Answers to Questions

Since I asked the Questions last Sunday:

3 Essential Questions that we as Church need to help people answer:

Why do you believe in God?  

• VS Atheism – where people say that there are "No absolute truths!" and yet that itself is offered as an absolute!

Why do you Believe in Jesus Christ?

• VS a different religion – Muslim / Jewish / Hindu etc.

Why do you believe in the Catholic Church?

• VS another Christian Denomination - or a non denominational church.

Some answers I have received are:
#1 stars, northern lights dancing, oceans even on cold rainy days, a deep peace during times of pain;

# 2 the incarnation of God with us, the resurrection;

#3 I believe in the one holy catholic apostolic church because it is our roots,  I choose to be RC because it is home - not perfect but definitely home.
"The only possible answer to this question is that I believe in its golden ribbon of truth weaving through ages of my life and spanning back throughout the ages  to the time of the Apostles.  I am rooted in this faith and I will abide in the teaching of God and as a sinner I am still a proud Catholic and I believe in our faith and I believe in our Pope and I wake up every morning and try to live in closeness to Christ."

Feel free to send me your answers! 
Peace

New Arrival

Greetings in the week of Pentecost!
We have celebrated 5 of our 9 celebrations of Confirmation this week.  Four more to go - and this is the Icon that we have just received today!

Fr. Roman Galadza just returned from his recent trip to Ukraine and delivered this Icon!  Thanks be to God.

6th Sunday of Easter reflection

We come to Church - We are Catholic because of Cornelius.

Because Peter baptized this Roman Soldier.

 This non – Jew - This pagan. 

We are here because Peter was open

to the prompting some of the spirit.

 Recorded in the 10th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles

So we gather on Sundays.   At school.           School ?!?

Yes I think each Parish is a School:

We Gather at a table that is a school.

The school of discipleship

A school of how to figure out this command.

Love one another as I have loved you.

A school where there are no strikes!      

No work to rule.          (But I digress!)

A table that is a cross. A table that encompasses  "AS"

Love - As I have loved you.

This is a Love of Sacrifice – really all love is Sacrificial –

          How often the love of a Mother – a grandmother

                   Is truly Sacrificial – is so often Christ-like

And all of a sudden we realize –

we did not do the choosing to get here.

Jesus chose us.

And now schooled in the     “love as I have loved you”

We are sent from this table –

And as we exit through the service entrance

As we go forth to bear much fruit

We will need to do this choosing.

We will need to choose to love –when we do not like

Because we have been loved

We will need to Choose to be a friend

Because we have been called friends

We will need to Choose to sacrifice

Because we have been Schooled at this Altar

And have consumed this great sacrifice

Back in the Saddle Again!

I like to say that my Holiday was "Terrifically Boring!" By that I mean that I did little but hang by the pool, enjoy the water, the Sun and a few good Novels.  Sleep, Eat, sun, read. Repeat!  It was terrific! I was able to tan - without burning.  One of the highlights for me each time I go to the Island of Maui is that we stay in the same Condo - and it feels like home! 

We attend Mass at St. Theresa's Church in Kehei - and it is a vibrant, engaged community - yet 60-70 % of the people who attend are visitors!  And I think it is terrific how the stable - regular community - is able to welcome, and encourage visitors to be full, conscious, and active participants in the celebration.  Fr. Jim Orsini was the presider both Sunday's we went to Mass - and he had wonderful - inspiring - homilies... And I like to think I packed the Warm Weather we are having with me!

This week we welcomed our Summer Seminarian Intern - Neil Pereira.  He will be involved in Parish Life, Holydays Camp, and Edge Camp... 
Saturday Morning there will be 2 men Ordained to the Priesthood for the Archdiocese of Toronto! Ricardo Davis and David Twaddle will be Ordained at St. Michael's Cathedral. Click here for more information.

Fr. David Has been away this week - and will be on retreat next week. So I have had a full Schedule - with a few Funerals, and Youth Ministry events.  
Peace

Welcoming Newcomers to the Table

Beginning next Sunday - we will be welcoming children to the table at most masses throughout the Easter season.

This task of initiating members is the task of our whole Family of Faith.  We will ALL have a role to play! To welcome the many guests who will be visiting - to help them fully participate - even if they do not think they have to! 
Our Hospitality on these occasions shows our Christian Spirit, our generosity, and our commitment to encouraging them to stay connected.  
So even when someone is sitting where you might usually sit, or does not seem to know when to stand sit or kneel, please be kind, hospitable, and welcoming - then perhaps they will realize that we are not complete without their presence.

Peace

Easter - week

Christ is Risen - Risen Indeed! Alleluia

Sometimes words fail us.  This is how I feel this day.  In the wake of these three holy days - Three powerful and magnificent days - words pale in comparison to the rich symbols and gestures the Church offers her children!

In Fire and Word, in Water and Oil, in Bread and Wine, in Music and Song, in fabric & flowers the Wonder and Beauty of our God's providence was made manifest!

Easter 2015

Christ is Risen - Risen Indeed, Alleluia!

This is part of the text of the famous Easter Homily 
by St. John Chrysostom:

Come you all: enter into the joy of your Lord. You the first and you the last, receive alike your reward; you rich and you poor, dance together; you sober and you weaklings, celebrate the day; you who have kept the fast and you who have not, rejoice today. The table is richly loaded: enjoy its royal banquet. The calf is a fatted one: let no one go away hungry. All of you enjoy the banquet of faith; all of you receive the riches of his goodness. Let no one grieve over his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed; let no one weep over his sins, for pardon has shone from the grave; let no one fear death, for the death of our Saviour has set us free: He has destroyed it by enduring it, He has despoiled Hades by going down into its kingdom, He has angered it by allowing it to taste of his flesh.