First Go and Be Reconciled

 

Image credit: https://www.wltribune.com/news/indian-residential-schools-canadas-sad-legacy/

In the well known and beloved prayer, popularly known as "The Prayer of St Francis", even though the prayer did not exist before the 19th Century, there is a petition that states, "Where there is injury, (let me sow) pardon." In the prayer that Jesus taught us (Matthew 6:12,) we pray, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." And Jesus told Peter (Matthew 18:22) that we need to forgive not just seven times, but even seventy times seven times. This all rings extremely hollow and self-serving when the people preaching these texts and lofty sentiments are the very one who need to be forgiven. Indeed, Jesus also taught, "If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift." (Matthew 5:23-24)

As we approach National Day for Truth and Reconciliation it behooves Christians and, especially, Catholics to acquaint ourselves with the shameful truths surrounding the sad and scandalous history of Indian Residential Schools, as they were known. Some of these 'truths' are listed in the public apology that former Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued in the House of Commons on June 11, 2008. Let this help us remember that there are many, many brothers and sisters who have much against us. They have known the truth for generations, but they now want the truth to be known by us; but the good news is that they don't want revenge. They want reconciliation with us to follow our knowledge of the truth. We need never be afraid of the truth. Jesus says that the truth will set us free.

Here are some excerpts from that apology by the Canadian Government. Read it slowly, and let your heart be touched as well as your mind.

Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today to offer an apology to former students of Indian residential schools. The treatment of children in Indian residential schools is a sad chapter in our history. In the 1870's, the federal government, partly in order to meet its obligation to educate aboriginal children, began to play a role in the development and administration of these schools.

...These objectives were based on the assumption aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal. Indeed, some sought, as it was infamously said, "to kill the Indian in the child." Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country.

...The government of Canada built an educational system in which very young children were often forcibly removed from their homes, often taken far from their communities. Many were inadequately fed, clothed and housed. All were deprived of the care and nurturing of their parents, grandparents and communities. First Nations, Inuit and Métis languages and cultural practices were prohibited in these schools.

...It has taken extraordinary courage for the thousands of survivors that have come forward to speak publicly about the abuse they suffered.

...It is a testament to their resilience as individuals and to the strength of their cultures. Regrettably, many former students are not with us today and died never having received a full apology from the government of Canada.

...Therefore, on behalf of the government of Canada and all Canadians, I stand before you, in this chamber so central to our life as a country, to apologize to aboriginal peoples for Canada's role in the Indian residential schools system.

To the approximately 80,000 living former students, and all family members and communities, the government of Canada now recognizes that it was wrong to forcibly remove children from their homes and we apologize for having done this.

We now recognize that it was wrong to separate children from rich and vibrant cultures and traditions, that it created a void in many lives and communities, and we apologize for having done this.

...There is no place in Canada for the attitudes that inspired the Indian residential schools system to ever again prevail.

The full text can be found here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prime-minister-stephen-harper-s-statement-of-apology-1.734250

Hope: A spiritual reflection

 

Spiritual Reflection selected by Deacon Steve

“… I have experienced the Cross to mean mercy and not cruelty, truth and not deception: that the news of the truth and love of Jesus is indeed the true good news, but in our time it speaks out in strange places. And perhaps it speaks out in you more than it does in me: perhaps Christ is nearer to you than He is to me: this I say without shame or guilt because I have learned to rejoice that Jesus is in the world in people who know Him not, that He is at work in them when they think themselves far from Him, and it is my joy to tell you to hope even though you think that for you all hope is impossible.

Hope not because you think you can be good, but because God loves us irrespective of our merits and whatever is good in us comes from His love, not from our own doing. Hope because Jesus is with those who are poor and outcasts and perhaps despised even by those who should seek them and care for them most lovingly because they act in God’s name. No one on earth has reason to despair of Jesus because Jesus loves all humanity, loves them in their sin and we too must love all humanity in their sin.”

“Thomas Merton: A Book of Hours”, Kathleen Deignan, Sorin Books, Notre Dame, Indiana, p. 129

Anxious and Troubled?

This Sunday's gospel reading about the visit of Jesus to the home of Martha and Mary generates more than its fair share of popular opinions from people who hear it. Understandably, many people empathise with Martha, feeling that she unfairly got the short end of the stick from Jesus and that Mary got off like a Goody Two-shoes.

To be clear: Jesus did NOT pass judgement on Martha's acts of service themselves. That would not be consistent with Jesus' description of himself as having come to serve, not to be served, and his mandate to the apostles in the Gospel of John when he washed their feet at the Last Supper. 

Listen again to what Jesus actually said: "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled..." Other English translations use words like: worried, bothered, upset, distracted, fretting, fussing. In a nutshell, Martha's preoccupation with fulfilling society's expectations of the perfect hostess, and her resentment at Mary's disregard for these expectations, meant that Martha didn't hear a word that Jesus was saying. Houses in Jewish Palestine of the day were not large. Jesus, who could teach thousands, would have been audible anywhere in the house and Martha would have been able to hear Jesus if she had only chosen to listen. 

We have a soft spot for Martha because each of us can so easily identify with her resentment, a resentment that must have built up so much that she actually interrupted Jesus with an accusing question: "Master, do you not care that my sister has left me to do the serving alone?" Martha wasn't only resentful towards Mary, but even towards Jesus himself whom she saw aiding and abetting Mary's 'laziness'. If her brother Lazarus was present with the men that day she was probably resentful towards him too. But instead of going quietly to Mary and whispering in her ear for some help, she brashly 'goes to the top', interrupting Jesus while he is teaching. That made such an impression that the story made its way into the gospel tradition. What Jesus taught there that day did not even get recorded.

Resentment is probably an 'under-confessed' and under-repented 'sin'. The reason for that is that it is almost always fully justified in our minds. "Darn right I'm upset! Didn't you see what he got away with? Didn't you read what she said? Why don't more people step up and (... fill in your hobby horse here)?"

This Sunday's gospel is an opportunity for a mini examination of conscience. What resentments have I been carrying? In the home, with my spouse, my children, my neighbours, my work colleagues, my Vincentian confreres? A good place to do this exercise is setting aside 15 or 20 minutes and sitting at the feet of Jesus.

Prayer for Truth and Reconciliation

 Prayer for Truth and Reconciliation

Image credit: https://traditionalnativehealing.com/native-healing-circle-and-smudging

(Reproduced from St Elizabeth Seton Facebook page. At this time the author of this prayer is unknown to us. We will be happy to give a full attribution on receiving information about the origins of this prayer.)

God, our Creator,

we pray for all the lives impacted by the Residential Schools program for First Nations, Inuit and Metis children that swept across our country and continues to affect the lives of all Indigenous peoples:

For all the children who did not return home, may they rest in your peace and love.
For all survivors, may they find healing, sanctuary, and peace.
For all intergenerational trauma survivors, may they find hope in their grief, solace in their fear, and compassion in their anger.
We ask that you bless these lives and walk with them in their healing.
Watch over them, love them, guide them.

We pray for the priests and nuns, religious communities, Church leaders, and others who were involved in the genocidal agenda of the Residential Schools and other systems, that they seek truth and justice, no matter how painful.  May they come to recognize their errors, repent of their failure to extend God's love, and seek to make amends to all Indigenous communities and families.

We pray for all non-Indigenous Canadians that they will have the courage and wisdom to find, face, and act upon, the truths of Indigenous peoples' history in our country.
We are sorry for the times we remained silent.  Help us find the strength to correct our harmful actions, and inactions, against Indigenous peoples.  Help us hold space for those grieving and hurting because of Residential Schools and their intergenerational effects.  Help us be humble and kind, not 'flushed with anger', but filled with your deep and divine mercy. 

Holy Spirit, we ask for your guidance, your wisdom, and your courage to love truth, and speak the truth with love.  Teach us, as First Nations, Inuit, Metis and non-Indigenous peoples, who we are as your beloved daughters and sons.  Amen.

“... and forgive us the wrong we have done as we forgive those who wrong us.” Matthew 6:12

Spiritual reflection by Denise Bondy, reproduced from the Spirituality Corner of the Ontario Regional Council.

I was baptized and received the Eucharist for the first time at the age of 18, at an Easter vigil, so long ago that it pre-dated RCIA. Although I missed out on many things by not growing up in the Church, I am blessed to remember vividly the details of my sacraments of initiation and to appreciate them with my whole heart. For me the Church is home, shelter, joy and love. I came to this home during the celebratory days of Vatican II. The windows were thrown open. All were welcome. Anything was possible. We sang and danced joyously.

As the years passed the Church and I have experienced some difficult times. There was push-back to progress. Scandal bruised and tarnished the institution that I had entered wide eyed. I was no longer a carefree young woman as I experienced the realities of marriage, work, children, illness and loss. Through it all, faith sustained me. My Vincentian calling and my Vincentian family have sustained me too.

Vincentians are blessed to be called by the God of do-overs. No matter what happens, no matter what our failings, we can return like the prodigal son. When we express sorrow our ‘do-over God’ welcomes us. All is forgiven and we have a fresh start. Because God allows us as many do-overs as we need in our lifetime we must treat others in the same way. God doesn’t put limits on how many times love is given, nor should we.

Our Society’s motto is Serviens in spe – We serve in hope. Knowing our loving, forgiving, do-over God gives us hope. It’s up to us to share our hope with those we serve. We may not express our faith as teachers or preachers but we show our faith as we maintain hope for every household we visit, every meal we serve, every caring deed we perform. Instead of asking “How many times will we help?” we remember that Jesus said we must forgive and allow do-overs “seventy times seven”. We live our hope as we keep doing Home Visits, keep serving and keep loving in Jesus’ name.

Loving God, we ask your forgiveness; we forgive others freely, as you forgive. Amen

Shalom - Conference Spiritual Reading

irisphoto2 - Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Conference spiritual reading chosen by Deacon Steve Pitre

“When the Lord greeted his disciples and friends after his Resurrection, he said, “Shalom” or in English “Peace”. He simply used the Jewish greeting, which meant “Good morning”, or “Good day”, or “Good evening.” But what did this greeting mean on the lips of the risen Jesus?

It was the proclamation of the world’s healing. It meant that the whole plan of the Father had been fulfilled, that the mystery of the kingdom lived now in the universe, that the glory of God was being poured into every atom of creation through the transformed mind, body, heart, and soul of Jesus the Messiah, the risen Son of God.

It meant that all of the broken relationships in the universe had been healed at their root: that our separation from God was no more, that our alienation from one another, our enmities and misunderstandings and all our estrangements were over, that our individual fragmentations had been healed, that our separation from the animals and from all material creation had ended in reconciliation.

Jesus greeting meant that the harmony of God’s perfect order, the fullness of his life, was filling all things as it was meant to at the beginning. Easter is light, radiance, and splendor, clarity, luminosity, and brightness because it is the dawn of the new creation. It is a new day, the eternal day, and Jesus says, “Good morning.””

- by Fr. Bob Pelton, “The Asceticism of Joy,” Restoration, April 2021, Vol. 74, No.4, p. 1, Combermere

The Paradox of the Cross

Spiritual Reading, Monday September 14, 2020

Deacon Steve took our spiritual reading last Monday from “The Passion and the Cross”, a book by Ron Rolheiser.

“A man, a God, hangs naked, exposed vulnerable, defenseless, silent, with his arms stretched wide, open for an embrace, and with his hands also stretched open with nails driven through them. Yet strangely, in all that, we don’t see bitterness, defeat and anger. Paradoxically, we see their opposite. This is what real trust, love, and metanoia (un-paranoia) look like.

And I say “look like” because we don’t understand this- we see it. We don’t understand intellectually how giving oneself over in betrayal teaches trust, nor how vulnerability and powerlessness are the real powers that bring about intimacy. But we see this when we look at the cross of Jesus. It is no wonder that so many people - millions, literally – wear a cross as a symbol of love, trust and hope. Unconsciously, they know, however dimly, what theology can never quite make clear to us: namely, that what divides us from each other can only be bridged by the cross of Christ, and that our hope for intimacy and community is not in ourselves but in an embrace that is beyond us. In a cross this is not understood, it’s seen- mystically, not rationally.”

Rolheiser, Ron, “The Passion and the Cross”, Franciscan Media, Cincinnati, 2015, p. 74

Working Together and the Need for Friendship

Christian Verheyde, in his book, "15 Days of Prayer with Blessed Frederic Ozanam," has a chapter titled, "The Problem of Collaboration" (p. 84.) In this chapter he summarizes some of the challenges that Blessed Frederic and his companions and followers faced as their "Conference of Charity", as it was called, grew and matured and multiplied. "Charity" was not always in evidence in their meetings, as Blessed Frederic himself testified in his letters to friends. In one letter he wrote…

May 13 - "Do you love me?"

On the 3rd Sunday of Easter we heard the Gospel reading from St. John where Jesus, risen from the tomb, appears to the apostles on the shore of the lake where they had been fishing all night without a catch. In that gospel reading there is the well-known interchange between Jesus and Peter where Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him. Preachers and scripture scholars tell us that this is the point where Peter is not only forgiven for his triple denial of his Lord - also beside a charcoal fire - but that it is also the very point where Peter is given his apostolic mission as chief shepherd of the flock of Christ.

This is all described very poignantly in a reflection by Sr. Mary McGlone SSJ where she points out how we cannot really be used by Jesus in the mission he has for us until we are confronted by our sinfulness and weakness, and brought to a place where we experience forgiveness by the Lord's gratuitous love. She actually titled her post, "Only sinners need apply"