St John Chrysostom / St Elizabeth Seton Conference - Newmarket, Ontario, Canada - Also serving the town of East Gwillimbury
Saturday, 1 April 2023
The Test of Progress
Tuesday, 14 March 2023
Refugees (and Migrants) - a Spiritual Reflection
Sculpture by Banksy |
By Brian Bilston
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
Should life have dealt a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
A place should only belong to those who are born there
Do not be so stupid to think that
The world can be looked at another way
(now read from bottom to top)
Jesus is the master of challenging us to view the world and its values from the bottom up. Perhaps the best example is the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 and Luke 6 (Sermon on the Plain). In his world and time, everybody believed and taught that the poor and sick were cursed by God. Jesus had the audacity to say that they were blessed and would inherit God's blessings.
Sunday, 5 March 2023
Redefining Normal
Image credit: https://depositphotos.com/stock-photos/dark-clouds.html |
Following Christ means redefining 'Normal'
"Peter, James, and John are so weirded out by this bizarre (Transfiguration of Jesus) experience that Peter babbles about building booths, James and John say not a word, and they all eventually fall on the ground prostrate in dread. Then, of course, Jesus acts normal and says “Rise and do not be afraid”. Really? And how exactly is life supposed to go back to normal after all of this?
It’s not. That is a big lesson learned through their discipleship. What they previously thought was “normal” in life was actually harmful to many. So what they considered “normal” had to change. And it could only change through a pouring out of God’s Spirit to challenge them, to open their eyes, and to offer a different way of living in the world that would lead to life and flourishing for the many who were victims of the violence of this “normalcy” and then blamed as “sinners” and “unclean” for crying out when they were injured. They had to learn to see the world again and then focus on the suffering of the sinned-against."
- from a reflection on the 2nd Sunday of Lent by KEVIN CONSIDINE, PHD
Click here for the full reflection on the Catholic Theological Union website.