September 10th, 2006
People are getting more and more used to our underground parking. The surface parking, especially the parking directly in front of the doors of the church, is primarily for handicap and senior parking. Parking in this area is on the side facing the hedge on the east side of our piazza.
As I mentioned at the Masses, we are still ‘moving in’ to our new home and there are many things yet to put in place. – We are still working on the glitches. – We will all need patience.
Total: $8,624.53
ATTENTION – THESE EVENINGS ARE FOR PERSONS INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT THE CATHOLIC FAITH.
This is an invitation to come to our first meeting SEPTEMBER 18th AT 7:30PM in the Library.
Come with your questions, your curiosity, your point of view. They will be the basis of our discussions.
TO OUR PARISHIONERS: Because our Parish Community is considered the official teacher and guide for possible new members, it is important that some of you help by being present and by sharing your faith in various ways that are comfortable to you.
ADULT CATHOLICS: who wish to celebrate the Sacraments of Eucharist and/or Confirmation are welcome also.
For more information, please call Mary Landry at 416 – 221 – 8866 ext. 224
Please check the bulletin next week for other educational programs.
BRIANA VINCENTIA NUGRAHA FRASER MURDOCH McMILLAN SHIDA POURLOTFI SHIRLEY POURLOTFI SHARON POURLOTFI PAUL FRANC ABREGANA CHRISTIAN GLEN NEWMAN NICHOLAS ANTONIO MOWATT ETHAN TIEN-WEI KUO-LEE GABRIEL TIEN-REN KUO-LEE MIA ALICIA LAROCHE LACHLAN STEPHEN WONG EINSTEN MAXIMUS AUGUSTINE TEGAN ELIZABETH FURNEAUX
Fair trade organic coffees will be on sale after all the Masses next weekend.
Regular Ground: $5 Whole Beans: $5 Decaffeinated: $6
Good Shepherd Centre, a charitable multi-service agency providing services to homeless and disadvantaged individuals, is desperately seeking volunteers.
In order to continue to provide the essential service of clothing to Toronto’s homeless, Good Shepherd Centre urgently needs volunteers to distribute clothing (weekday mornings 9:00 – 11:00AM).
Minimum time commitment 2 hours per week. For more information regarding these or other volunteer opportunities, please contact Bianca Sorbera at 416 – 869 – 3619 ext. 262.
You can make all the difference in your community!
is a private lay apostolate that makes handmade rosaries to military specifications and distributes them free of charge to Canadian Forces personnel serving in Afghanistan through Army “Padres”. We need volunteers to help make the Rosaries as demand is great! All volunteers will receive materials and training and can work at their own pace. This is fun, means a great deal to our troops, and costs you nothing but time. Contact Allan Scott at 416 – 227 – 9447 or rosarymaker@canada.com
On your behalf, the society helps the poor and marginalized. We visit the poor; We run shelters for women; We provide homes for mentally handicapped; We help the addicted get their lives back; We run a camp for disadvantaged girls. Only with your help can we turn concern into action. Please remember the poor box on your way out of church each week. www.svdptoronto.org
This is a special group for those who are widowed, and seek to understand their loss and grief. The eight week program is on Wednesday evenings from September 20th until November 8th at 7:30PM. For further information, please contact Sr. Rita DeLuca, C.S.J. at St. Joseph’s Morrow Park at 416 – 222 – 1101 ext 107/258.
Come join us and meet new friends. Ladies afternoon – Ladies evening – Couples evening For further information please call: Maureen Cullen at 416-222-8755
| Posted in Bulletin |
September 3rd, 2006
It just doesn’t seem right that summer is over – have you ever wondered why July and August can’t last as long as January and February?
On the Labor Day weekend maybe we can spend some time reflecting on how we co-operate with God in the ongoing evolution of creation. At Mass we make our offering of bread and wine to the God of all creation – our bread which earth has given and human hands have made – our wine, fruit of the vine and the work of human hands.
Do we ever stop to think of all the work of human hands that goes into the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the computers we use, the cars we drive – the homes we live in – all the work of human hands. Do we ever stop to think of how much those humans hands earned from their labor compared to the price we pay for their work? Last Sunday we celebrated the Festa of St. Gabriel out in Immaculate Conception Parish in Woodbridge. There were thousands of people there. I love giving out Holy Communion at the Festa – placing the host in a person’s hands I can’t help but think of those words – the work of human hands. I see them as honest hands – hands that have hammer and nailed, mixed cement, laid bricks, painted walls, hands that drive transport trucks and taxies, subways and buses – hands that set tables and cooked countless meals, hands that push baby carriages, dress children and clean homes – hands that transplant organs, set bones and mend hearts, hands that take temperatures and blood pressures, hands that steady the old and feeble, hands that write on blackboards and write report cards, hands that run up our groceries at cashier counters, hands that work computers, hands that write legal briefs.
This beautiful church in which we celebrate is the work of human hands – and for their work we are grateful.
This is what we celebrate on Labor Day – the work of human hands. Labor Day is the holiday that recognizes the contributions of all those who labor for the benefit of the common good. Labor Day offers us the occasion to remember that God is not finished with creation nor is God finished with our being created. There was a poster out years ago of a young kid – scruffy, soiled clothes – he looked like he’d been playing in the mud. The caption on the poster was ‘be patient with me, God’s not finished with me yet’
God’s not finished with any of us yet – God is not finished with God’s creation yet – the universe is still evolving. Someone has said, ‘Every day is Labor Day for God – God’s creating labor began some 15 billions years ago in the original burst of energy that was the beginning of our expanding universe. Every thing that is or yet to be was in the original flaming forth – just at the giant oak was in the acorn. Every Day is Labor Day for God and the product of God’s industry is our own evolving into a maturity in Christ, thru the working of God’s grace within us. And part of our growing to maturity in Christ is in our growing awareness of the goodness, the beauty and the frailty of God’s creation. I think we can see the result of God’s labor in humanity’s growing awareness of the crisis in the life systems of planet Earth – global warming, the changing of weather patterns, the pollution of the air we breathe and the water we drink, the loss of the very soil that feeds us. I think we can see the result of God’s in humanity’s gaining an awareness of the inter-connectedness of all life systems on planet Earth – our growing awareness that we are a member of all the life communities on Earth – we are not over and above, we are one with those communities – planet Earth is not a collection of objects, it is a community of subjects. As humans we share in God’s creative and creating activity when we look to and simplify our life styles – we share in God’s creative and creating activity when we do what we can to heal our wounded home Earth.
Every day is Labor Day for God and every day is Labor Day for us because no matter what form the work of our human hands involves – we are in fact co-operating with the creating power of God in God’s good creation. Part of God’s laboring in us can be bringing us to deeper understanding of the words we say at the beginning of the Creed – I believe in God, Creator of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.
As we continue this Mass, we can pray for ourselves and for each other that we come to appreciate our sharing in the creating power of God through the work of human hands for this is what we bring to every Mass – our labor symbolized in bread and wine – which thru God’s power become for us the bread of life and our spiritual drink.
| Posted in Homily |
August 27th, 2006
We’ve all had the experience of going into a restaurant and ordering a meal – it’s decision time – we have to decide on one of five different salads – we have to decide on one of six different salad dressings – we have to decide on what kind of bread we want – we have to decide on our main course, decide on a choice of wine, on a dessert. Decisions, decisions.
A Spanish philosopher once said, “Living is a constant process of deciding what we are going to do.” Someone else said “In each decision, we must look beyond our decision at our past, present and future state and at others whom it affects and see the relation of all these things. And then we should be very cautious.” All our decisions have consequences, for ourselves and for others. The peoples of the First Nations had a policy that required of them that before they made any great decision as a people they had to consider what impact their decision might have on the sixth generation from now. We don’t even think of the next generation.
There is a great quote from Viktor Frankl – a German Jew psychiatrist who survived the Holocaust and wrote the book, Man’s Search for Meaning. He survived his ordeal by holding on to the truth that “man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment.” He said that was the one freedom the Nazis could not take from him, his freedom to decide what he would become in the next moment.
Today’s scriptures are all about decisions. Joshua recounts the entire history of God’s taking care of Israel, beginning with the Exodus. Joshua reminds the people that the One God had always been faithful to them even though they had not always been faithful to God. Confronted with the facts of their faith, standing firmly on the security of the land of abundance and life, Joshua demands they denounce any other gods and profess their faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses. He reminds them that the Lord had served them in the past and asks that if they will serve the Lord in the future. What was good enough for Abraham, Moses, is good enough for Joshua and his family – as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Others must make up their own minds.
In the gospel, Jesus offers Himself to the people as living bread, bread come down from heaven, bread that promises everlasting life. Those in his hearing had seen him feed the five thousand – but now he offers himself – his flesh to eat, his blood to drink as nourishment. His offer is met with shock – this is a hard saying, this borders on madness – His gracious offer is met with rejection – and many of his followers walked with him no more – His gracious offer is met with acceptance – Lord to whom can we go, you have the words of everlasting life.
I think Peter was saying to Jesus, ‘I really don’t know what you are talking about, eating your flesh, drinking your blood, this is a hard saying – but I trust you and I’ve decided to stay with you. Later Peter would waver in that decision but in the end he remained faithful.
Going back to Viktor Frankel who maintains that we do not simply exist but that we always make decisions as to what our existence will be and what we will become in the next moment, the truth of the matter is, every day of life we decide what kind of a person we will be, will we be kind, tenderhearted, patient with others, forgiving of others – will we be imitators of God – imitators of Christ, Who loved us and gave His life for us? Every day we decide what kind of husband or wife – what kind of son or daughter, brother or sister, what kind of friend or neighbour we will be. We know from experience that when we are faced with certain life choices – the teachings of Christ may be hard, confusing, difficult teaching we feel we can’t accept – we may be tempted to walk with Him no more. We can forget Jesus has the words of everlasting life – we forget that decisions have consequences.
As we continue to celebrate this Mass we can pray for ourselves and for each other that we be graced with the willingness to begin each day echoing the words of Joshua – as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord – let me live this day in Your presence, in Your love and in Your service. Let me live this day as one who imitates Christ, for He has the words of everlasting life. May we always use wisely the gift God gave us – the freedom to make decisions as what our existence will be and what we will become in the next moment of our lives.
August 20th, 2006
You know we live with a real paradox – go into any book store and there will be a whole section on cook books, all kinds of recipes from every nation – and right next to it will be another whole section of dieting – diets that offer us plans for painless and effortless weight loss. We know too that starvation is a global disaster.
Remember that great song from the musical Oliver – ‘food glorious food’? That’s what our Sunday gospel is all about – food glorious food.
At every Mass we are offered ‘glorious food’ – the glorious food of Jesus’ teachings, that nourishing bread by which we live our lives, a food that gives us strength to ‘lay aside immaturity and walk in the way of insight’.
Jesus tells us, ‘unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you cannot have life in you.” These words are as disturbing to some today as they were to the people who first heard them – to eat someone’s flesh, to drink someone’s blood – as the children in our first communion class remarked, ‘ that’s yucky.’ But Jesus’ words are too graphic to admit of any other meaning. Within the praying of the Eucharist Prayer bread becomes more than bread and wine becomes more than wine – they are what Jesus says they are; His body, His blood – glorious food and drink. We cannot diminish the words of Jesus by saying He meant bread and wine are a symbol or a representation of His Body and Blood; they are His Body and Blood, the glorious food Jesus offers for the life of the world. Again, listen to these words of Jesus, ‘Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats Me will live because of Me.’ This glorious food gives us the strength to live our Mass outside these walls in the lives we live as Christian men and women.
Every time we come to Mass we should receive this glorious food – otherwise we cannot have life within us. In the past we always linked reconciliation with Holy Communion. We never appreciated the fact that there are many ways of being reconciled to God besides the Sacrament. A sincere act of contrition reconciles us to God – and so we should always accept the invitation of Jesus – take and eat, take and drink.
When we come to receive this glorious food we are answering the invitation of Jesus, ‘come to me all you who labor and find life burdensome and I will refresh you.’ We receive Communion not because we are holy or sinless, we receive Communion because we are weak and weary, frightened or discouraged, struggling with our own personal problems and we need the life of Christ within us to cope with the problems of our lives.
Holy Communion is a gift, a gracious gift – it was never meant to be a reward for being good or following orders.
As we continue to celebrate our Mass we pray for ourselves and for each other that we be graced with a deep sense of gratitude for this gift of glorious food – the body and blood of Jesus our Lord – may we take to heart his gracious invitation – unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you cannot have life within you, but those who eat My flesh and drink My blood lives in me and I live in them and I will raise them up on the last day.
August 13th, 2006
You may have seen a poster that has become pretty popular in some places – we had one in our lower church – it’s a circle and in the circle is the basic commandment of many of the world’s religions – Christian – Jewish – Muslim – Baha’i – Hindu – and it is striking how all these commandments are so much alike – each one in its own way echoes Christ new commandment – love one another as I have loved you. Each commandment calls us to respect and care for one another.
Watching the news these past weeks – night after night seeing the violent death of innocent men, women and children on both sides of the conflict – seeing the destruction of people’s homes and places or work – the destruction of whole communities you wonder – where did we go wrong – is no one listening to the teaching of God – no one following the basic tenant of their faith? Not one faith commandment calls for the death of another human being. Remember the protest song of the ’60’s – when will they ever learn, when will they ever learn. Why do peoples and nations continue to grief the Holy Spirit of God?
When Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians he was probably responding to a situation of conflict and dissension. Reading the acts of the apostles we realize that from the very beginning of our Christian faith good people struggled with Christ’s command – love one another as I have loved you. From the very beginning good people saw Jesus in different ways – saw living as a follower of Christ in different ways. So Paul was always trying to resolve differences – always calling people back to the basic commandment – love one another as I have loved you. In so many of his letters we read that basic theme – ‘do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God ‘ In this letter to the people of Ephesus we are taught basic Christian ethics – basics that challenged the people of Paul’s time – basics that challenge us today.
Paul is teaching the Ephesians and us that because God has reconciled all humanity to Himself through the suffering, dying and rising of Jesus Christ – a new way of living and loving is demanded of those who call themselves Christians. Such things as bitterness, wrath, anger, wrangling and slander – to which we can add racism, sexism, bigotry – anything that diminishes the worth and dignity of another human being – anything that diminishes the worth and dignity of any facet of God’s good creation – is not worthy of one who would call himself/herself – Christian.
We are called to be kind, tender hearted and forgiving – as God has forgiven us in Christ. Paul reminds us in this letter that Christ loved us even to the point of dying for us – and we are to imitate such love.
We see the results of longstanding hatred and suspicion – of feuds that have been going on for years in the destruction of life that is going on in Israel and Lebanon and the Gaza Strip – and we wonder – when will they ever learn – but a more important question is – when will we ever learn – when will we ever learn that in all our relationships – within family, neighbourhood, work place and parish – that bitterness, wrath, anger, resentment, rejection are agents of death – when will we ever learn that it is only love, respect and forgiveness that are agents of life and love – and we are to be such agents to family, friend and stranger.
We continue our parish life in our new church. Thank God we are finally here. God give us the patience we need as we work out all the kinks. Thanks to all those involved in the planning and building of our church – thanks to all those who generously contributed to our new church – thanks has to be the word that springs from our lips today. And we begin our new life in our new church praying for ourselves and for each other that through our worship and pray in this place we will be imitators of God, as beloved sons and daughters and live in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us.
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
