April 5th, 2009
April 9 No 9:00 AM Mass 7:30 PM Mass of the Lord’s Supper Followed by Adoration until 10:00 PM
April 10 10:00 AM Morning Prayer 3:00 PM Solemn Passion of Our Lord 7:30 PM Stations of the Cross
April 11 Confessions 11:00 AM to 12 Noon No 4:30 PM Mass 8:30 PM Easter Vigil
April 12 Masses 8:30 AM, 10:30 AM, 12:30 PM
April 13 No 9:00 AM Mass Office closed
EXTRA PARKING AT ELKHORN PUBLIC SCHOOL
Good Friday Evening at 7:30 PM.
While remembering the passion of Jesus, we also prayerfully reflect on the passion of Christ as it is experienced in the sufferings of our brothers and sisters today. Please try to join us on Friday evening.
Total: $9,704
–>
Number of Envelopes Used: 480
Some of us who attended this series would like to discuss what we learned – or had difficulty with. You are welcome to join us on Wednesday, April 15th at 7:30 in the Library.
Wednesday, April 8th at 7:00 PM in the Gabriel Room
This annual parish event is again being sponsored by the Pastoral team. Passover is the oldest festival of the Hebrew liturgical calendar. It has been observed by the Jewish people for more than 3,000 years. Passover is a religious family meal celebrating Jewish freedom from slavery. It occurs in the spring, the time of renewal in “Nissan”, the first month of the Hebrew year, and it lasts for eight days. Why do we celebrate this “meal” at St. Gabriel’s? First, this celebration helps us to understand our religious roots, which are Jewish. Second, it is an opportunity for us to celebrate our growth as a community and be together with families and friends at this most special time during Holy Week. Please call the Parish Office at 416-221-8866 by Monday, April 6th to book your table of 6 or 8, or to have your name added to a table.
Tuesday, April 14th at 7:30 PM Topic: How the Bible Was Written
Wednesday, April 15th at 10:30 AM Topic: What is “The Will of God”?
In case of inclement weather, please call Mary Landry at 416-293-3760.
The Children’s Liturgy of the Word Group are looking for another adult to help on Sundays at the 10:30 AM Mass. If you are able to help, please contact Tim Lychy at 416-953-0555.
Thank you to the volunteers who prepared 83 casseroles for the Good Shepherd Centre for March. For April, your prepared casseroles (frozen please) will be collected at the Masses on the weekend of April 25/26 for delivery to the Good Shepherd Centre
More volunteers are encouraged to become active in helping to feed our less fortunate sisters and brothers. If you require more information or would like to get a copy of the recipe and a casserole pan, please contact Irene Albrecht at 416 221-2791.
It’s a wonder more seniors don’t fall through the cracks…
“I love it here. There’s so much to do in the building: we have a seniors social once a week, exercise class, they have computer rooms. We laugh and we joke and we play cards. I find all the benefits great. You’re not alone. People are friendly. This place may not be here if it wasn’t for the support of the people who donate to ShareLife.” Rose, resident of Loyola Arrupe Centre for Seniors
2nd ShareLife Collection – May 3rd, 2009. You can work WONDERS!
The Toronto Catholic Singles Association is a non-profit social and recreational club for Catholic singles of all ages. Our mandate is to foster Catholic fellowship through a program of social, recreational, spiritual and volunteering events. Annual membership is $10.
For more information and to make a request to join, please visit http://torontocatholicsingles.vpweb.ca or write to us at: Toronto Catholic Singles Association, P.O. Box 45112, 5845 Yonge Street, North York, Ontario, M2M 4K3
Catholic Family Services of Toronto is offering a ten week group program for adult men and women who are dealing with the many struggles involved in the process of separation and divorce. The group will run on Tuesday evenings from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM beginning April 14th at the North Office, 5799 Yonge Street, Suite 300 For further information please contact Mario Esposito at 416-222-0048.
Saturday, May 9th and Sunday, May 10th
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul will be collecting gently used clothing and household linens for those in need on the weekend of May 9th and 10th. There is a particular need for textiles and footwear. Please note that mattresses and appliances cannot be accepted.
A St. Vincent de Paul truck will be parked on the upper parking lot opposite the garden. Volunteers will assist with loading before and after each of the Masses on Saturday and Sunday.
Program 1: Monday, April 6th – 9:00 PM (repeated at 11:00 PM)
Program 2: Tuesday, April 7th – 9:00 PM (repeated at 11:00 PM)
The host of the Mission, “Reflections of Lent” is Most Reverend Paul-Andre Durocher, the much loved Bishop who launched the first National Catholic Mission in the year 2000.
For more information, please contact the National Catholic Broadcasting Council at 1-888-383-6277 or at www.canadiandailymass.com.
Have you wondered seriously if you have a vocation to be a sister, brother, deacon or priest? Are you looking for an opportunity to get away for quiet prayer and reflection to explore this more seriously? A discernment retreat weekend, arranged specifically for this purpose will take place on May 15th to 17th at the Scarboro Mission Centre, 2685 Kingston Road in Toronto. This retreat, intended for persons 18 to 35, is sponsored by the Toronto Area Vocation Directors Association.
For more information, please contact: Fr. Santo Arrigo C.Ss. R. Phone: 416-789-3217 Email: vocations@redemptorists.ca
Fr. Len Altilia S.J. Phone: 416-962-4500 Email: vocation@jesuits.ca
Sr. Dorothy Schweitzer, CSJ Phone: 416-934-0042 Email: dschweitzer@csj-to.ca
| Posted in Bulletin |
April 2nd, 2009
| Posted in Events |
March 29th, 2009
Just a few words on our first reading from Jeremiah. He was not a popular person. He could be called a defeatist. He encouraged the king not to resist the invasion by the Babylonians, an invasion that would bring about the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple. This was all in God’s hands. Jeremiah confronted king and people with the fact that they had been unfaithful to their covenant with God; they had broken their relationship with God. Now they were facing the consequences of that break. But Jeremiah wants them to know this national crisis could be the occasion of a national renewal, an opportunity to renew their commitment to God, to the law and to the relationship their sins had shattered.
In today’s reading Jeremiah offers the people a vision of the new possibilities to be found in a new covenant. He promised that after a time of suitable collective repentance God will restore the people and enter into a new covenant, a new bonding with them. This new covenant offers the people forgiveness; God would remember their sins no more. God, through Jeremiah offers a defeated, exiled people the strength and hope they need to go on.
In every age people get caught up in correctness, exactness, precision. Every word, every gesture must be just so. If I miss one First Friday or First Saturday I have to start all over again. How many chain letters and prayers have your received in your e-mail? Pass this message on to 12 others within 24 hours and you will be blessed – or else.
Say your prayers, do the rituals just so and things will be ok. Jeremiah encourages the people to move beyond such ‘correctness’. The most important word in his message is the word ‘within’. It’s a word that calls us to interiority. Externals are important but it is what is within us that matters most. Jesus made this point time and time again to the people of His time.
The best example I can use to express this sense of interiority is to ask you why you are here today. Are you at Mass because of obligation? There is an obligation to be here, to keep holy our Sabbath day. But are you here because you must be here or because you want to be here? Are you here because you have a sense of gratitude to God for the blessings with which you have been blessed and you want to give thanks for these blessings? Are you here because you want to be with other parishioners to praise and thank God? Are you here because of your own struggles and your need to be nourished by the Bread of Life, our daily bread, to give you the strength to go on? All these are examples of interiority – the law written not on stone but on the fleshy tablets of our hearts.
The same can be said of our life of prayer. Are we caught in the trap of thinking our prayer must be said so many times with strict attention or are do we see prayer as a open gentle conversation with God. If our prayer life is, what one saint described as “heart speaking to heart” then we have caught the spirit of interiority.
St. Paul calls us to grow to full maturity in Christ. Such growth helps us to move beyond ‘having to do things’ to wanting to do them, wanting out of a sense of a deep desire to deepen our relationship with Christ.
Interiority helps us to come to grips with the words of Jesus in today’s gospel about the grain of wheat dying to come to life, those who love their lives losing their lives.
As we continue to celebrate this Mass – here because we want to be here not because we must be here – we can pray for ourselves and for each other that God in His goodness will put His law within us, on the fleshy tablets of our hearts and we will all come to know the Lord, the Lord who remembers our sins no more.
| Posted in Homily |
Friday Evenings at 7:30 PM There will be no Stations of the Cross on Friday, March 27th.
Wednesday, April 1 at 7:30 PM
April 5 Masses 4:30 PM, 8:30 AM, 10:30 AM, 12:30 PM
Stations of the Cross will take place on Friday evenings during Lent at 7:30 PM.
Total: $9,474
Number of Envelopes Issued: 1,136 Number of Envelopes Used: 476
Wednesday, April 1st at 7:30 PM
This is an opportunity to spend some time in peace and quiet, to reflect upon how we are responding to our call to be sons and daughters of God. Recognizing the fact that we are “good people”, we also accept the fact that good people can sin. Through an examination of conscience we face those sins, admit them and are reconciled to God. For those who wish, individual confessions will be celebrated after the service. We encourage you to take advantage of this celebration.
This annual parish event is again being sponsored by the Pastoral team. Passover is the oldest festival of the Hebrew liturgical calendar. It has been observed by the Jewish people for more than 3,000 years. Passover is a religious family meal celebrating Jewish freedom from slavery. It occurs in the spring, the time of renewal in “Nissan”, the first month of the Hebrew year, and it lasts for eight days. Why do we celebrate this “meal” at St. Gabriel’s? First, this celebration helps us to understand our religious roots, which are Jewish. Second, it is an opportunity for us to celebrate our growth as a community and be together with families and friends at this most special time during Holy Week. Please call the Parish Office at 416-221-8866 by Friday, April 1st to book your table of 6 or 8, or to have your name added to a table
Friday April 3rd from 9:30 AM to 12:00 Noon. Please see the time schedule on the table inside the Church.
Saturday, April 4th at 3:15 PM in the Library For information, please contact Linda Law at 416 -918-8029.
Sunday, April 5th at 3:30 PM in the Gabriel Room For information, please contact Linda Law at 416-918-8029.
Sunday, April 5th at 11:30 AM 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. The guided reflection brings an ecological perspective to the readings. All are welcome.
The Children’s Liturgy of the Word Group are looking for another adult to help on Sundays at the 10:30 Mass. If you are able to help, please contact Tim Lychy at 416-733-2598.
Wednesday, April 1st at 10:30 AM Topic: What is “The Will of God”?
Tuesday, April 14t at 7:30 PM Topic: How the Bible Was Written
By making a contribution to ShareLife today, you are making a significant impact in your parish, in your community and around the world.
Today is ShareLife Sunday.
Your sacrificial gift today will allow our agencies to continue to make a difference. Please give generously. You can work wonders!
The 2009 Ching Ming Remembrance Mass will be held in the Holy Family Mausoleum at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Thornhill on Saturday April 4th at 2:00 PM. The Mass, which is held in Chinese, is organized by Catholic Cemeteries – Archdiocese of Toronto with the support of the four Chinese parishes. For further details, please see the poster on the bulletin board.
If you are approached inside or outside the Church by anyone asking for money, please tell them to leave the property. We ask you not to give anyone money. People in need of assistance are referred to the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
March 22nd, 2009
I was reading the story was of a young woman growing up in a very dysfunctional family of twisted relationships. It didn’t help matters that the family belonged to a very strict religious sect. Talking about her life and the things that were going on in her life she made this amazing statement. “My life is an embarrassment of blessings.” Those words stuck with me ever since. My life is an embarrassment of blessings.
If we think about it, each one of us here can say these words, “my life is an embarrassment of blessings”. No matter what personal struggles we may be facing, we are a blessed people. Consider our gift of sight, our gift of speech and hearing, our gift of mobility, our gift of health, our gift of family and friends, our gift of employment or career, especially our the gift of faith.
We are all blest; we are all gifted by our God who is rich in mercy. We are blest by a God who so loved the world He sent His Son to the world not to condemn or punish but to save the world through His passion death and resurrection. We are blest by God, Who before the world began chose us in Christ to be His adopted sons and daughters.
In one of his letters St. Paul asked his readers, “What have you that you have not received and if you have received it why do you glory as if you had not received it?” What Paul writes to the Ephesians is true for all of us; “By grace, you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing, it is a gift from God.” We do not earn gifts, they are freely given. Our lives are an embarrassment of blessings. “For we are what He has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”
The gifts with which we are all blessed were given for good works and these good works are the necessary consequence and outcome our new life in Christ. These good works are the fruit of a faith that is professed with our lips and lived in our lives. We pray at every Mass, “may we live this Mass outside these walls in the lives we live, the work we do and the service we give” Faith without good works is dead.
One of the good works that will challenge us is this year’s Share Life Appeal. If you are on our mailing list you have already received a letter from Archbishop Collins inviting you to be part of this year’s Appeal. The theme of this year’s appeal “you can work wonders” fits so well into today’s second reading which reminds us we, gifted people that we are, are created for good works.
Share Life supports 33 agencies and grants 10 others, assisting over ¼ of a million people in the Archdiocese. At the end of the Mass Maggie O’Rourke a staff member of Rosalie Hall will tell you of the work she is able to do because of your support for Share Life. With your help she can work wonders.
Our lives are an embarrassment of blessings. A great blessing that is ours is the life we share with the Risen Christ, a life Christ shares with us through His passion, death and resurrection. As we continue to celebrate this Mass we can pray for ourselves and for each other that we come to appreciate how blessed we are and in supporting Share Life may we all work wonders.
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