Life can change in an instant.

As I read the Gospel of John for the Mass on Easter Sunday morning, I could not think that Mary Magdalene must have been amazed at how quickly things had changed in her life. Just one week earlier, she had been part of the crowds that had joyfully welcomed Jesus into the city of Jerusalem as the one who would set His people free. There was such joy on that day and such high hopes for the future. Together the disciples had celebrated the Passover with Jesus and learned that He was about to be arrested and handed over to the Romans. After that, she and the disciples witnessed His trial, crucifixion and burial. On Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb to anoint His body for a proper burial and there she encountered one who she first believes to be the gardener. Questioning where the gardener had laid Jesus’ body, she discovers that it is actually Jesus who has risen from the dead standing before her. Thinking that the one she had thought she had lost was once again before her, Mary Magdalene’s natural reaction is to cling to the one she had known. She longs for the familiar and the way life had been before so much had changed. She wishes everything was the way it had been. She desires to cling to her hopes and desires about the way she hoped things would be.

You and I have learned how much life can change over this past year. Continue reading →

Jerusalem is, and has been for several millenniums, a great walled city that must be entered through one of the several gates found in the city’s walls. It is also a holy and sacred city. For the Jews, Jerusalem is that city where God dwelt with His people in the great temple at which they could visit Him and offer Him sacrifice. In His Holy City, God would listen to His people and they could be assured that they were standing in His presence. Whenever there was a great feast for the Jewish people, they would go up to the city of Jerusalem to be near to God and celebrate with Him.  For the Jewish people to live within the walls of Jerusalem—the Holy City—was the perfect life; it was equivalent to living with God on earth. In the mind of the Jewish person, the perfect place to die was within the walls of Jerusalem. This meant that one had died with God in His Holy City and had indeed lived a blessed life. Continue reading →

In this Sunday’s Gospel, we hear the story of some Greeks who go up to the temple in the hopes of seeing Jesus. They approach Philip, one of Jesus’ disciples, with a simple, yet profound request: “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” I believe that it is very common for all of us to have this desire. We all long to know the Lord’s presence in our lives and at our sides. Perhaps this longing is the strongest when we are suffering or when our sins have alienated us from God. Certainly, this past year, during the pandemic, many desired, like the Greeks in today’s Gospel, to see the face of Jesus in the midst of their fear, isolation and sorrow.

Jesus has left the Church with seven sacraments to insure that we may regularly see Him in our lives. The sacraments offer us a real and tangible experience of Christ today in our lived realities. In this Lenten season we are all preparing to renew our baptismal promises. Baptism is the first sacrament and the door by which we are established in relationship with Christ and offered eternal salvation. On Easter Sunday, we renew our baptismal promises and re-commit ourselves to living in relationship with Christ. The Sacrament of Reconciliation offers the best way to prepare to renew our baptismal promises at Easter. For this reason, the parish will be celebrating Lenten “Days of Confession” on Saturday, March 20^th and Saturday, March 27th from noon until 4:00 pm in the church. If you wish to celebrate the sacrament with another priest, you may consult the website of the Archdiocese of Toronto to find the times that other churches in our area are holding their “Day of Confession” (www.archgtoronto.ca). Continue reading →