“Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.” 1 Sm 3,9

“Behold, I come to do your will, O God.” Ps 40,7.8; He 10,7


Dear parishioners,

 These ever so beautiful words are from today’s readings. The first is the prophet Samuel’s response to the Lord, calling out his name in his sleep. The second is from today’s psalm. The letter to the Hebrews applies it to Jesus, and rightly so. Jesus’ all-consuming passion was the will of the Father. Recall his words, from the gospel of John alone: “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me, and to do his work.” Jn 4,34 “I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me.” Jn 5,30 “I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent me.” Jn 6,38 It is very clear in the gospels that the love of the will of the Father is at the heart of who Jesus was.

It’s reasonable to assume, since we are members of the Body of Christ, that as we live our Christian lives, we evolve into becoming something of an ever greater image and likeness of Christ. This has to mean, among other things, an ever more deepening in us of our love of the will of the Father, of our hope that our lives will unfold entirely according to his will. So let us make that our prayer today. Let us pray that our lives will unfold, ever more, according to the will of the Father.

More specifically, since we can only love and want something that we perceive to be good, let us pray that the Lord will open our eyes to the beauty and excellence of his will. To the extent that he does, we will long for it to come to pass, and the rest is just the Holy Spirit doing his work. By the grace of God, may we all come to that day when we will be able to say, without reservation, like Samuel, like Jesus, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.” “Here I am Lord, I come to do your will.”

A few odds and ends:

The February edition of Living With Christ is available at the front door of the church. Please help yourselves. While you’re there, you can take one of the pots of poinsettias that served for our Christmas decorations. If you wish to make a donation to the parish for the poinsettias, to give you an idea, the small pots were $10 each, and the large pots were $20 each.

Next Sunday will be Sunday of the Word of God, a Sunday chosen by Pope Francis to celebrate the Word of God as it appears in Scripture, in the Bible. So if you have a Bible and you intend to watch our live streamed mass next Sunday, place it in a prominent place in your home during the mass, and we will have a prayer of blessing over your Bibles at the end of mass. If you don’t have a Bible, now is as good a time as any to procure one. Go to St. Andrew’s Church and Book Supply, or to the Holy Family Catholic Gift and Bookstore in Langley, or online, and look for a Catholic Bible. There are several very good Catholic Bibles. I am presently using the “New American Bible”, but there are many others. My advice, purchase a user-friendly Bible, namely, one with large type. It will be larger, heavier, bulkier, but you’ll be more inclined to read it because it’s easier to read.

Also, if you’re reading this prior to this Sunday’s mass, this Sunday is Santo Nino Sunday, so if you have a Santo Nino in your home, place it in a prominent place for the 3:00 p.m. Tagalog mass, and there will be a prayer of blessing for the Santo Nino statues at the end of mass.

If you watch our live streamed masses in the coming days, you will notice that the tabernacle is not in its place. That’s because it is being refurbished, thanks to the generosity of one of our parishioners.

Finally, you have outdone yourselves in generosity to the parish this last Christmas. The special Christmas collection totalled $18,000. In addition, the Sunday collection went from $46,000 in November to $78,000 in December. And in December alone, $8,900 was contributed to the building fund! Thank you all, on behalf of the parish, and God bless you for helping us out in this precarious time.

If you’re like me, your mood is slowly lifting these days, because the days are getting longer and because thousands more people are being vaccinated every day. We have every reason to hope that soon, the suffering and the dying in our long-term care homes will end. By the grace of God, may that come to pass.

God keep you all safe and well, 

Fr. Guy