The Joyful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary begin with the Annunciation, the beautiful story of Mary’s “yes” to the Angel Gabriel, which we hear in this Sunday’s Gospel reading from Luke (Luke 1: 26-38). This mystery is followed by the story of Mary’s visitation to her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1: 39-56) and the recognition of the Christ child in the womb of Mary as John the Baptist leaps at the presence of the child Jesus. The third Joyful Mystery recounts the birth of Jesus in the poverty of the manger (Luke 2:1-20) and reminds us of the Lord’s desire to come to each of us and be born into our homes. In the fourth Joyful Mystery, we recount the Presentation in the Temple (Luke 2: 22-39) and the recognition of Jesus by Simeon as the long-promised Savior of the people. The Finding of Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41-52), is the subject from Christ’s life that we mediate upon in the fifth Joyful Mystery. The heart of the Rosary is the “Hail Mary,” which begins with the words that are spoken to Mary by the Angel Gabriel. So much of the prayer “Hail Mary” is taken from lines of scripture that make up the Bible passages that are meditated on in the Joyful Mysteries. Continue reading →

It is tempting to hear St. Paul’s invitation on this Gaudete Sunday, from the First Letter to the Thessalonians, in which he exhorts us to “rejoice always and pray without ceasing,” and want to dismiss it as not applying to us today in the difficult circumstances of the COVID 19 pandemic. We might think that Paul has no understanding of our difficulties and therefore should not be exhorting us to be joyful, given the realities of our time. Yet, if anyone knew suffering, it was certainly St. Paul during the many trials and sufferings that he endured for the sake of the Gospel. Paul was imprisoned, flogged and ultimately executed for his faith. There are few people who knew the difficulties that he knew.  If anyone has the authority to exhort us to remain joyful and pray through difficulties, it is certainly St. Paul. Continue reading →

As we celebrate the Second Sunday of Advent, we hear this Sunday the beginning of the Gospel of Mark. This is the Gospel that we will hear proclaimed throughout the coming liturgical year, which began last Sunday.

The Gospel of Mark has a message that is particularly important in these difficult times.

Many scholars believe that the Gospel of Mark was written around the year 70 A.D. Mark himself was believed to have been a disciple of St. Peter. When he writes his Gospel, many of the early followers of Jesus are struggling with the problem of suffering. They cannot understand how they have left everything to follow Christ and yet despite being followers of Christ, find themselves experiencing suffering and difficulties. The trials that these early disciples are facing are not agreed upon. Some speculate that Mark’s Gospel may have been written in Rome during the persecutions that the Church experienced there during the time when the great Apostles Peter and Paul were put to death. Others have speculated that the Gospel may have been written in Jerusalem around the same time, when the Temple was destroyed and Christians were no longer granted the protection of worship in the Temple. Regardless of the exact origin of the Gospel, one of its great themes is that of persevering through suffering and hardship.  It is written to bring the Good News of Christ’s resurrection to Christians who cannot understand how they can be experiencing suffering when they are disciples of a loving Saviour. They are struggling to see Christ’s face in the midst of their trials. Continue reading →

On the last Sunday of every liturgical year, which this Sunday is, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Christ the King—King of the Universe. Next Sunday, we will begin a new liturgical year as we celebrate the First Sunday of Advent.

The Solemnity of Christ the King takes place on the last Sunday of the liturgical year to remind us that at the end of time, Christ will come to judge the living and the dead. The solemnity is intended to remind us that we are to be ready to meet Christ when He comes by being ready to meet Him today and always. While Christians have always believed that Jesus was their king, this liturgical feast was established in 1925 by Pope Pius XI. He instituted it in troubled times to remind Catholics that the worldly powers that were causing such political turmoil at the time were only temporary and passing. The true Kingship over humanity belonged to Christ and Christians ought to be more concerned with following Christ than those passing worldly powers. At the same time that Pius XI instituted the feast, he suggested that as it was celebrated all Catholics ought to renew their consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Pius XI’s motto as Pope was: “Christ’s Peace through Christ’s reign.” Continue reading →

I am not a person who usually watches a lot of television. However, when our parishes were closed down between March and June, that all changed a bit. Once I had completed all of my parish calls and duties, I tried to read as much as I could. Once I had done as much as that as I could, I found myself turning to the television around 8:00 in the evening.   One of the things that surprised me is the number of television shows that are related to developing and celebrating the talents that some people possess. Some of the shows that can be found on the television include titles like “The Voice,” “America’s God Talent,” “Britain’s Got Talent,” “So You think you can Dance,” and “Dancing with the Stars.” All of these shows have in common the desire of those who appear on the show to have their unique talents and qualities recognized in the hopes of becoming famous. Continue reading →

The most beautiful liturgy in the Church year is the Easter Vigil. It begins with the blessings of the fire and candle.

During this part of the Vigil, the Easter fire and candle are blessed. The light of the fire represents the Risen Christ, who has destroyed the darkness of death, to become the light of the world. Once the Easter candle is lit, it is carried into the church, as the proclamation “Christ the light” is sung three times while the candle is carried into the church and brought to its place next to the ambo. As the candle is being carried into the church, the baptized members of the Church light their candles and slowly the church building is illumined by the light of all the baptized who are gathered to celebrate the Easter Vigil. Continue reading →

During the month of November, we the members of the Church on earth, celebrate the members of the Church in Heaven. As we do so, we celebrate those who are already in Heaven, we pray for our departed loved ones who we hope will be admitted to Heaven through God’s mercy, and we remind ourselves that Heaven is the destiny to which we are also called. Heaven is our true homeland.

We begin the month of November on this November 1^st by celebrating the Solemnity of All Saints—a solemnity so important that we celebrate it even when it falls on a Sunday. On the Solemnity of All Saints, we the members of the Church on earth, celebrate the many men and women of previous generations who were once members of the Church on earth, who are now members of the Church in Heaven. Today, we celebrate that “great cloud of witnesses,” who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith, and are now members of the Church in Heaven. These saints are the great Christian witnesses who lived their lives in communion with Christ on earth and are now alive and well with Him in Heaven for all eternity. When we think of the saints, we think of those great Christians like St. Pope John Paul II, St. Theresa of Lisieux, St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, the Canadian Martyrs, St. Peter and the other famous saints whom are churches are named after. Rightly, we can also think of the less famous members in the Church in Heaven, like the holy people in our own families, who have not been declared by the Church to be saints, but who have inspired us by their way of living and communicating the faith. In the saints we see an example of how we are to live and we are reminded of the fact that Heaven is our true homeland and destiny. St. John Paul II during his own lifetime was a great lover of the saints. He canonized so many of them because he believed that we needed examples of all kinds of saints to remind us that the Christian life was possible for all of us, no matter what our profession or way of life. The saints remind us that through God’s mercy, salvation is possible for each of us. Continue reading →

A few weeks ago, in the parish’s R.C.I.A. programme (Rites of Christian Initiation for Adults), one of the candidates for baptism spoke of the challenge of dealing with people who might find inconsistencies with some of the things that are said in the Bible. I am sure we have all encountered people like this. At work, we might meet someone who will ask if we really believe that the world was created in seven days. When we explain that we do not take the story literally, and that with God one day could be a billion years, they may try and find some other inconsistency with our behavior, or the Church, that would allow them to reject the faith. It is also not uncommon for teenagers to try and find ways of rejecting the faith that their parents try to hand on to them. A teenager might also decide that since his or her parents are not living the faith to the exact letter, he or she can reject it as not worth following. This kind of rejection of Christ also happens when people feel that the weak humanity of a Christian leader is reason to reject God. Continue reading →

Thanksgiving is a North American holiday. If I remember my school lessons correctly, it derives from the experience of the first European settlers here in North America and their experience of their first few years here on this continent. The way we were taught about this holiday when I was in elementary school recalled how difficult these first Europeans found the bitter winter to survive on their own and how unprepared they were to make it through this difficult climate. They were so unprepared for the conditions they found on this continent that it was only with the help of the Indigenous People, who knew the land and the ways of growing here, that they were able to make it through those initial days. Once they had learned to grow crops in this territory and figure out how to survive the conditions on this continent, they were so grateful that they began to have a special feast called “Thanksgiving” at the end of the growing season to celebrate the goods of this land and the great opportunities that they had discovered here. From my school days, I recall a part of those initial Thanksgiving celebrations involved celebrations with the Indigenous People who had helped these first settlers to make their lives possible here. That is why so many of our celebrations still highlight the many vegetables and local products that were handed over to the Europeans by the Indigenous People to help them survive. Continue reading →