September 2nd, 2017
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.
September 3rd to September 9th
MONDAY – LABOUR DAY – No 9:00 AM Mass TUESDAY – ELLEN JANE & ORVILLE ROSE – Requested by Mike Rose & Family WEDNESDAY – ELLEN JANE & ORVILLE ROSE – Requested by Mike Rose & Family THURSDAY – ABANDONED SOULS – Requested by the Nguyen Family FRIDAY – MARION DESROCHES – Requested by Mark DesRoches SATURDAY –GORDON OATWAY – Requested by the Oatway Family
The Parish Family of St. Gabriel’s would like to welcome:
Keira Ann Cookson Alexander Ian Hoo Fatt Andrew John Hoo Fatt Spencer Everett Mazzarolo Greyson Antonio Mazzarolo Madison Cristina Pineda-Jabbaz Julia Paola Sisco-Chacon Emmerson Luke Versteeg Silas Evan Tse
These children received the Sacrament of Baptism .in July and August. Congratulations!
Those who sing pray twice.
Our senior choir practices on Tuesday evenings, from 7:30 to 9:00 P.M. and leads community song at the 10:30 AM Sunday Mass.
Our junior choir practices on Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 8:00 PM and leads the music at the 12:30 PM Mass.
We always welcome new voices and hope you will consider joining us! For more information, please contact the choir director after any of the Masses.
Sunday, September 10th at 11:30 AM in the 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 of this year after the summer break will be held on September 10th, at 11:30 AM. All are invited.
St. Gabriel’s Church
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 times: Wednesday, September 20th, Thursday, September 28th. 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM or Saturday, September 30th 1.30 PM to 3.30 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.
Saturday September 9th from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
On Saturday, September 9th there will be an altar server welcome back and retraining session from 2.00 PM to 4.00 PM. 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 Fatima Lee at fatimalee@bellnet.ca or call the Parish Office at 416-221-8866.
If you have, or know of, school age children (ages 7 to 14) who wish to prepare for Baptism, please contact the Parish Office, or Fatima Lee directly, at fatimalee@bellnet.ca. Classes for them will begin after Thanksgiving.
Begins Next Sunday, September 10 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 other Catholic schools, public or private schools. Classes are held at St. Gabriel’s School every second Sunday beginning next Sunday, September 10th, 2017.
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 2017/18 year. These forms are also available in the Parish Office.
Next Weekend, September 9th/10th 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 next weekend, September 9th/10th 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 is 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.
Thank you to all who prepared casseroles for the Good Shepherd Centre for the month of July and August. Your prepared casseroles (frozen please) will be collected at the Masses on the weekend of September 23rd /24th 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.
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, oatmeal, pancake mix, teabags, ground or instant coffee, sugar, cookies and crackers, canned tuna, soups, stews, meats, fruits and vegetables.
Please no fresh or frozen foods.
We thank you for your generous support!
Each month some of the food we collect is sent to Rosalie Hall. Rosalie Hall assists young parents and their children to realize their potential through the provision of a wide range of child development, community, residential and educational services.
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 outstanding support.
September 10th, September 17th, October 1st after 12:30 PM Mass
Robert Cordy, our landscape designer, will be holding several gardening workshops this fall on Sundays after the 12:30 PM mass: September 10 – Seed Sowing; September 17 – Garden Design; October 1 – Orchard Planting;
There will be one more workshop, the date and subject to be determined.
Everyone is welcome. If you are interested in attending, please register with Heather Bennett at heathermjb@gmail.com, or with the parish office.
Sunday September 17, 2017 from 1:00 PM Veneto Centre 7465 Kipling Avenue, Woodbridge, Ontario
The 51st annual celebration in honour of St. Gabriel, under the direction of the Passionist Community will be held on Sunday, September 17th from 1:00 PM at the Veneto Centre in Woodbridge.
All are welcome! Bring your own folding chair.
As the Synod on Youth, Faith, and Vocational Discernment approaches, we want to hear from you! Faith Connections and the Office of Catholic Youth will be hosting Live Listening Sessions with the Toronto Bishops. Young people 16–29 will have the opportunity to respond to Pope Francis’ questions in preparation for the Synod! Your voice is important!
September 13th , 7:00 PM at St Patrick’s, Markham with Bishop Kirkpatrick October 2nd , 7:00 PM at St. Stanislaus, Toronto with Cardinal Collins October 11th , 7:00 PM at St. Christopher’s, Mississauga with Bishop Kasun
In order to guarantee a spot, please RSVP and tell us about yourself at: http://bit.ly/synodspeakup. For more information, contact Kataryna Kuzar at 416-467-2645 or kkuzar@csj-to.ca.
| Posted in Bulletin |
August 26th, 2017
In this particular section of Paul’s letter to the Romans he is trying to straighten out Gentile Christians who thought that they had replaced the Jewish people as God’s elect. Paul insisted that the Jewish people were and still are God’s people. Paul says of the Jewish people; to them belong the covenant, the adoption, the glory, to them belong the patriarchs and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah. Even though the Jewish people as a whole rejected Jesus, their rejection is a blessing for the Gentiles who do accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Then Paul breaks into a song of wonder ‘O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable his judgements and how inscrutable his ways.’ The disobedience of the Jewish people, sad though it was, became a blessing for the Gentiles.
There can be times when our lives can be so messed up, so confusing. Personally we may be faced with sudden illness, we may suffer the loss of our independence, the loss of a job, the loss of a relationship, the struggle to make ends meet, worries over the work possibilities of sons and daughters. When we think of world problems; the exploitation of the working poor, governments who deny the delivery of food and medicine to starving millions in Yemen and Somalia and other places, the civil wars and those who make billions of dollars supplying both sides with weapons, the blind refusal to admit our human input into climate change, the list goes on and on.
Is it any wonder we ask, ‘Who is running the show?’
God is and God knows what God is doing. Scripture asks, ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord and who has been his counsellor?’
Someone once said that looking at our personal lives or the state of the world in general is like looking at the back of a tapestry, all we see is a mass and muddle of pieces of threads, we have no idea of what it all means. But when the tapestry is turned around we see it as a work of beauty and design – until then it had no meaning at all.
Theologians and biblical scholars reflect on the ways God works in salvation history. But for all their knowledge and insight they come to realize that the riches and wisdom of God are always too deep to penetrate. God’s judgements and ways are unsearchable. No theologian has ever known the mind of God.
We stand in awe before the wonder of God’s good creation, we stand in awe at the mercy of God we celebrate at this Mass – God so loved the world God sent his son into the world, not to condemn it, but that through him the world might be saved. Facing such a wonder and mystery all we can say is, ’glory and praise to the Lord our God.
| Posted in Homily |
August 20th, 2017
So much of the news this past week has centered on President Trump’s reaction to the white supremistis and the KKK marches in Charlotville last weekend and his reluctance to denounce the things for which they stand; anti-black, anti-immigrants, anti Moslem. They want to make America white.The images of these marchers should remind us of what such marches inflicted on Europe during the Second World War.
There will be marches in other U.S. and Canadian cities this weekend and there is the possibility of violence as other people gather to oppose these racist ideas.
Jesus was a person of his time molded by the society in which he was raised. He believed in God’s promise to Abraham; I will be your God and you will be my people. The Jewish people, his people, were special to God above all others. As a Jew Jesus was to avoid any dealings with non-Jews lest he be tempted to be influenced by their way of thinking and living. As he grew older he knew he had to learn a trade so as not to be a burden on the community and be able to support a wife and family. To Jesus’ way of thinking everything about how life was lived and how people treated one another was perfectly normal.
When he entered adulthood at the age of twelve and showed a bit of independence by staying in Jerusalem after the feast to listen to the teachers in the temple. We are told that after being scolded by Mary, Jesus went back to the boring life of Nazareth but that he grew in wisdom and grace before God and man.
Thru his public ministry we can see occasions of that growth. When he sent the first disciples out to proclaim the good news that the kingdom of God was at hand Jesus told them not to go near to the Samaritans because he was raised in a society that held a great hostility to the Samaritans whom they saw as heretics and unfaithful to the Law. Later Jesus moved beyond that narrow minded opinion of Samaritans and we have his great conversation with the Samaritan women at the well and his willingness to stay several days with the Samaritan people teaching them of the kingdom. He came to admire the integrity of these people and often used Samaritans as example of how people should live out their religious convictions.
Today’s gospel is a perfect example of how Jesus could grow beyond the mentality in which he was raised. He saw himself as sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and that it would not be right to waste him time with non-Jews, especially this noisy woman. It wouldn’t be fair to take the children’s, the Jews, food and throw it to dogs –people not deserving of God’s love and mercy. But the mother’s response, ‘even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table’ challenged Jesus’ opinion of foreigners. He admired her spunk, her challenge to his opinion of her kind and cured her daughter instantly. Jesus showed us his ability and his willingness to change.
In one way or another we are all set in our ways. We don’t particularly like it when we have to change. We’ve all been conditioned by the likes and dislikes of our upbringing. We might hold back from accepting and respecting the faith and cultures of others. We just have to look at the conflicts plaguing the world today, conflicting arising from a need to impose on others the way we believe and live, conflicts arising from people’s unwillingness to share the good of the earth with others.
In our own lives we are challenged to question our own willingness to accept other people as they are, what they believe, how they live out their relationships or express their faith and culture. This is what we ask of others, should we not do the same for them?
As we continue to celebrate our Eucharist may we pray for ourselves and for each other that we resist and reject any effort to make us look upon other people as less than ourselves and accept them for whom we all are, children of our loving Father, brothers and sisters for whom Jesus died on the cross.
August 5th, 2017
Our parish celebrated the Annual Summer BBQ on July 9, 2017, remembering Canada’s 150th birthday. There were lots of food, music, games and fun things for everyone to do in the sun. Whether it was conversation under the shade, face painting or decking out in the sunshine, everyone enjoyed their time together.
| Posted in Events |
Since the fourth century M. Tabor in Galilee has been identified as the sacred space where Jesus was transfigured before his three stunned and overwhelmed disciples; Peter, James and John. In November of 2010 a group of parishioners from the parish went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Part of the pilgrimage was a trip up to the top of Mt. Tabor. I don’t know how long it took Jesus, Peter, James and John to get to the top of Tabor but it took a few hours. Matthew writes that Jesus took his three confidants up a high mountain, he didn’t say to the top.
In 1924 the Franciscan Friars built a beautiful church at the top of Mt. Tabor. It is an impressive building, the central church and two small chapels, one of Moses and one for Elijah. Peter’s dream was realized. The view from the mountain is awesome.
On that mountain Peter, James and John were given a glimpse of the true nature of Jesus – he was transfigured in their sight, his face was brighter than the sun, even the clothes he wore were dazzling white.
The presence of Moses and Elijah representing the law and the prophets was to let us know that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets.
The primary purpose of this event, seeing Jesus in his glory, was to prepare them for the coming scandal of Jesus’s crucifixion. Remembering this vision of the glorified Jesus would save them from losing their faith in him as they saw him so diminished, dying naked on the cross.
Jesus told them they were to keep all this to themselves until he was raised from the dead. They wondered what this raised from the dead was all about.
Every one of us would agree with Peter’s outburst, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here.’ What a wonder, what a gift!
These three, Peter, James and John are the same three Jesus took with him in the darkness of night into the garden of Gethsemane. There they saw another Jesus, on his knees, sweating blood, praying his heart out, pleading, ‘Father if it is possible, if you can think of another way, let this chalice pass me by. Peter, James and John did not want to see this, they escaped in sleep. No one said, ‘it is good for us to be here.’ Yet that was where Jesus wanted them to be as a source on comfort and support.
Where are we when circumstances in our lives; serious illness, loss of a job, family conflicts, or any number of other situation invite us into our own Gethsemane’s? Can we trust that it is good for us to be there? Can we find the faith to say, ‘not my will but yours be done?
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