catholic education is distinct and where its blessing stands forth clearly. When it comes to the purpose of Catholic education, the clock stands still. At the heart of all that happens in our Catholic schools is something timeless that never changes. Rather, I should say some One who never changes: Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today and forever (cf. Hebrews 13:8). Catholic education seeks not only to teach the child but also to form the child to be a lifelong disciple of the Lord. The faith of the Church permeates all learning and all activity in the school so as to lead the student to a living and life-transforming encounter with Jesus Christ. Technologies may change, methods may advance, but the purpose that unites all our efforts never does. On this point the clock moves neither backward or forward. The right moment to meet the Lord and to be renewed in him is always now.

Yet as we meet the Lord in the present we are inevitably pointed toward the future. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life (cf. John 14:6), the One who alone leads us to an endless future, to heaven. This is the point of the Scripture readings for this Mass. Long ago the brothers Maccabee were united in their conviction of a resurrection to new life after death. This strengthened them to confess their faith even in the face of death (cf. 2Maccabees 7:1-2, 7, 9-14). In the Gospel Jesus confirms that there is life after death (cf. Luke 20:27-38). Of course, he does so not only by his particular teaching in this Gospel passage but also and above all by his own rising from the dead. Therefore, if Catholic education is an environment where the Lord is sought and encountered, then it must be a place where the clock is turned forward. Catholic education must point the student toward his or her eternal destiny and show them the path that leads to its fulfilment. In our Catholic schools we prepare our students for a happy and productive life in this world, certainly; but we also, and even more importantly, prepare them for eternal life, by leading them to Jesus and forming them for a life of holiness.

Catholic education is distinctive. It is a great treasure. I grew up in a province that did not at the time have a separate faith-based educational system. In such an environment it is very difficult to hand on the faith, especially in our day. In this province we have Catholic education, and because we have had it for so long the danger is to take it for granted. We must never yield to this temptation. To preserve and strengthen this gift we must be ever appreciative of its beauty and always vigilant against anything which might weaken or even threaten it.

New Messages, Ageless Truths

2010-10-31T15:15:00.000-06:00

Yesterday (October 24) we marked World Mission Sunday. This is a time to reflect upon the missionary mandate of the Church and her members. We often think of this in terms of the missionary priests and sisters who are sent around the globe to announce the Gospel, particularly through their work among the poor and needy. At the same time we realize that missionary work is incumbent upon all the baptized. This means looking for opportunities in our own circumstances to share with others the all-important message and good news that God has saved the world in Jesus Christ and remains always near to his people.

When a missionary travels to a foreign land it is often necessary to learn a new language so that the Gospel can be communicated intelligibly. This is, in fact, the case for all of us, even if we find ourselves in the midst of people who share our manner of speech. In our current society the immensely rich vocabulary that the Christian tradition has for centuries used to communicate the Gospel is no longer accessible to the majority of people. What is needed in our day is a new way of expressing ageless truths so that people may understand and appropriate them. What might such new expressions be? I suggest four.

Today we need to speak in terms of beauty. This is a concept all instinctively understand, and which attracts. Pope Benedict has signalled this from the beginning of his pontificate, when in his first homily he stated that there is nothing more beautiful than knowing the Lord and telling others about our friendship with him. This has been the motivation for our own Nothing More Beautiful new evangelization initiative in the Archdiocese of Edmonton. God is the fullness, the perfection, of Beauty, and we participate in this when we share in his life through union with his Son in the Holy Spirit. No earthly beauty can surpass that of a life lived in and from Jesus Christ.

Second, we communicate the Gospel when we speak of and give witness to joy. Our Western society tends to speak in terms of happiness or pleasure, which is usually based upon self-will, a desire to do whatever one wants, which in turn often ironically amounts to doing what others are doing so as to fit in or be noticed or admired. Such a pursuit of happiness frequently leads to misery. The Christian tradition announces a life not of superficial happiness but of profound joy. This joy is grounded not on self-will but on a truthful and humble recognition of our need for God and an encounter with his unconditional and merciful love. Consider the contrast between the “righteous” Pharisee and the humble publican in the parable of yesterday’s Gospel. Truthful reliance upon God gives rise within the heart to a deep and lasting joy that no one or no circumstance can take away.

A third necessary method of announcing the Gospel in our day is by speaking of hope. For too many today, hope is in short supply. Life is challenging, to say the least, and is replete with problems before which we are powerless. Despair is often not far away, especially if we live from the myth of self-reliance. The Christian proclamation of hope is rooted in the knowledge that God is near. St. Paul speaks of that beautifully in yesterday’s second reading. Nearing the end of his life he looks back and sees how God has not failed to stand by him and rescue him from danger. Nothing is greater than God’s love, the power of which is fully revealed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. God stands by us, and this truth transforms our fear into hope.

Finally, we need to speak of and give witness to communion. God’s will for the world is communion among his people. Indeed, to gather into one his people who had been scattered by sin, Jesus came to us and gave his life on the Cross. (cf. John 11:52). The prevailing individualism of our day leads to isolation and a terrible and terrifying loneliness in the lives of many. As a communion, fashioned by the work of the Son and Holy Spirit, the Church is called to stand forth in the world as both a sign and instrument of the unity that God wills for all people (cf. Lumen Gentium, 1-4). When we love one another as God has loved us we are drawn into a real communion and solidarity with each other. In a fractured world, our witness of genuine communion is a powerful method of making known the good news of the Gospel.

Beauty, joy, hope, communion: new methods for giving expression to the Gospel today and embracing the missionary mandate bestowed upon us as members of the Church of Jesus Christ.

God Hears our Cries

2010-10-22T16:54:00.002-06:00

This past week the world watched with astonishment and joy as the Chilean miners were rescued from the underground mine where they had been buried. The engineering feat was remarkable, and what drove it all, of course, was a fierce determination to reach the miners buried so far beneath the earth under tons of rock and restore them to the surface and to their families. What we have witnessed here can serve as a helpful analogy for understanding the teaching of the Sacred Scriptures that were proclaimed yesterday at Sunday Mass. They deal with prayer. Prayer is essential to our lives. Indeed, in the Christian life it is our breath. What does the analogy with the miners highlight from the readings?

The first thing we should observe is the vulnerability of the miners. Trapped so far beneath the surface, they were absolutely helpless and had no choice but to rely upon others for their rescue. The necessary starting point for prayer is the recognition of our own vulnerability. As creatures we are completely reliant upon God for all things. Pride closes the door to genuine prayer; humility opens it. God alone is God, and we pray, we call out to God, because we recognize that without him, without his love and mercy, we can do nothing.

This reliance upon God is symbolized by Moses in the first reading. With his people in battle against an enemy, he kept his arms held aloft, at times with the help of assistants, as a sign of supplication, of prayer. He knew, as did his people, that without God they were lost. They acknowledged their vulnerability and gave expression to their dependence through prayer.

Second, in their vulnerability the miners trusted. They had confidence that their rescuers would do all that they could to bring them out. Their trust was nourished by many messages telling them that the people above the surface knew they were alive, and encouraging them not to give up. Prayer is grounded in trust. Throughout history God has sent endless messages to his people, assuring them that he knew them, that he heard their cries and that he would answer. The perfect expression of his love was the gift of his Son. Moved by these assurances of the nearness and love of God we pray, full of trust that God, in his love, will never abandon us and will act to make a difference in our lives.

The miners were willing to wait. In fact, being completely helpless and dependent upon the work of others they had no choice. Prayer requires a willingness to wait. God hears our cries; God answers, but according to his wisdom and knowledge and therefore in his time. Jesus uses the parable to invite us to be persistent in prayer. He is not teaching that, in prayer, we should harangue God until he gives in, as the widow did with the judge. He is inviting us to pray always with an attitude of patient waiting and trust, confident in the love and providence of God. This is implicit in his last question: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth?” Because we have faith we pray; because we have faith we are willing to wait patiently.

In prayer we get in touch with our weakness and vulnerability, and that can be a scary place, especially when we feel like we are buried beneath circumstances beyond our ability to handle. At the same time prayer brings enormous peace and hope as it leads us to the conviction that God is near, that he is accessible, that he listens and that he will act in our lives to save us according to his purpose.

The Most Beautiful of Gifts

2010-10-12T06:31:00.000-06:00

I write this blog post on Thanksgiving Day, when we in Canada pause and give thanks to God for his countless blessing to us. Like you, I have many personal blessings for which I am grateful to God. Perhaps the most beautiful is that which I share with you: the gift of faith.

The Christian tradition speaks of faith in two ways. First, faith has a content, which stems from the revelation God has given us in Jesus Christ. We believe, for example, that Jesus Christ is true God and true man, that God is a Trinity of Persons, that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, that the Holy Spirit sanctifies us in the sacramental celebrations of the Church, that we are called to holiness by growing in our relationship with the Lord and following his commands, and so on. This faith has been handed on to us in many ways: in our families, our parishes, our Catholic schools. It is a magnificent treasure that leads to life.

Faith is also, and fundamentally, a human act. We believe that God alone is God, that we are but creatures; we believe that almighty God loves us and has come to us in his Son to save us; we believe that God remains with us, guiding and shaping all the events of our lives and turning them to the good. Because we believe all of this, we entrust our lives into his hands, trusting that it is he who leads us, even though we may not always know where he is taking us. Faith, in other words, is surrender to the love and the plan of God, a surrender grounded in our unshakeable trust in his never-failing mercy and faithful presence.

In both of these dimensions, faith is gift. By the working of the Holy Spirit we both understand the content of our faith, growing constantly in our knowledge of it, and make the act of faith, acknowledging Jesus as Lord and surrendering our lives and our future to him. By the Holy Spirit we see now the blessings that have been ours throughout our lives and trust that countless blessings await us still as we step into the future. In the Holy Spirit we are truly and deeply thankful for the gift of faith.

I was privileged this weekend to see this gift on full display among the people of Holy Spirit parish in Edmonton. After a period of discernment the decision was reached that the parish should close. On Sunday I celebrated their last Mass with them. Clearly it was a sad day for the parishioners, who have loved their parish and supported it in many ways. Yet even amid sadness the faith of the people was palpable. Because of their trust in the goodness of God, they understood this to be a moment not only of conclusion but also of transition. I witnessed this same faith in meetings I have had over the past months with parishioners in Marwayne, Bentley and Winfield, small mission communities where we have also recognized and accepted the need to close beloved churches. The faith will now be celebrated and handed on in new places, where they will continue to receive God’s blessings. God remains always near, and in faith we trust that he turns all things to the good for those he has called according to his purpose (cf. Romans 8:28). For this faith, that grounds our hope, we give thanks with all our hearts.

Ban not in the cards, or facts not in the press?

2010-10-06T14:02:00.000-06:00

Sigh. It is often said that we need to be careful not automatically to believe everything we read or see in the media. This is certainly the case with respect to the media reports that greeted me this morning pertaining to our policy on gambling as it relates to our Catholic schools. To take but one example, the front page headline in today’s Edmonton Journal reads “Gambling ban not in the cards”. It may be an attempt at a clever play on words, but it is certainly not true. The policy that is being put into place regarding the receipt of revenues from harmful gambling activities stands and will not change.

Then we read that, according to the subtitle of the article, my October 1st deadline has been “thrown out” after I met with some officials from Edmonton Catholic schools. Again, this is inaccurate. It was particularly astounding to read it because, in the body of the article, reference is made to an op-ed piece I published in a recent issue of the same paper, where I explained clearly that, although the October 1st deadline was chosen as the effective date for a whole host of new diocesan policies, it did not immediately apply to our school divisions. The issue for our schools is complex, and I have made clear that I am willing to work with any affected school division to determine timelines for implementation. In other words, nothing has changed from what I have been saying all along.

One gets the impression from some of the media reports today that the school division is preparing to fight the policy. Very strange. The meeting with school officials yesterday was at my request, and its purpose was very modest, namely, a preliminary sharing of ideas for the implementation of the policy. It was a very good and helpful start to the process, and it is abundantly clear to me that the school board stands with me on this and understands the reason for the policy. Their concern is purely the practical one of how to implement it. To that end I have shared with them my commitment to work collaboratively with them to offer what assistance I can. How a very cordial and collaborative meeting was later translated into the media as something confrontational that resulted in some change on my part is a mystery to me.

So to those who are wondering as a result of the media coverage, nothing as regards the policy and the commitment to work out a timeline has changed. As I said in my last blog, we can sort this out and we shall.

The Treasure of Faith

2010-10-04T16:47:00.000-06:00

Our schools have been on my mind lately. And this is not because of the gambling issue that has featured in the media recently; we can sort that out. Rather, I have been thinking of them because, this week and last, we are blessing three brand new schools and one recently renovated one. My thoughts have found their focus in an instruction given in the second reading for yesterday’s Sunday Mass: “Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us” (2Timothy 1: 14).

That injunction was first made by St. Paul to his co-worker St. Timothy. The word “treasure” refers to the deposit of faith that Timothy had received from Paul, and which he was now charged, by the laying on of hands and attendant gift of the Holy Spirit, to preserve and hand on to others. This is an apt word to describe our faith. It is, indeed, a treasure. Nothing is more precious than the message of salvation that has been given to us by Jesus Christ and entrusted to the Church in order that it may be transmitted to all generations.

The blessing ceremony for our schools reminds us that the treasure of our faith is the very heart of their mission. The Catholic school has as its ultimate goal the handing on of the faith to our children in order to help them become lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ. This mission renders our schools, themselves, a great treasure to be preserved. The commitment of trustees, administration, faculty and support staff to this mission and its preservation has been on full display as we have gathered for the school blessings, and I have been blessed to witness it.

Among the many signs of this commitment is the choice of persons after whom the schools are named. The recently renovated school is named Archbishop MacDonald high school. It recalls one of my predecessors, Archbishop John Hugh MacDonald, who was known for his commitment to serving the needs of the poor. Two of the new schools were named after people who have committed their lives to the service of education, namely, Sister Annata Brockman and Monsignor Fee Otterson. The last school takes as its namesake Monsignor William Irwin, the founder of Catholic Social Services in the Archdiocese of Edmonton. Of great significance is not only the distinctive contributions of these individuals, but also that which they share in common. Each of them is recognized as a disciple of the Lord. Each is known as someone who, out of love for Christ, listened for his voice in their own lives and was obedient to his call. This is precisely what we want to instil in the children entrusted to the care of our schools. Jesus is the Way that leads to the fullness of life. There is nothing more beautiful than knowing him and telling others of our friendship with him (Pope Benedict XVI). The most important way we preserve the faith in our schools is to lead them to an encounter with Christ and teach them to know, love and follow him, after the example of these four exemplary individuals whose names grace our schools.

One image in particular from these events has stayed with me. In the course of the blessing ceremony for Sister Annata Brockman school, Sister Annata herself gave a beautiful speech about the nature of Catholic education. As she spoke, a little child, probably about three or four years of age, came forward in an attempt to take her picture with an iPhone. It was an image that complemented her message beautifully. Our faith is a wondrous treasure, which, while forever unchanging, must be handed on in ever changing circumstances by faithful witnesses to future generations. Our schools are an essential part of that tradition.

An Affair of the Heart

2010-09-20T10:11:00.000-06:00

“Acceding to the request of our Brother Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham, of many other Brothers in the episcopate, and many of the faithful, after consultation with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, by our apostolic authority we declare that the venerable Servant of God John Henry, Cardinal, Newman, priest of the Congregation of the Oratory, shall henceforth be invoked as Blessed and that his feast shall be celebrated every year on the ninth of October, in the places and according to the norms established by Church law. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

With these words Pope Benedict XVI beatified Cardinal Newman during a Mass at Cofton Park just outside of Birmingham, England. I had the great blessing and privilege of being present for this historical event, having been asked to represent the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. Needless to say this was a day of great joy for the people of Great Britain as they witnessed one of their great fellow countrymen raised to the altars. In Edmonton, of course, we rejoice in our own way, given that Newman has been since its inception the chosen patron of our Archdiocesan theological college. At the same time this is an event of great significance for the whole Church. As the Holy Father himself pointed out on numerous occasions during his state visit here, the teachings and example of Newman speak powerfully to the issues we face today.

Newman's private chapel in Birmingham

Prior to the beatification Mass I attended an all-day conference on Newman in Birmingham, comprised of lectures offered by his principal biographers. Each one touched on a particular aspect of Newman’s legacy. While all were very interesting, I was particularly struck by the last, given by the author of the official biography commissioned for the occasion of the beatification. Fr. Keith Beaumont of the French Oratory spoke of the Cardinal as a spiritual guide for our times. He highlighted Newman’s insistence upon the inseparability and interpenetration of three fundamental dimensions of the true Christian life: prayer, thought and action. Christianity is more than right belief and right action. It is these, of course, but it is more. Each, to be authentic and life-giving, both for oneself and for others, must be grounded in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, a relationship that is nurtured in prayer. In essence, the Christian life is an affair of the heart, where divine love is welcomed with its transformative power and human love is offered in return. This love gives light to our intellect and impels us to right conduct and generous service. Hence the words he chose for his motto when near the end of his life he was named a Cardinal by Pope Leo XIII: cor ad cor loquitur (heart speaks to heart). Out of love for Christ we give all to him and for him.

The library at Birmingham Oratory

On the left is the article that was severely critical of Newman
and prompted him to write his Apologia Pro Vita Sua.
On the right is Newman's hand-written manuscript.

Following the Mass of beatification I joined many of the English Bishops for Solemn Vespers at the Oratory parish church, and returned the next morning to join a group of pilgrims for Mass in the Oratory chapel where Newman himself prayed. These two visits afforded me the opportunity to visit Cardinal Newman’s rooms as well as the Oratory library, which he designed and where about 95 per cent of the books are from his own personal collection. What a blessing to see not only where he lived and worked but also the original hand-written manuscripts of his great classics Apologia Pro Vita Sua and An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine! I hope and pray that the doctrine and witness of the Church’s new beatus will touch and help the lives of many. Indeed, Pope Benedict himself spoke openly of the impact that Cardinal Newman has had on his own life and thought. May it be so for many others.

Speaking of the Holy Father, I cannot avoid saying a few words about his state visit to Great Britain. Many have commented that it has been a huge success. While many had feared it might not live up to expectations it actually surpassed them. Crowds wonderful in number and marked by joyous faith greeted him at every turn. Yes, there were also protests. Even though these constituted a small minority, the Holy Father characteristically took the issues seriously and addressed them head on with forthrightness and grace, especially that of the sexual abuse of children by clergy. Overall he was received with respect and grace and the whole breadth of his message was clearly communicated. One particularly striking moment was the Holy Father’s historic address in Westminster Hall to the assembled members of both houses of Parliament, in the presence of four former Prime Ministers. In the very place where St. Thomas More was condemned for his obedience to conscience, the Pope called on the government officials to welcome religious faith and its insights as a necessary element of national public discourse and to be attentive to situations in which the freedom of conscience of citizens today is being threatened in the name of “tolerance.” Powerful stuff.

I’ve noticed that many are attributing the success of the visit to well-coordinated public relations work on the part of the planners. No doubt this is true to a degree. Yet we cannot forget that the Pope is the Successor to St. Peter, and we would do well to recall the following episode recorded in the Acts of the Apostles: “Yet more than ever, believers in the Lord, great numbers of men and women, were added to them. Thus they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them. A large number of people from the towns in the vicinity of Jerusalem also gathered, bringing the sick and those disturbed by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.” (Acts 5:14-16). During a papal visit the “shadow of Peter” falls upon those fortunate enough to be present or near. It brings a healing and transformation that can occur only by grace. We have just witnessed that here in Great Britain and I have seen it on other occasions, such as World Youth Day in Sydney. In addition, Pope Benedict’s own personal sanctity, serenity, humility and kindness touch many people, who in consequence are open in perhaps unexpected ways to listen to the message he comes to bring. Let us pray that the Pope’s words and example, reinforced by those of the man he came to beatify, will bear much good fruit in a new and vibrant evangelization in this land and elsewhere.

Called to be Stewards of Mercy

2010-09-13T09:28:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I had the wonderful blessing of joining with the parishioners of Paroisse St Thomas d’Aquin here in Edmonton as they celebrated their 50th anniversary. It was an occasion of great joy and thanksgiving, and an opportunity for us to reflect together on the mission that is ours as members of the Church.
We are a people to whom the Lord has entrusted the Gospel. This is our great treasure, and the Lord calls each of us to give of ourselves to make it known. We are all aware that this is a major challenge today. For this reason we are now deeply engaged in Nothing More Beautiful, our initial five-year process of reflection upon the beauty of the Gospel in order to announce it effectively and joyfully to our world.

For the task of evangelization the readings for yesterday’s liturgy are of immense importance because they take us to the very heart of the Gospel. They speak of mercy, God’s desire to have mercy on his people and give them life. They teach us that, to be heralds of the Gospel, we must be proclaimers of mercy. The experience of divine mercy makes the words of the Gospel come alive and gives hope to the people of all times, including in our day. The beauty of the Gospel transforms our hearts the moment they encounter the mercy of God revealed in Christ. The experience of mercy moves the message of the Gospel from promise to fulfillment. The wonder of forgiveness reveals the Gospel as a living word with the power to transform the world.

God the Father’s desire to forgive and give life is made abundantly clear in the Gospel passage (cf. Luke 15:1-32). Our God is not distant and indifferent to our needs. He is love, tenderness and compassion. God comes to us in Christ in order to search for the lost sheep and lost coin, and who rejoices to welcome home the son who was terribly lost. God is rich in mercy, and the warmth of his love restores to life those who receive it.

We gain insight into this new life from the experience of Saint Paul. By his own admission in the second reading, he was a grievous sinner who met the mercy of Jesus Christ (cf. 1Timothy 1:12-17). This changed his life forever. For Saint Paul, life began, true life took root and began to blossom, when the warmth of God’s merciful love, revealed in Christ, touched his heart, a heart which, until that moment of encounter, had been cold, trapped in self-righteousness, and only too ready to accuse and condemn others, much like the older son of the Gospel narrative. It is very important to take note of this, because when the heart is closed to God’s mercy, the result is many of the problems that confront us today: deep inner anxiety, family and societal violence, moral confusion, and terrible poverty and isolation.

What Jesus did for Saint Paul he wants to do for us. He wants us to know mercy and forgiveness. God wills that we live, that we rise to a life of joy, that we allow the warmth of his mercy to ignite a flame of hope within our hearts. We will be changed, our world will be transformed, if we allow the mercy of God to touch us, to heal us, and to fashion within us the new and abundant life that he wills for all of his children.

To be heralds of the Gospel we must be proclaimers of the mercy we ourselves have received. Mercy turns us outward, away from self-concern and toward God and others. It awakens us to our solidarity with others, especially those who suffer. Let us pray always for the grace necessary to steward well the call to announce the beauty of the Gospel by being open to the gift of God’s mercy and agents of that mercy to others. In this way God will make us true evangelizers and instruments by which his love can bring about the transformation of our world.

Grace amidst Disappointment

2010-09-08T15:20:00.000-06:00

This week I had to make a very disappointing, yet necessary, decision to postpone the dedication of our new St. Joseph Seminary. I and so many people were looking forward to this event with great anticipation, not only because of the historical importance of this moment but also because we have been witnessing for quite some time the construction of two very beautiful buildings (the seminary and Newman Theological College) and we have been most anxious to see them completed. Truth to tell, the moment of dedication, when it does take place, will remain of great historical import for our Archdiocese and we shall not miss the joy of witnessing some stunning architecture, whose beauty will be in keeping with that of the Gospel. Nevertheless, the date of Sept. 14th was set over a year ago and it is an understatement to say that we are both surprised and disappointed that we are in a position of delay.

My thanks go out to the rector, Fr. Shayne Craig, the formation team and the seminarians for the great grace with which they are accepting this development and living the difficulties that inevitably accompany a transition to a new home, especially when timelines are longer than promised.

A question that naturally arises is: when will the dedication, in fact, take place? I have taken the position that a new date is not to be set until I and my steering committee are satisifed that all is in perfect readiness. We are very close to that point, but we should not put ourselves in the position of risking a second postponement if, for some unexpected reason, a new date cannot be met.

For your information, the letter I have written to the Archdiocese follows:

The Gift of Clear Vision

2010-08-30T09:30:00.000-06:00

A few days ago I received a new set of eyeglasses. They’re called “progressives,” which I think is meant to be a nicer and gentler term than “bifocals.” It could, of course, also have something to do with the fact that I am “progressing” in age, but I would rather not digress in that direction. The challenge for me now is to grow accustomed to looking through one part of the lens for general sight and the other for reading. I need to adapt to a whole new way of seeing.

This is perhaps a helpful way of explaining the parable of Jesus that we heard at Mass yesterday. He is inviting his listeners to an entirely new way of seeing life. When you are invited to a wedding banquet, he says, take not the place of honour but the lowest place. To human nature that tends toward self-aggrandizement, Jesus is offering a corrective lens, one that is truly “progressive,” that enables us to see clearly the truth of ourselves and to act accordingly.

That lens, in fact, is Jesus himself. He is truly and fully divine; and he is truly and fully human. When we encounter Jesus Christ, we see with perfect clarity the truth about God, and in that light we come to see clearly as well the truth concerning our human nature. Apart from Jesus our vision goes out of focus; with and through him we see clearly. In him what comes plainly into view is the truth that God, who has created us, loves us and draws near to his people in mercy and compassion, even to the point of giving over his Son for the sake of our salvation. When our vision of God is clarified, we see the truth about ourselves: that we are creatures, dependent entirely upon God, and that we are the objects of his infinite love and need never be afraid, need never strive to become anyone other than who we are.

This helps us understand what is being taught in the Scripture readings of yesterday concerning humility. In the Gospel parable Jesus invites us to act humbly. In the first reading from Sirach, we are encouraged to perform all of our tasks with humility. The humble are those who see clearly and who act in accordance with the truth that is seen. We see the truth through the lens that is Jesus. His grace enables us to appropriate it and thus to acknowledge God for who he is and to accept ourselves as he has made us.

Many of our young people are returning to school this week. My prayer is that they will be open to the many ways in which Jesus comes to meet them, and that, in their encounter with the Lord, they will receive properly focused vision. I pray that they will come to know the truth about themselves and every human being described so beautifully by Pope Benedict in his first homily as our Holy Father: “Everyone is the result of a thought of God; everyone is willed, loved and necessary.” This is the true vision of ourselves that follows from the revelation of God given in Jesus Christ. It enables us to live both humbly and freely as the children of God. Young people today are offered many different “lenses” through which to view reality. The Lord alone enables them to see without distortion. Let us do all that we must in order to lead them to Him.

Truth and Beauty beyond the Haze

2010-08-23T09:55:00.000-06:00

Over the past few days the province of Alberta has been blanketed in a thick haze of smoke from forest fires raging in British Columbia. Here in Edmonton we have noticed a significant reduction in visibility because of it. At its worst concentration, the haze prevented us from seeing even across our river valley from one side to another. Beautiful views of the valley were obscured from sight. Now that the smoke is beginning to dissipate the beauty is coming once again into focus.

The Scripture readings of yesterday place before our eyes a beautiful vista: God’s desire to save the whole world. This is expressed in the first reading from Isaiah, who foresees a great gathering of people from all over the world in Jerusalem, the site of God’s dwelling (cf. Isaiah 66:18-21). This is a vision of salvation, which involves all people, drawn together by God into the folds of his loving embrace. This vision is given confirmation in the teaching of Jesus, the Son of God and Saviour, who speaks in terms of a festive banquet to which people from the east, west, north and south will come to sit at the table of the Lord (cf. Luke 13:22-30). God’s love is for all; His will to save is universal in its intention.

The “smoke” that obscures this vision from sight comes from the “fire” we call works-righteousness. By this term is meant the understanding that we can somehow earn salvation by the simple observance of the commandments of God and the doing of good works. In the Gospels Jesus is constantly pointing out the fallacy of this thinking, to the scribes and Pharisees in particular. Salvation is the work of God, it is pure gift. In no way can it be earned. This theme is taken up often by St. Paul in his letters. This “fire,” by placing the emphasis upon ourselves, results in a “smoke” that obscures from view the desire of God to touch, to heal and to save all people. Furthermore, analogous to the smoke of the wildfires, that of self-righteousness can be toxic. It can give rise to pride in one’s “goodness” and to a self-righteous judgment of others.

This is not to say that there is to be no cooperation on our part with the saving work of God in our lives. Jesus speaks of the necessity of entering through a “narrow door” into his kingdom. How might we understand this? Again, the example of the wildfires and their smoke can help us.

Fires need fuel. The wildfires of B.C. are feeding upon the forests. What fuels the fire of self-righteousness? This can be any number of things. The human heart contains much that can make us feel we need to earn the notice, love and respect of others: loneliness; life’s hurts and rejections, the imposition of expectations impossible to fulfill; and so on. If we experience this need to earn love in human relationships, it is but a small step to project this into our relationship with God. But God’s love simply cannot be earned. It doesn’t need to be. It is freely poured out upon each and every person he has created. In Jesus His Son, he has made that love both visible and tangible. By touching us with divine love, Jesus heals the hurts within us that fuel the “fire” and enables us to taste, even now, the joy of salvation, the delight of being found by God and restored to life. But this means allowing Jesus to draw close, to humbly and trustingly hold out to him the pains of our lives, so that “what is lame may ... be healed” (Hebrews 12:13). As Jesus says in the Gospel, a superficial relationship with him, as if with a mere acquaintance, is not enough. He wants us to know him and to know ourselves as truly known by him. Bringing our pains to the Lord for healing may be difficult at first, like passing through a very narrow door, but it is necessary if we are truly to encounter him as our saving Lord. The Holy Spirit helps us here. Unlike the winds that fan the flames of the forest fires, the gentle breeze of the Spirit is cool refreshment. He reminds us of the truth of God’s love and gently leads us to a healing encounter with Christ.

Communion with Christ starves works-righteousness of its fuel. In it we experience the truth that we are loved by God simply for who we are, not for who we try to be. This sets us free for service so that, when the smoke disappears and the wondrous vista of God’s universal love comes into clear sight, we will give of ourselves to share that love with others.

From Treadmill to Trust

2010-08-16T11:33:00.000-06:00

We are familiar with the strong emphasis given these days to being healthy and fit. People are responding to this in large numbers, often through membership in fitness clubs. These places are filled with many kinds of wonderful exercise machines, like treadmills and stationary bicycles that can give a good workout. If you go in to one of these places you see a very interesting sight: people using the machines are running like mad, peddling like crazy, rowing for all they’re worth … and everyone is going absolutely nowhere. People get totally exhausted but there’s no movement, no direction.

It’s a good analogy for the times in which we find ourselves. We live in a treadmill society. People are very busy, caught up in all kinds of activities, without having any sense of where it is all going. When we lack a sense of direction, we lose meaning and purpose, and that can give way to confusion, anxiety, even despair.

Yesterday the Church celebrated the Solemnity of the Assumption, which teaches that life does, in fact, have a destination, that we are moving in a certain direction. It is a dogma of the faith that Mary, at the end of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into the glory of heaven. Because of her unique relation with her son Jesus, and the distinctive role she played in the history of salvation, Mary was given the singular privilege of being preserved from the corruption of the tomb. Although this blessing sets her apart from all others in a wondrous and beautiful way, nevertheless the destination of glory is one that she shares with all of humanity. As St. Paul teaches us in First Corinthians (cf. 1Cor.15:20-27), in Christ all shall be brought to life. Mary’s assumption is a sign that reminds all of us of the destiny that awaits Gods faithful people. In the words of the preface for the Mass, Mary’s assumption is “a sign of hope and comfort for God’s people on their pilgrim way”.

Our world needs this message of hope today. Like you, I am deeply troubled and saddened by the hurt and violence that is prevalent. It is present in families, in communities, and among nations. Reasons for this are multiple, but I believe a common source of so many of our problems today is fear, the fear that arises from a treadmill existence, the fear that is born in the heart when we have no sense of direction and hence no grasp of purpose or meaning. This fear turns us in upon ourselves and drives us to try and assert some control over our lives. This turns us away from others, sometimes against others, as we defensively try to protect ourselves against a world that seems very hostile and foreboding.

The antidote to this fear is trust, first and foremost in the love and nearness of God. Such trust frees us from anxiety, and fear is replaced by hope, joy and freedom to care for others.

Mary assures us that God is worthy of our trust. The Magnificat proclaimed in the Gospel (cf. Luke 1:39-56) is her great response to her encounter with God through the angel Gabriel. She had announced to her that God, faithful to his promises, was about to come to save his people from all that threatened them and their destiny, that he would do so by sending his Son, and that she would have a unique role to play in that plan of salvation by giving birth to the Saviour. Mary believed in the Word of God, she placed her entire trust in his promise, and gave her fiat: “be it done unto me according to your word.” From this trust, from this unconditional surrender to the love and the plan of God there arose in Mary a deep joy: “My spirit rejoices,” she said, “in God my savior.” This joy moved her to service. She ran in haste to help her cousin Elizabeth, who was with child.

Joy, freedom, service – these arise when we accept the truth that God exists, that God calls us to himself, that God is at work in our lives to lead us to our destiny, and that God is always faithful to his promises. When we seek to eclipse God from our lives and surrender to a treadmill existence the result is the opposite: fear and its attendant consequences: competition, isolation and violence.

Please join me in prayer that, with the help of the Blessed Virgin’s intercession, trust in the love and nearness of God will take root in the hearts of people today. May this confidence awaken all from the sleep of a treadmill existence to the truth of God’s loving plan for humanity. Trust in the fidelity and closeness of God can transform the anxiety and hurt experienced by many into the joy, peace and freedom that God wills for all of his children.

Getting Ready for the Visit

2010-08-09T08:57:00.002-06:00

When I was a parish priest I enjoyed getting out to visit parishioners in their homes whenever I could. Usually I would do this in one of two ways: either I would call ahead and make an appointment or I would simply show up at the door. You can imagine the difference in response as the door was opened. If I had called ahead the door would be opened wide, I would be welcomed in and offered something to drink along with some delicious food that they “just happened” to have on hand. When I would show up unannounced, often the window curtain would be pulled back a little to see who was at the door and I would then hear some muffled cries and panicky activity before the door was opened and I was almost invariably asked not to look at the mess.

In yesterday’s Gospel for Sunday Mass the Lord reminds us of a truth of the faith that we proclaim every time we profess the Creed, namely, that he will come again in judgment to take us to himself. Of course we do not know when this will happen. The Lord will simply show up. The inescapable conclusion from this is that we must be ready at all times to welcome the Lord. This readiness is having our “house” in order, which means knowing and loving the Lord, listening to his Word and following his teachings as given in Scripture and the doctrine of the Church, being reconciled with one another and caring for the needy. In short, being ready means living an authentic Christian life.

Now, it would be rather unusual if, in advance of my visit to your home, I went a few days early to clean it myself. Yet that is precisely what the Lord does to the “home” of our hearts. Conversion and renewal is God’s work. We cannot, by ourselves, convert to him and get our lives in order. The Lord wants us for himself, he desires our conversion and our response of love, and he, by his grace, teaches us, shows us the way, and puts things in order by healing us and drawing us to ever deeper conversion. What is necessary is that we trust him and open the door of our hearts to his healing grace.

This is what faith is all about. We trust that all things are held in God’s hand and we surrender our entire lives to his care and saving will. The passage at Mass yesterday from the Letter to the Hebrews is a beautiful explanation of faith as it has been manifested in some of our ancestors.
Our beautiful faith is being shown in the lives of people today, too. For example, two important events in the life of the Church occurred over the past few days, gatherings of people of faith in faith. In Ottawa the national convention of the Catholic Women’s League of Canada got under way yesterday. I had the great privilege of being their national spiritual advisor for five years. This experience gave me firsthand knowledge of the devotion of these women to the faith of the Church and their commitment to putting that faith in practice by addressing the issues of the day in the light of the Gospel, particularly by the passing of resolutions related to a host of issues and calling upon both the government and the members of the CWL to action. It is often said, and it is true, that if you want to get an accurate picture of the issues the people of today are grappling with and that need the light of the Gospel, just pay attention to the resolutions of the CWL. These women are a great blessing to the Church and our country.

The second event was the Supreme Convention of the Knights of Columbus, held last week in Washington D.C. I was blessed to be able to attend. These men are fully committed to living the consequences of their faith in Christ, especially through charitable outreach. The amount of money and volunteer hours that they commit each year, for example, in outreach to the poor and needy, and in defense of the sanctity of life and marriage is truly extraordinary. They are not afraid to wear their faith on their sleeves and to stand up and be counted. They give wonderful witness to the truth and beauty of the faith and to the joy of life in the Church. This witness can give much needed hope to the people of our day.

Both the CWL and the Knights of Columbus are examples of how to be “ready” to meet the Lord when he comes. They recognize that faith, and life itself, is a gift which must, therefore, be stewarded. May their example help all of us to be ready to open the door to the Lord when he comes for that all-important visit!

Faith: Stepping out of the Boat

2010-08-03T10:55:00.001-06:00

How do you respond to adversity when you are powerless to do anything about it? This is the question raised – and answered – by the Gospel for today (August 3rd). It is the familiar narrative of Jesus rescuing his disciples, who were caught in a terrible storm on the sea (cf. Matthew 14:22-36). The disciples are terrified; in the face of crisis they panic. Jesus walks on the sea to reach them. He is unmoved by the waves. The Lord seeks to calm them by the simple assurance that it is he whom they see, that he is with them. Once he steps into the boat with them, the storm ceases and they are safe. The disciples bow down to him in recognition that he is the Son of God.

In the middle of the narrative, Peter says: “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you across the water.” The Lord did so and Peter stepped out of the boat. Whenever I read this account I wonder if I could have done that. Could I have stepped out of the boat into the raging sea? Whenever we find ourselves in the midst of adversity beyond our control, that is precisely what Jesus asks us to do. There are basically two possible responses to crisis: fear or faith. In this narrative we are taught precisely what faith means: recognition of our powerlessness, placing our trust in the unlimited power of Christ, who loves us, following where he leads and believing that he will bring about the miracle that saves us. Notice that Peter actually asked the Lord to command him to get out of the boat. At first read it would seem that Peter was rather more bold than intelligent, but further reflection uncovers something important in his request. Placing our faith in the unlimited power of Christ can at times mean taking steps that we would rather not take, that might seem fraught with danger or difficulty. The key is to take them with Christ, confident in his presence and love, and keeping our eyes fixed more on him than on the adversity.

We don’t like to be powerless; we prefer to be in control. In so many ways control is an illusion that evaporates in the face of hardship and leaves us feeling terrified. What the disciples experienced in the storm on the sea is repeated in our own lives in a variety of ways. A faith that still doubts is what Jesus calls “little faith”. Do we doubt the love of the Lord and his power, even as we profess our belief in him? The answer to this becomes clear in the way we respond to adversity. An initial response of fear or worry can be natural enough, but do we choose to remain in the fear? Jesus summons us to the faith that decides to place all of our confidence in his power and love, which are real, and not in the illusion of our own control. By turning to him and taking the steps he asks us in love to take, we put our faith in action and discover anew why Jesus is the reason for our hope.

Getting the First Button Right

2010-07-26T08:40:00.002-06:00

Have you ever had the experience, when buttoning a piece of clothing, of getting the first button in the wrong buttonhole? Of course, when that happens all the other buttons are wrong. When the first button is right, all else falls into place. When it is wrong, everything else is out of kilter.

I recently came across this analogy and find it very useful for discussing our priorities in life. The question of priorities is very much to the fore in the Gospel passages proclaimed at Mass over the past two Sundays. In them, Jesus is speaking about “getting the first button right”, so that our lives will be in proper order.

During the visit of Jesus with his friends Mary and Martha (cf. Luke 38-42), Mary sits at his feet listening while Martha is busy with many tasks. Jesus addresses Martha’s distraction, and teaches that “there is need of only one thing”. By this he means the choice made by Mary to focus her attention upon him and learn from what he has to say. “Getting the first button right” means listening to Christ as our first priority. If we do this and truly follow the path he marks out for us, all else falls into place as we go about the busyness of our daily lives.

As we listened to Christ speaking in yesterday’s Gospel passage (cf. Luke 11:1-13) we were led by the Lord to deeper understanding of what it means to “get the first button right”. He is teaching his disciples how to pray and gives the words which form the basis of the Lord’s Prayer.

At the heart of his teaching is a call to full trust in the love and providence of our heavenly Father. “Is there any father among you,” he asks, “who, if your child asks for a fish, will give the child a snake instead of a fish?” God the Father knows our every need, and in his love will not fail to provide it. We get the first button right when we place all of our faith in the love of the Father, live from his gifts, and trust the guidance He gives us in His Son Jesus. We get the first button wrong, and our lives get out of line, when we place our trust in ourselves and try to determine our own direction.

A couple of other thoughts.

In the Gospel for yesterday, the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray after they had seen him at prayer. His example of prayer led them to want to pray also. Do you allow others to see you pray? If you are a parent, for example, when was the last time your children saw you in prayer? In a society that has grown individualistic and places great emphasis upon self-determination, the witness of prayer is vital. People at prayer demonstrate the universal human need for God and invite others to trust in the love of God and rely upon His gifts. In the face of so many difficulties today, let’s not hesitate to get down on our knees. The performative form of faith is prayer. If we believe, we put that faith into action first of all by praying and seeking God’s love, guidance, help and protection.

Today is July 26th, the feast of Saints Anne and Joachim. These are the parents of Mary, and thus the grandparents of Jesus. St. Anne in particular is held in very high esteem by our First Nations and Metis brothers and sisters. Not far from Edmonton is Lac Ste. Anne, a pilgrimage site to which the First nations and Metis people have been coming by the thousands since 1889.
This year’s pilgrimage has just concluded. On this particular feast day I would be grateful if you would offer prayers for our aboriginal sisters and brothers. Through the intercession of St. Anne may they know the joy, peace and freedom of God’s love at all times in their lives.

Family, the First Place for Faith

2010-07-05T06:10:00.003-06:00

On Saturday I had the blessing of celebrating Mass for 450 families who had gathered at the Lac Ste. Anne pilgrimage site for the annual Family Life Conference. This event, organized by Catholic Family Ministries, brings together families who are seeking to celebrate and deepen their faith, and to embrace anew the mission that is theirs in the Church and world. We all know the importance of healthy family life not only for those within the family unity but also for the Church and society in general. Therefore it was very encouraging for me to see so many families gathered together to thank God for the gifts he has given them and to seek His help to remain strong and vibrant in faith and love.

Two key dimensions of the mission of the family were highlighted by the Gospel passages proclaimed this past weekend. They help us to appreciate that the family is the first place where Christ is to be encountered, and that it is the seedbed of vocations to lives dedicated to proclaiming his Gospel.

Saturday was the feast of Saint Thomas the apostle. The Gospel narrative was the familiar account of the encounter between the risen Lord and Thomas, who had declared that he would not believe that the Lord had been raised from the dead unless he could touch his wounds (cf. John 20: 24-29). The Lord gave him this grace. Having touched the wounds of the body of the risen Lord, he was brought to the great acclamation of faith: “My Lord and my God”. Touching the wounds of the Lord was important not only for the faith of Thomas but also our own. The wounds proclaim that the one who appeared to the apostles after the crucifixion was neither some figment of their imagination nor someone other than Jesus himself. They announce the truth of the Resurrection. The One who appeared to the Apostles is the same Jesus who had died on the Cross. Salvation has therefore come to the world. Furthermore, the Risen Lord remains always with his Church so that all might know the joy of encountering him.

Families are the place where children first come to faith in the Lord. Parents have the sacred duty to bring their children up in the faith that has come to us from the apostles. Thomas teaches by his own example that we are brought to faith when we touch the body of the Risen Lord. This happens for us in ways other than the unique experience granted to the apostles, but it is nonetheless real. We touch the body of the risen Lord in the sacraments of the Church, especially the Eucharist. We touch his body when we gather together as a community of disciples. And we touch his body when we reach out in love to the poor and suffering. The mission of the family is to help one another recognize and touch the body of the risen Lord present with us today, and to support one another as this encounter with the Lord draws us to ever deeper faith.

On Sunday the Gospel passage from Saint Luke (cf. Luke 10: 1-12, 17-20) recalled the command of Jesus to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. Those “labourers” come first and foremost from families of faith. Although every diocese will usually appoint a priest as its vocation director, nevertheless it is true that the first and most important vocation directors are parents. They know their children better than anyone else and are thus uniquely positioned to look for signs of a vocation in their son or daughter. I mentioned this to the parents at the Family Life Conference and I could see that they were ready and eager to take up this call. This is a sign of great hope for the Church. A vocation is nurtured in a vibrant community of faith, especially in the family. If parents today are attentive to discerning the hand of the Lord guiding their son or daughter and are prepared to speak to their children about the consecrated life as a priest or religious, we shall surely be witnesses to a new springtime of vocations in our day.

I am about to return home for a couple of weeks of vacation, to my family where my own vocation was nurtured. My next blog post will be July 26th.

The Gospel and the Vuvuzela

2010-06-28T10:11:00.002-06:00

By listening to the news reports of the World Cup now happening in South Africa I’ve learned a new word: vuvuzela. This is a long plastic horn that gives off a very loud and, by all accounts, unpleasant noise. I have also noticed how the soccer players complain about them. They have one goal: winning the World Cup. To accomplish this they need to be focused, work together and communicate with one another. However, it is said that, because of the vuvuzelas, they cannot concentrate and have great difficulty communicating with each other. That’s not surprising. Thousands of those things sounding off at once in a football stadium must create quite a racket.

The Scripture readings for yesterday’s Sunday Eucharist are all about remaining focused on a goal and not allowing the “vuvuzelas” of life to spoil our concentration or distract us from working together for its accomplishment.

The goal of the Christian is to do the will of God, to be faithful to Him at all times. Our model, of course, is Jesus himself. The Gospel passage from Luke speaks of Jesus having his “face set toward Jerusalem”. This means that he was resolutely determined to go to that city. Nothing could distract him from going there. The significance of this is that Jerusalem is his place of destiny. There Jesus is about to offer his life on the Cross for the salvation of the world, the mission for which he was sent by the Father. The fidelity of Jesus to the will of the Father is absolute and unconditional. Furthermore, it is clear in that same passage that he expects a resolute determination to be faithful from those who would be his disciples: “Let the dead bury their dead; no one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Jesus is saying in these responses to people who sought to follow him that no attachment, not even to family, should hold us back from doing the will of the Lord.

St. Paul reminds us in the second reading from Galatians what that will is: “love your neighbour as yourself”. Christ calls us to love one another as he has loved us, to place ourselves at the service of each other. That is our goal. Required for its accomplishment are focus, concentration and good communication – communication with God through prayer and communication with those we are called to love and serve. But there are many very loud “vuvuzelas” in our society that can spoil our concentration and inhibit our communication and communion with others. What might be some examples?

St. Paul mentions self-indulgence, by which he means love of self to the neglect of love of neighbour. That is a very loud “vuvuzela” in our day. Allowing that noise to distract us leads to indifference to the plight of the poor, to a refusal to forgive or apologize, to attacks on the dignity of human life, and to the fighting, devouring and violence that brands the relationships of far too many peoples and nations. It is a very serious distraction from our goal of loving God and others.
For many people today the “vuvuzela” is fear and anxiety, the loud distraction of worry. Life has a great many pressures, many of which are beyond our ability to handle. We need to be careful not to allow the noise of fear to drown out the message of the Gospel that invites us to trust in the love of God. Fear paralyzes and makes us slaves to ourselves. Paul reminds us that the love of God sets us free and liberates us to be servants of one another.

Particularly troubling “vuvuzelas” today are the lies that are told about human life: that one’s dignity is dependent upon usefulness; that we become burdens to society if we grow ill, weak or disabled; that we count and are worthy of notice only if we are beautiful, talented or have accomplished great things. This is a very loud noise today and an extremely ugly one at that. It can and does lead to a terrible sense of isolation and loneliness for many people. We cannot allow it to drown out the beautiful message of the Gospel that each and every person is willed and loved by God. Neither can we permit it to distract us from the truth that each person is deserving of our love, service and protection.

We can remain focused on doing the will of God, we can close our ears and our lives to the distracting noises of the world, only if we live in close communion with Jesus and share in his own fidelity to the Father. This is precisely what he enables us to do every time we celebrate Mass and are united to his self-offering to the Father. In our celebrations of the Eucharist let us pray for the grace of resolute fidelity to the will of God and for the ability to distinguish clearly the beautiful sounds of the Gospel from the ugly noise of self-indulgence, fear and falsehood.

Discovering Ourselves in Christ

2010-06-21T07:46:00.001-06:00

This past weekend I enjoyed the unexpected blessing of spending time with my family in Halifax. I am currently in the midst of two weeks of meetings in Ottawa for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the weekend was free. Since it is only a one and one-half hour flight to Nova Scotia from Ottawa, I decided to fly home and spend the days with my family.

Whenever we are together as a family it does not take long before we start sharing family stories. I find it very enjoyable and instructive to watch the reactions of my nieces and nephews as they listen to the accounts of their “roots”. The children range in age from eighteen to two years old. As their grandparents and parents recount episodes of past family adventures or tales about growing up, they are absolutely riveted. They miss nothing of what is said, drinking it all in, and then light up when we begin to tell stories about them. The joy that they feel, it seems to me, is twofold: it is the joy of belonging, of being a part of something bigger than themselves, part of a network of relationships, and at the same time the joy of being noticed, of having a part, of counting. Even in the midst of a large family, they are not just a member of the group; they are, within that group, a someone whose very existence is celebrated and who matters just because they exist.

Our experience of discovering our identity in the web of family relationships prepares us to receive and celebrate our deepest identity that springs from our relationship with Jesus Christ. In him our deepest “family roots” are made known and we discover the truth of ourselves. Yesterday’s Gospel from St. Luke (cf. Luke 9:18-24) records the question that Jesus posed to his disciples, and that he puts to us now: “Who do you say that I am?” The answer of all Christians is that voiced by St. Peter: Jesus is “the Christ of God”. He is the One anointed by the Holy Spirit (the word “Christ” means “anointed”). By the descent of the Holy Spirit to Mary he was conceived in his mother’s womb; in the power of the Holy Spirit he announced the good news of salvation; by that same Spirit he was raised from the dead. In all of this Jesus revealed to us and to the world the wondrous love of God. That is to say, Jesus has made known to us our deepest roots. Those roots are the love of God. In love God has fashioned us; out of that same love, God has redeemed us in his Son and adopted us as his own.

Who we are in Jesus Christ finds expression in the words of St. Paul: “In Christ Jesus you are all sons and daughters of God through faith.” (cf. Galatians 3:26-29) Through our Baptism, St. Paul tells us, we have “clothed ourselves in Christ”. This means that the gift of the Holy Spirit in that first of the sacraments brings about a living union with our Lord. Since Jesus is the one Son of God, we are, by virtue of our union with him, sons and daughters of God. Within this network of relationships in God’s family lies our deepest identity. We are the beloved of God.

Pope Benedict summarized beautifully the significance of God’s love for us. In his first homily as Pope he said: “only where God is seen does life truly begin. Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is. We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary.” Let us pray always for the grace to discover ever anew this beautiful truth revealed in Christ and to live joyfully from it.

The Encounter with Truth that Leads to Life

2010-06-14T09:18:00.002-06:00

We all need a “Nathan moment”, perhaps many of them.

King David is experiencing one in yesterday’s first reading of Sunday Mass (cf. 2 Samuel 12: 7-10, 13). The prophet Nathan is sent by God to speak God’s word of judgment to David, and this word brings the king to a profound and terrible awareness of the depth of his sin. David had committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and then arranged for Uriah to be killed in battle. One would think that David would not have needed anyone to tell him that what he had done was horrible, and a grievous sin in the sight of God. Yet it was only when he had his “Nathan moment,” only, that is, when he encountered the Word of God, that he saw with sudden and total clarity how he had turned away from the goodness of God and needed to rely once again not on his own judgment but on the merciful love of the Lord. Struck to the core with remorse, he repents immediately. “I have sinned against the Lord,” David says, and then Nathan announces the Lord’s gift of forgiveness. In a “Nathan moment” we are given by God the gift of a clear vision and an inescapable awareness of truth, that, yes, will be humbling and painful, but are aimed at new life and real hope.

When things are not right in our lives, we often find it difficult to pinpoint the reason. Our first tendency is to externalize blame and find fault with other people or circumstances. Yet even if we do recognize that the cause is our own attitudes or behaviours, we still may not be able to see what needs to change. If we try to figure things out on our own, we will often remain in the dark. What is needed is a “Nathan moment”, an encounter with the Word of God. Acting as a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths (cf. Psalm 119:105), this divine Word clarifies our whole life and shows us where change is needed.

Perhaps an analogy from the game of golf would be helpful to illustrate this. When I swing the club, it is anyone’s guess where the golf ball will end up. My immediate reaction to a stray shot is to blame anything but myself, such as the ball, the club, or a tree. Acceptance of fault is not easy. Yet when I admit the obvious and recognize that somehow I am at fault for the errant drive, it is still difficult to see what I am doing wrong. It might feel like I am doing everything right, but the ball still goes awry. I need someone who understands golf well to point out the errors. When I allow a golf professional to watch my swing, then he will see right away what needs to be changed. If I make the adjustments that are necessary, if I admit error and change, my game improves. A humbling experience! But a necessary one.

The “pro” who can see the entirety of our lives in a single glance and speak the words that lead to new life is, of course, Jesus Christ. Therefore we must continually place ourselves before his glance. King David encountered the prophet Nathan who spoke the Word of God. We encounter the One who not only speaks but also is the Word of God incarnate: Jesus Christ. The “Nathan moment” he brings to us addresses not only particular events but also the entirety of our lives. Think of the encounters with Jesus experienced by Peter (cf. John 1:42), Nathaniel (cf. John 1: 47-51), the rich young man (cf. Mark 10:21) and the woman of Samaria (cf. John 4: 4-42). Because he is the Son of God incarnate through whom all things were made (cf. Colossians 1:16), Jesus knew them thoroughly by simply looking at them. Allowing the Lord to look at us will bring us to an awareness of our own truth as well. He will reveal to us our belovedness, first of all, but also our sin and the need to change. The encounter with Jesus is a “Nathan moment” which reorients our lives completely.

The Gospel from yesterday’s Mass gives us an example of someone who has accepted and lived through a “Nathan moment.” Jesus sees a woman come into the home of his host in order to kiss his feet and bathe them with her tears and with ointment. We are not told the circumstances of her life, but Jesus knows right away that she has come to an awareness not only of her “many sins” but also of God’s forgiving love (cf. Luke 7:36-50). She has had a “Nathan moment,” and what is the result? She is filled with thanksgiving and, no longer held captive by the opinion of others, she gives free expression to the love within her that is liberated by forgiveness. Repentance gives birth to freedom and releases love. The “Nathan moment” sets us on the path to a new beginning; it leads to life and gives birth to hope.

Let us all pray for the grace of a new “Nathan moment” in our own lives through a renewed encounter with Jesus Christ.

Real Presence

2010-06-07T08:53:00.003-06:00

Blog June 7, 2010

Yesterday the Church celebrated the solemn feast of Corpus Christi, or the Body and Blood of Christ.

As we gathered in our churches to give thanks to the Father for the gift of salvation in the death and resurrection of Christ, we reflected in a particular way upon the wondrous gift by which the saving grace of the Cross is made present for us here and now: the gift of the Body and Blood of Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Then many of us carried the Blessed Sacrament to the streets of our towns and cities in the traditional Corpus Christi procession. Such processions make visible our conviction that the presence of Christ in the Eucharist is a gift not only for us but also for the world.

What message does the Eucharist bring to contemporary society? This can be considered from a variety of perspectives. Today I am considering the Eucharist in the light of the current and widespread experience of social networking via modern communications technology and its impact on our relationships with one another.

More and more relationships today are characterized by presence that is not real but virtual. Social networking is taking place more and more over the Internet, via sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and communication is increasingly virtual through things like emails and text messaging. These communications media can have great benefits, to be sure, but we need to ask what they are doing to our capacity to relate in a real way to one another, to be truly, really present to each other.

I once had a conversation with a man who had just been speaking with his teenage daughter about all the texting that takes place among her friends. He asked her, “Why don’t you just pick up the phone and call your friends?” “In order to do that,” she replied, “I’d have to have something to talk about.” Whatever is going on in the texting, it wouldn’t appear to be any significant conversation. The more that virtual interaction becomes widespread in our society, the less will our relationships be real. When the interface between persons becomes not personal, one-to-one, but indirect through a medium such as the Internet or computer game, then meaningful relationships are not possible.

Tragically, as this virtual “relating” becomes widespread in society, it will inevitably creep into the daily life of the family. But it is in the family above all that relationships must be real, not virtual. The family is the school of genuine relationships of love and thus the cell of a genuinely human society. The family must therefore be that place where members are not just present with one another in the same place, but present to one another. The presence to the other must be genuine, real. What did Jesus teach us about real presence at that last supper?

Catholics see in the last supper of the Lord his institution of the sacrament of the Eucharist and of the priesthood. In the Eucharist, following the Lord’s command, we do as he did at the last supper, and by his word spoken by the priest and by the agency of the Holy Spirit simple gifts of bread and wine are transformed such that they are bread and wine no longer but the real presence of Christ, his true body and blood.

But this is not a static presence of the Lord. It is more than a “presence with”, as wondrous and comforting as that might be. It is a “presence to”. It interacts with and engages the other and invites to communion. Christ did not say only “this is my body, this is my blood”. He said “this is my body given for you; this is my blood poured out for you”. With those words he was referring to his approaching death on the Cross, and teaching that his death was a self-offering, a self-gift for the life of the world. By offering the gifts to his disciples he was engaging them and inviting them to make of their lives a self-offering, through with and in him to the Father, for the life of the world. In other words, Christ’s real presence to the other in love engages the other at the deepest level of their life with the totality of his own.

In the family and, by extension, in society, love finds expression in real presence when we redirect our gaze away from the virtual to the real, when we turn away from the television, from the computer, from the video games and turn toward one another in ways that are deeply meaningful, creating the space and time to engage one another in such ways that each knows that he or she is known and loved, and comes to appreciate that his or her individual life matters. Pope Benedict said in his first homily that every person is the result of a thought of God, that each man, woman and child, is willed, loved and necessary. This is learned only through the real presence of one to the other. It is obscured by virtual relationships that deepen our sense of anonymity even as we connect with others.

May our celebration of Christ’s real presence to us and to the world in the Eucharist inspire and shape our relationships, such that they be experiences of real presence to one another.

God’s Generous Love; Our Generous Response

2010-05-31T09:08:00.002-06:00

I am edified whenever I witness selfless acts of generosity on the part of God’s people. This past week contained many.

At St. Joseph’s College on Tuesday I gathered with about 30 priests, who are here from other countries to participate in our enculturation programme. This course is designed and offered to help them understand and adapt to our culture as they prepare to serve in various dioceses of Western Canada. Their generosity is remarkable! They have left behind family, friends and the familiar in order to serve their brothers and sisters who would otherwise not have access to a priest and the sacraments.

On Wednesday evening I gathered with about 500 Knights of Columbus and their wives to welcome Supreme Knight Carl Anderson and his wife Dorian, who traveled to Edmonton to participate in Nothing More Beautiful the following night. In the course of the dinner the Knights presented me with a pledge for more than one million dollars toward our Cornerstone of Faith campaign, which is in support of the construction of our new St. Joseph’s Seminary and Newman Theological College buildings. What an extraordinary gift! It was made possible by the generous sacrifice of both time and treasure on the part of those who gave and those who led the effort, especially past State Deputy Wally Streit. The Archdiocese extends its heartfelt thanks to all!

Earlier that day I visited Notre Dame High School in Red Deer, where I visited classrooms, celebrated Eucharist and had lunch with the youth leadership team. There I saw great generosity as priests, teachers and youth ministers made themselves available to the students, and as the students made time for one another. The energy and enthusiasm of the students on the youth leadership team was such that merely being with them left me exhausted!

Thursday evening was the final session of Year 2 of our Nothing More Beautiful series. Deeply reflective presentations were offered by Marc Cardinal Ouellet, Archbishop of Quebec and Primate of Canada, and Mr. Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus. In the midst of their many and weighty responsibilities, each of these leaders made a generous sacrifice of time to prepare their talks and travel to Edmonton for their delivery. The focus of their reflections was “Jesus Christ: Revelation of the Trinity”.

Saturday morning was the occasion for the ordination to the permanent diaconate of three men: William Bell, Guy Germain and Antonio Obleada. Once their call was confirmed by the Church, they generously offered their lives to the service of God’s people through the diaconal ministry. Generous also is the support given to them by their wives and families.

Twice this week I celebrated Confirmation, as I have been for the past number of weeks. The celebrations occurred at St. Charles and St. Alphonsus parishes, both of which are located in Edmonton. As I invariably do with respect to this sacrament, I witnessed the support given to the Confirmation candidates by their pastors and catechists, who very generously give of their time and talent to prepare and accompany the young people entrusted to their care. This preparation involves many hours of their time, and they give it willingly and joyfully.

The Confirmation celebration at St. Alphonsus parish took place in the context of a pastoral visit that I made to that faith community this past weekend. The generosity of the parishioners there is spilling out beyond the parish into the community. As part of the effort to house the homeless of our city, they are reaching out with fellow community members to people recently housed in order to offer relationship and support. A sense of belonging, of social inclusion, is essential for all of us, and the parishioners are generously offering this to those who are transitioning from the street to a home.

Of course, such acts of generosity are happening all the time, often unseen. I was just particularly struck by the abundance I was able to witness personally this past week. What is its source?

The font of our own acts of generosity is the superabundant, indeed limitless, love of God. Yesterday the Church celebrated the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Reflection upon the revelation of Jesus Christ under the inspiration of the promised Spirit of truth, who guides us into all truth (cf. John 16:13), has led the Church to the awareness, and to the joyful proclamation, that God, though One, is a Trinity of Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – a perfect communion of love. This Love has created us, not because we are needed by God – God is perfect and needs nothing – but because God wants us. From among all creatures, the human being alone is created by God for its own sake. This is what it means to say that we are created “in the image and likeness of God” (cf. Genesis 1:26-27; Catechism of the Catholic Church, nn. 355-361).

Furthermore, Love saved us when we had sinned. God the Father sent His only Son to assume our human nature and, in that nature, to die and rise again, that we might live. In order to help us live in union with His Son, the Father sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts (cf. Romans 5:5). In other words, we live from of the generous love of God, who has expressed that love through His own self-communication into history and into our lives. Touched by this Love one cannot help but be generous in return, a generosity which is expressed in self-sacrifice and self-gift for the sake of others.

Let us all be attentive this coming week to the many opportunities God will give us to be generous to others, and let us be quick to respond as a reflection of the super-generous love He ceaselessly pours out upon us.

The Bishop and the Bear

2010-05-25T07:50:00.002-06:00

While on our study days in Jasper last week, some of the priests and I took our usual Wednesday afternoon break to play a round of golf. There we got close up and personal with a rather large black bear.

The first encounter of our group occurred at one of the tee boxes on the front nine. The bear was having a relaxing lunch (eating grass, not golfers) next to the white markers. At the site was a course official, who manoeuvred us safely around the animal. But the bear was obviously enjoying his own day on the course, because he resisted all efforts of personnel to shoo him away. This left us wondering if we might meet our new friend again. Sure enough, when we arrived later at the 17th tee, we were forestalled by course officials who asked us to wait before teeing off, because the bear was up ahead on the left side of the fairway.

As we waited, the next group of priest golfers caught up with us. So there we were together, eight priests and me, watching as the bear, contrary to the efforts of the bear-chasers, moved closer and closer towards us. Untrained as we were in bear etiquette, we asked the officials what we should do. He advised us to make lots of noise and to gather together as a group, because, as he put it, the bear would not be likely to eat such a large group all at once! This motivated us to come together swiftly in a strong - and loud - show of priestly solidarity. However, that formidable fraternity evaporated quickly, and our shouts turned to shrieks, as soon as the bear glanced our way. We all scattered to the carts! Still the bear kept coming closer.

It was clear to me then that the tried and true measures of bear removal were not working, and that drastic measures were needed. When the bear came to within ten feet of the cart, and acting on a sudden inspiration, I quietly leaned forward and invited him to serve as a member of the Council of Priests. That did the trick. The bear ran away more quickly than I could have imagined possible and we were out of all danger.

Clearly, we could have all used a strong dose of the Holy Spirit. Yesterday we celebrated the Solemnity of Pentecost, the outpouring of the promised Holy Spirit upon the Church. As we know, this bestowal of the Spirit gave to those who received it the gift of boldness. From that day forward, no danger could keep them from shouting out the good news that Jesus Christ is the crucified and risen Lord. No threat could weaken the communion that was theirs in virtue of the gift of the Spirit. Neither would they be held captive, immobilized by fear, or lacking the inspiration necessary to know what and how to speak. The Holy Spirit enlightened their minds to understand the mystery of God’s saving plan, revealed and accomplished in Christ, and strengthened their hearts to go out to the known world freely, joyfully and fearlessly to announce this good news, this Gospel.

We require a new boldness today. The need to announce the Gospel is urgent, but we often find ourselves speaking to a culture that finds it difficult to understand or is even hostile to its message. In such circumstances we might easily succumb to the temptation to stay quiet and unnoticed out of fear of rejection. But the call of the Church, the very essence of the Church, is to evangelize, to announce Christ, and to invite others to encounter and find in him the life and joy that we have found. For this task we need the courage not only to speak but also to bear witness, as did the first apostles. As Pope Benedict noted in his recent visit to Portugal, “what attracts is above all, the encounter with believing persons who, through their faith, draw others to the grace of Christ by bearing witness to him” (cf. Meeting with the Bishops of Portugal, Fatima, May 13th).

To speak with boldness and to give joyful witness, we need the Holy Spirit. Let us, then, not hesitate to call upon the Holy Spirit and ask that the gifts given when we first received him in the sacraments be unleashed anew within us for the urgent and beautiful mission of evangelization to the people of our day.

From the Majestic Rockies

2010-05-17T11:01:00.002-06:00

Ah…… Jasper! I am here this week with the other priests of the Archdiocese of Edmonton for our annual study days. In my opinion this is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Surrounded by majestic mountains, one cannot help but marvel at God’s creative power. Yet even though a place such as this offers what one might call the “summit” of creation’s beauty, it is but a mere reflection of the splendour of the Creator. Meditative wonder at creation opens one’s heart and mind to the mystery of transcendence and ultimately to the One who is the Transcendent, who is the Beautiful, who is God. This leads in turn to wonderment concerning the purpose of things. What is the meaning of life? Where is it leading? Who is the One who has fashioned such magnificence, who has given me life, and why?

The message of the Gospel is that these questions have an answer. It proclaims that God, some of whose attributes can be known through human reason’s contemplation of nature (cf. Romans 1:20) has fully revealed himself in Jesus Christ. Furthermore, in Christ God has also revealed to us the full truth concerning ourselves and our destiny (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22). Meditation on the beauty of nature opens our souls to the deepest of questions. Contemplation of the beauty of Christ leads us to their answers.

One such answer given in Jesus Christ is the response to the question of destiny. Yesterday the Church celebrated the solemn feast of the Ascension of the Lord, and in that liturgy recalled the return of the Lord to the right hand of the Father. The ascent of the Lord in his human nature, in our human nature, manifests the destiny of all humanity. Awareness of this truth gives meaning and purpose to our lives and thus offers real hope. Unaware of where our lives are leading, we can slip into a sense of meaninglessness, a lack of direction, and this in turn can cause confusion, anxiety and even despair.

Perhaps a helpful example to illustrate this is the increasingly prevalent global positioning technology. Today we have very sophisticated global positioning systems (GPS) that are used in airplanes, ships and cars, and even on the golf course. Once a destination is determined and entered into the GPS device, a satellite pinpoints your position and then provides the necessary directions. The success of this wonderful technology hinges upon knowing the destination. Only then can directions be given. Without the destination, the journey would have no direction and thus be nothing more than a series of meaningless turns. There would be no way of knowing which turn was right and which one was wrong.

When humanity does not understand its destination, or refuses to acknowledge it, then life quickly becomes meaningless, like a GPS giving directions to nowhere. In life we encounter innumerable crossroads where important decisions need to be made. Without understanding the destination, we lose any sense of where we are going and whether the decisions we make are right or wrong, helpful or harmful. Such a situation is a breeding ground for despair.
But there is no need for such loss of direction and meaning. The ascension of the Lord reveals God’s purpose in creating us: He wills that we be with him forever. He sent his Son both to reveal this destiny and to be the Way that leads to its fulfillment. Since Jesus assumed our very human nature in his Incarnation, and then both rose from the dead and ascended into heaven in that same nature, we live with the hope that where he has gone we will someday follow (cf. Preface for the Mass of the Ascension). The truth of our destiny, as revealed and fulfilled in Christ, gives perspective and meaning to all aspects of our lives, enables us to discern right from wrong in the many decisions that face us daily, and thus helps us to live each day with real hope.

Speak, Celebrate, Serve

2010-05-11T16:31:00.002-06:00

On Thursday of this week we shall hold our annual March for Life. Coinciding with the national March in Ottawa, this will be our opportunity to participate in a nation-wide effort towards the formation of a culture of life.

In his encyclical Evangelium Vitae (the Gospel of Life), Pope John Paul II outlined the three basic actions upon which a culture of life can be fashioned: speak, celebrate and serve. Whenever the opportunity presents itself we must speak to our contemporaries of the beautiful gift of life, and witness to our conviction that basic human dignity demands that every life, from fertilization to natural death, should be welcomed with love and is deserving of protection.

Since it is a wondrous gift, life should always be celebrated as good and beautiful, in a spirit of profound thanksgiving. Precisely because it is gift, life must be stewarded carefully and served so that it might develop to its full potential and reach its ultimate destiny in God.

Many organizations in the Archdiocese of Edmonton are dedicated to the service of life. We need think only of the many groups that surround a mother and her unborn child with love and encouragement as the child grows in the womb and is brought to birth, the many works of Catholic Social Services that uphold the dignity of human life through service to the poor and suffering, and the attentive care given by the staff of Covenant Health to the sick, especially the sensitive palliative care offered to the dying. Our March this week will be a wonderful opportunity to undergird our service with a celebration of life’s beauty, and to extend it to the community through word and witness.

On Wednesday evening we gather at St. Joseph’s Basilica for a prayer vigil with our young people. On Thursday morning we shall celebrate Mass there at 10:30, and then gather at the provincial legislature at 1:00 p.m. to begin the March.

Together with the other Alberta Bishops, I participated in last year’s March and will do so again this week. It is a very peaceful event, and a great occasion for us to witness to the beauty of all life. Having given thanks to God through the Mass for his gift of life, we walk quietly through the streets of Edmonton to share with our fellow citizens our conviction that every human being is “willed, loved and necessary” (Pope Benedict).

Our message and celebration is inclusive of all. We reach out to both mother and unborn child, to both the elderly and their caregivers, to both those who agree with us and those who do not. Sadly, the life issue for many has become a hopelessly polarized debate with little hope of resolution. Others, equally sadly, see it as somehow politically settled, particularly as it pertains to the question of abortion. We do not share either conviction. What we need today are radically transformed human relationships, not defined by an extreme individualism and a false notion of freedom, but by a self-giving love that welcomes the other person as gift. This is not a hope beyond the realm of possibility. It is a very real prospect when we recognize and accept the truth of our creation in the image and likeness of God, who in Christ has revealed himself as a perfect communion of persons, Father, Son and Spirit, and allow this “image and likeness” to be the guiding principle of our own human relationships with both God and one another. This was strikingly explained in the reflections offered for our Nothing More Beautiful series by Bishop John Corriveau of Nelson, B.C.

I invite you to join with me this week for the March for Life. Let us together speak, celebrate and serve, and thus make our own contribution toward a culture of life.

The Peace the World Cannot Give

2010-05-10T15:40:00.001-06:00

Is it truly possible to know a deep and abiding peace within our hearts?

Every person longs for such a peace, but it certainly seems elusive, especially when the trials of life or the troubling circumstances of our day tend to leave us anxious. The peace we seek is possible, but it is not a reality we can attain by our own efforts; it is gift. This peace is promised by Jesus himself in the Gospel we heard proclaimed at Mass yesterday for the Sixth Sunday of Easter: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” (John 14:27.)

This promise is made by the Lord in the context of his farewell discourse to the disciples. He is about to leave them by his death and resurrection and subsequent return to the Father. In fact, this gift that he pledges as his farewell legacy will be precisely the result of this “leaving”, because the peace that he promises is salvation. By “salvation” we mean the defeat of sin and death by the all-powerful mercy of God and the gift of loving communion with God forever. Peace is eternal life with God. This salvation, this peace, has been won for us by the Cross of Jesus Christ. One must not draw the conclusion, however, that the peace for which we seek will be ours only in the life to come. No, it is offered to us even now through the gift of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus, in the same Gospel passage, promises that the Father will send in his name.

In many of our parishes these days our attention is drawn to this gift of the Spirit in virtue of the celebrations of the sacrament of Confirmation that are taking place. The words by which it is administered express the faith of the Church that acceptance of the gift of the Holy Spirit brings peace. When I confirm, I say to the candidates “Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit”, to which the person replies “Amen”. Then I offer my hand and say “Peace be with you,” to which the one confirmed responds “And also with you”. The response of “Amen” is the acceptance of the gift of the Spirit, the profession of openness of heart and life to both the person of the Holy Spirit and the gifts he brings. Such acceptance brings peace, because the Holy Spirit unites us to Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord. In fact we receive Christ’s own peace (“my peace I give to you”), because the Holy Spirit is the perfect and mysterious bond of love that unites Jesus, the Son of God, with the Father. This peace of Christ not only inhabits the hearts of the individual recipient of Confirmation but also unites all those who have been blessed with this gift: “and also with you”.

The peace of our Lord frees us from fear. From the gift of the Holy Spirit, we know that God is with us, indeed, he is within us. By the action of the Holy Spirit, God speaks to us and guides us in all circumstances. God can turn all things to the good for those that he calls to eternal life, and he wills to do so (cf. Romans 8:28). Therefore, we need not be anxious or afraid. All that is needed on our part is our “Amen”, which is our acceptance in faith of God’s love and mercy, our trust that God is very near and working by the Spirit in and through the daily circumstances of our lives for the accomplishment of his saving purposes. Faith that God is near, closer than we can imagine, and that God is guiding us in accordance with his plan of love, lifts from our hearts the burden of fear and unleashes the peace that is his gift. Such a peace leaves no room for despair and is thus the reason for our hope.

A Space for Reflection

2010-05-06T16:36:00.004-06:00

The launch of this blog coincides with Pope Benedict XVI’s Message for World Communications Day, which is marked this year on May 16th.

Issuing it in this Year for Priests, the Holy Father encourages priests to make use of the vast arena of digital communications to communicate the beautiful truths of the Gospel. Accordingly, my intent in establishing this blog is to create a space for reflection upon the Word of God. As a rule, posts will be offered once per week.

The focus will be the sacred passages offered in the Sunday Mass readings, and the intent will be to draw out from them “the reason for our hope”. Regardless of circumstances, the Christian is a person of real and abiding hope. The reason is Jesus Christ. Risen from the dead, he remains always present with his people, just as he promised (cf. Matthew 28:20). Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, he dwells within us in a communion of love. He who abides in us invites us to abide in him (cf. John 15:4), and to find in this communion a peace the world cannot give (cf. John 14: 27), a peace that gives rise to hope. Furthermore, Christians are called always to be ready to give an account before others of the hope that is ours (cf. 1Peter 3:15). My prayer is that this blog will serve to support our response to that call.

We know there can be many temptations to anxiety and even despair. Family difficulties, economic hardship, serious and uncontrollable illness, scandals within the Church, societal trends that run counter to the common good ... all these and more can leave us confused and anxious. In the midst of such circumstances, what is the ground of hope? The answer is a person: Jesus Christ, the Word of God who became a human being, who revealed in word and deed, especially in his dying and rising, the truth of God’s love and its power over evil. He remains with us always, speaking to us, listening to us, and guiding us to life and joy.

There is nothing more beautiful than knowing Jesus Christ. Yet to know the Lord requires spending time with him, listening to his Word and encountering him in the sacraments. It demands of us that we be deliberate and intentional about making time for him and establishing this as a first priority in our lives. Daily demands are many, but among them there is one thing always and truly necessary: listening to Jesus (cf. Luke 10:42). I offer the reflections posted on this blog as a small help to any who are looking for hope, so that they may find it in Jesus Christ.