Parish Bulletin for Sunday, May 1, 2005
Sixth Sunday of Easter
The Promise of the Spirit
We must remember that the gospel of John was, scholars believe, written at the end of the first century after the death and resurrection of Jesus. This gospel writer very methodically and carefully pulled together the experiences of his faith community and paid attention to their reflections and meditations on all that Jesus said and did. In doing so, he helped them and he continues to help us to live in communion with Christ.
Today's gospel records the promise of the Paraclete. (Paraclete is the Greek word for an advocate who comes to one's side to give help and counsel.) John's community lived in the fulfilment of that promise and so do we. Just as the historical Jesus had been the way, the truth, and the life for his disciples, so the Paraclete continues the mission of Jesus by continuing to be the way in which believers know and are united with God.
This Spirit of Truth enables the church, the people of God, to search sincerely for what is right and just. The gift of Jesus was freely given to all of us by a God who loved, loves, and will continue to love us no matter what we do. The gift of Spirit is neither earned nor the result of anything we can do to receive it. It simply is. This does not mean that mistakes have not or will not be made. We are called to be a church who struggles with the truth. With the gift, comes the responsibility. The church, like the Spirit, is to be a power to be tapped by the world.
To those in the darkness of sin, the church, as paraclete, should bring the light of healing and forgiveness. To the poor, the church, as paraclete, is to seek out and ease their poverty where it begins. In this area particularly, the church must search out the source and deal with both the hunger and the reasons for that hunger. In other words, the paraclete in the church must marry social justice to charity in order to fulfill the mission of the Lord. In this way, the ministry of Jesus remains alive and active through the power of the Spirit working and acting in our lives.
We, the church, must open our resources and harness our energies to accomplish the mission. Jesus promised us the power to do so in His name and the promise of the Paraclete, made in today's gospel, makes all things possible.
And how is this promise of the Spirit fulfilled in us? If you want a one word command, it has to be love. The "greatest commandment" of all is to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and then to love your neighbour as yourself. Love is a verb; we are called to grow in love for all of our lives. It is not an inward exercise meant to fulfill our romantic fantasies; it is alive and moving out from us toward one another.
The love of God, self and neighbour grow together. When love is stagnant, the work of the Spirit is stagnant as well. When we keep Jesus' commandments, then the Spirit of truth and love will flow into us. When we remember that Jesus first provides us with the love we need, then we are able to keep his commandments. Let us offer our thanks and praise for the gift and for the challenge of the responsibility to be another paraclete to and in our world.
— Rev. Thomas G. Moore
Mass Intentions for the week
- TUESDAY, May 3
- St. Philip and St. James
- 12 Noon - † Anton Veerasinghham, Robert and John Saverimuthu
- Requested by family
- WEDNESDAY, May 4
- Easter Weekday
- 8:30 a.m. – Intention: Thanksgiving
- Requested by Mrs. M
- THURSDAY, May 5
- Easter Weekday
- 8:30 a.m. – Intention: Thanksgiving
- Requested by Shashi Krishan
- FRIDAY, May 6
- Easter Weekday
- 8:30 a..m. - † Anthony Francis
- Requested by Mary Francis
- SATURDAY, May 7
- Easter Weekday
- 9:15 a..m. – Morning Prayers
- (Office of the Blessed Virgin)
Parish Bulletin for Sunday, May 8, 2005
Feast of the Ascension
Celebration of the Feast of the Ascension leads us into a deeper unfolding of the paschal mystery. The Ascension of Jesus is integral to our understanding of the paschal mystery. Before speaking of the Ascension, however, it is important to remind ourselves that the resurrection of Jesus was not a return to this life, but rather a dynamic breakthrough into new life – a life marked by transformation and defined by its very finality.
Jesus Christ lived, died and was raised from the dead into new life. Resurrection and Ascension mark the end of one moment of our salvation history and the beginning of another. The Easter Season – all of the Easter season – proclaims that Jesus lives, that He lives with God, and that He lives for us. Ascension marks the end of the physical appearances of the Risen Lord and begins a new way of Jesus living among us. Last week, the promise of the Spirit. This week, the mission! And through it all, Jesus tells us that he will be with us always.
Think of Ascension in another way. Jesus is established above all power, dominion and authority and becomes for us the focus of our lives. Living centred in Christ means living as disciples and as followers of all that He has taught us to be. The Risen Christ shares in the lordship of God and is the head of all creation, including His body, the church. Jesus lives, He teaches, He suffers, He dies and God raises Him from the dead. Through the man Jesus, God reveals His plan for us and, through Jesus, brings about transformation and renewal to all of humankind.
This work cannot stop and must continue through the saving actions of the Risen Lord. This work must continue in the hearts, minds and actions of living followers and is not restricted to individuals or communities. It is meant for all to share in the work of salvation and, just as we talked about last week, takes place in communities of believers.
As church, that community of believers in the Risen Lord, we come together in response to the call of the gospels. The Easter message calls us into the mission – Jesus' mission. We are to spread the good news by lives lived as followers, as men, women and children who bear witness in a world that sometimes turns a deaf ear and a blind eye to all that Jesus teaches, and to live out all that He said and all that He did. What a challenge!
The Ascension becomes a necessary condition for the presence of the Risen Lord in a new and life-sustaining way. Only through the coming of the Spirit can the early disciples fully comprehend all that has happened. Only through the gifts of the Spirit can the courage and wisdom and understanding and knowledge and counsel and fortitude and awe and wonder fill the hearts of disciples. To become true followers able to engage in the mission, we need courage and strength and only the coming of the Spirit can enable both the first disciples and us to witness to
the way, the truth and the life.
For the Spirit to come, Jesus must join the Father to continue His role as
priest, prophet, and king. Christians have always believed that Jesus completed His earthly mission and returned to God from where He was sent and now continues among us in a new and dynamic presence.
Our God is a loving God, filling His family with the Spirit so that they may live more abundantly in His love. We are called to live fully and authentically and to be faithful to all that the Lord has taught us. When we bear witness to Jesus and to what God has done for us in Him, we not only speak but we also act that belief – word and deed become one. We live out the gospel message!
Only in the power of the Spirit is such witness possible. It is the Spirit who molds us into the body of Christ. It is the power of the Spirit that makes it possible for us to fulfill the mission. We are called to bear witness to Jesus and to what God has done for us in Him. Alone, we cannot hope to accomplish this. Jesus promises to be with us and that promise is fulfilled in the coming of the Spirit.
What greater comfort could there be than in knowing and believing in the constant presence of Jesus? What better guarantee that the mission we are given to undertake can, indeed, be accomplished by virtue of that presence?
— Rev. Thomas G. Moore
Mass Intentions for the week
- TUESDAY, May 10
- Easter Weekday
- 12 Noon - † Glen Herron
- Requested by his wife
- WEDNESDAY, May 11
- Easter Weekday
- 8:30 a.m. - † Lydia Arsenault
- Requested by family
- THURSDAY, May 12
- Easter Weekday
- 8:30 a.m. - † Diniz Raposo
- Requested by wife and family
- FRIDAY, May 13
- Easter Weekday
- 8:30 a..m. - † Edna Branche
- Requested by daughter Margaret and her husband George
- SATURDAY, May 14
- Easter Weekday
- 9:15 a..m. – Morning Prayers
- (Office of the Blessed Virgin)
Parish Bulletin for Sunday, May 15, 2005
PENTECOST
The Gift of the Spirit
It has been said and held in ancient tradition that the church was formed through the saving action of the passion, death and rising again of the Lord Jesus, but that she actually began her mission on Pentecost, the coming of the Spirit who would forever change the face of the earth. The promise of Jesus is fulfilled in the life force of wind and fire.
Who else could move a fear filled group of disciples who are holed up in the safety of the Upper Room? Who else could open their minds and enlighten their spirits to come to a true belief? Who else could propel these same disciples into action and fill their hearts with the fire of love so that they could proclaim the Good News?
And what is it exactly that is proclaimed? God wants relationship with us and enters into a new and eternal covenant with humankind. "I will be your God and you will be my people" takes on new life in light of the gift of Jesus. Wind and fire marked the Covenant on Mount Sinai; wind and fire again mark the Pentecost event when the Spirit bursts into the lives of the disciples and continues to blaze throughout the history of the church. We may try to ignore it, we may try to tame it, we may try to escape it, but the Spirit blows where it wills.
Jesus came to cast a fire on the earth and we are called to carry that flame and spread it to all corners of the earth. It is the work of the Spirit to fan those flames into an incontrollable love of Christ. That love of Christ leads us to the fulfilment of the covenant – the spread of the kingdom and all that the kingdom of God promises.
Like the wind, the Spirit cannot be captured or contained; it is neither liberal or conservative. It is free and it is everywhere! It simply is.
— Rev. Thomas G. Moore
Masses Intentions for the week
- TUESDAY, May 17
- Weekday
- 8:30 a.m. - † Catherine Clydesdale
- Requested by Kas and June Mentzen
- WEDNESDAY, May 18
- Weekday
- 8:30 a.m. - † Johanna Sheahan
- THURSDAY, May 19
- Weekday
- 8:30 a.m. - † James Sheahan
- FRIDAY, May 20
- Weekday
- 8:30 a..m. - † Pauline VanNieuwenhove
- Requested by husband Alfred
Parish Bulletin for Sunday, May 22, 2005
TRINITY SUNDAY
Most of us have heard the attempts we have made to visualize the concept of Trinity – the shamrock of St. Patrick, the different forms of water as liquid, gas, and vapour, or perhaps the interlocking circles. And then our liturgical calendar calls us to mark a feast day called Trinity Sunday! What do we do with that?
What we are celebrating on Trinity Sunday is the gift of our God choosing to become known to us by offering us a share in the relationship that constitutes the three persons in one God. God invites us into relationship with Him as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are welcomed into the love of a creative Father, resting secure in the revitalizing breath of the Spirit, and in the full embrace of a loving and life-giving Brother. This Brother has taken our burdens of sin and weakness and offers instead a share in the new life and covenant of love that is our salvation. We become who we are called to be: the children of God, the heirs of heaven and the brothers and sisters of Jesus. And that is not all!
God has come among us to form us into community. Community is where all our gifts and all our needs fit together and where our great diversity finds unity. Love in community is the answer to our most basic hunger – to belong, to be welcomed and cherished as we really are. On this feast of Trinity, we should not be surprised to know that God is a community of love. When we come out of loneliness into community, we model the inner life of God. In community, together in love, we reveal the image and likeness of our God. We, as human beings, have been gifted with God's love, freely given. Our response to that gift is faith. To believe is to know and to love Jesus. As believers, we are to be witnesses to the world of the great gift of God's love, that love we have come to know and experience in Jesus Christ.
Relationship with the Triune God calls us into relationship with the whole human family. It is integral to who God is for us. Our relationships with each other are, just as the gift of relationship with God is, in need of tender caring, nurturing and constant attention. All those in relationship with me also touch another and another and another. It is love, compassion and self-giving that sustains and supports each one of us and it is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three Persons, One God, who continue to feed and nurture it all. Each one of us is called to move through our world witnessing to what has been gift to us all along. O, let us pray this day for the courage to act with kindness, compassion and love and for the wisdom to recognize each and every opportunity that we have to do this.
— Rev. Thomas G. Moore
Mass Intentions for the week
- TUESDAY, May 24
- Weekday
- 12 Noon - † Edward Kelly
- Requested by wife Barbara
- WEDNESDAY, May 25
- St. Bede; St. Gregory VII; St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi
- 12 Noon - † James Sheahan
- THURSDAY, May 26
- St. Philip Neri
- 12 Noon - † Fidel Austriaco
- Requested by daughter Fe Nidoy
- FRIDAY, May 27
- St. Augustine of Canterbury
- 12 Noon - † Frank Strano
- Requested by Jason and Sue Paniccia
Parish Bulletin for Sunday, May 29, 2005
Feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord
The Gift of Nourishment
Today we celebrate the feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord. For many of us older folks, we remember this day as the Feast of Corpus Christi. Yet, every time we celebrate at the table of the Word and the table of the Eucharist, are we not celebrating this gift of God? Are we not called together every Sunday to celebrate Eucharist?
The answer, of course, to these questions is a resounding yes. Perhaps, as the people of God, we need to be reminded every now and then of why we come together and what it is we are celebrating when we are gathered. Eucharist is our prayer of thanksgiving and gratitude to the Father for all His many blessings and for loving us so much that He sent His only Son to live among us.
The gift of the Last Supper, the gospel reading for today, is the gift of Jesus' presence in the consecrated bread and wine. We do not say that Eucharist is like the body and blood of Jesus, but that it is the body and blood of Jesus. In the Gospels, Jesus says, "This is my body" and "This is my blood." This is very strong language indeed and it is this 'Mystery of our Faith' that we celebrate at the table of the Eucharist every time we gather for Mass.
The mystery of the kingdom of God and the mystery of Eucharist are meant to reveal the love of our God for all of his people. Eucharist is a concrete encounter of the community with Jesus, reflected back to us in the concrete encounters we have in our everyday lives with each other. Eucharist is not an individual and God, but rather the community of faith encountering the real presence of God through Christ, our Lord and brother. Jesus, the Risen Lord, is God revealing God's self to us in the real and concrete presence of Jesus. We are in relationship with the God who desires and has initiated that relationship. The sign of that relationship is Eucharist.
Yet we can get stuck, if we are not careful, on the elements of bread and wine, body and blood, unless we experience persons instead of things, relationships instead of magic. Real reverence has to be for the person of Christ and for all people for whom he lived, died and was resurrected – the two are inseparable. That is why we are called the Body of Christ.
We cannot have reverence for the body and blood of Christ – the person of Christ – until and unless we live that same reverence with each other. We cannot help but want a community of compassion, mercy, peace and justice, if we recognize that the love of God dwells in our hearts through the work of the Spirit and is sealed in the relationship we share at the Eucharistic table – the real presence of Christ. In communion, we share in a real, interpersonal encounter between God and the
worshipping community because Christ is present. Our God is God of love and the Eucharist is the source and summit of our lives as Catholic Christians.
Today's Gospel affirms that the gift of Jesus as Bread was and continues to be a challenge to the faithful. Jesus' offer of living bread, His flesh for the life of the world, was cause for arguments and questions and, for some, a parting of the ways. Others accepted His gift with joy and in faith. Eucharist is more than a source of faith and courage; it is the living presence among us of the risen Christ. To share in it is to share in the most intimate way we can imagine in His life.
Eucharist is at the centre of what it means to be church. Each and every one of us is called to witness to the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. In all that we do and say we are meant to announce to the world his offer of salvation – to all peoples in all time. In the Eucharist, the risen Christ continues, through the Spirit, to be with us and to be for us a promise of eternal fulfilment.
— Rev. Thomas G. Moore
Mass Intentions for the week
- TUESDAY, May 31
- Visitation of Mary
- 12 Noon - † Johanna Sheahan
- WEDNESDAY, June 1
- St. Justin
- 8:30 a.m. - † Frank Strand
- Requested by Lynn Armsworthy
- THURSDAY, June 2
- Weekday
- 8:30 a.m. - † James Sheahan
- FRIDAY, June 3
- Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
- 8:30 a.m. - † Dorothea and Robert Flynn
- Requested by daughter
June 3rd, is First Friday. There will be Special Prayers of The Sacred Heart and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament following Mass.
