Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

As you likely know, for the first two weeks of October I was in Rome with all of the bishops of Western Canada. We were there fulfilling the responsibility of our ad limina visit. Every five years bishops are obliged to make a report on the life of their diocese and then to appear in Rome to share on the report. Part of the visit includes visits with the Holy Father, individually and as a group.

In the Holy Father’s address to us as a group he began with the parable of the Prodigal Son (Forgiving Father). In the course of the address he encouraged us to promote the Sacrament of Penance, the sacrament wherein we experience God’s passionate love for us. As the Season of Advent is a time when we invite and encourage everyone to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance, I would like to share a few thoughts on this sacrament with you.

Every sacrament in one way or another is a meeting with Christ the risen Lord. What is key in the Sacrament of Penance is that it is a meeting with the forgiving God. One of the main attributes of our God is that God is a God of mercy, compassion and forgiveness. The monk Thomas Merton said: “God is mercy, in mercy, in mercy”. St. Bernard is recorded as having said: “The measure of God’s mercy is without measure”.

In the past when we thought of the Sacrament of Penance the emphasis was on the sinner, on my sins. Not that my sinfulness is unimportant, but the emphasis needs to be put on the mercy and forgiveness of God. The reason Jesus tells the parable of the Prodigal Son (and both boys are prodigal) is not so much to tell us about the boys, but to tell us about the Father, God our Father.

When we study the parable closely we see that the Father has been hurt by both boys. In spite of this, it is the Father who takes the initiative, who goes out to meet both boys. The younger son begins his confession and the Father interrupts. With the elder son, the Father pleads with him to come in and join the celebration. Not only does the Father take the initiative, but he is also very patient, tender and sensitive with the boys. The Psalmist reminds us of God’s mercy when he says: “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love … He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities … As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him” (Psalm 103).

This is the God whom we meet in the Sacrament of Penance. This is what is most important in the sacrament, much more important than our sinfulness.

There is something very important for us to recognize in the elder son. In him we meet someone who cannot forgive his brother. The Father tries very hard to persuade him to forgive his brother, but in the story it appears that he does not. This leads us to another very important part of the Sacrament of Penance, namely that we celebrate our forgiveness of our sisters and brothers.

Jesus is very strong in his teaching on the need for us to forgive our sisters and brothers: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15). In the Sacrament of Penance we receive the help we need to reach out and forgive our sisters and brothers. This is the beauty of coming together to celebrate the sacrament. When we gather as a community to celebrate we pray for one another, we encourage and support one another on our journey to forgiveness. This is something very pleasing to God.

St. Paul reminds us that reconciliation is God’s work and that we are ambassadors of this work. In other words we are to be instruments, agents of God’s reconciling work in the community (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). Paul goes further to say that we are “stewards of God’s mysteries” (1 Corinthians 4:1). The mystery of God’s reconciliation has been entrusted to us and we are to demonstrate that mystery to others. The Sacrament of Penance equips us to be instruments of that mystery.

The Sacrament of Penance is a very special form of worship, of prayer. When celebrating the sacrament we come before God in our poverty and helplessness. We take honest ownership of our situation, admit it and entrust it to God. In this we are telling God that God is God and we are we, sinful dependent persons. This is adoration, this is prayer at its best.

The Sacrament of Penance is also a sacrament of spiritual growth. Our life of faith is a love relationship with God. Someone who really loves another does not test how far they can go before hurting the other. Persons who really love each other are concerned about how they can show their love for each other more deeply. So it is in our relationship with God. By examining ourselves and taking greater ownership and responsibility for the things hindering our relationship, by handing them over and asking forgiveness for them, we take a great step towards further growth in our love relationship with our Lord.

All of this helps us to see how the Sacrament of Penance is a new beginning for us – a starting over, a beginning anew – and so it is truly a sacrament of hope. In celebrating this sacrament I realize that I am accepted as I am, healed, restored and set on the way in a renewed manner. It is interesting to note how often in the Bible individuals encounter Jesus on the roadside. Having met Jesus they are once again on the road (Matthew 10:46-52). So it is with us in celebrating the Sacrament of Penance; having been on the roadside we are once again set on the way. This sacrament is truly a sacrament of hope for us.

Looking back over the Sacrament of Penance we see what a rich blessing is being offered to us. In view of the Season of Advent that we are entering, in view of the full meaning of the Sacrament of Penance and in light of the Holy Father’s encouragement to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance, I invite and encourage each person to avail themselves of the opportunity to meet the forgiving Lord in this beautiful sacrament. Take advantage of the gift being offered to you and enjoy more deeply the true peace of Christmas. The peace of the Lord be with you!

Gerald Wiesner, O.M.I.
Bishop

Bishop Gerald Wiesner, O.M.I.
Vancouver

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid” (John 14:27). These words of Jesus’ Farewell Discourse to his disciples, to us, express the goal of what God wants for God’s people: a situation of peace, a situation of non-violence. Violence of any kind destroys peace.

Jesus’ words of assurance to his disciples contain a new promise: peace. In the Old Testament peace (shalom) was a conventional leave-taking address, but Jesus is not simply saying farewell to his disciples with this promise of peace. In the context of Jesus’ death, the expression “to leave” (peace I leave with you) takes on the meaning of a bequest. Jesus had promised not to leave the disciples “orphans”, and now his promise of peace supports that earlier promise.

The disciples will not be orphans – that is, they will not be alone – because they will live in the peace of Jesus. The peace that Jesus offers is not the world’s peace – neither the false promise of security, nor the end of conflict. The peace that Jesus gives is his peace, a peace that derives from the heart of Jesus’ life. The peace of Jesus is “the all-embracing sphere of his life, his love, his joy”. The gift of peace rests at the centre of Israel’s final hopes, and is now available in Jesus.

The promise of Jesus’ peace is not an occasion for complacency, as is seen by Jesus’ repetition of the exhortation, “do not let your hearts be troubled”. This reinforces the fact that these are not sentimental comments, simply telling the disciples not to worry. Rather they call the disciples – they call us – to find strength to face this new situation, and to make the contribution we are able to assure the removal of violence in order that peace may prevail. It is in this light that we need to see the spirituality of non-violence.

When we look at violence we can examine it on different levels. We can speak of international violence, a violence that manifests itself in the area of war. We can speak of the violence of international trade, where rich countries violate poor countries by literally robbing them of raw materials or inducing a quality of slave labor.

One can speak of the violence of the social classes, the rich and the poor, the haves and the haves not. According to Worldwatch Institute (2002) the United States and Europe alone spend $18 billion dollars on cosmetics, $17 billion on pet food, $15 billion on perfumes, $14 billion on ocean cruises and $11 billion on ice cream just in Europe. That is a total of $75 billion.

But to eliminate hunger and malnutrition around the world would cost $19 billion, accessible clean water could be provided for $10 billion, universal literacy could be achieved for $5 billion, and every child in the Third World could be immunized for just over $1 billion dollars. That is a total of $35 billion dollars, less than half of the rich billion.

Over 1 billion people, 20 percent of the world’s population, lack reasonable access to safe drinking water, 40 percent of the people of the world lack basic sanitation facilities and, as drought brought on by greenhouse gasses increase, many millions die from starvation.

Indeed there is something immoral about all of this; there is violence in all of this, there is lack of peace.

One can speak of violence on the national level. Much of what has been said of violence on the international level is reflected on the national level. Further, we have cultural violence, racial violence and there is growing evidence of religious violence.

Then one can come even closer to home and speak of the violence that exists on the domestic level, the level of the home, the family, between individuals.

Viewing violence with a telescope or a good set of binoculars reveals that violence never begins on the international or national levels without it first having its beginning on the domestic level, in the heart of the human person.

When we are close to home it is domestic violence that confronts us most. Domestic violence is that which occurs in the family that results in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women and children. Wife abuse involves physical and sexual assault, emotional intimidation, degradation, deprivation, financial and other forms of exploitation of women. This abuse is often by their intimate partners. Some studies/surveys suggest that around the world one in every three women has been beaten, forced into sex or otherwise abused in her time.

Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, has said: “Violence against women is the most shameful human rights violation and also the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth.

The fear of violence, including harassment, is a constraint on women’s mobility and limits their access to resources and activities. Terror, depression, suicidal tendencies, severe anxiety, loss of self-esteem and feelings of hopelessness and shame are some of the effects of violence in the family.

Children who witness abusive behavior or are victims themselves are deeply affected and these scars last a lifetime. I have been told by social workers that in some of our communities 95 percent of the little girls are abused. Sexual abuse, especially, scars deeply and lastingly. The reason for this being that sexuality is much more than particular organs and specific actions. Sexuality is something that permeates our very person.

Something, which we learn from the early church, can help us understand this better. In the early years of Christianity it was judged that the best way one could give oneself to God was physical martyrdom. This involved total giving. After the age of the great persecutions it was judged that the best way one could give oneself totally to God was by a celibate way of life. The reason for this understanding was the belief that one’s sexuality was so much an integral part of one’s being that by offering it to God one was as close as one could come to the total gift of oneself in physical martyrdom.

When one closely examines the scene of violence, it is that of domestic violence which comes closest to home. In a culture where peace and justice and communion are threatened by violence, only a change of consciousness and conversion of heart produce the response to violence preached and practised by Jesus.

There practice of non-violence, the spirituality of non-violence, is not, as one might suppose, a sign of indifference or timidity. It is linked to faith and hospitality, believing in the power of God to support the innocent, and identifying with the merciful Father who forgives the aggressor and welcomes them to a new relationship. Non-violence is not the aim of the truly spiritual justice. Important as it is, non-violence remains a negative – the absence of violence. Non-violence is a step towards the gift of peace, which transforms the person in all their relationships and is the gift “the world cannot give”. Because of the gift of peace, in the presence of non-violence it becomes possible to let go of all the rationalization of violence along with the long-held grudges and resentments. Because of the gift of peace it becomes possible to be healed or at least well salved of deep scars and hurts. This does not happen overnight, but as the non-violence is emptied out it is replaced by the gift of peace, which spreads and changes our violent world little by little.

The peace of which we speak is a gift, God’s gift in Jesus. In order for a gift to be gift three things must happen: It must be received, it must be developed and it must be shared.

With the gift of peace, it needs to be received. I must recognize need for that gift in my life. I must make space, suitable space, for the gift in my life. I must welcome the gift with gratitude.

Then the gift needs to be developed. I must unwrap the gift, open the box in which it is contained. I need to examine the gift, study its nature and purpose; see how it is to be used.

Finally, the gift must be shared. The gift must be offered, given to others in their need.

As agents of the gift of peace, as instruments involved in the spirituality of non-violence, we can best learn how to be good agents, good instruments, by studying the example of the maker and distributor of the gift, our Lord himself. I would like to reflect on two scenes in the gospel from which I feel we can learn.

The first scene is Jesus raising the widow’s son at Nain (Luke 7:11 ff).

As we listen to the description of this scene we can visualize two processions making their way to the town gate. One is a procession of death; we are burying the only son of a mother, and she is a widow. The other is a procession of life. Jesus has just healed a centurion’s servant and now his disciples and a large crowd are with him. The two processions meet.

Looking at the procession of death we see the real violence that is present there. Death is always violent. It is so shocking, sudden, complete. The mother is a widow; she has already suffered the loss of her husband.

As a widow in that society she has basically no rights and little support. The dead person is her only son. She has no other children; she is all alone. Besides, it is not normal for parents to bury their children. Parents are not wired to bury their children. As children we bury our parents. This mother is violated; she experiences severe pain; she is devastated.

From the procession of life we have a strong reaction. “When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep’”. Jesus had compassion for her.

The word “compassion” generally evokes positive feelings. We like to think of ourselves as compassionate people. But, if being human and being compassionate are the same, then why is humankind torn by conflict, war, hatred, oppression and abuse? This causes us to take a critical look at our understanding of compassion.

The word compassion is derived from the Latin words “pati” and “cum”, which together mean, “to suffer with”. Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable and powerless with the powerless.

In the gospel scene that we are reflecting on we meet the expression “to be moved with compassion”, an expression that appears only a few times and is used exclusively in reference to Jesus or his Father. The Greek verb that is used reveals the deep and powerful meaning of the expression, it refers to the entrails of the body, or as we might say today, the guts. They are the place where our most intimate and intense emotions are located. They are the centre from which both passionate love and passionate hate grow.

When the gospels speak about Jesus’ compassion as his being moved in the entrails, they are expressing something very deep and mysterious. The compassion that Jesus felt was obviously quite different from superficial or passing feelings of sorrow or sympathy. Rather, it extended to the most vulnerable part of his being. It is related to the Hebrew word from compassion, rachamin, which refers to the womb of God. Indeed, compassion is such a deep, central and powerful emotion in Jesus that it can be described as a movement of the womb of God. There, all the divine tenderness and gentleness lies hidden. There, God is father and mother, brother and sister, son and daughter. There, all feelings, emotions and passions are one in divine love. When Jesus was moved to compassion, the source of all life trembled, the ground of all love burst open and the abyss of God’s immense, inexhaustible and unfathomable tenderness revealed itself.

The end of the scene in the gospel says, “The dead man sat up and began to speak and Jesus gave him to his mother”. This gospel scene, in its fullest meaning, shows us the real meaning of the spirituality of non-violence.

The second gospel scene that I would like to ponder is that of the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). Jesus has spent the night on the Mount of Olives – a favorite resting place – and probably in prayer. He has come to the Temple and is teaching. Many come to listen to him, including some scribes and Pharisees who bring a woman caught committing adultery. They are rough, brutal, cruel, insensitive, judgmental. They are certainly inconsiderate of the person (where is the man?), they are using her to catch Jesus; they want him to choose between the law and a person.

Jesus refuses to deal with the case as merely a legal matter and deals with it practically. In a capital case the witnesses against the accused were to take the initiative in carrying out the execution. Jesus asks them to think first, whether their own consciences proclaim them worthy to sit in judgment. They are aware of the effectiveness of Jesus’ answer. His answer is one that they didn’t expect, they didn’t come to hear, one they really can’t accept. Perhaps ashamed of using a woman’s humiliation to ensnare a man, they leave, one by one, beginning with the eldest.

Now Jesus is alone with the woman. This woman, too, has come to Jesus; likely not with the same motivation as the others. She has sinned; but she has remained, stayed with him. In last Sunday’s gospel the disciples of John followed Jesus; they went and saw and stayed. In this gospel scene Jesus has stayed with a disciple, a sinner perhaps, but Jesus treats her with compassion. Verbally the woman says very little, only three words: “No one, sir”. By remaining, by staying, standing there, she speaks volumes. She acknowledges, accepts and confesses her sinfulness. She professes her trust in Jesus.

In this encounter sinfulness meets sinlessness. St. Augustine said: “Two remained: the miserable and the merciful”. It seems that the crowds dispersed as well, for the text says Jesus is left alone with the woman. Only now does Jesus act directly. He treats her with the respect and compassion he has always shown those who are open to him and his message of salvation. As he has done in so many other situations, he disregards proper protocol and he speaks to this woman who is a stranger to him, a sinner, and he does this in a public place. He does not condemn her, but neither does he exonerate her. Acknowledging her obvious sinfulness, Jesus exhorts her to sin no more.

What has the woman seen? What has she experienced? An aspect of the mystery of God has come to her through the teaching of Jesus. Someone has listened to her being, her person, not just her words. Someone else has experienced her pain, her suffering, her alienation, loneliness, embarrassment. Someone else has seen that she too is “someone”, and because she is given this sense of value, of dignity and identity, she can go and live anew. This woman has experienced the mystery of God and God’s love; she has experienced the compassion of God in Jesus. Compassion and mercy have won out.

Abraham Lincoln reflected that he hoped it could be said of him that wherever he went in life he plucked a weed and planted a flower wherever he thought a flower would grow. Jesus teaches us the spirituality of non-violence by plucking weeds and planting flowers. We pluck weeds by approaching violence with compassion, the compassion of God demonstrated for us by Jesus. We plant flowers by paving the way for, and sowing the seed of, God’s peace, a peace the world cannot give.

An item that has been an issue of concern in the church is the order of the sacraments of initiation. But even before considering the order in which these sacraments are to be celebrated, there is the more basic question: which are the sacraments of initiation.

When we return to the earliest existent rituals of the church we find that people were initiated into the faith community with a ritual that included a water-bath, an imposition of hands and the reception of the Eucharist. As the majority of people initiated in the early church were adults, the actual initiation ritual followed a rather lengthy catechesis and familiarization of the Christian way of life, an apprenticeship of sorts. Evidence indicates that the ritual was presided over by the bishop.

As large numbers entered the Christian community and the church grew it was not always possible for the bishop to be present for the ritual. In these situations priests presided over initiation. In the Eastern Church the priest presided over the entire ritual; in the Western Church the imposition of hands and anointing was left for the bishop to celebrate at a later date. This marked the beginning of the separation of the rites of initiation, although the order of the celebration of the rites remained the same.

Over the centuries it is rather difficult to determine a consistent practice in the order in which the rituals were celebrated. However, the more pronounced practice appears to be that, for children, the water bath was celebrated at birth, the imposition of hands and anointing at a later date – often after the age of reason – and the reception of the Eucharist completed the initiation. At the beginning of the 20th century this took place around the age of 15.

St. Pius X, desiring that children receive the Eucharist at an earlier age, declared the age of reason was an appropriate time for children to receive the Eucharist. A direct result of this was that the imposition of hands and anointing became dislocated from the order of the reception of the rituals and was celebrated at a later age. As a consequence the imposition of hands and anointing became a ritual in search of a meaning, a theology.

In the liturgical renewal introduced by the Second Vatican Council it is stated, “The rite of confirmation is to be revised so that the intimate connection of this sacrament with the whole of the Christian initiation may more clearly appear” (S.C. #71). Based on the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and subsequent teaching of the Magisterium, one is led to conclude that confirmation is a sacrament of initiation, that it is to be celebrated after baptism and in preparation for the celebration of the Eucharist.

The Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity (Ad Gentes), in reference to the catechumenate process of initiation, affirms: “Then, when the sacraments of Christian Initiation have freed them from the power of darkness, having died with Christ, been buried with Him and risen with Him (baptism), they receive the Spirit who makes them adopted sons (confirmation) and celebrate the remembrance of the Lord’s death and resurrection together with the whole People of God” (#14).

It is quite clear from the general teaching that the Official Magisterium of the Church emphasizes the initiatory character of confirmation. What needs to be singled out is the overt reference to the revised rite of confirmation, which shows the intimate connection that this rite has to the whole of Christian initiation.

The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium), in discussing how the priestly community is brought into operation, expresses both the initiatory character of confirmation as well as the complimentary order in which the sacraments are to be received. “Incorporated into the Church through baptism… bound more intimately to the Church by the sacrament of confirmation… (then) taking part in the Eucharistic sacrifice, which is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life, they offer the divine Victim to God” (#11).

In the Apostolic Constitution On the Sacrament Of Confirmation Pope Paul VI refers often to confirmation as a sacrament of initiation. “By means of these sacraments of Christian initiation (baptism, confirmation, Eucharist) they thus receive in increasing measure the treasures of divine life and advance toward the perfection of charity”.

Repeatedly Pope Paul VI speaks of confirmation as a sacrament of initiation and expresses its relationship to the other sacraments of initiation, namely baptism and Eucharist. “In baptism, the newly baptized receive forgiveness of sins, adoption as sons of God, and the character of Christ, by which they are made members of the Church and for the first time become sharers in the priesthood of their Savior. Through the sacrament of confirmation, those who have been born anew in baptism receive the inexpressible Gift, the Holy Spirit himself, by which they are endowed with special strength. Moreover, having received the character of this sacrament, they are bound more intimately to the Church and they are more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith both by word and deed as true witnesses of Christ. Finally, confirmation is so closely linked with the holy Eucharist that the faithful, after being signed by holy baptism and confirmation, are incorporated fully into the body of Christ by participation in the Eucharist”.

In the study of theology, liturgy is recognized as one of the theological sources. An examination of the Rite of Confirmation reveals a number of things. The Introduction to the Rite affirms: “those who have been baptized continue on the path of Christian initiation through the sacrament of confirmation” (#1). Paragraph three of the same introduction, in speaking of the task of parent, says, “They are to form and gradually increase a spirit of faith in their children and, with the help of catechetical institutions, prepare them for the fruitful reception of the sacraments of confirmation and Eucharist”.

When speaking of the sponsor for confirmation it is affirmed that it is desirable that if this person is present, they be the same as the godparent at baptism, as this “expresses more clearly the relationship between baptism and confirmation” (#5). Paragraph 11 of the same Introduction speaks of the identity, unity and order of the sacraments of initiation.

In this official teaching of the church one can easily single out three very clear affirmations that pertain to the scope of the question being discussed. First, confirmation is never spoken of as a sacrament of “adult” commitment to faith but always as a sacrament of initiation. Secondly, confirmation is always spoken of as a completion of baptism and a preparation for the Eucharist. Thirdly, the Eucharist is always spoken of as the climax, the completion of initiation into the Christian community.

To what has been offered thus far from the vantage point of the official teaching of the church, one can add the teaching found in the Rite of The Christian Initiation for Adults. The whole thrust of the RCIA is that initiation into the community takes place gradually, in stages, and reaches its climax in the celebration of the initiation sacraments. “The sacraments of baptism, confirmation and Eucharist are the final stage in which the elect come forward and, with their sins forgiven, are admitted into the people of God, receive the adoption of sons of God, are led by the Holy Spirit into the promised fullness of time and, in the Eucharistic sacrifice and meal, to the banquet of the kingdom of God” (#198).

In paragraph #208 of the same Rite the connection of the baptism and confirmation is affirmed. The reasons given for this connection are Trinitarian reasons as well as conditions for entry into the paschal mystery. While the direct reference here is to the condition of adults, since the reasons given for the connection are deeply theological, they must also apply to children of catechetical age.

The Catechism of The Catholic Church recaptures, clarifies and summarizes the teaching on the sacraments of Christian initiation. It very clearly affirms that baptism, confirmation and Eucharist are sacraments of initiation (#1211, 1212). Confirmation is spoken of as the completion of baptismal grace (#1285, 1302, 1303, 1304, 1306, 1314, 1316). Likewise it very clearly affirms that the Eucharist completes Christian initiation; baptism and confirmation enable the individual to participate with the whole community in the Lord’s own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church directly addresses the issue of confirmation as the “sacrament of Christian maturity”. Repeatedly it states that confirmation is the gift of the Holy Spirit, the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit and not dependent on the faith-choice of the individual for its efficacy (#1302, 1303, 1316). Likewise, there is a clear distinction made between adult faith and the adult age of natural growth (#1308).

In yet one more magisterial document we find a clear and straightforward teaching on the nature, relationship and order of celebration for the sacraments of initiation. The Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation “Church In America” of Pope John Paul II expresses clearly and in summary form the position that is expressed in this presentation:

“Communion of life in the church comes through the sacraments of Christian initiation: Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist. Baptism is ‘the doorway to the spiritual life; it makes us members of Christ and draws us into the body of the church’. In Confirmation, the baptized ‘are joined more completely to the church, they are enriched with special strength by the Holy Spirit and thus are more solemnly obliged to spread and defend the faith in word and deed as true witnesses of Christ’. The journey of Christian initiation comes to completion and reaches its summit in the Eucharist, which fully incorporates the baptized into the Body of Christ … The Eucharist is more than simply the culmination of Christian initiation. While Baptism and Confirmation serve as a beginning and introduction to the life of the church and cannot be repeated, the Eucharist is the living and lasting centre around which the entire community of the church gathers …” (#34 & #35).

A Pastoral Letter from Bishop Gerald Wiesner, O.M.I.
to the people of God in the Diocese of Prince George

Dear Brother Priests and Religious, Dear Sisters and Brothers!

Sunday, April 17, 2005 is the 42nd World Day of Prayer for Vocations. This reminds us of many things. In particular it reminds us that in order for the Church, the Body of Christ, to live and function well, every member must carry out their role in the body. The life and growth of the body depends upon the faithful exercise of the role of each member.

As one looks more closely at the life and growth of the Body of Christ, which is the Church, it also becomes clear to everyone that some of the roles in the body are carried out by some on behalf of and in favor of the larger group. There are roles that are carried out by a few for the greater well being of the group. We see very often how married couples and families play a major role in the life of the church. Committed Catholic singles are often pillars of parish ministries and the vocation to the single life is something to be honored as a way of living out the baptismal call of holiness.

Very basic in all of this is the universal call to holiness. All the faithful of Christ are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity. The classes and duties of life are many but holiness is one that is cultivated by all who are moved by the Spirit of God.

To promote vocations requires that we cultivate the sense of being called across the spectrum of possible vocational forms and choices. We cannot promote vocations to ordained ministry and religious life without promoting the vocation of Christian marriage. Likewise we cannot support and encourage family life without promoting and nurturing other manifestations of the Spirit’s care for the Church. We cannot encourage those drawn to lead solitary lives without nurturing the call to service. We cannot animate people toward ordained ministry without celebrating the call experienced by many lay people to be spiritual directors, chaplains, catechists, retreat masters, missionaries and so on.

The notion of the “seamless garment” has been used at times to help us reflect on life and death issues. And so perhaps it could also be applied to vocations. Respect for life must take into account human life at all its stages and conditions. So too a “seamless garment” approach to vocational awareness covers the whole of Christian existence and the many different ways in which the followers of Jesus give expression to their union with the mystery of God.

The particular form a vocation takes is in the end secondary to the birth and development of the believer’s relationship with God in Christ. No one is going to start thinking about vocational forms and choices before they have had an experience of their lives both as a gift and a mystery. The more the Gospel takes over our minds and hearts, the more we are going to find ourselves desirous and excited about proclaiming and bearing witness to the wonderful truth of God’s saving, steadfast love.

It is within this “seamless garment” of vocations that one looks at the vocation to the priesthood and the consecrated life. In the end vocation is not about choosing an occupation or profession for the sake of personal fulfillment and financial gain. The disciples were not simply being asked to change one occupation, whether it was fishing, collecting taxes or tent making, for another sort of gainful employment. They were really being asked to become a different kind of human being, namely people transformed by the saving love of God and, just as importantly, by a saving love for God’s people.

A vocation is not a reward for a virtuous life but does presuppose a conversion of heart and a spiritual journey that begins with repentance and a commitment to ongoing growth in the spiritual life. In baptism we are all called to holiness of life. A vocation to priesthood or consecrated life is a call to a radical form of discipleship that aspires to follow Jesus’ teaching and example ever more closely. It becomes clear that the priesthood and consecrated life are not human inventions, but gifts from God by which God continues to give himself to people throughout history.

The priesthood and consecrated life are God’s gifts to the Church for the very being and greater wellbeing of the Church, God’s people. The Church teaches that,

“The consecrated life is at the very heart of the Church as a decisive element for her mission since it manifests the inner nature of the Christian calling and the striving of the whole Church as Bride towards union with her spouse … it is an integral part of the Church’s life and a much needed incentive towards ever greater fidelity to the Gospel” (Vita Consecrata#3).

The ordained priest is consecrated to make Christ present as shepherd and pastor of his flock. The priest is the “bearer of the mystery” that is the centre of our faith life. Christ has given us the Church and the gift of the priesthood to perpetuate the Eucharist, to preach the Gospel and to forgive sin.

From this it becomes very clear that vocations of priesthood and consecrated life are everyone’s business. If I am a Catholic I have a huge stake in the priesthood and consecrated life. As Catholics we need to promote vocations in the Church. It is the responsibility of the entire faith community to pray for vocations and to make every effort possible in the promotion of vocations.

In our Diocesan Pastoral Plan we say, “Church, become who you are”. In the process of becoming who we are and being more fully who we are, vocations are of the essence; we simply will not become and be who we are without vocations. A Church, becoming who it is called to be, has within itself what is necessary for this to happen. As a diocesan family we have come of age, we need to have from within our own resources what is necessary to make us who we are. It is no longer proper for us to look to the outside, to look to others to come and help us. As a diocesan family we need to take the responsibility ourselves.

The question is: Where do we put our energies? As mentioned above it is the business of everyone. Everyone!

We need to begin with our young people. Recruiting posters for the military in the United States depict Uncle Sam pointing a menacing finger while the caption reads, “Uncle Same wants you!” Many young people, in a spirit of loyalty and patriotism, respond.

In the Church the Holy Spirit plants the grace of a vocation in a person’s heart. “Christ wants you!” “The Church needs you!” “God’s people need you!” Sometimes the Holy Spirit’s prompting is very clear in a person’s mind and heart. But more often than not the Holy Spirit relies on the help of other people to encourage, guide and promote vocations. Vocations are there in the hearts of our young Catholics, vocations waiting to be nurtured and cultivated by our prayers and encouragement.

Our ideal goal must be to instill in our young Catholics such a love and appreciation for the sacraments and vocations that they will not only consider a vocation themselves, but they will also encourage their peers to be open to such an option. Too many vocations have fallen victim to peer pressure. One Vocation Director describes her positive experience this way: “I remember giving a talk to 4,000 teens in San Antonio, Texas. When I asked them to show me the hands of Christ, immediately I saw hands raised. I issued a challenge that all those who felt called to be missionaries stand, and many stood. Then I called for those who felt called to become priests or religious to stand up in front of their peers! When they stood the rest applauded.”

In his message for the 42nd World Day of Prayer for Vocations the Holy Father says:

“Dear adolescents and young people, it is to you in a way that I renew the invitation of Christ to ‘put out into the deep’. … I come to recognize more and more how strong is the attraction in young people to the values of the Spirit and how sincere is their desire for holiness. Young people need Christ, but they also know that Christ chose to be in need of them. Dear young women and men! Trust Christ; listen attentively to his teachings, fix your eyes on his face, persevere in listening to his Word. Allow him to focus your search and your aspirations, all your ideals and the desires of your heart”.

I make this message to young people my own.

Traditionally Catholic homes have been a privileged place for a vocation to grow and be nurtured by parents who understood the importance of priesthood and consecrated life. Today we need to appeal to parents to instill a sense of vocation in our young Catholics. Parents should not confine themselves to asking their children, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” They must also ask, “And what do you think God wants you to be?” We must help young people look beyond careers and professions and answer a call from God to be holy.

For most young Catholics that call is going to be to married life. We must do all we can to help them prepare for that vocation. We can also be certain that God is calling some of our young people to lives of special service in the Church, to priesthood and the consecrated life. It is particularly challenging to present the commitment of consecrated life and priestly ministry in the context of contemporary culture. Without support, these vocations will go unheeded.

Parents can do so much by praying with their children and teaching them to seek God’s will in their lives through vocational discernment. Parents need to have a sense of vocation and mission themselves to pass on to their children. Parents receive their children from God and must be willing to give them back to God for service of his people.

A recent article in Columbia Magazine stated that 60 percent of parents discourage their children from following a vocation, 20 percent are indifferent and 20 percent are supportive. In faith, parents need to understand that their children’s true happiness depends on a generous response to God’s call and that God is never outdone in generosity and love.

In the past we were able to count on the large number of religious sisters and brothers to educate our young people in the faith. Parents are now aided in this responsibility by many lay teachers and catechists who generously serve our Catholic community. I want to appeal to all our teachers in our Catholic schools and in our religious education programs, as well as to our youth ministers, to speak with our young Catholics about the call to holiness and the importance of discerning one’s personal vocation. I appeal to you as well to speak specifically about the consecrated life and the priesthood with our young Catholics. (I remember when, as a young boy in Grade 8, a 21-year-old female teacher spoke to me personally about the possibility of a priestly vocation. I still remember this very vividly.) In so sharing with young people you will be cooperating with the Holy Spirit in building up the Body of Christ. If we fail to inspire a sense of vocation in a new generation of believers we will all suffer the consequences.

My Brother Priests, we have a special responsibility to promote vocations. This is done, first of all, by “stirring up in our hearts the gift we have received with the imposition of hands”. We need to have a sense of wonder and awe in the presence of this “mystery and gift” as the Holy Father calls the priesthood. We are vessels of clay carrying treasures for God’s people. We must speak about vocations in our homilies and in our visits to schools and religious education classes. Youth ministry is also a crucial place for a serious discussion about vocations. Our sense of mission to lead people to Jesus Christ is also a powerful motivator in prompting vocations. It is essential to remind ourselves constantly that ministry is not about me, but about Christ. We too must be “inviters” who challenge young people to search their hearts and answer God’s call to serve.

Jesus did say “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38).

Our quest for vocations in the Church is a spiritual one. We need to storm heaven with our prayers. We need to pray individually, as families and as parish communities, asking the Lord of the harvest to bless us with laborers. Asking children to pray for priests, sisters and brothers is a way to signal to the child the importance of priests and religious in our lives. At the same time it indicates to the child that priests, sisters and brothers are human and need the support and prayers of the faith community.

Already in the Old Testament we read that God dwelt in a tent (or tabernacle) that was called a “meeting tent”. God desired meeting with his people. The tabernacles in our Churches house Christ present among us so that we can have this meeting with him. May we all enter the meeting tent frequently to visit Christ and to pray the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers into the harvest.

As I remind all of us of our responsibility in promoting vocations I want to thank parents, priests, sisters, brothers, teachers and youth ministers for all that they already do and urge you to redouble your efforts to encourage vocations. We must see this as a crucial part of our parish life. It is in the community of faith that the spiritual gifts are bestowed and discerned, so as to be put at the service of God’s people.

May the efforts of all of us, carried out in a true spirit of prayer, further our God-given mission: “Church, become who you are”.

INTRODUCTION

When the Church in her official teaching tries to help us understand and appreciate the Eucharist she begins with the Last Supper.

“At the Last Supper, on the night when he was betrayed, our Saviour instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice of his Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of his Cross throughout the centuries until He should come again, and so to entrust to His beloved spouse, the Church, a memorial of His death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.”
(S.C. #47).

The context in which this happens is important. It is the Last Supper. It is in that last meal that Jesus has with His friends that He shares with them His gift. It is a farewell gift.

This gift is a memorial of His death and resurrection. It is His death and resurrection that has brought salvation to the world. Now Jesus gifts his followers with a memorial of His death and resurrection. A memorial is a “making present” of something. In this memorial entrusted to his friends Jesus makes present for all time and for all of us, the benefit of his death and resurrection. The event of his death and resurrection is made present for us every time the Eucharist is celebrated. This means that whenever the Eucharist is celebrated we are able to take part in the real event of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and are able to benefit from it in a very special way. Today, in the celebration of the Eucharist we benefit from Jesus’ dying and rising. This is why it is so important that we participate in, that we enter actively in the celebration of the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is a “sacrament of love”. In a sacrament we meet Christ our Redeemer. When the Gospel of John describes Jesus’ action at the Last Supper it says: “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end”. In the Fourth Eucharist Prayer we pray: “He always loved those who were his own in the world. When the time came for him to be glorified by you, his heavenly Father, he showed the depth of his love”.

Jesus’ love for his own will be experienced in the foot washing and its completion in his death. Up until now Jesus has been the shepherd leading his flock. He has performed miracles and spoken with the power of truth. Having announced his message of love he is now going to offer himself up in humility, in weakness, in silence and in love even to death. He will go to the very end of love; he will love totally and unconditionally, giving life, giving his life. He will reveal in a new way who he is and who God is.

The Prologue of the Gospel of John shows us a descending God who becomes flesh to lead us into the womb of the Father. Now we see Jesus descending to his knees to wash the feet of his disciples. In the Jewish culture, it was a slave’s job to wash the feet of others. Never would a king kneel down in front of one of his subjects, nor a teacher before his disciples. Jesus takes on the role of a slave; Jesus serves. He serves by washing the feet of his disciples, but his service goes beyond this. He serves by giving himself up to death out of love.

When we are taught that the Eucharist is a “sacrament of love”, what we are being taught is that in the Eucharist we meet Jesus who is serving us, washing our feet and giving himself up to death in order that we may have life.

Further, we are taught that the Eucharist is a “sign of unity”. In life we admire and obey those who do great and brilliant things and we put them on a pedestal. But admiration is not love. Love implies closeness, mutuality. When people really love they need each other and are vulnerable to one another. With the incarnation the all-powerful One becomes the little, powerless one. He needed his mother to feed him, love him and be in communion with him. He needed the Samaritan woman to give him water. And we will discover that he needs each one of us. He wants to dwell in each one of us as a friend. He is knocking at the door of our hearts, begging to enter and to become our friend:

“Listen! I am standing at the door knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.”
(Revelation 3:20)

The history of humanity has changed since God has knelt humbly at our feet, begging our love.

The Eucharist is a sign of our unity with Jesus. Jesus said: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love” (John 15:9). In celebrating the Eucharist we celebrate that sign which makes us one with Jesus.

In addition the Eucharist is a “bond of charity”. If Jesus has washed my feet, and if Jesus has washed your feet then we have something very important in common, we have each been washed by the same Lord and Master. Once Jesus has washed their feet, he puts on his outer garment and sits down. He then entreats them to do for each other what he has just done for them. “So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you” (John 13:14-15). When Jesus calls us to wash one another’s feet, it does not mean we have to actually wash everybody’s feet. What is does mean is we are being called to love, to serve and to forgive each other.

In the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, we read about Jesus at the Last Supper breaking bread, passing the cup, giving his body to eat and his blood to drink. It is a moment of intense communion through his body. To receive communion is to be in communion with Jesus. There is a deep link between the Eucharist and the washing of the feet. The washing of the feet, too, is an intense moment of communion through the body. Jesus tells the disciples that he is giving them an example; they are to do for each other what he has done for them. In the mind of John, communion at the table of the Lord cannot be separated from the communion lived in washing each other’s feet. The Eucharist as a “bond of charity” tells me that as I receive the Lord and Master in communion, I am to be a foot washer for my sisters and brothers. I am to be in communion with them.

As Jesus kneels humbly before each one and washes their feet he reveals to each one his love, which is both comforting and challenging. He sees in each one a presence of his Father whom he loves and serves. The love of Jesus reveals that we are important, that we are a presence of God and are called to stand up and do the work of God. We are called to love others as God loves them, to serve others and to wash their feet.

The teaching of the Church, to which I referred at the very beginning, also states that the Eucharist is “a paschal banquet in which Christ is consumed”. In the next reflection I want to talk about the various ways that Christ is present in the Eucharist.

A Pastoral Letter from Bishop Gerald Wiesner, O.M.I.
to the people of God in the Diocese of Prince George
January 2005

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

As we enter the New Year we are being confronted with something which is very important and which has long term and often, unforeseen consequences. This is something that is integral to our Catholic faith, namely, the understanding of and respect for marriage.

The following reflections are made out of concern for truth and with respect to all persons of varying positions.

At the heart of the issue is that we believe that marriage comes from the hand of God. Coming from the hand of the Creator marriage is understood as the lifetime commitment of one man and one woman to this indissoluble union. Jesus himself reaffirmed this understanding (Mark 10:6-9).

Marriage and the family are the stable context within which new human persons come into the world and are helped to grow to adulthood. Marriage and the family are as old as humanity. The fact that we are made male and female is obviously related to the continuance and survival of the human race.

There are many kinds of relationships in life and each has its own characteristics. Not everyone need be married and everyone, whether married or not, can become more fully human through friendship. The specific characteristic of the marriage relationship, however, is that it is the one in which a man and a woman are joined in mutual love and through that love bring forth new life. Marriage provides the setting in society in which those children are nurtured within the family and are protected by the covenant of marital fidelity. It is true, although sadly, particular marriages often fall short in many ways. This is a vitally important issue that needs to be addressed.

It is generally and traditionally understood that marriage and the family are the foundation of civil society. Marriage and family form a natural community that is more fundamental than the artificial community that is the state. To attempt to radically alter the meaning of marriage itself is to undermine that natural society of the family, which is far more basic than the state. A change in the definition of such a foundational institution as marriage cannot but have far-reaching consequences. The institution of marriage will not be simply modified; it will be irrevocably changed. A change in the definition now will produce a change in lived reality later for everyone. The state really has no authority to change a society that is more fundamental than itself.

Governments have an obligation to safeguard and strengthen marriage because of the contribution that marriage makes to the common good, the building up of society. There is compelling evidence that heterosexual families, into which most children are born, provide the best setting for their healthy formation.

Marriage deserves the protection, affirmation and respect of the state and of all society. Its distinct and essential nature does not change with culture or the passage of time. Marriage is not the effect of chance or the product of evolution of unconscious natural forces. Marriage is the wise institution of the Creator to realize in humankind the divine desire of love.

In view of this we expect our government to support the distinctiveness of marriage and family, as we have known them, for the good of its future citizens.

Although the family in its fullness involves a mother and father and children, our community of faith needs to give real, loving support as well to those who are living in single parent families – those who are facing life after the death of a spouse or separation and divorce – and couples who do not have children. We also need to welcome those who feel alienated from society and from the church because they are personally dealing with the issue of same-sex attraction. Each person, whatever their psychological disposition might be, is supernaturally worthy, loved by God and deserving of our respect.

We need to become involved in the current discussion. This means examining the question clearly and coming to terms with the real issues. We need to exercise our rights as citizens, discuss this matter among ourselves and with others, and communicate with our political leaders. Please take the time to write, e-mail or fax government leaders and your local Member of Parliament registering your objection to the proposal to reinvent the institution of marriage.

Prayer is a mighty force and we need to resort to prayer, invoking God’s help for the wisdom, courage and charity needed at this crucial time in our history.

The following is a reflection on the Feast of the Assumption given by Bishop Wiesner during the Cap-de-la-Madeleine (Quebec) Pilgrimage

The Gospel tells us “Mary set out and went with haste to a Judaean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth”.

In many ways we are like Mary. We have set out from many places and have come with earnest hearts to this sacred place to celebrate.

It is possible that much of our life’s experience is somewhat negative and discouraging. We may be discouraged about our government, about society, about the world economy, and perhaps even the church.

The event that we celebrate, the Assumption of Mary, invites us to see things in a different light; to see them in a spirit of hope. And this in two ways:

First of all, Mary’s assumption into heaven is a reminder of the feast that we will all celebrate. When we look at Mary’s life and our own, while the beginnings of our lives may differ the end of our lives will be the same. We are destined for intimacy with God – God himself.

As we celebrate Mary’s assumption into heave what we are being reminded of is our own hope for ourselves – eternal life, which God himself wants to be for us. We are celebrating what we expect, what we hope for ourselves. Ultimately, nothing more is said of her than what God, one day, we hope, will say to us. Our celebration today is one of true Christian hope.

The second very important point of our celebration today is that Mary is an example for us as to how we are to live in order that our hope be realized.

As we enter the New Millennium our Holy Father strongly encourages us to strive toward a fresh, personal, genuine encounter with Jesus Christ. Further, he reminds us that we are to encounter Jesus through Mary.

Always in life we respond much better to example than to teaching. Mary is such an example for us. The Holy Father notes, “The Mother of Christ presents herself as the spokeswoman of her Son’s will, pointing out those things which must be done so that the salvific power of the Messiah may be manifested. For this reason Mary is the sure path to our meeting with Christ” (CIA#11).

For the early Christian community Mary was the first disciple and the first apostle of Jesus.

We meet Mary for the first time at the annunciation. She is a young woman, 15-16 years of age. Someone fully human: She swept dirt floors, prepared simple meals, carried water on her head. What is so significant at this time is her openness and receptivity to what is being asked of her. This reflects a very humble, prayerful, faith-filled disposition on her part. Hence she is able to respond, “Let what you have said be done to me”.

Our gospel this morning says Mary “went with haste” to a Judaean town. Scripture scholars remind us that this reflects her obedience and response to God’s will for her.

Elizabeth reflects two ways in which Mary is truly blessed. “Blessed is the fruit of your womb”. Mary did for her Son what all mothers do for their children. The fruit of her womb is the Son of God. Thus, Mary is blessed.

Elizabeth also says, “Blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled”.

Mary’s true blessedness is to be found in her faith; her trust that what was said to her by God would be fulfilled. Mary was truly human and had to make the same kind of act of faith and obedience that you and I have to make. It is here that we find her true blessedness.

This obedience to God’s will is affirmed three times during the presentation of Jesus in the Temple. She followed very simply and respectfully what God’s Law asked of people.

What is very precious to us is to discover how, on two occasions, Jesus highlights the greatness of his own Mother.

Jesus was speaking to a group when it was announced to him that his Mother and brothers were outside wanting to speak to her. Looking around at those with him Jesus replied: “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers? … Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:48-50).

On another occasion when speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you”. But Jesus said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it” (Luke 11:27-28).

What Jesus is in fact saying is that there is a closer relationship with him than the blood relationship of his own Mother. It is the relationship of keeping his word. The one who does this most perfectly is his Mother.

To be a true disciple is to follow the Master, and to follow the Master totally. Again we find this of Mary when the evangelist tells us, “Standing near the cross of Jesus was his Mother”. This is the ultimate of what it means to be faithful.

Not only is Mary the first and most perfect disciple of Jesus, she is also the first apostle. Mary is the first one to proclaim the Good News. On the occasion of her visit to her cousin Elizabeth, she certainly was a messenger of Good News. So much so was this true that the child in Elizabeth’s womb leapt for joy.

When the evangelist places on the lips and heart of Mary the Magnificat – the prayerful song of Hannah – he makes of her the first and greatest apostle.

The Magnificat is a “toast to God”. Mary blesses God; she says great things about God; her very being proclaims the greatness of God. It is no surprise to us that from a life of very intimate discipleship should come forth the strong proclamation of such Good News. What is being affirmed in the Magnificat are all the great things God has done – first of all in Mary’s own life, but then of all the great things God has done in the history of God’s people.

Finally we find Mary summing up for us the Good News at the Wedding of Cana. More clearly and briefly we will never find a more challenging and consoling message of Good News: “Do whatever he tells you”.

This Feast of the Assumption is truly a celebration of hope.

It was Sunday evening and five-year-old Sally has just returned from her baby-sitter in time to join her parents for the evening meal. It was in this context that Sally commented: “Mommy, why don’t we go to church on Sunday because my baby-sitter goes to church on Sunday?”

“Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself” (Matthew 21:16).

Perhaps it was Sally’s question that inspired the Holy Father to write a ninety-page Apostolic Letter on the Lord’s Day. In this letter, in observing that the numbers attending Sunday liturgy is strikingly low, the Pope states: “In the minds of many of the faithful, not only the sense of the centrality of the Eucharist but even the sense of the duty to give thanks to the Lord and to pray to him with others in the community of the church seems to be diminishing”.

Among the many things we might do in the Great Jubilee Year when we are being called to a new evangelization – a new appreciation of the Good News – is to ponder anew the meaning of Sunday.

In the liturgical renewal introduced by the Second Vatican Council the centrality of Sunday, the Lord’s Day, is clearly taught. “The church celebrates the paschal mystery on the first day of the week, known as the Lord’s Day or Sunday. This follows a tradition handed down from the apostles, which took its origin from the day of Christ’s resurrection. Thus Sunday should be considered the original first day”(#4).

While Sunday is the only element of the Christian calendar which goes back without interruption to Jesus himself, the Scriptures themselves open and close with the day. The Father begins creative activity in the book of Genesis on the first day of the Jewish week and the sacred writer in the book of Revelation has his vision of the end of all things on that same day of the week, now known as the Lord’s Day.

In Genesis we read, “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy” (2:3). The Sabbath precept, which in the first Covenant prepares for the Sunday of the new and eternal Covenant, is rooted in the depths of God’s plan. Sunday, therefore, is the day of rest because it is “blessed” and “made holy” by God, set apart from the other days to be, among all of them “the Lord’s Day”.

To understand more fully what the Biblical Scripture means by keeping the Sabbath “holy” we need to look at the whole story, which shows how everything, without exception, must be referred back to God. Having sanctified the seventh day with a special blessing and made it God’s own day, will have an important effect on the entire relation of humans with God. What in fact is affirmed is that there exists a dialogue of love between God and humans, which knows of no interruption and is never monotonous.

This dialogue of love involves ordinary as well as more intense means. Consequently all human life must involve praise of and thanksgiving to the Creator. However, people’s relationship with God also demands times of explicit prayer, in which the relationship becomes an intense dialogue, involving every dimension of the person. “The Lord’s Day” is the day of this perfect relationship when men and women raise their song to God and become the voice of all creation.

Flowing from this comes the significance of “the day of rest”. The Lord’s Day returns again and again, interrupting the rhythm of work, to express the dependence of humanity and the cosmos upon God. It recalls that the universe and history belong to God and that without the constant awareness of that truth humanity cannot serve in the world as co-worker of the Creator.

When the Book of Exodus formulates this commandment of the Decalogue it begins by saying, “Remember the Sabbath day in order to keep it holy” (20:8). What is to be remembered is the grand and fundamental work of God in creation, a remembrance which is to inspire and affect the entire religious life of humanity and so fill that day on which people are called to rest. Rest takes on a very sacred value. People are called to rest not only as God rested, but to rest in the Lord, bringing the entire creation to the Lord in praise and thanksgiving.

To be remembered as well is the great work of liberation accomplished by God in the Exodus: “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with mighty hand and outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day” (Deuteronomy 5:15).

It is in bringing these two together, creation and salvation, that one can see the full meaning of the Lord’s Day. The interruption of work is not just any kind of interruption, but a celebration of the marvels, which God has worked. Insofar as this “remembering” is alive, full of thanksgiving and praise of God, the human rest on the Lord’s Day takes on its full meaning. When this happens people enter the depth of God’s “rest” and can experience and celebrate God’s joy when God saw that all he had made “was very good” (Genesis 1:31).

It is not difficult for Christians to move from this appreciation of the Lord’s Day as the remembrance of God’s mighty works in creation and salvation to the divine work of the new creation and salvation wrought by God in Christ. God’s saving works are accomplished fully in Jesus. Jesus’ paschal mystery, his dying, rising and outpouring of the Spirit, is the full revelation of the mystery of the world’s origin, the high point of God’s saving work, and the anticipation of the final fulfillment of the world. What God accomplished in creation and brought about for his people in the Exodus has found its fullest expression in Christ’s death and resurrection. This leads us to the conclusion that for us the true Sabbath is the person of our Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ.

As the day of resurrection it is the day of new life, a new creation. Because one enters this new life of resurrection through baptism, Sunday is clearly the day of baptism. Following from this is that Sunday foretells life without end, hence renewed the hope of Christians and encouraging them on their journey. It is the supreme day of faith. In the Creed we declare the baptismal and Easter character of Sunday making it a day on which in a special way the baptized renew their adherence to Christ and his Gospel.

Upon reflection the Day of the Lord becomes an indispensable day. The Lord’s Day has structured the history of the church through two thousand years. The identity of this day must be protected and above all it must be lived in all its depth. The celebration of the Christian Sunday remains a indispensable element of our Christian identity.

(The Eucharist, the supreme celebration of Sunday, will be discussed in another message.)

A prayerful pondering of the fullness of the Lord’s Day leads one to realize that it is equally the People’s Day. An early Christian document affirms: “On the first day of the week, you shall all rejoice”. Fasting is set aside and prayers are to be said standing as a sign of resurrection. As that weekly meeting with the risen Lord, Sunday is marked by the joy with which the disciples greeted the Master: “the disciples rejoiced to see the Lord” (John 20:20).

As a day of rest Sunday reveals that the alternation between work and rest has bee built into human nature and willed by God. Rest is sacred. It enables people to withdraw from the often very demanding cycle of earthly tasks to renew awareness that everything is the work of God. For many people work is very oppressive. Sunday ensures everyone the opportunity of enjoying the freedom, rest and relaxation which human dignity requires. It provides the guarantee of at least one day of the week where people can both rest and celebrate religious, family, cultural and interpersonal needs. Withdrawing from work the material things about which we worry give way to spiritual values and we can look anew upon the wonders of creation.

This day of rest gives the faithful an opportunity to carry out works of mercy, charity and the apostolate. To experience the joy of the Risen Lord deep within is to share love with others. A gift is fully a gift when it is given away. “I have told you this that my own joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:11-12).

A common day of rest does more than restore our physical and mental energies. True rest, repose, leisure renews us in our whole being. It puts us at peace with God, with ourselves and with others. This day of rest enables us to stand back from our daily occupation to focus on our highest goals and to follow the call of our conscience with renewed commitment.

As a people day, Sunday is to be a day without the push to achieve, to produce, to be “useful” and efficient. It can be a day of playfulness and simplicity, of contemplation and wonder, of praise and enjoyment of life. Rather than doing different things on Sunday, we should consider “doing” less so as to “be” more.

In short, the Lord’s Day becomes in the truest sense, the “day of people” as well. It is with this belief that we face the Lord’s Day with the words of Nehemiah: “Today is holy to the Lord your God. Do not be sad, and do not weep; for today is holy to our Lord. Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength” (Nehemiah 8:9,10).

Pastoral Letter from Bishop Gerald Wiesner, O.M.I., to the Diocese of Prince George for the first Sunday of Lent, March 12, 2000, designated “World Day of Pardon and Repentance”.

As one looks at the very title of the day it can be concluded that two things are happening or are to happen. Pardon indicates that something is happening to us or for us: we are being excused or forgiven. Repentance on the other hand places the emphasis on us – we are to do something, and we are to do something because of what has been done to us. Having been excused or forgiven, we in turn are to change our ways. Key to this change on our part is that we, too, are to excuse or forgive.

A biblical image that I find striking and pertinent portraying this twofold action is the account of the woman taken in adultery as given in John’s Gospel. “Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus … said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’” (John 8:9-11).

The woman encounters pardon and repentance : “Neither do I condemn you … from now on do not sin again”.

The pardon she experiences is God’s pardon. What we have expressed for us here is the “boundlessness” of God’s compassionate love and mercy.

It is well for us to stand back and reflect on this boundless love and mercy. To begin we see it in the Lord’s initiative. It is God’s gift. There is nothing the woman does to merit this pardon. She simply stands there, hurting and in need.

God is patient in sharing this pardon. The Lord is not like an eagle, ready to pounce on us at every mistake made. The Prophet Isaiah reminds us, “A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench” (42:3). Jesus demonstrates this same patience for us in the parable of the barren fig tree. For three years the tree bore no fruit. When it was suggested that it be cut down and not waste the soil, the Master said, “Let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down” (Luke 13:8-9).

This pardon comes from a God who is very sensitive. Jesus demonstrates this for us beautifully with taken in adultery. The scribes and the Pharisees are rough with her, even brutal. She has sinned. Jesus is to choose between this person and the law. Jesus remains with her; he knows her pain. While he does not condone her sinfulness, Jesus does reveal to her that she is a person of value, with human dignity, and loved by God. Because she experiences this sensitive pardon she is able to go and live with new life. Her experience enables her to be repentant.

The Psalmist invites us to ponder God’s sensitivity in our regard: “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love … As father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust” (103:8,13,14).

Life teaches us that there is a quality of “toughness” in the Lord’s pardon. The Lord’s pardon possesses a definite resiliency. God is able to withstand and endure our sinfulness. It is the prophet Hosea who leads us to ponder this reality: “The more I called them, the more they went from me … My people are bent on turning away from me … How can I give you up? … How can I hand you over? … My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger … for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath” (11:2,7-9).

It is clear in the Gospel scene that God’s pardon absorbs the evil; annihilates it. When the Lord pardons, there is a new beginning, a new birth. The Lord’s own words, in the mouth of the prophet Isaiah, portrays this in a striking manner: “Come now, let us argue it out, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (1:18).

Standing before this monument of divine pardon does two things to us. To begin, it brings us to our knees in gratitude. St. Augustine said: “God works miracles because we fail to see the miracles God is constantly working around us”. One of these constant miracles is God’s pardon.

The second thing this monument of divine pardon leads us to is repentance. Repentance implies: turning from sin, resolving to reform one’s life, manifesting sorrow and regret, changing one’s ways. Jesus said to the woman, “Go your way, and from now on do not sin again”.

Experience teaches us that on our own we are not able to avoid sin. With God’s grace it is possible. It is correct to say that it is mostly with God’s grace that we are able to avoid sin. “Mostly with God’s grace” because we too are expected to contribute. Our contribution may not be very much, nevertheless contribute we must. Again, it was St. Augustine who said: “The God who made us without us will not save us without us”.

Another word that can be used for repentance is conversion. Conversion is a turning around, an about face. Pope Paul VI spoke of conversion as “transforming from within and making new”. In religious terms it is the surrender of oneself to an all-loving God who calls us to the fullness of life. It is God asking us to give what we thought we could not give; to live what we thought we could not live.

Being sent on our way not to sin again involves, to a great extent, pardoning as we have been pardoned. A cursory examination of Jesus’ teaching makes absolutely clear that essential to our life of repentance is our love for (pardoning of) our sisters and brothers. “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (John 13:34).

When we look at the ten commandments, commandments which lead to life, it is interesting to note that three of them deal with our relationship with God, the other seven deal with our relationship with God through our brothers and sisters. When Jesus describes the final judgement he insists, “Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40).

One of the most dramatic Gospel scenes of Jesus pardoning is the washing of the disciples’ feet. “So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (ref?). In the hymn for Morning Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours we pray: “Your love is at the heart of all creation, Your hurt is people’s broken brotherhood”. God’s hurt is people’s broken brotherhood. God’s hurt is our failure to wash one another’s feet.

It is very interesting to note that where the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) record the institution of the Eucharist at the Lord’’ Supper, the Gospel of John has the washing of the feet. What the Gospel of John is telling us is that the Eucharist is a service the Lord renders, a service that find its true meaning in the washing of feet. It is well for us – it is necessary for us – to reflect on how readily we approach the Lord’s table and how reluctantly we wash feet.

When, in response to their request, Jesus taught the disciples how to pray we notice that only one petition in that solemn teaching has a condition attached: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors”. What is interesting to note is that Jesus found it necessary to explain further only one petition of that prayer. It is almost as if Jesus is saying, “By the way, if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:12 & 14).

This teaching on the absolute need to pardon is again emphasized by Jesus: “So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift (Matthew 5:23-24).

It has been said that the shortest distance between a person and the truth is a story. This little story leads us deeply into the reality of pardon and repentance.

A girl in the fishing village became an unwed mother and after several beatings finally revealed who the father of the child was: the Zen master living on the outskirts of the village.The villagers trooped into the master’s house, rudely disturbed his meditation, denounced him as a hypocrite, and told him to keep the baby. All the master said was, “Very well. Very well.”

He picked the baby up and made arrangements for a woman from the village to feed and clothe and look after it at his expense.

The master’s name was ruined and his disciples all abandoned him.

When this had gone on for a year, the girl who had borne the child could stand it no longer and finally confessed that she had lied. The father of the child was a boy next door.

The villagers were most contrite. They prostrated themselves at the feet of the master to beg his pardon and to ask for the child back. The master returned the child. And all he said was, “Very well. Very well.”

From The Song of the Bird by Anthony de Mello

“‘Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No one, sir.” And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’”

In granting pardon our Lord simply says to us: “Very well! Very well!” In living repentance we are to say to others: “Very well! Very well!”

“Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus … while they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them … Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures … When he was at table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.”
(Luke 24)

This description of the Emmaus journey of the disciples provides us with a good overview of what happens today when disciples of Jesus gather to celebrate the Eucharist.

To begin, the narrative says: “Jesus himself came near and went with them …” In her official teaching the church says, “Christ is present when the church prays and sings” (S.C.#7). In explaining this further the church affirms: “In the celebration of Mass the principal forms of Christ’s presence in his church are manifested progressively. First, he is present in the assembly of the faithful gathered together in his name” (Eucharistica Sacramentum 1973). After all Jesus did say: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20).

Our supreme prayer is the Eucharist. Jesus is present, first of all, in our coming together. All of this reminds us clearly and strongly that when we gather to celebrate the Eucharist Christ is present in and through one another as we gather.

“He interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures”. Again we are reminded, “He is present in his word, since it is He Himself who speaks when the Holy Scriptures are read in the church” (S.C.#7).

In ordinary everyday life we give greater or lesser attention depending upon varying circumstances and the stature of the speaker. Children pay attention to the words of their parents: more or less. In a school assembly students are inclined to give greater attention to the address of the principal than to a supervisor shouting directives on the playing field. Most would give greater attention to an address of the Governor General than to a member of local government. When the Holy Father speaks most Christians, in fact most people, are very attentive.

In the Scriptures “… the invisible God out of the abundance of his love speaks to men and women as friends and lives among them so that he may invite and take them into fellowship with himself” (D.V.#2).

It is for this reason that we are reminded: “The church has always venerated the divine scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord, since from the one table of both the word of God and the body of Christ she unceasingly receives and offers the faithful the bread of life, especially in the sacred liturgy” (D.V.#21).

What is happening here is that the whole community is hearing God’s word. God’s word is being proclaimed and God’s word is being listened to. God’s word proclaimed and listened to will be the foundation for all else that this church does.

As the hearts of the disciples burned within them as Jesus walked with them and explained the scriptures, so today, our hearts should burn within us as we become more aware of how the risen Lord is equally present to us and speaks the word of life to us. In order for this to happen we need to be present, attentive, open and receptive in a spirit of faith.

Having met Christ in his word we are now better prepared to meet him in the breaking of the bread. The bread and the wine brought to the altar are symbolic of ourselves. They represent our pain and our hope. In the course of the great Eucharistic Prayer Jesus takes all of this upon himself. The Eucharistic Prayer is Jesus’ prayer to the Father for us and with us. Hence it is the greatest prayer we have.

By its very nature this prayer involves three things: blessing, thanksgiving and petition.

Blessing is our response to all that God has shared with us about God’s very self. We can ask: “Who is our God?” Our answer must be that our God is almighty, transcendent, totally beyond us, the God of mystery. But our God is equally our loving, merciful Father; the God who loves us with a motherly love.

Every act of liturgy blesses God. To bless is ‘to say good things about’. When we bless God this includes everything God has created. Blessing God is acknowledging, praising, rejoicing, glorifying, sanctifying God. A great theologian of our century said: “God is just as appreciative of congratulations and celebrations as we tend to be”. The liturgy is a ‘toast to God’. Since it is Jesus toasting the Father for us and with us, it is absolutely accepted by the Father.

The Eucharist is thanksgiving. We give thanks for the fact that God has become our partner. God has pitched his tent among people. God has taken the life of the world on himself. Our God has entered into a bond of intimate friendship with us. “I do not call you servants any longer … but I have called you friends” (John 15:14).

In this prayer of thanksgiving we remember and give thanks for the magnificent deeds that God has done for us especially in Jesus, but also in the church and in our own personal lives.

The kingdom of God, grace, we ourselves, are pure gift: gifts which ask to be accepted as they are by children. The child shows its gratitude by being totally caught up in its gift without any false shame, by being actively involved and fascinated by it. Prayer is that ‘extra thank-you’ to God in a life which in its entirety is pure gift.

The Eucharist is a re-enacting of the Last Supper; a re-enacting and making present of a past saving event. Jesus is inviting all of us to get involved in the Paschal Mystery. Jesus’ Paschal Mystery involves four actions: dying, rising, ascending, pouring out of the Spirit. In this one Mystery Jesus gave himself to the Father and to us. By our getting involved in this mystery we too are to surrender ourselves; we are to become stronger in order to give the Spirit to others.

The Eucharist is also a prayer of petition. In the Eucharist we are begging. Jesus did strongly teach us to ask. In fact, Jesus said: “If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it” (John 14:14).

Asking is a beautiful prayer because in it we admit who God is and who we are. This is adoration at its best. Christian faith is relying on another. Until we learn how to rely on Christ we really cannot begin to be his disciples, his friends. The more we become dependent the more we become fascinated, surprised, by God.

We ask the Father to send the Spirit to build up the People of God. We ask the Father to send the Spirit as a sign of the Father’s acceptance of our gifts and ourselves. Further, we ask for the gift of the Spirit to transform the gifts. “Let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become for us the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.” We ask also for the gift of the spirit in order that we may be transformed, changed. “Grant that we, who are nourished by his body and blood, may be filled with his Holy Sprit and become one body, one spirit in Christ.” The Sprit brings forgiveness, peace and a pledge of future life.

The Eucharist is an action and therefore it calls for the full, conscious, active involvement of everyone. This involvement is a manner of “concelebration”. True, the ordained priest has a unique and essential role to play. However, in her official teaching the church repeatedly affirms, “The faithful join in the offering of the Eucharist by virtue of their royal priesthood” (L.G.#10). “By offering the Immaculate victim, not only through the hands of the priest, but also with him, they should learn to offer themselves too” (S.C.#48).

Looking at the Eucharist with this threefold dimension of blessing, thanksgiving and petition, and looking at ourselves as the celebrants of this action, it becomes clear how demanding it is to celebrate the Eucharist well. Confronted with this challenge we take consolation in the words of Paul: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Sprit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27).

Having prayed in this way the body of Christ now comes forward to receive the body of Christ. In this Easter banquet Christ himself becomes our nourishment. Sharing in the Lord’s Supper is always communion with Christ, who offers himself for us in sacrifice to the Father.

It is important to be ever mindful that communion with Christ is deeply tied to communion with our sisters and brothers. Sharing in the one loaf which is Christ, we must share in mutual love with one another. We try to do this with the demanding words of Christ in mind: “So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24).

Having received the Bread of Life we ready ourselves to undertake with the strength of this Risen Lord and his Spirit the tasks awaiting us in our ordinary life. If we understand the meaning of what we have done we know that the Eucharistic celebration does not stop at the church door. Like the first witnesses of the Resurrection, Christians who gather to experience and proclaim the presence of the Risen Lord are called to evangelize and bear witness in their daily lives.

Mindful of the responsibility that is ours, we return to our everyday surroundings with the commitment to make our entire lives a gift, a spiritual sacrifice pleasing to God. Aware of what we have received in the celebration, we are much like the disciples of Emmaus, who once they had recognized the risen Christ “in the breaking of the bread”, felt the need to return immediately to share with their brothers and sisters the joy of meeting the Lord (Luke 24:33-35).