June 19th, 2021
We can just imagine how terrified the disciples were during that sudden storm this was not there first storm, they were fisherman and used to sudden storms. It was the violence of this storm that caused their alarm but the fact that Jesus was asleep and seemly unaware of what was happening didn’t help matters. When they woke him up he imply stretched out his hands and told the raging waters to be still, and they obeyed. Why were you fearful, o ye of little faith?
Who wouldn’t be afraid?
I was caught in a storm on the water twice. One was in a sail boat and the boat owner was at a total loss as to what to do. We did get to shore. The other was in an outboard motor boat and it was in a hail storm. I can still remember the sound of the hail stones hitting the outboard motor and hitting the boat and hitting me. Not nice. I was frightened but I can’t remember praying.
I think most of us can relate to the fear and confusion felt by the apostles in that stormy night crossing of the Sea of Galilee.
We’ve all been living with the turbulence of this pandemic; our lives have been turned upside down. We’ve missed family gathering, we missed being able to visit family member in a hospital or nursing home. We missed being able to comfort a grieving friend. Think of the upset business people went through with now open then now closed for their places of business in jeproady.
Every day good people have to cope with such things as a messy divorce, alcoholic or drug addiction, the suicide of a friend or family member, the list is as long as the litany of the saints and we ask the honest question; do you not care that we are perishing?
O you of little faith. What is faith, fare more than mouthing the words, ‘I believe in God’ Faith is the willingness to say ‘you’ to God says you to each one of us.
Faith is trusting in that interpersonal bond each one of has to God, we call Father, the Father who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all.
Remember that popular song of a few years past…he’s got the whole world in his hands? We may honestly wonder if this is true, but that’s because we’re human and so often our simple prayer is; Lord I believe, help the little faith I have.
| Posted in Homily |
June 12th, 2021
Welcome Back!
On June 7th, the Province of Ontario announced that Step 1 of the reopening plan would begin on June 11th.
Under Step 1, attendance at St. Gabriel’s is limited to a capacity of 15%. Weekend Mass attendance will continue to be by reservation on the Eventbrite system. This attendance number is limited to all Liturgical celebrations.
Reservations are not required for weekday Masses.
June 14th, 2021 to June 20th, 2021
SATURDAY – DECEASED FATHERS OFJACK & WANDA WROBEL – Requested by Jack & Wanda Wrobel SUNDAY 10:30 – SUNDAY 12:30 –
For the children who died in Kamloops and in residential schools throughout the country that they not be forgotten,
Lord, Hear our prayer.
For healing of the relatives and communities of these children within the First Nation and Metis communities.
Lord heat our prayer.
For a thorough investigation of all former residential schools that any further unmarked graves of children would be found.
Lord, hear our prayer.
For wisdom and grace for the Honourable Dr. Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations.
Next weekend is ShareLife Sunday!
Next Sunday, June 20th is ShareLife Sunday.
Our parish goal for this year’s campaign is $187,000. Thus far we have received $87,840. We encourage you to donate at the parish or online at sharelife.org.
Monthly Pre-Authorized Giving (PAG) is a convenient way to spread your ShareLife contribution throughout the year. To enroll, please fill out a ShareLife envelope at your parish or contact ShareLife at or 416-934-3411.
ShareLife Sunday is next weekend, June 20th.
Please give generously.
Weekend of June, 26th/27th
Thank you to the volunteers who prepared 24 casseroles for May. For June, your frozen casseroles will be collected after all the Masses on Saturday June 26th and Sunday, June 27th for delivery to the Good Shepherd Centre. Let’s see if we can increase that number!
The need is very great especially right now with Covid19.
The casseroles are easy to make and we have the recipes and casserole pans right here in the Parish Office. The recipes are also available on the Parish website. If you require more information, please contact Irene Albrecht at 416-221-2791.
Thank you for your generous support of Rosalie Hall and the Good Shepherd Centre. Your food donations are very much appreciated.
Rosalie Hall assists young parents and their children to realize their potential through the provision of a wide range of child development, community, residential and educational services.
Good Shepherd provides hot meals and shelter for the homeless in our city as well as a chance to start again through the Resettlement or DARE Programs.
Your food donations are more important than ever as Covid 19 continues and numbers of needy people continue to increase. Please check the expiry dates before donating since we cannot pass on food that has expired
India is reeling from a devastating COVID-19 outbreak. In recent days, the country has been reporting more than 400,000 of new cases and 4,000 deaths every 24 hours. International observers expect that the actual numbers are significantly higher.
The medical system, funeral services and other social supports are unable to meet the country’s needs at this time.
The Archdiocese of Toronto will send donations through Development and Peace to Caritas Internationalis, an international confederation of Catholic humanitarian organizations that is already in India helping those who are suffering during this COVID-19 outbreak.
To learn more about Caritas’ work in India, please watch the video: http://bit.ly/CaritasIndiaRelief
Those wishing to help may do so in the following ways:
Online through the Archdiocese of Toronto website: www.archtoronto.org
By phone through the Development Office at416-934-3411
Through the parish, making cheques payable to: St. Gabriel’s Passionist Parish – India’s COVID-19
Monday to Friday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Call 1-855 581- 9580
The Friendly Neighbor Hotline Is an organization mobilizing volunteers to deliver groceries and medication to seniors who have trouble going to the stores by themselves. The seniors just have to call the number, they can also register online. They place their order by phone (8 items max) and say how they want to pay, then sends a message to the pool of volunteers who indicated they can do deliveries in the senior’s ward. When a volunteer responds that he or she can do it, FNH sends a message to the volunteer with the shopping list. After delivery, the volunteer gets reimbursed by the organization who collects the money from the senior.”
Catholic Family Services of Toronto is now offering online quick access single sessions. Single-session counselling is a quick and effective way for individuals, couples or families to address a mental health or relationship concern.
To arrange for a session, please contact: info@cfstoronto.com or 416-921-1163 or 416-222-0048. Leave us a message with your name, email and phone number, and a staff person will contact you.
Clients who are interested in pursuing other or additional services in the agency have the option to access our ongoing counselling, wellness or group programs.
Counselling fees are charged according to a client’s income level. No one is denied service because of their inability to pay fees.
This spring the cherry trees in the north garden are literally laden with ripening fruit, and the same is true of the blueberry, haskap and currant shrubs. It appears that 3 years after planting, the north garden is reaching maturity.
In the south garden, the area formerly covered by landscape fabric has now been seeded with white clover to form living mulch pathways between the ferns, grasses, lavender and smoke bush.
Check out the photos on our Garden Ministry webpage.
Looking for a nature getaway? Join the Garden Ministry! sgpgardenministry@gmail.com
Your parish has been there for you and your family during the most important moments of your lives. Help you’re your Catholic community active and alive for years to come.
Please consider your parish in your will or through a planned gift. A bequest is a beautiful way to express your faith and gratitude for a lifetime of blessings – a lasting legacy of love that will help the Church continue with its many ministries.
For more details, please call the Parish Office at 416-221-8866 or contact Peter Okonski, Manager of Planned Giving and Personal Gifts at 416 934 3400 Ext. 519 or by email at development@archtoronto.org.
All calls are confidential.
| Posted in Bulletin |
Last Sunday people were shocked by the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves of Indigenous children who were students at a residential school in B.C.
These unnamed, unknown children were forcefully removed from their mothers and fathers, they were punished for speaking their mother tongue, forced to wear uniforms, forced to eat new food, denied contact with their parents and suffered physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
This Sunday we’re stunned by the violent deaths of a Moslem family run down as they enjoyed an evening stroll on a London street.
Both tragic events point to the evil effects of the virus of racism a virus far more deadly and destructive that the present virus Corvid 19 that is presently holding our lives at a standstill.
The antivirus to racism is the God given commandment ‘love one another as I’ve loved you’. It doesn’t seem to be working in the human family. Racism, bigotry, intolerance still have the upper hand in our inter-human relationships
Jesus often uses agricultural imagery in his teaching. In today’s gospel he uses the imagery of the smallest of all seeds, a seed that sprouts and grows, independent of the farmer’s efforts to the greatest of all shrubs offering its branches to nesting birds.
Seeds, let’s call them attitudes or mindsets are sown in our lives within our own family life. We pick up these mindsets and attitudes almost by osmosis. These attitudes can be the virus that blights the way we see and relate to men and women of another race, another color, another religion, another life-style such as members of the Gay communities. These attitudes, these mindsets keep us from seeing the goodness, the dignity, the worth of men and women and even children different from ourselves.
This virus of racism can cause us to see others as less than ourselves. Corvid 19 has spread around the world causing millions of deaths. Racism is pandemic, it’s everywhere, and it’s in the air we breathe. People may protest, I’m not a racist but let’s face it; we all are to one degree or another. We’re all suspicious of, leery of ‘The other’, the different, and the strange. They speak differently, they dress differently, they live differently, they believe differently they love differently.
There is a saying; denial ain’t just a river in Egypt’. When it comes to the virus of racism, are you in denial, am I in denial about having this virus? Probably yes.
As we continue to celebrate this Mass we pray, we plea for the grace to love, accept, respect the ‘other’, the different, the strange as the crucified Christ loves, respects and accepts us, as we are, warts and all.
June 5th, 2021
| Posted in Events |
At this time public Masses are still temporarily cancelled. Our priests will continue to celebrate private Mass daily for the intentions of parishioners and for those suffering from COVID-19.
The Church will be open for private prayer during office hours, 8:30 AM to 12:00 Noon, and 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM, Monday to Friday. The Church will not be open on the weekend. Each Saturday, Fr. Paul or Fr. Brando will celebrate Mass which will be shown on our website.
Visits to the Parish Office are by appointment only. Please call 416–221-8866 to make an appointment.
June 7th, 2021 to June 13th, 2021
There are no announced Masses this week.
Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Toronto are encouraged to read Cardinal Collins’ latest Pastoral Letter, “Heart Speaks to Heart”, a deep reflection on the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Visit www.archtoronto.org/sacredheart to read the letter and to access numerous resources that can be used in the home, school or parish setting. The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is observed in 2021 on Friday, June 11 and you are encouraged to offer a special focus on the Sacred Heart in the month of June. The theme of the Sacred Heart, however, is pertinent throughout the year and the resources, prayers and reflections are helpful tools to utilize year round.
“At this time of global pandemic, we pray for the sick and the suffering, for all of us who feel fear and anxiety.
We thank all those who are in the frontline – doctors, nurses, medical and hospital staff, care workers, family members, friends, and strangers – we pray for their safety, health, and strength.
We pray for those responsible as decision-makers and law enforcers, that they may be guided in their choices and actions, to be unselfish and magnanimous.
We pray that the scientific community may find ways to “contain the pandemic and defeat its deadly power”.
For Mother Earth, we pray that she may recover from the exhaustion and devastation caused by humanity.
And we pray that people, while exercising precaution and social responsibility, may reach out to the weakest and most vulnerable, showing compassion and care through creative ways.”
Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay
Living the Gospel by supporting the Deaf community
ShareLife funded agencies have been working on the front line of the Covid-19 pandemic. One of them, Silent Voice, has been continuing to offer programs in ASL (American Sign Language) to the Deaf community.
“You are indeed agents of change, enabling Silent Voice to provide entirely accessible programming, in ASL, that open the world to vulnerable Deaf adults, youth, children, and their families.” — Kelly MacKenzie, Silent Voice
Sunday, June 20th is the next ShareLife Sunday. Please give generously.
By Sunday, June 27th 2021
Thank you to the volunteers who prepared 24 casseroles for May. For June, you may bring in your frozen casseroles before the last Sunday in June (June 27th) for delivery to the Good Shepherd Centre. Let’s see if we can increase that number!
Donations to India Covid 19 Relief Fund – $50
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