February 22nd, 2009
As we’ve heard before, illness and infirmity of any kind were seen as a punishment for one’s sins. We can imagine that the paralytic in the gospel, his family and the very friends who dug through the roof and lowered him to Jesus, were probably convinced that at some time in his life he offended God in a serious way and that’s why he suffered as he did. We can imagine that he was so ashamed at what he did he was convinced God would never forgive him. His life sentence of paralysis was proof of it. No matter how many times he read or heard those loving words of Isaiah ‘though your sins are like scarlet they shall be white as snow, though they be red as crimson, they shall be like wool’, no matter how many times he heard the story of God’s mercy and forgiveness toward King David after his great crimes of adultery and murder, this poor man, as paralyzed in his spirit as he was in his body, could not move toward the healing power of God.
He is like so many of us who cannot imagine or trust in the mercy of God. He is like so many of us who project unto God our own inability to forgive and be at peace with those who offended us. He is like so many of us who think God is as stingy with love and hard hearted in forgiveness as we are. He is like so many of us plagued with memories of past sins he can’t trust the truth that when it comes to our sins, we are weighed down with memories but God has amnesia. Paralyzed by guilt and shame he cannot move toward the love and mercy of God.
Jesus see the paralysis in this man’s soul, He reaches out to him and tells him “Child, frightened child, desperate child, your sins are forgiven.” With these gracious words Jesus breaks through this man’s roof, his barrier to an encounter with God’s grace and mercy.
To answer those scandalized by His words and their complaint that only God can forgive sins Jesus shocks them even more saying to this man still paralyzed in body “get up take up your mat and walk.” Free to move the man gets up, picks up his mat and walks out accompanied by those who carried him to Christ. He leaves behind people filled with amazement, people who had never seen anything like this.
Which is easier to say – which is easier to hear, which is easier to believe – your sins are forgiven or take up your mat and go home. That’s the question for all of us today. It is one thing to unbind a body it is another thing to liberate a soul. If we are paralyzed in spirit, unable to move beyond feelings of guilt and shame, or if we are paralyzed by an unwillingness to move beyond hurt and resentment and forgive those who wronged us, we need the Christ to break through our roofs, our barriers that block out the healing touch of Christ.
Each of us can experience the freedom granted the paralyzed man when, in a moment of quiet prayer we face our faults and failings, face the wrong we’ve done to others, no matter what they may be and ask for God forgiveness. Each of us can experience the pardon and peace of Christ when we celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation. Not as we experienced it in the past, a routine rattling off of peccadilloes, routine that brought us to giving up on this sacrament, but a soul searching admittance of some great wrong or injustice we may have done to another. The coming season of Lent has always been that special time to look into the way we live our lives, the way we relate to God and to others and admit the wrongs we’ve done, those rare times we’ve said a definite no to God and through this sacrament of reconciliation come to know pardon and peace.
Maybe we could be blessed with the spirit of St. Paul, who never suffered from spiritual paralysis. He never forgot how he deeply offended Christ by his persecution of the Church and yet he would say, “One thing I do, I forget what is behind and I strive on to what is ahead and I go with confidence to the throne of grace and forgiveness.”
As we continue to celebrate this Eucharist we can pray for ourselves that we do not let fear or shame or anger and resentment paralyze us. May each of us find it easy to hear and believe those wonderful words of Christ ‘your sins are forgiven’ whether in the quiet of our prayer or in the sacrament of reconciliation.
| Posted in Homily |
February 25th is Ash Wednesday. Special Masses will be celebrated at 12:00 Noon and 7:30 PM with the distribution of ashes. During Lent, we encourage your attendance at our daily weekday Masses at 9:00 AM.
During Lent there are two days of Fast and Abstinence, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Abstinence means to abstain from eating meat. Fasting means that your two smaller meals combined should not be larger than your main meal. There is no eating between meals. This applies to healthy people between the ages of 16 and 75.
Stations of the Cross will take place on Friday evenings during Lent, beginning Friday, February 27th at 7:30 PM.
Total: $10,037
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Number of Envelopes Issued: 1,136 Number of Envelopes Used: 484
Beginning March 1st, Mass will be celebrated daily, Monday to Friday, at 9:00 AM.
St. Gabriel was a member of the Passionist Community. He was born Frances Possenti on March 1, 1838 in Assisi, and died February 27, 1862 at the age of 24. He had a special devotion to Mary and chose as his religious name Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin. He is remembered for his enthusiasm in life and his extraordinary generosity. Pope John XXIII proclaimed him as a special Patron of Youth.
If you have changed your address, please notify the Parish Office at 416-221-8866 so that we may keep our parish records up to date.
Tax receipts for donations made in 2008 will be mailed to you by the end of February.
The Parish Family of St. Gabriel’s would like to welcome Ciaran Ross McMahon Ferguson who received the Sacrament of Baptism on Sunday, February 15th. Congratulations!
The Christian Jewish Dialogue of Toronto is again sponsoring the Walking in God’s Path Series this year. The series seeks to stimulate real conversation between Jewish and Christian congregations. As in last year, St. Gabriel’s will be one of the participating institutions. The themes to be explored this year are:
What is the Biblical Concept of Justice? February 11th at 7:30 PM. St. Gabriel’s Passionist Parish Church
February 18th, at 7:30 PM Adath Israel Congregation 37 Southbourne (Bathurst & Wilson)
This series will include the participation of Newtonbrook United Church.
How Jews and Christians Perceive Jesus March 4th at 7:30 PM St. Phillip the Apostle Anglican Church 201 Caribou Road (Bathurst & Lawrence)
March 11th at 7:30 PM Beth Tzedec Congregation 1700 Bathurst Street (south of Eglinton)
Closing Event: Where are We Going and How Do We Get There March 18th at 7:30 PM Beth Tzedec Congregation
The closing program will feature a panel discussion between Fr. Paul McGill, retired Anglican Archbishop, Terrence Finlay and Rabbi Erwin Schild, to be moderated by Mr. Frank Faulke, producer of the CBC Series, Tapestry. These meetings will allow us to further explore the Jewish roots of our Christian faith. It will also offer a good opportunity, for those interested, to meet some of our Jewish friends and to visit different synagogues.
As a partner institution, St. Gabriel’s will be hosting the first meeting of the series. The focus, very appropriately for our parish, will be on ecological justice. The discussion will be lead by Father Paul, our pastor.
For further information on this series of events, please contact Fatima Lee at 416-221-8866.
Wednesday, March 4th at 10:30 AM Topic: The Reformation
Tuesday, March 10th at 7:30 PM Topic: How the Bible Was Written
In case of inclement weather, please call Mary Landry at 416-293-3760.
Friday, March 6th at 2:00PM Trinity Presbyterian Church 2737 Bayview Avenue (just south of the 401)
The World Day of Prayer is an ecumenical service which takes place throughout the world in Christian Churches. This year’s celebration will be hosted by Trinity Presbyterian Church. Please join us.
Have you ever felt curious about what it means to be a missionary priest or lay missioner? Has this question ever crossed your mind? If so, come and explore further by joining us for an overnight retreat, “Call to Mission”. This retreat will take place on Friday, evening at 7:00 PM to Saturday evening after dinner (5:00 PM), March 20th -21st, at Scarboro Missions, 2685 Kingston Road, Scarborough.
Come, pray and reflect on the challenges of today’s missionaries and listen to our Scarboro priests and lay missioners as they share their stories. Walk with us…. it may change your life forever!
To register, please contact us at 416-261-7135 or lmo@scarboromissions.ca
Tuesday, February 24, 2009 at 2:00 PM Blessed Trinity Parish Hall
Guest speaker, Barbara Dempster of Remax, will speak about the Real Estate Options for seniors…” To move or not to move”. Prospective members are cordially invited to attend.
| Posted in Bulletin |
February 15th, 2009
A couple of years ago around noon on a Saturday I got a call from the Chaplain’s office at North York General Hospital. The SARS fright was going on at that time. I’d been to the hospital the day before for my weekly Friday morning rounds. I saw a number of people, some in the Intensive Care Unit, some in emergency and some in Isolation. That particular Saturday we were to celebrate the First Communion of the children in our Children’s Faith program. Back to the phone call. As I said it was from the Chaplain’s Office at the hospital.
The Chaplain, Rev. Joan Silcox-Smith, called to inform me that they discovered a new outbreak of SARS in the hospital and that I had to go into quarantine immediately. I told her I couldn’t do that, I had the children’s First Communion at the 4:30 Mass. She wasn’t impressed. Get someone else to do it. She’d just called Rabbi Weiss and told him the same thing, he was quarantined. He was not to conduct the Sabbath Service that day. One phone call turned everything up side down. Being quarantined meant I couldn’t go out for 12 days, I had to eat alone and I couldn’t be in the same room with the other priests and I couldn’t leave the house. As I mentioned when all this was over, I was so bored I even ended up watching Oprah and Dr. Phil.
Imagine what it would be like to quarantined, to be cut off from all interpersonal contact for the rest of your life.
Through no fault of his own that was the situation of the leper in today’s gospel. As we heard in the first reading, by law he was forced to live outside the camp. By law he could not have contact with family or friends. By law a leper was to make his appearance as unpleasant as possible. He was to warn people off by calling himself unclean. Talk about isolation, separation, talk about loneliness.
When the leper meets Jesus they are both outside the town, Jesus by choice, the leper by law. I wonder what was going on in the leper’s mind as he approached Jesus. He must have been in turmoil. Dare he get close to Jesus, dare he speak to him. Again, by law he was not supposed to come close to anyone but he had to, he was desperate. He wanted so badly to be clean, to get back to his family and friends, to get back to work. Summoning up his courage he says, “If you choose you can make me clean.” The old translation was, “if you want to, you can make me clean” and Jesus’ response was, “course I want to.” And then Jesus does the unthinkable, he put out his hand and touched the leper and the leper’s life was changed forever. A simple touch caused such a wonder.
A friend of mine worked at the Catholic hospital in London, she was a pastoral visitor. The bishop asked her if she would take a course that prepared people for working with men and women with AIDS. She took the course. The first day she was to meet a patient with AIDS she was a nervous wreck. She had to force herself to go into the young man’s room. When she went in she was shocked by his appearance. She approached his bed, took a chair and sat down beside him. She reached out and took his hand in hers and said, “I don’t know what to say.” He looked at her and said, “You’ve said everything, you touched me.” You touched me. That gentle gestured made such a difference in that man’s life.
I guess every time we hear this gospel story of the meeting of Christ and the leper we wonder, who are the lepers in my life? Who do we shun, exclude or keep out of our lives. Who do we rule out of our love and concern and acceptance because of who they are or what they are? Do we see people of different faiths or cultures, life styles or social standing as people to be avoided? Are they outside the area of our acceptance?
Or, do we see ourselves as unclean? Haunted or obsessed by our own past sins and failings do we see ourselves as unworthy of God’s love or shunned by God? Do we question whether or not Christ cares for us, answers prayers – do we wonder if Christ would reach out and touch us and make us clean? The truth of the matter is, our spiritual life consists of being made clean over and over again which is the same thing as allowing Christ into our lives to touch us with His healing grace. Remember His response to the leper plead, if you want to – of course I want to, be made clean.
As we continue to celebrate this Mass we can think on this; if we want to be touched and made clean by the healing Christ, we must be willing to reach out and touch and embrace those who, for whatever reason, we exclude from our lives and offer them the same love and acceptance we so desire from Christ.
Total: $11,063
Number of Envelopes Issued: 1,136 Number of Envelopes Used: 529
Monday, February 16th is Family Day. The Parish Office will be closed.
Wednesday, February 18th at 10:30 AM Topic: The Reformation
Tuesday, February 24th at 7:30 PM Topic: How the Bible Was Written
Your prepared chicken rice casseroles (frozen please) will be collected at all the Masses next weekend, February 21st and 22nd for delivery to the Good Shepherd Centre. More volunteers are encouraged to pick up a copy of the casserole recipe and a pan. Why not give it a try? For more information, please contact Irene Albrecht at 416-221-2791.
The St. Vincent de Paul Society wishes to thank the kind people who offered temporary accommodation to a family in need. Thank you also to all those who gave donations of children’s warm winter clothing. Your assistance is very much appreciated.
A very special thank you to all the wonderful people who volunteered their time and talent to help make this year’s celebration such a success. A special thank you also goes out to all those who came to share and support this wonderful gathering, helping to make it so memorable.
There will be a Youth Day of Recollection on Saturday, February 21 at St Gabriel’s Church from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. All youth of the Parish, aged 14 to 25 are welcome.
We are invited to attend a special program at Jaffari Islamic Centre, 7340 Bayview Avenue (north of Steeles) on Sunday Feb. 22nd from 2-4 PM in remembrance of the martyrdom of Imam al-Husayn, (grandson of the prophet Muhammad, in 680 AD). This is a special day of mourning and observance for Muslims. The speaker is Imam Muhammmad Rizvi. There will be a question and answer period afterwards and refreshments will be served. To respect the tradition and customs of the mosque, please be aware that everyone will be required to remove their shoes on entering the mosque and that women should cover their hair. For more information see the notice on the bulletin boards or call Nora at 416 218-0680. RSVP to Nora by Feb. 15th.
Friday, March 6th at 2:00PM at Trinity Presbyterian 2737 Bayview Avenue (just south of the 401)
Today’s Gospel says that “Jesus was moved with pity when he saw a leper.” Are you moved with love and compassion when you see the outcasts of today’s society? Today, Jesus continues to call forward men and women to minister as he did. If you think God is calling you to a Church vocation, call Fr. Liborio at 416-968-0997. Email: vocation@vocations.ca Website: www.vocationstoronto.ca
February 8th, 2009
You’ve probably heard the story of the man in church who kept crying out “why me?’ The people around him sympathized with him; he’d had a lot of heart ache and hard times. But they wearied of hearing him calling out “why me?” Suddenly there was a roll of thunder and a flash of lightening and fist came through the roof of the church and a finger pointed to the man and voice bellowed, “because you really bug me.” There are other versions of this story but this is the safest to use.
We could call this Sunday the “Why Me Sunday”.
We might consider Job as the original “why me person”. Job was good man. He was blessed with a huge family, extensive lands, great flocks of sheep and goats. Job’s prosperity was a sign to all his neighbours that Job was a friend of God. As Job said of himself, “I rescued the poor who cried out for help, the orphans and the unassisted, the heart of the widow I made joyful, I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame, I was father to the needy and the rights of the stranger I studied.” Now, why me?
In the gospel Jesus is on what someone called, “a holy roll.” He had just started His ministry and His reputation was spreading from town to town. In His home town of Capernaum the whole city gathered at Peter’s door bringing all those who were sick with various diseases and those tormented by demons. He cured many of them. Of course the citizens wanted Jesus to stay with them and take care of their needs but Jesus was determined to go to all the cities of Galilee to preach and to heal, because that is what He had come to do.
Just as Job’s prosperity was taken from him, so too Jesus’ popularity was short lived. We see this happen in the week we call holy. Within seven days the welcoming crowds of Palm Sunday turned into the cruel mob yelling, “crucify him, away with him”. Like Job, Jesus would ask “why”. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
How often have we, for whatever reason, asked why? Why me, why this, why now? Can’t we often relate to Job’s own depressing thoughts, do we not have hard service upon the earth, and are not our days like the days of a laborer. As good people we go out to jobs we really don’t like and do work that are not appreciated and is neither fulfilling nor energizing. We see our lives swiftly passing by and wonder, what have I accomplished and who will remember. Life will be over too quickly. Don’t we sometimes long for a shade of relief and endure sleepless nights? Don’t we sometimes wonder “will my eyes ever see good again”?
We know this short quote from the Book of Job is not the end of the story. Because of his faithfulness in his time of trial things did turn around for Job. But Job can be an example for us. When things are not going well, when everything seems to work against us, when we wonder if God even cares, then like Job we talk to God from our hurts and disappointments, we let God know what’s on our minds and how upset we are. When St. Teresa of Avila was having a hard time in her life, she is supposed to have said to God, “If this is the way you treat your friends, is it any wonder you have so few of them.” Teresa’s remark speaks of a healthy relationship with God. It’s ok to let God know we are not happy with the way things are going in our lives, it’s ok to let God know we need patience, courage and hope, we need help.
We know from the story of Job and the story of Jesus that they both experienced the worst loss of all; their assurance that God remained with them through it all. But both remained faithful even with that lost assurance and both were vindicated, Job with the restoration of his goods, Jesus by His resurrection.
There is a moral we can learn from the story of Job and the story of Jesus. Sickness, disappointments, the loss of a job, the loss of a relationship, the loss of love, the loss of a career, even the loss of life can not take away the special relationship each of us has with the God of mercy and love. St. Paul tells us, “nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” When these losses come our way, and they certainly will, we have to remember we are not being punished but we are being tested. And our most important question is not why but what, what am I going to do with this, how will I handle this? Will I let this loss crush me, embitter me, sour me on life or will I see this adversity for what it is, a challenge to my faith and trust in myself?
As we continue to celebrate this Eucharist we pray for ourselves and for each other that when we face our own troubles we be able to ask not why but what and never lose trust in that special relationship that is ours with our God of mercy and love. Our God Who did not spare His Own Son but gave Him up for us all.
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