Link to the Paulists’ Lenten retreat https://paulist.org/retreat/
- -Register now for this virtual retreat on Feb. 27
- -Retreat costs $25 US
- – If there are any problems with registration, contact this email address: media@paulist.org
Link to the Paulists’ Lenten retreat https://paulist.org/retreat/
The parish learned the sad news that Mr. Tom Benson died on the morning of Sunday, February 7, 2021. For many years, Mr. Tom Benson served as the parish bookkeeper and was also the bookkeeper for the Paulists Fathers in Canada. He worked tirelessly for the parish and was completely devoted to the community. Mr. Benson retired in 2016. Please keep him and his family in your prayers. A funeral will be celebrated for Tom at Christ the King Parish in Etobicoke. It is limited to family members due to capacity limits in place in the Province of Ontario. Rest in peace Tom.
Cardinal Collins has designated the weekend of February 13/14, 2021 as Marriage Sunday in the Archdiocese of Toronto. This occasion provides an opportunity to honour husband and wife while saluting the faithfulness, sacrifice, and joy that comes with the marriage covenant. To those preparing for marriage, newlyweds, and those that have been companions on the journey for decades, we offer our prayers and best wishes in a special way for the weekend of Feb.13/14. Let us celebrate the tremendous contributions of married couples who continue to strengthen our faith community. Let us also pray and extend loving support to those who have lost a spouse or are struggling from a broken relationship. For more information and resources on marriage, visit: www.archtoronto.org/marriage
In recent days, the Archdiocese of Toronto has received reports from parishioners who have gotten suspicious emails supposedly from our priests or staff members. These emails attempt to start an online conversation or they have a suspicious document attached to the message.
These emails are not from the Archdiocese of Toronto. Online fraudsters are impersonating members of the archdiocese and we ask you to be on the lookout for online scam attempts.
For this fraud effort, it is helpful to look at the sender’s information to determine if an email is legitimate or not. The fraudster is unable to access the email accounts of our priests or staff, so they are using other email services to impersonate archdiocesan clergy and employees. For instance, the name in the “from” line will seem familiar, but the email address listed after the name will not be that person’s usual account. Or the “from” line will list the familiar person’s regular email address (instead of their name), but the email address listed after it will be another address entirely.
If the sender information seems odd or if the message is out of character for the sender, do not reply to the message or download any of its attachments. Please report the email to the sender at a known email address or by phoning them.
If we are vigilant with our online security, these fraud attempts should stop soon.
Those who know the kind of suffering and pain that Job endured might think that I am being a little overly dramatic to relate the sufferings experienced during the COVID 19 pandemic to the kind of tribulations and trials experienced by Job. However, as I hear Job state, “I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned me,” I cannot help but think of the way that many people have described the experience of the last few months.
It seems like a kind of general depression has overcome so many of us. People are worried about their jobs and how they will continue to provide for their families as this goes on. Many elderly people are alone and isolated. Even the young people that I speak to talk of how bored and tired they are with this whole situation. There is a kind of malaise that is overtaking everyone, and while we may not actually have suffered the really tragic losses that Job suffered, there is a sense of tiredness and depression that we know all too well as this pandemic drags on. Continue reading
Bulletin for week of February 7, 2021
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent. The celebration of Easter, of being reborn in the Risen Lord to a new life, will only have meaning to the degree that we ‘die to the old self”. Thus, the Church asks us to live this period of Lent, with Christ in the desert, as a period of forty days devoted to inward renewal through prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Let us prayerfully consider before Lent how we might make best use of this time to imitate the Lord in His dedication to the Father so that His resurrection may take deep root in our thoughts, words and actions throughout Lent and forever.
This spiritual exercise is encouraged especially on Fridays during Lent but can be prayed daily as desired.
The highest point in the Church’s year of prayer is the Easter Triduum of the dying and rising of the Lord Jesus. We prepare for this three-day period by the season of Lent, and prolong it for the great 50 days of the Easter season. Arrangements for the celebration of the Easter Triduum will be announced closer to the date according to the Provincial Pandemic Protocols.
LENTEN RECONCILIATION SERVICES
In this Sunday’s Gospel, as we begin to journey with Jesus in Mark’s Gospel, we hear how Jesus went to the synagogue in Capernaum with His disciples as He began His public ministry. In the synagogue, Jesus astounds those who have gathered with His teaching. However, what is perhaps the most surprising feature of His visit to the synagogue in Capernaum is the fact that it is an evil spirit that is the first to acknowledge who Jesus is. We hear this unclean spirit crying out as it is encountered by Jesus: “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24). Immediately, after the unclean spirit acknowledges who Jesus is, Jesus says to the unclean spirit: “Be quiet, and come out of him.” Mark tells us that in response to what Jesus says to the unclean spirit, immediately “the unclean spirit, convulsing the man and crying with a loud voice, came out of him” (Mark 1: 26). Continue reading
Bulletin for week of January 31, 2021