Father Chris -Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time- Homily

" Bread Of Freedom"

Today’s readings are all about ‘choice’, the ability to make decisions which the good Lord gave us, the ability to navigate the world on our journeys through life, the ability to select what we have determined through the decisive assessments of our complex minds what is the better or best foot-forward to a certain situation, or the more or most constructive option to approach a positive or negative need. The action we decide to take can be productive or creative, or unhealthy or destructive, positive or negative to ourselves, to others, but it is ultimately our choice.
 
To be able to choose is the driving force behind Free-Will, bestowed upon us by a God who loves us, desiring us to be as close to his image as possible. And Free-Will is the driving force behind Freedom. In his love and mercy, guidance and compassion for us, God would then send his son, Jesus, the true Bread of Freedom to challenge and excite our Free-Will with the option to choose right or wrong, good or evil, life or death. But ultimately it would be and is our choice.
 
Some of us might question this ability to choose when it comes to our faith commitments, since many, if not most of us, are ‘cradle’ Catholics, and did not have the option to accept or reject the Christian faith. We were baptised as a baby by our parents who accepted our initiation into the faith for us, particularly because they belonged to it, and were probably also baptized as infants. The Christian community is in many ways a cultural community as well as a faith community.
 
Therefore, some people question their membership in the Christian church. In a world which is growing smaller and smaller everyday because of swift and intense technological advances in global communications, we are now more familiar with the faith structures of various other cultures and communities, plus discovering very great worth within them. Indeed, Thomas Merton, Jean Vanier, Mother Teresa and Henri Nouwen, important religious thinkers from our century, have commented and written about many aspects or directives of these other faith practices which have served to greatly enhance our own. The International Inter-Faith Ministry of the Catholic Church has been alive and well since the mid-1800s, and we have profited greatly from the sharing of our beliefs and practices with each other.
 
Of course, the International Ecumenical component in our Christian Faith has a counterpart in our own local community, Saugeen Shores Ministerial. The irony is we tend to discover, not so much the differences between us, but the similarities. For example, both ourselves and our Indigenous brothers and sisters share a mutual love and reverence for God present in all creation.
 
Many of us have children, in fact, some of them adults with children of their own, who may or have fallen away from the faith. Some have done so because of disappointment or disagreement with Church teaching. Some dislike the ‘patriarchal nature’ of the Christian faith, a result of its connection to another people, time and place quite different from ours in which we honour the equality of men and women.
 
But this departure from the Faith is also because many chose to ask themselves: Who am I? What do I believe in or what do I stand for? What ideals and morals do I uphold or try to follow? Do I even believe in God? Do I believe I just happened?
And this is a very healthy thing, a valid use of our God-given Will to choose.  
 
Yet, there are many who have no faith roots at all. Anne Landers, the advice columnist, once received a letter from parents who said they had decided not to bring their children up in any particular religion, but let them choose themselves. Anne replied, “Don’t be surprised if they choose nothing at all!”
 
The spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, is widely respected for his deep, contemplative faith which seeks to nurture the spirit within. When people approach him with a desire to convert to Buddhism, he asks them, “Do you belong to a religion already? How well do you know it? Explore your own faith first, since all have the same law: to love God and love one another.” Thomas Merton who met the Dalai Lama was delighted to discover the Catholic faith has its own meditation tradition, long hidden in monasteries. After bringing this good news home, our own contemplative practices swelled within the Catholic church.
 
Parents, don’t worry about your children. You’ve done your best. Now, just pray for them. Jesus gave the Bread of Freedom to each child to find their own way, and on this journey, even the good thief was welcomed at the end in paradise.
  
– Rev Fr Christopher Tracey, Saint Joseph Parish, Saugeen Shores, Ontario