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February 2016 Liturgy Calendar

1/29/2016

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From a homily on the wedding at Cana.

We go to St. Bernard of Clairvaux in our consideration of this miracle at Cana.

In one homily of his on this Gospel passage[1], St. Bernard clearly places the miracle performed by Jesus as a continuation of the manifestations of His divinity. He writes: “It was truly a great sign of divine power, that at the word of the Lord water is changed into wine…” But St. Bernard looks beyond the miraculous changing of water into wine to its deeper meaning. And so the saint continues: “But there is a more perfect change wrought by the hand of the Almighty which He prefigured in this wonder.” And what is the deeper significance of the action of Jesus?

Why is it that Jesus performed this miracle? To please His mother? To please the people gathered at the wedding? To show off some magical powers? St. Bernard points to the desire of God to be united in love to each one of us. He writes:

For we are all of us invited to spiritual nuptials, in which the Bridegroom is none other than Christ the Lord…And we are the Spouse, and, if this does not appear incredible to you, all together we are one Spouse, and the soul of each single one of us is itself a Spouse.

And the saint adds:

But when can our misery know this of its God, that He loves us as the Bridegroom loves the Spouse?

God loves us as the Bridegroom loves the Spouse.

For St. Bernard this is the deeper meaning of the miracle of the wedding at Cana, that God invites each one of us into a loving spousal relationship. God indeed invites each one of us to share in His Divine Life, to become one with His Divinity. This is what is implied by using the analogy of a spousal relationship to talk of God’s desire for relationship with each one of us. Each one of us is called into an individual spousal relationship with God; all of us, together, are one Spouse, that is, the Church; each of our souls is also a Spouse of Christ.

The imagery of Christ’s spousal union with the Church is used in the understanding of Marriage as a divine institution. In Catholic Christian theology, marriage is considered to have been elevated by Christ Himself to be one of the seven Sacraments, precisely in His participation in the wedding at Cana. A marriage between two Christians, therefore, has a supernatural element – a divine element – as well as a natural one.[2]

As a Sacrament, marriage is a source of sanctifying grace, grace from God. This grace helps each spouse to assist the other grow in holiness, and it helps them together to cooperate in God's plan of redemption by being an embodiment of God’s incarnational love. In this way, sacramental marriage is more than simply a natural union of two persons; it is, in fact, a type and a symbol of the divine union between Christ, the Bridegroom, and His Church, the Spouse.

For many Churches, this Sacrament is restricted to the union between a man and a woman, with procreation as a determining factor. And so, the understanding of this Sacrament and of the sanctifying grace it promises is determined and consequently restricted by biology. By this interpretation, the New Law opened to us by Christ symbolized by the water-turned-into-wine as opposed to the Old Law symbolized by the water, this New Law, that of God’s call for us to be in union with Him through Christ, is trumped by biology. God’s desire for us to image and experience His spousal relationship with us through our own loving, committed relationships is restricted to those persons attracted to the opposite gender. This is primarily based on the capacity for natural procreation.

St. Bernard, in his exposition of the deeper meaning of Jesus’ miracle at the wedding at Cana, in using this spousal imagery, does not do so in an exclusionary manner. The spousal relationship offered to us by God through Christ is offered to all irrespective of gender. Because this relationship is open to all on a spiritual level, it is also open to all on a natural level, such that the spiritual and the natural realms are in continuity with one another. Therefore, this spousal relationship is offered not only to all individuals in their spiritual relationship to Christ, but it is also to be discovered, lived, and imaged in spousal relationship to another person, irrespective of the gender of the spouses.

The spousal relationship which God invites us into trumps biology. Divinity trumps biology; this in the sense that what is true in the spiritual realm is also possible in the natural realm. This follows from the Incarnation. As a man, I am called to be spouse of Jesus Christ in my spiritual relationship to Christ. I am also called to live and experience this spousal relationship in marriage to another man.

We have in this exposition a sacramentality of same-gender marriage, or more precisely, for a sacramentality of marriage irrespective of the gender of the spouses. All spousal unions are an image and a type of the spousal union of Christ and His Church. This is the message which comes to us from the miracle of Jesus at the wedding at Cana. It is the message which is opened to us in our consideration of the reflection of St. Bernard on this miracle; that God invites each one of us without exception in spousal relationship with Him through Christ, and that. Consequent to this, all of our spousal relationships are images of that divine union, whether those relationships in marriage be between a man and a woman, a man and a man, a woman and a woman.

May our reflection on the miracle of Jesus at the wedding at Cana penetrate our hearts, may it liberate us from the restrictions imposed on our thinking by the natural order, and may the natural order be infused by the divine meaning of Jesus’ action. This we pray. Amen.

[1] PL 183, 157 in The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers, Volume One: From the First Sunday of Advent to Quinquagesima by M. F. Toal, D.D. (Chicago: Henry Regnery Co., 1964), pp. 281-286.

[2] http://catholicism.about.com/od/beliefsteachings/p/Sac_Marriage.htm

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A homily on Same-sex Marriage by Archbishop LaRade, O.F.A.

On Christian Same-sex Marriage
The Gospel passage for the Mass of the 19th Sunday after Pentecost presents us with the parable of the Marriage Feast, and gives us the opportunity to preach on Marriage.

Nuptial, or marriage, imagery is an ancient figure of speech used to illustrate the relationship between God and His people. The Old Testament prophets use it in this way. St. John the Baptist calls himself the herald of the Bridegroom, and St. John the Evangelist talks about the Lamb and Bride, while St. Paul uses it to describe the relationship between Christ and the Church, the People of God. And, Jesus uses nuptial imagery in speaking of Himself as the Bridegroom of the Church.

This all points to the fact that the relationship between God and His people, between Christ and us, is understood - better yet, is experienced - as a deepening, life-giving, intimate relationship of love, support, and personal growth. This is the basis for our understanding of the marriage relationship.

Many mystics, both male and female, have experienced and described their relationship with Christ as a spousal relationship. The Church has described the relationship, not only of consecrated women, but also of the (male) priest to Christ as one of marriage.

This marriage relationship with Christ is a relationship that is open to all people, irrespective of gender. As a man, I am called to be the spouse of Christ. Christ calls me to be His spouse, to have an intimate relationship of love with Him. The spousal relationship with Christ, therefore, is not limited by one’s gender, by biology, by the physical.

I can hear some objecting by saying that, of course, this is true because it is not a physical relationship, but rather a spiritual relationship. This argument separates the physical and the spiritual. Yet, the teaching of the Church, elaborated by early Church Fathers, sees in the human person a unity of the physical and the spiritual, as they do in Christ. The spiritual and the physical enhance one another as a unity.
We cannot get around the fact that our relationship of love with Christ includes all of who we are, physical and spiritual. This includes our sexual orientation as an inherent facet of who we are as persons. I relate to Christ as a Gay man. Christ calls me to a spousal relationship with him as a Gay man. Christ does not call me to Him as a man who happens to be Gay, or as some Churches teach, as a person “with homosexual tendencies”. I am not a person “with homosexual tendencies”; rather, I am a homosexual. It is as such that Christ calls me into His loving arms, to be evermore fully who God has created me to be.

Our understanding of Marriage as a Sacrament of Christ should be based and reflect our understanding of being called into spousal relationship “through Him, with Him, and in Him”. Just as Christ calls each and every one of us to a deepening, life-giving, intimate spousal relationship of love, support, and personal growth, so that we become one with Him, so also does Marriage in Christ, as a Sacrament of Christ, call two people to become one irrespective of sexual orientation.

Believing that different sexual orientations are inherent to God’s creative plan, we believe that God desires for His love to be imaged and realized in same-sex spousal relationships.

The call to the vocation of Marriage in Christ is not limited by sexual orientation. The Sacrament of Marriage, modelled on the relationship of Christ with His Church, is a life-giving union of love, support and mutual respect to which every individual may be called irrespective of their sexual orientation. God has placed in each one of us the desire and capacity to love and be loved, and to love and be loved in an intimate way in a marital relationship. This God-given desire brings together both body and spirit; it is both a physical and a spiritual reality. It is not a desire which God means to be limited to heterosexuals.

The Mass today calls us to be saved by Christ. In the Introit, we hear Christ tell us: “I am your salvation.” In the Epistle, St. Paul tells us to "Put on the new man which has been created in justice and holiness of truth" (Eph.4:24). The "new man" is the person who is clothed in the garment of grace, as Jesus explains in His parable of the Marriage Feast. This most important task of our life is to become the spouse of Christ.
How do we do so? St. Paul tells us that it happens through love of truth, love of neighbour and love of justice. In our lives, we must constantly seek the truth as presented to us by Christ, we must constantly be of service to others, especially the most in need, and we must constantly seek justice, both on a personal level and on a collective level.

On this Mission Sunday, we recall that our mission as a Church is to witness to the infinite love of God for all His people, including His LGBTQ children. We seek to do so in the truth of Christ, serving our neighbour by seeking God’s justice. We do so in all humility, trusting on sanctifying grace given us by the Sacraments, including the Sacrament of Marriage. In doing so, we may likely find ourselves at odds with others. On some issues, we will find ourselves at odds with prevailing attitudes in the political and social worlds which are not based on a Christ-centric position. On the issue of Marriage, we find ourselves at odds with some in the Church world. This may well be the sacrifice imposed on us for seeking to be a faithful spouse of Christ.
Let us pray to be worthy of being clothed in the garment of grace, the nuptial garment of Christ.

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Jesus "comes out": Second Sunday after Epiphany

1/17/2016

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Second Sunday after Epiphany: January 17, 2016
Delivered by Most Reverend Roger LaRade, O.F.A.
Beloved Disciple Eucharistic Catholic Church, Toronto
© 2016
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Jesus "comes out"

Romans 12: 6-16, John 2: 1-11

This past Wednesday, the tirtheenth of January, we commemorated the Baptism of Jesus, and in doing so, we ended the season of Christmas-Epiphany. Today we celebrate the second Sunday after Epiphany. This year this is the only Sunday after Epiphany that we celebrate. Next Sunday, we enter already into the Pre-Lent season with Septuagesima Sunday. So, today is our only ‘green’ Sunday in a while and for several months to come.

I was of two minds in preparing the homily for this Sunday. It is, of course, an opportunity to talk about the Sacrament of Marriage, and of our Church’s position of inclusive Marriage. I’ve already issued a Pastoral Statement on inclusive Marriage. I will repost this on our Church Blog. But, I decided to focus on the significance of the miracle, or sign, performed by Jesus at Cana.

Over the Christmas-Epiphany season we have relived by our liturgical celebration and observance the foundational moments of the life of Jesus: His birth, the adoration of the Magi, Jesus at the age of twelve showing wisdom in the Temple, and His Baptism in the Jordan. Today, we are invited to be present at the wedding at Cana, where Jesus performed the miracle which is seen as the beginning of His public ministry.

In each of these ‘moments’ in the life of Jesus, there is a manifestation, and each one seems to widen the scope of the manifestation. We can go back to the Annunciation to Mary by the angel Gabriel, a private revelation, or manifestation; as well as, the revelation to Joseph in his dream. The Angelic praises in the “Glory to God in the highest” at the Nativity was witnessed by a small group only. Then, we have the Magi, who follow the star in faith, and adore the Child Jesus, again a revelation to a small group. Today, with the miracle at Cana, Jesus “comes out” if you will. We hear that by this action, Jesus “revealed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.”

Whenever we hear the gospel proclaimed at Mass, or when we read a gospel passage as part of our private or communal prayer, we should keep in mind that the purpose for reading this material is not primarily to read about historical facts. It isn’t even about drawing some lesson – practical or moral – from the passage read. Rather, we should hear or read scripture keeping in mind that in our reading, we are being invited to see it’s meaning for our present reality. In other words, in reading about Jesus changing water into wine at the wedding at Cana, we need to ask ourselves where, when and how this happens today. Let us ask ourselves: “What is it like to drink of the wine of Jesus?”

The Gospel passage for today’s Mass of the Second Sunday after Epiphany concludes by stating that in this miracle at Cana Jesus “revealed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.” So, this action of Jesus is another manifestation in line with the manifestations we have been celebrating during Christmas-Epiphany. Yet, there seems to me to be a difference. The manifestation we witness today seems to me to be a self-manifestation. Until now, the manifestations have all happened to Jesus, as it were. Remember these manifestations over the past several weeks: His birth, the adoration of the Magi, His baptism. Even the episode of Jesus’ teaching in the Temple can be viewed as yet an immature event since it portrays Jesus at the threshold of His coming of age.

It seems to me that as we reflect on the past several Sundays we discern a process of maturation, a process of growing up. We have followed Jesus from birth to adulthood. We have now come to a point when Jesus is the agent of His own transformation; He is actively deciding to manifest Himself, to show Himself for who He is, accepting and incarnating the divine will for His human life. We may even wonder whether Jesus was not in fact revealing Himself as He was discovering Himself. If we truly believe that Jesus was fully human, this would seem to be more than likely.

In other words, through the significant moments in His life, as well as through the day-to-day living of what is known as His ‘hidden life’ – through this process of maturing, of growing in self-knowledge – Jesus discovers Himself for who He truly is. And, just as progressively, Jesus accepts His vocation and lives it out.

The same is asked of each one of us; nothing more, nothing less.

So, we come to Cana, a small town located in the north of Galilee. With Jesus we are at a wedding feast and we drink of this water changed into wine. We taste this wine which is “choice wine”, the best wine, better than any wine we have ever tasted.

How does this wine make me feel?

What effect does it have on me?

What does it tell me about our host and his regard for me, his guest?

This wine is the wine we taste at every Communion. Jesus is our priest. The water changed into wine, the wine changed into blood. This wine, this blood, is “the wine of divinity”.[1] This wine, this blood, is “the wine of the life of God”.[2] We take part in this self-manifestation of Jesus at every Mass we attend. Those of us who receive the wine of Jesus receive His Spirit, and so become one with Him. How appropriate then that this miracle takes place at a wedding feast, the celebration of union.

Sharing in the wine of Jesus calls us to live the life of Jesus. It calls us to maturity, to an unfolding self-discovery of our vocation, to a manifestation of our self to others, in discerning our God-given gifts to live out our vocation, as is pointed out in the Epistle reading today.

As we join in the celebration of the Eucharist, let us pray that we may taste the wine of Jesus, that His life may flow into our life, and that our life may flow into the world.

[1] Aemiliana Löhr, The Mass Through the Year, Volume One – Advent to Palm Sunday (1958: Longmans, Green & Co Ltd), p. 88.

[2] Ibid., p. 88.

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Praying for People with Mental Health Issues

1/17/2016

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Little Hearts Group -Poor Clare Ty Mam Duw

Little Hearts are a group of Poor Clare friends, who receive a daily spiritual sharing from us at Ty Mam Duw to help them on their journey to God. By this means, our friends, keep in touch and have the assurance of our prayers. The themes of these sharings are the gift of the Holy Spirit; he is the author!

Heart Speaks to Heart

Dear Little Hearts,

This past Monday was Blue Monday, it marks a day when we are encouraged by the church to reflect upon those in our families and surrounds, and elsewhere who suffer from mental health issues. Depression and mental illness are a great cross for the sufferer and their families, it calls for the greatest compassion, patience and mercy. By and large it tends to span a greater time space than physical illness and by its nature demands more of others.

Anyone whose behaviour does not appear to fit the ‘ mould ‘ can be labelled as ‘mental ‘, this is not necessarily the case at all. The bullying, verbal abuse that we can see in our society for those who are ‘different’ is totally unacceptable.

Too often when man cannot understand another, others, they are tagged neurotic. We see this actually often in the lives of the Saints, people who suffered because of a total wrong interpretation of their actions or words. Saint Faustina certainly had this experience.

Among our Little Hearts group ( numbering about 350) there are quite a few people who either themselves, or have a releative suffering from depression or mental illness, eating disorders, addictions etc.

There are also valiant souls who have a depenedent parent with Alzheimers.

For some radical healing is possible, for others new life is possible, it can be a long road to recovery but it is possible and even those with chronic diagnosed mental illness can with love and care attain to be better quality of life. Lets remember and pray on Blue Mondays for all the mentally ill.

LOVE is the greatest healer.
..................................................................
Prayers for 'Blue Monday'

St Dympna
The third Monday in January is often dubbed 'Blue Monday' - the most depressing day of the year - due in part to debt levels, bad weather, divorce rates and the number of days since the Christmas holidays. For those suffering from longer-term depression and mental illness, January may be just a bit harder to bear.

In the run up to Blue Monday, the Mental Health Project of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales has been raising awareness of St Dymphna - the patron saint of those with mental or nervous disorders or mental illness and of the St Dymphna Befriending Group- a support group for those facing mental health challenges.

Joanne Bird, a mental health practitioner and the co-ordinator of the befriending group says: "Mental distress can strike at any time in anyone's lives, and that's when it's so helpful to have someone kind nearby who will listen to you and support you".

Gail Sainsbury who works on the Mental Health Project at the Bishops Conference said: "I will be praying on 'Blue Monday' for all those who are in particular need at this time."

Prayer to Saint Dymphna for help:
Good Saint Dymphna, great wonder-worker in every affliction of mind and body, I humbly implore your powerful intercession with Jesus through Mary, the Health of the Sick, in my present need. (Mention it.)

Saint Dymphna, martyr of purity, patroness of those who suffer with nervous and mental afflictions, beloved child of Jesus and Mary, pray to Them for me and obtain my request.

(Pray one Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Glory Be.)

Saint Dymphna, Virgin and Martyr, pray for us.

Prayer to Our Lady of Mental Peace

Mother of tranquillity, Mother of hope,
Our Lady of Mental Peace, we reach out to you for what is needful in our weakness.
Teach a searching heart that God's Love is unchanging, that human love begins and grows by touching God's Love.

Let your gentle peace be always with us and help us to bring this same peace into the lives of others.

Our Lady of Mental Peace - Pray for us.

For more information about the St Dymphna Befriending Group and St Dymphna see: http://www.catholicnews.org.uk/blue-monday-130116

More about the project: http://www.mentalhealthproject.co.uk/project_9.html

The Story of St Dymphna: https://franciscanmissionassoc.org/prayer-requests/devotional-saints/st-dymphna/story/
Source: CCN

http://www.poorclarestmd.org/littlehearts/index.html

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February 2016 Liturgy Calendar

Inclusive Marriage - II

Inclusive Marriage - 1

Jesus "comes out": Second Sunday after Epiphany

Praying for People with Mental Health Issues

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February 2016 Liturgy Calendar

Inclusive Marriage - II

﻿Inclusive Marriage - 1

Jesus "comes out": Second Sunday after ﻿Epiphany

Praying for People with Mental Health Issues

Blog

Archives

Categories

Inclusive Marriage - 1

Jesus "comes out": Second Sunday after Epiphany