HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

A PRAYER FOR ALL MOTHER'S
Loving God, as a mother gives life and nourishment to her children, so you watch over your Church. Bless these women, that they may be strengthened as Christian mothers. Let the example of their faith and love shine forth. Grant that we, their sons and daughters, may honor them always with a spirit of profound respect. Grant this through Christ our Lord.

Mothers have a memory bank filled with special moments of loving hugs and lullabies, bumps and bruises made “all better” with a kiss, heart-to-heart talks and rules of the house, or perhaps a favorite meal or recipe that becomes a house specialty.

Mothers are unique; no one is more connected at birth or holds such a special place in our hearts. By design, mothers know how to bless others. They seek to give out more love than they take in. They work long hours at home with no pay, and many then go work their other job. Her touch can cool a fevered brow. Her words calm an upset child, inspire another and put “the fear of God” in those who need it. Mothers are the unspoken center of the universe for many a home . . . they are one-of-a-kind.

Real mothers “live to give” first giving life, then giving continually to children and family, seeking the best for her family. This weekend we will celebrate Mother’s Day and honor one of God’s greatest creations. But every day should be a day of respect, honor and reward for mothers. Sometimes reward is found in the smallest kind word or acknowledgement of one of her “duties” most of us take for granted.

Thank God for every mother who puts time, effort and love into her children. It is a challenge these days with the current moral climate, the financial challenges many face and the spiritual battles with an adversary who is out to “steal, kill, and destroy” families. But in every generation, God is with us, and no one is up to the challenge more than a mother who puts her trust in God.

Happy Easter

An Easter Prayer

God our Father,
by raising Christ your Son
you conquered the power of death
and opened for us the way to eternal life.
Let our celebration today raise us up
and renew our lives by the Spirit that is within us.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

The Season of Lent

The Season of Lent has begun. During the second reading at Ash Wednesday mass, we hear the powerful words: "We are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us." It's one of my favorite bible quotes. Lent is a very special time in the life of the Church and in the life of each Catholic. The fact that so many millions of people feel a need to present themselves for ashes, I think, is a sign of the hunger that people have for God. We must not allow our Lenten experience to be simply the ashes. That must be simply a recognition of our mortality and our dependence upon God. Our design is to be an Ambassador for Christ and our destiny to live with God forever and our life of the resurrection must begin now in our lives with discipleship, in the way we follow Christ into the desert for 40 days.

At St Mary of the Visitation Parish we will be focusing upon Lent within the context of a theme - Spring Training. During each of the weeks of Lent we will be getting ready for our Season Opener - Easter - by reviewing some "drills" - Fasting, Prayer, Penance and Almsgiving.

The busyness of life is such that I think we would all agree that Time is one of the greatest treasures which we have. This weekend we started our Spring Training by looking at Fasting - but Fasting Time. Taking time we would give to ourselves and instead dedicating it to God. One such way may be thru praying the Stations of the Cross on Friday evening, or maybe dedicating a little more time daily to prayer - a devotion such as the Rosary - or maybe just quiet time listening for the voice of the Lord.

I recently game across this excellent resource which might be of help - just some thoughts to help you with your Fasting. - www.ewtn.com/faith/lent

During Lent we will also have a Parish Mission with Bishop Peter Hundt from March 22-25. See our website for details.

I will be taking a little break from the Blog during Lent, part of my fasting, see you in 40 days.

Pilgrimage in the Holy Land

During our recent Parish Pilgrimage to the Holy Land I must tell you that I was totally blessed by the experience
- the 30 individuals who went were a delight to travel with
- the guides we had were learned & led us in laughter but in also seeing Christ’s Light
- the sites we saw were humbly to say the least - the site of His birth, the very spot of his Crucifixion , the location of the tomb (which is empty by the way), the Church of the Visitation, where we left the prayer intentions of parishioners, which were remembered in prayer each day during our walk of faith.

Yet as humbled as I was by all those sites, the sight which humbled me the most was the one of a simple Bethlehem Orphanage

From its exterior it looked like a Palace and yet inside were such simple children and care givers; one of those children was days old and abandoned on the door step

In one room in various cribs were about two dozen children and one child - a little boy - lay in his crib crying. I went over and simply touched his back and each time I walked away he cried some more, and yet with a simple touch he stopped crying.

One of the Sisters working there said “ Father would you mind just staying there, there are too many for me to touch right now, if you could just touch him.” Yes I replied, then adding, "its too bad there are too many". Her reply was humbling

“We do not choose to say there are too many, but rather its good for they here for it means they are alive.”

A simple touch and a simple choice - Christ was speaking from the very City he was born in - choose a simple touch.

Life is full of choices....when things are good and when things are bad...and as we live High Definition Lives with Clarity, Colour and the Context of Christ ....we also have choices.

A leper came to Jesus begging him, and kneeling he said to him, "If you choose, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I do choose. Be made clean!

If our lives are to represent Christ - we need to see and understand how did Jesus makes choices in His life ? How can we learn from that ?

We see in scripture over and over again that Christ made His choices based on the same principle each time Jesus' Choice was about the Least, the Last, the Little, the Lost. Over and over again Christ chose to reach out to those:

★ Who were the Least among,
★ Who were Last to be served,
★ Who were Little and not seen,
★ Who were Lost and needed to be found

Over and Over again we see Christ choose to be with them and to live out the call which all of us are invited to accept, and which is so key to High Definition Living, the call to service, the call to reach out of our selves and to reach out to others


We see that expressed in an ancient adage:

GOD IS THE SOURCE OF LOVE
CHRIST IS THE PROOF OF LOVE
SERVICE IS THE EXPRESSION OF LOVE

I am so grateful for our Pilgrimage to the Holy Land and so humbled to be chosen thru Baptism and to have been touched by Christ in His Holy Land.

Ordinary Time is High Definition Time

The month of January has flown by very quickly; I remember once thinking it was the slowest moving month in the year to finish, but goodness that is not the case anymore. Our emphasis during 2009 is Living in HD - High Definition -which means living with a Clarity of Purpose, Context of Faith, and the Colour of Christ in our lives...so how are you doing at that after month one ? Are you in HD ? How are we doing as a parish family after month one - well let’s see:

Clarity of Purpose (What we are about...seeing clearly)
- Welcomed 7 children in Baptism, United 1 couple in Marriage and 4 parishioners were welcomed to Eternal Life.
- Adorers are present in our Chapel 24 hours a day
- 32 Parishioners meet in Celebrating the Word small groups
- St Vincent de Paul reaches out to those in need

Context of Faith (How we Gather)
- Wize Guys had a great Gym Night
- Kids Klub is exciting: Gym Riot & Movie Night
- High School Exam Survival Kits shared
- Children’s Ministry is in full swing
- Family Night at the Gym: a great success
- Parish Day at the Guelph Storm: lots of fun
- CWL, Euchre Club got together

Colour of Christ (Become Like in Christ...His Shadow)
- First Eucharist Parent Meeting
- Enrollment weekends and Pizza with Padre evening for our Confirmation Candidates
- Ministry Appreciation Vespers & Volunteer Reception
- Wize Guys Men’s Breakfast
- Tuesday Night Together Evening on Parenting

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

We celebrate today the conclusion of the Season of Christmas. A Season which has led us not only thru the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas itself), but also the Feast of the Holy Family and the Feast of the Epiphany. Today’s celebration, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, marks the occasion of Christ’s own Baptism in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. It is an occasion to not only celebrate all of the blessings of the Season of Christmas, but also the blessings and grace of the Sacrament of Baptism itself.

Our Holy Father Pope Benedict writes about today “ Baptism is, so to speak, the bridge that God has built between Him and us, the road by which He is accessible to us; it is the divine rainbow over our life, the promise of the great yes of God, the gateway to hope and, at the same time, the sign that indicates the road we must take in an active and joyous way to meet Him and feel loved by Him.”

In our own parish not only was the Renewal of our Baptismal Promises an important part of our celebrations this weekend, but so to for our Confirmation Candidates, it was a time for their Rite of Enrollment in which they came forward to indicate their desire to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation later in this Spring.

Our unity as a community was also celebrated today, in a more secular way, but also an important one, as 90 individuals from our parish attended together a Guelph Storm Hockey game for our annual “Family Day with the Storm.” It was an event attended by individuals of all ages and a great time to be together celebrating our family of faith.

2009 has begun well, one might say in a High Definition Fashion, we continue to rely on God’s Grace and Blessing - both of which come from our Baptism in the Lord.

A High Definition Year - 2009

As we begin 2009, can I borrow some of the words of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict, who is his New Years Day message offers some wonderful hope filled words:

"This year closes with the awareness of a growing economic and social crisis that already concerns the entire world," he said. "Though not a few shadows are appearing on the horizon of our future, we should not be afraid.

"Our great hope as believers is eternal life in communion with Christ and with the whole family of God. This great hope gives us the strength to confront and overcome the difficulties of life in this world."

The Holy Father assured that both the year that was ending and the one on the horizon are both under the gaze of the Virgin Mother of God: "The maternal presence of Mary assures us tonight that God will never abandon us, if we entrust ourselves to him and follow his teachings. To Mary, then, with filial affection and trust, let us present our hopes and desires, as well as the fears and the difficulties we carry in our hearts, as we bid farewell to 2008 and prepare ourselves to welcome 2009."

Our parish begins 2009 by seeking that it become a High Definition Year - one of clarity, context and colour. We pray that the Lord will allow us to become clear about His will for us, that He will lead us to understand our role in the context of the world we live in, and that He will guide us to live life with the vibrancy of colour and not the doom and gloom of black and white. Hope filled - that is our goal...High Definition - that is our way.

Have a H.D. Year !