For most people, the most difficult aspect of Jesus’s teaching is that which relates to the requirement that we must forgive those who have hurt or offended us. This seems to be related to the fact that most of us think that by forgiving someone, we are extending to them a favour or a grace that they do not deserve, given the pain and hurt that they have caused us.

This is certainly how I used to think.

It was only after I discovered how much freedom comes from forgiving another person that I discovered the deeper spiritual reasons for Jesus challenging us to forgive others in the same way that we desire to be forgiven by Him. Continue reading →

In my opinion, the best flavour of ice cream in the entire world is chocolate peanut butter. I love this flavour of ice cream so much that I cannot keep any in the house. When, and if, I do keep it in the house, I am unable to control myself and I usually eat the whole pint in one sitting.

The preference that I have for chocolate peanut butter ice cream is a personal opinion. The fact that I like it, is a truth that is relative only to myself. Others may have different opinions and it does not really affect my opinion or their ability to have a different opinion. My opinion on this matter does not really present a problem for others.

On the other hand, there would be a real problem if for some reason, I believed that my opinion needed to become a truth for all people. If for some reason, I believed that everyone else had to share my preference for chocolate peanut butter ice cream, my insistence on this issue would begin to infringe on the right of others to have an opinion. Worse, still, would be the case if I were to form an alliance with all the other people who loved chocolate peanut butter ice cream and we worked together to lobby for laws that required that only chocolate peanut butter ice cream could be manufactured. We could demand that no other flavours be manufactured and that all people must eat our flavour of ice cream. Taking our efforts to the extreme, we could demand that everyone eat chocolate peanut butter ice cream and perhaps put at risk the lives of those people who have a severe allergy to peanuts. Continue reading →

There is a rather simple story about death that I heard several years ago. Because it captures so concisely how I think we as Christians feel about death, I usually tell this story at every funeral I celebrate, either at the funeral home prayers or in the homily at Mass.

The story simply goes like this:

A preacher was preaching to a congregation. He said, “if anyone wants to go to heaven, please stand up now.” Everyone in the congregation stood up. He then said, “if you want to go now, keep standing.” At this point, everyone sat down. Continue reading →

If a stranger calls you on the phone, it is very hard to know if what they tell you about themselves is true. They can claim to be tall, when in fact they are very short. They can promise you a free vacation in a dream paradise, when in reality they are simply trying to get your credit card number. They can also claim to be calling on behalf of Revenue Canada and require your soc The same is true for e-mail. We can receive an e-mail from someone claiming to be other then they are and asking us to send them money. Others make outrageous promises to deposit large amounts in our bank accounts if we send them our banking information and passwords.

We can only really be sure that someone is who they claim to be when they come into our presence and prove that they can deliver on the promises that they make to us. Even in the case of people we do know, unless they live among us and show us that we can trust them, it is hard to know if they can fulfill the big promises that they might make to us.

The promises that Jesus makes to us are huge. Continue reading →

A few years ago, I sat in on one of the parish’s confirmation classes. On that particular day, when I was dropping by to sit in, the class was engaged in playing a rather different game, which I would call the “Injustice Game.” The purpose of this exercise was to attempt to get the students angry about injustice in the world and to motivate them to desire to do something against that injustice as they became aware of it. In relation to the goals of preparation for Confirmation, the exercise was intended to help these young Christians understand that through the anointing they received at Confirmation, they were being called to witness to Christ and the values of His Gospel in their day to day lives. The game was intended to help them see that the adult Christian, who has been anointed in Confirmation, is called to speak up against discrimination and injustice. Continue reading →

Imagine what it would be like if Canada Post only delivered on one day during each person’s entire life. On that day, the individual would receive every letter and every bill from his or her lifetime. The experience would be overwhelming and would crush the person who attempted to deal with this lifetime of correspondence in a day.

Sometimes, I think we can all loose perspective on life and think that we must handle all of our life’s problems on our own—all in a day.

This is certainly what I did when the events of COVID 19 started to develop last March. Instead of taking things one day at a time, one thing at a time, I began to panic and believe that I had to solve every possible concern facing myself and the parish, on my own and in that moment. Continue reading →

In this Sunday’s Gospel reading from Matthew, we hear the miraculous story of the feeding of the five thousand. As we hear of this incredible miracle, we might be tempted to ask ourselves why five thousand? Why did Jesus feed only five thousand?

Well, I think the readings also hint at the answer to this question. Jesus only fed five thousand because there were only five thousand there to receive what He offered. In fact, the scriptures indicate that He actually fed more than five thousand, as the Gospel actually says: “And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.”

Jesus fed everyone who came to Him to be fed. He still does this today. Continue reading →