Easter - Anything but Routine

Are you a routine person ? I know I am. I have a certain routine that is part of my day, part of my week, part of my life. Some people, even people who claim not to be routine people, have a routine when it comes to some things - like television for example. There are certain television programs which they watch - with almost cult like devotion- and if they miss them, goodness gracious that PVR better be working or they have a fit!

A gentleman was telling me recently that he - even in the midst of his busy corporate schedule - had something in his routine that never changes - Saturday morning at 9:00am - he eats pancakes with his 6 year old son. Nothing gets in the way of that, even if it means at time they do so in an Airport Cafeteria before he heads off for meetings in Europe - its their routine!

Maybe for some of you - there is that type of routine in your life - or maybe your life has become routine?

- maybe your routine is that work is the same old thing - same tasks, same duties.

- maybe your routine is that school - well is boring and your tired of it.

- maybe your routine is that your family life is not as rich as it was once - and well - people live in the same home but are living different lives.

- maybe your routine is that life right now, with its ups and downs - well is a bit painful and difficult.

- or maybe your routine has been turned upside down because of the illness of a parent, the crisis of a child, or the challenge of a marriage.

Whether we want to admit it or not - we are routine people.

Easter is about the most unique - non routine - event in history – the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. One thing about Jesus is that He was anything but routine and ordinary, no where in scripture does it say that Jesus did the ordinary routine thing - nor that people were bored around Him. They might have been puzzled at what He said, confused about what He did, angry at His response - but never did they think He was ordinary or routine. Jesus taught like no one ever taught, lived like no one ever lived, loved like no one ever loved.

Even His death - anything but routine - crowds gathering and yelling at the Governor of the day chanting “Crucify Him”almost to the point of rioting, soliders whipping Him and placing a crown of thorns on Him, criminals hung on either side of Him and then placed in a tomb which He did not own and now three days later - get this - anything buy ordinary - His body was missing. So we have a massive stone rolled away, the body is missing....not ordinary way of life at all over the last three days - no body was in their routine! In fact they are extra ordinary days.

Our Easter is about the most extra ordinary event in Human History which has power over our lives. Our Easter is about how God’s grace is able to transform the agony of the cross to the ecstasy of Easter. But Our Easter is also about what happened after Easter morning.

How ordinary people began to do bold, outrageous, courageous things - out of their routine - which they would never have done on their own - without the power of the risen Christ. The Power of Easter can change the ordinary things of your life: the things that should never have become routine and ordinary - can instead become fresh, new:

• the power of the resurrection - Jesus - can change the death of your marriage - and give it new life.

• the power of the resurrection - Jesus - can change the death in the conversation between you and your teenager - and give it new life.

• the power of the resurrection - Jesus - can change the death in your work place, in your classroom, in your living room - and give it new life.

By casting hope, giving joy, providing confidence.....

• If its ordinary for you drink too much or to be sitting in front of a computer looking at things which are not life giving,

• If it is ordinary for you to be using food as an escape or another people as an object, if its ordinary for you to be gossip about others or arguing with those within your household for no apparent reason.

Stop living those ordinary, routine lives which make you angry, define you by mistakes of the past, and darkened you with non life giving words of a relationship rooted in sin and start living an extra ordinary life rooted in the power of Christ.

The Power of Easter can change the ordinary things of your life:

• If it is ordinary for you is being alone, or ordinary for you is being defined by a mistake, a divorce, a spiritual poverty.......... then turn toward Him and honour Him with your habits and choices and live your life in an way that God honours.

• Turn toward the One that moves stones, removes the power of tombs - even living tombs that might seem like a routine ordinary way of life.....

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ has the power to change your ordinary into His extra ordinary. I am talking about some simple ordinary things - dispose yourself, plug into God’s extra ordinary power. Talk with Him - pray with Him because He loves you and favours you- tell Him your questions and concerns. Honour Him on His Day - Sunday - with Mass. Spend time in Eucharistic Adoration and above all daily - just find a spot and speak with Him - in your own words and let Him be the Lord of your life - a new life - not a routine life!

Easter is not a hunt but a find, not a greeting but a proclamation, not an outward fashion but an inward grace. It is not Ordinary! It is not routine!

May this Easter be not a routine for you. May it not just be a ritual. But an extra ordinary experience of a relationship with Jesus Christ knowing He Died - He Has Risen - and He loves you !

Good Friday - Final Words

A few years ago an older lady in our parish who passed away had the great custom each night of praying that simple prayer which she learned probably as a child each night. One of her grandchildren, as this older lady was nearing the end of her earthly journey, was standing at the doorway on the final night of her life when she heard the older lady say “Lord, now I lay me down to sleep, I ask the Lord my soul to keep...and then there was a pause.... a sigh... and then the words, and Lord - tonight would be a good night.”

Final words: they say a lot about us, they tell a great deal about who were are, they echo volumes of what matters and what counts in our life. That is why the final words we say before we leave the house, before we go to bed, or that we even speak to one another in our family are so vital and important. Jesus had final words on the cross...the first Good Friday...and they said a lot about Him, who He was and what mattered or counted in His life

Forgive them

Christ’s concern was for others.His focus was outward not inward. There was no “woe is me”, no “how could they”, no “ this is not fair”. Forgive them. His desire was God the Father’s ultimate plan right until the end ! He was second - God was first. Forgive them ..........have you spoken those words ?

I thirst

A human reality: the necessity of water, refreshment, and yet Jesus speaks spiritually too. How we need to be refreshed by God, spiritually quenched of our thirsts: our thirst to be heard, our thirst to be treated fairly and treat others fairly, our thirst for justice, for serenity, for peace. Our thirst to know that in youth we will be loved, in elder years that we will be cared for. Our thirst to know we are not alone. I thirst .............have you spoken those words ?

It is finished

To know when we have done all we could - now the Father takes over in fulfilment of His will. To trust in the Lord - His will, His way, His want, His wisdom, His wonderful plan for us. And yet it was these final words of Jesus - His last words on the cross - which speak so loudly and tell so much. For the Father worked in Christ's life to permit Him to say them - and God works in the Church today to help us to say words that speak, even in silence, of our surrender to the Father's will for our life.

• In Blessed Pope John Paul II we saw a pope who said this is what we believe

• In Benedict XVI we saw a pope who said this is why we believe it

• In Pope Francis we have someone who says - this is how we live it - now go do it !

In these Holy Days we see an exchange. On the Cross: His Death for My Death. At the tomb: His Life for My Life. It is finished .............have you spoken those words ?

Good Friday invites us to ask - What are our daily words? What would our last words this day say of us?

Do our words - build up or tear down ?

Do our words speak praise of others or highlight their short comings ?

Do our words speak of "I" before "Him" ?

Do our words gossip or glorify ?

"Forgive them, I thirst, It is finished." These were His words on the Cross - what are yours at the Cross? As you approach the Cross to venerate - what will your words be ?

• Forgiveness - of those who have hurt you or to pray for such from those you have hurt?

• Thirst - to be quenced by Christ’s love so that it can be seen in a greater way in your life or the life of another because of you.

• Surrender - It is Finished, your combatting of that which you want to happen in your life with instead what God’s desire is for your life.

As this Good Friday moves forward..............what will your words be?

As your life moves onward .....................what will your words be?

As our path of disciples moves toward Him.................what will your final words be?

Palm Sunday... is it just a parade?

I am a parade guy. I have always loved parades. From the Oktoberfest Parade to the Christmas Parade, in fact one day I hope to go to the Macy’s Parade on Thanksgiving Day in New York. I particularly love those parades where they throw goodies from the floats. I like the feeling that you get when you catch a goodie and you get something for nothing.

I have analysed why I love parades, and I think it all comes down to this one fact: They are free; they don’t cost anything. You don’t have to buy a ticket to see a parade. A parade asks nothing from you. There is no commitment required; all you have to do is show up, have a good time, and go home.

There was a parade on Palm Sunday. Granted, it wasn’t much of a parade. There were no bands or floats or dignitaries riding in convertibles. There was just a solitary man riding on the back of a donkey with a few people walking beside Him. But a crowd of people had lined the streets and was waving palm branches and was glad to see the Jesus Parade. At the first Palm Sunday Parade people showed up in great numbers.

They shouted for Jesus and quoted scriptures and they clapped for him and then they went home. They were spectators who had come out for the free show. They had a good time, and they went home. The truth is that very few in the crowd that day stepped off the curb and joined in the parade following Jesus. They had come merely to be spectators. Jesus could have changed their lives that day. He could have helped them find life in ways in which they have never found it before because that is what He said He came to do.

That Palm Sunday Parade reminds me that Palm Sunday is really about commitment. It is about being more than a sideline Christian in a main line church. Palm Sunday is about stepping off the sidelines and getting into the parade walking in the footsteps of Jesus.

Palm Sunday is about giving and loving and sacrificing and forgiving like Jesus. Palm Sunday is about our truly beginning to do life the ‘Jesus way.’ But the truth is it is easier to be a spectator of Jesus and just stand on the sidelines and clap and cheer for Him. It is really hard to follow Him. It’s costly.

It is only when you are willing to stop being a spectator of Jesus and give your life away to Him that you really begin to live. It was William Wallace in the movie “Brave heart” who said, “Every man must die but not every man really lives.” Are you really living?

On this Palm Sunday get off the curb, join in the parade, follow Jesus, and really begin to live.

The Speedbumps of Life

On Thursday of this week the priests of our Diocese got together with Bishop Crosby for a small convocation to discuss a few issues. We were seated at different tables, and I was in a group with a few elderly priests and during the break one of them burst into a response rather quickly. "Do you know what takes away my energy as a Pastor?", "No", I replied "Gossip and complaints! When someone begins a story - based on a lie - and it then leads to a bunch of complaints."

He began to become very animated about this whole thing and then turned to me and said "do you ever get complaints...do people gossip in your parish?" I chuckled and smiled and said; "well actually yes." "Over what?" He asked. I said, "well funny enough, speed bumps." He replied "what!?" I said "well we had to put a speed bump in the rectory drive way that is shared with a small parking lot of our Church after a little incident, and well just about everyday people complain about it." He laughed. I went on. " I am the one who goes over that speed bump more than anyone else in the parish; its right outside my garage. It doesn't bother me. But I know it serves a purpose."

Speed bumps - they serve a purpose, and why we don't ask for them, they really shouldn't let them bother us. We encounter them on the road and in driveways. We become engaged by them in relationships and in life. We become fatefully embraced by them spiritually as well. They slow us down, halt us, reduce our pace, relax our acceleration and for otherwise they affect our frame or state of being.

Spiritually what is the purpose of a speed bump and how do we handle them? Well - much the same way as the very one in the driveway outside the rectory.

1. Notice them

We become attentive to them, we see them, acknowledge them, ask why they are there, seek to see the purpose they serve or the danger they are trying to prevent.

2. Prepare for them

We hopefully don’t speed up when we see a speed bump - if you do I fear for the suspension of your car. If there is a spiritual or emotional speed bump in your life right now - are you slowing down? Pacing yourself thru it? Or are you speeding up to get through it or because of your anger that it is there. If so, I fear for the balance of your life as well - are you in balance?

3. Moving beyond them - keep moving

So much of how we respond to life - its unprepared encounters - is what we do - do we let them halt us or do we keep moving. Stopping on a speed bumps gets us no where.

That is why gossip is so harmful - its someone who can’t get over something telling another person so they can’t get over and its just keeps going on and on at the same spot.

That is why hatred is so harmful - its someone who can’t get over an experience permitting that experience to harm them, affect them and forever change them because they re live the same spot.

That is why anger, resentment is so harmful - its an experience which people are stopping at, halting over and just allowing it to fester in their lives - and more seriously - their soul.

Pope Francis, selected this week as our new Holy Father, strikes me as a man at peace with himself, His God and life. Have their been, will their be - speed bumps in his life - o yes, but he is at peace. He wears the shoes he wishes, carries himself in the proper manner he wishes, and leads his life - in union with Christ, His Church, Moral Teachings.

One lady in our parish remarked - "when I saw him I thought - he is someone I could just hug." His security might have something to say about that. Not being a huge hugger, I thought - why - well because he is at peace with himself and its shows.

How do we get that way - well St Paul gives us the total answer: " I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." (Philippians 3:8-14). Please Him, be fair in His eyes, take everything to prayer and handle life on your knees standing proud. Don’t let the speed bumps - in life, in spirituality - even in my driveway - take you off course - notice them, prepare for them, move beyond them - live in peace!

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

“ Today may there be more of Jesus and Less of Me.”

Every morning I begin the day with the same prayer: “ Today may there be more of Jesus and Less of Me.” I say those words out loud some times, other times I pray it quietly as I sit in the chapel in my home, many times before a difficult meeting or encounter with someone I say it.....“ Today may there be more of Jesus and Less of Me.”

I do because I believe with every fabric of my soul that if I get that right, then my life takes a whole different turn; that is how I begin to discover the life that Jesus has promised we could have - an abundant life - a full filling life. I know that on those day when there is more of Jesus than me - that I am a better person, better son, sibling, uncle and even a better Pastor.

Those of you who have ever come to see me for counselling or a chat, or have heard me speak in other venues before - you know I say that phrase often - sometimes I wonder if anyone listens though. Well, not that long ago - along with a friend I went to Chilli’s restaurant near Toronto for some Nachos - and I ran into someone in an unusual place that I guess was listening - The Men’s Room at Chilli’s Restaurant ! Standing in the bathroom - a fellow came in and it was obvious he had one too many margaritas with his burritos - and he said “ hey your that priest!”

Not wearing a trace of black I wondered how he knew me and then he said “ I heard you speak in Oakville - you’re the one that said if you have more of Jesus and less of me.” That’s great but I have a question - I know how to get more of me - but what I need to know is how do I get more of Jesus.

I thought to myself - for crying out loud I thought I am in the bathroom. He kept pressing for answers - we can only stay in there so long - so I said what I could - but I have been thinking about that guy - he was struggling to get it. In spite of his alcohol - he had enough sense to realize that his greatest problems was himself!

When things go wrong - life doesn’t make sense - stuff just doesn’t come together - our dream is not a reality - well - we like to blame other people, circumstances, disabilities, age - but sometimes the biggest problem is ourselves - we keep getting in the way. How do you get more of Jesus - how do you get yourself out of the way?

The Gospel of today (Luke 15:1-3,11-32), the familiar story of the Prodigal Son - is a story of a young man who well - thought more of me than his Father. But I love the line in the Gospel that reflect that the son finally got it - "he came to his senses” - and returned to the Father!

Now, have you ever heard of C-4 - it’s a plastic explosive - pretty stable - has to have detonator in order to work. You can mould it into cracks or crevasses. It looks harmless - but when its detonated - it will change the landscape with a single blast. C- 4 is also the way to get more of Jesus and less of me

Create Compelling Connections to Christ !

1. Create Time with the Word of God: read the manual, learn the instructions, hold on to the life principles, know the vision, grab hold of the values. Time with His word - the bible - is very important. Recently a young adult in the parish indicated that he had tried reading the bible - little bit each day - but that there is so much of it he did not understand. So he stopped. I say to you that is ok - for now to read on without understanding - but above all keep reading - because you will hit a point where all of sudden something will convict you - convince you - confirm you in the faith - and bang - the dynamite will go off - keep at it!

2. Live with Compelling Passion: don’t be luc warm - be devoted to the Faith. Are you a Catholic Christian only on Sunday - or do you stand up for the principles of our faith 7 days of the week?

A buddy of mine began on January 1st a diet. On January 3rd he finished his diet. Didn’t say successfully. But here is the thing; he came to realization that you can take a piece of chicken, you can remove the skin from it and broil it. You can take a bowl of berries and then add a small portion of broccoli and eat that and say I had a healthy meal. But if you do that one day a week and implode yourself with Big Macs the rest of the week - your doomed! What makes us think that being one day a week at Church is all it take to be a healthy Christian ? It’s a start - but you have to be at it every day ! Prayer, Eucharistic Adoration, Scripture times, Small Groups - we need all or some of that in addition to Sunday Mass in order to really be spiritually healthy.

3. Connect things - see the big picture. Recently an article reflected upon the work force that is entering places of employment today - they have become a mechanical generation. They accomplish tasks but do not get a sense of the purpose for what they do. Think of the technology of today which makes us think of steps, and buttons, but not big picture. We don’t study things, we don’t try and inter connect things - we just want to get the job done. That can creep into our spiritual lives too - we just want to get prayer done. Wrong! Our way there is not just about getting the "job done"; its about connecting the principles of Christ to our life and becoming who He wants us to be!

4. Christ first and foremost - I was talking to a group of people recently and they said they don’t come to Church that much. Why? Well cause when they go the sermon is boring, the music doesn’t entertain them, the people are not friendly - they don’t get anything out of it! I wanted to say well stop going to that parish and come to mine - none of that is true. But I also wanted to scream “ Its not about you!” We don’t come to a relationship saying I want you to please me! Mass is about our relationship with Christ; we come looking for a mutual connection. We don’t come to Christ saying entertain me - we come to Christ because He loves us - gave us life and now we give Him ourselves - “ Its not about you!” - so get out of the way!

Do you know what made the prodigal son comes to his senses? He realized he was no longer compelling connected to His Father! How about you ?

Say it with me “Today may there be more of Jesus and Less of Me.”

HEARING GOD’S CALL

Do you remember a game that we use to play a little children; you get shy, or bashful and you simply close your eyes and you think everyone else is gone. Sometimes in our relationship with Jesus - well the same thing happens - we seek to do His will, and walk in His Way = but then we close our eyes (or ears ) and think it will just happen and all the distractions of the world will just go away - they never do ! So how can we Hear God’s Voice ?

Well there are three ways - however - before we do - let’s discover together what tends to be what could prevent us from hearing His Voice

1. Noise: - the busyness of our lives causes us to be unable to hear God’s call. Important everyday to take time to hear Him. Find a time, Find a Spot, Find a Prayer and go with it. Let God do the rest.

2. Nuisance: - it is so easy to let the “stuff” of life get us down - others - their demands, expectations become hurdles or weights which take away from what we can accomplish with God’s Grace - if we hear Him. Live in the “what is” and don’t let the nuisances of life hinder His voice.

3. Nonsense: - unrealized goals in life (regrets), past hurts, gossip and sillyness find their way into our life and prevent us from hearing Him. Let them go, surrender them to Him and focus not on the voice of the “Nellie down the street who knows it all”, but on the God who controls it all.

So How can we hear God’s call

1. Openness - Desire to do God’s will each day. Say to Him everyday “ I am willing to go !” and let His will take priority, His voice makes the difference.

2. Opportunity- Looking for those moments and check out what God is doing in your life - He is always active and at work in our lives. We just need to seek and search; that is where prayer comes in.

St John of the Cross said prayer cleans the window of the soul. Jean Vanier referred to prayer as that which opens the soul to the action of God like a petal to the sun. St Thomas Aquinas say it is not God who needs prayer - it is us - He transforms us through it. So take up every opportunity to pray. How do we pray? We must be immersed in listen to the voice of God; set aside everything and come aside with Him.

3. Obedience - When you hear His voice - GO ! (John 21: 15-19).

So this week don’t let noise, nuisance or nonsense stop you from hearing His voice, rather, listen for Him, Be Open, Seek Opportunities, Obey and Go !