{"id":7991,"date":"2023-06-16T18:30:03","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T22:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stpeterstoronto.ca\/main\/?p=7991"},"modified":"2023-07-15T10:54:57","modified_gmt":"2023-07-15T14:54:57","slug":"a-call-to-honour-god-the-father-on-this-fathers-day-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stpeterstoronto.ca\/main\/2023\/06\/16\/a-call-to-honour-god-the-father-on-this-fathers-day-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"A Call to Honour God THE FATHER on this Father\u2019s Day Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cKnow that the Lord is God
\nIt is He that made us, and we are His;
\nWe are His people, and the sheep of His pasture\u201d
\n(Psalm 100)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Decorative<\/div>\n

This weekend, as our society celebrates Father\u2019s Day, this Sunday\u2019s readings present us with the reality that God is the Father and creator of us all, and they challenge us to examine whether we recognize His authority in our lives and are willing to accept the authentic freedom that He offers us through Christ, His Son.<\/p>\n

In the first reading from the Book of Exodus, we are told of the way in which God delivered the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. As God leads the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land, He says to them: \u201cNow therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all peoples.\u201d The people of Israel, God\u2019s children, are invited to know authentic freedom by listening to His Word and living the authentic freedom, for which He created them, and offered them life anew in the Promised Land. In the Old Testament, the Promised Land is where Israel once again is offered the opportunity to live in God\u2019s presence and be the people whom God had created them to be. If they accept this invitation, God tells them that He will make them a priestly people and a holy nation. For us today, the question that we must answer is:  In what ways do we allow ourselves to be enslaved by ignoring God\u2019s Word and not listening to His commands? Through baptism, we too have been invited to live in God\u2019s freedom, and be His holy people. However, this invitation rests upon the premise that we are open to doing His will and not turning away from Him to live in slavery to false gods and ideologies.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, I attended a talk on youth ministry. At that talk, the speaker pointed out one of the signs regarding the current crisis in authority in our culture. She spoke about the way in which the role of the father had changed in television over the past decades. As she pointed out, many years ago, television shows like Leave It to Beaver<\/em>, Father Knows Best,<\/em> and The Brady Bunch<\/em>, always presented the parents and the father as caring for their children and seeking what was best for them. Today, shows like the Simpsons<\/em>, and so many others, present the father, and authority figures as foolish and selfish idiots. Everywhere today, authority is not trusted and the question \u201cwhy should we listen to God and His word?\u201d is asked even among many Christians.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s scripture readings give us two of the clearest answers as to why you and I, who think of ourselves as God\u2019s children, ought to listen to God the Father and Christ, His Son. The first reason is given to us in today\u2019s Psalm, as it reminds us that it is God who made us and knows what is best for us. The scriptures tell us that God has made us, and everything, out of nothing. The human person has been created by God out of love, in His image and likeness. Having made use out of love, it is God alone who knows what will ultimately satisfy the longings of the human heart and offers us the authentic freedom we desire. Whereas we often think that we know what is best for ourselves, God alone can truly set us free. As human history shows us painfully, humans often enslave themselves to their desires and false gods. God, The Loving Father, seeks to set us free from these false gods and ideologies that imprison us and offers us true freedom and salvation.<\/p>\n

The second reason why we should each trust God unconditionally is given to us in today\u2019s second reading. That reason is given to us in Christ\u2019s willingness to die for us and win for us eternal salvation. Even though God created the human person and gave everything to humanity, we have constantly turned our backs on God, chosen to ignore His Word, and subjected ourselves to the slavery of false gods and ideologies. Despite that, \u201cGod proves His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us\u201d (Romans 5:8). Despite our constant lack of faithfulness, God is always faithful to us and His promises. His love is so great that even though we are sinners, God sent His Son to die for us that we might have true freedom and eternal life. God\u2019s authority over our lives lies in the fact that He has created us and redeemed us through the Blood of His Son.<\/p>\n

A very beautiful and powerful devotion, and solemnity, that captures the love which we hear proclaimed in today\u2019s second reading is that of the Sacred heart. The month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart and this solemnity was celebrated this past Friday.  Throughout the month of June, the Church celebrates the love and mercy of the God who created us and sent His Son into the world to save us. The Sacred Heart of Jesus reminds us that God does not wish to condemn anyone and is merciful to all. In the face of our human weakness and enslavements to false gods and ideologies, Jesus loves us so much that He speaks the truth to us about our authentic identity as sons and daughters created in the image and likeness of God and gently calls us to this reality. Because he loves us, Jesus never lies to us about our identities, but invites us to repent and be free as His children.<\/p>\n

Knowing that confusion could enslave people, we hear in today\u2019s Gospel from Matthew that when \u201cJesus saw the crowds, He had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.\u201d There is no better way of describing a world that has lost its direction\u2014it becomes \u201charassed and helpless,\u201d like sheep without a shepherd. We find ourselves living in a world where truth and science have very little meaning. Each individual is said to be free to determine the truth about themselves based on their feelings. The rest of the world must agree with these feelings no matter what the facts and truth tell us. I was told that there is a group of people who now claim they are helicopters. Even though I do not have a tail, and DNA proves that I am not; if I claim that I identify as a dog, others must put aside the facts and reality, and agree with me, or they will be labelled as \u201chaters.\u201d If in love, someone attempts to speak to me about the truth of my identity and set me free, that person is to be cancelled and regarded as an oppressor. Today we see this happening all around. Many are truly harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.<\/p>\n

One of the magnificent things about the Judeo-Christian tradition is that it has articulated the dignity of every human being. God has given every human being freedom and each human person has value and is deserving of love and respect. It is that ethical value that has led to the freedom and respect that people enjoy in Western society. But that freedom has always been grounded in the truth and reality of the human person and God\u2019s Word. When reality, and God\u2019s Word, are ignored, false gods and ideologies are imposed upon humanity and we become harassed, helpless and confused, like sheep without a shepherd. We become subject to a new type of slavery.<\/p>\n

We hear in the Gospel today that in order to assist humanity throughout the ages to properly hear the Word of God in the midst of the confusion, Jesus called the Apostles and established a Church to proclaim the truth and the Good News to all generations. The Gospel tells us that Jesus knew that His Church would not be perfect, as even among those that He Himself had chosen, Judas betrayed Him directly. The rest of the apostles all have their own stories and human weaknesses: Thomas doubts; Matthew was a tax collector; Peter denies the Lord three times; while Paul tries to have Christians put to death.  Jesus chooses week human beings to prepare us for the weakness of the many human beings who will make up His Church throughout the ages. However, despite the weaknesses of the human beings who make up His Church, Jesus has promised us that through the Church, acting through the Holy Sprit, that He will be with us to the end of times (Matthew 28:20). Through the Church, Christ calls us to hear the invitation to authentic freedom and salvation in a very confusing and challenging world in which people are often very confused, harassed and helpless.<\/p>\n

The question then that this Sunday\u2019s readings place before us on this Father\u2019s Day weekend is one of great importance. It is simply: Do we trust God the Father, who made the world and gave us everything\u2014the God who sent His Son to redeem us from our sins\u2014to be a loving Father who will guide us to authentic freedom and salvation through His Church? Are we willing to take seriously the teachings of the Church and Christ\u2019s Word for us today?<\/p>\n

If we are not, why are we so eager to give authority to other voices that often seek to enslave us? Why do we choose to ignore science and reality to give false ideologies and gods power over us?<\/p>\n

Today, God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who manifested to us the love of His Son\u2019s Sacred Heart, invites us to leave the slaveries that have captured us by listening to His Word and keeping His Covenant. We are invited this Father\u2019s Day to acknowledge God as our Father and to embrace the freedom that belongs to His children. We do this each time that we pray the Our Father and sincerely seek to do God\u2019s will in our lives.<\/p>\n

Happy Father\u2019s Day to all of the fathers of our parish. This Sunday, I will remember all of the deceased fathers and grandfathers of the parishioners of St. Peter\u2019s Parish at our Masses.<\/p>\n

Fr. Michael McGourty
\nPastor, St. Peter\u2019s Church\u2014Toronto<\/p>\n

This reflection based on the readings for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A: Exodus 19:1-6; Psalm 100; Romans 5:6-11; and Matthew 9: 36-10: 8.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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