My new blog

Parish Priest of Chippawa http://parochuschippawensis.blogspot.ca/

Moving on...

As of August 5, 2015, Fr Paul is the new Parish Priest of Chippawa, Ontario (part of the City of Niagara Falls). The church is Sacred Heart.

The One, True and Living God

We give you thanks, O God: we give you thanks, Trinity one and true, Divinity one and most high, Unity one and holy. (Liturgy of the Hours) BY THE PROPER USE OF OUR MINDS, we can discover and know that there must be a Maker of this world and an Author of Life. There must be and is a Creator and Lord, who is infinitely wise, all powerful, eternal and personal. The one who made us cannot be inferior to us: God cannot be a mere impersonal “force”. This all truthful God has in fact spoken to us. He spoke to our first parents. He spoke to Abraham and his children down through the ages. And finally God came among us, taking on our human flesh, becoming our brother and Saviour: Jesus Christ. Today’s feast celebrates our Faith, which is the true one, and its central mystery: one true and living God, in three Divine Persons, who share equally in being God, who each are equally and coeternally the Almighty. We are called to a share in God’s own supernatural life: called to be children of the Father and sons and daughters of Light; living branches on the true and fruitful Vine, Jesus Christ; temples of the Holy Spirit.

The Epiphany -- the original feast of Christ the King On this day was born, in 1412, Saint Joan of Arc. Having accomplished her earthly, political mission, a mission which was of supernatural, prophetic, divine origin, she continues from the glory of Paradise, her continuing mission: apostle, teacher and defender of the social kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the universe, and therefore the King of the Nations. In the cathedral of Reims, having obtained that the Dauphin, Charles, receive consecration as King of France, Joan suddenly asked: Sire, give me France! After her insistence, and his understandable hesitation, documents were drawn up, giving France to the Maid. She then said, "the Pucelle gives France to Jesus Christ". After some time in prayer, she then said: "Jesus Christ gives and entrusts France to King Charles, to be ruled in His (Christ's) Name". All real authority is from God, through Christ "from whom we receive everything that is good". It is not enough that some private persons from various nations adore Him. The nations as such must worship and obey Him.

Saved by the Precious Blood of Jesus

Last Sunday's homily (October 14, the 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time). Sorry for the delay.

The gates of Heaven were opened by the infinite love of Jesus Christ, who poured forth His Blood "for us men and for our salvation". He is our Saviour and not we ourselves. He puts us in the "state of salvation", as St. Thomas Aquinas calls it, the state of grace, through the waters of Baptism. Once established as "children of God through faith" we must preserve this salvation and not throw it away through serious sin. Therefore, we must keep the commandments, in serious matters, in order to be saved, but we do not save ourselves. We do cooperate in the work of our salvation.

Here is a recording of it.

The Indissolubility of Marriage

Marriage is between one man and one woman, for life and open to life. I explained the "unbreakable bond of love and peace". Here is a recording.

Sunday 26 of Ordinary Time, Year B

All are called to eternal salvation in the glory of Paradise.

All are called to faith, for the Lord God wills that "all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth". Amongst the believers, some persevere in charity and grace to the end, and some do not, for "many are called but few are chosen" (which is Pope St. Gregory the Great's interpretation of this text).

This homily was an exercise in "liturgical catechesis". Not a catechesis about the sacred liturgy, but a use of the sacred liturgy as a source of doctrine. My subject was the "second death".

This was the homily preached at the 7:30 p.m. mass. Here is a recording.

Peace, good will to men; peace to people of good will

Sunday Homily, 7:30 p.m. mass, September 23, 2012
Sunday 25 per annum

I compared the new and old translation of "pax hominibus bonae voluntatis" in the Gloria in excelsis Deo. I didn't get into what the Greek of the Gospel actually says, even less so, did I delve into what it would have been in the Aramaic (or Hebrew) original. The original Latin of the liturgical text is from the Vulgate bible, which the Council of Trent declared dogmatically and infallibly to be free from errors in faith and morals.

The King James version's "peace, good will to men" and the older ICEL translation's "peace to his people on earth" bring out the merciful, saving love of God by which were are offered and given the grace without which we cannot believe, repent, be pardoned or be saved.

The Vulgate and this new accurate translation bring out the necessity of our consent to and cooperation with the grace of God, by our good will. It wasn't included in the homily, but this same truth is expressed in the Collect, or opening prayer of the mass: eternal life must be merited. Here is a recording.

St. Matthew, disciple, apostle and evangelist

Hard scientific evidence confirms what the Church has always held and holds: the Gospel of Matthew was written by this disciple of our Lord and eyewitness of His Person, life, actions, miracles, teachings and very words. Originally written in Aramaic (or maybe Hebrew), within a few short years of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Lord, it is in itself, humanly speaking, a very reliable historical document. The Faith confirms all this and adds that it was written under the protection and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who is the one true and living God, with the Father and The Son. “He has spoken through the prophets.”

A Funeral

I assisted and concelebrated at a funeral in our local Polish parish, and having been asked to give a little homily in English, I spoke of the resurrection of the flesh on the last day.

It is a little disappointment that the new translation retained the less forceful, and less accurate, but of course orthodox, "resurrection of the body". Readers will perhaps want to know if I mentioned Purgatory, out of charity for the departed soul. Yes, I did, mentioning the great devotion that the Poles rightly have for the Poor Souls.

It is now firmly and "authentically" taught by the Church that the Holy Souls assist us by their intercession. This is found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in Reconciliatio et paenitencia, 31-iv and in at least one magisterial document from the time of Pope Pius XII: the bull of beatification for Blessed Mary of Providence, foundress of the Helpers of the Holy Souls, that it is "the mind of the Church", that the Holy Souls can and do pray for us.

Sunday Homily for Sunday XXIV per Annum

"Take up your cross and follow me". In the light of the Fatima message, I developed the idea of that necessary sacrifice, the faithful fulfillment of the duties of one's "state in life". The recording was made at the last Sunday evening mass, at 7:30 p.m.

INTRODUCTION

Beginning This is the new blog of Father Paul McDonald, the parish priest or rector of the Cathedral of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. It is the mother church of the Diocese of St. Catharines. Our bishop, the fifth of the diocese since its creation in November of 1958, is the Most Reverend Gerard Bergie.