Saints Quotes January 23 Monday Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.-st.

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1 Theme Sharing 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Give up your old sins! Today s gospel reports the beginning of Jesus public ministry. John had been arrested, so that was the end of his active input to the religious revival of his people. The gospel tells us that instead of going to Nazareth (in other words, instead of going home), Jesus went to Capernaum. The show was on the road, as it were. Aren t the words used by the prophet powerful to describe what happens when Jesus began his ministry, The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who lived in the land where death cast its shadow, a light has shone. Jesus would later refer to himself as the light of the world; and, in commissioning his apostles, he would tell them that they, too, were to be light to the world. The message of Jesus is a simple one. Turn from your sins, and turn to God, because the kingdom of heaven is near. When I was growing up the word vocation was hijacked by priests and religious. It has been given back to the laity, and more and more baptised people are actually experiencing themselves as being called. There is nothing dramatic about this. It just means that I don t just stumble into the Christian way by default, but that God has chosen me: I have called you by name; you are mine. You didn t choose me; no, I chose you, and I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that would remain. If the gospel is now, and I am every person in the gospel, then, through the gospel of today, I am being called again. Turn from your sins, and turn to God, because the kingdom of God is near. There is a story told about Leonardo da Vinci s famous painting of the Last Supper. Leonardo searched far and wide for what he considered to be an ideal model for each person in the scene. He began with a fine-looking young man, full of vitality, and chose him as a perfect model for Jesus. He followed with other models for each of the apostles, and the work took quite a while. He left Judas till last, not knowing who could represent him. Finally, he came across a tramp sleeping rough, whom he thought that would probably sell his soul for money. Leonardo persuaded him to come to his studio. While the work was in progress, both of them came to the same January 22, 2017 realisation. This man had been in the same studio before, representing Jesus; but he had gone astray, lost his way, and was now on Skid Row. It was a shock to de Vinci, and a sharp prod to conversion for the man. Misericordia et Miseria Apostolic Letter Pope Francis Apostolic Letter Misericordia et Miseria Pope Francis: To All Who Read This Apostolic Letter-Mercy and Peace In this context, hearing the word of God takes on particular significance. Each Sunday, God s word is proclaimed in the Christian community so that the Lord s Day may be illuminated by the paschal mystery. In the Eucharistic celebration, we seem to witness a true dialogue between God and his people. In the biblical readings, we retrace the history of our salvation through the proclamation of God s tireless work of mercy. The Lord continues to speak to us today as to friends; he dwells in our midst, in order to accompany us and show us the path of life. His word gives a voice to our inmost needs and worries, and offers a fruitful response, so that we can concretely experience his closeness to us. Hence the importance of the homily, in which truth goes hand in hand with beauty and goodness so that the hearts of believers may thrill before the grandeur of mercy! I strongly encourage that great care be given to preparing the homily and to preaching in general. A priest s preaching will be fruitful to the extent that he himself has experienced the merciful goodness of the Lord. Communicating the certainty that God loves us is not an exercise in rhetoric, but a condition for the credibility of one s priesthood. The personal experience of mercy is the best way to make it a true message of consolation and conversion in the pastoral ministry. Both homiletics and catechesis need to be sustained by this pulsing heart of the Christian life. To Be Continued. Saints Quotes January 23 Monday Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.-st. Teresa of Avila P. 2 第 2 頁 January 24 Tuesday Never be in a hurry, do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.- St. Francis de Sales January 25 Wednesday Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.- St. Thomas More January 26 Thursday Do not try to please everybody. Try to please God, the angels and the saints. they are your public. -St. John Vianney January 27 Friday Do now what you wish to have done when your moment comes to die.- St. Angela Merici January 28 Saturday If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.- St. Thomas Aquinas Diocese & Other News Single women s retreat Divine mercy Centre, calgary A retreat for single women Strength for the Journey will take place on Saturday, February 11, The retreat will start at 10:30am with Rosary/Confession and will end at 4pm, at the Divine Mercy Centre, Township Rd 262, Calgary AB, T3P-1A7. Cost $30 includes lunch and conferences. For more information and to register please contact Sr. Katrina at or dmccalgary@gmail.com Parish Activities Chinese New Year Thanksgiving Mass January 28 is Chinese New Year s Day There will be a Chinese New Year Mass at 9:00am. After Mass, A New Year gathering will be held at Upper Hall. Parishioners are encouraged to bring snacks to share with others. We sincerely invite all parishioners to join with us. For details please contact Sr. Chan. Chinese New Year banners To celebrate the Chinese New Year, our Parish will distribute the Chinese New Year banners to parishioners. Please pick them up at the church entrance.

2 Celebrate Chinese New Year To celebrate the Chinese New Year, our parish will distribute the traditional Red Packet to all parishioners after Masses on January 28 and 29 in giving you the blessings for the Chinese New Year! Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on February 4 The February s Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament will be led by Knights of Columbus on February 4 from 10am to 11am. Fr. Nguyen will listen to Confession. Parishioners are encouraged to attend. Family Day Ski Trip Youth Group will be hosting the annual Family Day Ski Trip at Nakiska on Monday, February 20. Registration will be on Sunday, January 22 and January 29 after 10:00 AM Mass and 11:30 AM Mass at Upper Hall. The deadline for registration will be on January 29. All youths, young adults and families are welcome to attend! Please contact John, Corwin or Marcus for more details. Together in Action 2016 The 2016 Together in Action The theme this year is: Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown Mercy. As of October14, our campaign has received a total of $37, We plead for your ongoing support. Weekly Activities Wed, Fri Jan 25, 27 OLPH Senior Centre Time: 9:00a.m.-12:00 noon Place: OLPH Church Upper Hall Fri: Chinese New Year Potluck lunch Thurs Jan 26 St. Angela School Feast Day Mass Time: 9:00a.m. Place: OLPH Church Fri Jan 27 OLPH Scout Time: 6:30pm.-8:30pm Place: Upper Hall & Lower Hall Sat Jan28 Chinese New Year Thanksgiving Mass Time: 9:00am. After Mass, New Year gathering at Upper Hall January 22, 2017 Legion of Mary ( meeting ) Time: 9:45a.m. Place: K of C Room at OLPH Church R. C.I.A (Mandarin) Time: 3:00 p.m. - 5:00p.m. Place: K of C Room Young Adults choir practice Time: 5:00p.m.-7:00p.m. Place: OLPH Upper Hall Faith Sharing Group (Arbour Lake) Time: 7:30p.m.-10:00p.m. Contact: Grace Chan Sun Jan 29 R. C.I.A (Cantonese and English) Time: 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Place: OLPH Church Lower Hall Sunday School Time: 10:00a.m.-12:30p.m. Place: OLPH Church Office Building Let There Be Light Five Short Chapters on Change Chapter 1. I walk down a street and there's a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. It takes forever to get out. It's my fault. Chapter 2. I walk down the same street. I fall in the hole again. It still takes a long time to get out. It's not my fault. Chapter 3. I walk down the same street. I fall in the hole again. It's becoming a habit. It is my fault. I get out immediately. Chapter 4. I walk down the same street and see the deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it. Chapter 5. I walk down a different street. Stories Faith Sharing BUSY - Being Under Satan's Yoke Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address he said, We can t keep Christians from turning against God but we can distract them from God. Let them go to church, but let us steal their time so they don t have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do, said the devil: Distract them from maintaining that vital connection with Jesus throughout their day! How shall we do this? his demons asked. Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy P. 3 第 3 頁 their minds, he answered. Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear the still, small voice of God. Entice them to play the radio or ipod whenever they drive, to keep the TV, DVD, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, and every kind of newsletter and promotion offering free products, services and false hopes. Let them stand in lines for hours for the latest cell phone or Harry Potter book forgetting about God. Let them be seduced by glitzy advertising that will lure them away from God. Fill their world and their minds with trash so that they will not have room for God. Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep wives and husbands too tired to love each other after their work. Give them headaches too! If they don t give each other the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere. That will fragment their families quickly! Keep them from spending time with their children. As their families fragment, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work! Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so they will believe that outward beauty is what s important, and forget that loving God and neighbor is what is really beautiful. Give them Santa Clause to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas. Give them an Easter bunny so they won t talk about his resurrection and power over sin and death. Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Let them think that attending a sports event is more important than keeping holy the Lord s Day and treating the sport stars as if they were bishops. Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God s creation. Keep them busy, busy, busy! It will work! It will work! It was quite a plan! The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there, having little time for their God or their families. Does BUSY mean: Being Under Satan s Yoke?

3 Read More Know More Pray, and When Things Become Dark, Pray More! "Prayer leads one forward in hope and when things become dark, there must be more prayer! And there will be more hope." Pope Francis gave this advice. Francis drew inspiration from the figure of Jonah, a prophet who tries to flee from the Lord s call, a difficult mission the Lord entrusted to him. When the ship that Jonah had boarded was tossed by a storm, the pagan sailors asked him, as a man of God, to pray that they might escape sure death. Jonah prays on behalf of the sailors, and, taking up once more his prophetic mission, shows himself ready to sacrifice his life for their sake. As a result, the sailors come to acknowledge the true God. This story, the Jesuit Pope underlined, reminds us of the link between hope and prayer. Anguish in the face of death, he stressed, often makes us recognize our human frailty and our need to pray for salvation. The reaction of these pagans,' Francis observed, was the right reaction in face of death, in face of danger, because it is then that man has a complete experience of his frailty and his need of salvation. The instinctive horror of dying awakens the necessity to hope in the God of life. The pagans desperate hope that this god will prevent them from perishing, the Pontiff said, are words of hope that becomes prayer. This supplication full of anguish, Francis noted, comes from lips of men facing the imminent danger of death. We disdain too easily from turning to God in our need as if it were only a self-interested prayer, and, hence, imperfect. However, God knows our weakness, He knows that we remember Him to ask for help, and with the indulgent smile of a father, He responds benevolently, the Pope said. Hope, which had induced them to pray so that they would not die, is now revealed more powerful and operates a reality that goes beyond what they hoped for: not only do they not perish in the tempest, but they open themselves to the acknowledgement of the true and only Lord of Heaven and earth. Pope Francis concluded, praying that the Lord make us understand this connection January 22, 2017 between prayer and hope, and for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity which is beginning, making us reflect on the love of Christ and pushing us toward reconciliation. Pope Francis P. 4 第 4 頁 聚

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