Fides et Ratio

Although the term "hope" gives us the impression it is a gift that offers us rest, it actually doesn't. According to St. Thomas Aquinas it is one of the challenging passions whereby we strain towards something good. We endure, therefore the restlessness of spirit that remains unsatisfied in the absence of some good. The theological virtue of hope strains towards the Divine-Good - God Himself. This theological virtue leads to placing natural hopes into their proper context. The sins against Hope: despair and presumption are "easy" passions according to Aquinas. They are not necessary enjoyable, but they are comforting in the sense of "giving-up" is comforting. We choose to rest is letting go of a good. Sometimes we have to do this with natural goods, but when it comes to the Divine Good, despairing is a sin against despair. Presumption is the death of our relationship with a God of grace, rather than approaching him with entitlement. How do we navigate these challenging times where we are exhausted of hoping for something better; we are exhausted of being restless? We need to pray for a supernatural type of hope that will enable us to rise above all worldly losses, as good as they might be.

Christ speaks to his audience, he knows exactly how to correct each group. To the Pharisees they struggled with integrating love into the law, with the lawless, law into the disposition of love. To which does Christ emphasize to you? This integration is why the Church teaches the "theology of the Body" rather than the "theology of Love." For laws do "hang" from Love, and they are specific.

The theme of bread is used in various ways. Jesus teaches us that "Man does not live by bread alone" but hungers for the "Word that comes from the Father's mouth." Jesus is that Word. Jesus also teaches us, after addressing the Samaritan woman's thirst, that He has Bread that others do not know about. But this bread is "doing the will of the Father." When Jesus feeds us Himself, He is feeding us the Spirit of Obedience to His Father that lives in Him. We can tap into this through faith, in a way that makes such obedience appetizing. Without faith, it is merely servile fear or aimless practices that lead our life. But to make ourselves into a self-offering to God we sacrifice our will, by surrendering to His with full trust, flinging ourselves into the loving arms of God's will.

WE are called to discern God's will through faith and reason as King's who share in Christ's Mission to extend grace and the Gospel.

Here is an Audio Version of a new series on Studying Theology taking place in our Parish. If you would like to watch it on Youtube, please subscribe to our page AVON-THAMES CATHOLIC FAMILY OF PARISHES. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUuRFDOf6FNSorVwCfThPHbMLFObHm6t_

Vocals: Karen Tigani Piano/Organ: Ron MacDonald

Vocals: Karen Tigani Piano/Organ: Ron MacDonald

According to St. Thomas Aquinas, and Sacred Scripture, "life" is not merely in the body, but also carries a spiritual connotation. That said, a resurrection not only speaks of a bodily resurrection, but also the reviving of a soul that has died due to sin. In some ways this has happened to our families as well, and God is using this time to Visit our families and to breath new life into them.

Music by Ron MacDonald (1) Jesus Remember Me (2) Lift High the Cross (3) Pange, Lingua, Glorios

Music by Ron MacDonald

Music by Ron MacDonald (1) When I Behold the Wondrous Cross (2) The Lord is Now Exalted (3) Were You There

Music by Ron MacDonald

Music by Ron MacDonald (1) Alleluia Give Thanks to Risen Lord (2) Jesus Christ is Risen Today (3) Jesus Messiah

Thanks to Ron MacDonald for recording this music for our parish communities.

Thanks to Ron MacDonald for recording this music for our parish communities.

Thanks to Ron MacDonald for recording this music for our parish communities.

Often we here hallmarks in our faith but rarely do we explain the inner-logic of them. For instance, we know that a Bronze Serpent was raised in the wilderness, and this healed the Israelites. But why did God choose this image to be a vehicle of healing? Why does the prophet teach us that by Christ's wounds we are healed? What type of healing are we discussing?

This week, Fr. Bester, the Pastor of Holy Name of Mary, St. Joseph, and Immaculate Conception Parishes was gracious enough to record his homily for our parish community. I'm grateful for his words of wisdom on this week's readings, which offer us great Hope.

In my philosophy degree, the first caution given to us was that of "double-ignorance." Its a type of ignorance that we remain unaware of. Today Christ reveals to us that He cannot cure this type of ignorance, when it results from our owns sin. We must come to a place where we allow him to teach us, even through people we never thought could.

Today in our local community of Stratford and St. Mary's we celebrate the solemnity of St. Joseph, one of the patron's of our three Churches.

God offers us Hope so that we can endure the dark times of life. He offers this to the Apostles as they go up the mountain with Him, and see His glorified nature to be finally revealed after the Crucifixion. We need to treasure these moments when we get tunnel vision with life's difficulties.

At the root of all temptation is a lie about our Heavenly Father. It is meant to instill within us a fear that leads to prideful decisions. During Lent we must uproot these lies with Jesus at our side who counteracts each temptation by speaking the Truth about His Father.

Every Lent, in Stratford area, an Ecumenical gathering of various Christian traditions come together to share a meal and have a guest speaker offer a reflection. I was asked to kick things off on Ash Wednesday, and here is the talk I gave. I might mention St. Thomas Aquinas, of course ;)

As the Church hears its call to be holy, we rise to the occasion to evangelize. A holy community is not insular but seeks to bring others closer to Christ - it seeks to draw others to the source of all that is Holy: God Himself.

Autonomy in its etymology means "self-law" or a type of self-regulation. In our culture it carries with it the connotation of defining for ourselves right from wrong through our own personal freedom. Yet this is not real freedom as a Christian understands it. Rather its pride, and its rooted in an enslavement to fear.

As a logical consequence to the sin of pride Envy enters because of our self-centred centrality. Envy is frustrated when others take the centre stage, because then we are displaced from our own centrality. Wrath then follows envy so that we can eliminate the competition.

Sometimes our reflections on the Seven Deadly Sins are somewhat superficial and only understood from an external show. In reality, the sins try to pass themselves off as something good. So here I try to briefly examine them according St. Thomas Aquinas and Dante.

Often there has been a debate between words and deeds, and which is the most important. Some argue that deeds prove one to be authentic. Others argue that words make the faith explicit. In reality, both fall short if a person isn't a witness, and doing and saying Catholic things doesn't ensure that one is a witness.

In all our discussion on evangelization, it seems odd that a stress on the Evangelical Counsels is seemingly omitted from our preaching. And while it is omitted, we also note that in some places, such living witnesses are absent too. Let's revitalize this vocation, as it is pivotal in Evangelization.

The Church is called to Go UP to God, IN to ourselves for reform, and OUT into the world to express the Gospel. But division gets in the way of this mission. Thus today, as we "check in with ourselves" we might ask ourselves what a Church in Crisis can Change.

I recorded the lesson I offered to our RCIA class on the Eucharist. This is an important one!!

St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that there are two reasons for a lack of fruitfulness in the reception of grace: sin & error. When we approach to the Eucharist, and receive Him into our body and soul, is this immense ministry really bearing fruit in our lives? If not, lets examine some errors and sins that might be preventing such grace from being rooted securely in our lives.

Sometimes what we ask of God is actually an idol to replace him. Today in our first reading we hear that the Jews are asking God for a King, and this is seen by God as a rejection of Himself as their King. Our Gospel, however, demonstrates the opposite - with 4 men lifting a paralyzed man to the Real King.

Preaching the Gospel with the right Spirit is incredibly important. In our Gospel from Tuesday, January 14th, we heard about a demon who was silenced from speaking, even though he proclaimed the truth about Christ. But there is a deeper problem: when the truth is proclaimed in the wrong spirit, it leads to distortions of the whole truth of the gospel, and twists and malforms it according to other's envy and pride.

Our Baptism is of rather huge significance. In it we will find a spring of peace, in knowing God irrevocably calls us to be his children.

The Incarnation teaches us something important about God's perception of creation: it is good. Since God became one of us, this reveals that we are "very good."

King Herod represents the antithesis of what a family should look like, while St. Joseph demonstrates what the "head" of a household does when such a family is Holy. This homily was given at Holy Name of Mary at 11:00 AM

Its a question of speculation, but older biblical commentaries suggest that St. Joseph, having known the moral character of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, would not have assumed she committed adultery. What does this speculative notion of St. Joseph's relationship with Mary teach us about Meekness?

In St. Thomas Aquinas' commentary of the Gospel of Matthew we learn why St. John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus a question about whether He was the messiah. It wasn't, according to St. Thomas, because St. John doubted Him, but rather to teach his own disciples to cling to Christ as he prepared for death.

St. John the Baptist gives good example to the Church of what it means to call others to repent. Did you know that was your vocation as a baptized Christian? How awkward will that be? Nonetheless, it is a task wrapped up in faith, hope, and love.

As we enter into the season of Advent we call to mind that the first part of this season draws our attention to the 4 Last Things. How do we look towards our Final Judgment with Hope rather than Presumption or Despair?

This homily is similar to the previous with a few differences.