September 2nd, 2018
Welcome back to all our parishioners who have been away on holidays. We hope you have had an enjoyable summer. For those young people who are off to university, we wish you every success as you begin a new stage of your life. For those students and teachers returning to elementary and secondary school, we wish you a very positive and rewarding year.
Recent reports of clergy abuse in the Church, most notably through the release of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report, have prompted numerous questions. To access letters from Pope Francis, Cardinal Collins, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and other resources regarding this issue, please visit www.archtoronto.org/about-us/safe-environment. You can also access policies outlining how the Archdiocese responds to any allegation of misconduct by a member of the clergy or lay staff.
www.archtoronto.org/about-us/safe-environment
The Archdiocese of Toronto has implemented a series of policies and procedures to foster a safe environment for all those who interact with the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Toronto. Those we serve include young people, adults and seniors who all make up the body of Christ among us. Information includes our procedure for cases of alleged misconduct, screening for lay volunteers and an overview of requirements for candidates to the priesthood and permanent diaconate.
September 3rd to September 8th
MONDAY – LABOUR DAY – No 9:00 AM Mass TUESDAY – ARMANDO & WALTER DINARDO – Requested by Pasqua Dinardo & Family WEDNESDAY – FR. PAUL CUSACK – Requested by Parish Staff of St. Gabriel’s THURSDAY – BEV GAHAGAN – Requested by Margaret Leckie FRIDAY – JENN BLAIR COLLINS – Requested by her Family SATURDAY – HYACINTH PAUL – Requested by Sophie & Candida Pereira
The Parish Family of St. Gabriel’s would like to welcome: Blake Payz Vivar Delos Reyes Ian Santana Max Santana Logan James Faminial Wong Luna Arcana W. Evora Damien Mateo Lee Evangeline Ging Hay Vane Braylyn Lochlyn Wong
These children received the Sacrament of Baptism in July and August. Congratulations!
Sunday, September 9th at 11:30 AM Gabriel Room St Gabriel’s has a long tradition of hosting the Eco-Sabbath, usually every first Sunday of the month. This year, the tradition will continue. The first meeting after the summer break will be held on September 9th, at 11:30 AM. All are invited.
St. Gabriel’s Church Wednesday, September 19th, from 7:30 to9:00 PM Thursday, September 27th from 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM, Saturday, October 6th from 2.30 PM to 4:00PM.
Registration for children who wish to receive the Sacraments of First Communion, Reconciliation and Confirmation will be held at St. Gabriel’s Church on the following dates: Wednesday, September 19th, from 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM Thursday, September 27th from 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM, Saturday, October 6th from 2.30 PM to 4:00 PM.
Please Note: A copy of the child’s Baptismal Certificate is required if registering for First Communion or Confirmation. $30 is required at registration for Confirmation to defray related costs.
Sunday September 30th after the 12:30 Mass
On Sunday, September 30th there will be an altar server welcome back and retraining session after the 12:30 Mass. Every altar server is invited. Interested boys and girls, ages 9 and older, who are willing to train to be an altar server are very much welcome. Refreshments will be provided.
Meetings in preparation for the R.C.I.A. (Rites of Christian Initiation of Adults) will begin in October. These meetings are for persons interested in learning more about the Catholic Faith. The exploration may lead the candidate to seek baptism, and become a member of the Catholic Christian community; or for Christians already baptized into another Christian denomination, the reception into the Catholic Church.
Adult Catholics who have not received the sacrament of Confirmation but who wish to do so are also encouraged to attend these sessions.
As well, these meetings may be an opportunity for “Born Catholics” to deepen their understanding of our faith. Very often, especially for those of us who received our religious instruction at an early age, we tend to grow physically, mentally, psychologically etc., but the understanding of our faith does not grow correspondingly. The RCIA may serve as a good opportunity for us to ask questions and to develop a more adult understanding of our faith.
If you are interested in joining the RCIA meetings or if you would like to have more information about it, please contact the Parish Office at 416-221-8866.
Begins Next Sunday, September 9th at 10:00 AM St Gabriel’s School
Registration forms for the Children’s Faith Program are available in the parish office. This program is for children of the Parish who attend public or private schools. Classes are held at St. Gabriel’s School every second Sunday beginning next Sunday, September 9th, at 10:00 AM.
Please note that a separate Sacramental registration form is required if your child will receive the sacraments of First Communion, Reconciliation or Confirmation during the 2018/19 year. These forms are also available in the parish office.
Weekend of September 15th/16th Spring Cleaning Year Round!
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is collecting gently used clothing, shoes, linens and household goods to support our neighbors in need or to be sold to help support their special works in the community on the weekend of September 15th/16th They cannot accept books, dishes, furniture, appliances, mattresses, construction materials or videos and cassettes. Please bring your donations and help others in your community.
The truck will be open Saturday from 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM and Sunday from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Volunteers will be there to assist with loading before and after each Mass.
You can make a difference in the lives of the hungry and homeless this Thanksgiving by participating in the annual Good Shepherd Ministries Thanksgiving Food Drive. Good Shepherd provides hot meals and shelter for the homeless in our city as well as a chance to start again through the Resettlement or DARE Programs.
Urgently needed items include: rice, pasta and pasta sauces, peanut butter, jam cooking spices hot chocolate powdered milk black/Orange Pekoe tea ground or instant coffee, sugar cookies and crackers, vegetable oil jams canned tuna, soups, stews, meats, fruits and vegetables.
Please no fresh or frozen foods.
We thank you for your generous support!
Thank you to all who prepared casseroles for the Good Shepherd Centre for the months of July and August. Your prepared casseroles (frozen please) will be collected at the Masses on the weekend of September 29th/30th for delivery to the Good Shepherd Centre.
More volunteers are needed to help feed the hungry in our city. We encourage you to pick up a copy of a casserole recipe and a pan and give it a try. Three recipes are available on St. Gabriel’s web site. Printed copies of the recipes are also available in the Parish Office. For more information, you may contact Irene Albrecht at 416-221-2791.
Wednesday, September 19th at 1:00 PM
The Milk Bag Workshops, led by Sharon Gusz were very successful. Workshops will begin again on Wednesday, September 19th. Please make sure the bags you bring are clean and flat in the box. This will be of great help to the weavers. For further information about this program please visit www.milkbagsunlimit or contact Sharon Gusz at sharongusz@gmail.com.
Saturday September 8th, 2018 at 9:30 AM Blessed Trinity Parish, 3220 Bayview Ave. North York
A Women’s Retreat with Franciscan Friar Mark Steed will be held at Blessed Trinity Parish on Saturday, September 8th at 9:30 AM. A light breakfast and lunch are included. The cost is $15 per person. Contact Kay Booker 416-357-537 for more information.
Life Stories Program Beginning Wednesday, September 26th for 8 Weeks St. Bonaventure Parish Hall, from 12:45 to 2:45 PM
A small-group Life Stories program will be offered in the St. Bonaventure Parish Hall for 8 consecutive Wednesday afternoons beginning September 26th from 12:45 to 2:45 PM. Participants will write and share stories about their lives. The cost is $25 and preregistration is required. To register, call 416-447-5571 Ext. 560.
St. Gabriel’s Parish Weekend of February 22nd, 23rd, and 24th
A Marriage Preparation course will be offered here at St. Gabriel’s the weekend of February 22nd to 24th, 2019. The course will be held Friday from 7:00 to 9:00 PM, Saturday from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM and Sunday from 10:00 AM to 3:30 PM. For a registration package please email Marie Deans at deansm@sympatico.ca.
Did you know? The south garden was not watered this summer in order to reveal areas of drought and areas of moisture retention as well as the plants that thrived in each condition. From this information, Robert Cordy and his team will create a map of the south garden that will inform next summer’s garden design.
Workshop Reminders Sundays from 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM with Cameron September 23rd Attracting Bats, Bees, Birds and Other Beneficial Wildlife September 30th Cultivating Mushrooms (Oyster)
| Posted in Bulletin |
Religion pure and undefiled before God is this, to care for widows and orphans in their distress and keep and oneself unstained by the world.
In the gospel we have Jesus exposing the shallowness of the Scribes and Pharisees in their religious observance. They strain the gnat and swallow the camel. Jesus tells them that what we eat or drink does not defile us. It is what comes out of our mouths which tells what is in our hearts, what makes us tick.
Jesus was focused on faith and integrity, not hygiene.
TV ads are loaded with advice as to what we should eat if we want to maintain healthy weights and live healthy lives. There is a diet a day.
When we receive Holy Communion we become what we receive, Christ Himself. This should have an impact on what comes out of our mouths, how we speak to others, how we speak of others.
If what comes out of our mouths are racial slurs and bigoted remarks about good people of other races and faiths then we do not echo the voice of the bread of life we’ve received. If what comes out of our mouths are gossips and lies about family or friends, then we do not speak as one nourished by the bread of life. If our conversations are smutty and sexist then we do not speak for the bread of life we’ve received. If our words blame the victim, having no sympathy or empathy for the homeless person whose home is the street, if we have no feeling for the mother or father who has no job or the person who is paid a minimum wage instead of a living wage, then we do not echo the invitation of Christ, ‘come to me all you who find life burdensome. If we take the name of the Lord in vain, if the holy name of Jesus is a common expletive then what comes out of our mouths defiles us and the bread of life we’ve received is tasteless.
What comes out of our mouths defiles us if we fail to follow the advice of St. Paul; say only the good things people need to hear, things that will really help them. When our words are positive, when our words are helpful and encouraging then the bread of life we’ve received is bearing fruit. When we speak respectfully of other people’s faith, when we speak sympathetically of the plight of refugees knocking at our doors, when we call for justice for the homeless and the working poor we echo the words of Jesus, whatever you do to one of these, the least of mine you do to me. Whenever we speak out for a person who is put down or belittled in a conversation we speak for Christ.
Whenever we hold out our empty hand to receive the host we are touched by Jesus who left us the new commandment, ‘love one another as I have loved you.’ How did he love us? On the cross he continued to love, forgive and give his life even when those he loved were destroying him.
May the words that come out of our mouths be words of praise and thanks to God and words that lift up, heal and strengthen those to whom we speak.
| Posted in Homily |
August 26th, 2018
The core message of today’s gospel is in the exchange Jesus had with his disciples, not the crowd but his close followers. ‘Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you cannot have life in you … this is a hard teaching and who can take it? Many of his disciples walked with him no more.
Seeing many of his friends and disciples walk away, distancing themselves from himself, Jesus asked Peter, ‘do you also wish to go away’? We hear Peter’s response, ‘Lord to whom can we go, you have the words of eternal life.’
Peter couldn’t get his head around what Jesus was talking about, seeing the son of man ascending to where he was before, eating his flesh, drinking his blood, this was all so confusing, but Peter had formed a bond with Jesus and trusted what Jesus said and trusted that what he said was true. When Jesus challenged Peter,’ will you also go away? Peter’s reply ‘Lord to whom shall we go? We have come to know and believe that you have the words of everlasting life.’ In other words, I’m sticking with you.
The people’s complaint, this is a hard saying and who can take it is echoed today when men and women walk away from challenges and demands such as, love one another as I loved you and go the way of bigotry and racism. Forgive others as God has forgiven you and hold on to grudges and resentment for years. Give your cloak to those who ask for it, share your bread with the hungry and call the people on welfare as lazy bums living off hardworking taxpayers. Welcome the stranger and call immigrants and refugees as freeloaders looking for hand outs. Men and women still find the teachings of Jesus hard sayings and in their own ways, walk with him no more.
It is not easy to be a follower of Jesus, to live by his teachings, to follow his example. We do so by the grace of God and strengthened by this Mass where are nourished by the body and blood of Jesus. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him/her.
The recent exposes of sexual abuse and the lack of leadership and integrity among cardinals, bishops and priests have made many people wonder if they can walk with the church anymore, a church that has let them down, embarrassed them and disappointed them. It is a decision they alone can make. But Peter’s words are still true; you have the words of everlasting life. The teachings and example of Jesus that come to us in and through the church are words that can bring us to everlasting life.
At this Mass, at every Mass we celebrate the wonder, Lord by your cross and resurrection you have set us free, you are the savior of the world. In this time of expose’ and shame may we be strengthened to echo the words of the prophet Joshua from our first reading, ‘as for me and my house we will serve the Lord’ in this one, holy, catholic, apostolic and wounded church which still offers us the words of everlasting life.
August 19th, 2018
Today’s short gospel calls us to think again on the wonder of the Eucharist we are celebrating. When we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim your death o Lord until you come again.
On this altar, at this Mass bread is more than bread, wine is more than wine, they are the body and blood of Christ. When we hold out an empty hand we receive Christ and Christ lives in us and we live in him.
The ancient church said this to those who received Holy Communion – receive who you are, become what you receive, the body of Christ. We are one bread, one body. This is what St. Paul teaches. Comparing the church, the community to the human body he writes; if the ear were to say because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body or if the foot were to say because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body that would not make it any less a part of the body. Again Paul teaches ‘if one member suffers the whole body suffers with it.
Supposing the head of the family is a politician or a lawyer of a financial advisor – a person in a position of trust and is found out to be on the take, embezzling his clients. What an impact that would have on his family. His wife’s social life is over. His children couldn’t face going to school. Because of his criminal activities his family is shamed, humiliated.
Imagine how embarrassed is the family of that deranged young man who mowed down and killed people on Yonge Street. He’s brought shame on his family and the hostility of their neighbours.
If you’ve been watching the news or reading the papers recently then you must know we are a wounded family, an embarrassed family, a shamed family. The whole world knows we have been let down, betrayed by our leaders. The cardinal of Glasgow, the cardinal of Sydney and the retired Cardinal of Washington have been found guilty of sex crimes against minors and others. Many bishops around the world are known to have covered up charges of sexual abuse leveled against priests keeping their crimes secret and transferring them to other parishes. They did their best to avoid lawsuits showing little is any sympathy to the victims of these criminals. Pope Francis has asked for the resignation of the bishops of Chile.
The buck stops at the papal throne.
A recent editorial in a Catholic paper summed it all up by saying, ‘We are the body of Christ, and we are the church. It is time that we demand that bishops claim their true vocations as servants to the people of God. And they must live that way.
At this time, it seems laity can do very little to effect the changes needed to bring about the solutions to the large issues that plague the church now — careerism, abuse of power, lack of transparency, lack of accountability.
Sharing our family meal together, nourished by our common Holy Communion we pray that our Holy Father and the bishops of the church be courageous enough to root out those leaders, be they cardinals, bishops or priests who have brought shame and pain on we who are the body of Christ.
August 11th, 2018
It must have been very hard even offensive to the men and women hear Jesus say, what to them was really outlandish. ‘I am the bread come down from heaven. I am the bread of life, whoever eats this bread will not die…the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.
Who does he think he is saying things like this I have come down from heaven? He’s from Nazareth, we know his mother, and we know his family.
Again and again people demanded of Jesus, ‘give us a sign that we may believe.’ When Jesus announces himself as “bread from heaven” to these sign seekers he is presenting himself as the divine food that will satisfy their deeper hunger, the hunger for a life involved with the God who brought them out of Egypt, the God who fed them manna in the desert.
Jesus is the love of God made visible, made visible in his painful death on the cross. Jesus, our bread of life gives us the willingness and generosity to live authentic lives as Christian men and women to live our lives in the service of others, be they family members of friends.
Even today good men and women struggle with belief in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. How can this man give us his flesh to eat? That’s why we say right after the words of consecration, ‘a mystery of faith, ‘when we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim your death oh Lord until you come again. A mystery of faith, bread is more than bread, wine if more than wine, they are the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the food that gives us the strength we need to true followers of him who is always there for us and asks us to be there for others; family members, friends and strangers.
Recently Pope Francis shared these thoughts at the Angelus in St. Peter’s square, ‘As we are nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ, we are assimilated with him; we receive his love within us, not to hold it back selfishly, but rather to share it with others. … Indeed in it we contemplate Jesus, Bread broken and offered, Blood poured out for our salvation. It is a presence which … ignites the desire to make ourselves, too, in union with Christ, bread broken and blood poured out for our brothers and sisters.
Because we receive communion so regularly we can take for granted the wonderful gift the Eucharist is and fail to grasp the mystery of it all – he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him/her. We know when we eat our bodies change that food into us, it in changes into our blood, our bones, our muscles. In the Eucharist it is just the opposite, we become what we receive. Ideally we become more Christ like in the way we receive people into our lives, in the way we feel one with the good men and women and children who were the victims of violence on Yonge St. the Danforth and Fredericton. Ideally we become more Christ like by rejecting prejudice and bigotry, we become more Christ like when we welcome people seeking shelter from violence and war. We become more Christ like when we support just wages, affordable housing and proper health care for our seniors.
As we continue to celebrate our Eucharist we pray for ourselves and for each other that when received holy communion we will leave this church more Christ like than when we arrived knowing that ‘ he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood live in me and I live in him, I live in her.
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.
Learn about Passionists and our insignia »
Companion for the Walk of the Stations of the Cosmic Earth
St. Gabriel’s Garden – Guided Sensory Reflective Walk