Father David Rioux's Website

‘Seek the Lord where He is found, call to Him while He is near…’ (Isaiah 55:6-9). The Lord is everywhere and always close by.

‘Close is the Lord to all who call Him, to all who call to Him in truth’ (Psalm 145).

Our Lord is always ready to invite us to the dignity of co-creative work in His vineyard. His promise is not empty, but fulfilling, and prospering all who go into His vineyard, led in His peace.

Saint Paul’s letter to the Philippians gives us an example of living and working with the Lord, in joy and peace with the Lord, despite everything, amid all the struggles and hardships he went through in his work (Philippians 1:20-24).

Yet the workers in the parable might have grumbled against Paul’s untimely, late turning to work in the Lord’s vineyard. ‘Is this not the man who did evil to the saints in Jerusalem, is he now preaching the faith?’ (Acts 9:13-21).

Our Lord is there for us at the first, at the third, at the sixth, at the ninth, and at the eleventh hour of our day, of our life.

His promise to us is constant, faithful, true: eternal Life, in joy and peace. When our work in the vineyard accomplishes that which our Lord desires for us and for all our good, we shall thirst no more, hunger no more, we will have shelter in His presence forever (Revelation 7:15-17).

There is no question of grumbling for more, for more forever.

On this world day of prayer for migrants and refugees, the parable of the Lord’s vineyard, and the promise of dignified work, co-creating with our Lord, is poignant. The Lord does call us to, it is a natural right for work, a foundation and a formation for family life (CST#294). In the Catholic Tradition, when a family’s natural right for life and work is endangered, there is a right to migrate (Pacem in Terris, #17-20). Yet this is not without hardships, for those forced to leave their homeland, and for the homes and homelands left behind (Laborem exercens §23). And so we pray with Pope Francis’ intention, that workers may hear the Lord’s call to dignified, fulfilling work in His vineyard, and are free to work where the Lord calls them to, prospering them in their work.

God gives us hearts for His self-sacrificial Love, and nurtures in us what is good (see the 22nd Sunday Collect prayer).

So we know we are meant for what is good, and pleasing, and perfect (Romans 12:1-2).

Which is why, when we come up against difficulty, hardship, fear, or persecution… we need our God of might to keep safe what He has nurtured, to help us overcome our pain, and overpower our fear.

We need to recall Jeremiah’s witness, that in our God-given mission and purpose in this life, in serving our family, in accomplishing our good work which gives dignity, it is like ‘burning fire shut up in my bones, and I cannot hold it in…’ (Jeremiah 20:7-9).

This is the kind of love, the kind of passion, that we need. This kind of passion in virtue draws us beyond ourselves, above ourselves, and changes us for the better. This helps us stay the course of our life-giving mission. It rightly orders our thoughts, our words, our conduct, our ability to forgive, and take on good and true works of mercy.

When we hear the words ‘passion’ or ‘mercy,’ we cannot conform ourselves to this age (Romans 12:1-2).

Jesus Christ our Lord warns us of this.

‘Lord, have mercy upon Yourself; let this not come upon You!‘ (Matthew 16:22, from the Greek).

In this world, in this age, we do not deny ourself but rather we pretend to have mercy on ourself by denying any suffering. We avoid thinking about suffering, at all costs. We take in not the great Passion of our saving Lord, but lesser passions of vice that weigh us down. But what can we give, or take, in exchange for our very soul, our life in reality? In trying to remove all sense of suffering, we lose our passion, our purpose, or any meaning, about life, or even about death.

This is despair.

Christ calls us back to our mission, our purpose, and our life. Our life, given meaning in our self-offering of our daily crosses for what is good and pleasing, striving toward what is perfect, the glory of God our heavenly Father.

Without Christ’s self-Sacrifice on His Cross, we would not have His Resurrection or Ascension. We would not have His promise of Redemption. We would not have His call to take up our cross, and follow Him.

‘Lord, have mercy upon Yourself!‘

No. Our Lord has Mercy upon us.

‘Apart from the Cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven’ (Saint Rose of Lima, from the Catechism #618).
There is no holiness without sacrifice and spiritual battle (2 Timothy 4; CCC # 2015).

Let us hear our Lord’s call back to our mission, our purpose, our life in Christ. Let us rededicate ourselves in our offering of what is good and right for our families, and for those we serve.

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our heart, that we might know the hope to which we are called (Gospel acclamation).

‘I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David…’ (Isaiah 22:22).

The ‘key to the kingdom’ is a sign of recognition, of purpose, of merit, of faithful service.

Shebna took it as a sign of his own authority, to build an edifice to himself on high (Isaiah 22:16-23).

Yet Jerusalem, the city of peace, the kingdom of David, is built strongly compact, united, built as a place of worship to the Lord (Psalms 122, 125).

The sanctuary of Temple, the house of David for the worship of the Lord, was adorned all in gold, depicting the natural wonders of God’s creation (Chronicles 3:6).

Our first parents were called to be stewards of God’s creation, tending God’s Garden temple (Genesis 1:28).

They key of the house of David, the house of David, the Temple, are all signs pointing to our Covenent, our life, with God.

Shebna failed to recognize that. Eliakim, a faithful servant to God, recognizing the role of good stewardship for the people of God, is given the key to the house of David.

With the gift of grace, with the gift of Faith from God the Father in heaven, Peter recognizes Jesus, son of the house of David, as the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

With this recognition, Peter is given the keys not only to the kingdom of David but to the kingdom of heaven.

He is to steward this gift of faith to guide, unite, shepherd all in our purpose and fulfillment, unto the promise of our entry into the heavenly wedding banquet, in the kingdom of heaven.

A woman’s daughter is in torment (Matthew 15:21-31).

Her child is possessed by the unclean spirits that prowl this world for souls.

Naturally, the daughter’s torment is the mother’s torment. This family is suffering. This woman seeks healing. She knows from her experience, this world, her culture, cannot offer the healing her family needs.

She goes out from her family. She goes out from her people, her culture.

She has heard something of the acclamation, of Jesus proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease among all the peoples.
Crowds bowed down at His feet in their afflictions, are raised up in health, restoring their families to wellbeing, glorifying God.

She finds followers of the Lord. She finds them being unhelpful. She finds them perhaps following the order given them earlier in this Gospel, ‘do not go to any other people other than to the lost sheep of Israel’ (Matthew 10:1-15). This is to proclaim the peace of the kingdom of heaven first to the children of Israel, to those who are prepared to hear the Word of God. This follows the Proverb (23:9), do not speak to the foolish, they will despise the good sense of the Word. Or, as our Lord warns earlier in this Gospel, ‘do not give to dogs what is Holy, lest they turn and and attack you’ (Matthew 7:6).

Yet, with her faith, with her hope, with her need for healing for her daughter, this woman somehow knows the word that follows after that warning.
After that warning, the Lord returns to the topic of prayer:
‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened’ (Matthew 7:7-8).

So at the mention of dogs stealing from the lost sheep, the people of Israel, this woman has the insight, and somehow the strength, to humbly, patiently persevere in prayer.

As Saint John Chrysostom observes, this woman asks only for mercy.
Have mercy on me.
She is not telling or demanding what or how the Lord is to act, on her terms.
Without help, from her own people, or even from disciples, she can only call out, on her own, making her cry to the Lord.
Have mercy on me.

‘…and God, who so loves us, answers not a word…’ (Chrysostom).
We hear of Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, working in faith without ceasing, and yet hearing nothing from her prayer.

Or, perhaps worse, after hearing nothing, this woman hears this harsh challenge. This woman does not turn away. She answers, not foolishly, but wisely, in faith. She believes her daughter can be healed. Our saving Lord tests her, raises her to this level of excellence in virtue in faithful perseverance.
This woman’s prayer is purified, pure. Then, she hears our Lord say,
‘let it be done as you wish…’ because her wish was in accord with God’s will, asked for in pure faith.

Have mercy on me.
This woman’s daughter is healed, saved, restored in her home. To be raised in the Faith in Christ, which saves.

This woman teaches the disciples about prayer.
Prayer works, through intercession.
We pray that the saints, who know how to pray, might intercede for us, calling out to the Lord, for the mercy we need.
All of us here on earth, called to be saints, when we hear cries, prayers, for mercy, let us pray for intercession and for mercy.
Not that those in need be sent away, but that the Lord in His mercy may answer their prayer.
In our prayer, let us be open to the voice of the Lord who might guide us to use what table scraps of food or faith we have, to be even a small part of the answer to someone’s prayer.

‘Sanctify yourselves, for the Lord will do wonders in your midst…draw near and hear the words of the Lord your God, and you will know that a living God is in your midst’ (Joshua 3:6-10).

Hear the commandments of the Lord, that you may live in the place you are given, and that it will be well with you (Deuteronomy 4:1-6; 5:28-30).

Joshua and the people Israel, sanctified, could journey confidently in Faith, drawing to them people who did not know or follow the Lord (Joshua 3:10-12). All make way for the wisdom of the Lord, observed and demonstrated by a sanctified people, a wise and understanding people, with God so near to them whenever they call upon Him in prayer (Deuteronomy 4:6-8).

We are to live the commandments, the love of God and neighbour, acting in Charity, with the fullness of mercy Christ explains as forgiving not seven but seventy-seven times (Matthew 18:21-35). This is how we come into the place we are given, to serve, and help all to grow and build up in Faith, Hope, and Charity.

If we fail at this, we turn to begrudging day wages when we have been forgiven all the debts for all our life. Our Lord’s Mercy offers to forgive all the debts of vice, so that we are free to build up our talents in virtue.

This is not about making victims or oppressors out of anyone from a generation or a people who came into a land to build and grow in faith and hope, or from anyone from a generation or a people who fell into the despair and denigration of slavery. This is not about possessions or dispossessions, but rather attaining to the promise and the fullness of the eternal, heavenly kingdom, to which we are all called. To be truly reconciled is not a matter of paying unpayable debts, but rather the Mercy and peace offered by our Lord in His Charity. That we may be drawn together, through the Word of the Lord, to journey confidently on the solid ground of truth, in faith, and in hope of the promised heavenly kingdom.

Moses has entered deeply into relationship with the Lord, from cowering in fear from the enlightening at the Sinai shrub, to his desire to see the face, the glory, of God.

After all the signs and wonders of the Lord, leading Moses and the people out of slavery to the world, Moses is drawn to prayer with the Lord, face to face, speaking as to a friend.

The people around Moses seem not much closer to the Lord than when they said earlier in Exodus (20) please do not let God speak to us, lest we die…

Yet the people need something tangible, something within human reach, otherwise, they make and worship their own idols.
They can follow the Lord when Moses is there for them.

But when Moses enters more deeply into relationship with the Lord, even reflecting the Lord’s divine radiance, then the people pull back again. This is too much. Moses veils his face from them, for them.

The Lord our God is Holy (Psalm 99). We might be thinking, in the lines of the Confessions of Saint Augustine, grant me holiness… but not yet…

We are approaching the Solemnity of the Transfiguration of the Lord, where the Lord not only reflects divine light, but IS divine light, true God from true God, light from light, who came down from heaven to save us.
The Transfiguration encounter asks us to ‘listen to Him.’

If we seek the Lord, and listen to Him, we seek after His friendship, to save us from worldliness, and to enter into His holiness. The Lord remains with us, tangibly, even if veiled, to help us, with His Sacraments.

The beautiful field of the Gospel is open to all, but finding in it the Way to the kingdom of heaven requires dedication – like the merchant seeking, to finally find, the one precious, priceless, pearl (Matthew 13:44-52).

God’s Gospel Truth is one, it is the one truth, the one pearl, to be found (CA). The splendour of the one truth, completely fills our mind and our soul.

‘For he that, as far as is permitted, has had perfect knowledge of the sweetness of the heavenly life, readily leaves all things that he has loved on earth; all that once pleased him among earthly possessions now appears to have lost its beauty’ (CA #514).

This is true richness – light, peace, and security – that cannot be taken away.

There is nothing else to be sought except to follow on the Way to true Life eternal, unto the heavenly wedding banquet of the Lord.

The one precious pearl that is everything, that is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, that is God, is priceless, and yet it costs everything.
Everything that possesses us and binds us to passing worldly things.
We must be free of everything not of God, to be free to follow the Lord’s Way for us.

‘Through parables, Jesus invites all to the heavenly wedding banquet, but to enter, one must give up everything’ (CCC 546; Matthew 13 ;22).

God our Father and protector, without You nothing is holy, nothing has value. Guide us to everlasting Life by helping us to use wisely the blessings You have given us
(Collect Prayer, 17th Sunday Year A).