April 20th, 2008
Have you ever had a family gathering and more people showed up than you expected and you find yourself trying to make more room at the table. People have to move over, make room for Uncle Harry or Aunt Gen. As for having enough to eat, just put more water in the soup or another potato in the pot. We’ll make due.
Today’s gospel is part of the long conversation Jesus had with his disciples the night before He was to die. He had so many things to tell them, He has so many things to give them, especially His body and Blood in the bread and wine of their meal.
One of the things Jesus shares with His disciples is the beautiful image of His Father’s house – a house of many rooms, a house with rooms for all. We’ve all heard the different jokes about heaven and different people of different faiths and denominations thinking they are the only ones there. They were quite convinced there would be no room for those who believed differently than themselves.
This image Jesus uses of the house with many rooms is an image of God’s boundless love, an all embracing love for all. We all know our personal ability to love is quite limited and we can be quite selective, even stingy. We have just so much room in our hearts for others. We often find it difficult to make room in our lives for those who have hurt or disappointed us. This is so often the case in families, we let slights and misunderstandings linger for years and we close people out of our lives, even slam the door on them. We often have no room in our lives for people of different faiths or cultures. What Jesus is telling us in today’s gospel is God’s love for this world is “room” and larger than anything we can imagine. Jesus is telling His quite limited followers – which we all are – that despite the fact that our hearts are so narrow; God’s “house” has dwelling places which will be open to all.
As a nation we are into another time of questioning of our immigration policies, who should be let in, who should be kept out. When we look at our own family histories we have to acknowledge that, thank God this country had room for us. Let’s not get into that mentality of saying, ‘close the doors, we have no more room.’
Making room in our lives for each other will be a continuing sign of what God’s love means. God’s love is an all embracing love, a limitless love and an unconditional love.
As we continue this Mass we can pray for ourselves and for each other that will always be willing to make room in our lives and love for anyone and everyone who comes into our lives. May we be blessed with a bigness of heart which images the boundless love of God for each of us and be willing to make room for others.
| Posted in Homily |
Father Paul will be away this week leading a retreat at the shrine of Our Lady of the Links.
Santa Maria house was established in 1961, through the vision and dedication of volunteers. Although it is a Roman Catholic Agency, it serves young women of any belief. The basic philosophy centres on growth and celebration of life. Santa Maria House offers a supportive live-in environment for seven young women, ages 16 to 19, who have been victims of abuse. Emphasis is placed upon life skills, independence, preparation for the future, learning to live cooperatively in a group, the development of a sense of self worth, and personal responsibility. The ultimate goal is to help young women develop into healthy, contributing members of society.
2007 ShareLife Total: $164,652.60 2008 ShareLife to Date: $102,340.00
Total: $8,062.24
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The Children’s Faith Program Family Mass will be celebrated on Sunday, May 4th at the 8:30 AM Mass. Children from different grades will prepare the readings and usher. All families are invited.
The Sacrament of Confirmation will be celebrated on Sunday, May 4th at 3:00 PM in St. Gabriel’s Church. The celebrant will be Father Paul.
Tuesday evening, April 22nd at 7:30 PM Topic: Catholics in Nazi Germany
Wednesday morning, April 23rd at 10:30 AM Topic: St. Paul – Pastor and Theologian
Your prepared chicken casseroles (frozen please) will be collected at all the Masses next weekend for delivery to the Good Shepherd Centre. More volunteers are encouraged to get involved. Pick up a copy of the casserole recipe, a foil pan and give it a try. For more information, please contact Irene Albrecht at 416-221-2791.
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto and the Redemptorists invite young adults (ages 18 – 39) to join our house party and partake in food, laughter and a chance to ask questions. All young adults are welcome (married, single, student, working etc.) Thursday, April 24 7:00 – 9:00 PM Redeemer House 151 McCaul Street, Toronto Free parking available across the road.
Bibiana L’Abbé, conductor
The Laudamus Chorus presents an unforgettable night of uplifting sacred choral music featuring The Mass of St. Cecilia by C.Gounod. Let your hearts and minds be enchanted by this soaring spiritual music.
Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 7:30PM St. Luke’s Parish, 39 Green Lane, Thornhill Tickets: $20 (in advance) $25 (at the door) Call: 905-771-0230 or e-mail: laudamus.chorus@gmail.com Proceeds go to St. Luke’s Parish capital campaign.
Single women, ages 18-40, are invited to a retreat weekend, May 9-11 or May 30-June 1, 2008, given by a team of Sisters of St. Joseph. For information call Sister Dorothy at 416 – 927 – 0720. Also, see the flyer on the bulletin board.
Catholic Family Services of Toronto is offering another series for “Families and Individuals Experiencing Separation or Divorce”.
The program will be offered from 6:30 to 8:30 at two locations beginning: May 6 North Office, 5799 Yonge Street (Finch Subway Station) May 8 Central Office, 1155 Yonge Street (Summerhill Subway Station)
For further information call Ian Singer at the Central Office, 416-921-1163 or Mario Esposito at our North office at 416-222-0048
Get involved and celebrate Mother’s Day in a special way. Help make the world a better place for children! 5 km Fundraising Walk in support of Paediatric Brain Tumour Research. Sunday, May 11, 2008 9:00 AM – 12 Noon from Ontario Place to the Hospital for Sick Children All proceeds to benefit the Meagan Bebenek Endowment Fund at SickKids and b.r.a.i.n.child. Register, Pledge, Donate Online At www.meaganswalk.com
Pauline Hwang, daughter of Paul and Wai Chin Hwang, will be bicycling from Toronto to Montreal in July, for a total distance of 610 km, to raise funds for the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation. Donations are tax deductible (minimum $20 for tax receipt) and help pay for food programs, treatment programs, health promotion, income support and other needed services. Pauline is training very hard for this venture and welcomes any support from you for this important charity.
For more information about the bike rally, please see www.bikerally.org. Online pledges are accepted (just click “Pledge a 2008 Participant” and search for Pauline Hwang) and an electronic tax receipt will be emailed immediately. You may also phone her at 416-890-7770 to arrange to donate via cheque, credit card, bank withdrawal, monthly donations or cash. Thank you in advance for your generosity!
| Posted in Bulletin |
April 13th, 2008
Have you ever found yourself in the waiting area of an airport and you are on stand-by? You keep waiting for your name to be called – you hear other names called, why not yours? It’s important you make this flight. Weren’t you relieved when your name was called?
Remember how pleasantly surprised you were when someone remembered your name and how embarrassed you were when you couldn’t remember someone else’s name.
We don’t know what the situation was in the Christian community to which St. John wrote his gospel many years after the death and resurrection of Jesus that prompted him to use this example of shepherd and sheep. As in other Christian communities of the time there probably were tensions. Different people had different understandings of whom and what Jesus was all about. St. Paul ran into such a situation in the Christian community of Corinth. He complains about the jealousy and wrangling in the community. Paul rejected the slogans, “I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas.” His response to these slogans was, “we are all of Christ.”
Probably facing similar dissensions we have St. John showing us Jesus as the Good Shepherd, a shepherd who knows his sheep and calls them by name.
History tells us that the many shepherds brought their small herds down to Jerusalem for the festivals and these various flocks were kept together in one big sheepfold. How, you might ask, does each shepherd retrieve the sheep that belong to him since there were no brands, no markings of any kind?
The first way is that the shepherd can call each of his sheep by name. He has been with them on the hillsides night and day, leading them to good grass and safe water. They are no strangers to him. The shepherd has a name for each sheep because they each have a personality that is special to them, just like human beings. When they hear their names called they head toward the shepherd.
And second, the sheep recognize the actual voice of the shepherd; after all they hear it day after day.
Jesus would teach us from this imagery of shepherd and sheep the wonderful truth that the God of the universe calls each of us by name. In Jesus God knows each and every one of us better than we know ourselves. What God said to one of the prophets He says to each of us, “before you were conceived in the womb I knew you and called you by name.” St. Paul claims that “before the world began God chose us in Christ to be His adopted sons and daughters.” To stress this intimacy God has with us, Jesus tells us that the very hairs of our heads are numbered. God is closer to us than we are to ourselves.
So today our responsorial psalm is the famous “The Lord is my shepherd.” He journeys with us throughout our lives. Our shepherd, who calls us by name, brings us to green pastures and still waters to restore us when we are convinced we just can’t go on. Our shepherd, who calls us by name, protects us as we walk through the dark valleys of illness or bereavement, of lost or betrayed love, those dark valleys when we feel so inadequate, a failure. Our shepherd, who calls us by name, helps us overcome the setbacks and disappointments of life and gives us the grace of joy and satisfaction of knowing we have overcome, we’ve prevailed. Our shepherd, who calls us by name, will bless our joys and sorrows with goodness and mercy all our days until we come to dwell in God’s house forever.
This is vocation Sunday, a day of special prayers that young men and women will answer a call to a life of service with the church. It’s Called by Name Sunday. Remembering we are all called by name we pray that some of our young men and women will their name called to a life of service in the church.
As we continue to celebrate this Eucharist we can pray for ourselves and for each other that we grasp this wonderful truth, that every day of life each one of us is called by name by our Good Shepherd who laid down his life for us, His sheep. Every day of life He calls us by name, to his life, his love, his healing. Every day of our lives we are called by name to live our shepherd’s great commandment, “Love one another as I have loved you.”
Catholic Family Services has offices in Toronto, York, Durham, Simcoe and Peel – Dufferin to help…
Because You Give… we are able to help those in need, making their worries lighter and their futures brighter!
2007 ShareLife Total: $164,652.60 2008 ShareLife to Date: $95,515.00
Total: $9,639.80
Tuesday evening, April 22 at 7:30 PM Topic: Catholics in Nazi Germany
Wednesday morning, April 23 at 10:30 AM Topic: St. Paul – Pastor and Theologian
Fair Trade organic coffees will be on sale after all the Masses next weekend.
Regular ground coffee: $5 Decaffeinated: $6 Whole beans: $5 Chocolate Bars: $4 incl. taxes Hot Chocolate and Cocoa: $4.50 Teas: $3.25 by variety
Monday, April 14 from 7:30 to 10:00 PM St. Bonaventure’s Parish Centre, 1300 Leslie Street, Don Mills
Sandwiches, Desserts, & Refreshments Door prizes and 50/50 Draw Please bring your own deck of cards.
Tickets; $60 per table, ($15 per person) For further information, please contact Joanne Franey at 416 – 441 – 3349
The North York Retired Men’s Club will hold a meeting on Tuesday, April 22 at 2:00 PM at Blessed Trinity Parish Hall.
The guest speaker will be Katherine Minich on the topic “The Inuit of the Canadian Arctic.
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto invite young adults (ages 18 – 39) to join us for a thought-provoking social evening. Title: God in the Corporate World: How to be a Shiny penny in a Murky Well Robert Pella, a Royal LePage Sales Representative and Youth Minister, will provide opportunity for discussion. 7:00 – 9:00 PM Duke of York Pub 39 Prince Arthur Street, Toronto
Bibiana L’Abbé – conductor
Single women, ages 18 – 40, are invited to a retreat weekend, May 9 – 11 or May 30 – June 1, 2008, given by a team of Sisters of St. Joseph. For information call Sister Dorothy at 416-927-0720. Also, see the flyer on the bulletin board.
A musical comedy based on the Princess and the Pea fairytale
May 1, 2, 3 at 8:00 PM Brebeuf Theatre, 211 Steeles Avenue East, Toronto
For tickets, contact Michael DaCosta at 416-393-5508 Ext. 80017 or Michael.dacosta@tcdsb.org
Get involved and celebrate Mother’s Day in a special way. Help make the world a better place for children! 5 km Fundraising Walk in support of Paediatric Brain Tumour Research Sunday, May 11, 2008 9:00 AM – 12 Noon from Ontario Place to the Hospital for Sick Children
All proceeds to benefit the Meagan Bebenek Endowment Fund at SickKids and b.r.a.i.n.child Register, Pledge, Donate Online At www.meaganswalk.com
April 6th, 2008
The Acts of the Apostles describe the life of the early Christians in simple terms, “they devoted themselves to teachings of the Apostles and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to prayers.
The term ‘breaking of the bread’ refers to the celebration of the Eucharist – not as we do it today but in the context of a meal, a simple imitation of what Jesus did at his last meal with his friends.
I don’t think the term, ‘the breaking of the bread’ used in today’s gospel refers to the Eucharist. Look at the situation. Jesus joins these two men as they were walking home to Emmaus. They are depressed. Their dreams are shattered. Their lives have fallen apart. They could have been among the ones who left everything to follow Jesus, now they are coming home empty handed. Jesus was dead, executed. They can’t believe what happened in the past few days. They kept rehashing all those terrible events. This stranger joins on the road and asks, ‘what’s up?’ What do you mean, what’s up? Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem? Then there is this long conversation with this stranger.
When they reach their home Jesus keeps on walking. No, stay with us, its getting late, you shouldn’t be on the road after dark. We’ll put you up for the night. In this act of hospitality Jesus makes Himself known to them. In the breading of the bread, in sharing the evening meal with this stranger they are blessed to see Jesus, the risen one.
I often ask the children in school, what you have to do if you want to see Jesus? They know the answer. I look at the person next to me. We meet Jesus in and through one another. We love and serve Jesus in and through one another. “As often as you did these things to one of these, the least of these brothers or sisters on mine, you did it to me.” St. John asks the probing questions, “how can you say you love God, Whom you’ve never see when you do not love your neighbour whom you see?”
It is in welcoming the stranger, reaching out to another in need, giving a helping hand, dropping in for a visit, taking the time to be there for another person, family, friend or stranger we meet Jesus. In such ‘breaking of the bread’ we are blessed.
But with this image “the breaking of the bread” in mind we must know that we are challenged to recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread at this Eucharist. As He told us, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of you.” Christ is truly present in the tabernacle – Christ is truly present in the scriptures we’ve just heard. Christ is present on the altar and Christ is present in this gathering of you good people.
I want to share with you these powerful words I recently read as regards the words, ‘the breaking of the bread’.
Jesus is buried three times in His life. The first was in the womb of His mother. The second was in the tomb after His death. The third is His being buried in the “Breaking of the Bread” after His Resurrection. All three burials were meant for His coming to His three ways of being a “Real Presence” within our human lives. The “womb”, the “Tomb”, and our “bodies” are blest by His presence. All three are delivery places. He was born, lived, died, was buried and rose that His body might give life and vision to this world. The womb and tomb could not hold Him. We, who do hold Him, do not hold Him back, but hold Him forth, hold Him sacredly toward His sisters and brothers. We hold Him and yet He too holds us together and with a sense of having to do something good. We hold Him so that others may behold Him in how we live as His Body. Our challenge at every Eucharist is to recognize Jesus in this breaking of the bread.”
As we recognize Jesus in this breaking of the bread, this Eucharist may we be blessed to recognize Him too in every person we meet in the different circumstances of our lives. We do the best when we live this Mass outside these walls, in the lives we live, the service we give, the work we do and the prayers we pray, outside these walls.
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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