Parish Bulletin for Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reflection Corner

Mark 8:27-35     "The Suffering Servant"

During the Second World War, when Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of England, he declared that as their leader, all he had to offer his fellow Brits was "blood, toil, tears and sweat."

When the great Italian patriot Garibaldi appealed for recruits, he said, "I offer neither pay, nor quarters, nor provisions; I offer hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles and death. Let him who loves his country in his heart, and not with his lips only, follow me."

Similarly blunt and truthful, Jesus told his disciples that those who would follow him could do so only if they were willing to deny themselves, take up their cross and lose their lives for his sake and the sake of the Gospel.

But just as Churchill and Garibaldi did not ask anything of their compatriots that they were not also willing to endure, so did Jesus strike the path for his disciples. His saving mission and his role as the Christ or Messiah would be defined by and expressed through suffering.

Judging from Peter's reaction to him, it is clear that Jesus' contemporaries did not expect their long-awaited messiah to be anything but a regal, powerful and strong leader. Their hopes rested on an end to foreign occupation and a restoration of Israel's political freedom and prestige. They were thinking, as the Marcan Jesus has pointed out, not as God does but as human beings do.

And who could fault them for that? Who would want to suffer? Most of our lives are spent avoiding suffering or doing whatever is necessary to get through a period of struggle and to make it only an unpleasant memory.

Nevertheless, despite the onus attached to suffering, Jesus challenged his followers to choose it as a means of redemption. Verse 34, with its call to take up one's cross, is one of the most misused texts in the New Testament. It does not mean stoically accepting the difficulties of life, as in "Arthritis is my cross to bear" or "My mother-in-law is my cross."

Rather, to take up one's cross is a voluntary choice that calls for desire and resolve, not passive acceptance or mere miserable tolerance. If this voluntary choosing of the cross sounds masochistic, verse 35 offers clarification. The reason for such a choice is enunciated by Jesus: "for my sake and for that of the Gospel."

Those who willingly accept the suffering that results from their belonging to Jesus, those who accept the hardships that come from preaching and living the Gospel – these are the ones who are truly Jesus' followers. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a true and faithful disciple of Jesus, understood full well the cost of discipleship. In his book by the same name, he stated quite clearly, "When Jesus calls a man, he bids him, ‘Come and die.' Discipleship means allegiance to the suffering Christ, and it is therefore not at all surprising that Christians should be called upon to suffer" (The Cost of Discipleship, SCM Press, London: 1959).

We, for our part, are to remain mindful that whatever we endure, it is for Jesus' sake and that of the Gospel; only then will our suffering have redemptive significance. But what is this suffering that is ours to embrace? What is the suffering that will allow us to become our truest and most Christian selves?

One explanation comes from an unexpected source. Sigmund Freud once said that we are threatened with suffering from three directions: from our own body, which is doomed to decay and dissolution and cannot even do that without sending out pain and anxiety as warning signals; from the external world, which may rage against us with overwhelming and merciless forces of destruction; and finally from our relationships with other people. This latter suffering is perhaps more painful than any other.

Jesus, who immersed himself completely in the human condition, experienced every sort and every degree of suffering in order to translate that experience into an eloquent expression of love. That suffering identified him as the Christ, the Saviour. Our suffering, when united to his, identifies us as his own.

That all our beloved dead, especially

TUESDAY, Sept. 15

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Joaquin Miguel Santos

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 16

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Samuel Johns

THURSDAY, Sept. 17

St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian

8:30 a.m. - † Anna Fung

FRIDAY, Sept. 18

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Mariano & Conseico Martins

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

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, Sept. 20, 2009

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reflection Corner

The Road to Discipleship

In the '60s, among the many sayings that cropped up on posters, T-shirts and graffiti-covered walls was the question: "What if they had a war and nobody came?" This question fuelled imaginations and encouraged hope for peace in a time when wars, both cold and hot, were sucking the life out of the planet.

The query also hints at a baser aspect of the human experience – the fascination with violence and destruction. When a fight breaks out in a schoolyard, a bar, a sports arena or a jail yard, more often than not, a crowd gathers to watch. Some even join in, and the answer to the above question seems all too obvious.

Someone will always be ready to go to war or at least sanction a war because the principles of Jesus' teachings about peace, restraint and non-violence have yet to become a norm. In today's second reading, the author of James points to the baser instincts of jealousy and ambition, envy and covetousness and challenges his readers to overcome these by cultivating peace.

Peace is a process of growth that requires careful maintenance. It means right relationships between persons and among all peoples. In questioning his readers about their seeming disregard for peacemaking, James sounds like the historian Philo, who wrote: "For all the tragedies of war have all flowed from one source —desire either for money or power or pleasure. Over all these things the human race goes mad."

Evidently, something of this "madness" was causing conflict within the community of believers. James reminded them that although they were in the world, they were not to be of the world. On the contrary, the followers of Jesus are to seek the will of God and put it into practice with peace and gentleness, with mercy and good fruits. The prayer of the believer is ultimately "Your will be done."

Oscar Romero, the late archbishop of San Salvador, insisted that God's will on the subject of war and violence is clear. "God's law must prevail that says, ‘Thou shalt not kill!' the archbishop said. "No soldier is obliged to obey an order against the law [will] of God. No one has to fulfill an immoral law. It is time to take back your consciences and to obey your conscience rather than the orders of sin." For these words and for his fierce allegiance to God's will, Romero was shot and killed while celebrating Mass.

His legacy, like that of James, continues to challenge the authenticity of our faith and the seriousness of our commitment to the Gospel. Three times in the Marcan Gospel, Jesus announced that he would be handed over to suffering and death, and three times his disciples did not fully comprehend the truth he was sharing with them.

Following Jesus, who saved us through suffering, would mean that people would experience and express their discipleship in suffering. Following Jesus would also challenge his followers' notions regarding authority. No doubt they sensed greatness in Jesus as they witnessed his ability to conduct himself and to teach with authority.

For that reason, they were hopeful that when the kingdom Jesus announced was finally established, they would have a share in his authority. They had yet to learn that his would not be an imposed authority, but a leadership that would raise others to a dignity they had not previously enjoyed. This Jesus would accomplish through service. To that end, he called his followers to cultivate a similar style of leadership that would achieve its greatness by exalting others.

To further illustrate the radical nature of his teaching on greatness, Jesus held out as an example one of the least members of his contemporary culture. In the helpless, powerless child, the disciples were to find the simplicity that would enable them to see beyond their selfish ambitions and understand the manner of life to which Jesus was calling them.

If we dare to accept Jesus' challenge to welcome the least ones, we are put on a sure collision course with contemporary culture- just like Jesus and all those who follow his path.

That all our beloved dead, especially

TUESDAY, Sept. 22

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Joaquin Miguel Santos

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 23

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Mary Waychison

THURSDAY, Sept. 24

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Robert and Dorothea Fynn

FRIDAY, Sept. 25

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Enid Miranda

may know the refreshment, rest, and peace of God's heavenly kingdom . . . that all those who grieve may know God's comfort and consolation . . . We pray . . . .

FOR THE SICK, 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, Sept. 27, 2009

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Power of the Spirit

Num 11:25-29 James 5:1-6 Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

In today's first reading and Gospel, the Old Testament author and the first evangelist address the idea that one person or group might enjoy a monopoly on the Spirit. Having become accustomed to his leadership and the way he mediated with God on their behalf, the Israelites acknowledged that Moses was endowed by God's Spirit.

For the most part, they were inclined to accept his direction. But when the Spirit was made manifest through others, the Israelites questioned those people's right to prophesy. The Spirit was moving and breathing among the Israelites in a manner they did not expect, and so they were of the mind that protocol had been breached.

The disciples in today's Gospel were similarly unnerved by the indiscriminant movement and power of the Spirit and were suspicious of others who were calling on Jesus' name to eradicate evil. They protested because those others had not risen from within the ranks of Jesus' recognized disciples.

In an effort to broaden their horizons and open their hearts, Jesus encouraged his disciples to look beyond the parameters they had set for themselves and for him. They had yet to understand that theirs was a community of persons called together by God. Therefore, membership and belonging were God's to decide. If God had called them to follow Jesus, why couldn't God call others?

Eventually, but not without great struggle, the followers of Jesus began to appreciate his ecumenical character. Gradually, they began to learn that God was willing to work through all people, even sinners, even gentiles, even the poor, even women, children, the maimed, the blind, the deaf, the mute, the enslaved and the outcast.

Because of the living, breathing quality of the sacred texts, their challenge continues to speak to contemporary Christians. We may object that we are no longer so provincial in our judgments as the first disciples were regarding when and where the Spirit of God will exercise power. Yet through the centuries, we find many examples from those in positions of authority within our church insisting that there is no salvation outside the holy Roman catholic and apostolic church.

Such a statement points to a lack of understanding about the Spirit's power to afford the grace of salvation to all people. Only in the 20th century was this self-proclaimed monopoly acknowledged and surrendered. Prompted by the Spirit, Paul VI and the participants at the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s acknowledged that all Christians "are joined with us in the Holy Spirit for to them also the Spirit gives gifts and graces and is operative among them with sanctifying power" (Lumen Gentium, #12).

Further prompted by the Spirit, the council also acknowledged that the two-thirds of the world's population who are not Christian "are most dear to God," and therefore "we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit, in a manner known only to God, offers to every human being the grace of being blessed by the paschal mystery. … For it is God, who gives to all life and breath and every other gift, who, as Saviour, calls that all be saved"

Listening to these good words and wrapping our minds and hearts around them is a necessary first step in realizing the wisdom of Moses ("Would that the Lord might bestow the Spirit on all") and of Jesus ("Whoever is not against us is for us").

But it is only a first step. Allowing the truth of these words to change our minds and our manner of dealing with others is a lifelong journey beset with daily challenges and risks. As always, the temptation attached to great challenges is to listen but do nothing, to pray and plan but not begin.

Although it is not easy to allow the Spirit free rein in our lives, those who do can begin to see with new eyes and without prejudice, to hear with new ears without choosing only the most convenient truths.

That all our beloved dead, especially

TUESDAY, Sept. 29

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Joaquin Miguel Santos

THURSDAY, Oct. 1

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Bernice Ballantyne

may know the refreshment, rest, and peace of God's heavenly kingdom . . . that all those who grieve may know God's comfort and consolation . . . We pray . . . .

FOR THE SICK, 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. . . .