Posted In Feasts and Celebrations | Formation and Education
Category: Formation and Education
Confirmation Meeting – Thursday January 23 after 7:00 p.m. Mass
Published January 21, 2020 / by St. Lawrence HamiltonThis Thursday January 23rd, at 7:30 p.m. at the church following 7:00 p.m. Mass, there will be a meeting for grade 7 students and who will be preparing to receive the sacrament of confirmation and their parents. The meeting will explain the expectations of the students, the parents’ role in confirmation, and will be an opportunity to ask any questions you have regarding the sacrament.
Posted In Formation and Education | upcoming | Youth
Children’s Rosary
Published October 07, 2019 / by St. Lawrence Hamilton
As part of our Marion Devotion which is held the First Saturday of every month in the church at 10:00 am, the children along with the sisters of the Fraternity Poor of Jesus Christ came together last Saturday for the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass and prayed the Joyful Mysteries. Led by Michael, from the Altar, the children did a beautiful job in leading the Rosary.
“The Children’s Rosary is a prayer group movement that was begun out of love for Our Lady and Her Son. Jesus tells us “Truly, I say to you unless you turn and become like children you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 18:3). The Children’s Rosary is an effort to begin in parishes rosary prayer groups composed of children and led by children. Through prayer of the Rosary Our Lady will guide our young people while at the same time sanctify families and Parishes.”
For more information about the children’s rosary initiative you can visit www.childrensrosary.org
Posted In Formation and Education | Youth
From the Pastor’s Desk : Preparing for the coming year
Published September 09, 2019 / by St. Lawrence HamiltonYou are just, O Lord, and your judgement is right – thus the Entrance Antiphon reminds us of the Lord’s righteousness. We walk in a new pastoral year with confidence in the Lord and with refreshed eagerness. During last 14 months in our parish many good things have been accomplished and initiatives undertaken both material and spiritual: new liturgical books, vestments and vessels, new lights in the church, air conditioning, new sidewalks, the children’s liturgy, preparation for First Communion, a series of talks about our faith, the Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament on Thursdays, First Friday and Saturday devotions, and the annual celebration of our patron saint. Also five adults received the Sacraments of Christian Initiation at the Easter Vigil.
Each year brings new challenges and opportunities. This year I would like to continue the good initiatives we have already begun and to undertake new ones. First of all, I wish us to live the course of the liturgical year and in that way to experience and treasure the beauty of the liturgical celebrations (memorials, feasts and solemnities of the Blessed Virgin and Saints) . Secondly, in 2020 we will hold the 130th anniversary of our parish.
I would like to invite everyone to get involved in making our parish flourish. To get preparations for the next year underway, I invite parishioners to attend a parish pastoral meeting on Thursday, September 19th at 7:30 pm in the parish hall. Before we begin discussing what we may do this year we are invited to pray during the Adoration and Mass on that evening. It is truly important to entrust to the Lord what we are going to do so that the Holy Spirit may guide us.
This Thursday, September 12th, we will observe the memorial of The Most Holy Name of Mary. On Saturday, September 14th, we will hold the feast of The Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Both of the celebrations are connected with interesting events: The Battle of Vienna in 1683 and the finding of the Holy Cross in the 4th century.
Mary, Holy Mother of God – pray for us!
God bless,
Fr. Peter
Posted In Formation and Education | From the Pastor's Desk | Liturgical Celebrations | upcoming
From the Pastor’s Desk : Litany of Loreto and St. Rita
Published May 19, 2019 / by St. Lawrence Hamilton“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another”
In today’s passage of the Gospel Jesus reminds us of the principal thing we are to do: to love one another. Love towards the Lord and our neighbour is essential for every true disciple of Jesus. The Lord has given us the best example of love when He laid down His life for us.
We celebrate the month of Mary. Last Sunday the statue of Mary in our church was crowned by the CWL members. It was a good opportunity to express our love towards the Blessed Virgin and our appreciation for all the good the CWL members have done in our parish. Especially during May in numerous churches and chapels throughout the world the faithful pray the Litany of the Blessed Virgin, which is also called the Litany of Loreto for its first-known place of origin, the Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto in Italy. The Litany was originally approved in 1587 by Pope Sixtus V. It contains many of the titles used formally and informally for the Virgin Mary. In Loreto there is a beautiful church called the Basilica of the Holy House (Basilica della Santa Casa). The basilica is known for enshrining the house in which the Blessed Virgin is believed by to have lived. Tradition holds that the Holy House arrived in Loreto on December 10th, 1294 after a miraculous rescue from the Holy Land as the Crusaders were driven out of Palestine at the end of the 13th century. According to tradition, the house was carried by angels from the Holy Land first to Croatia and then to Italy. We may believe or not in this tradition but there are some interesting facts: Both stone and mortar are chemically identical with the materials most commonly found in Nazareth; The dimensions and characteristics of the Loreto House match perfectly the remains of the Nazareth House.
On Wednesday, May 22nd, there will be an optional memorial of Saint Rita of Cascia. She was an Italian widow and Augustinian nun living in the 14th and 15th centuries. Her marriage lasted for eighteen years, during which she is remembered for her Christian values as a model wife and mother who made efforts to convert her husband from his abusive behaviour. Upon the murder of her husband by another feuding family, she sought to dissuade her sons from revenge. Pope Leo XIII declared her a saint in 1900 and bestowed upon her the title of the Patroness of Impossible Causes. In many countries Rita is known as the patroness of abused wives and heartbroken women.
This Friday, May 24th, we observe a World Day of Prayer for the Church in China. Pope Benedict XVI chose this day since it is a Feast of Our Lady of Help of Christians, venerated at the Shrine in Shanghai. Let us pray for the Church in China!
God bless,
Fr. Peter
Posted In Formation and Education | From the Pastor's Desk | Pastoral Notes
From the Pastor’s Desk : Vocations
Published May 12, 2019 / by St. Lawrence HamiltonEvery year on the 4th Sunday of Easter Jesus appears to us as a Good Shepherd. He calls us His own sheep giving to us a gracious promise of eternal life: “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish”. The Good Shepherd takes care of His flock calling some people to follow Him in a special way. He needs some people from His flock to sacrifice their own lives for the kingdom of God. That is referring to vocation to the priesthood and consecrated life.
This Sunday the entire Church observes a World Day of Prayer for Vocations. The faithful throughout the world are called to pray for vocations imploring the Good Shepherd to send labourers to His vineyard. Pope Francis in his message for the 2019 World Day of Prayer wrote:
“The Lord’s call is not an intrusion of God in our freedom; it is not a “cage” or a burden to be borne. On the contrary, it is the loving initiative whereby God encounters us and invites us to be part of a great undertaking. He opens before our eyes the horizon of a greater sea and an abundant catch. God in fact desires that our lives not become banal and predictable, imprisoned by daily routine, or unresponsive before decisions that could give it meaning. The Lord does not want us to live from day to day, thinking that nothing is worth fighting for, slowly losing our desire to set out on new and exciting paths.”
Pope Francis, 2019 World Day of Prayer
Sometimes we ask a question: “What can I do to increase the number of those who want to follow Christ as priests, nuns, and sister and brothers in consecrated life?” The simplest answer is: Just pray! That is true that we should pray, but it is not enough. Our Creator has given us minds, skills and talents to use them for the kingdom of God. The Good Shepherd tirelessly and unceasingly calls the people whom He had chosen to follow Him, but sometimes there is a lack of response on the other site. Many people are so bound by earthly desires that they are not able to hear and answer the call of the Good Shepherd. Additionally, they are surrounded by an environment that is not God-and vocation-friendly. Today young people are involved in many activities, which is certainly good, but how many of them are connected with faith?
Today we celebrate Mother’s Day. May the Lord through the intercession of Mother Mary bless all mothers with an abundance of His grace!
This Monday, May 13th, we welcome Archbishop Peter Hundt from the Archdiocese of Saint John’s, who will confer on the Grade 7 students of St. Lawrence School the Sacrament of Confirmation. Let us keep them in our prayers.
Also, on May 13th the Universal Church holds a memorial of Our Lady of Fatima. This feast refers to the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin that took place in 1917 in Fatima, Portugal. In numerous parishes throughout the world on that day the faithful pray the rosary walking in the procession with lit candles.
Our Lady of Fatima – pray for us!
God bless,
Fr. Peter
Posted In Formation and Education | From the Pastor's Desk | Pastoral Notes