Every year, on the Second Sunday of Lent, we hear the story of the Transfiguration of Christ. This year, we hear the account from the Gospel of Mark. In Mark’s Gospel, the Transfiguration takes place after Peter acknowledges Jesus to be the Christ of God and just as Jesus begins His journey up to Jerusalem, where He will be crucified and die.

The Transfiguration is an event that takes place with Jesus’ closest disciples: Peter, James and John. Jesus takes them up a mountain and there they see Him transfigured before them. As He appears radiantly transfigured, He is also seen in conversation with the great prophets of God—Elijah and Moses. Peter is so overwhelmed by this experience, that he wishes to preserve it and ensure that it continues by building a house for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. He does not want the experience to end. And yet, no sooner does he propose this project and Moses and Elijah disappear and Jesus returns to His usual appearance. However, before the experience is over an another extraordinary event takes place. God the Father can be heard proclaiming from the cloud: “This is my Son, the beloved.” Continue reading →

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:15).

There is a stained-glass window in our church that has a little bit of interesting local history connected to it. It is the window in the choir-loft. This window is dedicated to the memory of John Wilson Murray. He was the first detective in the province of Ontario and was a member of our parish community who lived on Brunswick Avenue. He died in 1906. After he retired as the province’s first detective, he wrote his memoirs and they were published with the title, “Memoirs of a Great Detective: Incidents in the Life of John Wilson Murray.” The television show, The Murdoch Mysteries, is based upon his journals and the life of this early parishioner of St. Peter’s Parish.

Now the reason I am mentioning this at the beginning of Lent is not to tell you about The Murdoch Mysteries, but about the scene that is depicted in this window that is dedicated to the memory of John Wilson Murray. The scene in the window depicts the apostles John and Peter as they arrive at Jesus’ tomb, on the morning of the Resurrection, and discover that He is not to be found there. As John and Peter arrive at Jesus’ tomb after the Resurrection, this window shows them staring into a tomb that is pitch black. Even though Jesus had already risen to share eternal life with them, they do not know this. When they look into the tomb, which announces the Good News that Jesus has risen and destroyed death, Jesus himself is not there and the tomb is dark. The darkness within the tomb represents the reality that because they did not know what to expect of the Resurrection, they did not know where to look for Christ, and could not find Him where they expected Him to be—among the dead. As they were looking for Christ where He was not to be found, they saw only darkness and uncertainty in the empty tomb. The reality was, that something far exceeding their expectations was ahead of them. Continue reading →

Those who know the kind of suffering and pain that Job endured might think that I am being a little overly dramatic to relate the sufferings experienced during the COVID 19 pandemic to the kind of tribulations and trials experienced by Job. However, as I hear Job state, “I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned me,” I cannot help but think of the way that many people have described the experience of the last few months.

It seems like a kind of general depression has overcome so many of us. People are worried about their jobs and how they will continue to provide for their families as this goes on. Many elderly people are alone and isolated. Even the young people that I speak to talk of how bored and tired they are with this whole situation. There is a kind of malaise that is overtaking everyone, and while we may not actually have suffered the really tragic losses that Job suffered, there is a sense of tiredness and depression that we know all too well as this pandemic drags on. Continue reading →

In this Sunday’s Gospel, as we begin to journey with Jesus in Mark’s Gospel, we hear how Jesus went to the synagogue in Capernaum with His disciples as He began His public ministry. In the synagogue, Jesus astounds those who have gathered with His teaching. However, what is perhaps the most surprising feature of His visit to the synagogue in Capernaum is the fact that it is an evil spirit that is the first to acknowledge who Jesus is. We hear this unclean spirit crying out as it is encountered by Jesus: “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24).  Immediately, after the unclean spirit acknowledges who Jesus is, Jesus says to the unclean spirit: “Be quiet, and come out of him.” Mark tells us that in response to what Jesus says to the unclean spirit, immediately “the unclean spirit, convulsing the man and crying with a loud voice, came out of him” (Mark 1: 26). Continue reading →

We begin reading today at Sunday Mass the Gospel of Mark. The Sunday readings are divided into three different annual cycles of readings. These have the names: “Year A”, Year B”, and “Year C.” In each of these years, the Church has us listen to one of the three Synoptic Gospels, which are Matthew, Mark and Luke. The Gospel of John, because it is dramatically different from these Synoptic Gospels, is read in portions in each of these three liturgical years. The Gospel of Mark is read in Year B, which is the liturgical year that we begin now. In the early Church, people thought that the Gospel of Matthew was the first to have been written. This is why the Gospels are ordered Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the Bible. However, today, Bible scholars think that the Gospel of Mark was written first and that it was used by both Matthew and Luke indirectly to write their Gospels. Because the three seem to have similar sources, they are called the Synoptic Gospels. The Gospel of John is so different that it is believed to have been based upon an entirely different set of traditions. For this reason it is not one of the Synoptic Gospels and is read each year in small portions. In fact because the Gospel of Mark is the shortest, this year, during Year B of the Lectionary, in the summer there are six weeks in which we read from chapter six, the bread of life discourse, from the Gospel of John. Continue reading →

When I was in my first few years of university, the last thing that I ever imagined that I would become was a priest. I hoped that I might become a lawyer or perhaps teach political science at a university. Happily, I loved studying, so none of these were impossible goals. I was even so blessed in my studies that I was able to get good grades while at the same time doing a lot of the partying that young people away from home for the first time can get lost in. I think it was all of the “good times” that I was experiencing that made me sense that something was missing. Even though I was going out a great deal, and often waking-up hung-over, I found that something was missing in my life. I sensed a deep lack of meaning and began to question what my own life might be about. Continue reading →

Over the years, I have had many people ask me a very simple question when we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. That question is: “Why was Jesus baptized?  If Jesus is sinless and the Son of God made flesh, why does He need to be baptized?”

The reason why Jesus chooses to be baptized is connected with who Jesus is. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus has become one of us in order to show us the way to salvation and how we are to live in order to be saved.  He is baptized, in order to show us that it is through Baptism that we are called to share in the life of the Holy Trinity. Jesus is anointed by the Holy Spirit before he begins His public ministry in order to show us that when we are anointed by the Spirit in the Sacraments of Initiation, we too share in His mission. Just as in Baptism, the Father declares Jesus to be His beloved Son, so too through our Baptisms the Father claims us to be His beloved sons and daughters. As Jesus took up His ministry after His Baptism and anointing by the Spirit, so too each one of us is given a mission within the Church through our Baptism and anointing at Confirmation. Continue reading →

One of the things about being here at St. Peter’s Parish that I find a little funny at times, is that often I will be walking along Bathurst, in front of the Church, and as I do so someone will roll down their car window, and stop me on Bathurst Street, to demand that I give them a blessing as they are driving by on the street. My first inclination is to try to have a conversation with them to find out what they think that a blessing signifies. However, as the traffic is often heavy and they are in a hurry, they frequently get a little angry with me and demand that I stop my small talk and quickly give them the blessing that they are seeking before they drive off. These experiences have helped me to realize that many people may not even know what a “blessing” signifies or be aware of what is required for a blessing to really be of any value. Continue reading →

Every year, on the first Sunday following Christmas, the Church celebrates the beautiful feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The purpose of this beautiful feast is to remind each and every one of us that the most important place where we are to encounter God’s love for us is within the family. Like all of us, Jesus was born into a human family so that we might all be reminded that it is first and foremost within the family that we are to make Christ’s love present to our brothers and sisters and where we are to encounter the love and acceptance that we all desire and long to know. This beautiful feast is to remind all of us that every family—mine and yours—is a sacred place where God’s love is to be encountered. Continue reading →