Sunday Liturgy
Saturday: 5:00 pm
Sunday: 11:00 am
Mission Statement
We are a welcoming Christian community called to embrace and respect the uniqueness of each individual as we join together in our faith and worship. Our ongoing mission is to engage our youth, promote renewal, out reach, evangelization and ecumenical cooperation.
MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK
Monday, November 18th – 9:00 am Souls in Purgatory
Tuesday, November 19th – 9:00 am Ernest LeBlanc
Wednesday, November 20th – 9:00 am Bill Wilson
Thursday, November 21st – 9:00 am Carol Murphy
Thursday, November 21st – 10:30am Susan Linton (Carleton Kirk)
Friday, November 22nd – 9:00 am No Mass
Saturday, November 23rd – 5:00 pm Alma Hazel (Anniv)
Sunday, November 24th – 11:00 am Doug Enman
Weekly Reflections (Homily) from Msgr. Sheehan (Updated November 15, 2024)
THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Dear friends;
Already we come to the end of our liturgical year – one more Sunday before Advent – next week – the Feast of Christ the King – it ends as it begins… the end is like the coming of the Lord.
And it is to that strange book of Daniel that the Church appeals to in these next Sundays – one of the great apocalyptic books of the Bible… i.e. apocalyptic – a literary device which does not intend to frighten us, nor to predict the end of the world for us. One the contrary, it is almost the opposite that is intended.
What these texts try to instill in us is not fear, but hope and confidence. These texts do not try to give us some sort of information about when and how the end will come about, but rather a sense of seriousness and urgency about the present moment.
Daniel, it is supposed, was written around the time of great persecution of the Jews by the Greeks about the 2nd century B.C. … the temple was desecrated, Jewish worship was forbidden – and Greek worship was imposed instead.
An altar to Zeus, the supreme Greek god – was set up in the Temple and various practices which pious Jews considered blasphemous were commanded. Everything seemed lost – God seemed far away!!
It is at a time when the apocalyptic literature flourished – imagery of great upheaval, destruction, overturning of rulers, persecution, etc… all these are intermingled with reality and fiction…
But cutting through them is a clear message… 1) Do not lose hope – do not give up… Be strong… God has not abandoned you… God is still the sovereign Lord of creation and controls all things including human history…
2) You are called in the midst of these times – perhaps especially to give witness – to give evidence in the time of trial and upheaval – of trust, of hope, of fidelity, -- perhaps then more than ever… in very dark days…
Look at the Psalm: -- offered to us in the midst of all of this –
“Keep me safe – O God, you are my hope…”
“I keep the Lord always before me… because he is at my right hand,
I shall not be moved…
my body rests secure…
For you do not give me up to Sheol (to the depths)
or let your faithful one see the Pit…”
(Ps. 16)
While apocalyptic literature abounded in the time of Jesus… he uses it soberly… to take out of it… points of behaviour in the backdrop of its imagery…
to be strong
to pray
to trust
to be confident
that we have no knowledge as to the time of the end…
live to the moment as to your goodness to others…
God will oversee it all…
And when you think of it… that is the message of the Gospel…
The message of the Gospel is –
God is revealed to you as a loving, solicitous Father… he knows you, he loves you, he is immensely concerned about you… He sends his Son with this message… when we forget it – we live in fear, anxiety, and worry.
We are his children… children who know how to live in trust, confidence, and hope…
Listen – to what Jesus tells us about how we are always to live… from beginning to end: --
A reading from the holy gospel Matt. 6: 24-34
according to Matthew
Jesus said to his disciples:
“No one can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and these second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.
“Therefore I tell you,
do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or what you will drink
or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more important than food,
and the body more than clothing?
“Look at the birds of the air;
they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they?
And can any of you by worrying
add a single hour to your span of life?
“And why do you worry about clothing?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;
they neither toil nor spin,
yet I tell you,
even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these,
But if God so clothes the grass of the field,
which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,
will he not much more clothe you –
you of little faith?
“Therefore do not worry,
Saying, ‘What will he eat?’
or ‘What will we drink?’
or ‘What will we wear?’
For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things;
and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well.
“So do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.
Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
Amen.