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Homily – June 1, 2014

Sunday, June 1st, 2014

Coming full circle

I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying, ‘coming full circle’. One example of coming full circle would be the example of a family selling a home generations ago but just recently things have come full circle and one of their descendants lives there now.

On this feast of the Ascension of Jesus we celebrate that fact that Jesus has come full circle. In the beautiful beginning of St. John’s gospel we read,’ In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God….…and the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only son….he came unto his own and his own received him not.’

In his letter to Philippians put this coming full circle of Christ in these words, ’Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus who, though his nature was divine, did not consider equality with God as something to be clung to, but emptied himself taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human likeness he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross – therefore God has highly exalted him and gave him a name above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend and every tongue confess Jesus Christ is lord to the glory of God the Father.’

The resurrection of Jesus and his ascension into heaven are all one great event. The church separated them in order that it might contemplate more deeply the meaning of these two aspects of this single, invisible event.

In his ascension Jesus returns to the Father and the Holy Spirit, he has come full circle. You and I are at the centre of that circle. In the creed at this Mass we say the words, ‘for us and for our salvation he came down from heaven.’ For us Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, for us Jesus became one like us in all things though he did not sin. For us Jesus came to his own people with the message of God’s love for them. For us Jesus brought God’s love for all of us as he gave sight to the blind, called cripples to walk, stretched out his hand to lepers, touch them and make them clean, for us Jesus raised the dead, for us Jesus became the Good Shepherd who would lay down his life for his sheep, for us Jesus gave us his body and blood as the nourishment of our souls. Jesus showed us that no one can have greater love than this, to lay down his friends.

Each one of us will come full circle when accept and fully live the life that is ours through the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. We come full circle when we see in every person we meet, regardless of faith, nationality or life style, a brother or sister redeemed and love by Christ, just as we are, We come full circle when we come to live our lives not longer for ourselves but for Jesus as we meet him and reach out to him in the hungry and homeless, in the sick and the stranger, in the victims of the senseless violence we see every day. We come full circle when we try to make our own the words of St. Paul, ‘I live, no longer I but Christ lives in me and the life I live I live it trusting in the son of God who loved me and gave his life for me. We will all come full circle when we hear the welcoming words of the Risen Lord, ‘come blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world for I was hungry and you gave me food, thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you made me welcome, naked and you clothed me, sick and in prison and you came to me’. We will come full circle when Christ says to each of us, ’you were always there for me, now I am here for you.’

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No Eco-Sabbath

Thursday, May 29th, 2014

There is no Eco-Sabbath meeting this Sunday, June 1st.

The meetings will resume in September.

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Homily – May 25, 2014

Sunday, May 25th, 2014

Lord Let My Light Shine

I remember my first summer vacation after my first year at Holy Cross seminary in Dunkirk, New York. I couldn’t wait to see a friend of mine, Holly Knight. We didn’t go to the same school but we spent a lot of time arguing religion. Holly was Anglican and eventually was ordained in the Anglican Church.

I couldn’t wait to see him because I’d taken a course in Apologetics – a course explaining the truth of the teaching of the Catholic Church and showing up the weaknesses of the teachings of other Christian churches and I was convinced that I could convince Holly that he must become a Roman Catholic. Needless to say my enthusiastic efforts were a flop.

For most people it really isn’t well thought out reasons that attract people to the Church. More often than not is it the lived example of ordinary people trying to be faithful to the teachings and example of Jesus that is the magnet.

In the second reading St. Peter tells the people; “in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an accounting of the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence.

How often did the people to whom Peter was writing were questioned by family and friends, “ how could you do such a things, how could you turn your back of the traditions of your family and join up with this motley crew of Jews?

Most of the early converts to the Christian faith were attracted to the Christian community by the lived lives of the ordinary men and women who belonged to that community. In the Acts of the Apostles we are told that the men and women who were not Christians marveled at how these Christians loved one another. They became aware of the love and kindness, support and reverence that vitalized the life of the community and they wanted to be part of that community too. Theological or philosophical arguments had nothing to do with it, they were attracted to the community be seeing how members of the community inter-acted among themselves.

These early Christians, because they were so different were often maligned because of their good conduct in Christ. Neighbours couldn`t understand why they shared food and clothing with one another. They couldn`t understand their hospitality and care of the poor.

It is the same today. Men and women are drawn to the church by living examples of those who put flesh and blood to the teachings of Jesus, teaching that tells us share with those who have less, forgive those who have harmed us, be peace makers, work for social justice, welcome the stranger.

St. Paul described the early church as being made of men and women who had no power, no influence, no money but men and women who believed in the love of the crucified Christ for every one of them. Men and women who were filled with gratitude for such love, men and women so filled with gratitude that they wanted to follow Jesus and his way of doing things. Such a way of life was counter-cultural then as it is now and not always understood by those around us, but Jesus asks us to follow him and by living and loving as he did and so make a difference in the world.

That dying to ourselves, which sounds so dramatic, can be carried out quietly every day in our lives: when we put the needs of another ahead of our own; when we refrain from an angry outburst; when we reach out to those in need or become more merciful to those around us and those in our world whose desperate lives so urgently need our awareness and mercy.

There is a saying, ‘you may be the only bible people will ever read’. How we live our lives, how we treat other people, how we care for those who have less than we do, how we welcome the stranger, how we care for the homeless, how we relate to people of different faiths, cultures or lifestyles will let us know whether or not our good conduct gives witness to the Christ in whom we believe.

When we see the optics of Pope Francis, the way he relates to people, the way he wants to be with them as they are, his openness to others no matter what their life circumstances, his humility of lifestyle, surely people`s attitudes toward the church have changed. His good conduct in Christ has made a difference in the lives of many people both within the Church and outside it.

In this Eucharist we celebrate Christ’s great and unconditional love for each one of us. We pray that his love inspire us to live lives worthy of our calling and that we be examples of faith and love to inspire others to follow Christ.

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Homily – May 18, 2014

Sunday, May 18th, 2014

Scriptures scholars claim that this section of John’s gospel is a bringing together of different teachings of Jesus and making them into a part a long teaching conversation Jesus had with the apostles the night before he was to die. This conversation deals with different things: there are prophecies, words of caution about the future, God’s intentions for the future.

The setting for this conversation was what we refer to as the last supper. There is tension in the air. The apostles knew the religious authorities were out to silence Jesus. Too many people were listening to Jesus and not to them. The first thing Jesus tells them is not to let their hearts be troubled, to hang in there to trust in him and trust God. He would be with them to see them through the troubled times of their unknown future.

We all need to hear these words. ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled, trust in God, trust in me.’ There can be times when we face frightening tomorrows; there can be health issues, job security issues, the stability of relationship issues, family issues, issues that leave us at our wits ends as to what to do. When we hear the words of Jesus,’ do not let your hearts be troubled, trust in God and trust in me’ we might be tempted to say, ‘that’s easy for you to say, you were deeply aware of your own close and deep, personal relationship with the Father and this is true but we have to remember that Jesus’ own trusting in God was tested on the cross. Hanging there enduring an agony we can hardly imagine Jesus felt totally abandoned by his Father, crying out, ‘my God, my God why have you abandoned me? Even then he totally surrender himself to his loving Father ‘into your hands I commend my spirit and bowing his head he gave up his spirit.

It is not an easy thing to hand over our lives, our futures to God trusting God to do what is best for us. We want to be in control, we want to set our own course, and we want to be certain of what is ahead for us. We want that ‘old age security’.But we know too that things are not that way. We never know what tomorrow will bring.

This past week Frs. Bernard, Brando. Fatima Lee and myself were at a meeting of our Passionist Community in Hartford Ct. There were at least 80 Passionist priests and brothers there from the US, Canada, Jamaica West Indies and from Haiti. There representative of the Passionist communities in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Uruguay and about 30 lay women and men who work with us in our different ministries. We have meeting like this every four years to elect our leadership and plan for the future.

If ever anyone ever needed to hear the words of today’s gospel it was us; Do not let your hearts be troubles, trust in God, trust in me.’ We are in trouble. Our last meeting was in 2010. Since then 30 of our men died, most were old but some were very active in ministry and their deaths meant having to cut back on our ministries. We have no young men coming into our community. Worldwide Passionist communities are thriving, especially south of the equator, but in Europe and North America we are in trouble. These past years we’ve had to close a couple of retreat house and leave parishes. Right now we have thriving retreat centres in Hartford, Florida, New York and Pittsburgh but our future is in the hands of God. We are in the process of joining Passionists in different countries in what we call ‘configurations’ so that personnel and resources can be better utilized. As you know Fr. Brando comes to us from the Passionist community in the Philippines.

But in the midst of our meeting in Hartford while facing the reality of our aging members we committed ourselves to looking into the possibilities of four new ventures; a greater involvement of lay women and men in our ministries, a preaching team of priests and lay people reaching out to young adults, establishing the Passionist community in Haiti building on the foundations laid by the work of Fr. Rick Frechette over the past 27 years, looking into the possibility on placing a Passionist community in Manhattan that would be involved in parish work and the TV apostolate

I have to tell you I was proud being a member of this meeting. Not denying our limitations we were willing to realistically look at our future with imagination and creativity. If it is of God, it will prosper.

Individually, as a parish family and as the Passionist family may we all take to heart these encouraging words of Jesus, ‘Do not let your hearts be troubles, trust in me, trust in God.

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Bulletin – May 18, 2014

Sunday, May 18th, 2014

VICTORIA DAY

Monday, May 19th is Victoria Day.
The Parish Office will be closed.
There will be no 9:00 A.M. Mass that day.

JUST A REMINDER…

To avoid accidents, the middle arm in the parking lot will remain closed until 9:15 A.M. each weekday. This is to ensure the safety of the pedestrians walking through to the school.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations to the following children from the Children’s Faith Program, and those from Private and Public Schools who received their First Communion as a group on Sunday, May 11th, 2014.

Nicolas Albornoz
John Avila
Luna Avila
Sophia Avila
Toby Avila
Giulia Bernardini
Rachel Eliz Brown
Victoria Campbell
Gigi Ciarlandini
Marie French
Julie Fung
Nicholas Gratsas
Hannah Ha Rhee
Hayden Lee
Caitlin Leung
Justin Lui
Isabel Luke
Joshua McKinnon
Avery Muradali
Alexander Musarai
Christopher Mong
David Perry
Simon Ramirez
Abigail Seymour
Navaeh Supan
Chloe Wong
Valerie Wong

It was a beautiful celebration. We promise to support them with our prayers as they continue on their journey of faith.

ANNOUNCED MASSES

May 19th to May 24th 2014

MONDAY – VICTORIA DAY – No 9:00 A.M. Mass
TUESDAY – MARZO AGARAO – Requested by Bong & Nicka Cochangco
WEDNESDAY – CECILIA MANALANG – Requested by her Husband
THURSDAY – DAN BADOI & HIS FAMILY – Requested by Carmen Badoi
FRIDAY – KIM SE DONG – Requested by the Family
SATURDAY – SAUL MONROY – Requested by Gloria Monroy

ST. VINCENT DE PAUL BUNDLE-UP WEEKEND

THANK YOU!

Once again, Bundle Up Weekend was a huge success! A very big shout out to all the young people who helped with loading the truck. Your energy, good humour and willingness to work were very much appreciated. We are also grateful for the generosity of the parishioners of St. Gabriel’s. Thank you for all your donations.

SHARELIFE

“My worst day clean is better than my best day using,” exclaims Suzanne, as she shares the details of her past use of drugs and other substance abuse. “I was on medication constantly to deal with the side effects and was a chronic pain patient for 35 years. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. With the support of Catholic Family Services, I was able to finally kick the habit.” The Closed Trauma and Sister mentoring program were crucial to helping Suzanne get her life back on track. The positive influence of CFS sistering program supervisor Valerie Anderson and encouragement from other professional staff gave Suzanne the courage to try again. She sheds ‘tears of joy’ as she now speaks on behalf of CFS, sharing the detailed differences Catholic Family Services has made in her life.

Over 77,000 individuals received help in getting their lives back on track through ShareLife-supported family services programs.

ShareLife For 2013: $193,410
ShareLife to Date: $99,712.05

Next ShareLife Sunday – June 1, 2014
Please give generously. You can work wonders!

CASSEROLES FOR THE GOOD SHEPHERD CENTRE

Your prepared casseroles (frozen please) will be collected at the Masses next weekend for delivery to the Good Shepherd Centre. More volunteers are needed to help feed the hungry in our city. You may pick up a copy of a casserole recipe and a pan from the Parish Office.

Three recipes are also available on St. Gabriel’s web site. Please remember to mark the label on the pan lid with the name of the casserole. For more information, you may contact Irene Albrecht at 416 221-2791.

FOOD FOR ROSALIE HALL

Each month the food we collect is sent to Rosalie Hall. With everyone struggling at this time, these donations are more important than ever. Please check the expiry dates before donating since we cannot pass on food that has expired. Thank you for your generous support.

SNEAK PEEK ORCHESTRA

June 1st AT 4:00 P.M.
St. Gabriel’s Chuch

Join SPO on its final journey through a landscape of new, unusual, and profoundly moving Canadian works. After a rip-roaring opening featuring one of our favourite overtures, Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, we proceed to a work of a dramatically different ilk: composer/conductor William Rowson’s dark and affecting Aria.

To commemorate artistic director Kevin Lau’s departure from SPO, we present his latest composition Illumination (featuring pianist Mary Kenedi and percussionist Michelle Colton). The work was inspired by a wide range of sources, from Toronto’s recent ice storm to the surreal vignettes found in Alan Lightman’s short novel Einstein’s Dreams.

We are excited to present renowned soloist Erika Raum on a special performance of a lushly dramatic violin concerto written by her mother, Elizabeth Raum.

Finally, as part of our ongoing dedication to the young champions of our musical future, we are delighted to present a short orchestral composition by 13-year-old Ian Chan entitled Valse D’un Enfant.

HIKE AND PRAYER: DOORS OPEN TORONTO

Saturday, May 24th at 10:30 A.M.
Meeting at the front entrance of St. Michael’s Cathedral, 200 Church St

Faith Connections invites all young adults 18-39 to join us for a Hike and Prayer at Doors Open Toronto. Together we will explore the architecture Toronto has to offer and reflect on it through prayer. Nurture your spiritual life while exploring interesting areas of our beautiful city! It’s a chance to meet like-minded young adults who hope to find God through spiritual and physical activity. Hiking rain or shine.

RSVPs appreciated, call Vanessa Nicholas-Schmidt at 416-467-2645 or visit www.faithconnections.ca

SEEING WITH HEART – DAY OF REFLECTION

Catholic Parents of Lesbian Daughters and Gay Sons
Saturday, May 31st 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Manresa Jesuit Retreat Centre’

A retreat for Catholic parents of lesbian daughters and gay sons will be held at the Manresa Jesuit Retreat Centre, 2325 Liverpool Road in Pickering on Saturday, June 8th.

The cost for the day including lunch is $40.00

For Brochure and information call John Montague at 416-523-6449.

IT’S BREAKFAST TIME!

Saturday May 31st from 9:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M.
Julius Banquet Centre, 2201 Finch Ave W # 32 North York

You are invited to a breakfast sponsored by Magnificat – a Ministry to Catholic Women. A morning of song, prayer, good food, testimony, friendship and ministry. for women of all ages. The Guest Speaker will be Elizabeth Belen. Tickets are $20.

For tickets contact Inez at 416-745-4268. Tickets will not be sold at the door. All our past meals have served capacity groups of 300 guests. To avoid disappointment, buy your tickets early.

MARRIAGE ENRICHMENT

Weekend of June 6th to 8th
Queen of Apostles Renewal Centre

Refresh and rekindle your love for each other by treating yourselves to a marriage enrichment weekend at Queen of Apostles Renewal Centre, or give a weekend as a gift to family or friends. The Centre offers comfort, excellent cuisine and an inspiring program. The next weekend is June 6th to 8th. For more information telephone: 905-278-5229.

MY FAIR LADY DON’T MISS IT!

Toronto Catholic District School Board Staff Arts is pleased to present My Fair Lady

At the Theatre at Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts,
36 Greenfield Avenue, North York.
June 6th, 7th, 12th, 13th, 14th at 7:30 P.M., June 8th at 2:00 P.M.
All tickets are $22.

For more information please call 416-222-8282 ext. 2787 or visit the website: www.tcdsb.org/staffarts

FINANCE CORNER

Our operating expenses average $14,550 per week.

Collection for last weekend:
Envelopes 432 $8,713
Loose Change $1,326
Weekly Portion of PAG 177 $3,307
(Pre-Authorized Giving)
Total $13,346

DIRECTION OF SCHOOL SUPPORT

If you have been a Separate School Supporter and have moved, you may not realize that your tax support automatically defaults to the Public School system. If you would like to be a Separate School supporter, please pick up a form in the Parish Office.

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St. Gabriel's Passionist Parish