Parish Bulletin for Sunday, February 5, 2006

5th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Mark 1:29-39

The gospel of Mark is the shortest of the four gospels; Mark is short, to the point, and uses detail sparingly and only when it is going to hammer home a point. His idea was to make sure the people who were reading his gospel would focus on the important and remember it. In Mark, Jesus is driven: he must proclaim the Good News of the Reign of God. He must reach out to the multitudes. Jesus is on a mission from God.

Today's story occurs on the heals of last week's teaching in the synagogue, followed rapidly by the healing of the man with unclean spirits. It is now the Sabbath and the disciples accompany Jesus to the house of Simon and Andrew. They find Simon's mother-in-law suffering from a fever and Jesus cures her. Word spreads rapidly and the whole town ends up on the doorstep before the end of the day, all looking for the man who could cure them.

When Jesus moved in flesh and blood among us, he offered us hope – hope in him, hope in God, hope for salvation and for healing, and hope for forgiveness. Today's story is a case in point. Jesus offers hope in the healing of Simon's mother-in-law, through his power over evil shown in the cures of those possessed, through his prayer in a lonely place that prepared and equipped him for continued service, and through his proclamation of the good news throughout the synagogues and villages of Galilee. His purpose in all of these actions – to let all human beings know the love of God, the love that enables each and every one of us to hope.

Jesus came to preach the good news and to challenge the power of evil. He was faithful to the end to his mission. His job was to proclaim the reign of God, now and through all time.

We can only understand his healing power when we truly understand his mission. How the first disciples struggled with this understanding. How we continue to struggle and understand as well. Discipleship is not all glitz and glamour and fulfilment and recognition. Jesus knew this well.

We find him searching out quiet moments of prayer, withdrawal into the desert to commune with God, building his strength in commitment to the mission God has entrusted to him. Following Jesus requires all of us to search out those places and times that we can reflect. Pray, and centre ourselves in Jesus – the one who leads us into relationship with the God who loves us and offers us hope.

TUESDAY, Feb. 7

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Rose Locicero

Requested by daughter Sarah and son Al and family

WEDNESDAY, Feb 8

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Robert and Dorothea Fynn

Requested by daughter

THURSDAY, Feb. 9

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Joan Comfort

Requested by Lynda Annett

FRIDAY, Feb. 10

St. Scholastica

8:30 a.m. - † Ruth Wong

Requested by Mary Gert McCollam

Parish Bulletin for Sunday, February 12, 2006

6th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Mark 1:40-45

"WHO ARE THE OUTCASTS?"

Jesus glorified God in all that he did and said and this is witnessed throughout Christian scriptures. Mark, while a short and to-the-point witness to the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, still takes the time in the words he uses to let us know how deeply Jesus empathized with the human condition. For example, in today's gospel, we have several telling examples of this deep feeling that Jesus showed for the people he met in his public ministry. We are told that Jesus was 'moved with pity' as he reached out to both touch and heal the leper. Translating his empathy into action, he makes his purpose so clear: "I do will it. Be cured."

Most of us have heard about leprosy, or, as it is known today, Hansen's disease. The spread of this disease has been greatly controlled with modern medicine, but still afflicts some 2 million people world wide and is thought to be carried by many more who do not manifest the physical symptoms. In the ancient world, this disease was quite common and was fatal. True leprosy led to serious and debilitating lives and caused its victims to be cast out. A family was torn apart and the victim was considered dead. Every aspect of normal life was closed to them. They were to live apart and were made to warn others of their presence by crying out: "Unclean! Unclean!"

This phrase had dual meaning; the symptoms of this disease were visible to the eye and the victim was thought to be afflicted as a consequence of sin. It is reported that right into the middle ages, lepers fared no better among their fellow human beings. A priest wearing a stole and carrying a cross led the sick into church; he would then proceed to read the burial service over them. Forever more, they were barred from the life of the church at a time when they most needed the healing, forgiveness and redemption offered by participation. Even today, lepers are for the most part quarantined in sanitariums or sent to live in colonies that are often quite removed from society.

Considering our reaction to this disease, today's powerful witness to God's love takes on new meaning. Rather than recoiling in horror or faulting the leper for breaking the law requiring him to keep his distance, Jesus was moved with compassion. He touched the leper, cured him and sent him to those authorities who could legally affirm the healing; Jesus had restored the man to health and to full participation in the liturgical, social and political life of the community. This gospel is a challenge to us today just as much as it was to those who witnessed this miracle. Jesus demands that we rethink how we would act in a similar situation.

And now we are saying to ourselves – yes, but there are no lepers here and, if there were, I like to think I would respond just like Jesus. Safe assumption – but is it? Jesus, remember, meets us where we live and his example challenges us out of our comfort zone and into the realm of those we consider outcasts in our midst today. How do we treat the friend, the relative, or the neighbour who tells us that he or she has AIDS? Are we moved with compassion at their condition or do we judge them wrongly and harshly and see this as just punishment for their life choices? Do we stretch out our hand? Do we touch them? Do we say or do something to heal their hurt and isolation?

What about the cancer patients who find themselves alone and treated with the fear of catching the disease? Just talk to health-care workers who meet this condition daily in their working lives. Who else challenges our actions and attitudes? How about alcoholics and drug addicts, or those who cannot help themselves with gambling addictions? Have we ever found ourselves labelling someone as a hopeless case? What about those who are emotionally ill or are physically challenged? Have you ever called someone a geek or an egghead? You get the picture.

Jesus speaks to us where we are. He calls us into accountability for our actions and leads us into a new way of being and thinking and action in our world. We are called to look at others with the eyes and love them with the heart of Jesus. We who believe and follow Jesus rejoice with the one who is outcast no longer.

TUESDAY, Feb. 14

St. Cyril and St. Methodius

8:30 a.m. - † Henry Wallace Knight

Requested by George and Lynda Annett

WEDNESDAY, Feb 15

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Francesca Drake

Requested by Eileen Begy

THURSDAY, Feb. 16

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Samuel Johns

Requested by wife Dorothy and family

FRIDAY, Feb. 17

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Jack Williams

Requested by wife Joan

Parish Bulletin for Sunday, February 19, 2006

7th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Mark 2:1-12

Today's story holds several very important keys to understanding the Good News that is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. Today, Jesus speaks words of healing and forgiveness and a paralytic is both cured of his illness and reconciled to God.

What reaction do we have to this event? Are we among those in Capernaum who were amazed and awed? Do we realize fully what this means for our journey of faith? Are our hearts and minds and voices raised in praise and thanksgiving?

In faith, we know and we believe that what God has done through Jesus for the paralytic, God also does for us. We understand that through his words and actions that day, Jesus was declaring that the reign of God and all the saving, healing, and forgiving graces of that reign had opened up to everyone in him.

"That you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." What a statement. For the people of the time, only God could forgive sins. Jesus action on that day simply confirmed his identity. Sin and sickness were inseparable in the eyes of the people of Jesus' time. Jesus provided a visible demonstration of his power to forgive by completely healing the paralytic. Imagine the religious leaders and their reaction to this happening. By their own words, the man could not be cured unless he was forgiven. Then he was cured and therefore must be forgiven. Jesus' claim was true!

For Jesus, the exercise of God's power to forgive would lead in the end to his death. By his own words later in Mark's gospel, he admitted that he came willingly to give his life as ransom for sinners. His claiming the power to forgive and his saving death have gifted us with both our freedom and forgiveness. Our only answer to such gift must and should be gratitude for the love of such a good and gracious God.

Our challenge today is to use the gift. We see the example of those who knew that the paralytic could not enter into the physical presence of Jesus without their help. They went to his home, told him of their plan and brought him to Jesus. They had the best interests of their friend at heart and went to great trouble to make sure he got a chance to see Jesus. What lengths are we willing to go to in order to help our friends? Like those who carried their crippled friend to Jesus and lowered him into his presence, we are called to lovingly carry the burdens of others and to bring them into the presence of Christ through all that we say and all that we do.

The silent witness of those friends of the crippled man calls us to a similar faithful friendship as well. Jesus himself says it so well: "No one has greater love than this, to lay down ones life for one's friends. You are my friends…I call you friends."

TUESDAY, Feb. 21

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Lucille James

Requested by Mary Gert McCollan

WEDNESDAY, Feb 22

Chair of St. Peter

8:30 a.m. - † Francesca Drake

Requested by Betty and Mariam Dunsmore

THURSDAY, Feb. 23

St. Polycarp

8:30 a.m. - † Robert and Margaret Watson

Requested by Nora Watson

FRIDAY, Feb. 24

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Noel and Annie Fynn

Requested by sister Dorothy

Parish Bulletin for Sunday, February 26, 2006

8th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

New Wine; New Skins; New Growth

It may be a challenge for us to understand the significance of the symbol of wineskins Jesus uses in the gospel story today. Far more familiar to us would be the casks and bottles that store our wines at our local LCBO's and wineries.

So let us take a look. For those of us with 100% leather products that have been exposed to moisture, think about what happens. That leather coat that continues to get caught in the rain, this leather wallet that has not been treated with a protective coating and sits in a pool of water over a prolonged period, or those leather shoes that you always meant to get treated but never did. Over time and exposure to the elements, these leather products harden and no longer have any give to them.

Imagine, if you will, the wineskin that has continuously held liquid over a period of time. At first, the wineskin is supple and strong; over time, the old wineskin becomes brittle and develops holes. Good wine drips out and, eventually, the wineskin will not hold any liquid at all. It is hard and full of holes.

In today's story, Jesus invites us to become new wine. We cannot pour this new life into the old wineskins of our former ways. We must have new skin in order to receive this new wine of faith. The good news Jesus wants us to receive changes all pre-conceived ideas and expectations. He insists that this good news be received into new wineskins that can stretch and swell and grow.

Jesus' new understanding includes the tax collectors, sinners, the poor, the outcast, the sick and all who have been marginalized. We cannot force this new wine into dried-out skins and risk its loss. Jesus calls us to recognize and use the gifts of grace and renewal given through God's Spirit. This same Spirit moves and breathes within those who are courageous enough to give it room in their hearts and minds and lives. New wine; new skins; new growth.

THE SEASON OF LENT

Today's second reading from Paul to the Corinthians reminds us that the Spirit of God is ever present and available to us, breathing new life into us and keeping us from the narrow-mindedness and rigidity that close our eyes to the God who is acting in our lives. That same Spirit will be with us as we move ahead this week into another season of Lent.

We have a built-in desert experience every liturgical year that provides us with the opportunity for renewed prayer, fasting and the giving of our time, talent and treasure to the needy. These activities in the desert time and place we call Lent have the power to stretch our spirits so that the good news of Jesus Christ has room to grow more deeply and more fully within us.

TUESDAY, Feb. 28

Weekday

8:30 a.m. – Intention: 60th Wedding Anniversary of Mr. And Mrs. Machado

Requested by family

WEDNESDAY, March 1

Ash Wednesday

8:30 a.m.

THURSDAY, March 2

Weekday Lent

8:30 a.m. - † Gary Kyle

Requested by the Johns family

FRIDAY, March 3

Weekday Lent

8:30 a.m. - † Amelia Couvinha

Requested by Helena Sousa