Off on Holidays

I am headed off on Holidays - to South Africa (Cape Town / Durban/ and the Hluhluwe-Imfazoli Game reserve). 
I will be posting pictures along the way - I find it easy to do so on facebook.
Peace

Halloween - All Saints - All Souls

Halloween - All Saints - All Souls

Halloween is the eve of Hallowmass, better known to modern Christians as All Saints' Day. Hallowmass celebrates God's harvesting into heaven the faithful of every age, culture and walk of life. It is a day of glorious rejoicing.
Saints are people who, by their joyful service, have extended the love of God to others. The Roman martyrology--the list of the saints officially recognized as such by the church--contains over ten thousand names. And those are only the saints whose names we remember! All Saints' Day also remembers those holy people whom no one but God any longer knows. The reading for the day from the Book of Revelation describes "a great multitude that no one could count."
The abundance of the harvest of souls is perfectly suited to observance in the northern hemisphere in late autumn. That's why in North America All Saints' Day and Halloween are brightened with corn shocks, pumpkins, apples, nuts and other signs of nature's bounty.
The North American tradition of Halloween ghost-and-goblin madness comes from Celtic lands, where the spirits of the dead were thought to roam the earth for one night before winter began. To ward off their fear of the supernatural, people sat around huge bonfires, telling stories and sharing the fruits of the harvest. Children were sent round to beg for fuel for the fire. Although the practice of "trick-or-treating" has its roots in pre-Christian Celtic tradition, it would be a mistake to write off the practice as devil worship. In Christ, all things have been made new. And so we dress as ghosts and goblins to laugh at the devil, who has lost ultimate power over God's beloved children.
In Mexico, especially in the southern state of Oaxaca, families go and tend the graves of their loved ones at this time of year. In the middle of Halloween night, they have a fiesta with masks, food, sweets (like miniature skulls made of candy) and bunches upon bunches of marigolds--all by the light of candles in the cemetery! Those who have gone before us, marked with the sign of faith, are still members of the family!

All Saints' Day - November 1

"Today we keep the festival of your holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem, our mother. Around your throne the saints, our brothers and sisters, sing your praise for ever. Their glory fills us with joy, and their communion with us in your church gives us inspiration and strength as we hasten on our pilgrimage of faith, eager to meet them."

So we pray during the Mass of All Saints. We celebrate those who have made the long journey to the holy city, to Jerusalem, to the feast of heaven. The scriptures and prayers for the day tell us that we are part of that vast throng now standing before God's throne in ceaseless praise. From the second reading: "I saw before me a huge crowd which no one could count from every nation, race, people and tongue...dressed in long white robes." At our baptism, when we received our white robes, we became part of this great assembly. Indeed, every time we go to Mass, before we sing Holy, Holy, we recall that we sing God's praise with "angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven."
Who is this company and why is it so wonderful to be part of it? This is another way of asking, "What does the communion of saints mean?" It is not complicated. All the baptized, living and dead, across the generations, walk together, suffer together, sing together--not only those who have died, and not only those who lead heroic lives. Vincent Harding, writing in Sojourners magazine, put it this way: "What a wild company we belong to! These are wild people, persecuted people, going-out, not-knowing-where-they're-going people." For a picture of what the lives of saints look like, we read the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) at Mass today.

All Souls - November 2

Because we know that death is not the end of life, it is not morbid for us Christians to visit the graves of our loved ones who have died. It is good to visit the cemetery, especially on November 2 and then throughout the month of November, when the church celebrates the communion of saints and souls and looks forward to that harvest at the end of time when all will be gathered into the new Jerusalem.
We decorate the graves of our loved ones because we believe that in baptism they have died with Christ and thus Christ will raise them up. So we place on the grave an evergreen wreath--the ancient crown of victory over death and a reminder of the eternal life promised to us in the first sacrament. Or we light vigil candles on the grave, keeping one lit throughout November - a reflection of the light of Christ given to each one of us on our baptism day, and a reminder of the wise bridesmaids who kept their lamps lit while waiting for the groom to come so that the wedding could begin. We can pray at each grave:

Eternal rest grant unto __________, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.May they rest in peace. Amen.  May their soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Peace

And now for some Hockey news...

My Godson - Thomas Schemitsch - was named to the OHL Team for the Canada Russia series that will happen in November. 

The Press Release:

Toronto, ON – The Ontario Hockey League in association with the Canadian Hockey League, the Owen Sound Attack, and the Windsor Spitfires hockey clubs today announced the Team OHL rosters for the 2015 CHL Canada Russia Series.

Team OHL will compete against the Russian National Junior Team in Game 3 of the series in Owen Sound on Thursday November 12, with Game 4 to be played in Windsor on Monday November 16.  The series also includes two games in the Western Hockey League prior to both OHL games, and ends with two games hosted by the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

36 players will represent the OHL in the 2015 CHL Canada Russia Series including 13 players who received invites to Canada’s National Junior Team Summer Showcase.  Headlining that group is Florida Panthers prospect Lawson Crouse of the Kingston Frontenacs who won gold as a member of Team Canada at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship.  Summer Showcase invites on Team OHL also include goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood of the Barrie Colts, defencemen Travis Dermott of the Erie Otters, Vince Dunn of the Niagara IceDogs, Roland McKeown of the Frontenacs, and Mitchell Vande Sompel of the Oshawa Generals.  The forward group includes New York Islanders 2014 first round pick Michael Dal Colle of the Generals, Philadelphia Flyers first round pick Travis Konecny of the Ottawa 67’s, Toronto Maple Leafs first round pick Mitch Marner of the London Knights, Arizona Coyotes first round prospects Brendan Perlini of the IceDogs and Dylan Strome of the Otters, Dylan Sadowy of the Saginaw Spirit, and the Frontenacs’ Spencer Watson.

Both 2015 CHL Canada Russia Series hosts will be represented by a pair of hometown players.  In Owen Sound, Montreal Canadiens prospect Michael McNiven and Florida Panthers prospect Thomas Schemitsch of the Attack will dress for Team OHL on November 12, while the Spitfires’ Logan Brown and Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Cristiano DiGiacinto will play before the Windsor crowd on November 16.

Louis & Zelie Martin Canonized

Louis & Zelie Martin - The parents of Saint Therese of Lisieux- Canonized today during the Synod on the Family.
Here is the story of the Miracle behind the Canonization:

Seven-year-old Carmen has an extraordinary story. Because of her Blessed Louis Martin and Zelie Guerin, the parents of Saint Therese of Lisieux, were canonized this Sunday in Saint Peter's Square.
The little girl was born prematurely in Spain in 2008 at just six months into pregnancy. She was fighting for her life for several weeks because of a cerebral hemorrhage and other severe ailments. 
But her loved ones and many Carmelite sisters sought the miraculous intervention of the Martins. The Vatican recognized the baby’s healing as miraculous.
Little Carmen’s parents, her mother Carmen and her father Santos, have told her story in an exclusive interview with CNA.
“We’re just another family who received this miracle with open arms, as you'd expect. But we and Carmen are normal people like anybody else,” Santos said.

The baby Carmen is now seven years old.
“Our daughter was born at hardly six months gestation, after a pregnancy with many complications, and her organs were very underdeveloped. Complications set in right away: cerebral hemorrhage, bacterial infection … her situation was getting worse to the point we were extremely worried,” Santos explained.
Both parents were both going through “a terrible situation.”  

“For some parents dealing with such a dramatic situation it would stir up feelings of helplessness, grief, guilt and despair...on top of that we had a five year old son and we were trying to keep this situation from affecting him,” Santos said.

The doctors told them to prepare for the worst. Every day had major significance. “Carmen was getting worse and worse,” her father said. She was so weak that for 35 days her parents could not even so much as touch their daughter in order to avoid infecting her.

“The doctors thought there was no longer anything more they could do for her and after that they let us touch her,” Santos and Carmen said, adding “during this whole process we never lost faith, we clung to our faith and it helped us very much.”

“For us faith is the foundation of our family, and as they say: without faith, there is no hope.”
Little Carmen was born on the feast day of Saint Teresa of Avila, so her parents sought out a monastery or church connected with the saint.

“We saw our answer come to us through prayer. Carmen was still alive—even though she was still very sick—so we were determined to look for a place even harder,” Santos said. “So I searched on Google for some place to pray to Saint Teresa and right away popped up the monastery of Saint Joseph and Saint Teresa in the town of Serra in Valencia Province.”

“I went there one afternoon, but I got there almost at night and I couldn't get in because it was closed. So I told one of the Carmelite sisters on the intercom what was going on with Carmen and she told me they would pray.” The sister also told Santos that he could come there Sunday for Mass.

“We were going to Mass there, we were praying and we would quickly turn around because we needed to get back to see our daughter since the hospital was 25 miles away.”

After four or five Sundays, the Carmelite sisters became close to the parents of the sick baby. This was how the parents of Saint Therese of Lisieux came fully into their lives.

Louis Martin and Zelie Guerin married in 1858 just three months after they met. They lived in celibacy for nearly a year, but went on to have nine children. Four died in infancy, while the remaining five daughters entered religious life.

The Martins were known for living an exemplary life of holiness of prayer, fasting and charity. The couple frequently visited the elderly and invited poor people to dine with them in their home.

Their daughter, St. Terese of Lisieux, became a Carmelite nun known as the Little Flower. She authored the deeply influential spiritual autobiography “Story of a Soul.” She was canonized in 1925 and named a Doctor of the Church in 1997.

The canonization cause for another of their daughters, Leonia Martin, opened in 2015. The Martins were beatified in 2008.

“Saint Therese’s parents were beatified on October 19, four days before Carmen was born,” Santos said. The Carmelite sisters gave little Carmen’s parents some pictures of the Martins, a prayer and a short biography of the married couple.  “The prioress told us that perhaps these blesseds, who had miraculously cured a child, could also help us,” Santos said.

“That very same night we began to pray to them,” he said. Other sisters in other convents also joined in prayer for the suffering baby. “Beginning the next day there were a series of changes and Carmen's state,” the girl’s father said.

The next day Carmen was transferred to another hospital and she began to recuperate noticeably. She began to breathe without a machine and her infections began to subside. On the third day she left the intensive care unit, though it took several years to know whether she suffered side-effects from the hemorrhage.

Carmen was finally released from the hospital on Jan. 2, 2009 the same day as the birthday of Saint Therese of Lisieux.   Fifteen days later, the relics of Blessed Louis and Zelie came to Lerida, Spain. The Carmelite sisters encouraged the family to go.

There, they met the postulator for the Martins’ cause for Sainthood and explained their daughter’s healing. The postulator pursued the case, and the investigation for the Martins’ possible canonization began in November 2009. It was not until March 2015 that investigators approved Carmen's miracle that would raise the Martins to the altars. The family received the news on March 18 during the popular Fallas de Valencia festival.

“Our whole family was going down San Vicente Street in Valencia right in the middle of the Offering of Flowers to the Virgin of the Defenseless to give her our bouquet. All of a sudden our cell phone went off and, after six years, they gave us the big news.”

“It was a very special and moving moment, it couldn't have been at any other time, just when we were at the feet of the Virgin,” Santos recalled with great emotion. Baby Carmen’s parents have told her everything about how she was healed, adapted for her age.

“For us it was always a miracle, and even more when we could see she was responding to everything and recuperating,” her parents said. “It's different to experience something like this than when somebody tells you about it. When it happens to you, your faith is reaffirmed.”

Carmen’s parents said they were already strong believers before the miracle, but now they practice their faith more. The whole family are able to witness the canonization along with family and friends. They were “a little nervous and anxious” as they awaited the ceremony. But they also have “a lot of joy.” 

This is the first time the Church has canonized a married couple at the same ceremony.

PA Day - Sept 2015

For the last 7 years we have gathered the Staffs of our Elementary Schools on the Faith Day / PA Day in September. This year our topic was the Jubilee Year of Mercy...

In the last couple of years Pope Francis has been gaining the attention of people in the Church and outside the Church – he is able to get lots of media coverage – much of it would fall into the category of positive media coverage. On April 11, 2015 Pope Francis issued an Apostolic letter calling for an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy – 

What does a jubilee year mean?  In the Biblical sense a Jubilee Year was one year after 49 years (7 times 7 = 49 ... so every 50 years.) In 1983-84 Pope John Paul II (now St. John Paul II) announced a Holy Year of Salvation and Redemption (1950 years since the Death and Resurrection of Jesus) The most memorable item that flowed from this Jubilee year - was the World Youth Day Cross. Attached to the WYD Cross (which has travelled thru our community)  is:

My dear young people, at the conclusion of the Holy Year, I entrust to you the sign of this Jubilee Year: the Cross of Christ! Carry it throughout the world as a symbol of Christ's love for humanity, and announce to everyone that only in the death and resurrection of Christ can we find salvation and redemption.

The Jubilee year of Mercy will begin on December 8th – the feast of the Immaculate Conception – and the 50th anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council and the year of Mercy will end on the Feast of Christ the King, Nov. 20 2016. 

What is mercy – we are talking about the mercy of God – how do we describe this? Mercy is the unearned and undeserved compassion - usually of one more powerful than oneself.

We are a door – others encounter God’s love and mercy through us 
If you think of many different doors – the classroom – the door into our school – into our home – the door we keep locked – so no one can enter without us being aware of their presence.  Walking through a door – or crossing a threshold takes us to a new place. 
A child (and even an adult) can be terrified of opening the door to a new room – a school. When we are on the other side of the door – literally or figuratively we are in a place of power – of leadership – of influence. 

Pope Francis said 

A Door of Mercy through which anyone who enters will experience the love of God who consoles, pardons, and instills hope.  

Do we long to be able to offer this love of God and consolation – the love of God who pardons and gives hope to each person who walks through the door of our home – of this parish.
In listening to Pope Francis and the way others respond to him, we see that our image of God determines the way we reflect God’s love to others. 

Where does our image of God come from?

Who influenced your image of God? 

Does our image of God change  - what may lead it to change? In part my image of God changed when I first began to reflect on original grace – The story does not start with the eating of the forbidden fruit in the Garden - It starts from Original Grace...

How are we able to reflect God’s mercy to others? 

Maybe when we can name how we have offered mercy or received mercy we will be able to recognise how we are called to reflect God’s mercy.

Before you come to Mass Sunday - I invite you to take a moment in silence and recall family, friends and strangers who have reflected God’s love and mercy to you. We gather with grateful hearts ready to praise our God. 
Peace.

Neat Reflections on "Who do you say that I am?"

Who do you say that I am?

Mark 8:27-35

There are many sites that I find interesting on the web - and some offer reflections on the scripures we use at Mass. 
This is a translation of a reflection by a Spanish speaking priest who works with small Christian Communities...

Recognizing Jesus Christ

The episode has a central and decisive place in Mark's story. The disciples have been living with Jesus for some time. The moment has come for them to express themselves clearly. Who are they following? What do they find in Jesus? What do they grasp from his life, his message and his plan?

Since they joined him, they've been asking themselves about his identity. What strikes them is the authority with which he speaks, the power with which he heals the sick, and the love with which he offers God's forgiveness to sinners. Who is this man in whom they feel so present and so close to God as Friend of life and forgiveness?

All kinds of rumors are running around among the people who haven't lived with him, but Jesus is interested in his disciples' position: "But who do you say that I am?" It's not enough that there are different, more or less correct opinions among them. It's essential that those who are committed to his cause, acknowledge the mystery that lies within him. If not, who will keep his message alive? What will become of his plan for the kingdom of God? Where will that group that is trying to implement it end up?

But the question is also vital for his disciples. It affects them radically. It isn't possible to follow Jesus lightly and unconsciously. They have to know him more and more deeply. Peter, recollecting the experiences they have had with him so far, replies on behalf of all: "You are the Messiah."

Peter's confession is still limited. The disciples have not yet known Jesus' crucifixion at the hands of their opponents. They can't even suspect that he will be raised by the Father as a beloved Son. They haven't had experiences that would allow them to grasp everything that lies in Jesus. Only by following him closely, will they gradually discover him with growing faith.

For Christians, it is vital to recognize and acknowledge ever more deeply the mystery of Jesus Christ. If it doesn't know Christ, the Church doesn't know itself. If it doesn't know him, it can not know the most essential and decisive part of its task and mission. But, to know and confess Jesus Christ, it isn't enough to fill our mouths with impressive Christological titles. It's necessary to follow him closely and work with him every day. This is the main task that we must promote in Christian groups and communities.

Rev. José Antonio Pagola
http://blogs.periodistadigital.com/buenas-noticias.php/2015/09/07/reconocer-a-jesus-el-cristo

Men's Group at Holy Family

I am really excited about a Men's Group that we are forming at Holy Family.  Back in 2014 Fr. Vid Vlasic - the Pastor at Merciful Redeemer Parish in Mississauga - shared with me his expereince of the Men's Fraternity program.  He had been running this program for 7 years! I brought this idea back to our Staff Meeting - and finally after some thought - I reached out to some men in our parish - and we have met 3 times now - and are ready to launch "The Quest for Authentic Manhood" series on Saturday September 26th at 8 AM.

The Quest for Authentic Manhood is the original curriculum in the Men’s Fraternity series. A captivating journey composed of 24 sessions, this series helps men understand their masculine identity and shows them how to make the pursuit of authentic manhood a lifelong priority that is incorporated into the fabric of their everyday lives. It offers a clear definition of what a man is and challenges each man to develop his own personalized manhood plan.

We are really looking forward to beginning this quest with men from our community. 

Peace