6th SUNDAY OF EASTER
If
you love me, you will keep my commandments and he will ask for the gift of the
spirit and you will be loved by my father. Jesus promises us the gift of the
Spirit and God’s love for us. In order to receive them we need to show our love
for him, keeping the commandments. But what about when we make mistakes if we
at some point don’t keep Jesus’ commandments, if we fail in love? Will we then
be no longer loved by the father? The
Gospel surely presents us here with a call to love, a call that can be, and often
is challenging. But above all, it presents us with a gift. In this incredibly
complex web of loving and being loved, giving and receiving, a friendship is
depicted that actually exceeds all description. Jesus is telling us: God is not
a vending machine, in which we throw requests from time to time to get
something from him. He is not a fundamental energy of love, that is simply
there and radiates blindly, without any interaction. He is a personal lover,
and offers us not only his love, but also friendship. Friendship means meeting
each other, sharing experiences with each other, spending time together. If I
were never to chat with my friends, never do anything with them, never
communicate with them, our friendship would gradually dissolve. Here Jesus makes
a truly great promise. He promises that this meeting with him and his father is
possible,even after he has gone from us. This meeting with Christ occurs in
different ways. We meet him in the daily contact with one another. We will all,
everyone of us, be surprised and astonished how truly, how literally Christ
meant, “As you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.” We
meet Christ through faith and in the power of the Holy Spirit, who remains with
us and will be in us. We also meet him in prayer and in a special way we
encounter Christ in the celebration of the Eucharist. In this Life we will never wholly reach the peace and
happiness that we really desire, but When we receive Jesus lovingly in the
Eucharist, we already participate in a mysterious fashion in this infinite
happiness. Let us pray for the grace to ever more realize and appreciate this
gift of the Eucharist and thereby to grow I. friendship with him.
SUNDAY
MASS:
Mass
will be live-streamed every Sunday at 10 am in our website and YouTube page.
You can also watch the mass later in the day. If you a. , please consider
dropping off your church donations in the mailbox, newly installed at Atwater
Ave Church entrance door .
MAY
IS THE MONTH OF MARY:
The
month of May is traditionally observed as a time of special devotion to the
Blessed Virgin Mary. We are encouraged to pray the Rosary and seek her powerful
intercession for ourselves and for the whole world!
POPE
FRANCIS’S PRAYER TO MARY :
(For
protection from the Coronavirus)
O
Mary, you shine continuously in our journey as a sign of salvation and hope.
We
entrust ourselves to you, Health of the sick. At the foot of the cross you
participated in Jesus’ pain, with steadfast faith. You, Salvation of the Roman
people, know what we need. We are certain that you will provide, so that as you
did at Cana of Galilee, joy and feasting might return after this moment of
trial. Help us, Mother of Divine Love, to confirm ourselves to the Father’s
will and to do what Jesus tells us: He who took our sufferings upon Himself,
and bore our sorrows to bring us , through the cross, to the joy of the
Ressurrection. Amen. We seek refuge
under your protection, O Holy Mother of God. Do not despise our pleas-we who
are put to the test-and deliver us from every danger, O glorious and Blessed
Virgin.
YOUR
PARISH NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT:
Dear people of God .
At
a time like this I feel uncomfortable to talk about giving. Our primary concern
is health and well being of our parishioners. However, No doubt you are aware
that our Parish relies on the support of our parishioners to operate parish
salaries, programs and ongoing operating costs (Heating, Water,Electricity etc)
are funded through the generosity of our parish community. It will be a
challenge for our parish to maintain operations without the weekly offertory
collections.
Here
are the ways you can continue to support our parish at this time.
-
Drop off or mail your regular offertory contribution to the parish mail box
fixed at Atwater Church entrance door
-Contribute
to your parish offertory by credit card.
-
Contribute through pre-authorized giving.
For
more ways to give go to
https://www.archtoronto.org/covid19/Pages/support.aspx
Thank
you for your many contributions to our parish community. God bless you all 🙏
REST
IN PEACE :
+
Janet Lisboa
+
Helmtrud Krampert
+
Dominic Baah
+Nicola
Cicoria
+
Ann Marie Cameron
+Genoveva
Martins
+
James Roy Hollohan
THANK
YOU!
Thanks
for all your support and cooperation. Our Parish Council Members Lisa Hyginus
and Branca Noronha may contact you at
this difficult time just to make sure, you are ok. We are here to serve you and
will address any issues to the best of our ability. Stay safe and healthy.
Missing you all and Praying for you !
God bless!
