Parish Bulletin for Sunday, September 4, 2005

A MESSAGE FROM FATHER MOORE

      The summer is drawing to a close and September has arrived. Families are getting their children ready for school and vacation time is over for another year. It is now time for everyone to take up the responsibilities that fill our days and plan for another year. I am doing the same thing in planning for liturgical celebrations, parental meetings, and sacramental preparation courses. I have kept you informed as to the progress of repairs and plans over the summer and will continue to do so in the coming months.

      One of the initiatives that I will personally facilitate this year is a series of workshops in both Advent and Lent. There will be three meetings in each season on consecutive Tuesday afternoons from 1:30 to 3 p.m. and the discussions will be focussed on two works of literature and what they say to us about ourselves and the world around us as we travel on our journey of faith. The work we will study in the Advent period will be "A Christmas Carol" and in the Lenten period we will explore the play "Into the Woods," currently a Stratford production that has received excellent reviews.

      Registration will be required so I am planting the seeds for those of you who enjoy good literature along with good critique and conversation. The books are already on their way from the printers and the sessions will be open to 15 participants. I am looking forward to sharing this time with you and know that we will all learn something from each other. More information on this will be coming, but if I have already peeked your interest, please feel free to pre register with the office. There will be a monetary request to cover the cost of the books only. The critique and discussion are free!

      There are also plans afoot for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the forming of Holy Spirit Parish in 2006. Our Sunday choir is talking about a Christmas concert to help raise funds for the new organ, a special fund-raising event is in the planning stages and various celebrations over the year will help us to recognize that 50 years is truly something to mark.

      This coming year promises to be busy and energetic. You continue to grow in the spirit of community and support your parish family as we all follow in the footsteps of the Lord. May this year be one of blessing and growth. May the God who loves us shine his light upon us and bless us all as we continue to offer him praise and glory in all that we do and all that we say.

Mass Intentions for the week

TUESDAY, Sept. 6

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Glen Herron

Requested by wife

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 7

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † James Sheahan

THURSDAY, Sept. 8

Birth of Mary

8:30 a.m. - † Walter Huculak

Requested by family

FRIDAY, Sept. 8

Weekday

9:00 a.m. - † Johanna Sheahan

24th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Matthew 18:21-35

"Mercy and Forgiveness"

      True forgiveness is rarely easy. One only has to read a newspaper or pick up a news magazine to find how difficult it is for us to forgive one another: this challenge crosses all national, cultural and racial boundaries. It is every bit as difficult when it comes to family, friends, and colleagues. We tend to harbour hurts and slights and to react to the least disregard or wrong.

      In today's gospel, we get the sense that Peter really thinks he is being very generous in asking whether he should be ready to forgive seven times. Jesus' answer is clear. We must forgive without limitation. His parable reveals why.

      The contrast between the amount of money owed to the king and to his servant is deliberately exaggerated. There is no possible way that the servant could ever pay back the enormous debt he owes his master. What his fellow servant owes to him is relatively little. The contrast between these two scenarios reveals both the callousness of the first servant and his blindness to the extraordinary mercy he has received.

      Jesus did not condone evil or turn a blind eye to what was destructive in the way people acted. He challenged it at every opportunity and for this he was put to death, death on a cross. And yet he forgave. He forgave from the cross as he forgave so often during his life. In Jesus Christ we realize the depths of the mercy and love shown to us by our God. As our hearts are transformed by the Spirit of Jesus, we cannot help but become more like him. A lifetime of human experience and of growth in Christ will lead us to ever-deeper relationship with him and, we pray, a deeper well of forgiveness and mercy.

Mass Intentions for the week

TUESDAY, Sept. 13

St. John Chrysostom

8:30 a.m. - † Vincenzo De Angelis

Requested by Paul and Patricia

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 14

Triumph of the Cross

8:30 a.m. - † Adamo Deantoniis

Requested by Sylvester Delaurentis and family

THURSDAY, Sept. 15

Our Lady of Sorrows

8:30 a.m. - † Piedade Fernandes

Requested by Philip and Lavinia George

FRIDAY, Sept. 16

St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian

8:30 a.m. - † Lynda Arsenault

Requested by husband

Parish Bulletin for Sunday, September 18, 2005

25th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

GOD'S MERCY AND LOVE

      All three of today's readings have a common theme expressed in different ways. They affirm and describe how God is working in our lives; indeed, they proclaim his presence in the very midst of life itself. His presence is rooted in love and mercy and goes beyond anything we could ever imagine if left to our own devices.

      The revelation of his presence is sometimes surprising to us and sometimes downright disturbing. It calls us to re-imagine relationship and to open ourselves to a God committed to being 'near.' This God, who is revealed to us in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, is a God who travels with us in both our individual and our collective histories. He offers us his love and forgiveness and calls us to do the same with one another

      The parable of the labourers in the vineyard invites us to recognize God's mercy and generosity and to rejoice in and accept it into our own lives. It also challenges us to be respectful of and sensitive to God's actions in the lives of others. For many of us, the echoes of the elder brother in the prodigal son story resound in this parable.

      How many of us, when push comes to shove, actually have some sympathy for the workers who were first into the vineyard? How many of us consider that those who sweated out the day under the blazing sun deserve more than those who worked but a single hour? Is there a sense that maybe they have a right to complain and feel hard done by?

      Yet this is the kingdom of God in all its glory, in all its mercy, in all its compassion. If it is disturbing to us, then we are truly getting it. The kingdom of God turns our notions of fairness upside down. God's love and mercy and compassion know no bounds. The depth of divine mercy and love are revealed to us over and over again in the life and preaching of Jesus.

      Each of us is called to live his gospel message. We too are called to generosity of spirit in our relationships. Not easy to do, but truly a mark of a true disciple.

Mass Intentions for the week

TUESDAY, Sept. 20

St. Andrew Kim Taegon, St. Paul Chong Hasang

8:30 a.m. – Father James Adams

Requested by Legion of Mary, Holy Spirit Church

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 21

St. Matthew

8:30 a.m. - † Johanna Sheahan

THURSDAY, Sept. 22

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † Louisa Fernandes

Requested by family

FRIDAY, Sept. 23

St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio)

8:30 a.m. - † Daniel Thomas McCrickoid

Requested by Gina Lopez

Parish Bulletin for Sunday, September 25, 2005

26th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

      As in many other instances recorded in the gospels, today's story finds Jesus once again confronting the religious leaders of his time. He is once again in the position of dealing with their challenges to his authority to teach.

      In reality, he is a challenge to their very way of being; he shows them in their true light and illuminates just how tenuous their position really is. Once again he uses the parable to reveal truth. He tells a story that is as viable today as it was in his time on earth. This parable is really asking a question; who are truly good, those who say they intend to do good, but do not or those who say they will not but in fact do? The story ends with a call to conversion. In God's world, there is always time to change, time to repent, time to build the kingdom. He makes sure we understand that conversion is not just a one shot deal. It is an ongoing process, this putting on the mind of Christ. It is a lifelong commitment to living out the gospels.

      How easy it is for us to classify people – these people are good – these people are bad. Jesus refuses to accept that people are good or bad according to where they come from or what they do. He looks, rather, at how they act and how they behave. His judgments are based on how they act with one another and, in the gospel; how they have responded to the teachings of John the Baptist. It is the tax collectors and prostitutes who have responded to the call to conversion while the chief priests and elders have rejected all that John had to say. Has it not also played out that the same responses have applied to Jesus himself?

      It is the same today. Things are not always what they seem to be. The pious and the respectable are not always the ones who are fulfilling the will of God. As Christians, we promise to be loving and just, to pray for those who do us harm and to forgive without limit. We may mean to do these things, but often fall short of living life in the footsteps of the Master. Who are the ones serving the needs of others, working for peace and justice, offering kindness with compassion and committed to making the world a better place to live. It can be very easy to hide behind the façade of religious observance when our lives do not reflect the very things that observance calls us to be. It is in our actions, in our relationships, in how we treat each other that true Christianity lives and thrives.

      Today's gospel calls us to action. It asks us very important questions about ourselves and about our world. Does what we do reveal who we are? Let us pray today for the wisdom to realize that true life in Christ is a process that is meant to last our whole lives. Living as Jesus means us to live is a constant challenge to grow in love and in grace.

Mass Intentions for the week

TUESDAY, Sept. 27

St. Vincent de Paul

8:30 a.m. – Intention: Thanksgiving

Requested by Vivien Johns

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 28

Weekday

8:30 a.m. - † James Sheahan

THURSDAY, Sept. 29

St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael (archangels)

8:30 a.m. – Intentions of Terry and Vince Alary

Requested by the Dunsmore family

FRIDAY, Sept. 30

St. Jerome

8:30 a.m. - † Frances Rodrigues

Requested by Angelo