5th SUNDAY OF LENT – March 22nd, 2015 MASS INTENTIONS Wednesday 9:15 am March 25th For the Parish Community Thursday 6:30 pm 7:00 pm March 26th Adoration For the Parish Community Friday 9:15 am 7:00 pm March 27th For the Parish Community Stations of the Cross Saturday 5:00 pm March 28th For the Parish Community Sunday 9:00 am 11:00 am March 22nd † Bob Jones by Gerard & Diane Woloschuk † Angela Mossa by Rocca & family OUR PARISH LENTEN JOURNEY WEEKLY EVENTS DURING LENT Wednesday: Mass at 9:15 am. Thursday:  Please drop by to spend quiet time with the Lord in prayer Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament from 6:30 pm. – 7:00 pm. During this time Fr. Lukose is available for individual confessions.  Mass at 7:00 pm. Friday:  Mass at 9:15 am.  Stations of the Cross at 7:00 pm. led by March 27th Youth This is our poverty: the poverty of the flesh of Christ, the poverty that brought the Son of God to us through His incarnation. A poor Church for the poor begins by reaching out to the flesh of Christ. If we reach out to the flesh of Christ, we begin to understand something, to understand what this poverty, the Lord’s poverty, actually is; and this is far from easy. Pope Francis speaks to our Hearts This Sunday we celebrate the Solidarity Sunday. How my Lenten preparations show solidarity with the poor? God Bless Fr. Lukose CMF. HOLY WEEK Tuesday, March 31st at 7:30 pm Chrism Mass at Notre Dame Basilica Wednesday, April 1st at 9:15 am Mass Thursday, April 2nd at 7:00 pm Mass of the Lord’s Supper with the washing of the feet Friday, April 3rd (Universal Day of Fast & Abstinence) 10:00 am: Children’s Liturgy 3:00 pm: Solemn celebration of the Lord’s Passion 7:00 pm: Stations of the Cross Pastor’s Message “Touching the Flesh of Christ” When I used to go to hear confessions in my previous diocese, people would come to me, and I would always ask them, “Do you give alms?” “Yes, Father!” “Very good.” And I would ask them two further questions: “Tell me, when you give alms, do you look the person in the eye?” “Oh, I don’t know; I haven’t really thought about it.” The second question: “And when you give alms, do you touch the hand of the person you are giving them to, or do you toss the coin at him or her?” This is the problem; the flesh of Christ, touching the flesh of Christ, taking upon ourselves this suffering for the poor. Poverty for us Christians is not a sociological, philosophical, or cultural category, no. It is theological. I might say this is the first category, because our God, the Son of God, abased himself; he made himself poor to walk along the road with us. Saturday, April 4th at 8:00 pm Easter Vigil Mass: A candlelight beginning, listening to the story of salvation history, culminating in the Easter story. (Please note there is no 5:00 pm. Mass on this day) After the vigil, come and celebrate Easter with us at our reception with refreshments in our parish hall. Sunday, April 5th Easter Sunday at 9 am & 11 am ****Incense will be used at the liturgies on Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday 5th Sunday of Lent, March 22nd, 2015 CHRISM MASS: All are invited to participate in the Chrism Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral on Tuesday, March 31, 7:30 p.m. Archbishop Prendergast will preside. Parishes are asked to designate a family to attend the Mass and receive the Holy Oils for their parish during the celebration. A card with the parish name will be available at the entrance for the one designated family from each parish. PONTIFICAL COLLECTION OF GOOD FRIDAY ON APRIL 3, 2015 FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE HOLY LAND The Pontifical Collection for the benefit of the Holy Places is scheduled this year on Good Friday April 3, 2015. As we respond to this appeal, the visit of Pope Francis in the Holy Land from May 24 to 26, 2014 vividly comes to mind and we revisit the words of Scripture that marked his prayer at the Holy Sepulchre: “I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has risen, as He said. Come; see the place where the Lord lay.” (Matthew 28: 5-6) PLEASE NOTE: PASSION PLAY AND GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE FOR CHILDREN This year our St. Thomas More School, Grade 1 children will be re-enacting the passion play and crucifixion followed by the Passion reading, veneration of the Cross and Communion service on April 3rd, Good Friday at 10:00 am. While we appreciate the great effort of teachers and children of the school, it is a wonderful opportunity to share the message of the Passion of Christ with your children. All are welcome to join in this spiritual uplifting passion play. We offer our prayerful wishes as they prepare for this great event. There will be a collection taken to support the Holy Land. LILIES IN MEMORY OF LOVED ONES: These plants will be used to decorate our church for Easter celebrations. Please purchase plants that are closed and have foil wrappers around them to hold in the water. Feel free to place a nametag on them, and bring them to the church by Holy Thursday April 2nd. Thank you once again for your generosity. The Pontifical Collection of Good Friday is a unique moment of loyalty to the Resurrection of the Christ Jesus and of solidarity with the Christians who are the “living stones” of those consecrated places. We are invited to this gesture of commemoration and unity for the benefit of the Holy Places and Christians so as to give a tangible form to the remembrance of the Christ Jesus and the constant support of our present day brothers and sisters! YOUR OFFERINGS: Regular Collection for March 14/15 $1,390.80 Thank you for your generosity and support Cash counters for March 29th Maureen Wainwright & Janet Doherty UNDERSTANDING THE EUCHARIST Parents, we encourage you to attend Mass on Sunday and meet Fr. Lukose prior to registering your child for baptism. Please call our parish office, at 613-738-1943, for more information or to register for the next Baptismal Preparation. The Parish Pastoral Council’s focus this year will be on enhancing and enriching our spirituality. One of their first efforts, in this regard, will be to show a series of short videos entitled “Understanding the Eucharist” at each mass during the Lenten season. This excellent video series has been published by the Archdiocese of Bombay, India, to explain what the Eucharist is and what it means to Catholics and thereby to make the Eucharistic celebration more meaningful each time we come for mass. The following videos will be shown during lent: Mar 22nd The real presence of Christ Mar 29th Community Worship Watch these videos at home on YouTube using the following link: http://www.youtube.com/user/ ArchdioceseBbay/playists. THE NEXT BAPTISMAL PREPARATION will be held on Thursday April 23rd at 7:30 pm and baptism will be held on Sunday, April 26th at 10:00 am. WEDDING ANNIVERSARY MASS OF THANKSGIVING: at Notre Dame Cathedral, Sunday, May 3rd, 2:30 p.m. For couples celebrating 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60 + years of marriage in 2015. Families and friends are most welcome. Registration details available in parishes. Deadline to register, Wednesday, April 22nd. SIGN-UP SHEETS Sign-up sheets are at the back of the church for Ushers and Eucharistic Ministers for the Easter Season and Disciples for the Holy Thursday service.