Sunday Liturgy
Saturday: 5:00 pm
Sunday: 11:00 am
Mission Statement
We are a welcoming Christian community called to embrace and respect the uniqueness of each individual as we join together in our faith and worship. Our ongoing mission is to engage our youth, promote renewal, out reach, evangelization and ecumenical cooperation.
MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK
Monday, December 15th – 9:00 am Janet Duplessis
Tuesday, December 16th – 9:00 am Karen Burns
Wednesday, December 17th – 9:00 am Madeline LeBlanc
Thursday, December 18th – 9:00 am Lynne McCarthy
Thursday, December 18th – 10:30 am Deceased Patients – Carleton Kirk
Friday, December 19th – 9:00 am No Mass
Saturday, December 20th – 5:00 pm Fearon Currie
Sunday, December 21st – 11:00 am Jennifer Calhou
CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR MASS SCHEDULE
Christmas
Wednesday, December 24th
4 pm – Mass
7 pm – Mass
Thursday, December 25th
11 am – Mass
New Year’s
Wednesday, December 31st
5 pm – Mass
Thursday, January 1st
11 am – Mass
Weekly Reflections (Homily) from Msgr. Sheehan (December 12, 2025)
THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
“There will be no gloom for those who were in anguish
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light…
Those who lived in a land of deep darkness on them a light has
shined…
The yoke of their burden –
the bar across their shoulders
the rod of their oppressor
You have broken”
(Is. 9, 1-4)
To carry a great weight – to experience the yoke of a burden… to feel oppressed – anguished… is often figuratively “to walk in darkness”… that is the way we express it…
The first reading – goes further… and expresses it – this way – “Those who lived in a land of deep darkness.”
What can this mean? What does the psalmist mean when he so formidably and popularly exclaims – “Though I walk through a valley of darkness…?”
(Ps. 23, 4)
Job, in his great lament – asks the Lord…
“Why did you bring me out of the womb? I should have perished
then, unseen by any eye, a being that had never been, to be carried
from womb to grave. The days of my life are few enough; turn your
eyes away, leave me a little joy, before I go to the place of no return,
the land of murk and deep shadow, where dimness and disorder hold
sway, and light itself is like the dead of night.”
(Job 10, 20-21)
What does this mean – “the land of murk and deep shadow… where dimness and disorder hold sway…?”
Darkness in the OT was the element of chaos… the primeval abyss lay under darkness – and God’s first creative act was to dispel darkness by the intrusion of light -- … God created the light to dispel the darkness.
Darkness is not only associated with chaos – but also with evil and disorder… darkness is the element of death, the grave, and the underworld…
We have appropriated much of the imagery associated with darkness in the Scriptures – to modern usage…
We speak of the “dark side” of our personality… we speak of ‘depression’ or despair as “periods of darkness”…
We know, even, in Saint John – that when there are long periods of fog, or cloudy days – that there is an increase in depression, or violence – that we become moody…
Within this background – our text says – that the light comes into the darkness… that it dispels it… that a light has shone in the darkness – on the people who lived in a land of deep darkness – and they have seen it…
And the psalmist cries out: --
“The Lord is my light and my salvation,
whom shall I fear…?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life,
of whom shall I be afraid?”
Ps. 27, 1
The prayer of the psalmist is simply to “live in the house of light – to behold the beauty of the Lord…” and he believes that he shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land not of the dead, and the darkness – but in the land of the living –
- So he says –
“Wait for the Lord, be strong –
let your heart take courage –
wait for the Lord…”
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Jesus is presented – in the beginning of his ministry – as a light – to the people who sat in darkness…
“To those who sat in the region and shadow of death…”
We have to go into parallel experiences of life to know something of what this means
There are people – sitting in darkness… who have lost hope… who find it hard to believe… to believe in themselves… to believe in others…
There are people who carry the yoke of their burden – as a bar across their shoulders… who deeply feel the rod of oppression…
They long for the light… sometimes they are afraid of the light… they have closed the doors from which the light might come…
The light we have used on them is not the light – to lead them out of darkness – but only a light to shame them, to burden them anew with guilt, with horror at themselves…
That is not the light of Christ… that is not the light to shine on them – which frees them – and enlightens their way out of the darkness.
That is not a light which can ever become the stronghold of their life… and of which they never will be afraid!
They long to see the goodness of the Lord… the goodness of the Lord dispels the darkness – the goodness of the Lord in others which calls them by an outstretched hand –
A hand that reaches into the darkness – unafraid of it… it is a warm embrace… it is a familiar voice… and it says – “come – follow me” -- Come into the light… walk in the light – have nothing to do with the futile works of darkness…
We are the lights of the world… dear friends… we have to bring each other out of the darkness… we have to be the familiar voice of healing – and good news…
A light has dawned… a light has shone in the darkness – it is the Christ – our light… let us live in the light… let us be light in the world. –
Amen.