Our Lady of Victory / St-Malachy

PENTECOST

SUNDAY

CELEBRATION OF THE EUCHARIST

Our Lady of Victory

St. Malachy

Sunday - 9:00 A.M.

Saturday - 7:00 P.M.

F O O D F O R T H O U G H T

Reading I

Acts 2.1-11 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages.

Responsorial Psalm

Lord send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth.

Reading II

Galatians 5.16-25 Works of the Spirit.

Gospel

John 15.26-27; 16.12-15 The Spirit of truth will guide you into all the truth.

Food for Thought

Imagine the scene: the initial fear, the rush of wind, the shock, the confusion, the amazement, the power, the joy, the communication.
We pray on behalf of all who hear today’s readings,” Come, Holy Spirit.

June 04th, 2006

Pastor	William Marrevee s.c.j.
Email	w.marrevee@sympatico.ca
Rectory	490 Charles Street Gatineau, Québec J8L 2K5
Secretary	Monday and Thursday 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Telephone	(819) 986-3763
Fax	(819) 986-9889

A sincere welcome to those who are new among us. We hope you find a warm and welcoming faith-home with us. Please introduce yourself after Mass and call the Rectory to register.

M A S S S C H E D U L E

WED.	Jun. 07th - 9:00 a.m.	OLV	The Delcourt Family by Iris Delcourt Paul Lemieux by Jacqueline Lemieux and family
SAT.	Jun. 10th - 7:00 p.m.	St. Malachy	Frank Kane (36th Anniversary) by the family Dorothy Teske by Gerald Miller
SUN.	Jun. 11th	OLV	NO MASS. Mass at the Community Centre at 10:30 A.M. Please see explanation below.

SUNDAY JUNE 11th - OUR GETTING TOGETHER WITH OTHER PARISHES:
All parishioners of O.L.V., St. Malachy St. Gregoire and St. Luc are invited to get together at the Community Center (180 Joseph Street). That is where we will celebrate our Sunday Eucharist at 10:30 a.m. What better way to show our shared faith around the Table of Our Lord!

Following the Mass there will be a Pot Luck Meal. For that to work each family or participant bring enough food to be shared according to the number of participants in their group.

As for the collection envelopes they will be passed on to the respective Churches. Change will be divided among the four parishes.

The plan is to have this event take place outside. So, please bring your own lawn chairs and/or blankets. In case of rain (we had enough of that by now), we will go inside.

Let us make it work!

For those who cannot make it that Sunday morning, the Saturday evening Mass at Mayo (7:00 p.m.) will take place as usual, In this case, it won’t matter if we are only a handful.

WHAT IS THE POINT OF BRINGING UP THE BREAD AND WINE? COULD THEY NOT BE PUT ON THE ALTAR AT THE BEGINNING?
These are legitimate questions. But there may also be some helpful answers to them, answers that have a lot to do with why we participate in the Sunday Mass in the first place.

The preparation of the altar and the bringing up of the bread and wine are the actions that typically belong to the second part of the Mass. During the first part of the Mass we have been about God’s speaking to us through the witness of the Scriptures. In other words, in the first part of the Mass the Bible, the Scripture readings and our reflecting on them have been the focus.

Now the focus shifts towards the altar. There is where we are privileged to celebrate, in the power of the Spirit, the central mystery of our faith: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now the focus is on the self-giving of Jesus Christ and on his becoming the source of new life for us. We don’t just say or put that central mystery of our faith in words; rather, we act it out in ritual gestures that are loaded with what is central to our faith. In this case, the ritual gesture is that of sharing bread and wine “in memory of Jesus”, in which we are able to express that we are part of that central mystery of faith. We are not simply spectators to what is being celebrated; we are implicated! It is our mystery too!

That comes to light in what we do at the beginning of that second part of the Mass and in what we do with them at the end of that second part. One has to have a bit of a feel for the power of ritual and symbol to appreciate this. At the beginning of that second part of the Mass the bread and wine represent us, embody us, speak of our human story. We are not simply dealing with a piece of bread and a bit of wine. You could say that — from a faith perspective — our lives are on the line. Where do we as Christians go with our world and with our life stories, if we want to taste their true depth and want to see them make sense and be purposeful?

As Christians we cannot get around Jesus Christ or we cannot simply ignore the event where the true depth of Jesus Christ stands revealed. That is what we bring into focus when we bring the bread and wine to the altar. We bring ourselves, we bring our world — with our achievements and with our failures, with what we are excited about and with what we are ashamed of, with our joys and with our pains — we bring all that to Jesus Christ. Why? Because we believe that in his dying and rising we and our world are being re-created, transformed into what God intended and still intends with us: that we be at peace with each other and with God and that our lives and our world are such that they glorify God.

All this to say that however simple that gesture of bringing up the bread and wine is it “carries a lot of weight” for us. Let us handle it with great care and let it be fully fully representative of all of us.

DISCOVERING JESUS CHRIST - THE PATH TO FREEDOM

Two years old, but still new
It is two years ago, on the Feast of Pentecost, that our bishop presented us with a real, challenge. He did that in the form of the little document “Discovering Jesus Christ: The Path to Freedom” What the bishop faces us with in the document is: Where do we want to go, where do we have to go with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our time, if that Gospel is to make its promise of a more fully human life true?

We have been struggling with that document since. Yes, it was and it remains a struggle. What shape do we give to the light and the hope that we believe is contained in Jesus Christ? How do we give credible witness to that faith conviction at a time when so many shape their lives and try to see their deepest desires fulfilled without much or even any reference to Jesus Christ?

How is it that Dan Brown can create — at least for a little while — a greater interest in the fictional and silly stuff of a Jesus — Mary Magdalene relationship than we can draw people’s attention to the real Good News of Jesus Christ?

Not easy questions. What is perhaps even more challenging is the difficulty we have in hearing and understanding the questions of our time. And what good is it to have the answers, if we have not heard or understood the questions?>

All this to say that we have hardly begun to implement the orientation for our pastoral activities that our bishop outlines in the document. At this Pentecost, we may want to more forcefully plead with the Spirit of the Risen Christ for insight, courage, and hope. Do we ever need it!

OUR PRAYERS AND SYMPATHY TO:
- Ambrose Ward on the death of his mother.
- Paulette Ladue on the death of her mother. May they both rest in peace.

BIRTHDAY WISHES TO:
- Jean Paul Robitaille who will celebrate his birthday on June 5th. Congratulations!

W E E K L Y R E C E I P T S

Date	Collection	OLV	St. Malachy

May 29th	Regular	$ 596	$ 320
May 29th	Fuel	$ 390	$ 130