Make me to know your ways, O Lord; and teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation… The Lord instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.” Ps 25

Dear parishioners,

God’s answer to this plea for a right understanding of his way, his paths, his truth has already been given: “This my Son, my Beloved. Listen to Him!” So how does one listen to the Son? In many ways, but the most obvious, the most fruitful by far, is to turn to our Holy Scriptures, which contain in their totality, truly the essence of God’s truth. Today we celebrate a feast instituted two years ago by Pope Francis, the Sunday of the Word of God. A Sunday set aside to simply celebrate God’s word, as it is found in Scripture. An opportunity to remember that it is the finest source of everything that we believe and teach as Church, and by the same token, a reminder to stay close to Scripture always, as a Church, and as an individual Christian. At the end of mass today we will have a blessing over your Bibles. This will be of course a prayer for God’s blessing on us, and on our reading of the Bible. That we might be faithful to our reading of the Bible, and that it might bear fruit in our faith, our hope, and in our lives. All of those, without exception, who have made of their reading of Scripture a constant feature of their lives will tell you that it’s one of the best, most important things they have ever done. I can testify personally that in my life, I have been redeemed, carried, by verses from Scripture. By verses like: “Into your hands I commend my spirit; you will redeem me, Lord, God of Truth.” Ps 31,6 Or again, “It is good to wait in silence, for the Lord to save.” Lm 3,26 Or again, “Though the flock is removed from the fold, and there are no cattle in the stalls, yet will I rejoice in the Lord, rejoice in the God of my salvation.” Hab 3,17.18 Just one more of my favourites: “In vain is your earlier rising, your going later to rest, you who toil for the bread you eat, when the Lord pours gifts on his beloved while they slumber.” Ps 127,2 I could go on and on, but I think I’ve made my point. Words like these have the power to carry one through the darkest, harshest times and experiences.

I’m keenly aware that as clergy and religious, we are at a great advantage in developing a familiarity with Scripture, because we study it, and perhaps even more importantly, because Scripture is the content of our daily prayer. It can’t help but soak into your heart and mind over time. I’m painfully aware that this is not the reality of the laity in the Church. I don’t know what the solution is, but I can only urge you to make Scripture a prominent part of your life, in particular, of your prayer life. Yes, we can and we should talk naturally, spontaneously, frequently to God, in our own words. But it’s not enough. Our prayer will never become truly Christian unless we nourish it with Scripture. Thanks be to God, there are multiple resources available to enable the ordinary person to access Scripture-based prayer. Just go to Formed.org, Augustine Institute, Novalis or any other Catholic website, and I’m sure you’ll find something that can work for you. Most importantly, I pray to God that in his Providence, he will find a way of bringing all of us to Scripture, and keeping us there, together with Scripture, as with a dear old friend.

Just a brief word on our currently offered hours for picking up envelopes, personal prayer, confession, and communion. In order to keep the numbers down, we require that people pre-register for half-hour periods of time. It’s extremely important, if you have pre-registered for presence in the church, say, from 7:30-8:00 p.m., that you arrive after 7:30 p.m. and that you leave before 8:00 p.m. This is to avoid the crowd at the entrance to the church, people who have arrived early and are waiting to be let in. It’s also to avoid crossing paths with the people leaving the church as you arrive, and with the people arriving at the church as you leave. We must avoid this at all costs. It will be all the more important going forward. Nothing has been firmly decided yet, but assuming we are allowed to re-open, I expect that we will be introducing “walk-throughs” as one feature of our celebration of Ash Wednesday and the Easter Triduum. We intend to increase the number of people admitted to the church in any given half-hour period so as to maximize the number of people who will be able to come to church for ashes, communion, veneration of the Cross, or to renew their baptismal commitment. If we go ahead with this, it will be essential that we avoid accumulations of people present on the property at the junction of two half-hour periods. If we all remember that we must arrive and leave within the half-hour for which we have pre-registered, it should go well.

Ave Maria Garden Ministry is at it again. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, they are creating fresh flower bouquets, preserved flower bouquets, and their traditional Ave Maria Garden bouquets. These bouquets are the perfect gift for someone you love on Valentine’s Day. The proceeds of these sales will go to Chalice, a very fine, Canadian non-profit organization that provides needy families in the Third World with very practical, down-to-earth gifts, things like goats, cows, and sewing machines. For photos of the bouquests and more information on how to go about obtaining a bouquet, contact Jane by going to their Facebook page: “Ave Maria Garden Canada”. You can also email Jane at [email protected] .

Just two more weeks before Dr. Bonnie Henry’s next announcement with respect to in-person church gatherings. Let’s all be on our best behaviour, so that the curve will flatten, and we’ll be able to gather again!

God bless and keep safe,

 

Fr. Guy