The Way of Contradiction

Posted on by

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Saturday of the First Week of Lent, February 28th, 2015

Liturgical texts here

 

I listened to Canada’s state radio broadcaster, the CBC, on the ride home last night. The host of the show interviewed “astonished” guests who could not believe that a Canadian Member of Parliament admitted to “not believing in evolution” (which usually means that one believes that creation came into existence by God, not aliens or the implausible odds atheists have put their faith in). The guests went on to highlight their unflinching devotion to not only evolution but global warming, vaccinations, abortion, and gay marriage —including the “Christian” on the panel. “Anyone who questions the science really is not fit for public office,” said one guest to that effect.

Continue reading →

The Coming Prodigal Moment

Posted on by

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Friday of the First Week of Lent, February 27th, 2015

Liturgical texts here

The Prodigal Son 1888 by John Macallan Swan 1847-1910The Prodigal Son, by John Macallen Swan, 1888 (Tate Collection, London)

 

WHEN Jesus told the parable of the “prodigal son”, [1]cf. Luke 15:11-32 I believe He was also giving a prophetic vision of the end times. That is, a picture of how the the world would be welcomed into the Father’s house through Christ’s Sacrifice… but eventually reject Him again. That we would take our inheritance, that is, our free will, and over the centuries blow it on the kind of unbridled paganism we have today. Technology is the new golden calf.

Continue reading →

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 cf. Luke 15:11-32

The Incurable Evil

Posted on by

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Thursday of the First Week of Lent, February 26th, 2015

Liturgical texts here


The Intercession of Christ and the Virgin, attributed to Lorenzo Monaco, (1370–1425)

 

WHEN we speak of a “last chance” for the world, it is because we are talking about an “incurable evil.” Sin has so entwined itself in men’s affairs, so corrupted the very foundations of not only economics and politics but also the food chain, medicine, and the environment, that nothing short of cosmic surgery [1]cf. The Cosmic Surgery is necessary. As the Psalmist says,

Continue reading →

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 cf. The Cosmic Surgery

The Most Important Prophecy

Posted on by

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Wednesday of the First Week of Lent, February 25th, 2015

Liturgical texts here

 

THERE is a lot of chatter today about when this or that prophecy will be fulfilled, particularly over the next few years. But I frequently ponder on the fact that tonight might be my last night on earth, and so, for me, I find the race to “know the date” superfluous at best. I often smile when I think of that story of St. Francis who, while gardening, was asked: “What would you do if you knew the world would end today?” He replied, “I suppose I would finish hoeing this row of beans.” Herein lies the wisdom of Francis: the duty of the moment is the will of God. And God’s will is a mystery, most especially when it comes to time.

Continue reading →

On Earth as in Heaven

Posted on by

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Tuesday of the First Week of Lent, February 24th, 2015

Liturgical texts here

 

PONDER again these words from today’s Gospel:

…thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Now listen carefully to the first reading:

So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.

If Jesus gave us this “word” to pray daily to our Heavenly Father, then one must ask whether or not His Kingdom and His Divine Will shall be on earth as it is in heaven? Whether or not this “word” we have been taught to pray will achieve its end… or simply return void? The answer, of course, is that these words of the Lord will indeed accomplish their end and will…

Continue reading →

The Great Adventure

Posted on by

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Monday of the First Week of Lent, February 23rd, 2015

Liturgical texts here

 

IT is from a total and complete abandonment to God that something beautiful happens: all those securities and attachments that you clung desperately to, but leave in His hands, are exchanged for the supernatural life of God. It is hard to see from a human perspective. It often looks about as beautiful as a butterfly still in a cocoon. We see nothing but darkness; feel nothing but the old self; hear nothing but the echo of our weakness steadily ringing in our ears. And yet, if we persevere in this state of total surrender and trust before God, the extraordinary happens: we become co-workers with Christ.

Continue reading →

Me?

Posted on by

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Saturday after Ash Wednesday, February 21st, 2015

Liturgical texts here

come-follow-me_Fotor.jpg

 

IF you really stop to think about it, to really absorb what just happened in today’s Gospel, it should revolutionize your life.

Continue reading →

Healing the Wound of Eden

Posted on by

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Friday after Ash Wednesday, February 20th, 2015

Liturgical texts here

thewound_Fotor_000.jpg

 

THE animal kingdom is essentially content. Birds are content. Fish are content. But the human heart is not. We are restless and unsatisfied, constantly searching for fulfillment in myriad forms. We are in an endless pursuit of pleasure as the world spins its advertisements promising happiness, but delivering only pleasure—fleeting pleasure, as if that were an end in itself. Why then, after buying the lie, do we inevitably continue seeking, searching, hunting for meaning and worth?

Continue reading →

Going Against the Current

Posted on by

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Thursday after Ash Wednesday, February 19th, 2015

Liturgical texts here

against the tide_Fotor

 

IT is pretty clear, even by a mere cursory glance at the news headlines, that much of the first world is in a free-fall into unbridled hedonism while the rest of the world is increasingly threatened and scourged by regional violence. As I wrote a few years ago, the time of warning has virtually expired. [1]cf. The Last Hour If one cannot perceive the “signs of the times” by now, then the only word left is the “word” of suffering. [2]cf. The Watchman’s Song

Continue reading →

Footnotes

The Joy of Lent!

Posted on by

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Ash Wednesday, February 18th, 2015

Liturgical texts here

ash-wednesday-faces-of-the-faithful

 

ASHES, sackcloth, fasting, penance, mortification, sacrifice… These are the common themes of Lent. So who would think of this penitential season as a time of joy? Easter Sunday? Yes, joy! But the forty days of penance?

Continue reading →

The Gentle Coming of Jesus

Posted on by

A Light to the Gentiles by Greg Olsen

 

WHY did Jesus come to earth as He did—clothing His divine nature in the DNA, chromosomes, and genetic heritage of the woman, Mary? For Jesus could very well have simply materialized in the desert, entered immediately upon forty days of temptation, and then emerged in the Spirit for His three year ministry. But instead, He chose to walk in our footsteps from the very first instance of His human life. He chose to become little, helpless, and weak, for…

Continue reading →

Returning to Our Center

Posted on by

offcourse_Fotor

 

WHEN a ship goes off course by only a degree or two, it is barely noticeable until several hundred nautical miles later. So too, the Barque of Peter has likewise veered somewhat off course over the centuries. In the words of Blessed Cardinal Newman:

Continue reading →

The Jaws of the Red Dragon

Posted on by

SUPREME COURTThe Supreme Court Justices of Canada

 

IT was a strange convergence this past weekend. All week long at my concerts, as a preamble to my song Call Your Name (listen below), I felt compelled to speak about how truth is being turned upside down in our day; how good is being called evil, and evil good. I noted how “judges are getting up in the morning, having their coffee and cereal like the rest of us, and then go into work—and completely overturn the Natural Moral Law that has existed since time memorial.” Little did I realize that the Supreme Court of Canada was planning to issue a ruling last Friday that opens the door for doctors to help kill someone with a ‘grievous and irremediable medical condition (including an illness, disease or disability)’.

Continue reading →

My Young Priests, Be Not Afraid!

Posted on by

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Wednesday, February 4th, 2015

Liturgical texts here

ord-prostration_Fotor

 

AFTER Mass today, the words came strongly to me:

My young priests, do not be afraid! I have put you in place, like seeds scattered among fertile soil. Do not be afraid to preach My Name! Do not be afraid to speak the truth in love. Do not be afraid if My Word, through you, causes a sifting of your flock…

As I shared these thoughts over coffee with a courageous African priest this morning, he nodded his head. “Yes, we priests often want to please everyone rather than preach the truth… we have let the lay faithful down.”

Continue reading →

Jesus, the Goal

Posted on by

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Wednesday, February 4th, 2015

Liturgical texts here

 

DISCIPLINE, mortification, fasting, sacrifice… these are words that tend to make us cringe because we associate them with pain. However, Jesus did not. As St. Paul wrote:

For the sake of the joy that lay before him, Jesus endured the cross… (Heb 12:2)

The difference between a Christian monk and a Buddhist monk is precisely this: the end for the Christian is not the mortification of his senses, or even peace and serenity; rather it is God himself. Anything less is falling short of fulfillment as much as throwing a rock in the sky falls short of hitting the moon. Fulfillment for the Christian is to allow God to possess him that he may possess God. It is this union of hearts that transforms and restores the soul into the image and likeness of the Holy Trinity. But even the most profound union with God can also be accompanied by a dense darkness, spiritual dryness, and sense of abandonment—just as Jesus, though in complete conformity to the Father’s will, experienced abandonment on the Cross.

Continue reading →

Touching Jesus

Posted on by

THE NOW WORD ON MASS READINGS
for Tuesday, February 3rd, 2015
Opt. Memorial St. Blaise

Liturgical texts here

 

MANY Catholics go to Mass every Sunday, join the Knights of Columbus or CWL, put a few bucks in the collection basket, etc. But their faith never really deepens; there is no real transformation of their hearts more and more into holiness, more and more into Our Lord himself, such that they can begin to say with St. Paul, “yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.” [1]cf. Gal 2:20

Continue reading →

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 cf. Gal 2:20