December 28th, 2015
Society of St. Vincent de Paul Bringing Christmas Cheer
St. Gabriel’s Staff Lunch
| Posted in Events |
December 27th, 2015
Father help us to live as the Holy
Family, united in respect and love.
The greatest blessing you bring to your family is the presence of God in your life. The fragrance of His presence sweetens the atmosphere of your home. The beauty of His presence warms the relationships within its walls. The joy of His presence lightens every heart. The glory of His presence fills all its chambers with rare and precious treasures.
“From God’s Heart to Yours” by Roy Leesin
Let us pray for one another. May God bless you and yours throughout this Christmas Season. We wish you a happy and peaceful New Year and always try to remember “Holiness is in the ordinary.”
A big thank you to those who decorated our church beautifully. Thank you also to the musicians who provided us with lively music, to the lectors who proclaimed the Word, to our Eucharistic ministers, to our altar servers who are always available when needed and to our hospitality ministers who welcome everyone with a ready smile. We are very grateful for our Children’s Liturgy catechists, their helpers and for those who worked to prepare the children for the Christmas Pageant. Finally I would like to thank all our generous parishioners who always make me grateful for the goodness of the Lord.
May my gratitude to all of you create a vision for tomorrow. Have a great and wonderful New Year! Fr. Brando
Saturday, December 19th:10:30 AM to 12:00 Noon 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM
CHRISTMAS EVE – Thursday, December 24th No 9:00 AM Mass 7:00 PM Family Mass – Carol Singing 9:00 PM Adult Choir – Carol Singing 12:00 AM Midnight Mass – Contemporary Group
Office Open 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM only
CHRISTMAS DAY – Friday, December 25th 10:30 AM 12:30 PM Office Open 9:00 AM to 1:30 PM
BOXING DAY – Saturday, December 26th Mass 4:30 PM Office Open 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM
MONDAY, DECEMBER 28th Office Closed No 9:00 AM Mass
NEW YEAR’S EVE – Thursday, December 31st No 9:00 AM Mass Mass at 4:30 PM for the Feast of Mary the Mother of God Office Open 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM only
NEW YEAR’S DAY – Friday, January 1st FEAST OF MARY THE MOTHER OF GOD 10:30 AM 12:30 PM Office Closed
While parking at ground level is limited to 51 spaces, there is plenty of space in the underground parking lot. Please follow the instructions of the attendants. Do not park in front of the Church since this is a fire route and must be kept clear.
Additional parking is available on the east side of Elkhorn Public School and in the bus loop. Again, please follow the instructions of the attendant. The school requests that we do not park on the grass. Many thanks to Holly Richards, the Principal of Elkhorn Public School, for allowing us the use of the school property.
December 28th, 2015 to January 2nd, 2016
MONDAY – NO MASS, Office Closed
TUESDAY – KATHY LOWDEN – Requested by Fran Moscall WEDNESDAY – FRANCISCO CALIMBAS – Requested by Estrella, Cherrie, Stella & Isabel THURSDAY – NEW YEARS EVE – Mass at 4:30 PM FRIDAY – NEW YEARS DAY – Masses at 10:30 & 12:30 SATURDAY – MR. & MRS. SANG MOU WONG – Requested by the Family
Our Refugee family arrived safely late last Sunday evening at Pearson International Airport and were welcomed by our refugee committee on Monday morning. They are excited to be here in Canada and thank all who have supported them in their journey.
Boston Pizza, 400 Progress Avenue, Scarborough, Monday, January 18th, 2016 at 7:00 PM
Faith Connections, the Office of Catholic Youth, and the local parishes invite young adults (19-39) to join them for an evening of thought-provoking conversation on theological topics!
Munchies are provided, and a cash bar is available. – come and bring a friend!
The Special guest will be Patrick Sullivan.
For more information: visit our Toronto Theology on Tap web page, or contact OCY by e-mail youth@ocytoronto.org, or phone 416-599-7676. RSVPs are appreciated!
St. Gabriel’s Parish Weekend of April 22nd, 23rd, and 24th, 2016
A Marriage Preparation course will be offered here at St. Gabriel’s the weekend of April 22nd to 24th, 2016. Please note the change to a later date.
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.
The Parish’s 2015 budgeted operating expenses average $14,550 per week.
Offertory Collection for last weekend: Envelopes 441 $10,612 Loose Change 945 Weekly Portion of Pre-Authorized Giving 165 3,145 Total 606 $14,702
The 2016 Offertory Boxed Envelopes are now in the Gathering Space. Please pick yours up as soon as possible. If you are contributing cash to the Offertory Collection without any identification, you will not receive credit for your contribution. You must provide your full name and address.
Please note: All donations for 2015 must be received in the Parish Office by Wednesday, December 30th, 2015 to be included in your 2015 Tax Receipt.
| Posted in Bulletin |
December 25th, 2015
This night is filled with magic. Mary gives birth to Jesus and the heavens are filled with songs of peace and good will. Startled shepherds are called to see the new born king of the Jews. We never grow tired of hearing Luke’s gospel of tidings of great joys for all people. We never grow tired of hearing the good news that a savior is born for us – Christ the Lord.
But this is the beginning of a long story, a story that will end in a garden and in that garden there will be an empty tomb.
Looking beyond the stable and Bethlehem we know…
The day will come when this infant’s eyes will one day look into the hearts and lives of good men and women and see their struggle with life’s challenges and life’s injustices, their struggles to make sense of their faith in God. Seeing their struggles, their pain and confusion, Jesus would promise, ‘I am with you always. These words are as true today as they were then,”I am with you always.’
This infant’s feet would one day walk from one Galilean town to the next so that Jesus could tell people that God their Father loves them and wants to be close to them. This infant’s feet would carry him to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem Jesus would challenge to rigidity and the legalism of the religious leaders telling them that mercy is more important than judgement and the law of love is the most important of all laws. This infant’s feet would walk the way through Jerusalem’s street to Calvary and be nailed to the cross.
This infant’s cry would one day cry out to men and women telling them of God’s great love for them. This infant’s cry would one day call out these inviting words, ‘come to me all you who find life burdensome and I will refresh you. This infant’s cry would one day speak these healing words – your sins are forgiven, go your way and sin no more. This infant’s cry would one day say these life changing words – receive your sight, speak, hear, be made clean, and pick up your stretcher and walk. This infant’s voice would one day offer us a life changing challenge, ‘love one another as I have loved you’. This infant’s voice would one day say the words we repeat and every Mass, this is my body, take and eat, this is my blood, take and drink. This infants last words would be ‘Father into your hands I commend my spirit.
This infant’s hands would stretch out and touch and heal and lift up the fallen and the broken hearted. And he would do this until that sad day when brutal men would nail his hands to the cross.
The day we were born was the beginning of our own life’s adventure. We all know the ups and downs, the successes and the failures of our adventure. This Christmas we remember the beginnings of the life adventure of Jesus, Son of God, and son of Mary. We know how Jesus lived his life and died. It was out of love for you, for me. Looking into our own lives can we say we are doing the same for him? Are we living our lives for him as he lived his life for us? Do we, like Jesus accept and respect every person who comes into our lives regardless of the racial background, their religious belief, their life style? Most of all are we trying to live the great commandment, ‘love one another as I have loved you?
On this feast God our Father gave us his son Jesus the Christ as his gift to us. May our gift to the Father be our efforts to live our lives in faithful imitation of the life of Christ.
| Posted in Homily |
Our year 2015 cannot hide and deny the many tragic events haunting people and countries all over the world. From the destructive ISIS campaigns in the Middle East to the refugee crisis in Europe, the almost serial shootings in America, the pervading hunger and destitution in Asia and Africa and to the increasingly precarious condition of our planet brought by climate change. These events may seem so far from us considering the peace and comfort we have been so blessed with. But, I would like to believe, many of us do not sleep on the agony of our brothers and sisters the world over. We are connected to and affected by their plight.
At this, we are humbly awakened by a particular challenge: while the birth of our Lord certainly brings joy to the world, it also appeals to us – who have enormous access to such joy – to spread and share it to those deprived of such access. It does not take a mammoth scale of an effort for us to respond to such challenge. I personally witnessed how many of you in our parish community demonstrated your concern to our less fortunate brethren – in many varied ways. In this community, St. Gabriel’s virtue of maintaining the interaction between prayer and fraternal concern has been well animated. While the challenges of being a pastor can never be underestimated, I really haven’t approached a difficult curve in my ministry here because of your empowering support.
Our parish community can enumerate plenty of operative and successful programs this year: your outstanding response towards the Family of Faith Campaign initiated by the Archdiocese, your bountiful support through the works of St. Vincent De Paul; bringing food for Rosalie Hall, Good Shepherd Centre and providing material necessities to Catholic Children’s Aid and above all your immense generous response towards refugee sponsorship.
All these events and projects are highly significant for us because they are undertaken not by your Pastor, not by a small group, but through the collaboration of the entire parish —by our act of being church.
It then occurred to me that any act of gift-giving and gift-receiving this Christmas is simply a paying forward of the ultimate gift giving – the Lord’s giving of His Son to us. Such gift comes to us sans the wrappings. For indeed, the greatest gifts that one can receive are unwrappable. The kiss of your father, mother, husband, wife, son, daughter, or friend, including someone not on good terms with you, is unwrappable. And they can be more expensive than any perfume or gadget one can wrap. Your presence, prayer, involvement, collaboration and support which serve as engines of this parish are unwrappable. Our being church is the best Christmas gift we can receive. It is our ultimate response to the prior gift given to us, the birth of our Lord.
Hence, I cannot ask for more. The most that I can do is thank God for all the blessings He gave to us throughout the year. I can only thank all of you for being with me in shepherding the flock of St. Gabriel’s. Our flock may be so small to offset and address the harsh situations our world is facing. But every grand thing abounds from something little – like the baby Jesus in the manger, which calls and gathers all people to find a common home. Our community can be like that – a manger which gathers and welcomes everyone from Toronto and beyond – a common home. Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!
Thank you all for your prayer, support and encouragement! Looking forward to seeing you this Christmas!
Fr. Brando
December 19th, 2015
In his letter to the Hebrews St. Paul tells us that these words, ‘I come to do your will, O God’ were the mind set of Jesus’ whole life. So often in the Hebrew Scriptures we hear God rejecting the temple sacrifices offer by priests who were just going through the motions of correct rituals but their life style gave the lie to the authenticity of their faith life. It was all performance. Their hearts were not in what they were doing. Jesus challenged and infuriated the religious leaders of his time for that same lack of authenticity, placing law before love and mercy. He told them that a heart obedient to God is a greater form of worship than any temple sacrifice. And he paid for his honesty.
In today’s gospel we meet three people who opened their lives to the will of God. Mary, Zechariah and Elizabeth, each said in their own way and in the circumstances of their own lives – I come to do your will O Lord. Because Zechariah and Elizabeth trusted in God’s promise John the Baptist came into our world to announce the presence of the promise one. Because Mary and Joseph said ‘yes’ to what God asked of them – take Mary to be your wife – be it done to me according to your will – these words of Mary ‘yessed Jesus into life and Jesus could say, ‘I come to do your will.’
We celebrate the event told in Luke’s gospel on the feast of the Visitation remembering when the young and pregnant Mary went in haste to be with her older cousin Elizabeth when she would give birth to her son John. Mary’s willingness to be there for Elizabeth is an example for us to be there for others in there time of need. As a parish family you are there for the families you are fleeing from the refugee camps in Jordon and welcoming them to Canada. Every time we are there for friend or stranger in need, in need of food, clothing, shelter, in need of sympathy, understanding, support or forgiveness we are there for others, just as Mary was there for Elizabeth, just as God is always there for us.
On one occasion Jesus told his listeners, ‘it is not those who say to me Lord, Lord who will enter the kingdom, but those who do the will of my Father in heaven, those say from their hearts, ‘I come to do your will of God.’ Words spoken must be words lived. Love spoken must be love lived. Forgiveness spoken must be forgiveness lived; peace spoken must be peace lived. Living not by words but by actions, each of us can live imitating Jesus Christ saying and living as best we can his words –I come to do your will O God, I come to do your will.
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