SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
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 15. 1 – 2, 22 - 29 Responsorial Psalm O God, let all the nations praise you! Reading II Revelation 21.10 – 14. 22 - 23 Gospel John 14. 23 - 29. Food for Thought The promise is that Jesus and his Father will come to me and make their home with me. How does that idea sit with me? Have I experienced their promise or am I confused about what they want? Do I feel the need of the promise of the Holy Spirit, who will teach me everything? Am I prepared to wait and listen?

May 13th, 2007

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

ARE YOU NEW TO OUR PARISH? WELCOME!
Welcome to those who want to make our parish their faith home. You may have come from other places. You may have been “away for a while”. Be assured that we love to have you among us. We would appreciate it very much if you identified yourself at Mass. It would also help if you would take the time to fill out a registration form. The next time you are with us, you may leave it in the collection basket or give it to one of the ushers or to the priest. Thank you and welcome.

M A S S       S C H E D U L E WED. May 16th - 9:00 a.m. OLV Deceased relatives of the Jeremie Coderre family by Colette Giroux SAT. May 19th - 7:00 p.m. St. Malachy Brian Doherty by Tim & Maxine Doherty Louis Weatherdon by Greg & Patricia Lavell SUN. May 20th - 9:00 a.m. OLV Larry Miller by Val & Lewis Rowe Emily Burke Agnes Jeror Bernadette Woods by Nan Sicard

DIOCESAN LAUNCH FOR NEXT YEAR’S INTERNATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS - MONDAY, MAY 28th, 7:30 P.M. IN ST. MARK’S CHURCH IN AYLMER
As mentioned in last week’s bulletin, Quebec City will be hosting the International Eucharistic Congress next year, June 15-22. An event like that must be prepared in the local churches. That preparation is what our diocese, the Church of Gatineau, plans to begin with the launch of the Congress. The launch will take place on Pentecost weekend and it will consist of a celebration presided over by Archbishop Roger Ebacher in three different locations, one in Thurso (May 26, 8:00 p.m.), one in St. Joseph Cathedral in Hull (May 27, 7:30 p.m.), and one specifically designed for the English speaking Catholics of our Diocese in St. Mark’s in Aylmer: Monday, May 28, 7:30 p.m. Let us make sure we have a good representation from our parishes there.

TWO OF OUR YOUNGER PARISHIONERS TO BE CONFIRMED NEXT SATURDAY
Jordan Campbell and Matthew Carle will receive the sacrament of Confirmation next Saturday, May 19 at St. Mark’s Church in Aylmer. We would like to have such a celebration in our own church, but that proved to be difficult. The bishop’s schedule for May and June is full (I was a little late getting to it); we have only two candidates, and rather than having them wait for another year, we thought it better to have them join the candidates for Confirmation at St. Mark’s. We support them with our prayers.

CAN WE AS CHRISTIANS SAY MORE?
It happens every so often that on funerals or on memorial cards mention is made of the poem
          “Do not stand at my grave and weep,
          I am not there, I do not sleep...”
It seems that the mourners find much comfort and consolation in the thoughts expressed in the poem. So it must be respected. Moreover, it could be argued that the poem expresses some belief in an “afterlife”, but to be honest I find it so face-less, name-less, shape-less.

I cannot help but wonder — especially now that we find ourselves in the 50-day Easter season — whether as Christians we do not have something more to say than that. Or is this a good example of the fact that our Christian language has become more and more foreign to many? It may very well be that we have become so inadequate in speaking our Christian faith that we look elsewhere for comfort when we are faced with the reality of death.

Where do we as Christians look? To none other than to Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection. That is the prism through which we may look at death anew. It is true that Jesus has not made death disappear. Death is still very much part of the human story. Seeing our own death approaching can be disturbing. Experiencing the death of a loved one can be devastating. Yet, by accepting death not out of defiance, but out of love for us and by being raised from the dead Jesus Christ has fundamentally altered death or the grip that death has on us. Death claims us all, but there is an even greater claim on us: the God of life, who in Jesus Christ broke the bond of death and who raised Jesus from the tomb.

The claim of the life-giving God on us does not wait to be activated at the moment of death. It is first heard, and never revoked, when at baptism the life-giving God calls us by name writes our name in the palm of his hand, in the Book of Life, never to be erased. Is not the life of faith, in the final analysis, a yielding to that claim, a clinging to that claim in good times and in bad, trusting and confident that that claim will have its full impact when we have to let go of everything, when we have to let go of life itself?. After all, we are loved and cherished by the life-giving God who will not stand for it that, in the end, death will have the last work about us. As one author put it: “In the mind of a child who lives under the good care of his mother, the question never occurs whether his mother will still be there to care for him tomorrow...”

That is the sort of thing that, I believe, has come to light in the dead and risen Jesus. Our faith in this Jesus marks us in the 30, 60, 90 years that we have here, but especially when those years come to an end. An end? Yes, but the claim of the life-giving God does not come to an end. In fact, we trust that the claim will become a life-giving embrace of the God of love. That is our lasting home and destiny

ARE WE PUSHING MARY ASIDE?
That question may arise from last week’s observation about hymns to or about Mary at the Sunday Eucharist especially during the month of May (or October). The issue has to do with Sunday as the Day of the Lord and with Jesus Christ as the center of the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist. The reform of our church’s liturgy mandated by Vatican II had a lot to do with removing from our Sunday Eucharist a number of devotional practices (among which Marian hymns) that had crept in over the last century and that had tended to obscure the centrality of Jesus Christ.

So, do we leave Mary out of the picture in our Catholic faith? That is impossible. Mary has too important a role to play in the mystery of salvation. We can give expression to that in other forms of Catholic practice apart from the Sunday Eucharist. That is where the problem may be. We tend to put everything onto the Sunday Eucharist, and we are reluctant to maintain or develop other forms of worship and devotion that can very legitimately stand on their own feet? It would be interesting and beneficial to re-read Pope Paul V1’s encyclical on the veneration of Mary on that. But apart from that, there is a readily available means for including Mary in our Sunday Eucharist. How? By, for example, singing Mary’s own song, the Magnificat or the Canticle of Mary, at the end of the Mass every so often. The Magnificat is not a hymn to or about Mary, but it is Mary’s own powerful way of praising God. I cannot think of one who can better lead us in singing the praises of God.

She is, in the words of Pope Paul VI, “the first and most perfect of Christ’s disciples.” And disciples of Christ we are all trying to be. So let us have Mary lead us in praising God.

“A LOOSER AND MORE TENUOUS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CHURCH”
An interesting study of American Catholics points out how the American church is struggling with the same phenomenon that we are experiencing too, perhaps even more than they do: the Absence of Young Catholics. As the study observes, it has to do with our culture, and that is why it is so difficult to address. Anyway, you can read about it in the attachment to today’s bulletin. There are also some helpful reflections by Ronald Rolheiser; he usually has something worthwhile to say.

TO THOSE INTERESTED IN THE FUTURE OF OUR LADY OF LIGHT CHURCH The Mayor of the Municipality of Mulgrave and Derry, Mr. Michael Kane, has approached the Fabrique of St. Malachy church in Mayo concerning the possibility of transferring Our Lady of Light church to the Municipality of Mulgrave and Derry. The Mayor is interested in preserving the site for historical purposes as well as its possible use as a municipal hall. Please note the exploratory nature of this contact. No formal proposal has been made.

Before proceeding any further on this issue, the Fabrique of St. Malachy church is of the opinion that those interested in the future of Our Lady of Light church should have the opportunity to express their views on this possible transfer. The Fabrique would like to invite all those interested to an open meeting to be held in St. Malachy church on May 15th, 2007 at 7:30 p.m.

THANK YOU TO THE DONORS OF THE SILENT AUCTION
The OLV Wardens would like to take this opportunity to thank the following donors for making the silent auction such a success:

Steven Kane (BJ's Restaurant) Les Lam (Dragon Rouge Restaurant) Emile Lefebvre (Maxi) Denis Roy (SAQ) Peter Dunlop Rejeanne Raby Menard Anne Lemieux Bill Raby/Papier Masson Helen Sweet Babe St.Jean James MacLaren Susan Lemieux Roger & Carmel Gauthier

And last but not least Gale Pearson who did such a wonderful job as master of ceremony. In addition, we would like to thank all those who attended the event in support of this parish activity.

Next year, the event promises to be equally entertaining.

CEREAL BAR DRIVE
Next Sunday May 20th, a box for cereal bars will be at the entrance of the church to collect your donations for the Buckingham English School.

W E E K L Y     R E C E I P T S   Date Collection OLV St. Malachy      May. 06th Regular $   727.00    $   221.00         May. 06th Support    317.00       100.00         May. 06th Cook Book Sales to date    1,485,00