CANADA DAY JULY 1

   July 1 is celebrated as Canada’s birthday. Canadians should seek to be witnesses to Christ in Canada and the world and to continue working to influence those in government to act from Christian principles and attitudes.
     Christians realizing they do not have a lasting home here, should pray and work for justice and peace in Canada and throughout the world, so that all God’s people may share in the goods of this earth. God’s kingdom will come only when all people are ready to let Christ’s teaching guide and rule their lives and actions.
  _________________

Fr Marc-Andre, Fr Asch , Fr. Joseph and the office staff would like to wish everyone a wonderful summer holiday.
_________________

PARISH OFFICE CLOSED
CANADA DAY -  WEDNESDAY (July 1st)
Parish Office will be closed every Friday in July & August. On Monday August 3rd (Civic Day) there will be no 7am Mass and the office will be closed.
_____________

SUMMER DRESS CODE

As we enter into the summer season please wear clothing that is appropriate and shows respect both to The Lord and to those around us in our Church.
Please remember that in a House of Worship we come to meet the Lord and must present ourselves in His House with respect and reverence in how we behave and how we dress.

THE SACRED LITURGY THIS WEEK


Wednesday, June 24 - Nativity of St. John the Baptist. Jesus called John the greatest of all those who had preceded him so he received special veneration. Being the precursor of our Lord, he was accorded the same honor as the first great saints of the Christian era, although he belonged to the Old Covenant.  Ordinarily the Church observes the day of a saint's death as his feast, because that day marks his entrance into heaven but it was the firm belief among the faithful that John was freed from original sin at the moment when his mother met the Blessed Virgin and was "filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb".  It was St John, the last of the prophets who baptized Jesus at the place at the Jordan where the children of the Exodus were believed to have crossed over into the Promised Land. In the course of John's preaching, he criticized the immorality of King Herod's court, and of his marital situation with Herodias, his niece and the former wife of his half-brother, Philip. The infuriated Herodias plotted against his life and was able to trick Herod into beheading him.

Witness to Hospitality, Mercy and Forgiveness

   Nigeria, known as the “African giant”, with its more than 160 million inhabitants, is set to play a primary role, not only in Africa but in the world at large. In recent years, it has experienced robust growth in the economic sphere and has again reasserted itself on the world stage as an attractive market, on account of its natural resources as well as its commercial potential. It is now considered officially the single largest African economy. It has also distinguished itself as a political player widely committed to the resolution of crisis situations in the continent.
    At the same time, your nation has had to confront considerable problems, among them new and violent forms of extremism and fundamentalism on ethnic, social and religious grounds. Many Nigerians have been killed, wounded or mutilated, kidnapped and deprived of everything: their loved ones, their land, their means of subsistence, their dignity and their rights. Many have not been able to return to their homes. Believers, both Christian and Muslim, have experienced a common tragic outcome, at the hands of people who claim to be religious, but who instead abuse religion, to make of it an ideology for their own distorted interests of exploitation and murder.
    Peace – as you know so well – is not only the absence of conflict or the result of political compromise or fatalistic resignation. Peace is for us a gift which comes from on high; it is Jesus Christ himself, the Prince of Peace, who has made of two peoples one (cf. Eph 2:14). And only the man or woman who treasures the peace of Christ as a guiding light and way of life can become a peacemaker (cf. Mt 5:9).
    At the same time, peace is a daily endeavour, a courageous and authentic effort to favour reconciliation, to promote experiences of sharing, to extend bridges of dialogue, to serve the weakest and the excluded. In a word, peace consists in building up a “culture of encounter”.
    And so I wish here to express my heartfelt thanks to you, because in the midst of so many trials and sufferings the Church in Nigeria does not cease to witness to hospitality, mercy and forgiveness. How can we fail to remember the priests, religious men and women, missionaries and catechists who, despite untold sacrifices, never abandoned their flock, but remained at their service as good and faithful heralds of the Gospel? To them, most particularly, I would like to express my solidarity, and to say: do not grow tired of doing what is right!
    We give thanks to the Lord for them, as for so many men and women of every social, cultural and religious background, who with great willingness stand up in concrete ways to every form of violence, and whose efforts are directed at favouring a more secure and just future for all. They offer us moving testimonies, which, as Pope Benedict XVI recalled at the end of the Synod for Africa, show “the power of the Spirit to transform the hearts of victims and their persecutors and thus to re-establish fraternity” (Africae Munus, 20).
     Excerpts from  Letter of his Holiness Pope Francis

             to the Bishops of Nigeria    March 2, 2015
CORPUS CHRISTI

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that those who believe in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting." John 3:14

"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself." John 12:32

    This feast is celebrated in June, the first Sunday after the feast of the Trinity to solemnly commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist.
    The full name of this feast is Corpus et Sanguis Christi or The Body and Blood of Christ. The feast of the Blessed Sacrament was established in 1246 by Bishop Robert de Thorte of Liege at the suggestion of St. Juliana of Mont Carvillon. It was extended to the universal Church by Pope Urban in 1264. The office composed by St. Thomas Aquinas and customary procession was approved by Popes Martin V and Eugene IV.  
    The feast of Corpus Christi is one time when our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is exposed not just to faithful Catholics but to all the world. This is a time when Catholics can show their love for Christ in the Real Presence by honoring Him in a very public way. It is also a wonderful way in which we can show our love for our neighbors by bringing Our Lord and Savior closer to them.  

WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR PRIESTS – JUNE 12
Coinciding with the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Catholics worldwide are urged to pray for priests today. This day was established by Pope John Paul II in 2002 with the objective of having all Catholic faithful join in prayer for the sanctification of priests. The day is celebrated with The Annual Global Rosary Relay for Priests.