Sex Ed, Shopping & Euthanasia

This past week has seen a number of hot button issues out there for all to digest. Where to begin?

Well there was certainly plenty of debate about the proposed new curriculum from the provincial education ministry on tackling the issue of sexual education in the classroom. It's important to note that, as we've done in the past, there is always a review by Catholic partners (Institute for Catholic Education, Bishops and local school boards) to determine the best way to implement any ministry recommendations in a faith context. We have been doing this for years and continue to dialogue with the sitting government on any number of curriculum units.

So it was a bit of a surprise to see certain folks insisting that the recommendations would be taught in every Catholic school. Well within a couple of days, cooler heads prevailed and it was announced that further consultation will take place. Thanks to all those parents and educators who took the time to contact their member of provincial parliament to share their views on the topic.

In the midst of the sex ed debate, a story that may have been lost along the way. Toronto City Council is debating the merits of giving retailers the option to open their stores, malls, etc. on all holidays. I'm sure there are many readers who will remember the days when even the local grocery store wasn't accessible on Sundays.

Now it seems that there are no days that can truly be considered a holiday, whether it be the birth of Christ, our country or the beginning of a New Year. It's unfortunate that we seem to place more importance on the opening of our local mall than on the quality of relationships around the dinner table. Many of these holidays have become more of a feeding frenzy of consumption than a true reflection on the reason for the holiday.

As Christians and Catholics, it's a good time to pause. Is there any good reason that we can't go a few days without accessing a trendy store or feed another indulgence? Can we make some more time for those we love, enter into an authentic conversation that isn't interrupted by cell phone or blackberry and actually take time to connect with one another? I can't recall anyone in their final days on earth suggesting that they wish they spent more time at the Gap. Let's give ourselves a good shake and remember that in our life, it's more about the "who" and not the "what" that should take precedence.

I had a couple of reporters call our office about this issue last week only to have it bounced when the sexual education story seemed to be a little juicier.

Finally, a most significant vote took place in the House of Commons last week but you'd be hard pressed to find much media coverage on it. Bloc Quebecois MP, Francine Lalonde tabled her bill on euthanasia. After numerous rounds of debate and delaying the vote on several occasions, it was put to the test last week. The result - a resounding 228 MP's voted against the proposed legislation with 59 members supporting the bill.

Special thanks to the many groups from across the country who have worked tirelessly on the issue the last several years. Many parishes signed petitions, wrote letters and met with their local member of parliament to express their concerns regarding this legislation. These actions continue to have an impact. You can always access our online resources to learn more about the issue.

At the same time, we need to continue to speak to our politicians about the pressing need to look at how we support those in their final days, namely a coordinated national response to palliative care. There is tremendous work being done from coast to coast on this issue but we need to do a better job in speaking about these programs and encouraging our government to expand these services.

We give thanks for the many health care workers, chaplains and all those who care for the dying in our country. Walking together with those who are ill in their final days is an heroic vocation. We pray for all those who are involved in this special ministry. May that light of hope, compassion and care, continue to be a beacon of hope for those in their final days, as they prepare to be called home to God.

Photos: BBC

Giving thanks for Pope Benedict...

Below you will find a reflection from Archbishop Thomas Collins on Pope Benedict XVI as we celebrate the 5th anniversary of his election as Pope.

The Catholic Church celebrates in these days the fifth anniversary of the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI.

For many years I have been personally grateful for the spiritual and intellectual nourishment provided by his writings, which have appeared not only as scholarly studies addressed to his fellow theologians, but also as relatively small books on diverse subjects related to the following of Christ. The books are often short because they were written as pastoral efforts to help people to understand their faith more fully, and to live it more fruitfully.

What people first note on reading his books, and on hearing him speak, is the simple clarity with which he communicates. I will never forget the catechism lesson he did with a group of first communion children during the Synod on the Eucharist in 2005. Tens of thousands of children filled St Peter's square, and a few were gathered around the chair of the Pope, asking questions. The first thing that struck me was the way in which this immensely learned and intelligent man articulated Christian faith in a way that was clear to anyone of whatever age, yet was in no way condescending.

As one child after another posed questions, one sensed that it was a matter of two Christians, one 7 years old, the other 79; one a child, the other the Pope - speaking freely to one another as fellow disciples of Jesus, trying to appreciate more fully the gift of the sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation.

Every six or seven years bishops go to Rome to pray at the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul, and to meet the Pope and those who are responsible for the various departments in the Vatican. In 2006 it was the Canadian bishops' turn. As I sat across from him at his desk, describing the joys and challenges of my life as a local bishop, he quietly listened, and from time to time made astute and helpful comments. I got the sense of a man who really listens. That was certainly his reputation among bishops over the years when he was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

For an idea of what it is like to have a conversation with Pope Benedict, read "Salt of the Earth" and "God and the World", two books by a journalist who recorded lengthy sessions of conversations with him. Spending so much time with Cardinal Ratzinger led the sceptical journalist to return to the practice of the faith.

Joseph Ratzinger is clearly a brilliant theologian, but when you read his writings, for all the immense learning and profound insights, you always have a sense of simple human warmth rooted in the Gospel, as he seeks to explain Christian faith with clear reasoning and with helpful practical examples. The human dimension of his writings may be related to his love for the work of St. Augustine, that brilliant and passionate saint.

It has always intrigued me over the years that this quiet, humble man has elicited such ferocious antagonism, both when he was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and now when he is Pope. The fundamental reason for that is that for all his gentle manner, he firmly proclaims the faith of the Church, courageously and without compromise, and that clearly drives some people to distraction.

Bishop Sheen wisely said once that there were not ten people in his country who hated the Catholic Church, but that there were tens of millions who hated the false image of the Catholic Church that had been presented to them. I simply hope that fairminded people, even if they disagree with the Catholic Church or with the Pope, will look objectively at both.

We celebrate in these days not only the person who now occupies the office of Pope, but also the graciousness of God in giving to the Church over many years Popes who, so different in personality, have each offered the people of the Church the spiritual leadership they need for the turbulent journey through a world that may not welcome the Gospel message, but is so much in need of it.

Anniversaries are always occasions for everyone to think a little more deeply about what matters most, and we Catholics can use this one to commit ourselves more fully to our life in Christ, and to pray for and thank God for the humble but firm servant of the servants of God who now occupies the chair of Peter.

+Thomas Collins, Archbishop of Toronto

Message from Archbishop Collins to be shared in 225 churches April 17/18

MEDIA ADVISORY:

Pastoral Message from Archbishop Thomas Collins to be read at 225 GTA Parishes this Weekend

Issue of sexual abuse addressed by Shepherd of 1.9 million Catholics

TORONTO (April 16, 2010) His Grace, Archbishop Thomas Collins, has prepared a pastoral message for the faithful of the Archdiocese regarding the issue of sexual abuse and the church. The message will be read as the homily at every mass in 225 parishes this weekend.

In addition, the website of the Archdiocese of Toronto, www.archtoronto.org will provide additional resources for visitors including the Archdiocesan safe environment policy, a video message from the Archbishop, his message translated into five languages, prayers for victims and links to other national and global church resources on sexual abuse.

Archbishop Collins spoke directly to the priests of the Archdiocese regarding the issue during Holy Week at the March 30 Chrism Mass, the annual gathering where clergy renew their vows to the priesthood. This weekend, his message will address the faithful in parishes throughout the Greater Toronto Area.

The Archdiocese of Toronto is Canada’s largest diocese, stretching from Toronto north to Georgian Bay and from Oshawa to Mississauga. It is home to 1.9 million Catholics, more than 800 diocesan and religious priests and 225 parishes, with mass celebrated in more than 30 different languages each week.

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Responding to accusations against the Pope

Needless to say, it's been a very difficult few weeks for Catholics worldwide. We continue to acknowledge the mistakes that were made in the past dealing with terrible cases of abuse. At the same time we do all that we can to stress the important changes that have taken place in the church of 2010 and to do our best to put the many stories out there in context.

In response to the lastest allegations against Pope Benedict XVI, journalist Phil Lawler penned the following piece for Catholic Culture:

Journalists abandon standards to attack the Pope
By Phil Lawler April 10, 2010 10:03 AM

We're off and running once again, with another completely phony story that purports to implicate Pope Benedict XVI in the protection of abusive priests.

The "exclusive" story released by AP yesterday, which has been dutifully passed along now by scores of major media outlets, would never have seen the light of day if normal journalistic standards had been in place. Careful editors should have asked a series of probing questions, and in every case the answer to those questions would have shown that the story had no "legs."

First to repeat the bare-bones version of the story: in November 1985, then-Cardinal Ratzinger signed a letter deferring a decision on the laicization of Father Stephen Kiesle, a California priest who had been accused of molesting boys.

Now the key questions:

• Was Cardinal Ratzinger responding to the complaints of priestly pedophilia? No. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which the future Pontiff headed, did not have jurisdiction for pedophile priests until 2001. The cardinal was weighing a request for laicization of Kiesle.

• Had Oakland's Bishop John Cummins sought to laicize Kiesle as punishment for his misconduct? No. Kiesle himself asked to be released from the priesthood. The bishop supported the wayward priest's application.

• Was the request for laicization denied? No. Eventually, in 1987, the Vatican approved Kiesle's dismissal from the priesthood.

• Did Kiesle abuse children again before he was laicized? To the best of our knowledge, No. The next complaints against him arose in 2002: 15 years after he was dismissed from the priesthood.

• Did Cardinal Ratzinger's reluctance to make a quick decision mean that Kiesle remained in active ministry? No. Bishop Cummins had the authority to suspend the predator-priest, and in fact he had placed him on an extended leave of absence long before the application for laicization was entered.

• Would quicker laicization have protected children in California? No. Cardinal Ratzinger did not have the power to put Kiesle behind bars. If Kiesle had been defrocked in 1985 instead of 1987, he would have remained at large, thanks to a light sentence from the California courts. As things stood, he remained at large. He was not engaged in parish ministry and had no special access to children.

• Did the Vatican cover up evidence of Kiesle's predatory behavior? No. The civil courts of California destroyed that evidence after the priest completed a sentence of probation-- before the case ever reached Rome.

So to review: This was not a case in which a bishop wanted to discipline his priest and the Vatican official demurred. This was not a case in which a priest remained active in ministry, and the Vatican did nothing to protect the children under his pastoral care. This was not a case in which the Vatican covered up evidence of a priest's misconduct. This was a case in which a priest asked to be released from his vows, and the Vatican-- which had been flooded by such requests throughout the 1970s -- wanted to consider all such cases carefully. In short, if you're looking for evidence of a sex-abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, this case is irrelevant.

We Americans know what a sex-abuse crisis looks like. The scandal erupts when evidence emerges that bishops have protected abusive priests, kept them active in parish assignments, covered up evidence of the charges against them, and lied to their people. There is no such evidence in this or any other case involving Pope Benedict XVI.

Competent reporters, when dealing with a story that involves special expertise, seek information from experts in that field. Capable journalists following this story should have sought out canon lawyers to explain the 1985 document-- not merely relied on the highly biased testimony of civil lawyers who have lodged multiple suits against the Church. If they had understood the case, objective reporters would have recognized that they had no story. But in this case, reporters for the major media outlets are far from objective.

The New York Times-- which touched off this feeding frenzy with two error-riddled front-page reports-- seized on the latest "scoop" by AP to say that the 1985 document exemplified:

…the sort of delay that is fueling a renewed sexual abuse scandal in the church that has focused on whether the future pope moved quickly enough to remove known pedophiles from the priesthood, despite pleas from American bishops.

Here we have a complete rewriting of history. Earlier in this decade, American newspapers exposed the sad truth that many American bishops had kept pedophile priests in active ministry. Now the Times, which played an active role in exposing that scandal, would have us believe that the American bishops were striving to rid the priesthood of the predators, and the Vatican resisted!

No, what is "fueling a renewed sexual abuse scandal" is a media frenzy. There is a scandal here, indeed, but it's not the scandal you're reading about in the mass media. The scandal is the complete collapse of journalistic standards in the handling of this story.

Archbishop Collins' Easter Sunday Homily

Below you will find the Archbishop's Easter Sunday 2010 homily, delivered at St. Michael's Cathedral on Sunday, April 4, 2010 at the noon mass:

Easter Noon Mass: 2010

In ancient Christian cultures, disciples greet each other in these days with the words: "Christ is risen! He is truly risen. Alleluia!" Those words express the great fact that has energized Christians for two thousand years. "Christ is risen! He is truly risen."

Yesterday evening, the readings of the Easter Vigil recounted the long story of creation, of sin and rebellion, and above all of the provident hand of God sustaining his people as they stumbled down through history, sinning and repenting, and so often feeling lost in an alien world. Finally, after the prophets had prepared the way, God came into this world himself, to live as we are meant to live during our brief time on earth, so that we might learn not just how to live here as children of God, but so that we might become fully alive. These past days of Holy Week we have pondered the rejection of Christ, and have recognized in the figures of the Passion our own vulnerability to the power of evil in the great drama of life and death.

Mortal death is inescapable to humans, but Jesus was brought to the Cross by people who had already died what the Apocalypse calls the "second death"; and his torture and brutal death were caused by them. The first death is natural death, to which we are all subject. But the second death is the death of the soul; it is death that is chosen when we willingly succumb to the power of evil. It is mortal sin. So often in life the second death in one person brings physical death to others, and that happened on Calvary, as the betrayal of Judas, and the cowardice of Pilate, and the hatred of the religious authorities, and the fury of the mob, all led to the death of Jesus on the cross.

We recognize every day, in the world around us, the power of the second death which we see revealed in the Passion of Our Lord and, if we are honest, we can sense its gravitational pull in our own souls.

But just when evil seemed to triumph even over the Holy One of God, and his disciples were distraught with grief, and had lost all hope, the full plan of God was revealed, foreshadowed through his provident hand lifting up his peoplethroughout the ages. Those first disciples were the first to realize, "Christ is Risen.

He is truly Risen. Alleluia," when the Risen Lord broke into their lives and changed them utterly.

Astonished, they found the tomb where they had placed his body to be empty. That simply proves that the resurrection is a fact of history.

Much more importantly, again and again, they encountered the Risen Lord, not simply risen to earthly life, as Lazarus was, and as was the son of the widow of Nain, but radiant in glory.

The disciples on the road to Emmaus find a stranger walking with them, who revealed to them the meaning of the scriptures; when they came to Emmaus he took bread, blessed it and broke it, and they recognized him in the breaking of the bread. They raced back through the night to Jerusalem to spread the Good News of the resurrection.

Thomas doubts what the others have experienced, but then he too encounters the Risen Lord, and the sceptic is on fire with faith which he will share in distant lands for the rest of his life. This transformation has happened again and again through the centuries.

Peter and the others are back at their work of fishing, and the beloved disciple recognizes the one who awaits them on the shore: "It is the Lord!" Jesus invites Peter to a profession of love to match his faith, and entrusts the Church to him.

This is glorious. It is the experience of the Risen Lord down through the ages that has made the Church a beacon in a world of darkness, and does so to this day. In the service of our Risen Lord the monasteries brought peace and hope wherever they were established. In the service of the Risen Lord the Church invented universities, so that the light of faith and reason might illuminate our path, and to this day that light shines. When homeless and afflicted immigrants landed here in Toronto in the summer of 1847, people of faith, servants of the Risen Lord, were moved to give their lives to assist them, and many sacrificed themselves in the sure hope of the resurrection, including the martyr of charity, Bishop Michael Power, buried beneath the Cathedra from which I shepherd this diocese.

I wish people could come with me, as I daily travel through this community of faith, on every side experiencing the signs of the resurrection manifest in the loving service of those who know and serve Our Risen Saviour, and show it through their lives. Last week I met students from a Catholic school, who were helping pack supplies that will bring hope to suffering people in distant lands. This week I will bless a family centre constructed where sometimes hope is lost amid violence, as servants of the Risen Lord share His peace.

As I travel constantly throughout our archdiocese, it is my special privilege and joy as bishop to experience personally the power of the resurrection that enlivens our parishes, as priests and laity, through word and sacrament, seek to draw close to Jesus, the Lord of the Universe, who lifts them up in their struggles and sends them out to bring his light to this world, just as last night the darkened church became radiant with light as the solitary flame of the Easter Candle, the sign of the Jesus, risen in glory, was shared from person to person. As we give his light away, it becomes brighter in this world. That which we celebrate in symbol, we must celebrate through action in daily life, sharing the Light of Christ by what we do and by who we are.

There is an old story told of a missionary who had given her life to caring for the most destitute, those suffering in the most terrible ways, a person not much different from so many disciples of the Risen Lord who serve unnoticed throughout our archdiocese. A worldly visitor, who could see so much and yet saw nothing, remarked: "I wouldn't do that for a million dollars." She replied: "Neither would I."

This is the immense spiritual strength of the Church, the community of the servants of the Risen Lord Jesus. It continues to baffle the worldly.

This is glorious, this experience of the Risen Lord manifest in the lives of his disciples.

This is the greatest sign of the resurrection: those dispirited first disciples, who believed that the death of Jesus on the Cross had proven the triumph of evil, those disciples were suddenly transformed by the powerful, unexpected, direct experience of the Jesus they loved, and whom they had mourned, now risen in glory. They themselves were given new life, and filled with joy, and energized with the power of the Holy Spirit to spend the rest of their earthly journey proclaiming the triumph of their Risen Lord.

So it was. So it is. So it shall always be.

The Church is not just an organization, though some are under the illusion that it is. It is not just a place where we can support one another in living a good life, or in learning an ancient spiritual wisdom. It is the community of the disciples of the Risen Lord. It is the Mystical Body of Christ on earth.

The Church is radiant with the divine power of the Risen Lord. It is the heavenly Jerusalem, and in the lives of faithful Christians it is to some degree already made present in the midst of Babylon the Great. Through Baptism the disciples of the Lord wash their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. But they will be tested on their journey, and must resist the power of the "second death." Life is a spiritual combat. Christians who have received the light of Christ are free to blow it out, but in the Easter Sacrament of Reconciliation, that extension through time of the healing power of Baptism, the Risen Lord gives them his Light again.

No generation of disciples is given a free pass, any more than was the first one; each generation must humbly and repentantly encounter the Risen Lord, and live for him alone. Theirs must be the words of Thomas, the doubter, when he encountered the Jesus, risen in glory, the week after Easter: "My Lord and my God!" We say this with are lips, but we must say it with our lives.

In the Resurrection of our glorious saviour, the Lamb that was slain but now rules the universe from the heavenly throne, Satan and the powers of evil are cast down, for the evils of this world hold no ultimate power over us, though we still are free to refuse to live as faithfbl disciples of Christ, and to choose the second death. We are always free. But the second death is not for us: in Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist, and in all of the Sacraments, and in his living word in Scripture, we encounter Our Risen Lord, as did those first disciples.

He invites us to be fully alive in faith, in hope, and in charity, as citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, now, at this moment, and in each moment of our earthly journey, until this world drops away at our own mortal death and we see him face to face.

Good Friday Homily from Archbishop Collins

Below you will find the Good Friday Homily delivered by His Grace, Archbishop Collins on Friday, April 2, 2010 at St. Michael's Cathedral...

Good Friday, 2010

The austere rites of Good Friday call for each of us to look deeply into the mystery of evil. Our Lord Jesus, God with us, who came into our world to show us the way of divine love made flesh amongst us, is crucified by those he came to save. Truly "he was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not." (John 1:10) He is the suffering whom we hear about in the first reading today, from the prophet Isaiah: "he was spurned and avoided by people, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, one of those from whom people hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem.

Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; but the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all."

That is why we call this day "Good Friday", this day which reveals with cold clarity the evil that is found in the sinful human heart. For he suffered for us, and took our evil to himself, and in its place gave back only love. The Letter to the Hebrews today speaks of him as our great and compassionate High Priest, who has come amongst us, and is able to sympathize with our weaknesses.

God does not live far away on icy majesty; the second person of the divine Trinity came amongst us, and truly became one of us: one divine person, human in nature, divine in nature, living our life, and loving as we are meant to love, and experiencing, as we all do, and as some among us do far too much, what it means to be unloved.

He not only show us the way of love, he lives it, and lives it in a world unlike our own only in its surface elements, so very much the same as our own in all that matters. It is a world of friendship and self-sacrifice and courage and integrity, for all of those are found in the human heart that beats according to the will of God. But it is a world of violence, injustice, brutality, and betrayal, for when the human heart is shrivelled by the toxic force of the unfettered ego, we can cause immeasurable grief to those we encounter on this brief journey through life.

We can cause such grief, as we can also bring joy and life. As the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles says, in my favourite opening line: "There are two ways, the way to life and the way to death, and there is a great difference between them."

On Good Friday we do not just ponder fi-om afar the courage of Mary and the beloved disciple, and the cowardice of Pilate and Peter, and the vile treachery of Judas. This day is not just a window through which we observe the pageant of history, or through which we see our neighbours and dispassionately note which figure of the passion they most resemble. This day is a mirror, in which we see ourselves, and realize that each of us can go one of the two ways.

Today we look at the cold face of evil, and seek to grasp in some small way how our brothers and sisters can be overcome by it, and how we ourselves are vulnerable its toxic allure.

Our world, a reflection of that of the passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ is one of gross violence. We see Jesus beaten and tortured and put to death in the unspeakable pain of crucifixion. Some years ago a movie was made that only hinted at the actual physical brutality of the first Good Friday, and it was deemed to be a violent movie. All over our world, people are experiencing physical violence. This is true in war and terrorism, but also in other forms of evil that are less dramatic but no less real.

We look at Our Lord, brutally murdered, and we know that he who is Our Lord and God has allowed himself to experience the power of human physical violence, and in the midst of it he radiates the unconquerable power of love.

On Good Friday we also are confronted with evil of another kind, at least as common and painful, the evil of betrayal. It takes different forms. Peter in his cowardice betrays Jesus by denying him, but later we see how he repents, and three times affirm his love of the one whom he had three times denied. That repentance was profound; he gave witness to it when he died for Christ, crucified like his Master.

Judas also betrayed the Lord. He was one of the twelve, trusted by Jesus, and chosen to be shepherd of his people. How is it that Jesus would have allowed one of those chosen to be an apostle to be gripped by such evil. Yet love must be free, and so the door is open to temptation and betrayal. Temptation comes in many forms: we cannot read that heart of another, and certainly not of Judas, but he betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver. Perhaps there was some other resentment, some unrecognized vulnerability that led him to betray his loving Lord.

Surely also, not only but also, he succumbed to the temptation of the evil one. "Satan entered into him ...he immediately went out; and it was night." (John 13:27-30) How could it be that one of the twelve apostles would betray the Lord? No one is granted immunity to the forms of temptation to which the human heart is vulnerable - the world, the flesh, and the devil - and perhaps that is what Jesus teaches us each Good Friday as we ponder the fact of Judas. It is something that we are conscious of even more in these days, as we are painfully reminded that disciples chosen by Christ to be apostles have betrayed him, and grievously betrayed the
innocent ones entrusted to their care.

This is a day to ponder deeply the power of evil, in this world around us, and within our own hearts. Our symbol is the Cross of Christ, an instrument of brutal execution. There is no room for naive Christians, oblivious to the reality of sin.

But it is the cross of Christ that is our hope. This Friday is "Good" not mainly because it strips the veil from the power of evil, and so helps us to recognize what we each must reject, but because it shows us the compassion of Our Great High Priest, our Crucified Saviour, the Lamb that was slain and now rules from the heavenly throne. His serene goodness in the midst of evil lights for us the path through our personal struggles. He receives evil on the cross, and gives back life and love. We are all inclined to return evil for evil, so making our world ever more subject to evil. That is not the way.

In all of our struggles, whatever they may be, we know that we follow him on the Way of the Cross. When we finally come to the end of this brief journey, we will not be able to say to the one who judges us: "You do not know what human life is like." He who sits on the throne of judgment died on the cross for us.

He gives us hope. Like Peter, and the others who ran away, each sinner can find forgiveness. And through the Cross, which surely leads to the resurrection, he gives us life, and the possibility to live rightly in the Imitation of Christ, with Christian integrity in this world. We cannot avoid the temptations to evil of all kinds, but the power of evil does not rule this world. When we hear the words of the Gospel with our hearts and not just with our ears, they show us the way to life.

When we do stumble into the power of evil, he lifts us up and sets us on the right path again through the Easter sacrament of Reconciliation, so much received in these days, and our pathway to hope in a sinful world throughout the year. We so easily drift from intimacy with Our Lord, but in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we comes again into this sinhl world, to be with us and to strengthen us on our journey home. At every Mass we receive him, Viaticum, food for the journey.

We began this week with Palm Sunday, when we reflected on how shallow our love for him can be, for we can shout Hosanna with our lips, but "Crucifl him" with the actions of our lives. But always, and especially on this Good Friday, we rejoice in hope, a hope expressed in the Preface of Palm Sunday:

"Though he was sinless, he suffered willingly for sinners; Though innocent, he accepted death to save the guilty. By his dying he has destroyed our sins. By his rising he has raised us up to holiness of life."