September 8th, 2019
Sunday September 8th after the 12:30 PM Mass
Fr. John Muthengi has been appointed to the United Nations as the representative of the Passionist Congregation. He will be leaving the Parish on September 10th and will be stationed at the Passionist Monastery in Jamaica, New York. We wish Fr. John all the best in his new appointment.
There will be a reception for Fr. John this Sunday September 8th after the 12:30 PM Mass. All are welcome.
Before and after all over the next three weekends, all members of St. Gabriel’s community (whether a single person, two spouses, or a family) are encouraged to sign up for a specific sitting time to have their portrait taken by a professional photographer to be included in the 2020 St. Gabriel’s Pictorial Directory which is expected to be completed and distributed in early 2020. Each family or person photographed will receive a FREE Directory and a FREE 8’ x 10” colour portrait.
The initial portrait sitting days will commence during the week of October 7th to 12th (Monday to Saturday). Sitting times from Monday to Friday will be on the quarter hour starting at 2:30 PM until 8:45 PM and on Saturday from 10:00 AM until 3:15 PM.
If you are attending St. Gabriel’s on a regular basis, but have not actually completed a registration form at the Parish office, it is encouraged that you do so as soon as possible.
Wednesday September 11th, 18th, and 25th 9:45 AM to 12:00 Noon
We are excited to announce that our St. Gabriel Parish Community will be introducing two new ministries this fall. The first one we will usher in is the Ministry with Maturing Adults. This ministry will support the “lifelong faith development of women and men throughout all phases of the pre-retirement and retirement years.” Through this ministry, our parish will attempt to address the needs that arise as life changes and hopefully allow our parishioners who are in the second half of life (50+) to recognize that their “everyday life and experiences go hand-in-hand with our spiritual life.”
We will train a core group of parishioners who will constitute the Ministry with Maturing Adult Leadership Team (MMALT). The role and the goal of this ministry will initially be developed by the core leaders of this ministry. Sr. Mary Rose Marrin, CSJ who started the Ministry with Maturing Adults (MMA) in the Archdiocese of Toronto will conduct a visioning workshop for the MMALT so that they can articulate and identify the vision of our ministry at St. Gabriel. The visioning workshop series entitled “Creating a Vision for Ministry with Maturing Adults” will be held from 9:45 AM to 12:00 Noon for three successive Wednesdays: September 11th, 18th, and 25th, 2019.
Anyone who is interested to become part of the core group to start this ministry can join six of our parishioners who had agreed to be on the initial leadership team of the Ministry with Maturing Adults at St. Gabriel’s. Please contact Sr. Maria Lucia at our Parish Office no later than September 10th if you are interested to join the Leadership Team of this new ministry.
Sunday September 15th after the 12:30 Mass
On Sunday, September 15th there will be an altar server welcome back and retraining session after the 12:30 Mass. Every altar server is invited. Interested boys and girls, ages 9 and older, who are willing to train to be an altar server are very much welcome. Refreshments will be provided.
September 9th to September 15th
MONDAY – JOHN CHAN – Requested by Wanda Wrobel TUESDAY – VINCENT HA – Requested by Laura, Sylvia & Valerie Ha WEDNESDAY – HARRY LEUNG – Requested by Mary Leung THURSDAY – ELIO RANCATI – Requested by his Family FRIDAY – HARRY LEUNG – Requested by John Chan SATURDAY – HEUNG-WAH LAM – Requested by the Fung, Lam & Monero Families SUNDAY – 10:30 AM – SUSANA, MAXIMIANO & MUCIO VILLORIA – Requested by the Villoria, Hale & Kipp Families. SUNDAY – 12:30 PM – LEE & REENA (for their upcoming marriage) – Requested by Maria Isabel
St. Gabriel’s Church September 19th, 24th 25th and 26th from 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM
Registration for children who wish to receive the Sacraments of First Communion, Reconciliation and Confirmation will be held at St. Gabriel’s Church on the following dates:
Thursday, September 19th from 7:30 to 9:00 PM Tuesday, September 24th from 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM Wednesday, September 25th from 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM Thursday, September 26th from 7.30 PM to 9:00 PM
Please Note: A copy of the child’s Baptismal Certificate is required if registering for First Communion or Confirmation. A fee of $30 is required at registration for Confirmation to defray related costs.
Gabriel Room Saturday, September 28th at 2:00 PM
“Thus faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.” Romans: 10:17
Are you a good story teller? Would you like to share with others? On Saturday, September 28th at 2:00 PM join the Lectors to learn more about the ministry at a workshop in the Gabriel room. The workshop will provide time for lectors to share their experience and learn some of the best kept secrets of proclaiming the Word. Those who would like to join this ministry are asked to RSVP to the Parish office by September 23rd, 2019.
Sunday, September 8th at 10:00 AM St Gabriel’s School
Registration forms for the Children’s Faith Program are available in the parish office. This program is for children of the Parish who attend public or private schools. Classes are held at St. Gabriel’s School every second Sunday beginning Sunday, September 8th at 10:00 AM.
Please note that a separate Sacramental registration form is required if your child will receive the sacraments of First Communion, Reconciliation or Confirmation during the 2019/20 year. These forms are also available in the parish office.
Weekend of September 14th/15th
Spring Cleaning Year Round!
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is collecting gently used clothing, shoes, linens and household goods to support our neighbors in need or to be sold to help support their special works in the community on the weekend of September 14th/15th They cannot accept books, dishes, furniture, appliances, mattresses, construction materials or videos and cassettes. Please bring your donations and help others in your community.
The truck will be open Saturday from 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM and Sunday from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Volunteers will be there to assist with loading before and after each Mass.
Wednesday, September 18th at 1:00 PM
The Milk Bag Workshops will begin again on Wednesday, September 18th. Please make sure the bags you bring are clean and flat in the box. This will be of great help to the weavers. For further information about this program please visit www.milkbagsunlimited.ca or contact Sharon Gusz at sharongusz@gmail.com
You can make a difference in the lives of the hungry and homeless this Thanksgiving by participating in the annual Good Shepherd Ministries Thanksgiving Food Drive. 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.
Urgently needed items include: rice, pasta and pasta sauces, peanut butter, jam cooking spices hot chocolate powdered milk black/Orange Pekoe tea ground or instant coffee, sugar cookies and crackers, vegetable oil jams canned tuna, soups, stews, meats, fruits and vegetables.
Please no fresh or frozen foods. We thank you for your generous support
Weekend of September 21st/22nd
Fair trade organic coffees will be on sale after all the Masses on the weekend of September 21st and 22nd.
Regular ground coffee: $5.50 Decaffeinated: $6.00 Whole Beans: $5.50 Chocolate Bars: $4.50 incl. Taxes Hot Chocolate and Cocoa: $6.00 Teas: $4.25
Sunday, September, 15th: Blueberry Pie Raffle. The Garden Ministry will be raffling a pie made with St. Gabriel’s own blueberries. Proceeds will go towards the purchase of tools and supplies for the Good Shepherd community garden. Tickets will be on sale after all masses on the weekend of September 14th/15th .
Sunday, September 22nd, from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM , Gabriel Room: Guided Tour of the Stations of Our Cosmic Earth. In solidarity with the Season of Creation and Global Climate Strike Week, September 20th to 27th, Steve Dunn, of our local Passionist Community, will offer a virtual tour of the Stations which are located in the south garden. The Cosmic Stations situate the Cross amid the major transformation moments in the evolution of Earth. The stained glass originals of the Stations will be on display.
Sunday, September 29th, from 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM Gabriel Room: Seed-Saving Workshop. Cameron Couchman, a familiar face from previous workshops and on site in the gardens, will lead the workshop. Topics covered will be identifying plants that have set seed and are ready for harvest, collecting and storing seeds as well as cold stratification and mimicking natural processes to promote germination.
For more information on the Garden Ministry, visit our website at https://stgabrielsparish.ca/ministries/garden-ministry/ or email Heather Bennett at heathermjb@gmail.com.
| Posted in Bulletin |
September 1st, 2019
Time and again we’ve heard Christ’s teaching about the folly of men and women who believe they are above the rest of us and the wisdom of men and women who know their limitations and their need for God and others.
But I’d like to say a few words about our opening prayer for this Mass. In it we ask God to put into our hearts a love for God’s name and a deepening sense of reverence so that God may nurture in us what is good.
Sometimes are lives can be so superficial, so shallow. We get caught up in things that are so much fluff, so passing. We ask for a sense of reverence, a sense of awe so that we can appreciate the wonder of ourselves and of life itself. We can begin with ourselves and the wonder that before the world began God chose us in Christ to be his adopted sons and daughters, such was his will and pleasure. We are to appreciate our own worth and dignity and the worth and dignity of every person who comes into our lives. When we allow racism and bigotry to take root in ourselves we diminish our own dignity- these mentalities are unworthy of us.
May we be blessed in a reverence, a sense of awe for the Eucharist we are celebrating right now? Right here, right now we are renewing the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Right here right now we are touch by the wonder that Jesus loved and loves each one of us, thought enough of each one of us that he died his painful death of crucifixion for us.
Could we use a deeper sense and reference and awe for the nourishment we receive at this Mass; the body and blood of Jesus? Could use a great sense of awe when we remember the promise of Jesus; those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me and I live in them; we become what we receive, Jesus.
As the human family we desperately need a deeper reverence and sense of awe for the wonders of God’s good creation. A masterpiece that has been 13 billion years in the making and is still not finished. A masterpiece we’ve exploited for our own selfish needs, at the expense of other peoples who share this Earth with us. A masterpiece we’ve degraded by our failure to live within the limits of Earth’s resources. Can we lift our eyes from our ipads and see the beauty of other people and the bountiful beauty of God good creation, not just in a dazzling beauty of a sunrise or a sunset but also in the ordinary dandelion, a flower we’ve reduced to a pesty weed?
Lord, bless us with a sense of awe and wonder.
| Posted in Homily |
Wednesday September 11th, 18th, and 25th
9:45 AM to 12:00 Noon
Anyone who is interested to become part of the core group to start this ministry can join six of our parishioners who had agreed to be on the initial leadership team of the Ministry with Maturing Adults at St. Gabriel’s. Please contact Sr. Maria Lucia at our Parish Office no later than September 7th if you are interested to join the Leadership Team of this new ministry.
Welcome back to all our parishioners who have been away on holidays. We hope you have had an enjoyable summer.
For those young people who are off to university, we wish you every success as you begin a new stage of your life. For those students and teachers returning to elementary and secondary school, we wish you a very positive and rewarding year.
Monday September 2nd is Labour Day. There will be no 9:00 AM Mass that day. The Parish Office will be closed.
September 2nd to September 8th
MONDAY – LABOUR DAY – No 9:00 AM Mass TUESDAY – ROSARIO CORTEZ – Requested by Zenaida Cortez WEDNESDAY – BILL McNAMARA – Requested by the O’Mahony Family THURSDAY – FOR THE INTENTIONS OF FR. PAUL CUSACK – Requested by the Parish Team FRIDAY – GUS & MARIE CALDERONE – Requested by the Calderone Family SATURDAY – HYACINTH PAUL – Requested by Sophie & Candida Pereira SUNDAY – 10:30 AM – JUAN & CANDIDA VILLORIA – Requested by the Villoria, Hale & Kipp Families. SUNDAY 12:30 PM –
Please Note: A copy of the child’s Baptismal Certificate is required if registering for First Communion or Confirmation.
A fee of $30 is required at registration for Confirmation to defray related costs.
Are you a good story teller? Would you like to share your with others? On Saturday, September 28th at 2:00 PM join the Lectors to learn more about the ministry at a workshop in the Gabriel room. The workshop will provide time for lectors to share their experience and learn some of the best kept secrets of proclaiming the Word. Those who would like to join this ministry are asked to RSVP to the Parish office by September 23rd, 2019.
Sunday, September 8th at 10:00 AM
St Gabriel’s School
“Those who sing pray twice.”
The members of the choir always welcome new voices and hope you will consider joining them! The senior choir practices on Tuesday evenings, from 7:30 to 9:00 PM and leads community song at the 10:30 AM Sunday Mass.
The junior choir practices on Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 8:00 PM and leads the music at the 12:30 PM Mass.
For more information, please contact Marilyn Calderone at 416-618-2041
You can make a difference in the lives of the hungry and homeless this Thanksgiving by participating in the annual Good Shepherd Ministries Thanksgiving Food Drive.
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.
Urgently needed items include: rice, pasta and pasta sauces, peanut butter, jam, cooking spices, hot chocolate, powdered milk, black/Orange Pekoe tea, ground or instant coffee, sugar, cookies and crackers, vegetable oil, jams, canned tuna, soups, stews, meats, fruits and vegetables.
Please no fresh or frozen foods. We thank you for your generous support!
Weekend of September 15th/16th
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is collecting gently used clothing, shoes, linens and household goods to support our neighbors in need or to be sold to help support their special works in the community on the weekend of September 15th/16th They cannot accept books, dishes, furniture, appliances, mattresses, construction materials or videos and cassettes. Please bring your donations and help others in your community.
Thank you to all who prepared casseroles for the Good Shepherd Centre for the months of July (50) and August (24). If you forgot to bring your casserole in on the weekend, you may still do so as soon as possible.
For September, your prepared casseroles (frozen please) will be collected at the Masses on the weekend of September 29th/30th for delivery to the Good Shepherd Centre.
Casserole donations have fallen off considerably in the summer months. Many more volunteers are needed to help feed the hungry in our city. We encourage you to pick up a copy of a casserole recipe and a pan and give it a try. Three recipes are available on St. Gabriel’s web site and in the Parish Office.
For more information, you may contact Irene Albrecht at 416-221-2791.
Wednesday, September 19th at 1:00 PM
The Milk Bag Workshops will begin again on Wednesday, September 19th. Please make sure the bags you bring are clean and flat in the box. This will be of great help to the weavers. For further information about this program please visit www.milkbagsunlimited.ca or contact Sharon Gusz at sharongusz@gmail.com
It has been a productive summer with the installation of the south garden nearing completion and ample harvests for the Good Shepherd continuing apace. The abundance of pollinators in both gardens continues to delight observers and gratify our efforts. Several events have been planned for September.
Sunday, September, 15th The Garden Ministry will be raffling a pie made with St. Gabriel’s own blueberries. Proceeds will go to the Garden Ministry for the purchase of tools and supplies for the Good Shepherd community garden.
Sunday, September 22nd from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM: In solidarity with Global Climate Strike Week, September 20th to 27th, Fr. Steve Dunn, of our local Passionist Community, will offer a virtual guided tour of the Cosmic Stations in the south garden. The stained glass originals of the Stations will be on display.
Sunday, September 29 from 1:30-3:00 PM There will be a Seed-Saving Workshop led by Cameron Couchman, a familiar face from previous workshops and on site in the gardens. Saving seeds from the garden’s lavender plants, as well as seeds from other plants will be explored.
August 24th, 2019
Luke tells us Jesus preached in all the villages he passed through as he made his way to Jerusalem, the city in which he would be tried and condemned to the shameful and painful death of crucifixion. He encouraged the people to listen to what he had to say about God’s kingdom. He offered them the chance to be close to God, be faithful to God.
I wonder about the person who asked the question, ’Lord will only a few be saved?’ He was probably a very pious person. He might have been like the man Jesus used in his parable of the two men who went to the temple to pray. One boasted about how much he prayed and fasted and supported the temple. The other stood far back and simply prayed, ’Lord be merciful to me a sinner. Jesus tells us he went home justified.
Have you ever been asked, ‘have you been saved?’ There are people who brazenly ask that question of other people. They are convinced that unless you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior you are lost, lost for all eternity. They are sure they are among the saved. But Jesus tells such people; many will come the east and the west and take their place in the kingdom of God. Outsiders will be saved.
We’re all saved by reason of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. The reality we celebrate at the Mass. We’ll realize our salvation when we live our lives faithful to the teaching and example of Christ. We’ll realize our salvation when we live the great commandment, love one another as I’ve loved you. We’ll realize our salvation when give thanks to God for the blessings of our lives. We’ll realize our salvation when we are open to the stranger, when we are there for brothers and sisters in need
There is a prayer before a crucifix that prays; For how many ages have you hung upon you cross and still I pass you by and regard you not…..you stretch your hands to comfort me, to lift me up and I have taken those hands which might have struck me into hell and nailed the back, rigid and helpless on the cross, -yet I have but succeeded in engraving my name on your palms forever.
The message of the prayer is we are offered the love of our crucified Christ but it is up to us to accept that love, open our lives to that love and live that love. Christ’s love is a gift but no gift can be given unilaterally. Successful gift-giving takes two: one to offer the gift, and one to receive it. If we refuse the gift God offers us, the gift cannot be successfully given.
Are we saved – yes we are – if we say yes to this awesome gift.
It is our choice as to whether or not we are left to stand outside and knock and hear those dreadful words, ‘I do not know where you come from, go away.
August 18th, 2019
In the second reading of today’s Mass we have the words of support and encouragement that Paul wrote to the Jewish Christians living in Jerusalem. Paul wanted to exhort these good people to persevere in the face of persecution. At that time, certain believers were considering turning back to Judaism to escape being persecuted for accepting Christ as the Messiah. Jewish family members and neighbours saw them as traitors to the ancient faith. Paul reminded them of the great feats and struggles Jewish holy men and women had endured through the ages in their struggles to be faithful to God. Paul held these people up as examples of those who suffered even death for being faithful followers of the God of Israel.
His last example for them to follow is Jesus who endured such hostility against himself; a hatred and hostility that brought him to the cross. Paul encourages these wavering people to run with perseverance the race that was set before them looking to Jesus, the crucified the pioneer and perfecter of their faith.
In the gospel we hear Jesus foretelling of the struggles those who follow him would have to face; rejection by their own families, and made social outcasts by their religious leaders, made to feel like lepers, unclean, unfaithful.
Following Jesus was never meant to be a walk in the park.
Years ago G.K. Chesterton wrote these words; Christianity is the only religion which worships a scapegoat, worships the one who is hated, excluded, spat upon, blamed for everything, ridiculed, shamed, and made expendable. Christianity is the only religion that focuses on imitating the victim and which sees God in the one who is surrounded by the halo of hatred.
There are men and women in our society today who for their own purposes marginalize and scapegoat the sick, the poor, the handicapped, the unborn, the unattractive, the non-productive, and the aged. We as Catholic/Christians are scapegoated and ridiculed when we stand up for such people.
We’re called bleeding hearts when insist Canada welcome refugees, people fleeing from war and persecution. We’re called lefties when we support a living wage, affordable housing and other social causes. In doing all these things we are one with our crucified Christ who writhed in pain and shed his blood for all of us, this man who wears a halo of hatred.
In all our efforts to work for peace and justice and bring a bit of love to our troubled world we look to Jesus, the crucified, the pioneer and perfector of our faith. God give us the courage to be faithful followers of our scapegoated Christ.
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