December 28th, 2008
Recently I read this very realistic description of the Holy Family – A betrothed man feels jilted – words at the child’s presentation in the temple cause anxiety – a political threat causes the family to seek refuge in a foreign country and hide out in Nazareth after their return – a child runs away in Jerusalem – a mother has difficulty perceiving her son’s plan in Cana – the family believes he is out of his mind and tries to bring him home – a son is arrested and executed in his prime -a mother is left by her dying son in the care of a non relative – – truly theirs was a family fraught with all of the ups and downs, joy and sadness of our own families.
As I said this is a realistic portrait of the life of Mary, Joseph and Jesus.
I received a Christmas card from a former classmate of mine – he was one of my best friends in the seminary and in the priesthood. I was shocked when he left the priesthood. He married (they had three children – all adults now). His first son was born with only half of a left arm. In their late teens both his daughters were heavily into drugs – and in his Christmas card he tells me his wife has been under medication for the past ten years for clinical depression.
In my years as a priest I have been spared all his troubles – and I admire the commitment his has to his wife and family in his new vocation as husband and father.
That’s why I keep telling you – the saints of the church are in the pews of the church – someone has said the family is a little church – and it’s your life within your little church that brings you to holiness. Your struggles to keep alive and deepen your first love – your efforts to raise sons and daughters passing on to them the learned wisdom of your own lives – the way you deal with hurts and disappointments – your patience with teenage sons and daughters as they work their way through the insanity of those years – young people have to deal with feelings of not being understood or appreciated by parents – the anxiety of going on to college – trying to sort a career – good people have to face the loneliness of widowhood – the pain and anger of divorce – the struggles and hard work of being a single parent – good people are dealing with family illness, family alienations – all these mixed in with the joys of family celebrations of feasts and birthdays and anniversaries – new births and weddings – all these are part and parcel of family life – many of them were experienced in the family life of Mary, Joseph and Jesus.
As I mentioned many times before, holiness is in the ordinary – we come to holiness in the ordinary living of our ordinary lives – being open to whatever comes our way with each new day – trusting the truth that God is with us every step of the way – trusting the promise of Christ, I am with you always even to the end.
This feast is your feast – as you come to holiness through all your efforts to live a positive, healthy and holy family life – and as you know so well – some days you win and some days you lose – but you never give up. This is what makes you the saints of the church – the heroes and heroines of the church. You are the ones who make the church holy.
As we continue to celebrate this feast of the holy family we pray as a parish family for all the families of our parish – the solid and the troubled families – that God’s peace and healing be found in every home in this parish family of St. Gabriel’s.
| Posted in Homily |
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 it’s walls. The joy of His presence lightens every heart. The glory of His presence fills all it’s chambers with rare and precious treasures.
“From God’s Heart to Yours” by Roy Leesin
The Parish Family of St. Gabriel’s would like to welcome: Juliet DiMenna Rodleigh Paz
These children received the Sacrament of Baptism on Sunday, December 21st. Congratulations!
Total: $11,404
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Number of Envelopes Issued: 1136 Number of Envelopes Used: 427
A special thank you to all those who helped with our Christmas celebrations; those in the Music Ministry, the Eucharistic Ministers and Lectors, the Altar Servers and Ministers of Hospitality, those responsible for decorating, and the Pastoral Team. Your work helped to make Christmas a beautiful and uplifting time.
O Come let us adore Him.
Jesus, who came to us as a Babe in the manger, waits for us daily in the tabernacle to come and visit Him. On the First Friday of each month, the Sacred Host, the same Jesus, is exposed in the monstrance so we can adore Him more profoundly from 9:30 AM to 12:00 Noon. When the disciples asked Jesus “Where are you staying?” Jesus answered, “Come and see.”
Saturday, January 3rd at 3:15 PM in the Library For information, please contact Linda Law at 416-918-8029.
Sunday, January 4th at 3:30 PM in the Gabriel Room For information, please contact Linda Law at 416-918-8029.
Sunday, January 4th 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.
There will be no Family Mass in January, 2008. The next Family Mass will be on February 8th ,2009.
St. Gabriel’s Youth Group will be meeting on Saturday, January 10th at 3:00 PM. All are welcome.
Come and adore the Lord Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
Fr. Emeka Obiezu, O.S.A. will be speaking on “St. Paul and the Eucharist as a Sacrament of Unity” at St. Brigid’s Church from 2:00 to 4:30 PM. For more information, please check www.kolbeapostolate.com.
For Separated, Divorced and Widowed Persons
Mini – Renewal Presentation January 6th, 2009 at 8:00 PM St Bonaventure’s Church, 1300 Leslie Street, Toronto
Saying “Yes” to Life Guest Speaker: John Dubeau Spend an evening with friends who understand you. For more information, please call 416-921-1163, Ext. 2246 New Beginnings, 1155 Yonge Street, 2nd Floor Toronto, Ontario, M2M 3S4
| Posted in Bulletin |
December 25th, 2008
| Posted in Events |
A couple of weeks ago I visited our grade two class at St. Gabriel’s. They were very busy, intensely coloring angels trying so hard to stay within the lines. We talked a bit about Christmas. The truth of the matter is, Santa Claus was more interesting to these children that the infant of Bethlehem. One told me that a kid he knows in grade four told him there was no Santa Claus. I said, ‘well older kids they think they know everything but they don’t do they?’ They all shook their heads, ‘No they don’t.’ There’s a Santa Claus.
Of course Santa Claus means gifts and gifts are very important at Christmas, especially for children. Tonight and tomorrow calls to ‘save the wrapping and the bows’ are lost as eager hands tear into beautifully and carefully wrapped gifts. And then there’s the usual question, “is that all, isn’t one more?” We can’t imagine a Christmas without exchanging gifts. For days after today the most asked question will be, ‘what did you get for Christmas?’
That’s what it’s all about – gifts. In the beautiful Christmas story told in the gospel, a story we never tire of hearing, it is all about gifts. God so loved the world, God gifted His Son to the world. All the Scriptures used for this feast tell of gifts, “a child has been born for us, a son given to us, the grace of God appeared bringing salvation to all, to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord, the goodness and the loving kindness of God our savior has appeared, the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us.”
At this Mass we are given a gift. The Christ of Bethlehem, the Christ of Calvary, the Christ of the Resurrection says to us; ‘this is my body, take and eat, this is my blood, take and drink’. In this Mass Christ gifts us with His very self.
There was a song out years ago that told the story of a women who gave the boot to her boyfriend and the important words and message of the song were these, “flowers, perfume, candy, but you, you never gave me you, you never gave the greatest gift of all, you never gave me you.’
No matter how expensive, how beautiful, how rare or how simple the gifts we give to others this Christmas, be they flowers, perfume or candy, they pale before the greatest gift of all, the gift of ourselves. This is a gift we are challenged to give every day of the year. We give this gift in the simplest of ways when we give the gift of our time, the gift of our attention, the gift of our interest, the gift of our presence, the gift of our love, the gift of our forgiveness. In these gifts we give the greatest gift of all.
At the Christmas Mass Christ gives us the greatest gift of all, Himself in the Eucharist we receive. As we continue this Mass we can pray for ourselves and for each other that having been nourished by this gift we can find within ourselves the generosity we need to give to the greatest gift of all, ourselves to those we say we love.
December 21st, 2008
There is an old saying, “If you want to make God laugh tell Him your plans.” Today’s scripture readings are all about plans. King David has great plans. He had won great victories, he was secured in the walled city of Jerusalem, and he’d just finished building himself an impressive cedar home. He looked at the humble tent that housed the Arc of the Covenant. This just didn’t seem right. He ought to build a magnificent house for God. He planned to move God from a humble tent to a building worthy of God. But God said, “forget it; instead I’m going to build you a house, a dynasty. Your house shall be made sure forever before me. Don’t forget David, I took you from pasturing sheep and made you a prince over my people. I don’t need you but you will always need me. Forget your plans and be open to mine.”
Mary and Joseph must have had plans. They were engaged to be married, probably a marriage arranged by their two families. As any young engaged couple they made plans for their wedding, they planned on where they would live and raise their family, and they looked forward to an uneventful life in the town of Nazareth.
Not so Mary, not so Joseph. God had His plans for both of you. Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit you will conceive and you will bear a son and name him Jesus. Not fully understanding what this was all about but knowing God’s plan came before hers, Mary sets aside her plans and opens her life to God’s. “Here I am, the servant of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word.” Finding that Mary was pregnant Joseph planned to divorce her privately but God said, “Joseph I have a new plan for you, I want you to marry Mary and raise the son she carries as your own and I want you to name him Jesus.”
If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.
A few years ago our Passionist community would have these meetings. We would spend days on a five year plan for the community. Within months events took place that made these plans, these well thought out plans, irrelevant, beside the point. The Passionists of the western States had a big meeting to decide which of two houses to close, Detroit or Sierra Madre in California. It involved a real turf war. It was decided to close Detroit. Two week later an earthquake made the house in Sierra Madre uninhabitable. So much for plans.
The present economic melt down has brought havoc to many people’s financial plans. Investments, retirement funds all gone, quick fix schemes for making fast money – all gone. The little people who saw in all these plans the means of financial security in their old age were betrayed by greedy charlatans. The high rollers out for the fast buck are left high and dry. There was a quote in the New York Times that said, “many people in this city went to bed last night very wealthy only to find that when they woke up this morning they were broke.” So much for plans. Think of the number of people caught up in a tsunami of broken promises and shattered plans and it is so sad.
We all know people who worked for years and had great plans for their retirement only to have those plans dissolve because of illness or even death. We all know the frustration of parents who make plans for their children’s future. We all make plans, we all dream dreams but so often things don’t go our way. So many things can happen that muck up the works. Then we get angry, frustrated, discouraged, maybe even depressed.
It is good to remember that God has plans for us just as God had plans for Mary and Joseph. God’s plans are not always that clear to us but even our infidelities, sins, and scheming do not derail them. We are not Mary, we are not Joseph. We are sinners struggling to be saints. When our plans don’t work out it is good to remember the words we say every day in the Our Father: “thy kingdom come, thy will be done”. Some times those words catch in our throats but as scripture tells us, ‘in God’s will is our peace.’
As we continue to celebrate this Mass we can pray for ourselves and for each other that when our personal plans go awry we be blessed with the faith of Mary and Joseph, into whose plans God intruded, and say with them, ‘be it done to me according to you will, according to your plan.’
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.
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