Song for the week

If thou but suffer God to guide thee,
and hope in Him through all thy ways,
He’ll give strength, whate’er betide thee,
and bear thee through the evil days.
Who trusts in God’s unchanging love
builds on the rock that naught can move.

Only be still and wait His leisure
In cheerful hope, with heart content
To take whate’er thy Father’s pleasure
And all-discerning love hath sent;
Nor doubt our inmost wants are known
To Him who chose us for His own.

Coming Soon: Blessed JOhn Paul II

Homily World Youth Day 2002 (if you don't want to read the whole thing, i highlighted parts worth meditating on...look there in bold and black the wisdom and encouragement)

You are the salt of the earth! You are the light of the world! (Matthew 5:13-14).

Dear young people of the seventeenth World Youth Day, dear brothers and sisters: On a hillside near the lake of Galilee, Jesus' disciples listened to his gentle and urgent voice; as gentle as the landscape of Galilee itself, as urgent as a call to choose between life and death, between truth and falsehood. The Lord spoke words of life that would echo forever in the hearts of His followers. Today He is speaking the same words to you, the young people of Toronto and Ontario, of the whole of Canada, of the United States, of the Caribbean, of Spanish-speaking America and Portuguese-speaking America, of Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Listen to the voice of Jesus in the depths of your hearts! His words tell you who you are as Christians. They tell you what you must do to remain in His love. But Jesus offers one thing, and the "spirit of the world" offers another. In today's reading from the Letter to the Ephesians, Saint Paul tells us that Jesus leads us from darkness into light (Ephesians 5:8). Perhaps the great apostle is thinking of the light that blinded him, the persecutor of Christians, on the road to Damascus. When later he recovered his sight, nothing was as before. He had been born anew and nothing would ever take his new-found joy away from him.

You too are called to be transformed. "Awake, O sleeper, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light, (Ephesians 5:14)", says Saint Paul. The "spirit of the world" offers many false illusions and parodies of happiness. There is perhaps no darkness deeper than the darkness that enters young people's souls when false prophets extinguish in them the light of faith and hope and love. The greatest deception, and the deepest source of unhappiness, is the illusion of finding life by excluding God, of finding freedom by excluding moral truths and personal responsibility.

The Lord is calling you to choose between these two voices competing for your souls. That decision is the substance and challenge of World Youth Day. Why have you come together from all parts of the world? To say in your hearts: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6:68). Jesus - the intimate friend of every young person - has the words of life. The world you are inheriting is a world which desperately needs a new sense of brotherhood and human solidarity. It is a world which needs to be touched and healed by the beauty and richness of God's love. It needs witnesses to that love. It needs you - to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

Salt is used to preserve and keep. As apostles for the Third Millennium, your task is to preserve and keep alive the awareness of the presence of our Savior Jesus Christ, especially in the celebration of the Eucharist, the memorial of His saving death and glorious resurrection. You must keep alive the memory of the words of life which He spoke, the marvellous works of mercy and goodness which He performed. You must constantly remind the world of the "power of the Gospel to save" (Romans 1:16).

Salt seasons and improves the flavor of food. Following Jesus, you have to change and improve the "taste" of human history. With your faith, hope and love, with your intelligence, courage and perseverance, you have to humanize the world we live in. In the way that today's reading from Isaiah indicates: "Loose the bonds of injustice ... share your bread with the hungry ... remove the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil.... Then your light shall rise in the darkness" (Isaiah 58:6-10).

Even a tiny flame lifts the heavy lid of night. How much more light will you make, all together, if you bond as one in the communion of the Church! If you love Jesus, love the Church! Do not be discouraged by the sins and failings of some of her members. The harm done by some priests and religious to the young and vulnerable fills us all with a deep sense of sadness and shame. But think of the vast majority of dedicated and generous priests and religious whose only wish is to serve and do good!

There are many priests, seminarians and consecrated persons here today; be close to them and support them! And if, in the depths of your hearts, you feel the same call to the priesthood or consecrated life, do not be afraid to follow Christ on the royal road of the cross! At difficult moments in the Church's life, the pursuit of holiness becomes even more urgent. And holiness is not a question of age: It is a matter of living in the Holy Spirit, just as Kateri Tekawitha and so many other young people have done. You are young and the Pope is old and a bit tired. But he still fully identifies with your hopes and aspirations. Although I have lived through much darkness, under harsh totalitarian regimes, I have seen enough evidence to be unshakably convinced that no difficulty, no fear is so great that it can completely suffocate the hope that springs eternal in the hearts of the young.

Do not let that hope die! Stake your lives on it! We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father's love for us and our real capacity to become the image of His Son.

O Lord Jesus Christ, keep these young people in your love. Let them hear your voice and believe what you say, for you alone have the words of life. Teach them how to profess their faith, bestow their love, and impart their hope to others. Make them convincing witnesses to your Gospel in a world so much in need of your saving grace. Make them the new people of the Beatitudes, that they may be the salt of the earth and the light of the world at the beginning of the Third Christian Millennium! Mary, Mother of the Church, protect and guide these young men and women of the 21st century. Keep us all close to your maternal heart. Amen.

Get up, let us go. Look my betrayer is at hand

This week we enter into Holy Week. Jesus makes his grand entrance as he ascends to Jerusalem there to embrace the Cross.
We hear Jesus' words to his disciples, "Get up, let us go. Look my betrayer is at hand." Unlike the apostles who flee, we stay by his side and make that journey with him.

We walk with Jesus this whole week. We must ascend with him. The higher we go the better our vision becomes; the higher we go with him the clearer God’s loves is made known.

Thursday evening we celebrate the Lord's Supper as Jesus washes the feet of the disciples, on his knees he calls us friends.

Thursday night we sit and pray as Jesus enters his agony; we set aside time to stay with him in prayer so that we might not succumb to the test. We remain awake where the apostles slept; we stay where the apostles stray. Then alert and by his side we see him betrayed and arrested, carried away bound hand and feet.

The hands that healed are now wounded by the burn of the rope.
Friday Morning we rise not to greet the new day but to hear the sentencing of Christ, condemned to death. The crowd jeers crucify him.
There he receives the cross and makes his way to Calvary. We journey with him, side by side as he stumbles beneath the weight of the cross.

Friday around three we pause from our activity and we are silent as Jesus breathes his last, bows his head and embraces the silence of death. The lips that spoke of the goodness of God and nearness of the kingdom, the lips so vibrant with life, remain mute, motionless, blue.


Saturday we remember Jesus is buried in the tomb. The one who brought light to the world is now shrouded in darkness. We look for it but find it not.

Saturday evening, we gather to witness the light scatter the darkness in the Easter Vigil and we remember the words of St. John light came into the world and the darkness could not overcome it.

Sunday, the tomb is empty. The presence of God cannot be contained and there we encounter a love that is stronger than death and we rejoice. And once again Alleluias resound.

We ascend with Christ and as we climb and reach the pinnacle, the summit, we experience what real love looks like.
Let us journey with Him and learn to love as he loves us.

failure turn upside down

Ezekiel 37:21-28; Ps The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock; John 11:45-56

"I will be their God and they shall be my people."

"But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, you know nothing, nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish."

"So from that they on they tried to kill him."


Just a tid bit to get us ready for the week to come. Palm Sunday and Holy Week and Easter Triduum.

Here is a little something from Charlie Chaplain the man who made silent movies roar, "Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself."


God makes a fool of himself. JEsus becomes the jester. And yet what courage is displayed as failure in the eyes of men become victory and triumph in the eyes of God for all.

We become God's children not because we desire it but because God makes it so in the passion Jesus enters into.

What seems like a failure from a far takes on another shape as you draw close and look into his eyes as he hangs on the cross. There we see the Love of God for you and I. The fool of whom it is said it is "better for one man to die instead of the people so that the whole nation does not perish" perishes so that we may have life abundant.

Is this not what true passion entails.

Here is a little snippet from our friends at Busted Halo: Holy Week in Two minutes: worth the watch

trumpet, flute, lyre, harp, psaltry, bagpipe and all the rest

Daniel 3:14-20, 91-92, 95; Glory and praise for ever; John 8:31-42



The words of the King Nebuchadnezzar to Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, "Be ready now to fall down and worship the statue I had made, whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet, flute, lyre, harp, psaltery, bagpipe and all the other musical instruments, otherwise you will be cast into the white hot furnace, and who is the God who can deliver you out of my hands?"

Over the past few days I have been speaking morality with the 8th graders in my class. I decided to guide them in evaluating the moral goodness of things they encounter on a regular basis like TV Sitcoms, movies, and most especially music they listen to daily.

So in class we have been on youtube locating their favorite songs and listening to them and evaluating and dissecting the words used in these songs.

We listen to "kick it in the sticks", "No hands" and "not by shakin' hands."

The rhythm and beat of the songs are very seductive. Yet, when we listen to the words we discovered that the moral goodness of want is being sung isn't so acceptable. The songs I mentioned above that seem so popular invite the listeners to sell sex for money, to stay our all night drinking and parting and even drinking and driving, all the while dressing not so modest and putting yourself in dangerous situations. They all speak of going to strip clubs and having lab dances.

The kids response was what I expected, "Father, we listen to it because of the beat not because of the words.
An dI tried to explain to them the reality of materially cooperating with the message but i am not sure I succeeded.

Nonetheless it is easy to get swayed by the trumpet, lyre, harp. bagpipe or in modern understanding the steel guitar, the base guitar, the drums and before you know you go along with the rhythm and get swept away in a moral decline that becomes a slippery slope.

Perhaps this is what the King hoped for. He hoped the rhythm would seduce the three young men and lead them to idolatry.

Yet they held their ground.

Listen the words of the three young men, "There is no need for us to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If our God whom we serve, can save us from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, O king, may he save us! But even if he will not, know O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue that you set up."

In the end it is the king who gets converted by the fortitude of the three, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego."

Amen. Don't be seduced by the music.

leaping into joy

Numbers 21:4-9

Here is a poem i came across recently by Gerald Locklin,

"When my two-year-old daughter
sees someone come through the door
whom she loves, and hasn't seen for a while,
and has been anticipating
she literally shrieks with joy.

I have to go into the other room
so that no one will notice the tears in my eyes.

Later, after my daughter has gone to bed,
I say to my wife,

"She will never be this happy again,"
and my wife gets angry and snaps,
"Don't you dare communicate your negativism to her!"
And, of course, I won't, if I can possibly help it,
and of course I fully expect her
to have much joy in her life,
and, of course, I hope to be able
to contribute to that joy —
I hope, in other words, that she'll always
be happy to see me come through the door—

but why kid ourselves — she, like every child,
has a life of great suffering ahead of her,
and while joy will not go out of her life,
she will one of these days cease to actually,
literally, jump and shriek for joy."

There is something true in the poem above. Something happens to us when we get old. We lose the wonder of it all. Our eyes grow dim and they no longer sparkle and we are no longer amazed by the little things.

As we move through our teenage years rushing along trying to be all grown up, the joy we once knew grows cold.

And we stop literally jumping for joy.

Usually this happens because we turn our eyes inward. All we see is ourselves and how things affect us. We become our own center of gravity and we take ourselves way too serious and the joy God has in store, the Joy God places before us each day, we trample upon and grow bitter and we complain.

Not unlike the Israelites in the desert whom we encounter in our first reading, "But with their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses."

These are the same people who leapt for Joy as the red sea was parted and they cross dry shod and then saw with amazement and disbelief the army of egyptians swept away before their very eyes. These are the same people who are being led by a pillar of fire at night and cloud by day. These are the same people who are fed with Manna from above and for whom the rock being struck gives forth a fountain flow of water to quench their thirst. These are the same people that experience the shaking of the mountain and presence of God who comes down to speak with them.


THey lose the twinkle in their eye; they no longer are swept away by the wonder of it all. God is boring to them. They have chosen to turn inward and no longer look outward. All they see is themselves. They have become their own center of gravity and they take themselves way too serious. In some sense they are asking the question, "what have you done for me lately."

Boy doesn't this resonate with us.

They cease to leap for joy.

So to day, leap for Joy. Be amazed. Shriek a little, laugh a lot. Be still and know that He is God and he walks with us. Open your eyes wide, turn outward and jump. Recognize what God has done right in your life.

Here is fan favorite to get you started click here

Oh Susanna & monkey in the middle

Daniel 13:1-62; Ps 23 Though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side. John 8:1-11

today we have some very intriguing encounters in the readings. We encounter Susanna who is accused of adultery by two "dirty" old men who only want to appease their lust, and the nameless woman caught in the "very act" of adultery. Wow! We thought all the action happened only in soap operas.

The Biblical literature can compete.

In the first reading the essential line that marks the moment of downfall of these "dirty old men" is as follows, "When the old men saw her enter every day for her walk, they began to lust for her. They suppressed their conscience; they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven, and did not keep on mind just judgments."

How is that for a detailed description of how lust can enter through the eyes and completely sink the heart and mind if left unchecked.

The conscience can be suppressed. It can be deformed. It is in constant need of renovation and renewal.

How often do we let things in and give it free reign over our mind and heart. We must be diligent and persistent in rooting our those thoughts before they spread; we must continually raise our eyes to heaven and seek the strength of the one who can help us in time of need.


In the end Susanna is vindicated and the dirty old men are convicted are put to death in the body though in their heart and mind they had already died. Susanna did give in and refused to save her skin; rather she maintained her integrity and trusted in God's ever watchful eye.

In the gospel we encounter the scribes and Pharisees bringing a women caught in adultery, in the "very act of committing adultery."

Now, we are not sure who caught who in the act. But Perhaps a husband was suspecting and had his wife tailed. Maybe the local "private eye" got in on the action.

None the less the sin was exposed and before Jesus they come wagging their fingers. They make this women stand in the middle with their eyes fixed upon her and fingers pointing and minds and heart condemning and they want JEsus to do something about it.

In some sense it looks a lot like the game we played as kids called "monkey in the middle." One thing that always amazes me at this story is that JEsus never looks at the woman. While all those standing around her hold her bound in her sins with their stare, JEsus never does.

It isn't polite to stare. When we stare we hold people bound and refuse to offer mercy and do not allow justice to be served.

Jesus stares not and simply with one little question disperse the crowd, "You without sin cast the first stone!"

Notice Jesus doesn't dismiss women so easy. He has a few choice words for her, "neither do I condemn you. Go! Sin no more."

Jesus recognizes the sin and chooses to direct her on the right path. HE certainly doesn't approve of her lifestyle and he invites us to a new way of living. Better living through mercy.

Oh susanna and the monkey in the middle teach us much about living and walking with God.

Here is little bit from two of my favorites singing Oh Susanna