July 16th, 2021
We remain grateful and want to thank all the parishioners of St. Gabriel’s Passionist Parish for their ongoing support during this period of great difficulty and uncertainty.
Under Step 3 of the provincial reopening plan as of July 16th, there is no capacity restriction on all liturgical celebrations. However, attendance will be limited by the physical distancing requirement.
In order to attend Sunday masses, a reservation for each attendee is required.
Please review the Protocol for Sunday Mass celebrations before making any reservations. Please click Sunday Mass Reservations. If you have any difficulty in registering, please call the parish office during regular office hours.
There is no reservation required for the 9:00 am Monday to Friday weekday Mass but sign in upon arrival is required.
For the safety and health of our community, please remain home if you show or have any signs or symptoms of Covid-19. Under a City of Toronto by-law, all attendees are required to wear non-medical grade masks or face coverings throughout their entire time of attendance at church while at the same time respecting the physically distance rules of 2 metres (6 feet).
We continue to thank you for your financial contribution during this time. If you cannot attend the Masses, you can mail or drop off your envelope contribution to the parish office. As well you can sign up for Pre Authorized Giving by picking up a form in the parish office or printing the form, completing it and submitting it to the parish office.
We are looking forward to seeing you.
| Posted in Notice |
July 12th, 2021
Dear friends of the Archdiocese of Toronto,
Over the past several weeks, there has been a painful national conversation on the tragic history of residential schools in Canada. The role of the Catholic Church in the residential school system has been a central part of that discussion.
We acknowledge the terrible suffering that took place and condemn the system, established by the federal government and operated by faith communities, which separated children, often forcibly, from their parents and attempted to strip away their language, culture and identity.
The Catholic Church must continue to atone for our involvement in this dark history. It is undeniable that some Catholic teachers (priests, religious men and women and lay staff) entrusted to care for children at residential schools assaulted the dignity of the students through mistreatment, neglect and abuse.
A recent poll suggested that only 10% of Canadians have a thorough understanding of the history of residential schools. We also know that many Catholics have asked for additional information, unsure of this history and wondering how to respond when asked about it. In addition to resources like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report, we have prepared a webpage at: www.archtoronto.org/residentialschools with numerous resources, links and information.
We encourage you to access our latest document, “Background for Catholics – Residential Schools”, which provides answers to eight frequently asked questions on recent topics of discussion.
We’d also like to make you aware of the following recent developments:
On June 29, 2021, it was announced that a delegation of Indigenous Elders/Knowledge Keepers, residential school survivors and youth from across the country will meet with Pope Francis from December 17-20 at the Vatican. There will be four days of meetings – focused on encounters with First Nations, Métis and Inuit participants – as well as a final audience with all delegates coming together on December 20, 2021. Pope Francis is deeply committed to hearing directly from Indigenous Peoples, expressing his heartfelt closeness, addressing the impact of colonization and the role of the Church in the residential school system, in the hopes of responding to the suffering of Indigenous Peoples and the ongoing effects of intergenerational trauma.
We have received numerous inquiries regarding financial support related to residential schools. A more detailed response on the settlement process, what has been paid and where we have fallen short, can be found in the latest “Background for Catholics – Residential Schools” document. Currently, dioceses across the country, including the Archdiocese of Toronto, are in discussions to determine how to best engage in a renewed financial effort to meet the goal of the $25 million “best efforts” campaign. In addition, the archdiocese is developing a series of pastoral initiatives, with Indigenous participation, to engage parishioners and the broader community in a continued journey of prayer, listening and dialogue as part of ongoing reconciliation efforts.
We look forward to sharing more information with you on these plans in the days ahead.
Together We Pray
“For the children who died in residential schools throughout Canada and for all those who continue on a journey through the darkness, that there may be healing founded on truth and that the Spirit will inspire our ongoing commitment to reconciliation.
God, through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, continue to offer us correction so that your grace might change and transform us in our weakness and repentance.
Give us humility to listen when others reveal how we have failed and courage to love others as ourselves, mindful of your love for the weakest and most vulnerable among us. Amen.”
Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, pray for us.
Thomas Collins Archbishop of Toronto
The Altar Linen Committee would like to invite volunteers to assist us our work to ensure that the linens used in our church as washed and maintained properly especially during this time of pandemic.
The work, usually once a month, consists mostly of taking home the soiled linens used for the altar, credence table, and communion and washing and ironing them. They are to be returned to the church sacristy no later than a week after pick up.
If you are interested or need detailed description of our work, please contact Ginette Harquail at 416 226 1989. Thank you.
July 11th, 2021
Have you ever heard the expression that someone is carrying too much baggage? Not physical things but maybe unresolved family conflicts, unresolved anger or resentments, unresolved, unresolved. Resentments and memories of which they can’t let go but continue to burden their lives
Jesus sent his disciples out to preach the good news with no means of support; no sandals, no staff, no bread, no purse. To walk the rocky roads of Galilee in such a way would be madness. No scandals to protect their feet, staff for self- defence, no companion for safety.
Yet they all carried their own personal baggage. Judas; his greed, Peter; his fickleness, James and John; the needs of their ambitious mother, these are the ones we know of.
Jesus gave these instructions to the disciples who were to travel rocky roads from one small village to another. Mark passed these words on to men and women who were urban dwellers, probably Romans but people embarked on a journey every Christian tries to travel.
If Mark was challenging his urban readers to make an analogous application to their living the way of Jesus in their settled urban lives, how might these instructions of Jesus apply to us who live on this small planet in an ever expanding universe?
We are on that same journey; we are a pilgrim people, so we can’t pretend to be ignorant of our realities, our baggage; global warming or plastic polluted seas, or the loss of topsoil. We can’t ignore our vulnerability to the global pandemics that is turning our lives upside down.
In our times Mark’s gospel calls us to live simply, that others might simply live. Our life styles call us to curb our greed and be conscious of the have nots of Earth. Our times call us to face the injustices of our past history and work to rectify them now. As Canadians we carry the baggage of residential schools, stolen land and broken treaties.
Our time calls us to put an end to our mentality of consumerism. Having more and more we can become less and less. Our time in our country calls us to confront racism and bigotry toward men and women different from ourselves in faith or nationality or lifestyles.
Today these long ago instructions call each of us to ‘check our baggage and travel lightly on our journey, in the company of others, toward the kingdom of God.
| Posted in Homily |
July 4th, 2021
Just a thought before my reflection on the second reading of Paul’s letter to the Christian community in Corinth..
In light of the discovery of the hundreds of unmarked grave found at residential schools it is hard being a Canadian these days. Because of our church’s involvement in the effort to rob the indigenous people of their land, their language, their culture and their religion it is hard to be a Catholic these days. In our failure to make the financial recompense called for by the courts, it is hard to be a Canadian Catholic. Until our own leaders set matters straight our difficulties will continue…
Just something to think about.
In his different letters to the early Christian communities Paul shares with them the consequences of his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus. He had permission from the religious authorities to arrest people who were following Jesus of Nazareth. A disgraced popular preacher who had been crucified for the crime of blasphemy. Christ appeared to him and asked him. ‘Saul, why are you persecuting me? The bewildered Paul asked, ‘who are you’? I am Jesus who you are persecuting.
Paul spent a lot of time in prayer and solitude coping with the fact that it was necessary for the Christ, the Messiah, to suffer his crucifixion and so enter into his glory.
Paul tells the people of Corinth of the blessings he received in prayer, he was caught up to the third heaven and heard things that are not to be told and cannot be repeated.
In today’s second reading we hear of another aspect of Paul’s life, this famous ‘thorn in the flesh that kept him from being too proud. Scripture scholars have speculated on what that thorn might be that was meant to keep Paul humble. One author speculated that it might have been Paul’s irritably, he was short tempered and didn’t like being questioned, a hard person to work with.
Time and again he faced this shortcoming; with all his visions Paul was a hard man to work with..
Let’s face it; we all have a thorn in the flesh, a fault or failing with which we struggle and which will not go away. It could be a bad tempter; we fly off the handle at the drop of a hat. Maybe we struggle with moodiness, or controlling our tongue, or how much we eat or drink or the way we spend our money. It could be our struggle to understand or be sympathetic with the hurt and pain our Indigenous brothers and sisters are going through these days as they deal with the unmarked graves of unknown children.It might be our wonder of ‘why can’t these people be like us’? Is our thorn our impatience with accepting men and women of a different color, a different faith, a different nationality or a different life style?
Try as we might, pray as we might we still struggle to pick out that thorn. Spiritual writers call it our ’predominant fault.
Paul gloried in his weakness because it drew the strength and power of Christ into his life’ struggles. Paul’s thorns didn’t go away but he was given the patience and strength to cope.
Christ showed his open wounds to the apostles, can we show Christ our wounds, our thorns in the flesh?
There is an old Negro spiritual that sings;
It’s me it’s me O Lord standing in the need of prayer. Maybe our simple and honest prayer can be; it’s me, it’s me it’s me O Lord standing in the need of patience, standing in the need of self-control, standing in the need of an open heart, an open mind – always standing in the need of the power of Christ dwelling in me.
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