Stuck in a rut?

Don't worry.  You're not alone!

While tidying up the church grounds this past week, a couple of Knights of Columbus volunteers nearly lost a trailer loaded with trash to a hungry sink-hole in the back yard.  Quick thinking and a heroic rescue effort on the part of the Knights saved the trailer from its untimely demise.   With thanks for a job well done!

Feast of St. Philip Neri

This coming Thursday (May 26th) we celebrate the feast of St. Philip Neri.  From the Liturgy of the Hours comes this brief biography:

"Saint Philip Neri was born at Florence in 1515.  He went to Rome and began to work with young men among whom he fostered Christian life and formed an association for the poor and the sick.  Oradined to the priesthood in 1551, he founded the Oratory where spiritual reading, singing and works of charity were practiced.  He excelled in his love of neighbour and in evangelical simplicity along with joyous service of God.  Saint Philip died in 1595."

Of local interest is the mission church of St. Philip in Hymers, a small village about 30 minutes south-west of Thunder Bay.  Sunday Mass is held there during the summer season for area Catholics as well as tourists and campers.    A couple of photos of the church:

Merciful Father,

you continually raise up your faithful

to the glory of holiness.

In your love

kindle in us the fire of the Holy Spirit

who so filled the heart of Philip Neri.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Yearning for Learning?

Finding a post-secondary institution of learning that is both affordable and dedicated to fostering faith can be a real challenge.  Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy , in beautiful Barry's Bay, Ontario, is one such institution which is committed to forming  "young hearts and minds to play a role in the revitalization of authentic culture." 

Since it's founding in the year 2000, the Academy's Catholic liberal arts program has succeeded in equipping many young Catholics with the "intellectual tools needed to be an effective apostle in the third millenium."  Please consider including the faculty and mission of the academy in your prayers so that they may continue to be blessed in their much-needed apostolate.   

(main academy building on far left, next to St. Hedwig's Church) 

(another picture of  more of the campus)

On a related note, the Feast of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom is celebrated on June 8 of each year.

Taking the Plunge: A Holy Saturday Meditation on Baptism...

While walking to church yesterday, a man approached me and said, “Excuse me, sir. My wife and I moved here a couple of years ago, and we have a child that we would like to get baptized.  What would it take to get him baptized here?” 

After asking him a couple of questions, I invited him to phone to set up a time to meet.    Then he asked, “So how much is this going to cost?” 

I said, “Oh, not too much....only your life....only your child’s life!  Call me when you’re ready.” 

I’m not sure if he appreciated the humour, but I think he understood the point. 

Baptism is not a ten minute ceremony, but a lifelong relationship.  Baptism is not a formality, but a joyful response to the gift of faith.

We baptize because we believe.   We believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and God, as “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

The very word “baptize” means to “plunge” or “immerse” (CCC #1214).   So St. Paul’s teaching on Baptism could also go like this:

“Do you not know that all of us who have been immersed into Christ Jesus were plunged into his death?  Therefore we have been buried with him by plunging into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:3-5).

In many ancient churches, the baptismal 'font' was more like a small pit.  Three steps led the one to be baptized down into the shallow pit.  The three steps represented the three days the body of Jesus remained in the tomb.  After being baptized, the new Christian emerged by way of another three steps, united with the Risen Lord who rose on the third day. 

On Baptism, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, a great theologian of the early church, wrote:

“Baptism is God’s most beautiful and magnificent gift.... It is called gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own; grace since it is given even to the guilty; Baptism because sin is buried in the water; anointing for it is priestly and royal as are those who are anointed; enlightenment because it radiates light; clothing since it veils our shame; bath because it washes; and seal as it is our guard and the sign of God’s Lordship” (CCC #1216).

Soon after I was ordained, a friend of mine said to me, “May you never get used to being a priest!”  (Thankfully this hasn’t happened yet!)   My Easter prayer for you is similar:  May you never get used to being a Christian! May you live as one who has been plunged into the life and “love of God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:39) and walk always “in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

Triduum Liturgy Schedule...

With Holy Week already well underway, here's the liturgy schedule for the Triduum (the three great days):

Holy Thursday

7:00 p.m.     Mass of the Lord's Supper
                        (Personal prayer and Adoration of the Blessed
                          Sacrament to follow Mass until midnight).

Good Friday

11:00 a.m.   Children's Prayer Service
3:00 p.m.     Solemn Good Friday Liturgy with Holy Communion
                       (following this service, Confessions will be heard
                             until 5 p.m., or longer if necessary.)
7:00 p.m.     Stations of the Cross

Holy Saturday

8:00 p.m.     Solemn Easter Vigil

Easter Sunday

10:00 a.m.   Easter Sunday Mass


"On the third day the friends of Christ coming at daybreak to the place found the grave empty and the stone rolled away.  In varying ways they realized the new wonder; but even they hardly realized that the world had died in the night.  What they were looking at was the first day of a new creation, with a new heaven and a new earth; and in the semblance of the gardener god walked again in the garden, in the cool not of the evening but the dawn."      - G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man

Why are the statues covered?

In our parish, since the 5th Week of Lent, this has been a common (and good!) question.  Here are a few thoughts by way of response:

The scriptural basis for the veiling of statues, crucifixes and other images is found in the Gospel according to St. John (8:46-59).  At the end of this passage, it is related that some of the Jewish people took up stones to cast at Jesus, who then escaped and hid himself.  On one level, the veiling recalls this hiddenness. 

The veiling also symbolizes the fact that Christ's divinity remained largely hidden throughout his public ministry, even during his Passion and death.  Only after was his divinity made more manifest. 

This custom, on a very practical level, also helps us to concentrate on the great essentials of Christ's work of redemption.

Shrouds over the sanctuary crucifix and statues...

The Season of Lent...

"The season of Lent should not be faced with an 'old' spirit,

as if it were a heavy and tedious obligation,

but with a new spirit of those who have found the meaning of life in Jesus and in his Paschal mystery and realize that henceforth everything must refer to him."

- Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus, February 26, 2006