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.
| Posted in Homily |
You probably have noticed the stained glass window of the Resurrection. This will be in place during the Easter Season until the feast of the Ascension in May. Last Monday, was the feast of the Annunciation so we will have that window in place for the week.
Congratulations to Alexander Seredenko, our pianist for the Children’s Choir at the 12:30 PM Mass. Alex, a student at the Glenn Gould School, won first prize at a prestigious piano competition held by the International Piano Academy in Japan, competing against 29 other pianists from Japan, Korea, China, France, Poland, Ukraine and the United States.
Alex is the first Canadian to win top honours at the competition.
“This is a great achievement and a tremendous confidence boost for Alex,” said James Anagnoson, Dean of the Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School.
Vita Centre was founded in 1994 to provide pregnant women and their children with opportunities to enhance their well-being, build their families and live to their fullest potential. Vita Manor offers community and residential support programs, education and advocacy. They provide a safe, supportive home while new mothers are bonding with their newborn babies. They also assist new families to find suitable homes for themselves in the community. Some of the programs offered are parenting skills, life skills and relationship building skills.
Next Sunday is ShareLife’s second offering. Please give generously!
2007 ShareLife Total: $164,652.60 2008 ShareLife to Date: $ 86,835.00
Thank you to the volunteers who prepared 78 casseroles for the Good Shepherd Centre for March. This month, your prepared casseroles (frozen please) will be collected at all the Masses on the weekend of April 26/27 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
Total: $11,480.65
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Tuesday evening, April 8 at 7:30 PM Topic: Catholics in Nazi Germany
Wednesday morning, April 9 at 10:30 AM Topic: St. Paul – Pastor and Theologian
The 2008 Ching Ming Remembrance Mass will be held in the Holy Family Mausoleum at Holy Cross Cemetery in Thornhill on April 5, 2008 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 in the foyer.
The North York Retired Men’s Club will hold a meeting on Tuesday, April 8 at 2:00 PM at Blessed Trinity Parish Hall. Our guest speaker will be Mel Shipman on the topic “The Israeli – Palestinian Peace Process”
The next meeting will be held 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.
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
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.
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
| Posted in Bulletin |
April 1st, 2008
Seventy people, young and old, attended the celebration of Earth Hour on Saturday night at St. Gabriel’s. The hour consisted of reading and song and quiet time as we reflected on beauty of creation and the damage we humans are inflicting on planet Earth.
| Posted in Events |
March 30th, 2008
We are all familiar with this resurrection story of the doubting Thomas who refused to believe Jesus was alive until he could put his finger into the wounds in Jesus’ hands and put his hand into the wound on Jesus’ side. This gospel ends praising people like us who have not seen with our eyes nor touched with our hands but still believe – Jesus is raised, Jesus lives.
This is another lesson this gospel teaches. We hear that the doors to the room where the disciples were, were locked for fear of the authorities. This is probably true. But those doors may have been locked because the disciples were ashamed to appear in public. They were mortified by the way they deserted and denied Jesus in His time of trial. How could they look family and friends in the face?
But Jesus passed through their door of humiliation and shame and stood before them. He showed them the wounds by which we are all healed. Instead of tearing a strip off them for their cowardly behavior Jesus spoke only words of peace and forgiveness. Peace be with you – He showed them the wounds in His hands and side, the price of this peace. Jesus would not be burdened by resentment or bitterness toward these men. He wanted to move on. He had wanted them to carry on His work of proclaiming the kingdom. “As the Father sent me, so I send you.” I send you to be messengers of peace.
St. Paul tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself and calls us to be reconciled to God. But we are reconciled to God only when we are reconciled to one another. Remember the words of Jesus about a person who had a gift to offer at the altar and then remembered he had a grievance against another person? Jesus taught us to leave the gift where it is and go and make peace and then come back to offer our gift.
Could it be that this powerful resurrection story is asking us whether or not we have locked ourselves behind doors of resentment and bitterness? Have we isolated ourselves behind doors of painful, hurtful memories of which we won’t let go? Have we locked ourselves into a dark room full of grudges? If we have then we are the losers.
Remember the story of the pathologist Dr. Charles Smith who destroyed people’s lives with his wrong testimony? One such a person spent years in jail because of this doctor’s mistake. Getting out of jail he forgave the doctor for the wrong done to him. But Jim Coyle had a beautiful reflection in the Star about this. This man forgave the doctor not for the doctor’s sake but for his own sake. He made up his mind not to spend the rest of his life brooding on the injustice done him. Coyle wrote that the word ‘resentment’ comes from a Latin word that means to ‘re-think’, really to brood, relive a hurt over and over again. Coyle claims the only one resentment hurts is the person who resents, the person who rehashes the hurt, the wrong. The person who wallows in that rethinking.
Christ has every reason to resent the way His friends treated Him on Good Friday, every reason to resent their betrayal, denial and desertion. He passed through that door. He would not let it keep Him locked in lifeless darkness. He passed through the door of embarrassment and shame behind which His friends hid and called them out of that dark room to the light and love of His peace and mission, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” What reconciliation, what restoration, what peace!
With this facet of our beautiful resurrection story before us can we have the courage to look at our own lives, our own relationships and ask ourselves whether or not we locked ourselves behind doors of brooding and resentment over past hurts and broken relationships and unfulfilled dreams? Do we need to look into the wounds of the risen Christ, wounds that healed us and find in them the example and the strength we need to let go of our resentment, our brooding – and forgive those who trespassed against us – if not for their sake, then for our own, if not for their peace then for our peace. If we can do this then we too can be embraced by the peace the Risen Christ brings to us through His Passion, Death and Resurrection.
Thank you to one and all who made our Holy Week and Easter such a beautiful and uplifting time; those in the Music Ministry, our Lectors and Altar Servers, our Ministers of the Eucharist, our Ministers of Hospitality, those responsible for decorating the Church and the members of the Pastoral Team. To you, the good people of the Parish, your attendance and participation in the ceremonies helped to make this a truly Holy Week and Easter. Fr. Paul
The parish of St. Gabriel’s welcomes into our family the following people who were received into the church at our Easter Vigil with the celebration of Baptism, Communion and Confirmation.
Mark Anthony, Estelle Bene, Winnie Lee, Ronald Monk, Anastasia Nicolor, Patricia Ning, Chad Smith, Sylvia Rhee, Kewen Zhu
On Wednesday April 2 at 7:30 PM., Rabbi David Seed from the congregation Adath Israel and Father Paul will be moderators for the second part of a presentation on Jewish/Christian relations. The discussion deals with mending relationships and mending the world.
April 2, 7:30 PM at St Gabriel’s Church 670 Sheppard Avenue East
This program is sponsored by the National Council of Synagogues and U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Please make every effort to attend this very interesting evening.
Friday, April 4 from 9:30 AM – 12 Noon Please see the time schedule on the table inside the Church.
Saturday, April 5 at 3:15 PM in the Library For information, please contact Linda Law at 416 -918-8029.
Sunday, April 6 at 3:30 PM in the Gabriel Room For information, please contact Linda Law at 416-918-8029.
Sunday, April 6 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. This guided reflection brings an ecological perspective to the readings.
Sunday, April 6 at the 12:30 PM Mass
Total: $19,582.26
Four Winds Boys’ camp, previously known as Columbus Boys’ camp, has been operating since 1929. The overwhelming majority of boys registered are from single parent families (72.1%). In 2007, 392 boys registered for camp and 369 boys attended. It is anticipated that in 2008, with increased publicity, 450 boys will attend four Winds Boys’ Camp. Some of the organizations and agencies that provide the referrals are: Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Knights of Columbus, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Children’s Aid Society and the School Boards.
A gift to ShareLife is a sign of our Stewardship, giving back to God in thanksgiving for all that we have received
ShareLife 2008 To Date: $54,070
With the snow we’ve been having, we are all, especially golphers, wondering when will there be spring. I pass these words of wisdom along:
They say golf is like life. Don’t believe them. Golf is more complicated than that.
If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t even putt!
Bishop Fulton Sheen said “Man blames fate for all other accidents but feels personally responsible when he makes a hole in one.”
Billy Graham said “The only time my prayers are not answered is when I’m playing golf.”
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