Disciples Sent to Speak God’s Word of Love to a Cold World.
In the days following Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples of Jesus locked themselves away in self-isolation for fear that the Romans and Jews might arrest them for being followers of Jesus. This self-isolation was very similar to that which many people today have had to experience due to fear and anxiety. Throughout the entire time of the disciples’ isolation, Jesus appeared to His disciples and strengthened them with assurances of His resurrection, peace, and the gift of the Holy Spirit by which He would always be present in their lives. Continue reading
Father Michael McGourty, who has been pastor of St. Peter’s Church since the departure of the Paulist Fathers in 2015, has asked for and been generously granted a sabbatical by Cardinal Frank Leo, Archbishop of Toronto. Fr. McGourty will leave St. Peter’s on June 25th, 2026.
In uncertain times, fear is something with which we are all familiar. After the death of Jesus, His disciples ran away fearful of what the future might mean without Him. As we see war raging in many parts of the world, and hear of political leaders uttering threats to once friendly countries around the world, and economic uncertainty looms on the horizon, fear threatens to over-take all of our lives. 
Jerusalem is, and has been for several millennium, a great walled city that must be entered through one of the several gates in the city’s wall. It is a holy and sacred city. For the Jews, Jerusalem is that city where God dwelt among His people in the great temple at which they could visit Him and offer Him sacrifices. In His Holy City, God would listen to His people and they could be assured that they were standing in His presence. Whenever there was a great feast for the Jewish people they would go up to the city of Jerusalem to be near to God and celebrate with Him. For the Jewish people to live within the walls of Jerusalem—the Holy City—was the perfect life; it was equivalent to living with God on earth. In the mind of the Jewish person, the perfect place to die was within the walls of Jerusalem. To die within the walls of the Holy City meant that one had died with God in His Holy City and had indeed lived a blessed life. 
There is a beautiful passage from the Book of Deuteronomy that summarizes what Lent is all about. It reads:
For many people, whenever they hear that Jesus was baptized, one of the first questions that come to their minds is: why? Why did Jesus have to be baptized? If Baptism is the sacrament that cleanses us from sin and re-establishes us in relationship with God, why did Jesus, who was born without sin and was always in relationship with God, need to be baptized? 
Every year, on the first Sunday following Christmas, the Church celebrates the beautiful feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The purpose of this beautiful feast is to remind each and every one of us that the most important place where we are to encounter God’s love for us is within the family. Like all of us, Jesus was born into a human family so that we might all be reminded that it is first and foremost within the family that we are to make Christ’s love present to our brothers and sisters and where we are to encounter the love and acceptance that we all desire and long to know. This beautiful feast is to remind all of us that every family—mine and yours—is a sacred place where God’s love is to be encountered.