Homily for Sunday, March 16, 2025

[Father Paul]

Today's homily is a continuation of my series on discipleship. As mentioned often in the book we are using with our small groups, we follow a discipleship path: STEPS - Service, Tithing, Engaging in small groups, prayer and sacramental life, and sharing the faith. This week, I will touch briefly on the second of these paths to discipleship: Tithing.

However, it is essential to put tithing and giving in their proper context, beginning with how we encounter God, especially in moments like the transfiguration in today's Gospel.

In the scriptures, we encounter Jesus in four primary ways. Firstly, as a human being - we see him in his crucifixion, where he is referred to as "the carpenter's son." We also see him tired from his journey, but also as a friend and companion who loved those who were his own.

Secondly, we encounter Jesus as a great miracle worker - a healer who showed great signs, such as the multiplication of the loaves, healing the blind man, and raising the dead.

Thirdly, Jesus is presented to us as a great teacher, imparting wisdom and guidance to his followers.

Lastly, we see Jesus as the Son of God, as evident in the transfiguration, resurrection, ascension, and baptism. Interestingly, these events are all captured in the mysteries of the rosary.

It is essential to recognize that Jesus is and must be all of these things. To illustrate this, let's consider the movie "Notting Hill" for a moment. The film tells the story of a bookstore owner who falls in love with a superstar, someone way out of reach of most normal human beings.

The basic plot of the movie revolves around a chance encounter between the bookstore owner, William, and the superstar, Anna Scott. Despite their vastly different lives, they fall in love, but William struggles to accept it. He finds it hard to believe that someone as famous and influential as Anna could truly love him. And so he rejects her, rather foolishly.

In one poignant scene, William says to Anna, "I live in Notting Hill. You live in Beverly Hills. Everyone in the world knows who you are, my mother has trouble remembering my name." Anna responds with a beautiful line: "I'm also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her."

I think that for William and Anna to truly love each other, William had to learn to accept both aspects of her life - both the super-stardom and the fact that she was just a human being. Similarly, when it comes to Jesus, we need to understand and accept all of him, both his humanity and his divinity.

When we accept both aspects of Jesus, it is both aspects that invite us to follow him. This is what our steps are all about: service, tithing, engaging in small groups, prayer and devotion, and spreading the Gospel. As your pastor, my goal is to equip you with the tools necessary to be a follower of Christ.

To make it easier for you to find opportunities to serve and give to our parish, I am introducing a new online donation platform. Previously, clicking the "give" button on our website would take you to our online pledge form. However, our new platform allows you to make weekly or one-time donations using your credit card, with the lowest service fees, and is Canadian and Ontario owned and operated. You can also find the direct give button on the QR code in your pews, which you can use at any time.

We are also setting up a page called "Champions of Hope" for special initiatives that you might like to support. I am excited to announce these new developments, which will make it easier for you to engage with our parish and follow Jesus.

I wonder what Jesus said to his disciples after the transfiguration. While we don't know for certain, perhaps he said something like what Anna Scott said to William Thacker: "I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her." Maybe Jesus said, "I'm also just a friend, standing in front of a friend, asking you to follow him."