Mary Mother of God, New Years & Peace

This prayer was posted on the Archdiocese of Toronto website for the feast of Holy Family - and so I wanted to post it here for our parish to enjoy!

January 1st each year marks 3 events in the Church:

• The Solemnity of Mary - the Mother of God.
• The World day of prayer for Peace,
• and the beginning of a New Calendar Year.

For the celebration of Mary - Mother of God, I wanted to share another video from "Busted Halo" a website that endeavours to use social media to express the truths of the catholic church - and they have a video on Mary - the Mother of God.

Each year - on this first day of the year - the Holy Father provides a statement / letter on the topic of peace - in order to mark the International Day of Prayer for Peace.  How very needed these messages are!  From the domestic front in people's homes, to international relations - I think all violence needs to be confronted with peace.  Here is the text of the Holy Father's message this year:

Finally - on behalf of everyone here at Holy Family Parish - I wish to thank the Knights of Columbus and everyone who helped to make our Parish Feast Day skate such a terrific success.  I think it was our largest turn out since we began this tradition 5 years ago! 

There were over 300 cups of Hot Chocolate served - thanks to the Tim Horton's owner of the 2 locations on Hwy 7: at Gore Road and at McVeen Road.  I think there were over 250 skaters - and close to 350 people at the arena Sunday Afternoon. 

At one point we had 5 members of the parish staff on the ice!

I conclude with the blessing for the beginning of the year from the new Roman Missal:

May God, the source and origin of all blessing, grant you grace, pour out his blessing in abundance, and keep you safe from harm throughout the year.  
Amen.

May he give you integrity in the faith, endurance in hope, and perseverance in charity with holy patience to the end.  Amen.

May he order your days and your deeds in his peace, grant your prayers in this and every place, and lead you happily to eternal life. Amen.
Peace

Feast of the Holy Family

Happy Feast Day…

What parent would not be beside themselves
     When a child goes missing from their side:
In the Store – Mall – Arena -
The Teenage Jesus is lost in this Sunday's Gospel: but not really!

Mary and Joseph are looking for him for 3 days (an allusion to the cross!) and Jesus asks: "why are you distressed?"
This is not Jesus giving lip to his mother and Joseph, perhaps it was more like: Look for me HERE – first!

This past week I had the chance to spend time together with Family, making the trek to Kingston  – where my Dad lives now. (Thanks to my brother-in-law for the driving!)
All of us were talking in the living room after presents, meal, more presents, and dessert – then Gabriel and Michael (my 2 nephews) were put to bed by my brother in law and my sister in law.  But they never resurfaced! So it was just 4 of us (those inlaws have no staying power!) Then Dad went to bed - so it was just Chris, Julie and I: the 3 kids! Then just Chris and I... talking and reflecting late into the night... but it was not always so…  Chris and I used to fight like the dickens!

Certainly - Family is where we experience the Highs & Lows in life. Pleasures & Pains. Both Joys & Sorrows.  Yet when we feel that anger or frustration – that can be a flag to remind us - 
"They Matter – I love them…"

How can the Holy family be a model for our Family?
Fidelity in the face of ridicule and turmoil,
Hope in the face of despair,
and Love in the face of violence.
Faith // Hope // Love //   and the Greatest of these is Love!

Peace

Christmas Eve

The  Church is now decorated... just a final vacuum run to clean up those pesky pine needles, and we will be ready for those who seek to celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation.

The stores are still busy this morning - and I can attest by my own witness - I myself have seen ... Why go to Garden Foods on Christmas Eve morning??? I'll tell you: last night my Dad emailed and asked  if Garden Foods had "dessert manicotti" shells.  I knew he meant canolli shells - and so (against my better judgement) I was at Garden Foods at 10 this morning! The guys there were all very helpful - and after a call to Dad - 2 packages of Canolli Shells were purchased! (Imported from Sicily no less!)
I hope you have all of your shopping for Christmas dinner already done - so that you are not caught in all of this!!! 

Here is a cute video - from New Zealand - where it is already Christmas morning!!!

Peace

Sunday Reflections

John answered all of them by saying, ‘I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’  So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

(Luke 3:16-18)

Winnowing Fork… Threshing floor cleared…Chafe burned… This is good News?  What is the Good news in all of this???  
Perhaps the good News is that "We are being gathered in to the Lord’s Granary"

St. Paul's Letter to the Philippians: Rejoice in the Lord always – Again I say – Rejoice – The Lord is near.  This Sunday in known as Gaudete Sunday – Rejoice Sunday…Pink Candle Sunday!

Facing Tragedy – as we have this week learning of the death of 28 people in Newtown, Conneticut - we are left asking questions like Why?   &   How? Really – how can God let this happen?
It may be helpful for us to remember that St. Paul was in prison when he wrote these words… An uncomfortable place to be !
For St. Paul – all he had was the security of the mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.  That is where St. Paul’s rejoicing originates. That is where our hope lies – when we find ourselves in the uncomfortable place of facing the tragedies like this week…

When we encounter Christ in the Eucharist – it requires a response Conversion can be a source of rejoicing – for we realize that in the change of heart we are being challenged - and are being gathered into the Lord’s Granary.

Our Hope in Advent is not a Psychological Hope 
– where there is a Goal we set out towards 
knowing that you have what is necessary 
inside of you to achieve that goal.
NO – Our hope in Advent is a Theological hope,
– where there is a Goal we set out towards 
knowing you DO NOT have what is necessary 
inside of you to achieve that goal
but rather, set out knowing that – what is necessary 
is with God – and is God’s Utter gift.
Peace

Tragedy & Rejoicing?!?

With yet another school shooting tragedy in the United States, we are left again with all kinds of questions that we feel there are never any satisfactory answers: 

• Why does this happen?
• How can God allow innocent children to be killed like this?
• Where is God in all of this?

In the Liturgy this Sunday we hear the words of St. Paul to the Philippians:

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice."

I imagine that there are not many people in the close knit community of Sandy Hook in Conneticut who are rejoicing these days.  How does the scripture written almost 2000 years ago speak to our present reality?

The mystery of Christ's death and resurrection is, for me, the only hope we can have.  It was also the only hope that St. Paul had!  He wrote this letter to the Philippians while he was imprisoned in Rome, awaiting trail on charges of promoting a Kingdom other than the existing Roman Empire. In the midst of prison - which was surely not a very comfortable place, St. Paul urged his readers on to rejoice.  In the very uncomfortable place of grief and sorrow - we place our hope in the Lord. The one who had given all tragedy meaning in his resurrection!

For the people in Sandy Hook and for us - the people in Bolton - knowing that the story does not end at the cross, but continues to the resurrection, this alone can give us peace in turmoil, hope in sadness, and joy in the ultimate power of God.
Peace

Full Wednesday

Yesterday was the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Under this title  Pope John Paul II declared that Mary is the Patroness of the Americas.  And so this was quite a full day in Holy Family Parish!  We had 2 Advent Masses at Pope John Paul II School.  Since the school is over 700 students - we celebrate 2 masses - with 1/2 of the students and staff at each mass. And Stephanie and I had some time for visits to a couple of the grade 8 classes.  One student had quite a few questions for me.  It seemed each time I answered one question - Jack had 3 more he wanted to ask.  I love these times to just hang out and speak with the young people.
After a Pizza & Salad lunch that the school staff provided, I went to St. Michael's for our weekly Wednesday "Class Mass" that happens in Period 4 (1:00 - 2:15). There are usually 3-4 classes that attend these weekly masses - this was the last one for this semester, and had 4 grade 9 classes.  After Mass I usually have a time of 

"Anything you ever wanted to ask a priest and were afraid to ask, since you thought he might run away, but now he won't - so you can ask!"

These grade 9's have been asking terrific questions - including stuff about priesthood, Illuminati, the Mayan calendar, etc.
To be sure, there is lots of talk in our culture these days about whether the world will end on December 20th, 2012.  I simply reminded the students that Jesus consistently said " ... about that day we know not the day or the hour ..."  

After a stop at Tim Hortons for Tea and coffee for Lydia and Stephanie, I spent some time in the office talking to Stephanie about plans for a new ministry in the parish - aimed at children in grades 3, 4,  and 5.  (Watch for a roll out in the new calendar year!)

Then we both headed to Boston Pizza to have dinner with the Chaplain - Urszula Cybulko - and the team going on the Mission Trip to the Dominican Republic in January.  This was a fundraiser that Boston Pizza does with different charities, with a percentage of the evening's sales being donated to offset the cost of the mission trip and supplies.

After that dinner - Stephanie came back to the church for the Holy Family School - Family Advent Mass, while I went on to St. Margurite d'Youville to help with the sacrament of reconciliation.

A full day in the parish!
Peace

2nd Sunday of Advent

God’s Word always comes to specific human beings in concrete situations. It’s not airy, floating in the clouds. All around the world, as Advent begins, Christians undertake intensified prayer and preparation.  This is how they prepare the way and make the paths straight. There is a collective power in millions turning from the culture’s hype, seeking instead a way of peace, simplicity, and mystery. 

When the stores hang red and green tinsel, Christians drape
their altars and prayer corners with violet. Their energy
comes not from what they can buy, but as the prophet Baruch says, from “rejoicing that God has remembered them.”

In the twenty-first century, we remember Herod, Philip,
and Annas only as villains. The heroes of the story that is
unfolding were unknown in their day: a ragged preacher in
the wilderness named John, a teenaged girl named Mary,
her baffled fiancé, Joseph.



Somewhere in a Toronto hospice for AIDS patients, a first nations parish in Attawapiskat, an orphanage in Malawi, the Word of God continues to be spoken by unique individuals who aren’t famous: through healing touches, compassionate eyes, hearts attuned to Christ’s.




Sharpen Our Hearing
God our generous Father,
you who sent John to awaken the people to the coming of Jesus,
sharpen our hearing, so we too might hear
the unlikely prophets in our midst.
Attune us to your Word, spoken by ordinary people,
by children and teenagers, laborers, artists, and the elderly
so that together we can prepare your way.
Lead us to appreciate all your people
as much as we admire the rich and famous.
We ask this through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Advent in 2 minutes

Busted Halo is a website that presents Catholic teachings in different formats - and is involved in different forms of media. They have a radio show on Sirius Satellite radio's Catholic Channel, and Utube Videos.  One of the neat U Tube Video's was featured on the Archdioces of Toronto Blog this week:

I think that focusing on the coming of Christ daily in our lives is a way to see Advent in a new light.  That is what Catherine Ecker (our parish catechist) talked about at the family gathering at the end  of November where people made Advent Wreaths.

     God our caring Father,
     you who gave your beloved Son
     to ransom all people,
     see our human fears
     and love us anyway.
     Guide us through this season
     with quiet, glad anticipation.
     Help us to pay attention
     to the poor and needy,
     and to the lonely among us.
     Give us a spirit of reflection,
     patience with each other,
     and hearts brimming with thanks.
     We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Advent Peace

Light up for Christ

This evening we had the "Light up for Christ" gathering at Holy Family Parish.  The Knights of Columbus throughout the world celebrate this evening - the first Tuesday evening in December - at 8:00 pm as they light Christmas trees and Nativity Scenes.

This year we blessed a New Nativity Scene that was purchased through the efforts of the Squires and the Squirettes.  This beautiful Nativity scene will be light up each night to be a physical reminder that we need to keep Christ in Christmas in our local community!

After singing and praying and singing some more, we headed inside to enjoy hot chocolate and goodies!  

Peace

Santa, Photos and Advent

Saturday was a busy day for Holy Family Parish!  I was up early to get the greenery for the Advent wreath that we make each year- more on that later!

Then it was off to the church to meet over 35 Edgers and LifeTeen youth for the annual Santa Clause Parade in Town.  We had Squires, Squirettes, and Knights of Columbus take care of the decoration of the float, and the Edge and LifeTeen youth stuck "Keep Christ in Christmas" stickers on the candy we handed out! 

The Holy Family Float this year was just ahead of Santa - great placement - and we were in the middle of the Paramedics and Fire Fighters!  

We are a life-saving group too!!!

While it was cold out there on the float - it was great to be able to see so many people!

After the Parade we had a Photo-Shoot at the parish.  I know - you are thinking - really - a Photo-Shoot??? Why???

Well we were looking for a number of images that we can use on our web site, on brochures, and on a series of prayer cards we are preparing for a new project in the coming year.  Stephanie talked with Rosemary Bolognese - a parishioner who is a photographer and a teacher at one of our schools (St. Nicholas).  We spent the afternoon getting hundreds of images - including some with a casket that Egan's Funeral Home kindly loaned us!

We got images of Deacon Robert, Father Damian, and I in different vestments, as if we were celebrating Mass, presiding at a funeral, as well as the font and altar area, and the gift table.

Then we set up our Advent Wreath in minutes - and took pictures with 1, 2, 3, and all 4 candles lit...

Each week throughout Advent we will be placing Family Resources on line on the parish website:

www.holyfamilybolton.ca

I encourage you to use these neat resources which we get from a Liturgical Publisher in the United States.  

And we still have LifeTeen tonight! And Families for reconciliation tomorrow afternoon!

Peace