How are we "treating Jesus" these days? - Wednesday in Holy Week, March 31st, 2021 - S + L Mass at MQW Cathedral downtown Montreal

  Gospel & Homily MP3 version                                 Homily PDF version        

   Sign of the +      Greeting      I’m Fr. Gilles Surprenant, priest of Montreal and Madonna House Associate. Here we are at last in Holy Week. On Palm Sunday as we listened once again to the proclamation of the Passion of Our Lord, we may have wondered how we are treating Jesus today. How am I treating Jesus today in my neighbour? During this Live Daily Mass, the Lord Jesus invites us with great love to walk with Him this Holy Week.             (Intention)            Thank you.

Penitential Rite         Brothers and sisters let us acknowledge our sins and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries. “I confess to Almighty God….”  

HOMILY

When I was young, I thought Judas Iscariot must have been a terrible man. After all, what he did was terrible, betraying Jesus was bad enough, but also getting money for it is shocking. Jesus was right to say it would have been better for him if he had not been born.

Still, as I grow older, I have come to realize that God allowed Judas to fall into darkness for a kind purpose, for all of us that is. It’s because the darkness that swallowed Judas is the very same darkness that oppresses all of us human beings during our time on this Planet Earth.

The darkness is that we no longer believe that God loves us. We think we believe it in our heads, but in our hearts, not so much. If I really believed that God loves me, I would go about my life differently, I think. Material things and all sorts of fears would have less of a hold on me, and my heart would be much more sensitive to what is happening to other people.

We want to believe God loves us… that is why we go to church when the churches are open and, when they’re closed, it is why we attend Mass on TV or on the Internet. We really want to know in our bones that God loves us, with no shadow of doubt. We want to put all our trust in God for our lives, but like Peter walking on the water, as soon as we feel the wind of trouble, we take our eyes off Jesus and focus on ourselves… and we begin to sink….

 God our Creator and Father knows; so, He had pity on us and sent his only begotten Son to Earth to become one of us by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, the Immaculate Conception. The Eternal Son knew He was in for it when He became human. He knew we let our fears dominate us, and that the risk was very high we would kill Him; as in the end we actually did.

I can’t imagine that I might betray Jesus as Judas did or deny Him as Peter did. However, when I think of how easily I let myself be upset with people close to me or how easily I forget to be kind or to show concern for others with real acts of caring and forgiveness; then I begin to understand how I do or fail to do these things to Jesus when I do or fail to do them to others.

God our Father doesn’t want us to become paralyzed with guilt – that’s the favorite trick of Satan the Accuser, the Devil, God’s Adversary. Jesus saves us by showing us God’s love in his passion; He did this for us so that we can truly believe that God loves us. The Holy Spirit offers to help us to love others as Jesus loves us, with everything we are and have, our whole self.

Jesus saves us every time we confess our sins to Him. “Father in Heaven, help us to humbly confess our sins and that You are God: the Father, + the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Announcement

We thank you for your daily prayers and donations to the Cathedral and Salt + Light Media in support for this Live Daily Mass. Blessed Holy Triduum to you and your families.

Blessing and Dismissal

 

+ + + + + + + + + + + +  

https://frgilleshomilies.blogspot.com

© 2006-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2006-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC