St. Maria Goretti - SERRA International Convention in Ottawa, July 7-10, 2011

Today, an optional memorial of this youthful martyr is permitted.  Plans are underway for the relics of St. Maria Goretti to tour Canada next year, including a stop in Ottawa (more details as they become known).

Saint Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr

O God, author of innocence and lover of chastity, who bestowed the grace of martyrdom on your handmaid, the Virgin Saint Maria Goretti, in her youth, grant, we pray, through her intercession, that as you gave her a crown for her steadfastness, so we, too, may be firm in obeying your commandments. Through our Lord.

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Maria Goretti (1890-1902) was an Italian girl who died after being sexually attacked at the age of 11. In 1950 she was canonized by Pope Pius XII.

The third of six children of a peasant farmer, Maria was born on October 16 at Corinaldo, some 35 miles inland from Ancona on the Adriatic coast. Life was always a struggle, especially after her father had been reduced to working as a casual labourer.

In 1899 he died of malaria, and the family moved to the village of Le Ferrière, about 18 miles south of Rome. Throughout all their tribulations the Gorettis remained strongly attached to the Faith; and Maria received her first Communion in January 1901.

From infancy the children all helped with the household tasks. Maria looked after the house and her younger siblings when her mother went out to work. The Goretti shared living quarters with another family, the Serenelli, whose son, Alessandro, a farmhand aged 20 in 1902, took an unhealthy interest in Maria. At first he merely pestered her. Then, in the afternoon of July 5, 1902, he turned violent and tried to rape her.

Maria fought him off desperately. “No,” she cried, “it is a sin. God does not want it.” When she insisted that she would die rather than submit, Alessandro seized an awl and stabbed her 14 times.

He then ran off, leaving the grievously injured Maria to be discovered by his father and her mother. Doctors at the nearest hospital did their best, but within a day Maria was dead.

Although in great pain during those last hours, her innate goodness shone through, as she worried about where her mother would stay the night, and declared that she forgave her murderer and hoped to see him in heaven.

Alessandro Serenelli was sentenced to 30 years hard labour, and for some years seemed to be viciously unrepentant.

Then, around 1908, he experienced a vision of Maria in which she handed him 14 lilies, thought to be representative of the number of wounds she had suffered.

From that day onwards Alessandro proved a model prisoner. Released in 1927, he found a place as a gardener and lay-brother in a Capuchin monastery. He made his peace with Maria’s mother, and in 1950 attended Maria’s canonization in the company of her family.

“Always esteem and love purity and virginity,” Pope Pius proclaimed in his address. “Do not be afraid to reject the world’s idols by showing that you belong to a chaste and poor Christ.”

Alessandro Serenelli reinforced this message before he died in 1970, issuing a statement in which he attributed his youthful crime in part to the evil influence of the press, which had offered titillation in place of true morality. (http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/)

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SERRA CONVENTION AT OTTAWA CONGRESS CENTRE,

NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL BASILICA

Serra's 69th International Convention to be held in Ottawa from July 7-10, 2011

As a result of security concerns regarding the original venue in Jerusalem, the Serra International Convention has recently been transferred to Ottawa.


Mr. John Woodward, the Executive Director of Serra, extends an invitation to Canada’s bishops, priests, vocation directors and laity interested in the promotion of vocations to the priesthood and/or to establishing a chapter of Serra in their diocese or parish to participate as they are able (Cf. schedule below). For further details or to inquire about the convention, please see http://www.serra.org/.

Thursday, July 7, 2011
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6:00 p.m. Opening Mass in the Cathedral Basilica of Notre Dame. Principal Celebrant: Most Reverend Terrence Prendergast S.J., Archbishop of Ottawa; all welcome.

Friday, July 8, 2011 [Sessions in the Ottawa Convention Centre]
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10:15 a.m. State of Serra: President John “Tomi” Asenuga
2:30 p.m. General Session Speaker to be confirmed
8:00 p.m. Holy Hour for Vocations and Benediction. Celebrant: Fr. Augustine Abayomi, Chaplain, Serra Club of Ibadan [Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica] All welcome.

Saturday, July 9, 2011
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8:45 a.m. Keynote Address: Most Reverend Gary Gordon, Bishop of Whitehorse
2:15 p.m. General Session: Serra around the World
4:15 p.m. Closing Mass in the Cathedral Basilica of Notre Dame; Principal Celebrant: Bishop Gary Gordon. All welcome.
7:30 p.m. Annual Banquet



The Serra CommunitySerra International ('Serra') is formally recognized by the Holy See as the global lay apostolate for vocations in the Catholic Church. Serra is a voluntary association of some 20,000 Catholic laymen and laywomen called Serrans.

Each Serran is a member of a local Serra Club sanctioned by the Ordinary of the diocese in which the Serra Club is located.

Since it was founded in 1935, in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., Serra has chartered 1,109 Serra Clubs in 46 countries on six continents.

Serra's objectives and purposes are:

1.To foster and promote vocations to the ministerial priesthood in the Catholic Church as a particular vocation to service, and to support priests in their sacred ministry

2.To encourage and affirm vocations to consecrated religious life in the Catholic Church

3.To assist its members to recognize and respond in their own lives to God's call to holiness in Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit

St. Antoine-Marie de Zaccaria - Le Village Bruyère

Aujourd'hui est permise la mémoire facultative de St. Antoine-Marie, fondateur des Barnabites:


Saint Antoine-Marie de Zaccaria, Fondateur de la Congrégation des Barnabites (1502-1539)

Saint Antoine-Marie Zaccaria naquit à Crémone, en Italie, d’une famille d’opulents patriciens. Son père, enlevé par une mort soudaine alors qu’Antoine-Marie était encore au berceau, laissa sa mère veuve à l’âge de dix-huit ans. Elle se consacra tout entière à l’éducation de son fils. Chrétienne fervente, elle s’appliquait surtout à former le petit Antoine-Marie à la vertu. A son école, il apprit vite à soulager les pauvres avec une grande compassion. Cet enfant au bon coeur allait jusqu’à se priver volontairement de nourriture pour pouvoir nourrir et vêtir les indigents. Sa sincère charité lui attira d’abondantes bénédictions et des grâces de choix.

Le jeune Antoine-Marie Zaccaria étudia la philosophie à Pavie, puis à Padoue. Reçu docteur en médecine à l’âge de vingt-deux ans, il choisit sa ville natale pour exercer son art. Tout en soignant les corps, il cherchait à faire du bien aux âmes. Une inspiration intérieure le poussait à embrasser l’état ecclésiastique. Pour se préparer à l’apostolat des âmes, il se mit à étudier avec ardeur la théologie, les écrits des Pères de l’Église. Il reçut l’ordination sacerdotale à l’âge de vint-six ans. (1528)

Pendant ses études, il ne perdit jamais de vues sa propre sanctification ni celle de son prochain. Il visitait les malades dans les hôpitaux, rassemblait les petits enfants abandonnés et leur enseignait le catéchisme.

Devenu prêtre, il oeuvra à Crémone où sa parole simple et persuasive ramena beaucoup de chrétiens à la pratique de leurs devoirs. « Allons voir l’ange de Dieu ! » disaient ses compatriotes. Bien qu’il passa des heures au confessionnal, il ne suffisait pas à la tâche. C’est alors que saint Antoine-Marie Zaccaria songea à réunir autour de lui un certain nombre de prêtres zélés, qui tout en s’appliquant à se sanctifier eux-mêmes, travailleraient en plus à la sanctification de leurs frères en combattant l’ignorance, la paresse et la corruption du siècle.

Ces prêtres menaient une vie pauvre et frugale, prêchant surtout par l’exemple. « C’est le propre des grands coeurs, leur disait le Saint, de vouloir servir sans récompense, combattre sans ravitaillement assuré. » Le pape leur permit de constituer une nouvelle congrégation sous le nom de : Clercs réguliers de St-Paul. On leur confia l’église St-Barnabé à Milan, d’où leur vint le nom de : Barnabites.

Le zélé fondateur institua encore des Conférences spirituelles pour les prêtres. Les personnes mariées eurent une Congrégation spéciale où elles s’exercèrent aux bonnes oeuvres corporelles et spirituelles de Miséricorde. Il fonda en outre un Ordre de religieuses, dites les "Angéliques de Saint-Paul" pour l’instruction des jeunes filles pauvres et l’entretien des linges des églises.

La dévotion à la Sainte Eucharistie fut son moyen de choix pour conquérir les coeurs à Dieu. En 1534, il commença à exposer publiquement le très Saint Sacrement durant quarante heures, en souvenir du temps que le corps du Sauveur demeura dans le tombeau. C’est à lui que l’on doit cette bienfaisante institution des Quarante-Heures.

Devant ce renouveau chrétien, les médiocres traitèrent les fervents de fanatiques et de superstitieux. Saint Antoine-Marie Zaccaria fut critiqué, moqué, décrié, mais un grande paix et sérénité ne cessait d’envelopper son âme.

En 1539, épuisé par une mission qu’il prêchait à Guastalla, sa santé fléchit soudainement. Le Saint se rendit à Crémone, chez sa mère ; ses religieux vinrent l’y voir une dernière fois ; il leur annonça sa mort prochaine qu’il venait d’apprendre par révélation. Après avoir reçu l’extrême-onction et le saint viatique, saint Antoine-Marie Zaccaria s’endormit paisiblement dans le Seigneur, le 5 juillet 1539, à l’âge de trente-sept ans. On l’enterra à Milan où il fut vite honoré comme un saint. Le pape Léon XIII l’a canonisé.

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COLLECT FOR THE OPTIONAL MEMORIAL

OF ST. ANTHONY MARY ZACCHARIAS

O Lord, we pray that in the spirit of the Apostle Paul we may pursue the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, for having learned it, Saint Anthony Zaccaria constantly preached your saving word in the Church. Through our Lord.

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On June 21, I took part, with Soeur Lorraine Desjardins and many of the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa in the ground-breaking ceremony for the new affordable housing for Ottawa seniors to be built on the site of the Résidence St-Louis in Orléans. 

The press release below in French details the politicians speeches; I only have a limited selection of photos and none of the actual shovels in the ground and the blessing:

 Le Village Bruyère destiné
aux aînés à faible revenu d’Ottawa

Ottawa (Ontario) — Une cérémonie a eu lieu le 21 juin pour l’inauguration des travaux de construction de 45 nouveaux logements locatifs abordables destinés aux aînés à faible revenu d’Ottawa. Les gouvernements fédéral et provincial ont versé 5,4 millions de dollars pour la réalisation de ces logements.

L’annonce a été faite par Royal Galipeau, député fédéral d’Ottawa-Orléans, au nom de l’honorable Diane Finley, ministre des Ressources humaines et du Développement des compétences et ministre responsable de la Société canadienne d’hypothèques et de logement (SCHL), et Phil McNeely, député provincial d’Ottawa-Orléans, au nom de l’honorable Rick Bartolucci, ministre des Affaires municipales et du Logement de l’Ontario, en compagnie de Jim Watson, maire d’Ottawa.

« Notre gouvernement investit dans l’aménagement de logements abordables, ici même à Ottawa, contribuant ainsi à la création d’emplois et à l’amélioration de la qualité de vie des personnes qui en ont le plus besoin, a indiqué le député fédéral Galipeau. Ces initiatives aideront les aînés à faible revenu de notre collectivité à se procurer des logements sûrs et abordables qui répondent à leurs besoins. »

« Ces 45 logements sont un excellent exemple de l’engagement de l’Ontario à l’égard des aînés qui ont besoin de notre soutien, a déclaré le député provincial McNeely. Nous sommes fiers d’aider à offrir des logements sûrs, abordables et accessibles à nos aînés qui ne peuvent compter que sur un revenu fixe ou faible. Ces logements auront une incidence favorable sur la vie des aînés résidant ici même, à Ottawa. »

« Le Village Bruyère constitue, dans le domaine des soins abordables pour aînés, un modèle qui fera sans aucun doute l’envie de la province tout entière, a indiqué le maire, Jim Watson. La Ville d’Ottawa est fière d’accorder une aide financière de plus d’un million de dollars afin de contribuer à la réalisation du projet inauguré ici aujourd’hui. »

L’ensemble Bruyère de 45 logements abordables en milieu de soutien offrant des soins continus est situé au 879, chemin Hiawatha Park, à Ottawa. Il a reçu 5,4 millions de dollars en investissements conjoints dans le cadre de l’Entente modifiée Canada-Ontario concernant le logement abordable. Des incitatifs financiers municipaux de plus d’un million de dollars viennent s’ajouter aux contributions fédérale et provinciale.

Soins continus Bruyère est le champion du mieux-être des Canadiennes et des Canadiens vieillissants ainsi que des personnes nécessitant des soins continus, les aidant à recouvrer autant que possible leur santé et leur autonomie, et à les maintenir, par des soins novateurs empreints de compassion, par la recherche, l’enseignement et la défense de leurs droits. Situé à Ottawa, le centre offre des soins continus complexes, des soins palliatifs, des services de réadaptation, des soins aux personnes âgées, des soins de longue durée, des services de recherche et de la médecine familiale.

Soins continus Bruyère est l’un des plus importants centres en son genre au Canada. Il englobe l’Hôpital Saint-Vincent, l’Hôpital Élisabeth-Bruyère, l’Institut de recherche Élisabeth-Bruyère, la Résidence Saint-Louis, la Résidence Élisabeth-Bruyère, le Centre de médecine familiale Bruyère, le Centre de médecine familiale Primrose et la Fondation Bruyère.

Le gouvernement du Canada veut s’assurer que les Canadiens ayant des revenus fixes peuvent vivre de manière digne et autonome tout en demeurant dans leur milieu, près de leur famille et de leurs amis. Le Plan d’action économique du Canada prévoit, sur deux ans, 400 millions de dollars pour construire de nouveaux logements pour les aînés à faible revenu. En tout, le Plan d’action économique du Canada prévoit 2 milliards de dollars pour la construction et la rénovation de logements sociaux, et jusqu’à 2 milliards de dollars supplémentaires sous forme de prêts à faible coût consentis à des municipalités pour la réalisation de travaux d’infrastructures liés au logement. Le Plan d’action économique du Canada poursuit dans la foulée de l’engagement pris en 2008 par le gouvernement fédéral d’investir plus de 1,9 milliard de dollars sur cinq ans pour améliorer et construire des logements abordables et venir en aide aux sans-abri.

L’Ontario continue de construire de nouveaux logements abordables et de réparer des logements existants pour ses résidents qui ont des besoins dans ce domaine. Depuis 2009, le gouvernement provincial a versé près de 183 millions de dollars pour la construction de logements locatifs destinés aux personnes handicapées et aux aînés à faible revenu. L’investissement global de plus de 2,5 milliards de dollars en Ontario s’est traduit par la construction et la réparation de plus de 270 000 logements et le versement de 35 000 suppléments au loyer pour les familles ontariennes ayant un revenu fixe. Dans le cadre du programme « Ontario ouvert sur le monde », la Stratégie à long terme de logement abordable de la province jette les bases d’un système de logement abordable plus efficient et plus accessible en Ontario.

Fourth of July - Blessed Piergiorgio Frassati, Man of the Beatitudes - Sainte Élisabeth de Portugal

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY
TO OUR AMERICAN FRIENDS!

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Blessed Piergiorgio Frassati has inspired youth, especially Catholic young men around the world.  In Canada, including Ottawa, we have several Frassati houses. 

Happy Feast Day, Guys!

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

MAN OF THE BEATITUDES

Feast: July 4

[Born April 6, 1901, Turin, Italy; died July 4, 1925, Turin, Italy; beatified May 20, 1990 by Pope John Paul II]

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati is a saint for the modern world, and especially for the young people of our time. Born in 1901 in Turin, Italy, his time on earth was short-only 24 years-but he filled it passionately with holy living. Pier Giorgio was a model of virtue, a "man of the beatitudes," as Pope John Paul II called him at the saint's beatification ceremony in Rome on May 20, 1990. He was described by friends as "an explosion of joy." As Pier Giorgio's sister, Luciana, says of her brother in her biography of him, "He represented the finest in Christian youth: pure, happy, enthusiastic about everything that is good and beautiful."

To our modern world which is often burdened by cynicism and angst, Pier Giorgio's life offers a brilliant contrast, a life rich in meaning, purpose, and peace derived from faith in God. From the earliest age, and despite two unreligious parents who misunderstood and disapproved of his piety and intense interest in Catholicism, Pier Giorgio placed Christ first in all that he did. These parental misunderstandings, which were very painful to him, persisted until the day of his sudden death of polio. However, he bore this treatment patiently, silently, and with great love.

Pier Giorgio prayed daily, offering, among other prayers, a daily rosary on his knees by his bedside. Often his agnostic father would find him asleep in this position. "He gave his whole self, both in prayer and in action, in service to Christ," Luciana Frassati writes. After Pier Giorgio began to attend Jesuit school as a boy, he received a rare permission in those days to take communion daily. "Sometimes he passed whole nights in Eucharistic adoration." For Pier Giorgio, Christ was the answer. Therefore, all of his action was oriented toward Christ and began first in contemplation of Him. With this interest in the balance of contemplation and action, it is no wonder why Pier Giorgio was drawn in 1922 at the age of 21 to the Fraternities of St. Dominic. In becoming a tertiary, Pier Giorgio chose the name "Girolamo" (Jerome) after his personal hero, Girolamo Savonarola, the fiery Dominican preacher and reformer during the Renaissance in Florence. Pier Giorgio once wrote to a friend, "I am a fervent admirer of this friar (Savonarola), who died as a saint at the stake."

Pier Giorgio was handsome, vibrant, and natural. These attractive characteristics drew people to him. He had many good friends and he shared his faith with them with ease and openness. He engaged himself in many different apostolates. Pier Giorgio also loved sports. He was an avid outdoorsman and loved hiking, riding horses, skiing, and mountain climbing. He was never one to pass on playing a practical joke, either. He relished laughter and good humor.

As Luciana points out, "Catholic social teaching could never remain simply a theory with [Pier Giorgio]." He set his faith concretely into action through spirited political activism during the Fascist period in World War I Italy. He lived his faith, too, through discipline with his school work, which was a tremendous cross for him as he was a poor student. Most notably, however, Pier Giorgio (like the Dominican St. Martin de Porres) lived his faith through his constant, humble, mostly hidden service to the poorest of Turin. Although Pier Giorgio grew up in a privileged environment, he never lorded over anyone the wealth and prestige of his family. Instead, he lived simply and gave away food, money, or anything that anyone asked of him. It is suspected that he contracted from the very people to whom he was ministering in the slums the polio that would kill him.

Even as Pier Giorgio lay dying, his final week of rapid physical deterioration was an exercise in heroic virtue. His attention was turned outward toward the needs of others and he never drew attention to his anguish, especially since his own grandmother was dying at the same time he was. Pier Giorgio's heart was surrendered completely to God's will for him. His last concern was for the poor. On the eve of his death, with a paralyzed hand, he scribbled a message to a friend, reminding the friend not to forget the injections for Converso, a poor man Pier Giorgio had been assisting.

When news of Pier Giorgio's death on July 4, 1925 reached the neighborhood and city, the Frassati parents, who had no idea about the generous self-donation of their young son, were astonished by the sight of thousands of people crowded outside their mansion on the day of their son's funeral Mass and burial. The poor, the lonely, and those who had been touched by Pier Giorgio's love and faithful example had come to pay homage to this luminous model of Christian living.

Pier Giorgio's mortal remains were found incorrupt in 1981 and were transferred from the family tomb in the cemetery of Pollone to the Cathedral of Turin.

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St. Elisabeth de Portugal

Sainte Élisabeth reçut ce nom à son Baptême, en souvenir de sainte Élisabeth de Hongrie, sa tante. A l'âge de huit ans, elle récitait chaque jour l'office divin et conserva cette pratique jusqu'à sa mort; elle méprisait le luxe, fuyait les divertissements, soulageait les pauvres, multipliait ses jeûnes et menait une vie vraiment céleste. Toutes les oeuvres de piété d'Élisabeth étaient accompagnées de larmes que l'amour faisait monter de son coeur à ses yeux. Le temps que ses exercices religieux lui laissaient libre, elle aimait à l'employer à l'ornementation des autels ou aux vêtements des pauvres.

Élevée sur le trône de Portugal par son mariage avec Denys, roi de ce pays, elle fut d'une patience remarquable dans les épreuves qu'elle eut souvent à subir de la part de son mari, et ne lui montra jamais, en échange de ses procédés injustes, qu'une amabilité croissante, une douceur toute affectueuse et un dévouement sans bornes, qui finirent par triompher de ce coeur rebelle. Élisabeth est célèbre par le don que lui fit le Ciel de rétablir la paix entre les princes et les peuples.

Peu de Saintes ont montré tant de charité pour les membres souffrants de Jésus-Christ; jamais aucun pauvre ne partait du palais sans avoir rien reçu; les monastères qu'elle savait dans le besoin recevaient abondamment le secours de ses aumônes; elle prenait les orphelins sous sa protection, dotait les jeunes filles indigentes, servait elle-même les malades.

Tous les vendredis de Carême, elle lavait les pieds à treize pauvres, et après les leur avoir baisés humblement, elle les faisait revêtir d'habits neufs. Le Jeudi saint, elle remplissait le même office près de treize femmes pauvres. Or, un jour qu'elle lavait les pieds à ces pauvres, il se trouva dans le nombre une femme qui avait au pied une plaie dont la mauvaise odeur était insupportable: la reine, malgré toutes les répugnances de la nature, prit ce pied infect, en pansa l'ulcère, le lava, l'essuya, le baisa et le guérit. Même miracle arriva en faveur d'un pauvre lépreux.

Un jour qu'elle portait dans les pans de sa robe de l'argent pour les pauvres, son mari lui demanda à voir ce qu'elle portait, et il fut émerveillé d'y voir des roses hors de saison. Après la mort du roi, elle voulait se retirer chez les Clarisses, mais on lui fit observer qu'elle ferait une meilleure oeuvre en continuant ses libéralités. Enfin, après une vie toute d'oeuvres héroïques, elle mourut en saluant la Très Sainte Vierge, qui lui apparut, accompagnée de sainte Claire et de quelques autres Saintes. [Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950.]

Sunday in Ordinary Time 14A: Jesus, Gentle and Humble of Heart - L'Apôtre Saint Thomas, the Apostle

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year “A”) - July 3, 2011 - TAKING HEART IN THE SPIRIT, FROM JESUS’ YOKE [Texts: Zechariah 9:9-10 [Psalm 145]; Romans 8:9, 11-13; Matthew 11:25-30]

St. Paul's teaching on the life Christians live in the Spirit is marvellously rich.  But it is also complex.  And at times it is hard to follow.  This may explain why the lectionary omits verse 10 in today's passage from Romans.  In it the argumentation takes a sudden turn that can appear bewildering to the reader trying to follow his line of thought.

Paul’s rhetorical training led him to create balanced parallel clauses and chiastic structures (an a-b-b’-a’ pattern) that set items in contrast.  “So then, ... we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live”.

As well, Paul oscillates between calling the Holy Spirit the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ.  Once he even went so far as to substitute Christ himself for the Christ's Spirit.  “You are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you.  Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him”.

Paul also begins to introduce into his teaching the eschatological dimension that he will develop more fully later in the chapter.  We will meet this more fully in next Sunday's selection from Romans.  “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you”.

For Paul, the presence or absence of the Spirit is what distinguished Christians from unbelievers.  God's Spirit indwells the believing disciple and, by implication, so does the Father and Christ.  We might describe this as the Trinitarian dimension of Christian existence.

Indeed, it is God the Father who grounds all creation and raises the dead.  As well, Christ risen from the dead has shared with believers his righteousness.  And the Spirit is the presence of both God and Christ in the believer now, guaranteeing him or her a future full of hope.

Paul wants Christians to draw hope from God's ultimate purpose in bestowing the Spirit on his people.  He believed that the end-time salvation would be theirs because it had already begun to take root in their lives.

After facing the unbelief of the Galilean towns of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum (Matthew 11:20-24), Jesus began to share with his disciples the intimacy of his special relationship with the Father (“no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him”). 

Though experiencing resistance, Jesus praised the Father, knowing that His will was being worked out among those who were receptive.  Not the `wise and intelligent' but those who were childlike (“infants”) in their openness to God.

In addressing the “weary” and those “carrying heavy burdens”, Jesus had in mind those not yet His disciples.  His offer of rest, however, was given to all who shoulder His yoke.

In Judaism, the “yoke” was a common metaphor for obedience, subordination or servitude.  It generally referred to the observance of the Torah—all that God had made known of his purpose—and the keeping of God's commandments.

Jesus effectively claimed that his teaching was the full revelation of God's will for humanity.  In contrast with the teaching of Moses, which Jesus had already deepened (cf. Matthew 5.21-48), Jesus' instruction embodied God's purpose and demands.

Like Moses, once described as the gentlest person on earth (Numbers 12.3), Jesus remains “gentle and humble of heart”.  And, in his servant-like humility, Jesus offers the rest that God long ago had promised through Jeremiah (6.16).

“Rest” does not mean idleness or the absence of activity, but rather a deep sense of peace and well-being amid all the activities that mark the Christian disciple's engagement in family, society and church.

The future dimension of this rest—which Jesus offers even now in this world—is the fullness of salvation in the world to come.  In effect, then, Jesus' invitation and promise here are a summary of the gospel message, as well as the source of much consolation for believers.

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The observance of Sunday removes the possibility of celebrating St Thomas on his feast this year; still he is an inspiration to disciples who struggle to believe...



Thomas l'Apôtre ou saint Thomas est l’un des douze apôtres de Jésus. Son nom signifie «jumeau» en araméen, tout comme son surnom Didyme, qui en est la traduction grecque. Il appartiendrait à la tribu d'Issacar, l'une des douze tribus d'Israël. Doutant de la résurrection du Christ avant de l'avoir vu de ses yeux et touché il est devenu symbole et image du doute religieux.

Évangélisateur des Indes, c’est pour avoir construit un palais pour un roi que Thomas est représenté avec une équerre d’architecte. Il est parfois également représenté avec la lance qui fut l’instrument de sa mise à mort.

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Grant, almighty God, that we may glory in the feast of the blessed Apostle Thomas, so that we may always be sustained by his intercession and, believing, may have life in the Name of Jesus Christ your Son, whom Thomas acknowledged as the Lord. Who lives and reigns with you.

Images from Canada Day Celebrations - Homily at Sacred Heart-Anniversary Mass

CATHEDRAL BASILICA OF NOTRE DAME, OTTAWA

Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus—July 1, 2011

THANKING GOD FOR HIS ABUNDANT BLESSINGS

[Texts : Deuteronomy 7.6-11; Psalm 103 (102); 1 John 4.7-16; Matthew 11.25-30]

Two quotes give us an idea of the essential role that Blessed Pope John Paul II saw for the Sacred Heart in the new evangelization and in the building of the civilization of love:

“For evangelization today the Heart of Christ must be recognized as the heart of the Church: it is he who calls us to conversion, to reconciliation... It is he who enables us to adhere to the Good News and to accept the promise of eternal life.  It is he who sends us out on mission.  The heart-to-heart with Jesus broadens the human heart on a global scale.” (Homily at the Canonization Mass of St. Claude La Colombiere, May 31, 1992).   

In a letter to Father General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach at Paray-le-Monial, the site of the Sacred Heart’s revelations to St. Margaret Mary Alococque, he observed:

“In the Heart of Christ the human heart comes to know the true and only meaning of life and destiny, to understand the value of an authentically Christian life, to protect itself from certain perversions, to unite filial love for God with love for the neighbor.  In this way—and this is the true meaning of the reparation demanded by the Heart of the Saviour—on the ruins accumulated through hatred and violence, can be built the civilization of love so greatly desired, the kingdom of the Heart of Christ.”

Promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart is a mission Jesuits have received from the popes.  Father General Pedro Arrupe went so far as to say that a sign of the renewal of the Society would be its commitment to this mission, a revival of our personal and communal devotion to Jesus and to His love symbolized by His Heart. 

This is why I wished to link the Archdiocese of Ottawa’s observance of the 400^th anniversary of the Society of Jesus’ arrival in Canada and of my Golden Jubilee as a Jesuit this year with this Solemnity.

Four hundred years ago in January 1611, two priests set out from Dieppe, France for the fledgling colony of New France to begin a new effort at evangelization.  Buffeted by winds their ship sailed to Cornwall in England, was blown toward the Azores then to the coast of Labrador, making landfall at the port of Canso on Cape Breton Island before finally reaching its destination at Port Royal on May 22^nd. It had taken them four months to make a journey we can make in less than half a day!

Fathers Ennemond Massé and Pierre Biard gave praise and thanks to God at the altar of the Lord. The fact that their ship was called “La Grace de Dieu” led Father Biard in letters to his superior general in Rome, his provincial in France and a final public letter for publication in what would become the “Jesuit Relations” to speak of how many times they had had to be grateful to God for the providential graces of surviving their voyage, the guidance they had taken from the stars to their destination and for countless other blessings.

Following first vows, Guelph, 1964

My setting out from home as a 17-year old high school graduate on August 13, 1961 had none of the drama of the voyage of Biard and Masse, but there were tears of loss on the overnight train and the experience of joy which came with the morning, a joy that, with a few exceptions, has remained a constant in my life.

My Jesuit journey has been one long story of union with our Lord, familial feeling for his Blessed Mother and foster-father St. Joseph and growing familiarity with the saints (the Jesuit ones, naturally enough, but so many others too)—with the household of the faith [readers of my blog will not be surprised about this!] It has been a blessing, too, to know the varieties of Christian expression beyond Catholicism in the ecumenical adventure as well as the encounter with other believers, particularly of the Jewish community.  As a bishop, I have also met many others of good will whose faith (or lack of it) has sometimes been known, at other times unknown to me.

Two years after arriving in Canada Fathers Massé and Biard were captured by the British and expelled from their mission field. For Biard, that would be the end of his association with Canada. Massé, however, would be involved in two further missionary voyages, returning to Canada with Jean de Brébeuf and the mission superior Charles Lalement in 1625; being expelled by the British a second time in 1629; and returning a third and final time with Brébeuf in 1633. Massé, who was nicknamed “Père Utile”, helped establish in 1637 the first Jesuit school—in some way the start of Catholic education in Canada—at Sillery, Québec, where he died in 1646.

Priests who belong to the Society or “Company” of Jesus are called to live on the frontiers and on the cusp of new eras, as Biard and Massé did, as we are all called to do at the present threshold of a dynamic effort at evangelization that is new its ardour, methods and expression. 

The Scriptures featured in this year’s feast speak to us of the compassion of the heart of Christ for all who struggle with the burdens of life in a secularized world where the values of our faith seem often to be rejected, attacked and, even worse, ignored.

And yet, we are not without comfort, for we give our burdens over to him and take on ourselves in exchange his gentle, easy yoke guided by loving obedience to the Father in all things. For indeed, God has first loved us—each of us individually—as he loved Israel, not because of any inherent beauty, power or prestige of theirs, or ours, but rather for their opposites—each one’s poverty of spirit, each one’s need of the divine favour.  Wonderfully, and because God first loved us, we too can love, truly love, in return.

The wounded side of Christ and the image of His heart mentioned in the feast day preface are graphic bodily images of the personal love God has shown to each believer.

To enter the Heart of Christ is to know the depths of his love.  And this knowledge, like fire, cannot be contained it must spread.

In their zeal for the Kingdom, Jesuits are called to be ready to move on, or to wait, to return and to stay, but in every circumstance to proclaim, “not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake”.

In this jubilee year, I have been going back in my mind’s eye to the places where I have been called to study or to serve: to Guelph and Westchester County, New York for early formation and study; to Montreal to teach at my alma mater, Loyola High School; to Toronto for theological and graduate studies; to Halifax, Toronto and Regina to teach Scripture; and since 1995 to Toronto, Halifax again, and latterly Ottawa as a successor to the apostles. Oh, and there were also sabbatical year-long postings in Rome and Jerusalem!

Throughout these years, I have known the support of family and friends, the great family of the Society of Jesus, other religious communities of religious men and women, the company of bishops and the lay faithful.

Often, especially since becoming a bishop, I have felt carried by the prayers and encouragement of so many, rooted in the rock-solid foundation of friendship with Our Lord Jesus, the tender forgiveness of the Heavenly Father and the gentle promptings of the Holy Spirit.

And so, today, I say thank you, Lord, and renew my desire that all this be to God's greater glory.

 

“Non nobis, Domine, non nobis: not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your Name give the glory!”

Amen.

CANADA DAY - Sacred Heart Feast - LHS '61 Reunion

HAPPY CANADA DAY !

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The Solemnity of the

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we who glory in the Heart of your beloved Son and recall the wonders of his love for us, may be made worthy to receive an overflowing measure of grace from that fount of heavenly gifts. Through our Lord.

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A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE...

LOYOLA HIGH '61 REUNION

In mid-June I journeyed to Montreal for my class's fiftieth anniversary at the new Loyola High School (the school vacated the Junior Building on the north side of Sherbrooke Street West and headed to the south side campus). 

So we had a tour of the new building (checking out our graduation class photo, checking out the spectacular gym facilites, posing for the photo above and attending an anticipated Mass for Trinity Sunday in the school chapel: