St. Lawrence the Martyr Parish – Hamilton

Where faith builds community | 125 Picton St. E., Hamilton, ON L8L 0C5

Category: From the Pastor’s Desk

From the Pastor’s Desk : Vocations

Published May 12, 2019 / by St. Lawrence Hamilton

Every 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

From the Pastor’s Desk : 153 Fish

Published May 07, 2019 / by St. Lawrence Hamilton

In Sunday’s Gospel the disciples experience a miraculous catch of fish
and then share a meal with the risen Lord. When Jesus asked them to bring some of the fish they have just caught, Simon Peter went out and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them. I always wondered how Simon Peter counted the fish and why their number was precisely 153. St. Jerome in his commentaries on Scripture gives us an interesting explanation of this number. He states that ancient zoologists calculated the species of fish at exactly 153. The meaning, then, would refer to all the kinds of men and women for whom the disciples will cast the net. The net symbolizes the Church created of the disciples and fishing refers to their apostolic mission. We can agree or disagree with St. Jerome’s interpretation; however, it reminds us of a true nature of the Christ’s Church and its mission: everyone is invited to be its member and the apostolic mission embraces all people. That truth brings to mind that I can and I should find my own place in the Church. It is the will of God that I can have a share in all the fruits that the risen Lord brings to people: love, hope, peace, victory over the evil, forgiveness of sins, and compassion. All of them are at hand exactly in the Church.

A few days ago, we began the month of May. This month is called a Marian
month because of our special devotion at that time to Our Lady. Mary, the
Blessed Virgin, perfectly fulfilled the will of the Father and she became a model for us in how we should respond to God’s call. Next Sunday the members of the Catholic Women League of our parish will crown the statue of the Blessed Virgin in our church.

The Holy Father asks the faithful throughout the world to pray during the
month of May for the following intention: “That the Church in Africa, through the commitment of its members, may be the seed of unity among her peoples and a sign of hope for this continent”.

This Sunday during the 2 o’clock Mass the students of St. Lawrence School will receive Holy Communion for the very first time. Let us pray for them and their families!

This Monday, May 6th , we observe a memorial of Saint François de Laval, Bishop, who is a Patron of the Bishops of Canada. He was born in 1623 in France and became the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Quebec. He was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in 1980 and made saint by Pope Francis in 2014 by equipollent canonization. The pope may permit the veneration as a saint without executing the ordinary judicial process of canonization described by ecclesiastical law the cult of one long venerated as such locally. This act of a pope is denominated either “equipollent” or “equivalent canonization” or “confirmation of cultus”. According to the rules instituted by Pope Benedict XIV, there are three conditions for an equipollent canonization: (1) existence of an ancient cultus of the person, (2) a general and constant attestation to the virtues or martyrdom of the person by credible historians, and (3) uninterrupted fame of the person as a worker of miracles. Let us keep our bishops in our prayers!

God bless,
Fr. Peter

Posted In From the Pastor's Desk | Pastoral Notes

From the Pastor’s Desk : Divine Mercy Sunday

Published April 30, 2019 / by St. Lawrence Hamilton

“God of everlasting mercy, (…) increase, we pray, the grace you have bestowed, that all may grasp and rightly understand in what font they have been washed, by whose Spirit they have been reborn, by whose Blood they have been redeemed”

those words we can find in the text of the Collect prescribed to this Sunday. The name “collect” comes from Latin and means a short prayer said by a presiding priest during Mass before the readings. The Collect summarizes the mystery that the liturgy presents to us on the day. Today’s Collect gives us a clue how we should understand God’s mercy. Firstly, we need to be aware of the grace that God has bestowed upon us sending His Son as our redeemer and saviour. The font, Spirit and Blood direct us to our Baptism as a beginning of the salvation prepared by the Son of God and as a source of the dignity we have being the children of God. We can experience fully God’s mercy in the forgiveness of sins that was granted to us in Baptism and is offered in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.’ In today’s passage of the Gospel the Risen Lord gives the Apostles the authority of forgiveness of sins: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain sins of any, they are retained”.

The devotion to Divine Mercy was a new initiated by St. Sister Faustina and widely spread by her spiritual followers. Sister Faustina was a simple and uneducated nun to whom Jesus revealed His message about Divine Mercy. According to the precepts of her confessor Sister Faustina described her spiritual encounters with Jesus in a diary. She passed away in 1938 and the devotion to Divine Mercy in the form presented by her had to wait for many years until it was officially approved by the Church authorities. The promoter of this case was Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, later Pope John Paul II, who during his pontificate in 2000 canonized Sister Faustina and instituted the Feast of Divine Mercy on the Second Sunday of Easter for the universal Church. Pope John Paul II died on April 2nd, 2005 on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday, was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011 on Divine Mercy Sunday and was canonized by Pope Francis in 2014 also on Divine Mercy Sunday. We are very happy that in our church we have a certified copy of the Divine Mercy picture painted under the guidance of St. S. Faustina. This Sunday we mark the Feast of Divine Mercy with a special devotion and Mass beginning at 3 pm. Everyone is welcome! This Sunday also concludes the Easter Octave that is 8 solemn days when we celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord.

For the sake of His sorrowful passion have mercy on us and on the whole world!

God bless,
Fr. Peter

Posted In Formation and Education | From the Pastor's Desk | Pastoral Notes

From the Pastor’s Desk : Holy Week

Published April 14, 2019 / by St. Lawrence Hamilton

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest Today united in spirit with the crowds gathered almost 2000 years ago in Jerusalem with palm branches we greet Jesus entering the City of David. Palm Sunday always reminds us of two important events: Jesus’ solemn entrance to Jerusalem and His Passion and Death. The same people who greeted Jesus as a King of Israel afterwards cried out to Pontius Pilate: Crucify Him! Therefore, today in the liturgy we begin with the procession with palms and solemn, joyful hymns. Then we read the Passion of the Lord. Palm Sunday embarks upon Holy Week that is the most important week in the entire liturgical year. This Monday Bishop Douglas Crosby, Bishop of Hamilton, along with his priests, both diocesan and religious, consecrate Holy Oils during the Chrism Mass. The Holy Oils will be distributed to all the parishes within the diocese and are to be used to administer the Sacraments: of Baptism, of Confirmation, of the Sick and Holy Orders. We are invited to attend the Chrism Mass at 7 pm in our Cathedral Basilica of Christ the King to show our unity with the Bishop.

This Thursday we begin with the Last Supper Mass, the period of the greatest importance of the whole liturgical year that is called The Easter (Paschal) Triduum. Since the very beginning of the Church it has been one feast extended from Holy Thursday evening up to the Vespers (the evening prayer) of Easter Sunday. The faithful throughout the world are greatly encouraged to attend all the days of The Triduum so that they may experience all the mysteries the Church lives and be bestowed with all the graces and indulgences prescribed to those who attend. During the Last Supper Mass we thank the Lord for the precious gift of the Eucharist. We extend our thanksgiving with the Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament following the Mass. On Good Friday we are united with our suffering Lord and His Death on the cross. In the evening we pray the Stations of the Cross and we begin the Novena to Divine Mercy. Good Friday is for the faithful throughout the entire Church a day of fasting and abstinence from meat. On Holy Saturday we remain in silence in union with Jesus’ time in the Sepulchre. The Easter (Paschal) Vigil, which is to be celebrated at night, belongs to Easter Sunday. This Easter Vigil is the most important Mass in the whole liturgical year. By keeping vigil during this Holy Night we express our longing for the coming of the Morning Star who never sets Jesus Christ who, coming back from death’s domain, has shed his peaceful light on humanity and lives and reigns forever and ever.

This year during the Paschal Vigil five adult candidates will receive the Sacraments of Christian Initiation, which are Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Communion. This is a great joy for our Parish! Let us keep them in our prayers during the final days of preparation!

God bless,
Father Peter

Posted In From the Pastor's Desk | Pastoral Notes

From the Pastor’s Desk : Passiontide

Published April 08, 2019 / by St. Lawrence Hamilton

Today we observe the 5th Sunday of Lent that begins the second part of the Lenten season (Passiontide) dedicated to the Passion of the Lord. Passiontide – is a name for the two last weeks of Lent. It is associated with the practice of covering crosses, statues and images throughout the church. That practice hails from the former liturgical calendar in which the Passion of the Lord was read on the Fifth Sunday of Lent as well as on Palm Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week, and Good Friday. The crosses are to be covered until the Liturgy of the Passion of the Lord on Good Friday. The statues and pictures are to remain veiled until the Paschal Vigil begins. This practice of veiling refers to the 8th Chapter of St. John’s Gospel where we can read that Jesus hid himself: So they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple (John 8:59). In the present, this custom may be observed too.

The elect are to have their third scrutiny. By hearing the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, the elect along with the assembled congregation reflect on what being resurrected from the dead means. Let us pray for the elect so that they may be given the faith to acknowledge Christ as the Resurrection and the Life.

I encourage everybody to attend the Paschal Triduum that begins with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday and ends on Easter Sunday. The summit of these liturgical celebrations is the Paschal Vigil – the most important Mass of the year.

God bless,

Father Peter

Posted In From the Pastor's Desk

From the Pastor’s Desk : Laetare Sunday

Published April 01, 2019 / by St. Lawrence Hamilton

The 4th Sunday of Lent is called Laetare Sunday that means Sunday of Joy. This Sunday we enjoy a relaxation from the Lenten austerity. The name of this Sunday is derived from the first word of the Entrance Antiphon in Latin: Laetare Ierusalem (Rejoice, Jerusalem).In the liturgy we may use a rose colour instead of the purple that is prescribed to the season of Lent. The rose (or pink) colour indicates a glimpse of the joy that awaits us at Easter, just before we enter into the somber days of Passiontide (from the 5th Sunday of Lent). This Sunday, as an external sign of our internal joy for the upcoming Feasts of the Resurrection, we may have flowers in the altar.
Today also the elect have their second scrutiny. Through the Gospel account about the man who was born blind they are reminded that Christ the Redeemer is the light of the world. This is the next step on their way to fulfill their desire for purification and redemption that will be celebrated by the Sacraments of Initiation. In the rite of exorcism, the elect, who have already learned from the Church as their mother the mystery of deliverance from sin by Christ, are free from the effects of sin and from the influence of the devil. They receive new strength in the midst of their spiritual journey and they open their hearts to receive the gifts of the Saviour.
Let us keep the elect in our prayers!
This week we begin the month of April. The Holy Father calls on the faithful throughout the world to pray during April for the following intention: For doctors and their humanitarian collaborators in war zones, who risk their lives to save the lives of others.
This week we also observe the first Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of the month with Masses respectively at 7 pm, 9 am, and 10 am.

God bless,
Father Peter

Posted In From the Pastor's Desk | Pastoral Notes