June 17th, 2007
Today’s readings deal with people who made a mess of their lives, received mercy and love from God and their personal response to that mercy and love. King David misused his powers as king, committed adultery, and had the husband of the woman he slept with murdered on the battle field. Faced with his crime and sin, David admitted his crime-filled sin and said “I have sinned against the Lord,” only to told, ‘the Lord has put away your sin.’ David writes his beautiful psalm “have mercy on me O God, have mercy on me – against you alone have I sinned what is evil in your sight I have done – create in me a clean heart, put an upright spirit within me.” By God’s grace David turned his life around.
We all know Paul’s history. He had a deep hatred for those who followed Christ. He wanted to put them in prison. Then Paul had his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and his life was turned around. From that graced moment Paul would say of himself, “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.” For the rest of his life Paul endured shipwrecks, flogging, stoning, prison and death to share with everyone the merciful love he personally experienced in his encounter with Jesus.
We have the gospel story of the Pharisee inviting Jesus into his home. He felt he was doing such a favor to Jesus that he never bothered to show him the common courtesies of the time, such as the kiss of peace and washing his dusty feet. Then we have this woman with not too good of a reputation brazenly coming into the house and doing for Jesus what the host neglected to do – washing his feet and kissing him. Simon is shocked that Jesus would let this woman touch him. Jesus tells Simon a short story to prove a point. Two debtors are both forgiven their debt. The one who owed the most is the most grateful to his creditor. The host Simon really saw himself in no need for Jesus’ forgiveness; in fact, he acts as if he’s doing Jesus a favor by inviting Him into his home. Simon had no concept of what was going on in the heart of this woman so Jesus lets him in on the secret; it’s not that the woman loved Jesus and therefore He forgave her sins. It’s just the opposite: He forgave her sins and so she loved Him – overwhelmed by the graciousness of Jesus she loved him with all her heart. As Jesus tries to explain to Simon, “Her many sins have been forgiven her that is the reason she shows me such love that is the reason her love is so great. Jesus tells Simon, ‘If she had been forgiven only a little, her love would be small, as your love is small.’
Have you ever had the experience of hurting a family member or a friend with a hurt so great that it causes a deep rift in your relationship? You know you’ve done wrong, you feel shamed at what you’ve done, but you get the courage to go to that person and ask for a forgiveness you feel you don’t deserve. Your friend embraces you and tells you “everything is ok, let’s put it behind us and get on with living.” You’re stunned by such generosity, such acceptance, such love and you grow in a deeper appreciation of that friend and what he or she means to you. Like the woman in the gospel, because you have been forgiven so much, you love so much more in return.
The same thing can happen in the sacrament of reconciliation when you have the courage to un-burden yourself to a priest and externalize the sin that burdens you, and hear the wonderful words of absolution, “I absolve you of your sins”. Sensing that forgiveness gives you a determination to try harder to be the kind of person you want to be and Christ calls you to be.
The same can be said about our sense of gratitude. There’s been a lot in the papers about students’ sense of ‘entitlement’; ‘I have a right to a passing mark even though I wrote a crummy exam.’ Maybe we all think we are entitled to God’s love and thinking so, we are weak on any sense of gratitude to God for the countless gifts with which our lives are blessed. We’ve forgotten the words of John, “this is the wonder, not that we love God, but that God first loved us and sent His Son to take away our sins.” I think that it is only when we take the time to really think about the boundless love of God we celebrate in this Eucharist – Christ Jesus handing over His very life for us on the cross – this is my body, this is my blood, this is my life given in love for you – that we can come to that attitude of gratitude I’ve spoken of so often.
The message of today’s scripture is that because we’ve been forgiven so much, because God has blessed our lives so much, our response should be that of the woman in the gospel – this is reason enough to thank and love Christ in return. As we continue to celebrate this Mass, we can pray for ourselves and for each other that we be blessed with the insight to know how much we are loved by God, forgiven by God, and, in response to such goodness, try to live more faithful and loving lives.
| Posted in Homily |
Tickets for Fr. Paul’s Birthday celebration on October 27th will continue to be available until June 30th at St. Gabriel’s Parish Office, or by contacting Betty Ivory at 416-223-5367 or ivoryfamily@rogers.com. The ticket price of $125 per person includes hors d’oeuvres, a three-course dinner with wine, and a contribution to a special gift for Father Paul.
SUNDAY JUNE 24TH AFTER THE 12:30 PM MASS Mark your calendar for this special day with family and friends. Please bring your lawn chairs. WE DO NEED VOLUNTEERS. If you are able to donate some of your time to help organize this great event, then contact Linda Law at 416-981-8029 after 6:00 PM. There are also sign-up sheets on the tables at the back of the Church.
Total: $8,642
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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 more information call Mary Landry at 416-221-8866 ext 224.
If you are a couple who would be interested in assisting us to deliver this course three weekends a year, then contact the Parish Office at 416-221-8866.
The Altar Service is now recruiting new members. 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 13, 2007 from 2:30 PM to 4:15 PM.
June 16th & June 17th The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is collecting gently used clothing and household linens for those in need this weekend. A St. Vincent de Paul truck will be parked on the upper parking lot near the garden. Volunteers will assist with loading before and after each of the Masses on Saturday and Sunday.
2006 SHARELIFE TOTAL: $163,159.52 2007 TO DATE: $149,942.10
Your prepared chicken rice casseroles (frozen please) will be collected at the Masses next weekend for delivery to the Good Shepherd Centre. More volunteers are encouraged to get a copy of the casserole recipe and a pan and give it a try. During the summer, casseroles will be collected on the weekends of July 28/29 and August 25/26. For more information, please contact Irene Albrecht at 416-221-2791.
a charitable multi-service agency providing services to the homeless and disadvantaged individuals, needs your help. We are in urgent need of the following items:
For more information contact Leanne Tanaka at 416-869-3619 ext.262
Can you imagine yourself as a missioner? Perhaps you can!!! If you do, it may be as a Scarboro Missioner, please join us for our Information Day on Saturday, July 14th at Scarboro Missions, 2685 Kingston Rd., Scarborough. We welcome those who feel they may be called by God to be a priest or lay missioner. We invite you to walk with us… it may change your life forever! To register please contact us at 416-261-7135 or lmo@scarboromissions.ca
We are currently organizing an evening for mixed couples, ladies evening and ladies afternoon bridge. If you wish to join one or more of these groups and make new friends then call Maureen Cullen before the end of July at 416-222-8755.
| Posted in Bulletin |
June 10th, 2007
Back in 1953 I was stationed in West Hartford. My classmates and I were in our second year of Philosophy. Our professor was a priest named Xavier Welsh. To say he was a character would be an understatement. One day he asked one of his ‘surprise questions’ “does anyone know the name of the philosopher who said, we are what we eat”? Just by chance I’d just read an article in which that philosopher was quoted. His name was Schopenhauer. So I just spoke out his name. There was dead silence. Everyone was in shock, especially Fr. Xavier. He did not consider me his brightest student. My moment in the sun lasted until sundown.
But we are what we eat. If we eat good and healthy food we tend to be in shape and healthy. If we have poor eating habits we pay for them in the long run with all kinds of health problems.
Today we celebrate the wonderful feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. Jesus shocked the people of Capernaum when He told them, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you cannot have life in you. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him – whoever eats me will draw life from me.” The shocked response of the people was, “this is intolerable language, how could anyone accept it and many of his disciples left him and stopped going with him.”
And this is intolerable language. Whoever heard of eating someone’s flesh and drinking someone’s blood? As the children preparing for First Communion said, “That’s gross.”
But the words and the gift of Jesus are true, “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you cannot have life in you. But whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in them.” When you come to a minister of the Eucharist and hold out your empty hand, a symbol of our neediness, bread is more than bread, it is the Body of Christ. Not a symbol, not a memory, but a reality, we receive the body of Christ. The same Christ who promised us, those who eat My flesh and drink My blood will live in Me and I will live in them.
“We are what we eat” has special meaning in this context. We don’t come to Communion because we are good or holy; we come to Communion because we are hungry, hungry to be more Christ-like. Christ becomes our bread of life so that we can become food for others.
When Christ began His public life He said, “the Spirit of the Lord has been given to me – he has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free and to proclaim the Lord’s year of favor.” In a way this is our task as well, to continue the work of Christ in our present time and world.
We are what we eat. Nourished by the Body of Christ we can be strengthened by Christ in our ability to love, to be there for others, find the time to make that visit or phone call, write a note. Nourished by the Body of Christ we are given the generosity to put aside our own concerns and be there for others, we are given the patience to listen to other people’s hurts and worries, to bear their burdens. Nourished by the body of Christ who was close to the poor and marginalize people of His day, we are made more sensitive to the issues of poverty and homelessness in our own city and the needs of the working poor who subsist on an inadequate minimum wage. Nourished by the body of Christ who gave sight to the blind, we can come to new sight and insight into the beauty of God’s good creation and the woundedness of planet Earth. Nourished by the body of Christ Who reconciled us to God by His passion, death and resurrection, we can find the willingness to forgive as we have been forgiven. Nourished by the body of Christ we are given Christ’s bigness of heart that helps us to accept and respect people of different faiths and cultures.
As we continue to celebrate this awesome feast we can pray for ourselves and for each that when we come to receive the Body of Christ at this Mass we be blessed to realize: we are what we eat – we are other Christ’s who, nourished by the Bread of life are bread to each other, sources of life, love and healing to all those whose lives we touch.
Tickets will be on sale after all the Masses this weekend. The ticket price of $125 per person includes hors d’oeuvres, a catered dinner with wine, all taxes and gratuities, and a contribution to a special birthday gift for Father Paul. Don’t forget to buy your ticket and mark your calendar for Saturday, October 27, 2007 at 6:00 PM at the All Saints Church Centre, 3215 Bayview Avenue (Bayview south of Finch).
This year our picnic is planned for Sunday June 24th after the 12:30 Mass. Mark your calendar for this special day with family and friends. We will need volunteers. If you are able to donate some of your time to help organize this great event, then contact Linda Law at 416-981-8029 after 6PM. There will be sign-up sheets will be on the tables at the back of the Church.
Total: $9,415
If you are a couple who would be interested in assisting us to deliver this course three weekends a year, then contact the parish office at 416-221-8866.
The Altar Service is now recruiting new members. If you are in Grade 5 or higher and are interested in becoming an altar server, then leave your name and phone number with the Parish Office at 416-221-8866. The orientation and training for the new members will be held on Saturday, October 13, 2007 from 2:30 PM to 4:15 PM.
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is collecting gently used clothing and household linens for those in need, on the weekend of June 16th and 17th. A St. Vincent de Paul truck will be parked on the upper parking lot near the garden. Volunteers will assist with loading before and after each of the Masses on Saturday and Sunday.
I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR VERY GENEROUS SUPPORT OF THIS YEAR’S SHARELIFE. FR. PAUL
2006 SHARELIFE TOTAL: $163,159.52 2007 TO DATE: $147,642.10
Come join a spirit-filled group visiting three shrines in Quebec: St. Joseph’s Oratory, Cap de La Madeleine and St. Anne de Beaupre. There will be an option to visit the Ile of Orleans and an organic farm/winery (domaine Steinbach); share with your friends and family. The bus will be leaving Blessed Trinity Church on Thursday, June 28th and returning on Sunday, July 1st, 2007. Three night’s accommodation, bus fare and all taxes – 3 persons per room – $265; 2 persons per room – $280. There is a $50 non-refundable deposit. Time is short, so book your seat soon. For more information call Mary at 416-497-7059 and leave a message.
The new cosmology sees God as intimately revealed in the diversity of creation, yet infinitely more than the whole of creation. Humans are recognized as an integral part of the Earth, and not superior to it. The new cosmology and the old cosmology agree that the most important thing for humans is our relationship to God.
June 3rd, 2007
Today we celebrate the feast and mystery of the Holy Trinity. As I’ve said before, a mystery is not something of which we can know nothing; a mystery is something of which we cannot know everything. We are given a glimpse into the mystery of God through the teachings of Jesus. Through the scriptures we’ve come to know that the inner life of God is a life of relationships.
In John’s first letter to the church he teaches us what is the most important thing we should know about God. God is love and whoever abides, lives and acts in love, abides, lives in God and God lives, and is seen in such a person.
John also writes,” Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is love. God’s love for us was revealed when God sent His Son into the world so that we could have life through Him. This is the love I mean, not our love for God but God’s love for us when God sent His Son to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away. My dear people, since God has loved us so much we too should love one another.”
Remember the conversation Jesus has with his friends the night before He was to die? He told His disciples, “By this will all know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for the other.”
The love Jesus and John are talking about is a self giving love, God so loved the world God gave what was most precious to Himself, He gave His Son to the world and the Son so loved us, He gave us what was most precious to Himself, His very life. As St. Paul tells us, “what proves God loves us is that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”
A theologian described the mystery of the Trinity, the mystery of God in these terms – “the lover, the beloved and the love between.”
The mystery of the Trinity is not some kind of brainy speculation by scholars. It is the way we experience and mirror God in our world. The way we live our lives as Christians is the Trinity in action.
When we think of God the Father we think of creator of heaven and earth, the life giver. So in our lives when, through encouraging words and actions we help others grow in any way, when, through our presence, we help a person through a crisis or some rough spot in their live, when we recognize and encourage a young person’s abilities and talents, when we rise above a temptation to racism or bigotry and try to respect men and women of other faiths, cultures, life styles, when we do what we can to heal our wounded earth, and especially in all your efforts at parenting and guiding your sons and daughters – in all these things we share in the life giving action of God the Father, creator, Who loving created and sustains all things.
Whenever and however we try to heal broken relationships, when we seek reconciliation or offer forgiveness to others, when we try to make things right between ourselves and others we are sharing in the redeeming work of Jesus, the Son of God Who lovingly sacrificed His life for us and reconciled us to God, making peace by His blood on the cross.
When in the living of our lives we are inspired and fired by positive ideas, when we have the courage to follow a new, fresh, creative insight into how to better our lives or the lives of others, when we are open enough to appreciate the goodness of other people, when we are moved by the beauty of creation to praise and thank God we are sharing in the life giving and life enriching work of the Holy Spirit.
As we continue to celebrate this Mass and this feast we can pray for ourselves and for each other that, as always, in the ordinary living of our ordinary lives each of us will experience and mirror the loving and life giving activity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. May every aspect of our lives as Christians really be the Trinity in action.
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
