I
have been meaning to write a few words about our parish skating night on
January 14th. I would like to thank all those families who came out
to skate and enjoy the party in the hall afterward. About 200 people
skated on the ice and came back to the hall. This is probably the best attended
skating evening in a long while. Many thanks to the Knights of Columbus for
providing the food and drinks for the evening. Thanks also to Sean Bator for
putting together a great selection of music for the party. I hope all of you who
attended had a great time. Many families expressed a desire to do this again
soon and I am trying to arrange that now.
MARRIAGE
COURSE – For those needing to take the marriage
course, please refer to:
Catholic Family Services of Toronto where you can
get the contact details to arrange your marriage course.
CONFIRMATION
2017 – Registration for Confirmation - all grade 7
students is Monday March 27th
at 7:30 pm in the hall.
Pope
Francis on the theme of Salt and Light:
Pope Francis spoke of Jesus telling his disciples
“you are the salt of the earth”, “you are the light of the world”.
Christians, he said, must be salt and light, but
never self-serving: salt must add flavor and light must illuminate the other.
The Pope continued his homily with the question:
“what must a Christian do in order for the salt not to run out, so that the oil
to light the lamp does not come to an end?”
The “battery” a Christian uses to generate light,
the Pope explained, is simply prayer.
“There are many things one can do, many works of
charity, many great things for the Church – a Catholic University, a college, a
hospital – you may even be rewarded as a benefactor of the Church with a
monument, but if you do not pray, it will be dark and dimly lit” he said.
Prayer, the Pope said, is what lights up Christian
life, and he highlighted the fact that prayer is a “serious” matter: “a prayer
of adoration to God the Father, a prayer of praise to the Holy Trinity, a
prayer of thanksgiving, a prayer to request to God… prayer must come from the
heart”.
As regards the salt that Christians are called to
be: it becomes salt when it is given to others.
This, Pope Francis explained, is another Christian
attitude: “to give of oneself, to give flavor to the lives of others, to give
flavor to many things with the message of the Gospel”. Salt is something to be
used, not to keep for oneself – Francis elaborated - but to give to others.
“It’s curious – he continued - both salt and light are for others, not for
oneself: salt does not give flavor to itself; light does not illuminate
itself”. Of course, he noted, you may be wondering how long salt and light can
last without running out if we continue to give of ourselves relentlessly.
“That’s where the power of God comes in, the Pope explained, because the
Christian is salt given to us by God during Baptism, it’s a gift that never
ends”.
I wish you all a good week.
Fr. Phil
