Leaving for Holidays

As I leave this afternoon for 2 weeks of holidays - I travel with many people in my prayers:

• A few of our faithful parishioners are undergoing new treatments for Cancer and so are in my thoughts and prayers;
• Deacon Robert's Sister in law (Gabrielle's sister) has just been diagnosed with a brain tumour;
• Another parishioner is nearing the end of his life, and preparing to go home to God;
• Mae Sutton, who is the Mother of our past Grand Knight - Chris Sutton - died last week and the Funeral is at St. Benedict's Parish tomorrow.

With these families in my prayers I leave, flying Westjet for the first time ever!

I am home on May 3rd.

Peace.

Youth Ministry Updates

We have been moving along in so many facets of our Youth Ministries that I thought we should give an update...

Holydays Summer Camp:
Registration for Holydays Summer Day Camp begins on Saturday April 20th at 11:00 in the morning.  We know it will be a busy time - we already have over 200 hits on our Registration Info Page on www.HFYM.ca 

We have received the permit for Holy Family School - Including the Kindergarden Rooms! This will help us with the introduction of the Kindergarden program this summer.  Our young teens are also in the process of applying for the many Counsellor positions that we will have during Holydays. Applications are due this week.

We will also be having a Seminarian Intern joining our parish this Summer (June-August) and one of the main things he will do is be involved with Holydays as a counsellor! More on this in May!

Rooted Ministry:  
(Students in grades 3, 4, & 5)
We had a Rooted Session this morning - and Rooted continues every third Saturday Morning - with our next rooted Saturday May 4th - 10:00 - 11:30 am.  Our team has done a terrific job of working on teachings that apply to the daily lives of our youth...

Edge and LifeTeen continue weekly - with these weeks being the heart of the special semester that was put together for the Year of Faith.  Coming soon (Saturday - April 27) is the Annual Pasta Dinner Fundraiser - that raises money for Youth Ministry Retreats.  The Teens will be going on a weekend retreat at the beginning of May - and Tickets are on sale now for the Pasta Dinner.

During the Year of Faith - the Office of Catholic Youth are having "Travelling" youth nights in different parishs. This week LifeTeen is joining the night at Merciful Redeemer Parish, and on May 10th the Edge youth are joing St. Isaac Jogues Parish for their Edge Night!

Thank God for the work that Stephanie does in the parish.  My head just starts to hurt as we keep all these ministries spinning in the parish!

Peace

Difficult Endings

One might think that the title of this post - and the nature of this Blog would mean that I am going to write about the funerals that we are facing in this second week of Easter! But no - on Tuesday evening I was with my friends Maureen and Emil Schemitsch for the hockey game Oshawa was playing against the Barrie Colts.  This is the second round of the OHL playoffs - and the Oshawa Generals had beat Niagara Ice Dogs in the first round - 4 games to 1. The Barrie Colts had won thier first round 4 games straight - so we know that they are a strong team, yet Oshawa had beat them in the regular season.  It was not so in the playoffs.  Barrie came from behind in the first game of the series, and it was all Barrie after that.  
It was in getting ready to go to the game Tuesday night that I realized that it could be Geoffrey's last OHL Game.  He is an "Over-Ager" this year - one of 3 players that were born in 1992 and are allowed on each OHL team this year.  
The first period was tight, with Barrie scoring once - while Oshawa out shot the Colts.  The turning point was in the second half of the second period when Barrie went up 3-1.
With a final score of 4-2 Oshawa was elinated in 4 games.  It was an emotional time, realizing that Geoffrey will not play in the OHL next Fall.
The classy part of the night was that Oshawa announced the 3 Stars of the game as being the 3 players who were over age: 

Matt Petgrave  - Scott Sabourin - Geoffrey Schemitsch

Where will Geoffrey be next year?  I do not know - but I do know that he has tremendous talent, great leadership skills and is a genuine gentleman.  On top of that - he has "Hockey smarts" and that might mean he will play in another professional league.

Peace.

Full Easter week

This has been a busy week.  My family came to Bolton on Easter Sunday.  My Sister and Brother in Law & Gabriel - who is also my 6 year old Godson, came to 12 noon Mass, and then went over to the Rectory.  My Dad, Brother, Sister in law and my nephew Michael, arrived around 4:00 in the afternoon.  Dad was at his parish in Kingston for the Easter Vigil since he is a sponsor in the RCIA process there.  And my Brother was at his in-law's in Napanee for Easter Sunday Morning Mass.

We enjoyed a meal together Sunday night and stayed up late talking and catching up.  On Monday morning we had a breakfast of toast, bacon and eggs, but if the truth be told - we really started with an appetizer of Chocolate Eggs!  (I think Laura Secord eggs are the quintessential Easter Chocolate!)  After eveyone left Monday around 12:30 - I went back to bed and had a nap!!!

Tuesday we had Vitamin F - Faith Nourishment - and some thought provoking reflections on Easter and the celebrations we participated in!  Wednesday We had a chance to see the play - The Wizard of Oz that the students from St. Michael's performed at the Rose Theatre in Brampton.  The last performance is tonight - a dinner theatre show!

Thursday was full of appointments - even a walk in appointment, and our Marriage Preparation team gathered for dinner at the Rectory Thursday Evening.  Tonight we have Edge! and I went to the store to get 100 Cadbury Easter cream eggs yesterday!  We also have adoration tonight - led by Decon Robert.

A full week - and we still have Family Gatherings for First Communion Families this coming Sunday and Thursday... I am starting to look forward to my Easter Vacation - April 16-30!

Peace 
  

Easter Joy

Christ is Risen!  Risen indeed! Alleluia 

From an ancient Homily by St. John Chrysostom:

Come all lovers of God, rejoice in the splendor of this feast: enter into the joy of your Lord.
You the first and you the last, receive alike your reward; you rich and you poor, dance together; you sober and you weaklings, celebrate the day; you who have kept the fast and you who have not, rejoice today. The table is richly loaded: enjoy its royal banquet… let no one go away hungry. All of you enjoy the banquet of faith; all of you receive the riches of his goodness.Christ is risen and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen and life is freed. Christ is risen and the tomb is emptied of the dead: for Christ, being risen from the dead, has become the Leader and Reviver of those who had fallen asleep.To Him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen

 Christ is Risen!  Risen indeed! Alleluia 

Holy Saturday

Some 2000 years ago this was a quiet day.  It was the sabbath.  People spent the time at home, with family, going to the Temple or the Synangogue.  The year Jesus was crucified, it was the Passover.

Today was a busy day at the church!  Last minute cleaning; preparing Baskets with the first foods of Easter, including chocolate, wine, eggs, and meats; Anointing our Elect before they are to receive the Sacraments tonight at the Easter Vigil. Preparing the Font, the Church, and the parish hall for the reception.
This is what marks this day for the church in 2013!

Peace

Holy Thursday

As translated by Vatican Radio, the following is an English rendering of Pope Francis' off-the-cuff homily at the Mass of the Lord's Supper, which the new pontiff decided to celebrate in Rome's Casal del Marmo juvenile detention facility:

“This is moving, Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. Peter understands nothing. He refuses but Jesus explains to him. Jesus, God did this, and He Himself explains it to the disciples.. ‘Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do’.

It is the example set by Our Lord, it’s important for Him to wash their feet, because among us the one who is highest up must be at the service of others. This is a symbol, it is a sign – washing your feet means I am at your service. And we are too, among each other, but we don’t have to wash each other’s feet each day. So what does this mean? That we have to help each other…sometimes I would get angry with one someone, but we must let it go and if they ask a favor of do it! 

Help one another. This is what Jesus teaches us. This is what I do. And I do it with my heart. I do this with my heart because it is my duty, as a priest and bishop I must be at your service. But it is a duty that comes from my heart and a duty I love. I love doing it because this is what the Lord has taught me. But you too must help us and help each other, always. And thus in helping each other we will do good for each other. 

Now we will perform the ceremony of the Washing of the Feet and we must each one of us think, Am I really willing to help others? Just think of that. Think that this sign is Christ’s caress, because Jesus came just for this, to serve us, to help us”.

Following the morning (Chrism) Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, with the priests of Rome, Pope Francis visited this Rome-area youth detention center, where he washed the feet of twelve of the detainees. Included in the group were two girls and two Muslims. After washing each person's feet, Francis also kissed them.

Have a Blessed Triduum.

Fr. Larry