Well, that time of year again. Lent is upon us. And if you didn’t know that before you came here today, and you didn’t notice the change from green to purple in the environment of the church and in Fr. Phil’s ensemble. Then the ultimate tip off would be the Gospel we just heard. In the three-year cycle of the Lectionary, this is the only Sunday in the liturgical year that no matter what cycle we are in, Year A, B or C we ...
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On January 19th, a family of four were found frozen to death on the Canada-US border in Manitoba. It was a shocking and startling headline I spotted when perusing the CBC app on my cell phone. I felt sick. How could such a thing possibly happen in this land of opportunity? A land which had called the Patel family to immigrate, just as it had called my ancestors and the ancestors of any of us not of Indigenous descent in this country. Since then, I ...
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There is an urgency in the Ash Wednesday readings and an urgency in the readings we have throughout the entire 40 days of Lent. They seem to be saying, “Act now and don’t put off till tomorrow what needs to be done today!” That urgency is connected to Jesus’ own journey to Jerusalem. It is crunch time for Jesus. With each Sunday’s readings, you will notice he is getting closer and closer to Jerusalem, and things are getting darker and ...
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We are all familiar with Jesus’ expression about taking the log out of your own eye before you proceed with trying to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye. We all know exactly what that means. But it is one of those sayings of Jesus that we would rather apply to others than to ourselves. At least that’s the way I would like to see it applied. I would rather attempt to straighten out everyone else before considering what ...
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I am in awe of the profound thought that has gone into the development of our liturgical year and the readings from Scripture that guide it. Today’s readings have been a challenge for me. The first, from Sirach about being judged by our words gives me pause. But the Psalm which follows gives me courage: “In old age they still produce fruit.” At age 80 I am grateful for the opportunity to share my reflections on the rich history of ...
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I can see, when the Church reworked the lectionary in the early 1960s, why they gave us that first reading from the Book of Samuel and that gospel passage from Luke to be proclaimed on the same Sunday; they mesh so well together. They also happen to be two of the most challenging pieces of Scripture to live up to, at least in my own life.
Let’s look at Samuel and Luke and see where they may be challenging us to ...
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There is a poster on the wall in my office that has followed me from place to place for several years. Through graphics, it shows how the sacred texts of 13 faiths from around the world each contain “The Golden Rule.” From Islam and Christianity to Traditional Native Spirituality and Confucianism, we all hold sacred some version of “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you,” which was the version I learned as a child. The poster ...
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Let’s face it, when things go well, faith is not difficult. On top of that, when things go well, there’s no drive to develop our faith any further. After all, if things are going well, I must be the reason for my own success. Here’s a little story that illustrates what I’m talking about. It centers on a Jewish grandmother, but remember this Jewish grandmother lives in every one of us.
There was this Jewish woman raised in the liberal leftist ...
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As I’m sure most of you know, today’s gospel is often referred to as “The Sermon on the Mount”. In Luke’s version, Jesus begins strongly with the Beatitudes. These are composed of some blessings and curses. These teachings show Jesus as the Lord of reversals. However, let’s not misunderstand them, the Beatitudes are not just about the rich or the poor, happy or sad, hungry, or satisfied, etc. It is beyond our status in life but more of our status ...
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The readings are a little bit on the long side this weekend, so I don’t expect you to remember, in detail, what you heard in that first reading. Suffice it to say, all three readings are about God calling someone, all three readings are about someone feeling unworthy or unqualified to answer the Lord’s call, and all three readings are about people overcoming their reluctance and responding to God in a positive way, a life-changing way.
Let’s go back to the ...
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