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bulletin – September 9

Sunday, September 9th, 2007

PARISH PARTY FOR FATHER PAUL’S 75TH BIRTHDAY

Our parish party for Father Paul’s 75th birthday will be held on Sunday, September 23rd at 2:00 PM in the
Gathering Space. Please join us for the celebration! All are welcome.

ANNOUNCED MASSES

Date Time Intentions
Sept. 11 9:00AM JOAN MAYMAN req Marg & Jack Murray
Sept. 13 9:00AM DAVID SHELDRICK req Teresa
Sept. 14 9:00AM SERA PIA SARI req Mimi & Volette
Sept. 15 4:30PM INNOCENT D’SOUZA req Family

SUNDAY COLLECTION: September 1/2, 2007

Total: $8,220.00

–>

4:30 8:30 10:30 12:30
Loose
Env. $
Total $2,041 $1,692 $2,778 $1,709
# of Env. 99 73 134 82

RCIA

Meetings will begin on Monday, SEPTEMBER 17, 2007 at 7:30 PM. THESE EVENINGS ARE FOR PERSONS INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT THE CATHOLIC FAITH. Because the Parish Community itself is considered the official teacher and guide for potential new members, it is important that some parishioners participate by being present and by sharing their Faith in various ways. Adult Catholics who wish to celebrate the Sacraments of Eucharist and Confirmation are welcome. For more information call Mary Landry at 416-221-8866 ext 224.

ALTAR SERVERS

If you are in Grade 5 or higher and are interested in becoming an altar server you may contact Thomas Li at 416-756-4995. The orientation and training for the new members will be held on Saturday, October 13th from 2:30 PM to 4:15 PM.

RESULTS OF THE MINI-SURVEY:

Thank you to all those who participated in the mini-survey in June. A total of 101 parishioners responded. From the results, it seems that the three types of activities most respondents would like to see more of are:

  1. talks/seminars (53%)
  2. service to the less fortunate (47%)
  3. social events (47%)

For talks and seminars, the topic most favoured is

  1. “moral issues that we face today” (67%)
  2. “social justice issues” (51%)
  3. “bible” (42%)

“Environmental issues” is another topic that is popular (36%).

When planning for this year’s activities, the parish team will take into consideration what you have indicated. Please come out and support the activities! Thank you also for the additional comments that you made on the questionnaire. They will be carefully considered, and whenever possible, implemented. Fatima Lee

JUST COFFEE

Fair trade organic coffees will be on sale after all the Masses next weekend.
Regular ground coffee: $5
Decaffeinated: $6
Whole Beans: $5
Chocolate Bars: $4 incl. taxes
Hot Chocolate and Cocoa: $4.50
Teas: $3.25 to $4 by variety

BAPTISMS – WELCOME!

KAYLA NEDIVA DE GUZMAN
ASHLEY AMY TAI
NATASHA NOIBE DAVIS
MARIA CHRISTINE FRENCH
ELIO BOANERGES MENJIVAR-CAMPOS
GISELLE VERONICA MENJIVAR-CAMPOS
LIAM DOUGLAS BAHEN
JUSTIN ALEX DUCASSE-JACKSON
STACEY-ANN DUCASSE
MADELINE MARY ROSE MAHEUX
LILITH YUNA RHEE
DIANA VICTORIA GRANT
JOSE CORADINHO ANTONIO
ETHAN ALEXANDER CAIRNS
SARA LI FOROUZANFAR

TWO UPCOMING EVENTS TO CELEBRATE OUR NEW CHURCH

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2007 AT 7:30PM
MISSA GAIA

The choirs, made up of 120 students from Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts present: “FOR THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH”, which is a contemporary celebration of God’s creation, with the sounds of wolf, whale and loon. Music is by Paul Winter, Paul Halley, and John Rutter. This is a great opportunity to support the young people at Cardinal Carter School. Admission is $10.00

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2007 AT 8:00PM

A special inaugural recital by world-renown organist, Hector Olivera will be performed on Tuesday October 9 at 8:00 PM. Contact the church office for details.



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homily – September 2

Sunday, September 2nd, 2007

Luke 14:1, 7-14

One of the words that stand out in our first reading from the book of Sirach is the word ‘humility’. “Perform your tasks with humility…. the greater you are the more you must humble yourself … to the humble the Lord reveals his secrets.” In the gospel we have the words of Jesus, “all who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

We are taught that humility is a virtue, an important virtue. Often our understanding of humility is twisted. In my experience in religious life I’ve often seen good people humiliated in the name of humility. I had one director who kept trying to make me ‘humble’ saying to me, “I was testing you and you failed miserably.” I really couldn’t buy into his version of humility.

In a way we’ve been conditioned into thinking being humble is putting ourselves down, belittling ourselves, lest we appear to be proud. I read a beautiful definition of humility. “Humility is gratitude which allows us to stay at home in our own shoes.” Humility is gratitude, we recognize and are grateful for the gifts with which we’ve been blessed – and we are happy with these gifts and don’t try to be someone or something we are not – we are happy to stay at home in our own shoes, we have no need to wander. As the song sang, “I am who I am so don’t try to change me, I am who I am, so don’t rearrange me, let me be me.” The Blessed Mother was totally humble when she said, “He Who is mighty has done great things to me, hence forth all generations will call me blessed.”

Let’s imagine the scene in the gospel. We hear that the Pharisees and the lawyers were watching closely to see if they could catch him in violation of Sabbath laws. Jesus was watching them too. He watched as they jockeyed for the best seats, those closest to the host. They were not the kind of people who could stay at home in their own shoes. So Jesus tells them this parable about those who seek the best of seats and then are told to give place to someone more important than themselves and disgraced, they go to a lower place. The opposite is the case for those who are not pushy, not convinced of their own importance and just sit where ever a place is available – they are invited to a place of honor.

Would it be true to say that we, the human species, the human family could take a lesson from today’s gospel? God’s great creation has been evolving for some 15 billion years. Primitive life forms began billions of years ago. We still are not sure as to when the human species began to develop on earth, maybe 400,000 years ago. The truth of the matter is we humans are late comers to the community of life on planet earth. Over the countless centuries we’ve moved from hunters and gatherers, from cave to tents, from nomads to settlers, from villages to towns to cities, we’ve developed our skills in farming and husbandry, in learning and science. In the last 100 years we’ve gone from stage coach to space rockets. As a species we really are on a roll.

In this whole process we have insisted on places of honor at the banquet of life to which God has invited all creation. We imagine ourselves to be over and above all other life forms, they are for our use and for our abuse. We’ve lost any sense of connectedness with them, any sense of dependency on them. We’ve exploited and depleted other life forms so much so that some of them are now extinct and as someone has said, “extinct means gone forever.”

The human family needs humility. The very facts of life are showing us that in time, Earth itself could ask us to leave the head table where we intruded ourselves and in shame and disgrace take a lower place. Earth itself will say, “enough is enough, I have no more to give.”

As a human family, one member of the family of life that inhabits Earth we have to rediscover our place within the family. We need the humility, that gratitude which allows us to “stay at home in our own shoes.” We need that humility that helps us realize “we did not weave the web of life; we are a strand in the web and what we do to the web we do to ourselves.” I have no idea how we’ll do this but it can begin with humility, it can begin with an attitude of gratitude for what we are to God and Who God is for us and an awareness of our place within the web of life that vitalizes Earth.

There is a beautiful Celtic prayer that prays; there is no plant in the ground but is full of His virtue – there is no form on the strand but is full of His blessing – there is no life in the sea – there is no creature in the river – there is not in the firmament but proclaims His goodness – there is no bird on the wing, there is no star in the sky – there is nothing beneath the sun but proclaims God’s goodness. In other words all life forms but the human have the gratitude to “stay at home in its own shoes.”

We can continue to celebrate this Mass praying for ourselves and for each other that, as individuals and as the human family, we be blessed with the gift of humility – that gratitude which allows us to “stay at home in our own shoes,” and come to live in peace with all those life forms that make up the web of life that vitalizes planet Earth.



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homily – August 26

Sunday, August 26th, 2007

Luke 13:22-20

I got this idea from an article I read a while back. Have you ever been bumped from a flight for which you had a confirmed reservation? You arrived at the airport presuming you had a seat on the plane. After all you made the reservation weeks ago. But what a lot of us don’t appreciate is the fact that many carriers overbook flights just to make sure the flight is full. Getting bumped happens more often than we think. What happens to the person who gets bumped? He or she is disappointed, frustrated, and angry and there’s not too much they can do about it. A connection can’t be made. A vacation is ruined, a meeting is missed. There are all kinds of consequences.

What has this got to do with today’s Scripture? Maybe the connection can be found in the word,’presumed’. Because I made a reservation, I presumed I had a seat, I presumed I’d be on that flight.

In our first reading from Isaiah, Jews were of the conviction that because they were the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, because they were members of God’s chosen people, they presumed they were guaranteed a welcome in the kingdom of God. Others, non Jews, would be bumped.

Luke’s reading today is warning those early followers of Jesus not to presume that because they saw and heard and followed Jesus they were guaranteed a welcome in the kingdom of God, they would never have to worry about being ‘bumped’. Others might be, but not them.

Jesus made it quite clear that it would not be those who said, ‘Lord, Lord, who would enter the kingdom, but those who did the will of His Father.’ That’s why we pray that we live this Mass outside these walls in the lives we live. Nominal membership and outward belonging are not enough.

When young couples come to get married in the church and tell me they are Catholic, or Anglican or Baptists or whatever, I always ask, ‘is that a capital c or a small c, a capital a or a small a. Are you a cultural Catholic or a committed Catholic?’

Before the world began, God chose us in Christ to be God’s adopted sons and daughters. But we have to respond to being chosen in a positive way. We can’t presume on it or take it for granted. If we let tardiness or indifference wean us away from what that being ‘chosen’ demands of us, we can be bumped.

Using the same idea of the plane reservation – Isaiah and Luke are letting the people of their separate times know that they don’t have reservations on a private jet. They will be seated next to people they never expected. What do you mean non Jews are on this plane, what do you mean non Christians are on this plane, and what do you mean non Muslims are on this plane?

Isaiah’s words must have shocked his Jewish listeners, “I am coming to gather all nations and tongues, they shall come and shall see my glory, and I will set a sign on them and some of them I will make priests and Levites.” Luke’s listeners must have shared the same shock, “they shall come from the east and the west, from north and south and will eat in the kingdom of God.”

We have to remember the great awakening Peter had after his encounter with the family of the pagan Cornelius, “what I have come to realize is this, that any person of any nationality who does what is right is acceptable to God.”

We are all chosen, we all have reservations, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus – every person of every nationality are loved by God, redeemed by Jesus, Who they may never know.

As we continue to celebrate this Mass we can thank God for God’s graciousness toward each of us for choosing us in Christ before the world began. May we be blessed with the grace to respond to our choseness and not only hear the word of God but live the word of God and may none of us ever be bumped.



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homily – August 19

Sunday, August 19th, 2007

Luke 12:49-53

A number of years ago there was a popular book titled, “I never promised you a rose garden.” It was about a psychiatrist and a young woman with whom she was working. The struggle was to bring this woman out of her dream worlds into the world of reality. She finally managed to do so but the young woman was stunned by the harshness she found in her new real world. She shared her disappointment in her new world with her psychiatrist. The psychiatrist’s response was, ‘I never promised you a rose garden.’ In other words, I never told you life would be easy because I know it is not.

In a way this is the message of our first reading from Jeremiah and our gospel from Luke. When God called Jeremiah to be a prophet to the people God never promised him a rose garden. “Stand up and brace yourself for action, stand up and tell them all I command you…they will fight against you but you shall not overcome, for I am with you to deliver you.”

Jeremiah paid the cost of his discipleship when he preached an unpopular message, advising the king to surrender to the Babylonian army besieging the city. Why waste innocent lives to defend a hopeless cause, forget your pride and think of the people. The military, industrial complex of that ancient time was determined, Jeremiah got to go. But Jeremiah would not go away; he stood his ground and would not be silent. It cost him.

In the gospel Luke is reflecting on the reality of the Christian community of his time, a reality that has repeated itself up to the present day when people make life choices that conflict with the wishes of others. In Luke’s time those who believed in and followed Jesus were seen as traitors – deserters of the faith of their fathers and mothers. They were seen as people who rejected the God of Israel or the gods of Rome and Athens. Their choice to follow Christ split families; they were rejected by kith and kin. Luke is telling them, this is the cost of discipleship. Jesus did not promise those who would follow him a rose garden, He warned us, ‘If anyone would be My disciple he must take up the cross and follow Me.’

In our day we have been blessed with so many examples of men and women who have made our world a better place because they ‘spoke the truth in justice’ and paid the price. St. Paul refers to such people as ‘a cloud of witnesses.’ Archbishop Romero, murdered because he demanded justice for the peasants of El Salvador – Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Tutu exposing the evil of apartheid – Martin Luther King and all those who marched with him for civil rights – Ita Ford, Maura Clark, Dorothy Donovan, religious women murdered for standing with the poor and disposed – Sister Helen Prejean who continues to speak out against the unjust justice of capital punishment. All these men and women who knew Christ never promised us a rose garden and were willing to pay the cost of true discipleship.

And then we have the whistle blowers in our own country, brave men and women who exposed wrong doings and injustices in the church, the government, the justice system. Good men and women who were willing to pay the price by speaking the truth.

How does today’s scripture apply to us? We won’t be asked to face hostile police men; we won’t have to worry about being taken away in the night. But are we willing to make decisions that may separate us from family and friends, maybe even our livelihood?

It costs to name injustice, especially in the work place. It costs to confront a bully of a boss who browbeats and cows good people who depend upon his favor to hold on to their jobs. It costs to confront people who abuse their power over others whether in the family household or a work place. We tend to look out for our own security and safety and keep silent when we know good people are being abused. It costs to ‘bell the cat.’

Are we willing to jeopardize our own popularity in our workplace when we let it be known we don’t appreciate sexist or racist remarks. Are we willing to pay the price for challenging remarks that belittle someone else’s faith or culture or life style? It may cost us if we speak up for what we believe, but Jesus never promised us a rose garden.

As we continue to celebrate this Mass we can pray for ourselves and for each other that we be given the strength we need to be faithful to Christ’s will and way as we try to live our lives as Christian men and women. We know Christ never promised us a rose garden but He did promise to be with us in every circumstance of our lives, especially in those circumstances that will make us pay the cost of discipleship. May we always trust that promise.



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homily – August 12

Sunday, August 12th, 2007

Luke 12:32-48

Today’s gospel is a difficult one on which to preach. It’s pretty demanding and can make us uncomfortable. That part about selling what we have, letting go of all we treasure and trusting in the coming kingdom of God doesn’t compute with our innate need for security. I read a bit of a commencement address titled, “Chase your passion not your pension.” The speaker advised the students, “If you chase money it may catch you and if it catches you, you’ll be forever its slave.” How much better will it be for all of us if we chased and are caught by God? We chase God and we are caught by God every time we try to be the person God calls us to be, we chase God every time we try live like Christ lives.

That part about the servants who fail to follow their Master’s wishes is something we might think about. Some say this part of Luke’s gospel, which was written about 50 years after the resurrection, was meant to apply to the leaders in the Christian community, leaders put in charge of the Master’s household, given the charge of caring for the community. We have those who followed the Master’s directions and we have those who didn’t, those who took advantage of the Master’s absence and abused their position and their authority over the community of faith.

In the history of the church we’ve always had examples of those entrusted with the household of the church community who have been faithful to the Master’s wishes and we’ve had those who have abused their position of authority. In our own time we’ve all been hurt and disappointed and embarrassed by the examples of sexual abuse and the cover up by those in authority. “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required, and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.”

One of the lessons we might learn from today’s demanding gospel is that our actions have consequences. Our actions, our lifestyles, our attitudes, the way we deal with other people all have consequences. Things come home to roost. If we abuse our bodies by over eating, over drinking, using drugs there will be consequences. Common sense tells us this.

If we are open to and accepting of different ways of thinking and living then the consequence is that we are enriched by a broader view of life and its variety – if we are closed minded we rob ourselves of a richer way of looking at life.

If we recognize the truth that God’s grace works in the lives of people and communities of faiths other than our own, the consequence is that we can come to acknowledge the goodness and holiness in these faith communities. If we believe we have a corner on the truth, we have all the answers, we have a corner of God, then we deny ourselves exposure to the rich traditions of other faith communities

If we stereotype men and women of other cultures, if we speak despairingly of ‘these people’ then we lock ourselves into ignorance of cultures older than our own and we are diminished.

The signs of the times, the changing weather patterns around the globe, the desertification of soil, the destruction of rain forests, the pollution of lakes, the poisoning of the very air we breathe, the diminishment of the cod and salmon and other species, all these facts of life tell us that our consumerism, our gauging of earth’s resources is having consequences on the life systems that maintain the health of Earth. The way we live on Earth will impact us, for the earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth and what we do to the earth we do to ourselves and isn’t that the truth?

We are a blessed people, blessed with faith, family and friends. We live in a blessed land. The Master of the household of creation has entrusted these blessings to each of us. It is best we remember, “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required.” As we continue to celebrate this Mass may we be graced to appreciate these blessings and use them wisely so that at the Master’s return He may see in each of us a good and faithful servant, worthy of our Master’s love and praise.



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