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Mass Times
- Sunday: 9:00 AM EnglishEnglishEN 11:00 AM EnglishEnglishEN "All Masses are suspended, effective March 24, 2020 until further notice because of Covid-19"
- Saturday: 5:00 PM EnglishEnglishEN
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Confession Times
- Sunday: 10:30 AM to 11:00 AM Suspended until further notice
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FR. AIDAN'S REFLECTION
5th Sunday of Lent: GOD’S TIME IS THE BEST
By Fr. Aidan Dasaah
To his parishioners in self-isolation.
March 29, 2020
1. Are you disappointed with God over COVID-19? Is he too slow to take action in our favor? Do you think that God has abandoned us? Is your faith in his love, goodness, mercy and providence on the decline?
2. In our current situation of Covid-19 crisis, life is really difficult and uncertain. We are cut off from other parishioners, friends and in some instances, relatives. We cannot socialize. Even in a free country, we are not free to move as we want. Some people’s jobs are hanging in the balance and there is fear of retrenching. We are worried we cannot make ends meet. More significantly, we fear of being infected with the virus and we worry about our loved ones who may be infected.
3. Yet, we do not see light at the end of the tunnel; the solution to our predicament isn’t in sight! So understandably, we may feel desperate, gloomy, confused and wonder - “Where is God?” Why is he allowing all this to happen to people he loves? Why does he not answer our prayers by coming to our help right away? Now, not later!
4. If you read the Gospel of Sunday March 29, 2020 (Jn 11:3-7,17,20-27,33-45), you will realize that your frustrations, feelings and emotions are exactly those of Mary and Martha. These sisters could not understand why Jesus delayed 4 days on learning of the critical sickness of his bosom friend Lazarus. The sisters could not hide their feelings, disappointments and pain: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (Jn 11:21). Under our present circumstances, many of us also question why God allowed many thousands to be infected and die of the Covid-19 virus. We just can’t understand. God is a mystery; his ways aren’t ours! He seems apathetic to our need and understandably in varied ways we express our frustrations and disappointments.
5. Happily, however, God is not indifferent to our pain. We see this clearly in the Gospel. Jesus is divine yet he feels with us. He openly wept at the death of his friend Lazarus. He wept when he saw Mary’s tears rolling. He felt sorry for them. He is moved by human pain and suffering. Clearly, the Lord is not oblivious or insensitive to our pain. What we are going through currently – our pain, fears, uncertainty and anxieties – he shares in them. Each one of us is close to his heart! Be encouraged. Soon, he will roll back the stone of Covid-19 and let us out of our isolation, but in his time, not ours!
6. Further, unlike the sisters and the people who were overwhelmed by the death of Lazarus, the Lord did not allow grief to cloud or unsettle his Faith in his heavenly Father. He remained calm, recollected, confident and peaceful. He might have been 4 days late, yes, but he was just right on time! God’s time is the best. Under our Covid-19 circumstances, we need very much to be calm, confident and at peace with God and with ourselves.
7. If Jesus is the LORD as we profess together with Mary, Martha and Peter, then, we can confidently place everything including Covid-19 crisis in his able hands. Let us allow the Spirit of the LORD to make his home in us as St. Paul suggests. Guided by this Spirit, during this Covid-19 crisis, we can learn to reach out to our brothers and sisters in new ways using the internet, digital and social media.
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Current Bulletin
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Where to Find St. Carthagh's, Tweed, Ontario
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Where to Find St. Edmund's, Stoco, Ontario
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Creating Community Links
- Praying the Stations of the Cross
- Stations of the Cross in the Holy Land Video
- Children's Stations of the Cross video
- Chaplet of the Divine Mercy in Song
- Pope Francis "Urbi et Orbi"
- Urbi et Orbi Blessing with Pope Francis
- Daily Mass
- Praying with the Pope
- Non-stop Christian Hymns of the Faith
- Archdiocese of Kingston
- World Day of the Poor
- Into the Breach - Knights of Columbus
- Vatican News
- The Holy See
- EWTN
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Prayer of the Day
Dear Jesus, I pray that all I do today helps others along the way to see you, and that I may see you in them. Amen.
—Fr. Chris Manahan, SJ
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Mission Statement
With grateful hearts for God’s grace of one faith, one baptism, one hope and one Lord Jesus Christ, the Good News of God’s unconditional love for all, we stand united as a community of God’s people in the Archdiocese of Kingston. Conscious of our equality in God’s eyes and His personal love for us and imbued with the evangelical zeal of our patrons and Mary, the Mother of the Church, we reflect God’s goodness in our community and in our dealings with others. Guided by the Spirit and assisted by prayer and the Sacraments, we strive to deepen our personal relationship with Christ Jesus and to share him with others.
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Saint of the Day
Blessed Maria Teresa Casini
Born to a wealthy family, the eldest daughter of Tommaso Casini, an engineer, and Melania Rayner, she was baptized at the age of two days at the cathedral of Frascati, Italy. Her father died when Teresa was about ten years old, and she and her mother moved in with her maternal grandparents. In 1875 she began studying at the school at Santa Rufina in Rome, Italy, which was run by Society of the Sacred Heart nuns. Teresa early felt a call to religious life, and though she had a number of set-backs due to health problems, and faced some family opposition, she entered Poor Clare Sepolte Vive monastery in Rome on 2 February 1885, taking the name Sister Maria Serafina of the Heart of Jesus Pierced.
Poor health caused her to leave the cloister on 2 December 1886. She returned to her family, and spent as much time as she could in prayer in the chapel of the Sacred Heart in the parish church of San Rocco in Frascati. The church and chapel were badly neglected, and Sister Maria worked to restore them. All the while, she kept hearing in inner voice calling her to console the sufferings of the Heart of Jesus, particularly those caused by faithless or undisciplined priests. With this as her goal, and on the advice of her spiritual director, she became part of the community called True Lovers of the Heart of Jesus. When the group’s leader died, Sister Maria gathered everal like-minded sisters, and using her inheritance, on 2 February 1894 she founded the Victims of the Sacred Heart as a cloistered community. They received diocesan approval on 1 April 1896.
With the encouragment of their bishop, Cardinal Francesco Satolli, in the early 20th century the Victims moved from being a clositered order to an active one, working to help priests in their parishes. They founded a school for girls in 1910. On 1 November 1916 changed its name to the Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to better reflect their status and mission. In 1925 she starting working with the Little Friends of Jesus, which educated boys, helped support vocations, and later expanded to assist priests with health problems.
Late in 1925 Mother Maria’s health collapsed completely, and she was eventually paralyzed for the final decade of her life. She never stopped working, running the Sisters from bed, meeting, teaching and consoling sisters, priests and seminarians until the end. The Oblate Sisters continue their good work today, assisting and supporting priests and vocations in Italy, the United States, Brazil, Peru and Guinea-Bissau.
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Bp. Barron's Lent Reflections
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Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus declares, “The Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Charles Williams stated that the master idea of Christianity is “coinherence,” mutual indwelling. If you want...
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FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK
April 3, 2020
Beloved Parishioners,
SO CLOSE YET SO DISTANT
The clarion call from our authorities both civil and ecclesiastical is to take very seriously the recommendations of health experts and government. Please:
Keep your distance from others to slow down the spread of the virus
Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds
Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands
Stay home if you are sick
Cover your mouth and nose with your arm or tissue when coughing or sneezing to reduce the spread of germs.
Dispose of any tissue you have used into the garbage immediately
In view of the escalating Covid-19 pandemic, the Provincial Government of Premier Doug Ford, on March 31, 2020 made this latest announcement:
Emergency declaration has been extended to April 14th
School and Child Care closures has been extended to May 4th.
These measures are to help prevent the spread of Covid-19 and thus prevent the loss of dear lives.
The Archdiocese has taken note of the situation of Covid-19 that has gravely stricken the whole world. Consequently, the Archbishop has issued guidelines to priests regarding the celebration of the sacraments in the context of Covid-19. Please, note the following:
All Masses and the entire celebration of the Triduum will be celebrated by priests without a congregation.
The Chrism Mass will be celebrated by the Archbishop with a handful of priests who will bring the oils to their deaneries and eventually to us in our parishes.
I highly recommend to you Mass on TV or on line. You can access this possibility via our website
On Good Friday, in addition to the service on TV, I would suggest that, if possible, you do the Stations of the Cross on your own or with your family, and pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. It will also be very appropriate to make a perfect act of contrition:
“O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend you, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life. Amen.”
(You will find the Stations of the Cross and the Divine Mercy in our website.).
It is common knowledge to all of you that our main source of income for our churches is the Sunday Collection. With the suspension of the Masses, this income is not available right away. We count very much on each one of you to keep on making the contributions each week and keeping them safely until such time you can tender them to the Parish Office. This will demonstrate your unflinching support for the Church and your fidelity to Jesus even in trying times.
The Vatican has just decreed on a Mass in Time of Pandemic. The Opening Prayer or Collect of this Mass is well captures our genuine concerns:
Almighty and eternal God
Our refuge in every danger,
To whom we turn in our distress;
In faith we pray
Look with compassion on the afflicted,
Grant eternal rest to the dead, comfort to mourners,
Healing to the sick, peace to the dying,
Strength to healthcare workers, wisdom to our leaders
And the courage to reach out to all in love,
So that together we may give glory to your holy name.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
You are welcome to make this prayer your prayer to God especially in our present context of Covid-19.
Ps 91:5-6 reads: “You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day, or the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that wastes at noonday.” These words of the Psalmist invite us to high hopes and great faith in the steadfast love of God who never abandons his people in time of trial. We may be unfaithful but God is always faithful.
Fr. Aidan Dasaah
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DAILY READING
Jn 10: 31-42
The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.”
Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’ —and the scripture cannot be annulled— can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. Many came to him, and they were saying, “John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there.