I remember being at a talk 30 years ago, given by John Shea, who was invited to speak at St. Paul’s University in Ottawa. John Shea is a theologian from Chicago, and the best storyteller I have ever heard. One of the things he said–and for some reason I remembered it 30 years later–was, “The key to gospel spirituality is not to look at Jesus but to look with Jesus. You’ll learn very little, if anything at all, by looking ...
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LET US OFFER EACH OTHER A SIGN OF PEACE
Offering each other the “sign of peace” is something you have done countless times, if you are a regular participant at Mass (unfortunately, this gesture is non-existent in the French-speaking churches in our diocese). Just prior to reaching our hand out for the hands of our neighbours at Mass, we hear the priest say this: Lord Jesus Christ, who said to your Apostles: “Peace I leave you, my peace I give you”; ...
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As we say “good-bye” to gospel writer Matthew, who has been our guide this last liturgical year, we end with a reading that summarizes Jesus’ entire life among us. If we were to read and try to apply just this gospel reading alone, I’m convinced it would be more than enough to convert us and change the world forever. When I take this gospel passage seriously in my own life, I realize I have more blow opportunities, more sins of ...
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Fear or Love – What is our Starting Point?
As I sit to write this reflection I am just back in the office after one week’s holidays. While it is always nice to have some time to relax and re-energize, the one thing a week’s holiday makes crystal clear to me is that I am nowhere near ready for retirement. While my birth certificate is telling me that I am coming to a time in my life where that will be ...
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Once again Jesus gives us a parable that does not tie things up in a neat package with a bow around it. Parables are meant to stretch us, to take us out of our small worlds, our small kingdoms and invite us to consider what the Kingdom of God is like. We will only let go of our little kingdom if we are convinced we are getting a bigger kingdom in exchange. But letting go has never been our strong ...
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As is the case with so many of our Sunday Scripture readings, there is a common theme, an overlap, between the first reading and the Gospel passage. Both deal with “wisdom.” In the first reading, from the Book of Wisdom itself, the author presents wisdom as a strikingly attractive woman. Wisdom in the gospel, however, is preparedness and not alertness. All 10 bridesmaids fall asleep. None of them remain alert, but five were considered wise because they were prepared.
Is anyone ...
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On Consulting the Faithful
In his “Apologia Pro Vita Sua” John Henry (Cardinal) Newman explained that he converted to Catholicism because he recognized that the Catholic Church was the closest to that of St. Athanasius. I was inspired by Newman’s sentiment and chose “The Logos in the Theology of Athanasius” to be the topic of my PhD dissertation. Life got in the way and I never completed it.
However, I also learned that after his conversion Newman narrowly missed being excommunicated for ...
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Love is the Greatest Commandment
¯Love, love, love … all you need is love. ¯
The multitudes of songs and poems which talk about love is endless. As a reader, I can attest that it is also a common theme in many books, a universal concept, understood and lived out in a variety of ways. Love really does appear to make the world go round, as someone once said. We are a society which is consumed by various interpretations of love, the ...
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The very first thing I ever remember watching on our black and white television, back in the late 1960s, was fighting in the Middle East. I was shocked at what I was seeing and wondered, as a three or four-year-old, “Why are they fighting and not loving one another? Why doesn’t someone, from the adult world, just step in and stop this?” Of course, I didn’t know anything about the complexities of human behavior; I still don’t know much. I ...
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Time flies. Soon we’ll be into the Season of Advent and with that comes a new liturgical year for the Church. We’ll say “good-bye” and “thank-you” to the gospel writer Matthew, who guided us through his gospel this past year, and we’ll prepare ourselves to welcome Mark as our guide for the upcoming year. But before we say good-bye to Matthew, let’s go back to the beginning of Matthew’s gospel and the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Matthew started us ...
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