33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

  40^th Anniversary of the Opening of St. Cadoc’s Parish ,

25^th Anniversary of the Opening of St. Cadoc’s Church

1. Today’s readings paint an apocalyptic vision which leaves us wide-eyed. Jesus points to the coming of the Son of Man amidst cosmic upheaval to gather his chosen ones from the all over the earth. Here too is the Last Judgement when evil will be punished with everlasting disgrace and good rewarded with eternal life. What are we to make of these dramatic scenes?

2. There is a paragraph in the Catechism of the Catholic Church which translates these apocalyptic images into a scenario we can begin to make sense of: “Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the ‘mystery of iniquity’ in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh” (CCC 675).

3.  The Gospel today warns us of this clear and present danger which is a temptation for the Church in every age until the Lord comes again. We are being invited by the Lord to recognise the danger of being deceived by the false promise of a counterfeit liberty which aims to emancipate us from God and which is the opposite of true freedom. We need to realise that this false liberty will have sinful consequences which may go beyond the grave into the world to come. If we freely turn away from God in this life, we may freely turn away from him for ever. In this case, the Last Judgement is only an endorsement of a judgement we have passed on ourselves. We trust in the mercy of the Lord of life, and yet we should fear the great deception which could result in the loss of our souls.

4. Today is a happy anniversary for this parish. It is the 40^th Anniversary of the Parish and the 25^th Anniversary of the Church. This is an occasion for remembering fondly the people and priests who have built up this parish. This is an occasion on which everyone can be justly proud of what this community has achieved over these 40 years in building up the parish, the school and the church to form a very thriving Catholic community which today gives thanks to God for its origins and growth to the present day, and prays for the faith and the constancy to continue to be true to the mission of the Catholic parish. Because so many people want to live in this area and send their children to the schools in this area, this is a day too to be pleased that this parish is capable of further growth and to look to the future of the parish with real hope and optimism.

5. Parishes are established and churches are opened in the last analysis to acknowledge and worship God and to celebrate his love for human beings manifested in the death and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ. Parishes are established and churches open so that we keep before our eyes the salvation which God offers us and so that we can avoid the deceptions and the sin which are always a temptation and a snare for human beings. Parishes are established and churches are opened so that people can focus on the lasting things which God offers us and not be deceived into chasing after things which will lead us to a place of desperate darkness.

6. Today then, as we celebrate with joy the 40^th anniversary of the establishment of this parish and of the 25^th anniversary of the opening of this Church, and as we look with hope to the future of this parish community, this is an auspicious and providential moment in which to re-affirm the spiritual mission of St. Cadoc’s Parish, Newton Mearns by renewing the promises of our baptism and by professing our faith in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

St. Cadoc’s, Newton Mearns

19^th November 2006