“I, the Lord God, will rescue my sheep from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.” Ez 34,12

Dear parishioners,

These words from this Sunday’s first reading are just what we need to hear. We are the sheep that have been scattered yet again, effective immediately, and until December 7th, at the earliest. Let us take heart in the words of Ezechiel. We have been scattered again, but “the Lord God  will seek us out, he will rescue us from all the places to which we have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness… he will seek the lost, bring back the strayed, bind up the injured, and strengthen the weak.”  Let us take heart in the beautiful words of psalm 23, also in this Sunday’s liturgy: “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Ps 23. We are not at Christmas yet, but let us let the Christmas message ring out: God is with us indeed, now and always. Jesus is Emmanuel, God-with-us, now, in this hour of darkness and rain and scatteredness, and always. This will pass, and God will be with us still, in Jesus.

A few words about this new reality and about the slight adjustments that we will be making. We are closed in terms of in-person attendance at mass. So there will be no sign-up for attendance at any masses between now and December 7. Those who have pre-registered for attendance at masses in the coming week will be notified that they cannot come. The public health office has made an exception for baptisms, weddings, and funerals, with a maximum of ten people in attendance. We will maintain our intention of opening the foyer Saturdays from 1:00  – 2:00 p.m. and Mondays from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. for those who would like to pick up their boxes of envelopes for 2021. Since the ushers are there, we will also make these two timeslots a time for personal prayer in the church. No pre-registration required as we expect the numbers to be low. However, we are limited to ten people in the church at any one time, so if you’ve been in the church for a while and an eleventh person asks to go in, you will be asked to leave. 

For the confessions times that we’ve already announced, here is how it will work. We will ask you to pre-register for confession in half-hour timeslots, 1:00-1:30 and 1:30-2:00 on Sundays, and 5:00-5:30 and 5:30-6:00 on Tuesdays. The maximum number of people for each half-hour will be ten. No walk-ins. In principle, we will be three priests available to hear confessions, so it should go well.

Live streaming is more important than ever as once again, everyone is denied the possibility of attending mass in person. Our wonderful team of live streamers are stepping up to the plate, so that we can ensure a daily live streamed mass. So effective next Sunday, November 29th, we will be live streaming the 11:15 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. masses on Sundays, and a 9:00 a.m. mass every day from Monday to Saturday. To make the burden of our live streamers as light as possible, and because there are far more viewers for our morning masses than for our evening masses, we will discontinue live streaming the three evening masses on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. On your behalf, I thank our ever so generous live streamers.

In order to help as many of you as possible to celebrate Advent at home, we will place just outside the entrance of the church, copies of the December edition of Living With Christ, as well as two Advent resources and the Sunday edition of Living With Christ for the liturgical year 2020-2021. Come by and take a copy for yourself, as well as a copy for someone you know who is prevented from attending mass because they are elderly or vulnerable.

Since we opened for attendance at mass and set up a collection box at the back of the church, our income from donations made through use of envelopes rose gradually to a ceiling of roughly $6000 per Sunday. We’ve lost that now, for at least the next two Sundays. This will make our financial situation even more fragile than it already is. So I would ask those who were generously contributing to the parish through the use of envelopes since July to please remember our somewhat dire situation. I remind you that you can drop off your envelopes at the parish office, or even send us a cheque by mail, making sure to mark your envelope number on the cheque. If it’s easier for you, you can make monthly donations instead of weekly donations. Also, you always have the option of donating online, by going to our two available sites, a link to both of which is available in the parish bulletin as well as on the parish website. Thank you and God bless you for remembering us in our hour of need.

Until we are able to gather again, let us all remain as one in prayer. Let us all, in the wonderful words of Dr. Henry, stay safe, stay calm, and stay kind. God bless you all.

Fr. Guy