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, February 16th – 9:00 am No Mass (Holiday)
Tuesday, February 17th – 9:00 am Tony Blanchard
(ASH WEDNESDAY)
Wednesday, February 18th – 9:00 am Nancy Bourgeois
Wednesday, February 18th – 7:00 pm Natalie Stafford
Thursday, February 19th – 9:00 am Jack, Paul & Fred Gillespie
Thursday, February 19th – 10:30 am Theresa Pitts (Carleton Kirk)
Friday, February 20th – 9:00 am Souls who lost their lives in Service
to the Port
Saturday, February 21st – 5:00 pm Leo Guthrie/Robert Clark
Sunday, February 22nd – 11:00 am Dawn Butler
Weekly Reflections (Homily) from Msgr. Sheehan (February 13, 2026)
SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Dear friends:
Whenever I hear this Gospel, I always think of the practice – not so much observed now – that some people used to do of going to confession and saying – “No sins today, Father – just coming for your blessing!...”
I was always taken aback by it… and if time allowed… I would at least try and challenge them… while not trying to convict them of sinfulness… that might they not been able to do better or more in this or that area of their lives… could they have not “gone beyond” what they seem to be so satisfied with?
For that in fact is what, it seems to me, a true disciple of Jesus is called to… to go beyond… to go the extra mile… not simply to be satisfied with the bare minimum, or slavish observance of the letter of the law… but to observe its spirit… its intent…
This was a very controversial subject in the time of Jesus… and especially after his resurrection and Ascension – and his sending of the Spirit… How would the new Christians deal with the Law? How did he observe the law in his lifetime? How should the new Christian communities stand before the law of Israel?
It is terribly important for us to realize that in background and up bringing, Jesus is a loyal and devoted son of Israel. His appeal was not to any new interpretation of the Law – still less to an interpretation propounded by himself.
In fact, he seems time and again to be against any new interpretations of the Law – in particular the many added oral traditions of the Pharisees – his appeal rather is always – to real meanings, real interpretations, real foundations.
Thus he says:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”
(Matt. 5, 7)
But Jesus on the other hand would not give to the Law the finality which the Pharisees would give it. For them the Law was thought to be the summary of all wisdom, human and divine, the revelation of God himself. It had a sacredness and saving value in itself; it was a complete and secure guide of conduct endowed with a near sacramental assurance of good relations with God.
Thus it came to possess, in their minds, a finality of its own, a perfection of its own, a terminal revelation of God… and its slavish observance assured one of salvation.
Jesus did not and could not accept the finality of the Law. It was not his mission to abolish it or the work of the prophets – but to fulfill them… to fill them full with their true meaning… to perfect them… to complete them with their fullest expression.
And he says that their full meaning and completion is not found in their mere outward observance… but n their original intent… what is behind the Law… what does God want in giving the Law…
God wants for good relationships between ourselves and Him… between ourselves, between one another.
For Jesus, the commandments are to be radicalized… because they are meant to serve, to protect, to promote the sacredness of human life – and the sacredness of relationships that people enter into – whether it is with God or with one another.
And so he illustrates the examples that he means – he goes to the care of human behaviour and conduct that the commandments really cover: for example…
“As for the fifth commandment: You shall not kill.” For Jesus, that covers the entire area of violence and destruction. Violence and destruction do not begin with murder, but with the many ways of putting another person down; they begin with hurting, excluding, despising, disrespecting another; they begin with holding grudges and being unwilling to discuss problems.
“As for the sixth commandment: You shall not commit adultery.” The breaking of this commandment does not begin with adultery. Rather, it begins to be broken with lack of serious commitment or enduring fidelity in personal relationships. It begins to be broken with the lustful eye that sees another human being as less than a person to be respected, and instead reduces the other to a thing, an object, an instrument for pleasure, profit, or one’s own advancement.
“As for the eighth commandment: You shall not testify falsely against your neighbor.” The real observance of that commandment is not limited to not breaking any oaths. Rather it aims at the many lies, deceits, and evasions that create a climate of uncertainty and distrust in human society.
In these examples, Jesus challenges us with an entirely new and different way of looking at morality. Morality is not a matter of what is explicitly commanded or forbidden. In other words, it is not enough for us, as disciples of Jesus, to say: “I have not killed anybody; I have not committed adultery; I have not broken any oaths.” The kind of morality Jesus urges us to is one of responding fully and creatively to the real needs of human life and community. In the way Jesus brings the ten commandments before us, he sketches a life-style that is shaped by radical respect for others and full solidarity with others without exception and at all times.
This section of the Gospel ends with Jesus words – which basically shows us the full meaning of this discourse… “Be the children of your father in heaven.” – “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect…” That is our calling… to go beyond…
Let me end with Cardinal Newman – and St. Paul… who so beautifully summarize these thoughts:
Newman says in one of his sermons: “I am not wishing to frighten Christians who are imperfect, but to lead them on; to open their minds to the greatness of the work before them, to dissipate the meager and carnal views in which the Gospel has come to them, to warn them that they must never be contented with themselves, or stand still and relax their efforts, but must go on unto perfection; that till they are much more than they are at present, they have received the Kingdom of God in word not in power; that they are not spiritual men, and can have no comfortable sense of Christ’s presence in their souls, for to whom much is given, of him much is required”… what they lack, this passage from Scripture will make it plain: “The life which I now life in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.” “God has sent forth the spirit of His Son into your hearts.”
And St. Paul…
“My brothers, you were called, as you know, to liberty; be careful, or this liberty will provide and opening for self-indulgence. Serve one another, rather, in works of love, since the whole of the law is summarized in the commandment of love…
be guided by the Spirit…
What the Spirit brings is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control… there can be no law against things like that… Since the Spirit is our life… let us be directed by the Spirit.” (Galatians 5)
Amen.