Author Archive
Mass Inside the New Church
Sunday, September 10th, 2006
Children’s Faith Program 2006
Sunday, September 10th, 2006
homily – September 10
Sunday, September 10th, 2006Mark 7:31-37
Just a couple of words on today’s gospel. Some good friends brought this man to Jesus. He couldn’t hear, he couldn’t speak correctly. They wanted Jesus to do something about it. Mark tells us this good man had an impediment. It’s an interesting choice of words. Impediments are literally those things which get in the way of the feet, from the Latin word pedes meaning “foot”. Freedom of movement is so important for us. The older we get, the more anxious we are about anything that could trip us up and cause us to stumble and fall. We have to watch where we’re going. We’ve come to apply this word ‘impediment’ to anything and everything that limits our freedom or our ability to do what we want to do. Jesus removes the barrier to this man’s freedom to hear and speak – Jesus removes his impediment and liberates the man to hear and speak.
People with impediments – with limited ability to see, hear, speak, walk – usually manage to compensate their limitations in amazing ways – they show us such courage, such determination, such ingenuity as they carry on with their lives. They refuse to allow regret or anger or self pity to be an even greater impediment in their determination to live full lives.
The Apostle Paul tells us we are to grow to full maturity in Christ – we are to put on Christ – we are to have the mind of Christ – as Paul said of himself we are to say of ourselves, ‘for me to live is Christ.’
But like Paul we recognize our own limitations – we can say of ourselves what Paul said of himself. ‘the good that I would, that I do not, the evil that I would not do, that I do.’ Our freedom to grow to our personal maturity in Christ is impeded by our own immaturity, insecurity, self centeredness, selfishness. Our lack of faith in God’s love for us, a love that drove God to send His son to the world, not to condemn us but to bring us to life, this lack of faith can be our impediment to growing to that full maturity to which we are called. Our lack of faith, our lack of trust in Christ’s love for us – a love that drove Him to empty Himself of divinity and take to Himself our humanity – becoming as we all are – a love that drove Him to a horrible death on a cross – this lack of trust in such love can be our impediment to growing to that full maturity to which we are called. If we are honest about it there are so many things in our lives that impede our growing, maturing as persons and as Christians – we struggle with anger and resentments over past hurts and betrayals, we struggle with our own passions and dependencies, we have yet to overcome our prejudices towards good people of other cultures, nationalities, religions, life styles – we have difficulties with people, things and ways of thinking that are different from ours.
Because of all these we are impeded from hearing the word of Christ clearly – love one another as I have loved you. We are impeded from speaking with love and respect to other people, we are impeded from seeing the good in other people, in other ways of thinking and living, we are impeded from seeing Christ in the very person in front of us. We are impeded from grasping the depth and the demand of Jesus Who tells us – ‘whatever you do to one of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you do to Me.
As we continue to celebrate this Mass in which we celebrate the liberating death and resurrection of Jesus, we can pray for ourselves and for each other for the grace to face honestly those ways of thinking, acting, living and relating that are our impediments, that trip us up and cause us to stumble in our efforts to put on Christ and be the Christ like people we are called to be. May we be blessed with honesty and courage to recognize our impediments and bring them to Christ trusting He will touch us as He touched the man in the gospel and free us from all that holds us back from growing to that full maturity in Christ to which we are all called.
bulletin – September 10
Sunday, September 10th, 2006
OUR UNDERGROUND PARKING
People are getting more and more used to our underground parking. The surface parking, especially the parking directly in front of the doors of the church, is primarily for handicap and senior parking. Parking in this area is on the side facing the hedge on the east side of our piazza.
As I mentioned at the Masses, we are still ‘moving in’ to our new home and there are many things yet to put in place. – We are still working on the glitches. – We will all need patience.
ANNOUNCED MASSES
| Date | Time | Intentions |
| Sept. 12 | 9:00AM | |
| Sept. 14 | 9:00AM | |
| Sept. 15 | 9:00AM | |
| Sept. 16 | 4:30PM | GUS CALDERONE req Joe & Marilyn Calderone |
SUNDAY COLLECTION: September 2/3, 2006
Total: $8,624.53
| 4:30 | 8:30 | 10:30 | 12:30 | |
| Loose | 169.60 | 130.10 | 454.23 | 465.53 |
| Env. $ | 2,386.25 | 1,482.00 | 2,219.47 | 1,317.35 |
| Total | 2,555.85 | 1,612.10 | 2,673.70 | 1,782.88 |
| # of Env. | 90 | 79 | 126 | 65 |
RCIA – RITE OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION OF ADULTS
ATTENTION – THESE EVENINGS ARE FOR PERSONS INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT THE CATHOLIC FAITH.
This is an invitation to come to our first meeting SEPTEMBER 18th AT 7:30PM in the Library.
Come with your questions, your curiosity, your point of view. They will be the basis of our discussions.
TO OUR PARISHIONERS: Because our Parish Community is considered the official teacher and guide for possible new members, it is important that some of you help by being present and by sharing your faith in various ways that are comfortable to you.
ADULT CATHOLICS: who wish to celebrate the Sacraments of Eucharist and/or Confirmation are welcome also.
For more information, please call Mary Landry at 416 – 221 – 8866 ext. 224
Please check the bulletin next week for other educational programs.
BAPTISMS – WELCOME!
BRIANA VINCENTIA NUGRAHA
FRASER MURDOCH McMILLAN
SHIDA POURLOTFI
SHIRLEY POURLOTFI
SHARON POURLOTFI
PAUL FRANC ABREGANA
CHRISTIAN GLEN NEWMAN
NICHOLAS ANTONIO MOWATT
ETHAN TIEN-WEI KUO-LEE
GABRIEL TIEN-REN KUO-LEE
MIA ALICIA LAROCHE
LACHLAN STEPHEN WONG
EINSTEN MAXIMUS AUGUSTINE
TEGAN ELIZABETH FURNEAUX
JUST COFFEE:
Fair trade organic coffees will be on sale after all the Masses next weekend.
Regular Ground: $5
Whole Beans: $5
Decaffeinated: $6
GOOD SHEPHERD NEEDS YOU!
Good Shepherd Centre, a charitable multi-service agency providing services to homeless and disadvantaged individuals, is desperately seeking volunteers.
In order to continue to provide the essential service of clothing to Toronto’s homeless, Good Shepherd Centre urgently needs volunteers to distribute clothing (weekday mornings 9:00 – 11:00AM).
Minimum time commitment 2 hours per week. For more information regarding these or other volunteer
opportunities, please contact Bianca Sorbera at 416 – 869 – 3619 ext. 262.
You can make all the difference in your community!
ROSARIES FOR CANADIAN FORCES ABROAD
is a private lay apostolate that makes handmade rosaries to military specifications and distributes them free of charge to Canadian Forces personnel serving in Afghanistan through Army “Padres”. We need volunteers to help make the Rosaries as demand is great! All volunteers will receive materials and training and can work at their own pace. This is fun, means a great deal to our troops, and costs you nothing but time. Contact Allan Scott at 416 – 227 – 9447 or rosarymaker@canada.com
SOCIETY OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL
On your behalf, the society helps the poor and marginalized. We visit the poor; We run shelters for women; We provide homes for mentally handicapped; We help the addicted get their lives back; We run a camp for disadvantaged girls. Only with your help can we turn concern into action. Please remember the poor box on your way out of church each week. www.svdptoronto.org
NEW BEGINNINGS: WIDOW/WIDOWER SUPPORT GROUP
This is a special group for those who are widowed, and seek to understand their loss and grief. The eight week program is on Wednesday evenings from September 20th until November 8th at 7:30PM. For further information, please contact Sr. Rita DeLuca, C.S.J. at St. Joseph’s Morrow Park at 416 – 222 – 1101 ext 107/258.
BLESSED TRINITY CWL BRIDGE: Seeking new bridge members!
Come join us and meet new friends.
Ladies afternoon – Ladies evening – Couples evening
For further information please call: Maureen Cullen at 416-222-8755
homily – September 3
Sunday, September 3rd, 2006Labour Day
It just doesn’t seem right that summer is over – have you ever wondered why July and August can’t last as long as January and February?
On the Labor Day weekend maybe we can spend some time reflecting on how we co-operate with God in the ongoing evolution of creation. At Mass we make our offering of bread and wine to the God of all creation – our bread which earth has given and human hands have made – our wine, fruit of the vine and the work of human hands.
Do we ever stop to think of all the work of human hands that goes into the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the computers we use, the cars we drive – the homes we live in – all the work of human hands. Do we ever stop to think of how much those humans hands earned from their labor compared to the price we pay for their work? Last Sunday we celebrated the Festa of St. Gabriel out in Immaculate Conception Parish in Woodbridge. There were thousands of people there. I love giving out Holy Communion at the Festa – placing the host in a person’s hands I can’t help but think of those words – the work of human hands. I see them as honest hands – hands that have hammer and nailed, mixed cement, laid bricks, painted walls, hands that drive transport trucks and taxies, subways and buses – hands that set tables and cooked countless meals, hands that push baby carriages, dress children and clean homes – hands that transplant organs, set bones and mend hearts, hands that take temperatures and blood pressures, hands that steady the old and feeble, hands that write on blackboards and write report cards, hands that run up our groceries at cashier counters, hands that work computers, hands that write legal briefs.
This beautiful church in which we celebrate is the work of human hands – and for their work we are grateful.
This is what we celebrate on Labor Day – the work of human hands. Labor Day is the holiday that recognizes the contributions of all those who labor for the benefit of the common good. Labor Day offers us the occasion to remember that God is not finished with creation nor is God finished with our being created. There was a poster out years ago of a young kid – scruffy, soiled clothes – he looked like he’d been playing in the mud. The caption on the poster was ‘be patient with me, God’s not finished with me yet’
God’s not finished with any of us yet – God is not finished with God’s creation yet – the universe is still evolving. Someone has said, ‘Every day is Labor Day for God – God’s creating labor began some 15 billions years ago in the original burst of energy that was the beginning of our expanding universe. Every thing that is or yet to be was in the original flaming forth – just at the giant oak was in the acorn. Every Day is Labor Day for God and the product of God’s industry is our own evolving into a maturity in Christ, thru the working of God’s grace within us. And part of our growing to maturity in Christ is in our growing awareness of the goodness, the beauty and the frailty of God’s creation. I think we can see the result of God’s labor in humanity’s growing awareness of the crisis in the life systems of planet Earth – global warming, the changing of weather patterns, the pollution of the air we breathe and the water we drink, the loss of the very soil that feeds us. I think we can see the result of God’s in humanity’s gaining an awareness of the inter-connectedness of all life systems on planet Earth – our growing awareness that we are a member of all the life communities on Earth – we are not over and above, we are one with those communities – planet Earth is not a collection of objects, it is a community of subjects. As humans we share in God’s creative and creating activity when we look to and simplify our life styles – we share in God’s creative and creating activity when we do what we can to heal our wounded home Earth.
Every day is Labor Day for God and every day is Labor Day for us because no matter what form the work of our human hands involves – we are in fact co-operating with the creating power of God in God’s good creation. Part of God’s laboring in us can be bringing us to deeper understanding of the words we say at the beginning of the Creed – I believe in God, Creator of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.
As we continue this Mass, we can pray for ourselves and for each other that we come to appreciate our sharing in the creating power of God through the work of human hands for this is what we bring to every Mass – our labor symbolized in bread and wine – which thru God’s power become for us the bread of life and our spiritual drink.
Founded by St. Paul of the Cross, every Passionist takes a special vow to spend his or her energies in promoting remembrance of the sufferings of Jesus, the memory of the Cross, and reflection of the meaning of the Cross for the world.
