30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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The dynamic between of wealth and poverty in the Gospel is complex, and a homily is not a theology class. Life is messy, and even though God has promised us abundant life, that abundance isn’t without challenge. The caution to the wealthy and poor alike is that God wants to be invited into our suffering — so He can be with us in it and work through it. How often when life is challenging do we double down our efforts, isolate ourselves from those who might be able to support us, deny how bad it is, ignore things in the hopes they will go away? We have a myriad of ineffective coping strategies that keep us from calling out to God. Then, when we realize how bad it is, we feel shame and unworthiness of asking for help. God doesn’t care how bad it has gotten, how rotten we feel, or how many bad choices got us there. He wants us to cry out. It’s sad that most of us won’t until we are utterly broken. You get to decide where rock bottom is. If you don’t want things to get worse, start crying out now, and don’t stop – even when things eventually get a bit more bearable.
For the humility to cry out when life is too much for us, and to keep doing so when things are good, we pray to the Lord.

Listening God, whisper humility into our fearful and pride-filled hearts. Help us to remember that you live to save us, and that you do not expect us to do life on our own. Teach us to cry out to you in our wealth and poverty, so that we find abundant life in being bound to your faithful help. Amen.

#CatholicYYC #SundayMass
Text: CCCB

Taken from the Facebook page of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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There has been an evolution in our understanding of God’s justice in our salvation history. We have moved from believing that God will deliver us and destroy our enemies, to a truer belief in God who delivers us and our enemies from destroying ourselves and each other. War is almost never justifiable, and certainly never desirable. Far beyond retribution, we are called to reconciliation and restoration which are much more difficult and worthwhile. Like Moses’ hands being held aloft by his companions and like the irritating widow, we must beg and hold on to our discomfort — for years and decades — in order to carry God’s power into the most deadlocked and rigid places, trusting the Spirit will deliver healing and true justice for all. We are not alone, and so we cannot give up.

Prayer: For perseverance in praying and working for justice for ourselves and everyone else, we pray to the Lord.

Jesus, you held your hands aloft on the cross despite great pain, so as to work victory over your own death, a victory that would offer eternal life to your murderers and all of humanity alike. Keep us faithful to a justice that brings victory for ourselves and our persecutors, and all of your people, for now and forever, Amen.

#SundayMass #CatholicYYC
Reflection: CCCB

Taken from the Facebook page of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary 

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Christian freedom is a gift that God offers us if we are open enough to receive it and willing to do some difficult emotional work. Paul offers us a powerful image of this freedom: he is actually imprisoned, and proclaiming that the chains cannot touch his heart, rising with Christ even while his body is held in chains. We all know incredible stories of people who have survived the unthinkable, risen above abuse, or walked through illness and death, and still held on to peace and joy. They can tell us about all the difficulties and rough parts, in addition to the grace that kept them going. Not all of us will have the miraculous healings of the lepers in the readings today, but all of us are offered healing, grace and freedom in the midst of trials. Will we ask for healing? Will we show up for counselling, go to rehab, do the physiotherapy, cooperate with treatment, and participate with the grace God is offering? Will we surrender ourselves to joy in prison if God’s plan doesn’t include freeing us from the chains just yet? The questions at the heart of the readings today are: “Do I want to be set free on God’s terms? Will I receive grace in the midst of my pain?”

Prayer: For freedom even in the midst of pain, we pray to the Lord.

Freeing Spirit, you have been sent directly into our most painful places, burning through our broken hearts. Help us to see and receive the grace that is offered in the midst of the situations we would rather avoid. Release our grip on the pain we feel, so our hands and hearts have room for the grace that will set us free, even in our chains. Amen.

Reflection: CCCB
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Taken from the Facebook page of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary

Thanksgiving

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Thank you, Father, for having created us and given us to each other in the human family. Thank you for being with us in all our joys and sorrows, for your comfort in our sadness, your companionship in our loneliness. Thank you for yesterday, today, tomorrow and for the whole of our lives. Thank you for friends, for health and for grace. May we live this and every day conscious of all that has been given to us.

Prayer from The Catholic Prayer Book, Franciscan Media.

(taken from the Facebook page of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary)

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Too often, in families and workplaces, violence goes unchallenged. In the worst cases, people of faith advise one another to go back into violent and unsafe spaces to “keep the peace” or as part of the “sacrifice” demanded by one’s vocation. In the second reading, Paul challenges his followers to receive Jesus’ powerful flame: “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather of power and love and self-control.” Our God worked eternal salvation for all of us out of His Son’s vicious murder, but that does not make crucifixion any less evil. There is a crisis of domestic abuse in our country, a destructive legacy of sexual abuse in our Church, and we must speak out against it at all times and in all places, asking God to rebuild the destruction with new life.

For the courage, power, love and self-control to end violence in our hearts, families and communities, we pray to the Lord.

Crucified Jesus, be with us in our suffering and breathe your power into all the violence we witness and encounter. Show us how to stand up to violence with power, love, and self-control, working diligently towards deep peaceful solutions to the conflict in our hearts, homes and world. Amen.

(Taken from the Facebook page of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary)