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We are a missionary Catholic
archdiocese covering a land mass of 430,000 square kilometers in
northern Saskatchewan, Manitoba and a small corner of North-West
Ontario. The Métis, First Nations of Cree, OjiCree, Dene and non-Native |
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Sample Quotes:Click here to Read More...... Chrism Mass "Strive to be humble" One canoeist loves to pray in a canoe on a lake when he is at his cottage, especially on calm mornings. He paddles out to the center of a bay, and then lets the canoe drift in the light breeze. It is amazing how sensitive the canoe is to the slightest breeze, sometimes drifting steadily along; sometimes stopping completely, sometimes turning right around depending on the breeze. The sensitivity of the canoe to obeying the gentle pressure of the breeze is a prayer in itself for him, that he might be as humble and open to God’s will in his life as is the canoe in which he is praying sensitive to the breeze. "Faith, hope and trust" A fellow was hiking in the mountains when he fell over a cliff. Halfway down the face of the mountain, he luckily managed to grab hold of a branch with both hands that stopped his fall. Suspended between heaven and earth, he looked up and saw he had fallen a long ways. He looked down and saw he could have fallen a much longer distance – the people below looked like ants. In desperation he called out for help. A loud voice responded, “Yes, what do you want?” The man asked who that was and the voice replied, God. “If you are God, can you get me out of here?” asked the man. The voice replied, “Yes I can – have faith, let go of the branch, and I will take you to safety.” The man looked up and saw how far he had fallen; looked down and saw how far it was to the road below, tried to let go of the branch, and finally cried out, “Is there anybody else up there?”
"A Spirituality of Discipleship"
Ron Rolheiser, in a recent article, also highlights spirituality as
letting go. The title of the article in the Prairie Messenger speaks
for itself: The most important task of mid-life and beyond is to
grieve and to forgive. In his article Rolheiser quotes Alice Miller,
the renowned psychologist, who puts it this way: “All of us,
from the time that we are infants in the cradle until we are
self-possessed enough to write an autobiography like Morris
West’s, are not adequately loved, not adequately cared for, not
adequately recognized, not adequately valued and not adequately
honored. Moreover, all of us also suffer positively some rejection
and abuse, none of us is spared life’s unfairness. It is easy
for us to be bitter rather than grateful; to be paranoid rather than
hospitable, and to be angry rather than gracious.” A first task of mid-life is to go beyond sadness and self-pity by good grieving, crying and mourning our losses until we arrive at a certain degree of acceptance. The other task of mid-life is to learn to let go of anger and resentment, to express our hurt with love to our abusers if at all possible, to finally arrive at a certain degree of forgiveness. There is only one imperative in life, Rolheiser, says, and that is before we die, we must forgive. We need to forgive those who hurt us, to forgive ourselves for not being any better than those who hurt us, to forgive life itself for some of the things that it dealt us, and, not least, to forgive God for the fact that life is unfair, so as not to die with a bitter and angry heart.Read More...
There is a Chinese proverb that goes like this: If you want to be happy for an hour – take a nap. If you want to be happy for a day – go fishing. If you want to be happy for a year - inherit a fortune. If you want to be happy for life – help someone else. (Of course there is always the other option, buy a canoe and you are set for life...)
“Who Do You Say I Am?” The question that Jesus asks of his apostles, and of us, in today’s Gospel, is a critical question. It has to do not only with his identity, but ours. Who we are in relationship with Jesus depends on who we hold Jesus to be. If he is simply a historical figure, the Jesus of history only, then we can relate to him in an academic fashion, knowing all kinds of facts about him that won’t impact on our lives very much at all. If, on the other hand, we believe his message that he is Son of God, the Word made flesh, the creator of the universe, the love and compassion of God at work among us, the Savior of the world, the forgiveness of God in person, the second person of the Holy Trinity who wants to dwell in us and invites us into an intimate relationship with him, then that changes everything. It changes us. The question that arises, then, is how can we come to this kind of a relationship with this mysterious God of ours who works in such humble ways? As a fellow believer in Jesus, I don’t have all the answers, and want to lean on the advice of a dear friend who is much more adept at spirituality and theology than I am and I want him to provide the main content of this homily.Read More...
The late Pope John Paul II, towards the end of his time here on earth, seemed to intensify his efforts to live out this Easter faith, forgiveness and healing. Despite the protests of some of the officials in the Vatican, he insisted on apologizing for the sins and failings of the institutional Church to various groups of people throughout the world. He was single minded in that effort and very focused on it. What a powerful example he was for us! Read More...
who never strayed, yet was filled with anger, resentment, jealousy and unforgiveness. These are two examples of our own spiritual journey. Which one resembles us? The youngest son sinned, but repented and humbly returned to seek forgiveness. The eldest son, though he never left home, has the most difficult spiritual journey to make, to admit and deal with his own defects of character, the greatest of which is unforgiveness. "The glory of God is young people fully alive"
Properly understood and put into
practice, this statement alone, adapted from St. Iraneus, would go a
long way to ending the recent epidemic of suicide among our youth.
Our task as adults is to help our young people live full human lives
that will reflect the glory of God and lessen the incidents of suicide. A first step in addressing this issue is to define suicide. Noted spiritual writer and theologian Ron Rolheiser writes that suicide is a disease and generally the most misunderstood of all sicknesses. It takes a person out of life against his or her will, the emotional equivalent of cancer, a stroke or a heart attack. Suicide is never a good thing to be desired. It leaves behind an immeasurable pain on the part of the family, relatives and friends of those who do it or even attempt to do it. We don’t have the right to take our own lives. Life is a gift from God, meant to be lived as God wants it to be lived. Suicide is a desperate response to intense painful emotions such as hopelessness and despair that threaten to overwhelm some wounded youth. They can see no other way out of their painful situation. There are some people who through life’s hurts have ended up locked in spiritual prisons that all the love in the world cannot seem to break through. Read More>
"The
one you feed" As
with many legends, this aboriginal
legend sets
the tone for our reflection. An old mosom, whose nosisim came to him
with anger at a schoolmate who had done him an injustice, said,
“Let me tell you a story. I too, at times, have felt a great
hate for those that have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they
do. But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is like
taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with
these feelings many times.” He continued, “It is as if
there are two wolves inside me; one is good and does no harm. He
lives in harmony with all around him and does not take offense when
no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do
so, and in the right way. But the other wolf, ah! He is full of
anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper. He
fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because
his anger and hate are so great. It is hard to live with these two
wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit.”
The boy looked
intently into his mosom's eyes and asked, “ “Beatitude People” The young boy travelled far from his home to study under a great teacher. When he met the wise old man, his first question was, “How long will it take me before I am as wise as you?” The response came swiftly, “Five years.” “This is very long time,” the boy replied. “How about if I work twice as hard?” “Then it will take ten,” said the master. “Ten! That's far too long. How about if I studied all day and well into the night, every night?” “Fifteen years,” said the sage “I don’t understand,” replied the boy. “Every time I promise to devote more energy to my goal, you tell me that it will take longer. Why?” “The answer is simple. With one eye fixed on the destination, there is only one left to guide you along the journey.” There is a saying that life is more about the journey than the destination. To become beatitude people we must make the beatitudes our way of life today.
Then the family talked him into coming to LSA ... There, during the blessing of the water, he thought of how his grandmother always had time for him, became aware how he was not like her, and too busy for his boys. He decided to take more time for them. Then, he heard a homily on the two sides of love (discipline and affection) in which the presider asked the parents when they had last told their children that they loved them. He realized he had never done that, and resolved to do it right there and then, at LSA, in their tent that night during a family meeting. He apologized to his family for his mistakes and asked their forgiveness. His kids were blown away, hugged him and cried. He went away from LSA a changed man, a pilgrim of the heart. He spent the rest of the summer doing things together with his wife and kids and they developed into a close family over the years. Read More...
“The Joy of Doing God’s
Will” These readings remind me of my late brother
Louis who died of cancer in January of 2009 after a valiant four year
battle. He was a quiet self-effacing man who lived in the farming
countryside near the now extinct hamlet of Highgate Siding. His many
virtues shine forth now, to those who knew him as much as when he was
alive. He was honest to a fault, sometimes costing him financially.
He had a keen sense of justice and fairness in his business dealings.
His gentleness made him a beatitude person. He loved his wife and
family passionately, and cared deeply for the less fortunate. Do you hear what I hear: It seems an elderly gentleman had serious hearing problems for a number of years. He went to the doctor and the doctor was able to have him fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed the gentleman to hear 100%. The elderly gentleman went back for a checkup a month later and the doctor said, “Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again.” To which the gentleman replied, “Oh, I haven’t told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to the conversations and I’ve changed my will three times already!” Read More... And then it happened: I experienced a taste of this inner transformative power of the Spirit through prayer one day as a young priest in Beauval. It was Friday of a busy week, and I had just learned that a busload of grade eleven students from the Convent in North Battleford was coming up for a sports event and they wanted the local parish to help organize their stay. I felt a bit overwhelmed with everything on my plate but decided to be faithful to my hour of prayer despite all that there was to do.... Read More... Delusions of Grandeur A wife heard her husband come back into the house not too long after he had left. She said, “Hon, I thought you were going to your lodge meeting.” “It was postponed,” He replied, “The wife of the Grand Exalted Invincible Supreme Potentate wouldn't let him attend tonight.” Live in the Kingdom of God through humble service. “Shining Like Stars” We know that no human effort or sacrifice can take away sin or pain. Jesus’ own sacrifice for all time took away sin, perfected us and brought about forgiveness. Our response must be to place our sin and sinfulness at his feet, to receive his forgiveness and healing, to become holy, single-minded in his service, free from sin and addiction, and to live in his glory.
Someone who had a very positive
influence on my life is Archbishop Emeritus Adam Exner, former bishop
of Kamloops, Winnipeg and finally Vancouver before he retired. As a
spiritual director in Battleford, he had a constant stream of people
coming to him for advice. As my spiritual director, he was the first
one to hear my story, discern my need to work on my relationship with
a member of my family, and suggested that I spend a month praying
only with Isaiah 43:1-7, words that I dearly needed to hear at that
stage of my life. At certain times later on in my ministry,
especially in moments of personal crisis, he would listen to me and
invariably come up with precisely the words that I needed to hear at
that time. Would that we could all be as positive an influence on
others as he was to so many. Read
More... The youth can lead the way. Many years ago, a volunteer at Stanford Hospital in the States got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5 year old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. The volunteer saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, “Yes, I’ll do it if it will save Liz.” As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing the color returning to her cheeks. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded. He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, “Will I start to die right away?” Being so young, the boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his sister all of his blood. Read More... It was not an expense, it was an investment: Every night he would call his wife Donna long distance to talk about their day. One day I commented to him that this practice of calling long distance everyday must get to be expensive. He replied very simply that it was not an expense, it was an investment. I was impressed by the conviction in his voice as he said that, and marveled at the wisdom his response showed. Freedom to Serve: I think of a university student in Saskatoon who remained silent when a fellow student unfairly criticized the Church in a class and how angry he was at himself for his lack of courage to speak up for truth. On the other hand, I think of a friend who had the courage to tell his brother they were leaving a stag party when a stripper was brought in to entertain the gathering. That was a courageous and righteous act and I was proud my friend for his courage to speak up and act.
Jesus in the gospels is challenging the Jews to move beyond their limited notion of God to faith in Him as the only one who can reveal to them the true nature of the Father. He calls them to faith in him as Son of God, as the one who has seen the Father, as the source of eternal life, the one who can share with them the Father’s very being. Read More... “Fully Human and Alive” An ancient philosopher once wrote, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Someone else once quipped, “The unlived life is not worth examining.” St. Iraneus took this further with famous quote: “The glory of God is man and woman fully alive.” Read More...
The readings today address both issues with the clear message: we must share our wealth to combat poverty, and learn to love our children again to combat rampant social problems among our youth. The multiplication of the loaves by Jesus in the gospel was a direct response to the physical hunger of the people before him. Of course, there was a much deeper spiritual level to this miracle, but he first fulfilled the physical hunger of the people. So must we if we are to call ourselves his followers. Called To Be Prophets. Richard Rohr, another modern day prophet, shares this insight into being prophetic: “There are two ways of being a prophet. One is to tell the enslaved that they can be free. It is the difficult path of Moses. The second is to tell those who think they are free that they are in fact enslaved. This is the even more difficult path of Jesus.”
I had
never prayed with my emotions like this before in my life.
The emotional storm raged within me for an hour. On the one side,
waves of fear, anxiety and depression would wash over me, pressing
down on my spirit and pounding away at me like the surf against the
shore. Then I would read and ponder the words of that passage again
and from the other side, waves of faith and hope and confidence would
wash over me, Let the Light Shine A group of tourists were visiting a huge cathedral. A little girl in the group stopped, in contemplative silence, to look at the beautiful huge stained glass windows. The afternoon sun was shining brightly, bathing the group in a splendid symphony of gorgeous colors. After some time, as the group was about to leave, the little girl asked the guide, “Who are those persons in those beautiful windows?” The guide told her that they were the saints. That evening, as the little girl prepared for bed, she told her mom that she knew who the saints were. “Well, who are they?” her mother wanted to know. “Saints are persons who let the light shine through them!” was her innocent reply. A child's wisdom: A young boy with a handicap was making his first communion. After the Eucharist, there was a family gathering. The uncle, who was also the child’s godparent, told the mother, “What a beautiful liturgy; how sad that he didn’t understand a thing.” The child heard these words and his eyes filled with tears. He said to his mother, “Don’t worry, Mom, Jesus loves me just as I am.” The child had a wisdom that this uncle didn’t yet attain, that the Eucharist is a gift from God par excellence. That child is a witness that the handicapped person, sometimes very seriously handicapped, finds life, strength and consolation in and through communion with Jesus in the Eucharist. And Jean asks, is there not a cry for communion with Jesus in the Eucharist in the desire of all people for a communion of hearts? The Eucharist is God’s effort to covenant with us, to live among us, to love us, to invite us into communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it is the least and the lowly who understand this best. More...
Shepherds of the Heart Jean Vanier, in his latest book Becoming Human, shares his personal transition in his notion of love. He used to think that love involved being good, being efficient, using one’s intelligence and time well and doing things for others. Then he chose to live with the mentally challenged and found he was challenged to live his life on a whole different level. The mentally challenged weren’t impressed at all by his competence; they did not care about his degrees. They just wanted his love, his affection, his attention, they wanted to know him. They taught him the importance of relating from the heart. And that has made all the difference in his life. He now goes around the world teaching that wisdom. I am convinced that the deepest need of our youth, indeed, of every human being, is to be loved, to belong and to be valued. If these needs are met by loving parents, supportive nuclear and extended families and welcoming churches, then our youth won’t need to resort to drugs to feel loved, to gangs to feel that they belong, or to indulge in pre-marital sex to feel valued. Walk the talk: Nelson Mandela is an example of that kind of authority and integrity. He was imprisoned unjustly in South Africa for twenty fives years because of his struggle against apartheid. Yet upon his release, he more than any other person spoke of the need for forgiveness and power sharing with the very white people who imprisoned him. When he speaks of forgiveness and reconciliation, people listen to what he has to say because he has lived it firsthand. He has that kind of moral authority that commands attention. More...
"Our
deepest fear is not that we are inadequate; Vacation is Good! A pastor was getting ready to go on vacation. He had a few parting words for the congregation: “Every pastor should take a month of vacation every year. If the pastor is really good at his work, then that pastor needs a vacation. If the pastor is not really good at it, then the congregation needs a break!” More...
"Christmas in the Light of Easter"
Tonight, Christmas eve, we listen to St. Luke's wonderful account of
Jesus' birth. Luke puts into his version of this time-honoured story
very significant details that make it a catechesis leading us to a
more mature faith. St. Luke meditates on the events of Christ's birth
in the light of his whole life, death and resurrection and the
sending of his Spirit at Pentecost, the birthday of the
Church. St. Luke already perceives in this child whose
birth he writes about, the Messiah, Son of God and Risen Lord. For
him, we cannot really separate Christmas from Easter. In the end, he
invites us to celebrate Christmas in the light of Easter.
For St. Luke, the story of the Lord's birth is the entire Gospel in
miniature. Parallels and connections between the beginning and the
end of Jesus' life show that the seed of his mission as Saviour was
already within him at the time of his birth. The faith of the early
Church in Christ can teach us much about the Historical Jesus. Let us
explore the story and learn from Luke, master story teller and
evangelist. More... |
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“Live
in the Kingdom” Mother Theresa of Calcutta had it right in
her advice to her sisters: What you would want to do for Jesus, whom
you cannot see, do to your neighbour in need, whom you can see, and
you will be doing it to Jesus. She truly lived that teaching herself
in caring for the abandoned and the dying in the streets of
Calcutta 
Pentecost:
Recovery, Unity and Service: This medallion and those three
words – recovery, unity and service - capture a clear message
for us on this Pentecost Sunday: forgiveness and healing through the
Holy Spirit (recovery), fellowship as the church (unity), and our
mission of Christ-like ministry to others in need (service). In
short, Pentecost is all about healing, fellowship and ministry. 
“Dear
abuser, I need to share something with you. I am trying to
forgive something you did to me. Remember last year when you were at
our house, you and me were watching TV, and you did something that
felt really wrong, and now seeing you today makes me feel like
killing myself again. My life was really going good and the way I
wanted it to be, but since that night my life totally changed. I felt
dead, I felt dirty, and I felt ashamed of myself. Recently my life
was going good, until you came here, and all those feelings came back
to me. Tell me why did you do that to me, why did it seem like my
life was wrecked when it was going so well? I don’t want to live
the life that I used to live after you molested me. Thank you for
reading this letter. I hope that writing this letter to you will help
me to heal myself and forgive you. Once again, why did you do this to
me? Is it because something like this happened to you when you were
younger? Maybe you need help also. 
Forgiveness
We are given two metaphors in this story for our stance toward
this overwhelming compassion of God. One is the son who repented and
returned to receive his father’s forgiveness. The other is the
righteous son
“Hungering
for Justice; Thirsting for Love” One night on television, a
news item featured the reality of children starving in Zimbabwe.
Pictures of children with extended stomachs troubled the viewers. A
few minutes later, another news item dwelt on the problem of obesity
among youth in North America. Not surprisingly, the program stated
the medical concern that obese children were more prone to heart attacks.
buoying
me up and floating me effortlessly along. Back and forth I was
tossed like a small craft in the sea. Little by little, however, the
rudder of faith and the waves of hope began to gain the upper hand.
“The
Commandments To Love” The Returning To Spirit program
that has been spreading across western Canada is an example of a
movement that is based on love. It teaches participants to deal with
their past hurts rather than build up big stories around those wounds
and carry anger through life. They learn ways to address their issues
and then communicate their hurt to others with love as a way of
letting go and moving on with their lives. 
