Pope Francis has declared May 2020 to May 2021 to be a special anniversary year for Laudato Si’ – Caring for our Common Home.
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2020
JUN
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In the Gospel for this Sunday it states that Jesus said to His apostles, “Fear no one; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” In saying these words, Jesus describes the worth of human beings in the eyes of God, who ...
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17
JUN
2020
JUN
2020
On this Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, a strange thing is happening, both in the readings and in our lives. As you get older and you grow in your knowledge of who Christ is more and more, you simultaneously grow in self-knowledge. This true self, who you are in God, and not who others want you to be or some persona of who you would like to be, was given at conception and takes a lifetime to discover. Discovering the true God and ...
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14
JUN
2020
JUN
2020
“Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness …” These words from today’s reading from Deuteronomy struck me in a particular way this week. I have driven across the Sinai Peninsula; even walking in family groups, you would need to go “the long way” in order to take 40 years to make the trip! We are told that God chose this long way in order to humble the people and test what was in their hearts. ...
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10
JUN
2020
JUN
2020
Worldwide, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity today. Theologians, saints, and mystics have tried to describe the Trinity, three persons in one God, in various ways. St. Patrick apparently used the cloverleaf as his teaching tool. Others have used the comparison of H2O; water comes in the forms of a gas, a liquid, and a solid. As helpful as descriptions are, they are not what people really want in life. People do not want a description of Trinity as much as they want ...
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7
JUN
2020
JUN
2020
It has been a week of hitting restart buttons and a week of watching painful news stories. Last weekend, just when we thought we had made all the necessary adjustments and satisfied all the essential requirements to celebrate Eucharist with 50 of you, our plans were unexpectedly scuttled. So, we hit the restart button for this weekend and get over the pain of disappointment. The bigger and more difficult pain of this week was the pain watching George Floyd of Minneapolis begging for a little air and ...
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3
JUN
2020
JUN
2020
In the name of the Father
The first reading on this Trinity Sunday tells us about Moses on Mt. Sinai when he broke the cuneiform laws carved into tablets and transcribed, transformed and translated them onto papyrus. In that same reading Moses gives a new name for God, the first “Lord”. ‘Lord’ in the reading, stands for the traditionally unspoken “I Am”. Moses is stating a new First Commandment–“I Am Lord and God Almighty”.
Those cuneiform tablets came with Abraham when he left his traditional home between the Tigris and Euphrates ...
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3
JUN
2020
JUN
2020
Imagine that you are setting out on a new venture, creating a new business, for example. As part of your preparation you recruit a number of people who you think will make good workers for you, workers who will learn the business and after a while will be experienced enough for you to take time for yourself, do some traveling while being able to get updates on your business. Not a big challenge to do that as we are learning. However, things do not go as ...
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1
JUN
2020
JUN
2020
As you probably have heard, our provincial health authorities, as well as Archbishop Valery, have given us the green light to resume weekend Eucharist with a maximum of 50 parishioners. This is good news but comes with a list of protocols as long and as twisty as the Petitcodiac River. As staff, we have been working diligently, behind the scenes, trying to prepare our worship spaces and our worshippers for the new, albeit temporary, way Eucharist will be celebrated. We anticipate hiccups, frustrations, and returning to the ...
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27
MAY
2020
MAY
2020
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth.”
Pat Marrin, of NCR’s “Pencil Preaching” compares last week’s feast of the Ascension to a graduation. Jesus is preparing his disciples for a new and transformed way to live out their understanding of Jesus and his mission. I can imagine Jesus delivering a rousing, convocation speech to the disciples, “You’re ...
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27
MAY
2020
MAY
2020