September 16th, 2007
We’ve heard this parable of the prodigal son so many times we could hear it in our sleep. We see the willingness of the father to let this mixed up son find his own way in life, we see him running out to meet him as he returns home, broke and hungry, we imagine the great party the father threw for him and we sympathize with the elder brother’s resentment at the reception his spoiled brother received.
One of the lessons parents can learn from this powerful parable is the truth that parents can give their children roots and wings. Often the wings carry them far from their roots but we have to trust the truth that roots are stronger than wings.
Reading Paul’s letter to Timothy we can imagine that Paul saw himself as a prodigal son – even though he probably never heard the parable. He saw himself as a blasphemer, a persecutor and as a man of violence. In his own enthusiasm for his Jewish faith he persecuted the followers of Jesus. In all sincerity his saw these followers as traitors to the ancient faith. He was determined to stamp out this heresy.
But like the prodigal son there was that moment of grace when Paul came to his senses, when he was graced to know that what he was doing was so wrong. As Paul says, “I received mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief” As the son in the parable came home to his father so aware of the wrong he had done, the hurt he had caused, so Paul opened his heart and his life to Christ and the grace of Christ overflowed for him with faith and love.
The message of this short piece from Paul’s letter to Timothy is the same as that of the parable – for this reason Paul – as did the prodigal son – received mercy, so that in Paul and in the prodigal son, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making them an example to those who would come after them.
Paul knew that that moment of grace that changed his life on the road to Damascus was totally God’s work, just as that moment of grace on the pig farm when that broke and hungry and homesick young man came to his senses was totally God’s work. Paul knew that all that had happened in his life, except for the sinning, was God’s work. As Paul told others, “God strengthened me, God trusted me, God appointed me, God had mercy on me and God graced me.”
Paul acted out of conviction, the young man in the parable acted out a deep need to find his own way in life. They both ended up making wrong choices; they both were graced, to change their lives.
I was reading a reflection on the words of Jesus on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” The writer suggests that these words apply to all of us when we make wrong choices in our lives, when we fall short of being who we are called to be by Christ. We know not what we do because we have never come to grips with the love shown us by the crucified Christ. As Paul tells us, “it is difficult to die even for a good person, but what proves that God loves us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Because we’ve never really been able to get our heads around such awesome, unconditional and undeserved love, we really don’t know what we’re doing, we really don’t appreciate the love we are rejecting and betraying when we sin. We are good people but there are times when we do make awful choices in our lives, that is why we constantly ask for God’s forgiveness. We never give up hope because we trust in a forgiveness that stretches to seventy times seven.
As we continue to celebrate this Mass, having heard these powerful words of scripture, we can pray for ourselves and for each other that if and when we fail to respond to that tsunami of God’s love toward us, proven in the passion and death of the crucified Christ, that we be graced as were Paul and the prodigal son to come to our senses – admit to ourselves we have sinned and then return home to the love and the embrace of the Father Who so loved us He sent His Son to the world to bring us everlasting life.
| Posted in Homily |
Our parish party for Father Paul’s 75th birthday will be held on Sunday, September 23rd at 2:00 PM in the Gathering Space. Please join us for the celebration! All are welcome.
Total: $10,553
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Meetings will begin on Monday, SEPTEMBER 17, 2007 at 7:30 PM. THESE EVENINGS ARE FOR PERSONS INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT THE CATHOLIC FAITH. Because the Parish Community itself is considered the official teacher and guide for potential new members, it is important that some parishioners participate by being present and by sharing their Faith in various ways. Adult Catholics who wish to celebrate the Sacraments of Eucharist and Confirmation are welcome. For information call Mary Landry at 416-221-8866 ext 224.
One group meets every second Tuesday evening. The other group meets every second Wednesday morning. Each group decides what the topics will be. Both classes are held in the Library. The first Wednesday meeting is on September 26th at 10:30AM. The first Tuesday meeting is on October 2nd at 7:30PM.
We are in need of more ladies to help wash & iron the altar linens. This is a very worthwhile spiritual work of mercy and an honour to prepare the linens for Holy Mass. If you can spare one turn a month or every six weeks to help in this ministry please call Marie at 416-221-8866.
This liturgy, which is for children 4 – 10 years old, will begin on Sunday, September 23 at the 10:30AM Mass. We are in need of volunteers to help us interpret the readings through discussion and activities. If you are interested then call Tim Lychy at 416-953-0555 or email: tim@dibrinasure.com
A provincial election will be held in Ontario on Wednesday, October 10, 2007. All those who are eligible to vote are encouraged to exercise their democratic right to do so. In the coming days, Catholics are asked to take an active role in learning more about the candidates seeking election in their riding, the views of political parties, and how they will impact our community. A number of resources have been prepared to help Catholics reflect on the important role we play in choosing those who will lead our province. You may access these resources by visiting the Archdiocese of Toronto website at: www.archtoronto.org
The ShareLife office will be accepting donations to support humanitarian relief efforts, assisting those displaced by the recent floods. It is estimated that more than 20 million people are homeless in the wake of these floods. As in the past, funds will be channeled through Caritas International partners. Caritas teams are currently providing emergency supplies including food, clean water and clothing in several countries. Those wishing to help may do so in the following ways;
General meeting on Tuesday, September 18th beginning with Mass at 1:15PM, followed by the guest speaker, Sister Anne Schenck, csj, the founder of the Furniture Bank. All ladies are welcome.
The choirs, made up of 120 students from Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts present: “FOR THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH”, which is a contemporary celebration of God’s creation, with the sounds of wolf, whale and loon. Music is by Paul Winter, Paul Halley, and John Rutter. This is a great opportunity to support the young people at Cardinal Carter School. Admission is $10.00
| Posted in Bulletin |
September 9th, 2007
Just a few words on our first reading. Solomon had just been chosen by God to be the king of Israel. He was terrified. He hadn’t a clue what to do. How could he cope with such a task? When God asked Solomon what he wanted by way of assistance Solomon had the brains to ask for wisdom and knowledge to act as a good leader of the people. He knows his frailty and absolute dependence on God and admits he needs help to “govern a people so great as yours.” Solomon ponders God’s way and the problems we humans have in figuring out the mysteries of our lives. He wonders if he’ll ever know what is right in God’s plan for Israel. Eventually Solomon rests from his worries by accepting the gift of wisdom which will help him know what the right thing to do is.
Wisdom is the first gift of the Holy Spirit; it’s a gift that helps us judge all things as God sees them. It’s a gift that helps us keep things in perspective, it’s a gift that helps us realize we are not alone, that the Holy Spirit will help us, strengthen us to live as God would have us live and love as God would have us love. It’s a gift that grows when we take the time to reflect on the experiences of our lives and learn from these experiences. It is a gift that enables mere mortals to search out the things of heaven and comprehend the counsel of God and teaches us what is pleasing to God. It is a gift that grows through life. Father Connell had this saying, “the years have their wisdom the days know nothing of.” We are wise when we seek the advice of elders, those who have been through it.
We need wisdom in choosing our life’s partner, we need wisdom in the raising of children, we need wisdom in deciding our choice of career, and we need wisdom to face the trials of life that can totally confuse us. We need wisdom to understand today’s harsh gospel.
The one who spoke so much about love now tells us we must hate those closest to us, mother, father, brother, sister, even our own lives. What Jesus is telling us is that if we really want to be one of His disciples, His friends, we will have to make choices. He must be number one and no matter how much other people may mean to us they cannot replace His place in our lives. And this is where we need the gift of wisdom, to judge all things in our lives as Christ judges them. To keep all things in perspective Christ must be first. As St. Paul tells of his own relationship with Christ he says, “For me to live, is Christ.” There may be times in our lives when choices have to be made, when a cross must be carried and God’s gift of wisdom assures us that with the help and presence of God, with the gift of God’s wisdom we know what to do and how to do it.
I love those words of Paul that tell of his identification with Christ, an identification that came to him through God’s gift of wisdom, “I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me and the life I live I live trusting in the Son of God Who loved me and gave His life for me.” No matter what crisis Paul faced, persecution, rejection, betrayal, he never wavered because he was wise enough to know Christ loved him and died for him, just as Christ loved and died for each of us. This is a wisdom that helps us see that no matter how desperate things may be in our lives we are loved and sustained by a love that knows no bounds. This is a love far greater than the love of mother, father, brother, sister, a love that demands it be the first love of our lives.
As we continue to celebrate this Mass maybe we can make our own the prayer that has had such a great impact on the lives of so many people, “Lord grant me the patience to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Total: $8,220.00
Meetings will begin on Monday, SEPTEMBER 17, 2007 at 7:30 PM. THESE EVENINGS ARE FOR PERSONS INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT THE CATHOLIC FAITH. Because the Parish Community itself is considered the official teacher and guide for potential new members, it is important that some parishioners participate by being present and by sharing their Faith in various ways. Adult Catholics who wish to celebrate the Sacraments of Eucharist and Confirmation are welcome. For more information call Mary Landry at 416-221-8866 ext 224.
If you are in Grade 5 or higher and are interested in becoming an altar server you may contact Thomas Li at 416-756-4995. The orientation and training for the new members will be held on Saturday, October 13th from 2:30 PM to 4:15 PM.
Thank you to all those who participated in the mini-survey in June. A total of 101 parishioners responded. From the results, it seems that the three types of activities most respondents would like to see more of are:
For talks and seminars, the topic most favoured is
“Environmental issues” is another topic that is popular (36%).
When planning for this year’s activities, the parish team will take into consideration what you have indicated. Please come out and support the activities! Thank you also for the additional comments that you made on the questionnaire. They will be carefully considered, and whenever possible, implemented. Fatima Lee
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 to $4 by variety
KAYLA NEDIVA DE GUZMAN ASHLEY AMY TAI NATASHA NOIBE DAVIS MARIA CHRISTINE FRENCH ELIO BOANERGES MENJIVAR-CAMPOS GISELLE VERONICA MENJIVAR-CAMPOS LIAM DOUGLAS BAHEN JUSTIN ALEX DUCASSE-JACKSON STACEY-ANN DUCASSE MADELINE MARY ROSE MAHEUX LILITH YUNA RHEE DIANA VICTORIA GRANT JOSE CORADINHO ANTONIO ETHAN ALEXANDER CAIRNS SARA LI FOROUZANFAR
September 2nd, 2007
One of the words that stand out in our first reading from the book of Sirach is the word ‘humility’. “Perform your tasks with humility…. the greater you are the more you must humble yourself … to the humble the Lord reveals his secrets.” In the gospel we have the words of Jesus, “all who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
We are taught that humility is a virtue, an important virtue. Often our understanding of humility is twisted. In my experience in religious life I’ve often seen good people humiliated in the name of humility. I had one director who kept trying to make me ‘humble’ saying to me, “I was testing you and you failed miserably.” I really couldn’t buy into his version of humility.
In a way we’ve been conditioned into thinking being humble is putting ourselves down, belittling ourselves, lest we appear to be proud. I read a beautiful definition of humility. “Humility is gratitude which allows us to stay at home in our own shoes.” Humility is gratitude, we recognize and are grateful for the gifts with which we’ve been blessed – and we are happy with these gifts and don’t try to be someone or something we are not – we are happy to stay at home in our own shoes, we have no need to wander. As the song sang, “I am who I am so don’t try to change me, I am who I am, so don’t rearrange me, let me be me.” The Blessed Mother was totally humble when she said, “He Who is mighty has done great things to me, hence forth all generations will call me blessed.”
Let’s imagine the scene in the gospel. We hear that the Pharisees and the lawyers were watching closely to see if they could catch him in violation of Sabbath laws. Jesus was watching them too. He watched as they jockeyed for the best seats, those closest to the host. They were not the kind of people who could stay at home in their own shoes. So Jesus tells them this parable about those who seek the best of seats and then are told to give place to someone more important than themselves and disgraced, they go to a lower place. The opposite is the case for those who are not pushy, not convinced of their own importance and just sit where ever a place is available – they are invited to a place of honor.
Would it be true to say that we, the human species, the human family could take a lesson from today’s gospel? God’s great creation has been evolving for some 15 billion years. Primitive life forms began billions of years ago. We still are not sure as to when the human species began to develop on earth, maybe 400,000 years ago. The truth of the matter is we humans are late comers to the community of life on planet earth. Over the countless centuries we’ve moved from hunters and gatherers, from cave to tents, from nomads to settlers, from villages to towns to cities, we’ve developed our skills in farming and husbandry, in learning and science. In the last 100 years we’ve gone from stage coach to space rockets. As a species we really are on a roll.
In this whole process we have insisted on places of honor at the banquet of life to which God has invited all creation. We imagine ourselves to be over and above all other life forms, they are for our use and for our abuse. We’ve lost any sense of connectedness with them, any sense of dependency on them. We’ve exploited and depleted other life forms so much so that some of them are now extinct and as someone has said, “extinct means gone forever.”
The human family needs humility. The very facts of life are showing us that in time, Earth itself could ask us to leave the head table where we intruded ourselves and in shame and disgrace take a lower place. Earth itself will say, “enough is enough, I have no more to give.”
As a human family, one member of the family of life that inhabits Earth we have to rediscover our place within the family. We need the humility, that gratitude which allows us to “stay at home in our own shoes.” We need that humility that helps us realize “we did not weave the web of life; we are a strand in the web and what we do to the web we do to ourselves.” I have no idea how we’ll do this but it can begin with humility, it can begin with an attitude of gratitude for what we are to God and Who God is for us and an awareness of our place within the web of life that vitalizes Earth.
There is a beautiful Celtic prayer that prays; there is no plant in the ground but is full of His virtue – there is no form on the strand but is full of His blessing – there is no life in the sea – there is no creature in the river – there is not in the firmament but proclaims His goodness – there is no bird on the wing, there is no star in the sky – there is nothing beneath the sun but proclaims God’s goodness. In other words all life forms but the human have the gratitude to “stay at home in its own shoes.”
We can continue to celebrate this Mass praying for ourselves and for each other that, as individuals and as the human family, we be blessed with the gift of humility – that gratitude which allows us to “stay at home in our own shoes,” and come to live in peace with all those life forms that make up the web of life that vitalizes planet Earth.
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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