September 28th, 2014
We are very sad to announce that Luis Gutierrez, our custodian, has left St. Gabriel’s to begin his own renovation business. He will certainly be missed! We wish Luis every success as he begins a new chapter in his life.
September 29th to October 4th, 2014
MONDAY – FRED & WANDA – Requested by a Friend TUESDAY – PATRICIA BRADBURY – Requested by Peggy Pusaka WEDNESDAY – SR. CONSOLATA ELLARD I.B.V.M. – Requested by Margaret Anne Leckie THURSDAY – BETTY HIGGINS – Requested by Carol & Hugh Mackenzie FRIDAY – MARTIN SMEE – Requested by the Family SATURDAY – GORDON OATWAY – Requested by the Family
The Parish Family of St. Gabriel’s would like to welcome:
Michael James Jimenez Asuncion Aden Red Chan Ciara M. Elbano Ava Xinyue Leung Nathan Thomas Prebeg Dellon Jaden Skyers
These children received the Sacrament of Baptism last Sunday. Congratulations!
Wednesday, October 8th at 7:30 PM. St. Gabriel’s Church
There will be a meeting here at the Church on Wednesday, October 8th at 7:30 PM. for parents of children receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation this year.
If you are in Grade 4 or higher and are interested in becoming an altar server, please contact Colin Meharchand at cmeharchand@bell.net or leave your name and phone number with the Parish Office at 416-221-8866. The orientation and training for new members will be held on Sunday, October 5th, from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM in the Church.
Friday, October 3rd from 9:30 AM to 12 Noon
Sunday, October 5th at 11:30 AM in the Gabriel Room
On the first Sunday of each month, the Passionist Centre for Ecology and Spirituality facilitates a 30 minute reflection and discussion prompted by the readings for that Sunday’s liturgy. All are welcome.
English: Saturday, October 4th at 3:15 PM in the Library Chinese: Sunday, October 5th at 3:30 PM in the Gabriel Room.
For further information, please contact Linda Law at 416 -918-8029.
Meetings in preparation for the R.C.I.A. (Rites of Christian Initiation of Adults) will begin soon. 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 call the Parish Office at 416-221-8866. You can also contact Fatima Lee directly at ext. 228.
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 (416) 221-8866. Classes for them will begin on October 19th at 10:30 AM.
Tuesday, October 7th at 7:30 PM. or Thursday, October 9th at 10:00 AM.
The Church has had many great thinkers over the years, including St. Augustine in the 5th century and St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century. In our time, we have great thinkers too, one of whom is the Passionist priest, Fr. Thomas Berry, 1914 – 2009. He introduced us to seeing God’s creation in a new way and our role as humans within it. He called it “The New Story”. On Tuesday evenings at 7:30 P.M. and repeated on Thursday, mornings at 10:00 A.M. Mary Landry will lead a discussion of his “New Story”, the wisdom that ensues and the challenge it evokes. We guarantee an interesting discussion! All are welcome.
You can make a difference in the lives of the hungry and homeless this Thanksgiving by participating in the annual Thanksgiving Food Drive.
Urgently needed items include: rice, pasta, pasta sauces, canned tuna or salmon, canned soups, stews, meats, fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, jam, sugar, cookies and crackers, breakfast cereals, tea, ground or instant coffee, sugar, ketchup, mustard and relish. Please no fresh or frozen foods.
We thank you for your generous support!
Each month the food we collect is sent to Rosalie Hall. 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 generous support.
September 30th from 5:00 to 8:00 PM.
Catholic Education Centre 80 Sheppard Ave. East 2nd floor Boardroom
The Toronto Catholic District School Board is hosting a conference for newcomers to Canada to share information about available programs and services and tips for navigating the Catholic education system. It is also designed for school staff and members of the Catholic School Advisory Councils to discuss how to effectively engage our newcomer students and families in our schools and communities. Light refreshments will be offered. Limited parking is underground and there is public transportation nearby.
Register online at www.tcdsb.org/NewcomerRegistration or call 416-222-8282, ext. 1888. Please RSVP by September 23rd.
Thursday, October 2nd at 7:00 PM.
Blessed Sacrament Parish, 24 Cheritan Avenue, Toronto
Catholic Cemeteries and the estate planning team will share information about: How to protect your loved ones with a proper will How to ensure your wishes are legally protected Powers of Attorney The advantage of pre-arranging funeral plans The cost savings of making an estate plan Finding lawyers and estate planning advisors Our Catholic traditions around funerals, burials and wills
An Estate Planning Kit and DVD will be provided at no cost Refreshments will be provided.
Please RSVP to Frank Jannetta at fjannetta@ccat.on.ca or by phone at 416-733-8544, Ext. 2023.
St. Rose of Lima Church 3216 Lawrence Ave. E., Scarborough
Tuesday, October 7th at 7:00 PM.
Catholic Family Services of Toronto and St. Rose of Lima Church will host the 5th Annual Mass to End Woman Abuse. This event hopes to raise awareness about violence against women. At 6:30 PM, they will pray the Rosary in the church. Brief presentations will be made about the violence against women programs before Mass begins. After Mass, there will be a gathering with light refreshments in the church hall. They invite you to join them as they take action in the fight to end women abuse.
A municipal election will be held on Monday, October 27th. All Catholics are strongly encouraged to exercise their democratic right to vote. To help us all get to know the candidates for Catholic School Board Trustee, Cardinal Collins has given permission for candidates to distribute literature to parishioners departing Mass on weekends from September 27th /28th to October 25th /26th . We hope you’ll take the time to get to know those seeking elected office.
To ensure your vote for Catholic School Trustee, at the polling booth, verify that you are registered as a separate school supporter. If your support status is incorrect ask for an Application to Amend Voters’ List. This form may be completed and submitted at the polling station. Thank you for your interest and involvement in this fall’s municipal election!
Weekly Offertory
Our operating expenses average $14,550 per week. Collection for last weekend:
Envelopes 402 $7,176 Loose Change $936 Weekly Portion of PAG 165 $3,082 (Pre-Authorized Giving) Total $12,124
| Posted in Bulletin |
September 21st, 2014
For my thoughts are not your thoughts nor are my ways your way. Thank God for that. Imagine what it would be like if God’s thoughts and ways were as ours in our relations with one another. We would be in big trouble. Imagine if God were as close minded toward us as we are to those with who are of a different faith, cultural, social or racial background, or different life style, imagine if God was as impatient, unfeeling or unsympathetic as we can sometimes be toward family members or friends who are struggling with their own demons of alcohol or drugs or their mental health issues, imagine if God held the resentments and the grudges we hold when we have a falling out with a family member or neighbour, imagine if God was as indifferent to our needs as we can sometimes be to the needs of those who suffer from hunger and homelessness, imagine if God was too busy to be with us as we can often be too busy to visit a friend in the hospital or in a retirement home, or even make a phone call, imagine if God was as deaf to our prayers as we can sometimes be as we weary of the many calls for assistance that come our way, imagine if God’s thoughts and ways were as our thoughts and ways. Imagine.
Thankfully Isaiah assures us, ‘for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
How do we know the mind of God, how do we know the ways of God? Jesus tells us,’ no one knows the father except the son and those to whom the son choses to reveal him.’ We know the mind of God and the ways of God by the way Jesus lived his life on earth and by what Jesus taught us about the Father. As Jesus said to Thomas, ‘he who sees me sees the Father.’ We know God’s unconditional love for each of us as look on the crucified body of Christ.
When we study the life and ministry of Jesus we know so well that his ways and thoughts are often not the ways we think and not the way we do things. With open arms Jesus said, ‘come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome but we choose our friends, we select the people with whom we associate. How often do we feel, even if we don’t say it; ‘not in my back yard.’? Jesus life was open to everyone, rich or poor, righteous or sinner. We know he challenged the phoniness with which he lived but he admired the honesty of those who could admit they failed, ‘Lord be merciful to me a sinner.’ He ate and drank with sinners, he consoled the widows and all who mourn the death of one they loved. He cured the lepers so they could be restored to social and family life. He fed those who hungered with bread and fish, he fed those who hungered for the righteousness of God when turned our value system upside down and declared – blessed are the poor, blessed the gentle, blessed those who mourn, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, blessed are the pure in heart, blessed the peacemakers, blessed are the persecuted – blessed are all these men and women – theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Jesus challenged us to keep things in perspective when he asked ‘ what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and loose himself?
As far as the east is from the west so are my thoughts and ways from your thoughts and ways. In one of his letters Paul makes the claim ‘we have the mind of Christ.’ Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could say that of ourselves? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the day would come when we could say, ‘his thoughts, his ways are my thoughts, my ways? That’s something we could strive to achieve. It isn’t easy, it’s a life time struggle but there can be times when, because of the way we handled a situation, the way we welcomed someone into our lives, the way we work to heal old wounds, the way we reached out to someone in need, the way we were with someone in mourning, the way we gave thanks for the gifts with which blesses us – we can say – we have the mind and the heart of Christ. We can pray for ourselves and each other that one day at a time our thoughts and our way come just a bit closer to the thoughts and ways of God.
| Posted in Homily |
September 22nd to September 27th, 2014
MONDAY – JUDITH MATYASFALVI – Requested by the Family TUESDAY – GERRY HATCH – Requested by the Family WEDNESDAY – MARIA SUNG HAK LEE – Requested by Elizabeth Chang THURSDAY – SICILY VARKEY & ELIA KALLOOKARAN – Requested by Mary Chakkalackal FRIDAY – GERRY BAVINGTON – Requested by Diana Bavington SATURDAY – FIORENTINO GIANOTTA – Requested by Lina Gianotta
“Those who sing pray twice.”
Our senior choir practices on Tuesday evenings, 7:30 to9:00 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.
Tuesday, September 23rd at 7:30 P.M. or Thursday, September 25th at 10:00 A.M.
The Church has had many great thinkers over the years, including St. Augustine in the 5th century and St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century. In our time, we have great thinkers too, one of whom is the Passionist priest, Fr. Thomas Berry, 1914 – 2009. He introduced us to seeing God’s creation in a new way and our role as humans within it. He called it “The New Story”. Beginning on Tuesday September 23rd at 7:30 P.M. and repeated on Thursday, September 25th at 10:00 A.M. we will discuss his “New Story”, the wisdom that ensues and the challenge it evokes. We guarantee an interesting discussion! All are welcome.
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 (416) 221-8866. Classes for them will begin on October 19th at 10:30 A.M.
Your prepared casseroles (frozen please) will be collected at the Masses next weekend for delivery to the Good Shepherd Centre. More volunteers are needed to help feed the hungry in our city. Please get a copy of a casserole recipe and a pan and give it a try. Three recipes are available on St. Gabriel’s web site under “Ministries”. Printed copies of the recipes are also available in the Parish Office. Remember to mark the label on the pan lid with the name of the casserole. 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 Thanksgiving Food Drive. Urgently needed items include: rice, pasta, pasta sauces, canned tuna or salmon, canned soups, stews, meats, fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, jam, sugar, cookies and crackers, breakfast cereals, tea, ground or instant coffee, sugar, ketchup, mustard and relish. Please no fresh or frozen foods. We thank you for your generous support!
There will be a second collection next weekend for the needs of the Canadian Church. Please be as generous as your means allow.
Each month the food we collect is sent to Rosalie Hall. 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 generous support!
Envelopes 394 $8,007 Loose Change $1,035 Weekly Portion of PAG 165 $3,082 (Pre-Authorized Giving) Total $12,124
Updated Maintenance Collection: $7,644
Thank you for your generosity!
Congratulations to the good people of St. Gabriel’s. Our final total for ShareLife 2014 was $220,250. Thank you for your very generous support!
September 30th from 5:00 to 8:00 P.M. Catholic Education Centre 80 Sheppard Ave. East 2nd floor Boardroom
Blessed Trinity Parish Hall Tuesday, September 23rd at 2:00 PM
The next meeting of the North York Retiree’s will be held at Blessed Trinity Parish Hall on Tuesday, September 23rd. All retirees are cordially invited to attend.
Thursday, October 2nd at 7:00 P.M. Blessed Sacrament Parish, 24 Cheritan Avenue, Toronto
Catholic Cemeteries and the estate planning team will share information about:
How to protect your loved ones with a proper will How to ensure your wishes are legally protected Powers of Attorney The advantage of pre-arranging funeral plans The cost savings of making an estate plan Finding lawyers and estate planning advisors Our Catholic traditions around funerals, burials and wills
An Estate Planning Kit and DVD will be provided at no cost. Refreshments will be provided.
St. Rose of Lima Church 3216 Lawrence Ave. E., Scarborough Tuesday, October 7th at 7:00 P.M.
Catholic Family Services of Toronto and St. Rose of Lima Church will host the 5th Annual Mass to End Woman Abuse. This event hopes to raise awareness about violence against women. At 6:30 P.M, they will pray the Rosary in the church. Brief presentations will be made about the violence against women programs before Mass begins. After Mass, there will be a gathering with light refreshments in the church hall. They invite you to join them as they take action in the fight to end women abuse
September 14th, 2014
If you watch golf on Sunday afternoons you may have seen a man wearing a multi-colored wig holding a sign saying John 3-17. That is the last verse of today’s gospel ;’’For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that in order that the world might be saved through him.’
In the second reading St. Paul expresses this wonderful loving act of God from Christ’s reality. Christ did not consider being equal to God as something to be exploited or clung to. He emptied himself of divinity and took on humanity, being like us in everything except sin. In obedience to his Father’s will to tell all who would listen about how God loves and treasures each of us he preached God’s love and mercy so strongly that the powers that be, out of concern for their own position and power in society had the Roman authorities put him to death by crucifixion.
But Christ’s death was swallowed up in the victory of the resurrection. ‘God highly exalted him- through his resurrection -and gave him a name that is above every other name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should been in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.’
St. Paul boasted to the Corinthians,’ we preach a crucified Christ, to the Jews a scandal’ they could not accept as Messiah a man executed as a common criminal, and to the intellectual Greeks, total foolish, but to those who believe Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.’
In the early church the cross was an embarrassment. Crucifixion was the most cruel, most humiliating form of execution. The earliest form of Christian identification was the fish. In Greek the phrase ‘Jesus Christ, Son of God Savior’ was constantly used in the early church. The first letter of each of these Greek words spelt ‘fish’ and so the drawing of a fish was often used as an identifying mark of a Christian.
When the church began to use crosses were used they were covered with precious stones. Our present crucifixes and art depicting the physical reality of the horror on Christ’s death developed in church art in the Middle Ages.
On Good Friday our thoughts and prayers center of the physical suffering of Jesus on Calvary, but on this feast of the Exaltation of the Cross we celebrate the cross as the instrument of our salvation. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, making peace through the blood of the cross.
That’s why we are here Sunday after Sunday; we have an obligation to thank God for making us His friends, loved sons daughters of God and all came about this through the life giving sufferings, death and resurrection of Jesus. By his wounds we are healed.
Here we offer in thanksgiving the same gift of himself Christ offered on the altar of the cross – as we pray at each Mass – it is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give thanks.
Here we are nourished with the body and blood of the crucified and risen Christ, a nourishment that gives us the strength we need, the conviction we need to say with St. Paul, ’I live now, no longer I but Christ lives in me and the life I live I Iive trusting in the son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me.
From this altar we receive the grace we need to live this Mass outside these walls, in the lives we live, the service we give, the work we do and the prayers we pray. From this altar we receive the openness we need to see in every person we meet a person loved and treasured by God as we are. We continue this Mass giving thanks that God so loved the world, God loved every one of us, He sent his son to us not to condemn us but to embrace us with all our weaknesses and failings, giving us the boldness to call our God – Father.
September 7th, 2014
Welcome back! We hope you have had an enjoyable and relaxing 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 in our community returning to elementary and secondary school, we wish you a very positive and rewarding year.
We are sad to announce that Marie Gennaro, our office administrator for many years has left St. Gabriel’s for a job closer to her home. She will certainly be missed! We wish Marie every success in her new position.
September 8th to September 13th, 2014
MONDAY – DALE MATTHEWS – Requested by Janet Candido TUESDAY – HARRY LEUNG – Requested by Mary Leung WEDNESDAY – HARRY LEUNG – Requested by John Chan THURSDAY – VINCENT HA – Requested by Laura, Sylvia & Valerie Ha FRIDAY – ELIO RANCATI – Requested by Cheryl Rancati SATURDAY – LAU KOON TING – Requested by Linda Law
Gabriella Alyvia Di Nunno Cara Marianne Frances Duffy Madeleine Victoria Li Chelsea A. Mayrina Alexandra Ella Varillas James William George Jr. Olivia Joan Masangkay Jhulliene Lindsay Nombre Matthew Robert Jackson Short Anaya Asafu-Adjaye Woods
All received the Sacrament of Baptism during the months of July and August. Congratulations!
The Children’s Faith Program for children attending private or public schools will begin on Sunday, September 14th at 10:00 AM. Classes are held at St. Gabriel’s School.
School Age Children St. Gabriel’s Church September 10th, September 11th, September 15th and September 16th from 7:30 to 9:00 P.M.
Registration for children who wish to receive the Sacraments of First Communion, Reconciliation and Confirmation will be held at St.Gabriel’s Church from 7:30 PM to 9:00 P.M. on the following evenings: Wednesday, September 10th Thursday, September 11th Monday, September 15th Tuesday, September 16th
Please Note: A copy of the child’s Baptismal Certificate is required if registering for First Communion or Confirmation.
A fee of $20 is required for Confirmation.
Our senior choir practices on Tuesday evenings, 7:30-9:00 P.M. and leads community song at the 10:30 AM Sunday Mass. Our junior choir practices on Thursday evenings from 6:30-8:00 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.
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 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 (416) 221-8866. Classes for them will begin after Thanksgiving.
The Church has had many great thinkers over the years, including St. Augustine in the 5th century and St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century. In our time, we have great thinkers too, one of whom is the Passionist priest Fr. Thomas Berry, 1914 – 2009. He introduced us to seeing God’s creation in a new way and our role as humans within it. He called it “The New Story”. This fall on every other Tuesday evening and repeated every other Thursday morning, we will discuss his “New Story”, the wisdom that ensues and the challenge it evokes. We guarantee an interesting discussion! Watch for beginning dates in September.
It is critical for you to know that to be hired to teach in any Catholic school board in Ontario, as part of your application for employment there must be a letter of reference from your pastor. If you (or if your adult child) is planning to apply to teach in a Catholic school, it is highly recommended you contact the pastor before Thanksgiving. Please plan to have a conversation with your pastor early in the process and you will avoid disappointment and stress at the time when applications are to be submitted.
Congratulations to the good people of St. Gabriel’s. Our final total for ShareLife 2014 was $212,500. Thank you for your very generous support!
Weekend of September 20th/21st
Spring Cleaning Year Round!
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul will be collecting gently used clothing for men women and children, shoes, household goods, linens, draperies, books and toys to support the needy on the weekend of September 20th/21st. Please bring your donations and help others in your community. We will donate or sell these donations to support our outreach efforts.
The truck will be open Saturday from 10:00 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. and Sunday from 8:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. Volunteers will be there to assist with loading before and after each Mass.
Thank you to all who prepared casseroles for the months of July and August. For September, your prepared casseroles (frozen please) will be collected at the Masses on the weekends of September 28th/29th for delivery to the Good Shepherd Centre.
More volunteers are encouraged to help feed those in need. Please get 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. Remember to mark the label on the pan lid with the name of the casserole.
For more information, please contact Irene Albrecht at 416 221-2791.
Sunday, September 21st from 4:00 to 8:00 P.M.
15 Laxton Ave, Toronto
All young adults (18-39, student, working professional, single, married, young parent) are invited to our house party and barbecue!
Faith Connections and the Religious communities of Toronto invite you to Sunday Mass followed by a barbecue supper. Come and hang out with other young adults, and meet with men and women religious to explore how their spiritualities can nourish your faith journey. RSVP to faithconnections@csj-to.ca. by September 12th (so they know how much food to order).
Our operating expenses average $14,550 per week.
Collection for last weekend:
Envelopes 375 $7,125 Loose Change $834 Weekly Portion of PAG 165 $3,082 (Pre-Authorized Giving) Total $11,041
Mission Co-Op Collection: $11,780
Fr. Gilbert is sincerely grateful for your generosity.
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