At the altar is one of our seminarians, Brian McDonnell, who was recently ordained to the Diaconate. Please keep him in your prayers as he prepares to be ordained as a Priest next year.

In celebration of the Annunciation of Our Lady, Friday 25 March, we will have a solemn high Mass at 7:30 pm.

This is a solemnity (first class feast), so a relaxation of your Lenten observance is permitted on this day.

This feast brings to mind the mission of teacher and pastor conferred by Christ on Peter, and continued in an unbroken line down to the present Pope. We celebrate the unity of the Church, founded upon the Apostle, and renew our assent to the Magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, extended both to truths which are solemnly defined ex cathedra, and to all the acts of the ordinary magisterium.

Since early times, the Roman Church has had a special commemoration of the primatial authority of Saint Peter. As witness one of the most renowned of the Apostolic Fathers, the Roman See has always held a peculiar place in the affection and obedience of orthodox believers because of its “presiding in love” and service over all the Churches of God.

We shall find in the Gospel that Jesus Christ, willing to begin the mystery of unity in His Church, among all His disciples chose twelve; but that, willing to consummate the mystery of unity in the same Church, among the twelve He chose one. He called His disciples, said the Gospel; here are all; and among them He chose twelve. Here is the first separation, and the Apostles chosen. And these are the names of the twelve Apostles: the first, Simon, who is called Peter. [Mt. 10, 1-2] Here, in a second separation, St. Peter is set at the head, and called for that reason by the name of Peter, ‘which Jesus Christ,’ says St. Mark, ‘had given him,’ in order to prepare, as you will see, the work which He was proposing to raise all His building on that stone.

All this is yet but a beginning of the mystery of unity. Jesus Christ, in beginning it, still spoke to many: Go, preach; I send you [see Mt. 28, 19]. Now, when He would put the last hand to the mystery of unity, He speaks no longer to many: He marks out Peter personally, and by the new name which He has given him. It is One who speaks to one: Jesus Christ the Son of God to Simon son of Jonas; Jesus Christ, who is the true Stone, strong of Himself, to Simon, who is only the stone by the strength which Jesus Christ imparts to him. It is to him that Christ speaks, and in speaking acts on him, and stamps upon him His own immovableness. And I, He says, say to you, you are Peter; and, He adds, upon this rock I will build my Church, and, He concludes, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. [Mt. 16, 18] To prepare him for that honor Jesus Christ, who knows that faith in Himself is the foundation of His Church, inspires Peter with a faith worthy to be the foundation of that admirable building. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. [Mt. 16, 16] By that bold preaching of the faith he draws to himself the inviolable promise which makes him the foundation of the Church.

It was, then, clearly the design of Jesus Christ to put first in one alone, what afterwards He meant to put in several; but the sequence does not reverse the beginning, nor the first lose his place. That first word, Whatsoever you shall bind, said to one alone, has already ranged under his power each one of those to whom shall be said, Whatsoever you shall remit; for the promises of Jesus Christ, as well as His gift, are without repentance; and what is once given indefinitely and universally is irrevocable. Besides, that power given to several carries its restriction in its division, while power given to one alone, and over all, and without exception, carries with it plenitude, and, not having to be divided with any other, it has no bounds save those which its terms convey.

Excerpted from The See of Saint Peter by Jacques Bossuet.

The Solemnity of the Epiphany commemorates three manifestations (Greek: epiphaneia) of the Divinity of Christ to man: to the Magi in Bethlehem, following His birth; to Saint John the Baptist at His Baptism; and to the Jews with His first public miracle at the wedding feast in Cana. All three of these manifestations are referenced in the Mass readings and divine office of the Church on this day, although the visit of the Magi is the major focus for Latin Catholics. In the Eastern Churches, where the feast is called the Theophany—‘divine manifestation’’—, the focus is on the revelation of Our Lord as the Messiah and Second Person of the Trinity at the time of His baptism.

In both West and East, house blessings are a traditional feature of Epiphany time. Blessed chalk is made available in the entrance of the church, and you  may take this away to inscribe the traditional blessing formula in your home. Like holy water, the blessed chalk is a sacramental. It is the custom to mark the main door of the home with the blessed chalk. This may be done by the head of the household while saying a prayer. It should look like this:

20  C + M + B   10

The letters C M B are the initials of the names traditionally given to the three Magi: Caspar, Melchior and Balthasaar. They also stand for the Latin phrase Christus mansionem benedicat, ‘May Christ bless this house’.

Suggested prayer:
The three Wise Men, Caspar + Melchior + Balthasaar, followed the star of God’s Son, Who became man 20 hundred and 10 years ago. May Christ our King bless our home, protect us, and remain with us throughout the new year. Amen.

Sunday 26 December
Sunday in the Octave of Christmas
(Commemoration of Saint Stephen, Apostle & Protomartyr)
8:00 am & 10:30 am

Saturday 1 January
Circumcision of Our Lord
8:00 am & 10:30 am

Sunday 2 January
Holy Name of Jesus
8:00 am & 10:30 am

Thursday 6 January
Epiphany of Our Lord
7:30 pm Solemn High Mass

Please note that 25 December and 1 January, as well as all Sundays of the year, are Holy Days of Obligation.

Tuesday 2 November
All Souls Day [see schedule]

Friday 5 November
First Friday,  High Mass at 7:30 pm

Thursday 11 November 11
Remembrance Day Requiem Mass at 10:00 am
and by Knights of Columbus War Memorial and Social

Sunday 14 November
Anniversary of the dedication of Holy Family Church, High Mass at 10:30 am
followed by German-themed social in the hall

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Update: The high mass announced for 22 November, Feast of Saint Cecilia, has been cancelled.

All Souls Day falls on Tuesday 2 November this year.  High Mass will be celebrated at 7:30 pm. Several Low Requiem Masses will also be offered in succession for the benefit of the Souls in Purgatory:

7:30 am  Low Mass
8:00 am  Low Mass
8:30 am Low Mass

5:30 pm Low Mass
6:00 pm Low Mass
7:30 pm High Mass

Please note that Holy Communion will be distributed at the 7:30 am and 7:30 pm Masses only.

If you are interested in having your child participate, please call the parish office (t. 604 255 5026) or contact the clergy to be put in touch with the organisers. We also need volunteers to help organise this event.

This feast, originally celebrated as Our Lady of Victory, commemorates the defensive victory of Christian naval forces of the Holy League commanded by Don John of Austria against the Ottoman Turkish navy, near Lepanto in the Mediterranean, on 7 October 1571. In thanksgiving for this victory, and for the resulting freeing of several thousand Christian slaves from the Ottoman galleys, Pope Saint Pius V led a procession reciting the rosary before Saint Peter’s Basilica, and later instituted the feast celebrated on this date.

[The image above shows Paolo Veronese’s allegorical painting of the Battle of Lepanto, which hangs in the Doge’s Palace in Venice. Public domain image.]

Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio, contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium. Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur: tuque, Princeps militiae coelestis, Satanam aliosque spiritus malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo, divina virtute, in infernum detrude. Amen.

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.