Pope Francis

God’s Plan For Church Leadership

21st Sunday Ordinary Time

Fr. Peter Robinson

Preached: August 27. 2023

During Aug 1-6, Pope Francis addressed close to 1.5 million Catholic young people in Lisbon, Portugal … it was World Youth Day. When Francis celebrated at a massive, open-air Mass, an estimated 1.5 million people attended. Now, we might ask ourselves why an elderly man from Argentina (in his mid-80s) would be at the centre of so many young people. A biblical answer to that question is provided in today’s OT reading from the prophet Isaiah.

Our OT text contains a message from the Lord in the late 8th or early 7th century BC, through the prophet Isaiah. The message concerns the city of Jerusalem and its leaders. The news is bad news: the city’s leaders are trusting in their own military preparations; they are forgetting to turn to God.

So, Isaiah’s prophecy centres around two figures: 1) Shebna, the steward of the royal household (the king’s prime minister, if you will); and 2) Eliakim, who will succeed him as steward. That’s why this chapter in Isaiah uses the imagery of a key and a peg to convey important spiritual lessons.

The immediate problem is Shebna’s pride as steward, as prime minister (vv 15-19). He has carved out a grand tomb for himself, indicating his sense of entitlement and his disregard for God’s sovereignty. Because of his pride, God will depose him from his position of authority. Then we are introduced to Eliakim (vv 20-25), who will replace Shebna. He will be entrusted with the key to Jerusalem (symbolizing his authority and responsibility). It will be Eliakim’s decision whom to admit to the king’s palace, and whom to reject. And as prime minister, he will be like a peg firmly secured in place. This symbolizes his stability and the trustworthiness of his leadership.

As our Church interprets this text, she sees the “key” as a foreshadowing of Christ as the “Key of David” (cf. Revelation 3:7). The key points to Jesus’ authority, to his ability to open doors that no one can shut. And the imagery of the peg conveys the idea of Jesus’ stability and security as king.

So, when Jesus himself then entrusts to Peter the key to open and to close, he is appointing Peter as his steward (his prime minister) — after Jesus ascends to heaven. Whereas Jesus is now the deathless king (he has defeated death in one-to-one combat), Jesus’ first prime minister (Peter) died — to be replaced by the next prime minister. Notice that the king is eternal, but his prime ministers live and die (generation by generation). This means that Pope Francis is the 266th pope (the 266th prime minister of King Jesus).

Just like ancient Eliakim, we are promised that each pope (each prime minister) will serve like a secure peg – which reminds us that our popes provide an unshakeable foundation for our Church. For us, as individuals, we can find stability even in times of upheaval.

To wrap up, then, Isaiah 22 is a reminder to us to pray for our pope, our bishop, our pastor; that they will be leaders of sound judgment and of humility. It reminds us to pray that God will save them (and us) from the consequences of pride. The prophet Isaiah reminds us as Catholics to embrace humility, and to commit ourselves to be faithful followers.

God has provided a secure leadership structure in our Church … that we might find our stability and security in God’s unwavering presence.

Our OT text contains a message from the Lord in the late 8^th or early 7^th century BC, through the prophet Isaiah. The message concerns the city of Jerusalem and its leaders. The news is bad news: the city’s leaders are trusting in their own military preparations; they are forgetting to turn to God.

Then we are introduced to Eliakim (vv 20-25), who will replace Shebna. He will be entrusted with the key to Jerusalem (symbolizing his authority and responsibility). It will be Eliakim’s decision whom to admit to the king’s palace, and whom to reject. And as prime minister, he will be like a peg firmly secured in place. This symbolizes his stability and the trustworthiness of his leadership.

As our Church interprets this text, she sees the “key” as a foreshadowing of Christ as the “Key of David” (cf. Revelation 3:7). The key points to Jesus’ authority, to his ability to open doors that no one can shut. And the imagery of the peg conveys the idea of Jesus’ stability and security as king.

So, when Jesus himself then entrusts to Peter the key to open and to close, he is appointing Peter as his steward (his prime minister) — after Jesus ascends to heaven. Whereas Jesus is now the deathless king (he has defeated death in one-to-one combat), Jesus’ first prime minister (Peter) died — to be replaced by the next prime minister. Notice that the king is eternal, but his prime ministers live and die (generation by generation). This means that Pope Francis is the 266^th pope (the 266^th prime minister of King Jesus).

God has provided a secure leadership structure in our Church … that we might find our stability and security in God’s unwavering presence.

Loving The Church In Midst of Scandal

17th Sunday Ordinary Time

Fr. Mark Gatto

Preached: July 24, 2022

What do we do when we are scandalized by the church? What do we do when we are confronted by media, family, friends, or colleagues criticizing and pointing out the failures of the church? In the past decades we have faced the shame of the clergy sex abuse crisis, recently we have been confronted by the Residential School history.

Many of us have perhaps had bad experiences with a priest or a fellow Catholic. This past two years as a priest I have had a number of parishioners and others speaking to me about how it has been a struggle for their faith facing the failures of the church on public display.

Well, first of all we should realize that the church, though a divine body rooted in Christ and founded on the rock of Peter and the Apostles, is also a human institution. It is made up of human beings. In fact, God chooses to work through and in regular human beings like us. With all the weaknesses, failings and betrayals that this can involve. Jesus entered human history and our human world without any special privileges. Ultimately facing even the evil of a powerful Empire and the self-protecting religious authorities who crucified him.

From the very beginning we have seen the failings of this human church. We see the betrayals and misunderstandings of the first disciples of Jesus in the Gospels. We see in the letters of St. Paul the various struggles, divisions and failings in the early church. If we explore church history we see many events and persons which did not reflect the Gospel of Jesus in a good way.

Our first step is not to ignore this reality of the weakness of the church, it is not to try to defend it against these criticisms. We need to have a deep spiritual maturity that allows us to recognize the weakness and failings of the church. Then we work to constantly renew the church, that it will more closely reflect the image of Christ, at least in our own lives and our own parish.

Pope Francis gives us a great example of how to respond to the failings and historical faults of the church. His visit to Canada at this time has taken the theme: “Walking together.” His first step has been to listen. Just to listen carefully and with great care and respect. Then to walk with the indigenous peoples and look for ways that we can move forward together. We cannot fix or change the past, but we can hopefully bring about a reconciled future.

The second step is that we are to persevere in the Church, for without the Church, the memory of Jesus would not still be alive today. We only have the Bible today because the Church assembled, preserved and continued to share it. We only know Jesus today because the memory of Jesus has been kept alive through the Church, mainly in the Eucharist in which the Church has continued to do what he asked, “Do this in memory of me.” To say that I want Jesus, but do not want the Church, fails to recognize that without the Church we would not have Jesus.

The scandals and failings of the church can be very discouraging for us. Face them honestly and listen carefully to those who have been hurt by the church. But, it is also good for us to look at what it is that gives me encouragement, gives me hope about the church, that keeps my faith alive.

What is it that keeps your faith alive in the face of church scandals and failings and the negative talk that we face from media, family, friends and colleagues?

For some of us it might be certain books that really encourage us in our faith. For others it might be certain members of the church that encourage us in our faith. Perhaps some saints or perhaps certain members of the church today. Maybe a parishioner or for many of us, our connection to the faith has been the result of grandparents. Today is the day of prayer for grandparents. I see so many who have their faith supported and encouraged by grandparents today

.Some things that inspire me and encourage my own faith and love for the church are the Catholic Social Teachings, Ignatian Spirituality, our beautiful Catholic funeral rites.

But a key important step in persevering in the church is found in our gospel today. The disciples see Jesus praying and ask him to teach them to pray. Prayer is crucial to keep us connected to the living God. Prayer encourages us when faced with scandals, with persecution, with the failings of the church or with our own failings. Remain rooted in prayer that will allow you to persevere in a world where the life of faith can be a lonely way.

Scandals and other failings of the church can be discouraging for us and lead to struggles with our faith. It is good for us to look at what we appreciate about the church, what are the gifts it brings to us, and to be rooted in a deep and intimate prayer life.

It is possible to be scandalized and even angry at the church and still love and appreciate the church. This is our challenge and it is only a deep and intimate life of prayer that will allow us to do this.

Top 10 Things To Learn From Pope Francis’ Fratelli Tutti

29th Sunday In Ordinary Time

Deacon Tom Vert

Preached: October 18, 2020

We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers,
unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love
and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ,

This line is from the 2^nd reading we heard today, and St. Paul is praising the Christians at the time for their strength of faith in times of persecution.

Now in 2020, something similar has happened, Pope Francis has written a letter called “Fratelli Tutti”, which means “all brothers and sisters” and is a letter of how we are to live as Christians in this modern world of ours with all its craziness and challenges like wars, viruses, stresses, etc.

The letter is 75 pages long and is a fairly easy read, but as a help I have summarized it today into what I believe is the top ten key points for us to learn:

#10: Following the title, we are told “God has created all human beings equal in rights, duties and dignity, and has called us to live together as brothers and sisters”.

This means we are to live in a spirit of openness that allows us to acknowledge, appreciate and love each person, regardless of where he or she was born or lives.

We are to act as fellow travelers, as children of the same earth which is our common home, each of us bringing the richness of his or her beliefs and convictions, each of us with his or her own voice, brothers and sisters all.

We know this is true as this worldwide tragedy of the Covid-19 pandemic shows us that we are a global community, all in the same boat, where one person’s problems are the problems of all.

God willing, after all this, we will think no longer in terms of “them” and “those”, but only “us”.

#9: Knowing that we are all “brothers and sisters” then our social and political systems are to be built “for the common good”.

Pope Francis tells us that in difficult times, we are to uphold high principles and think of the longterm common good. ‘We are to seek the good of all people and use love to help solve today’s worldly problems.

A good example is one person can help another by providing something to eat; but as a society we are to encourage more education and the creation of a job for that other person to give them true dignity and to nurture the seeds that God has planted in each of us.

#8: We have to have the shared passion to create a true community and abandon the focus on a consumerist lifestyle.

Saint John Chrysostom summarizes it in this way: “Not to share our wealth with the poor is to rob them and take away their livelihood. The riches we possess are not our own, but theirs as well”. As Father Mark said in his homily two weeks ago – we don’t own anything, it is God’s and we are to use it as such.

God gave the earth to the whole human race for the sustenance of all its members, without excluding or favouring anyone. No one, then, can remain excluded because of his or her place of birth, much less because of privileges enjoyed by others who were born in lands of greater opportunity.

Therefore, we are to live focused on what we need, and not what we want, and be generous to others who need a “hand up”.

#7: Immigrants, if they are helped to integrate, are a blessing, a source of enrichment and new gift that encourages a society to grow.

No one will ever openly deny that they are human beings, yet in practice, by our decisions and the way we treat them, we can show that we consider them less worthy, less important, less human.

For Christians, this way of thinking and acting is unacceptable, since it does not show the deep convictions of our faith: the inalienable dignity of each human person regardless of origin, race or religion, and the supreme law of fraternal love.

Personally, I love this as my father was a refugee from Austria as a 5-year-old child he crossed the mountains at night to escape the dangerous region he lived in. He was able to come to Canada and build a better life, just as so many of us I am sure can tell the same stories.

#6: The process of building community, can only be undertaken if we are free and open to authentic encounters with true dialogue.

That is why “we need to communicate with each other, to discover the gifts of each person, to promote that which unites us, and to regard our differences as an opportunity to grow in mutual respect.

Approaching, speaking, listening, looking at, coming to know and understand one another, and to find common ground: all these things are summed up in the one word “dialogue”.

Each of us can learn something from others. No one is useless and no one is expendable.

We, as a people, should be passionate about meeting others, seeking points of contact, building bridges, planning a project that includes everyone. This becomes an aspiration and a style of life. Let us aim to encounter people in our daily life, in our neighbourhood, our workplace or just out and about.

#5: We need an acknowledgement of the worth of every human person, always and everywhere.

The world exists for everyone, because all of us were born with the same dignity. Differences of colour, religion, talent, place of birth or residence, and so many others, cannot be used to justify the privileges of some over the rights of all.

Let us admit that, for all the progress we have made, we are still “illiterate” when it comes to accompanying, caring for and supporting the most frail and vulnerable members of our developed societies, and we need to do better! If the pandemic has shown us anything, it is we can do better for the elderly in our society.

#4: Each day we have to decide whether to be Good Samaritans or indifferent bystanders.

Pope Francis spends almost 20% of this letter using the parable of the Good Samaritan to guide us. He reminds us that all of us have in ourselves something of the wounded person, something of the robber, something of the passers-by, and something of the Good Samaritan.

The Pope challenges us to take an active part in renewing and supporting our troubled societies.

Like the chance traveller in the parable, we need only have a pure and simple desire to be a people, a community, constant and tireless in the effort to include, integrate and lift up the fallen.

“Go and do likewise” Jesus says at the end of the parable to the people and to us…in other words, he challenges us to put aside all differences and to draw near to others with no questions asked.

#3: We need to practice our faith that actively helps our brothers and sisters.

Francis says that a private belief in God and worship of God are not enough to ensure that we are actually living in a way pleasing to God.

A believer may be untrue to everything that his faith demands of him, and yet think he is close to God and better than others. As St. James says, “I will show you my faith by my actions”.

We are to have an attitude that “wills the good” of others; it bespeaks a yearning for goodness, an inclination towards all that is fine and excellent, a desire to fill the lives of others with what is beautiful, inspiring and enlightening.

#2: Goodness, together with love, justice and unity, are not achieved once and for all; they have to be realized each day.

It is not possible to settle for what was achieved in the past and complacently enjoy it, for each day offers us a new opportunity, and a new possibility.

#1: We are to follow the path of St. Francis of Assisi who did not wage a war of words, but he simply spread the love of God.

Let us show a love capable of welcoming differences, and the priority of the dignity of every human being.

We should remember that, “appearances notwithstanding, every person is immensely holy and deserves our love. Consequently, if I can help at least one person to have a better life, that already justifies the offering of my life.

We can do this by being willing to set everything else in order to show interest, to give the gift of a smile, to speak a word of encouragement, to listen and if we make a daily effort to do exactly this, we can create a healthy society.

These top ten things are ones that I think all of us do at times, and of course we always have room for improvement, but on behalf of Father Mark, Father Paul, Deacon Robin and myself, I would like to say:

We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers,
unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love
and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ,