April 1st, 2007
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Total: $10,063
Wednesday, April 11th 7:30 – 9:00 PM This meeting is for the parents of children receiving Communion for the first time. (Gabriel Room)
Wednesday, April 11th 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM in St. Gabriel’s School Gym All candidates please attend.
Wednesday, April 18th 7:30 – 9:00 PM This meeting is for the parents of children receiving Confirmation. (Gabriel Room)
Tuesday, April 24th 7:30 PM at St. Gabriel’s Church
Vivian Ng has been the Program Coordinator of our Children’s Faith Program for the past 7 years. She has done an outstanding job and on behalf of the students and parents of our Children’s Faith Program, I want to thank her. Vivian is retiring at the end of this school year. We are in need of a replacement. Our Children’s Faith Program consists of about 20 classes, held at St. Gabriel’s School during the school year. The classes run from 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM every other Sunday morning. We are hoping that some of the parents whose children benefit from this program will come forward to co-ordinate the program. If you are interested in helping, please call the parish office and we will send you a job description of what is involved. Please give this appeal serious consideration, especially if your child is in the Children’s Faith Program. Fr. Paul
A huge thank you to Marianne Zin-Orlowski, Suzanne Kilgore, Joseph Orlowski and Alex Seredenko for the marvelous concert on March 4th. It was a splendid program that was well attended and received.
Thank you to the volunteers who prepared 55 casseroles for the Centre in March. For April, your prepared casseroles (frozen please) will be collected at the Masses on the weekend of April 28/29 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, contact Irene Albrecht at 416-221-2791.
April 10th 7:30 – 9:00PM Library TOPIC: “OTHER SEPARATIONS FROM THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH”
April 18th 10:30AM – 12 NOON Library TOPIC: VATICAN II – THEN AND NOW
April 19th 7:30PM Gabriel Room TOPIC: WATER
organized by MOSAIC INTERFAITH takes place on EARTH DAY, April 22nd from 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM. This is for youth aged 13 – 16 years old. Workshops will be on how to “green” your faith community. Material & curriculum will be provided by “Faith and the Common Good”. The program will begin at Temple Har Zion; lunch at Ja’ffari Islamic Centre; then to St. Gabriel’s for a tour and wrap up sessions. Participants would commit to a follow-up visit to a MOSAIC congregation. To register call Nora at 416-218-0680. Registration is limited. Further info is also on the bulletin boards.
AVA SIANA MAMMOLITI MARCUS PALERMO EMILY SHEILAGH DEUEL MAXXIMUS TRAN XAVIER TRAN ADAMO NUNZIO MOGDAN HONG DUC CHENG KENNETH TYLER SAULNIER-WALTON CONNOR DUNCAN MacPHERSON JOSHUA PAUL MacPHERSON CAYDEN TREVOR LLOYD THOMAS SEBASTIAN CARRERO SHAYNA MIKELLA MANANGAN
| Posted in Bulletin |
March 25th, 2007
This Sunday is ShareLife Sunday. The ShareLife Appeal has been part of our lives as members of this Archdiocese. From the very beginning St. Gabriel’s Parish has been front and center in supporting this appeal which maintains the 34 Catholic agencies that serve the needs of thousands of men, women and children throughout the Archdiocese.
If you are registered with the parish then you have already received a letter from our new Archbishop, Thomas Collins asking you to support this year’s ShareLife Appeal.
I like the three stage approach he offers for you to consider as you decide how generously you will support ShareLife – Recognize, Reflect, and Respond.
Our second reading in today’s Mass gives us a great example of what a transformation can take place in our lives when we take the time to recognize, reflect and respond.
St. Paul is telling the Philippians about his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. Paul was heading to that city to arrest any man or woman who followed the teaching of Jesus and dared to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. For Paul this was blasphemy. Without warning a blazing light blinds Paul. He hears the question, ‘Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ Naturally Paul asks, ‘who are you Lord? And Jesus gives the answer that will make all the difference in Paul’s life, ‘I am Jesus who you are persecuting.’
From that moment on Paul considered all things as loss, as nothing, compared to his knowing Jesus as his Lord. Paul could have had a very successful career as a Rabbi, a teacher. He was studying under a genius named Gamaliel; he was well connected with the Pharisees and the priests of the Temple. It was at their bidding he was persecuting those who followed Christ. He could have had a great future. And then he had that short encounter with Christ.
Paul came to recognize who Jesus is – the Christ, the Messiah. He spent years reflecting on this truth and how it touched his life. He would suffer the loss of all things, see them for the rubbish they were if order to gain Christ – to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. Paul knew he would come to that power only if he was willing to share in the suffering of Christ – which Paul did as he lived through the joys and sufferings, the hopes and the disappointments through all those years he preached Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Paul responded to the gift he was offered on the road to Damascus by giving his life completely to Christ, so much so that 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.’
In reflecting on the words of Jesus on that road to Damascus – I am Jesus whom you are persecuting – Paul came to know that Jesus was in every person he met, man or woman, friend or foe – in that person Paul met and served and loved Jesus, his Lord.
ShareLife offers us the opportunity to meet, serve and love Jesus in all the men, women and children who are helped by your generosity to ShareLife. We are asked to recognize the poverty, and often the desperation that is part and parcel of others’ lives. We’re asked to recognize the great work done by the men and women who work for the 34 agencies of ShareLife – here and in the developing countries of the world. We’re asked to recognize these good people as our brothers and sisters in Christ, our brothers and sisters in need. We’re asked to recognize the truth – whatever you do to one of these the least of mine you do to me.
ShareLife asks us to reflect – reflect on how desperate, distressed and despairing are the lives of so many people – who are our brothers and sisters. ShareLife asks us to reflect on how blessed are our own lives.
And Share Life asks us to respond – to act upon our recognition and our reflection – as Paul did to his. If we take the time to recognize and reflect – take the time to read the ShareLife material we’ve received – take the time to realize how blessed we are – then we must respond, we must reach out and help all those less fortunate that ourselves.
Each year ShareLife sends me a summary of how St. Gabriel’s responded to the appeal. I’m always stunned when I see how so few people support ShareLife and all its good works. Last year the parish gave $163,160 to Share Life, down from the $176,612 donated in 2005. Both these amounts are impressive but – only 27% of the parish participated in Share Life. Good people, this is not good.
If you have already donated to ShareLife – thank you very much. If you have yet to donated, especially if you have never donated to ShareLife, then I suggest you donate no less than $50.00. You know your own needs, your own circumstances but read the ShareLife material and see the good works being done by ShareLife.
May we as a parish family – a blessed parish family – take the time to recognize, reflect and respond to this year’s ShareLife Appeal knowing that whatever we do to one of these the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to the Christ, Who loved us and gave His life for us.
| Posted in Homily |
We have just added a new dimension to our garden. Along the walkway by the entrance to the underground parking, we have placed eight plaques. These are the Stations of the Cosmos. They are reproductions of a series of windows originally commissioned by Holy Cross Retreat Centre. The artist is Carolyn (Van Huyse) Delaney, a former parishioner of St. Gabriel’s. A station is a place of reflection. We have 14 Stations of the Cross or points of reflection. The Stations of the Cosmos on the otherhand, are important ‘moments’ that produced an irreversible Earth/Cosmic transformation. Each station has its own explanation and offers a short reflection.
This Wednesday evening at 7:30 PM we will celebrate our annual Lenten Reconciliation Service. This is an opportunity to spend some time in peace and quiet, to reflect upon how we are responding to our call to be sons and daughters of God. Recognizing the fact that we are ‘good people’ we also accept the fact that good people can sin. Through an examination of conscience we face those sins, admit them and are reconciled to God. For those who wish, individual confessions will be celebrated after the service. We encourage you to take advantage of this celebration.
This annual Parish event is again being sponsored by the Pastoral Team on WEDNESDAY APRIL 4th AT 7:00 PM in the Gabriel Room. Passover is the oldest festival of the Hebrew liturgical calendar. It has been observed by Jewish people for more than three thousand years. Passover is a religious family meal celebrating Jewish freedom from slavery. It occurs in the spring, the time of renewal in “Nissan”, the first month of the Hebrew year, and it lasts for eight days. Why do we celebrate this “meal” at St. Gabriel’s? First, this celebration helps us to understand our religious roots, which are Jewish. Second, it is an opportunity for us to celebrate our growth as a community, and be together with families and friends at this most special time during Holy Week. Please call the Parish Office at 416-221-8866 by FRIDAY MARCH 30th to book your table of 6 or 8, or to have your name added to a table.
Total: $9,734
Sunday April 1st at 3:00PM in the Church. For information call Linda Law at 416 – 918 – 8029. The ENGLICH ROSARY and EUCHARISTIC ADORATION will be cancelled in April.
The next gathering will be held on Sunday, April 1st beginning at 11:30 AM in the Gabriel Room. 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.
Part 1 – will be broadcast tonight Sunday, March 25th on VISIONTV at 7:00 PM and Part 2 continues Tuesday, March 26th at 7:00 PM.
March 18th, 2007
We just heard one of the most famous stories Jesus ever told. Remember it’s a story – we can’t get caught up in the details. What’s important is why Jesus told the story in the first place.
We discover that in the very first lines of today’s gospel; the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling, saying; ‘this fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ Remember when Jesus called the tax collector Matthew to follow him? To celebrate that invitation Matthew threw a banquet and invited his friends, who like himself were tax collectors and outsiders. And the Pharisees and scribes raised the same shocked complaint – this man welcomes sinners and eats with them.
Sensing what is going on, Jesus tells this famous story – the one son who leaves home, blows his inheritance on loose living, comes to his senses and comes home to a father whose heart is open and whose arms are outstretched in welcome. Then there’s the second son who never left home, worked his fingers to the bone, was faithful and true to his father but who was lost to the family because he couldn’t let go of his resentment and bitterness at his father’s generosity. He refused to join the welcoming homecoming.
At the meal Jesus was enjoying with these sinners we see the prodigal son in these so called ‘sinners’ who were amazed that this famous rabbi would have time for the likes of them, would welcome them into his company and treat them so kindly. Such a welcome and such an acceptance paved the way for them to hear Jesus’ teaching, a teaching inviting them back to the life and love of the Father.
In the Pharisees we see the faithful son who never left home, who kept the law and observed the rules, who thought he had an exclusive right to his father’s love and who was furious at the father’s forgiving generosity to his dissolute brother. This was just not fair – we can just sense his anger and frustration. There was no way he could bring himself to embrace this brother – he couldn’t even call him his brother, he distances himself from him by saying, ‘this son of yours’. The father answers his angry protest, ‘your brother was lost, was dead, but he’s come to us, come back to the family. We have to celebrate.’
That’s how the story ends. We have no idea whether or not the faithful son ever relented and welcomed his brother home. We can imagine he continued to ignore his brother, avoided his company and continued to rage within himself at the unfairness of it all. His resentment at his father’s generosity towards his brother probably wrecked his relationship with his father. We can even imagine that when the father died and he owned the farm he ordered his brother off his land and out of his life for good. He may have ended up a lonely and bitter man.
We can see in the constant hostility of the Scribes and Pharisees toward Jesus, right up to calling for his death, that they could never accept the fact that Jesus would eat with sinners and welcome them. They resented such openness, such acceptance of those they thought unworthy. How dare Jesus ignore us and spend His time with these riffraff. Their resentment, their anger, their bitterness isolated them from the life and love Jesus offered them, as he did the tax collectors. For all their righteousness, they were the losers. Their resentment was their ruin.
So often in the complex dynamics of family and sibling relationships resentment can be such a destructive force. Brooding on their real or imagined hurts, over who was the favorite in the family, over who got what in a will, over who did the most for aging parents, over whatever, the resentful person shuts himself/ herself off from any chance of peace and reconciliation. And this can go on for years with no resolution, no reconciliation.
Reconciliation: that’s what today’s Scripture is all about, from Paul’s appeal ‘we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God’ – to the beautiful story of a sorry son embraced by his forgiving father – reconciled. Make up and be at peace with God.
I think the greatest words in today’s gospel are the complaint of the Pharisees: ‘this man eats and drinks with sinners.’ And Jesus still does. He invites us, sinners all, to this meal, enjoys our company, nourishes us with His Body and Blood and sends us on our way to live this Mass outside these walls. We all come here with our sins, our faults our failings our struggles – and our blessings and we are all welcomed, accepted as we are. Each of us here is, in our own way, accepting Jesus’ gracious invitation ‘come to Me all you who labor and find life burdensome and I will refresh you.’
With Paul’s call for reconciliation and this story of acceptance and resentment before us, we can pray for ourselves and for each other that, if in any of our relationships, familial or otherwise, we have let resentment or rancor isolate us from others, then Christ who loves to eat and drink with us sinners will, through the Bread of Life we receive, give us the strength and grace we need to pick up the phone or write a note, or visit anyone from whom we are estranged or alienated and seek reconciliation. Being reconciled with others, we will truly be reconciled with God.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28th AT 7:30 PM
Lent is a season in which we spend time reflecting on our lives and on how faithfully we are following Jesus Christ. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is always available after the 4:30 PM Mass on Saturday or by appointment.
on Friday evenings at 7:30 PM
Total: $11,372
St. Gabriel’s has been selected as one of the three finalists for this award. The ceremony will take place on Tuesday, May 1, 2007 at City Hall. The recipient, who will receive $5,000, will be announced at the ceremony. All finalists will be profiled in the spring issue of Green Living magazine as well as on the Green Toronto Awards website.
THURSDAY MARCH 22nd from 7:30 – 9:00 PM in the Gabriel Room. This meeting is for the parents of the children receiving Reconciliation for the first time.
(St. Gabriel’s School children) Saturday March 24th at 11:00 AM in the Church.
(All children in Children’s Faith Program) Saturday March 24th at 2:00PM in the Church.
PLACE: LIBRARY March 21st at 10:30 AM – 12 noon Vatican II – THEN AND NOW
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March 20th, 7:30 – 9:00PM PLACE: Library “OTHER SEPARATIONS FROM THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH” For more information on any of the above topics, contact Mary Landry at 416-293-3760.
Part 1 – will be broadcast on Sunday, March 25th on VISIONTV at 7:00 PM. Rediscovering Catholicism – Part 2 – continues the following night Monday, March 26th at 7:00 PM. Matthew Kelly, will present an inspiring message for young and old. He will be joined by the world-renowned St. Michael’s Choir School. Truly a Mission for the entire family.
The Shepherds’ Trust would like to thank everyone for their support of the Trust. Your generosity during the November collection was evident. We received $1,553,522 from Diocesan Parishes and $311,605 from Religious Order Parishes towards the retirement needs of our clergy. For more information call Sheryn Lepine at 416-934-3400, ext. 615. Caring for those who have always cared for us!
Covenant House Toronto is a leading expert and advocate for homeless youth in Canada. They serve the largest homeless youth population and provide the most complete range of housing and support services through their facilities and community partners to meet the needs of street youth. They are flexible and responsive to the emerging needs of homeless youth in our community.
Next Sunday is ShareLife Sunday!
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