Church of The Holy Spirit

Parish Bulletin for Sunday, September 7, 2008

23rd Sunday in Ordinary time

Discipleship: The Call to Love

During her lifetime, American humourist Erma Bombeck (1927-1996) published 15 books and more than 4,000 of her articles were syndicated in 900 newspapers. Her fine wit produced many memorable works, but few are as poignant as the words she wrote after finding out that she had a fatal disease. She wrote, "If I had my life to live over, I would have talked less and listened more. I would have invited friends over for to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded. I would have taken time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth. I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains. I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life. I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband. There would have been more ‘I love yous' . . . more ‘ I'm sorrys.' But, mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute . . . look at it and really see it . . . live it . . . and never give it back."

In the sacred texts for September, the ancient authors similarly emphasize the importance of people over things and the loving commitment to others over self. Bombeck admitted that the spectre of death was an impetus that got her to re-think her priorities. This month, the praying community is invited to allow the Holy Spirit to be the impetus who will move each of us to sort out our lives and our loves. This month, the Holy Spirit will direct our attention to the centre of our faith – the cross of Jesus.

This sign of our salvation reveals the depth of God's illogical, impractical love for sinners. In the cross, death meets life, sin encounters forgiveness and evil is overpowered by goodness. Through the lens of the cross, believers are provided with a perspective on living and dying that levels the mountains we make out of molehills and quenches the fires of anger and hatred that we set so needlessly. In the lens of the cross, Jesus and the Holy Spirit enable us to look at one another with love and care.

We are, as Ezekiel and Matthew tell us this very day, responsible for one another. We are required to watch out for one another and, when necessary, to engage in the mutual correction and admonition that encourage growth in holiness. We are to help one another to say ‘yes' to the challenges of faith and when NO! rises too quickly to our lips, we are to muster the humility to change our minds and hearts so we can answer YES! to the demands of Christian living. Changing our no to yes will witness to the world that growth is always possible. While there is still time, and before we die, let us give ourselves over to grace and its transforming power.

Like the labourers in the vineyards in the Gospel story later this month, some of us have been at the work of discipleship for a lifetime; others among us have only come lately to Jesus. But whether the disciple has been at the task of the Gospel since the beginning or only since the 11th hour, each disciple is loved and valued by God. We are called to love and value one another! Rather than measure others according to productivity or seniority, we are to look at them as God does and love without measure.

Paul, too, has a message for us this month in all of the second readings. He calls us to care for one another in a self-emptying way, a way that allows us to put the other first. Just as Bombeck more deeply realized the value of people in her life as death was pressing in upon her, so must the believer bring this same realization to daily living. Paul practised what he preached. He had his priorities in order and was ready to experience death to be with Jesus forever.

Although he longed for that union, Paul continued his discipleship on earth until God called him home. He didn't know the day or the hour of his departure and so he kept his eyes fixed and his heart centred on Jesus. He lived every day as if it was his last. Like Paul, and with Jesus, we can do no less.

That all our beloved dead, especially

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 10
Weekday
8:30 a.m. - † Don McMillan

FRIDAY, Sept. 12
Weekday
8:30 a.m. - † Diniz Raposo

. . . that all may live again in the presence of the God of limitless love . . . for all who have gone before us and for those who are living in the shadow of grief . . . We pray. . .

Please remember the sick in your prayers during the coming week, especially for

All those who have asked for our prayers. . . . . . for healing for the sick. . . for courage for those in pain . . . for those in hospitals, nursing homes or confined to their homes by illness or infirmity . . . for those who feel forgotten. . .We pray . . .

Parish Bulletin for Sunday, September 14, 2008

Triumph of The Holy Cross

The Sign of Salvation

We are surrounded every day with signs that speak to us without ever uttering a word. We understand the reality of what they convey just by looking at them. Let's look at a few that are familiar. A red and white octagonal sign says ‘Stop!' A red light does too. Green lights tell us to go and yellow ones warn us to slow our pace, although it has been my experience that people speed up to beat the red too often for my liking.

Political candidates adopt colours to identify their parties – red is liberal while blue is conservative. Some political signs can strike fear or horror in those who see them. In the late 1930's and early 1940's, when Jews were made to wear the Star of David on armbands to identify them, the swastika – which is otherwise a sacred Hindu symbol – came to be a dreaded sign of the Nazis. On the other hand, the golden arches of McDonalds typically evoke choruses from the back-seat. What about the neon signs in bars and grills? And what happens when we see flashing lights on the road behind us? For speeders, this can be a sure sign of a ticket!

Signs mark our paths and fill our lives, whether we are conscious of them or not. Signs also figure prominently in our spiritual journey as well, as today's feast so aptly reminds us. In exalting the Holy Cross, we hold out that sign which speaks of suffering, sacrifice and salvation. Life meets death, light touches darkness, forgiveness heals sin and faith reaches out for God. Through the cross on which Jesus died, we have begun to live; through this sign that epitomizes the depths of human depravity, sinners have been afforded a graced dignity and a new beginning. When we exalt the cross of Jesus Christ, we glory in God who loves and rescues the lost and unlovable and gathers in the wayward and the rebellious.

Something of this saving power is at work in today's first reading. When the Israelites travelling through the wilderness became frustrated and turned away from God, the serpent mounted on a pole became for them a saving sign. Looking on that sign, as God directed, brought healing. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, reminds us that Jesus' salvific journey from his place of equality with God into the depths of the human condition meant that he experienced not only our flesh-and-blood existence, but also humiliation, rejection, tortuous suffering and death on a cross. Until Jesus, the cross had been an odious sign that struck fear into the hearts of those who were vulnerable to its threat. Because of Jesus and the loving spirit of self-sacrifice that he brought to the cross, it has become a sign of salvation, of victory, of reconciliation and new life! This very sign is celebrated in today's Gospel from John. To Nicodemus, who had come to Jesus by night, seeking light and insight about the kingdom of heaven, Jesus spoke of being lifted up.

This movement of Jesus, first of being lifted up on the cross and then being lifted up to God and to glory, has become the pathway to salvation. In this movement from death to life to glory, Jesus has gathered to himself and to God all who look upon the sign of his cross and believe. In believing, the followers of Jesus appropriate the gift of salvation; in believing, each participates in the reality signified by the cross.

This is the sign through which the mercy of God and the love of Jesus are most eloquently spoken; this is the sign by which our belonging is revealed to the world. This is the cross, the sign under which each one of us chooses to live and die and live again.

All-powerful God, you know each of us and the crosses we bear. Hear our prayers this day for your people and raise each of us and all our concerns to the fulfillment your love intends. We pray in the name of the triumphant Jesus. Amen.

That all our beloved dead, especially

TUESDAY Sept. 16
St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian
8:30 a.m. - † Francesca Rodrigues

THURSDAY, Sept.18
Weekday
8:30 a.m. - † Mariono and Comseincno Martins

FRIDAY, Sept. 19
Weekday
8:30 a.m. - † Anna Fong

. . . may live again in the presence of the God of limitless love . . . for all who have gone before us and for those who are living in the shadow of grief . . . We pray. . .

For the sick, especially for

Parish Bulletin for Sunday, September 21, 2008

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Matt 20:1-16: "The Mercy of God"

If you love surprise endings, then today's Gospel will be very appealing to you. But if you have become accustomed to imagining God in human terms and by human measures, then you will find this Gospel just a little unsettling.

Perhaps this is the very reason the Matthean evangelist has preserved it in his Gospel. We sometimes, and probably more often that we should, think of God as the party of the first part in a contract and think of human beings as parties of the second part. A little too legal for your liking? Let's put it this way: we like to impose on God the quid pro quo manner with which we do business. Performance deserves its reward, equal measure and in kind.

But, as this parable reveals, God cannot be trapped or limited by our imagination. Nor is God merely an employer who doles out what is owed to the deserving. On the contrary, God is loving and generous toward the undeserving.

Told only in Matthew's Gospel, this parable has become all the richer because of the layers of meaning it has acquired while being handed on down through the generations of believers. During Jesus' ministry, today's Gospel formed part of Jesus' response to those who objected that he reached out with the same kindness to sinners as he did to the righteous. Whether a person came early to God or late, Jesus' actions illustrated that their welcome would be equally warm because God's ways and thoughts are tempered by mercy and generous love. Very early in the church, we find examples of this over and over again.

This parable challenged our earliest Jewish Christian ancestors, who had come early to Jesus, to accept gentiles, who came only later to Jesus. The openness of Jewish Christians to non-Jewish followers of Jesus was difficult to achieve. Paul's letters and the Acts of the Apostles reflect this struggle, as does the early Christian community's methods of dealing with its increasingly varied membership.

And what did Matthew take from this parable and pass onto us – what does it all mean? This parable is addressed to the disciples of Jesus and it teaches a lesson about their manner of leadership. Just as Jesus welcomed those who came early to him as well as those who were not so quick to lend their allegiance, so should the disciples. The disciples of Jesus are to communicate the mercy of God without favouring one group over another. Without measure and without considering the seniority or merit of others, disciples are to give mercy freely, fully and as often as its' healing is needed by anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Truth be known, most of us bristle at what appears in this parable to be an injustice perpetrated on hard-working people. But the key to understanding this parable is contained in the first sentence. It is more than a story about a vineyard. The parable leads us to a vision of the kingdom of God. Entrance to the kingdom cannot be earned no matter how early one rises or how long one works. Entrance is God's gift, given freely and mercifully to those who seem by human standards to deserve it, as well as to those who do not. Generous mercy is that quality of God without which we would have no hope of survival at all.

Liturgy Spotlight

The Eucharist came to be at the Supper of the Lord where Jesus gave himself to the disciples in the bread and the wine. The Eucharist also came to be when Jesus modelled service of others by washing the feet of his disciples. In Eucharist, self-giving and service of others come together and give us a picture of our daily Christian living.

— Reprinted from Liturgical Ministry 17 (Summer 2008) Used with permission.

That all our beloved dead, especially

TUESDAY Sept. 23
Weekday
8:30 a.m. - † Enida Mirada

. . . may live again in the presence of the God of limitless love . . . for all who have gone before us and for those who are living in the shadow of grief . . . We pray. . .

For the special intentions of all members of our parish family and in particular for:

THURSDAY Sept. 25
Weekday
8:30 a.m. - Harold & Marie Russell

celebrating 60 years of marriage . . .We pray . . .

For the sick, especially for

Parish Bulletin for Sunday, September 28, 2008

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

"Yes or No!" – Matt 21:28-32

For those of you who remember the 60's as I do, you will recognize the name Pete Seeger and the folk-rock band The Byrds. They recorded a top ten hit in 1965 adapted from a text from Ecclesiastes. For those who need more assistance in remembering, that hit was "Turn! Turn! Turn! The lyrics to both the bible quote and to the hit song resonate with readers and listeners of all ages and all walks of life. There is a time and a season for everything under the sun – "a time to be born, a time to die . . . a time to plant, a time to uproot . . . a time to kill, a time to heal . . . a time to see, a time to lose . . . a time to love, a time to hate."

In today's readings, we are told that there is also a time to say ‘Yes' and a time to say ‘No.' It is the turning and turning that makes all the difference. It is in the turning and turning that the human heart and mind can grow and change, and change again, so that change brings holiness and the ability to do good. In the process of turning and turning, we achieve clarity, learn obedience, and develop and deepen our relationship with God.

Ezekiel described the process of turning and turning in today's first reading as being multi-directional. We can choose to turn from virtue in order to commit evil, or we can turn from wickedness in order to do what is right and just. Consequences depend upon which direction we take in our choices. Life waits for those who choose goodness; death waits for those who choose evil and turn away from good. We know that.

When the Gospel writer explores this challenge of turning toward good and toward God, he once more takes us into the vineyard. Here we meet again two sons along with their father, who urges each in turn to go and work in the vineyard. One said ‘No' but later listened to his heart; there, he remembered his love for his father. That love enabled him to turn his ‘no' into a ‘yes.' His love for his father urged him toward an obedience that was attuned to his father's will.

Sometimes, as with this particular son, our initial reactions to God's overtures are sometimes negative. We may be prompted to ask, "Who would ever refuse God?" But because the overtures of our God quite often come to us through others, they can be hard to recognize and much easier to deflect. This parable of the Matthean Jesus challenges all who hope to inherit the kingdom to recognize divine invitations to obedience and service. These invitations can be planned or spontaneous. They can be short-term or long-term commitments. They can be spoken by friends and sometimes by the not-so-friendly. Each invitation creates an opportunity for a response to God. Will our response be ‘yes' or ‘no?" This is the time to turn from no to yes.

Jesus' parable also carries a warning against speaking an empty ‘Yes' – one that is not followed up with actions. A ‘Yes' spoken in a moment of fervour slides easily off the tongue, but putting one's back behind that yes and working to make it a reality – this is the struggle of authentic discipleship. Jesus himself shows us the way.

In the second reading today, Paul speaks to us of a mindset that is God-centred, not self-centred. Jesus had so decisively turned toward God that he could choose no other way to live his life except to surrender to God and glorify God with his obedience. God blessed his action with redemptive power. Caught up in Jesus' redemptive actions, sinners have been saved and empowered by grace to turn from evil to good. Even if our lives have been too frequently characterized by no responses to God's overtures, we are graced with the ability and the freedom to turn, turn, turn things around.

As with all parables, this one issues its' own challenges to believers. Will the words of Jesus be the words by which we live? Will his way be the way we seek? Will he be the One to whom we continue to turn for light and life and mercy and yes, love? Will we say "yes' or ‘no' to all God has revealed to us in Jesus?

In today's Gospel, we have heard about those who appear to be righteous, but who are not humble enough to hear and obey the Lord. Let us show ourselves to be challenged by the Gospel and ask for mercy for those times when we have failed to heed the Word of God. Listening . . . Hearing . . . Turning!

That all our beloved dead, especially

WEDNESDAY Oct. 1
Weekday
8:30 a.m. - † Mamie Liotta

. . . may live again in the presence of the God of limitless love . . . for all who have gone before us and for those who are living in the shadow of grief . . . We pray. . .

For the sick, especially for