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, July 28th – 9:00 am Gordon Dickison
Tuesday, July 29th – 9:00 am No Mass
Tuesday, July 29th – 12 Noon Funeral Mass – Lucienne Bourque
Wednesday, July 30th – 9:00 am Tony Blanchard (Anniv)
Thursday, July 31st – 9:00 am Albina & Zorko Cerné
Friday, August 1st – 9:00 am First Friday – Frank Hogan
Saturday, August 2nd – 5:00 pm John Comeau
Sunday, August 3rd – 11:00 am Margaret Weaver (Anniv)
Weekly Reflections (Homily) from Msgr. Sheehan (Updated July 24, 2025)
SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Dear friends;
Prayer, how to pray?... when to pray?... to whom to pray?...
Perhaps the last question should be asked first… because the nature of our prayer, or the time or amount of time in prayer, or quality of our prayer – is really affected more by – to whom do we pray?
It is to whom we pray… that characterizes our prayer – that fashions our prayer… that texturizes our prayer – so to speak.
Prayer was always important in the history of God’s people… they were a people of prayer, called to rituals, and festivals, and remembrances; at the heart of their life, the psalms constituted – the songs, the lyrics of a people reflecting the wisdom, the piety, the beliefs, the most human sentiments of corporate and individual praise, grief, remorse, hope, longing for God.
As a people, other than the worship of the temple, and synagogues, festivals and rituals, they were called to pray individually – at different times of the day.
So, as disciples – i.e. followers of Jesus… and it is a disciple who asks Jesus… already committed to following him… not a disinterested bystander, or an antagonist, or enemy of Jesus but one who… simply asks… if we follow you… how should we pray?
That is the context… and because he is a disciple… that Jesus’ answer is so important… the whole thing rests on who one is… what one has become… when one is a disciple of Jesus…
There is in the disciple – a radical change of a relationship with God… and because of it… a radical change of relationships with one another.
A change – which not only affects… a way of life… but as well how prayer is to be expressed.
So the first thing Jesus says it… how to address God?… And he answers his question by inferring that your naming of God must reflect who you are… and because you are united to me… a follower a bond between us… you address God as I address God… in the most intimate, personal, trusting, free, liberating, affectionate possible way – the constant shock to Jesus hearers… “Abba”… “Father”
Jesus teaches his disciples to address God as he himself addressed him.
Though in the Old Testament God is sometimes referred to as Father, the people of Israel being his children, his firstborn, it is a title mostly used when God is considered creator, in passages where God as Father is used in a corporate, national, or covenantal sense.
The use of the title by an individual in prayer is rare in pre-Christian Palestinian Judaism… and the intimate word – “Abba”, “Papa”… in addressing God – is quite extraordinary, if not striking as unusual.
That is how I speak to God, Jesus says – that is how you should address God… it will colour your prayer, it will affect what you dare ask for… how you will ask… it will temper what you ask for… it will change how you see God… it will change how you see yourself… it changes everything!! It will change how you live!
May that wonderful name be made known… may the kingdom of the Father be hastened in is coming… so that all can live as children of the Father… may we be sustained by the bread… the nourishment of that knowledge… may we forgive as the Father so generously forgives us – and runs to embrace us… and may we not be tempted to turn away from this revelation to a corrupt way of thinking and living…
If your prayer truly reflects that relationship… you will know what to ask for, how to ask… there will always be an openness, a trust… a readiness to accept whatever… because your prayer will be to one who knows, you, and accepts you, and loves you more than you even love yourself…
That is how to live… that is how to pray.
Amen.