“Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake, and for the sake of the Gospel, will save it.” Mk 8,35

Dear parishioners,

We all know deep down I think, that Jesus’ last words in today’s gospel are true. That the best and fullest of lives is not the life that is clung to in a quest for personal benefit, but on the contrary, a life laid down out of love for something, for someone else. This deep-down awareness is probably the reason why most people long to have children. Being a parent is perhaps the most obvious example we have of selflessness, of devoting the better part of one’s life to someone else. Yet everyone longs to be a parent. I believe it’s because deep down, all people know that the fullest of lives is the life laid down for someone else.

This gospel truth is even inscribed in nature. One of the more poignant examples of this is the salmon that painstakingly swim thousands of kilometers, up into the smallest streams of BC, only to lay their eggs, fertilize them, and die a slow death, all so that new salmon might live. More on this in Sunday’s homily.

For now, just a few announcements and reminders

PREP is accepting registrations for the 2021-2022 PREP year. As last year, the PREP programme will be offered exclusively online till further notice. To register for the current year, go to the parish website, stmarysvancouver.ca, and look for a link to “Prep registration”.

We have discontinued our live streaming of all masses, Monday to Friday. We will continue to live stream the 9:00 a.m. mass on Saturday, and the 11:15 and 3:00 p.m. masses on Sunday. I take this opportunity to thank Joere Estremadura and our valiant team of live streamers for having made daily mass accessible to you online throughout these long months of pandemic. I thank them for continuing to live stream the weekend masses. Dear live streaming team, we owe you more than we can say. We will be forever grateful for this all-important ministry to our parish. 

When we started to live stream our masses, we moved weekday morning mass times from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. to accommodate the live streamers. Since we have discontinued the live streaming of masses Monday to Friday, we will revert back to the regular time for morning masses. So please take note that effective Monday September 20th, morning masses Monday to Friday begin at 8:00 a.m. All other mass times remain as they are now.

Today, September 12th, is the special collection for healing and reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous people of British Columbia. This special collection was called for by the bishops of BC. Please see the write-up in the parish bulletin, the parish website, and our two social media sites for more information on this special collection. At all masses this weekend there will be envelopes available in the pews for this special collection. You can also donate online by going to support.rcav.org 

That’s it for this week. Please let’s all keep safe. I thank you again for the extraordinary and very widespread solidarity that you are all demonstrating when you come to St. Mary’s by wearing masks, sanitizing, and keeping as far apart in the church as possible. Your behavior is exemplary. Thank you and God bless us and keep us all safe.

Fr. Guy