A Bishop's Wisdom

A Bishop's Wisdom

Gospel for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time: Luke 21.5-19

This past weekend, I was blessed to attend the Alberta Catholic School Trustees Association's annual general meeting. Not being a trustee myself, it was wonderful to be in community with such dedicated Catholic educational leaders.
There were many highlights for me, including the opening remarks from Bishop Fred Henry, the presentations from Fr. Raymond Carey, and of course the numerous conversations I had with trustees and administrators.
The conference concluded, naturally, with Eucharist on Sunday, presided by Archbishop Richard Smith. With keen insight and great wisdom, his Grace broke open the Gospel reading for all of us as a reminder of our call as Catholic educators. Allow me to paraphrase his Grace's three insights from Luke 21.5-19.

1. ‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.’

Consider for a moment, the blessing that we have in Alberta, of fully-funded Catholic education. We have everything we could possibly ask for- state of the art schools, the most advanced technology and countless amenities. We have spent millions upon millions on buildings and capital projects. Many times, pursuing the dream of new or modernize school buildings can shift our ultimate goal- to bring those in our care to a relationship with Jesus Christ and to live as his disciples. While it is important and necessary that schools be built, let us be mindful that all this will pass away. 

2. ‘Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, “I am he!"

Jesus is warning his listeners that there will be many who will come and attempt to lead them astray. We can easily think that this a message solely for the people of his time- after all, anyone who would claim to be Jesus today would be easily dismissed. However, being "led astray" is alive and well in our culture, and it is an seemingly relentless attack.

For we are being led astray by a plethora of "isms"- materialism, relativism, and post-modern cynicism to name three of the biggest. We are so completely immersed in these "isms' that we flow aimlessly in their stream. Without a voice that is "counter-ism" (I resist here using the word "counter-cultural" because it can seem like there is nothing good in the culture), we will truly be following false gods.

This is precisely why we have Catholic schools. By proclaiming the Good News of life in Christ, we can help our students, and ourselves, be the "light of the world". Which brings us to...
3...."This will give you an opportunity to testify..."
Archbishop Smith concluded his homily on this passage from Luke's Gospel by exhorting us to be true to our call as disciples:

 Witness to the Reign of God

Witness to the Good News of our redemption in Christ Jesus

Witness to the joy of life in the Holy Spirit

As Catholic educators, we have been given this command by our Lord. We testify with our words, and our actions. Mostly we testify with our love.

Thank you Archbishop Smith, of reminding us of who we are and whose we are.

FOR THIS WEEK:

Check out Archbishop Smith's blog: http://archbishopsmith.blogspot.ca/