Links, Random Thoughts & Recommendations

• Remember that all Fridays of Lent are traditionally days of abstinence. On days of abstinence, meat should not be eaten at any meal. The law of abstinence binds all Catholics who have completed their 14th year.
• This Saturday at 10am, our Confirmation candidates begin the first of their 6 formation sessions at SHJ Hall, led by our sacramental coordinators, Sandra Palma & Jason Reck. 
  • Sophia Wall
  • Hunter Gillis
  • Owen Kock
  • Olivia Martino
  • Mary Williamson
  • Jimmy Woof
  • Michael Forte-Perri
  • Adam Morrison
  • Sonny Gillis
  • Jackson Gillis
  • Erica Spencer
• To receive the Sacrament of Confirmation means preparation – doing some serious praying about and study of the sacrament and getting serious about a life of service of others, and we're happy that our sacramental coordinators, Sandra Palma & Jason Reck will be instructing these budding disciples of the Lord. Please remember to pray them!

• For the last two weeks of Lent, the Church changes her attention from the ascetical disciplines of mortification and conversion to the suffering and death of our Lord. When we hear this word 'Passion', most of us think first of deepest love…either the erotic feelings of lovers or of the single-minded devotion to some beloved work. But the original meaning of the word is actually not love; it is suffering. This is why we speak of the suffering of Christ as His passion, and this is where we see the connection between the meanings of suffering and love: Christ was willing to suffer for us only because He loves us, and the depth of His love is revealed most fully in His suffering and death.
• From today through Good Friday, sacred images are shrouded in purple as a sign of our sorrow for contributing to Christ’s passion by our sins, and over and over during Passiontide, the sacred liturgy prepares us to confess our part in the betrayal, torture, and murder of the Way, the Truth, and the Life. On Palm Sunday and again on Good Friday, we will read together the accounts of Christ’s final hours and the arrival of The Hour for which he came into the world. Together we will shout: Crucify him! Crucify him! And we will look into the Holy Face expecting rejection and condemnation, and instead we will find only forgiveness and infinite love.
• In these last days of Lent, the Church calls to us with ever greater urgency to repent of our sins and believe in the Gospel, and by meditating on the passion of our Saviour, we can be led to proclaim the tender mercies of God with the authentic joy of those who know they are forgiven.

Rome is home to many relics of the Passion of Our Lord. The Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme houses some of the thorns from Jesus’ crown, the finger of St. Thomas, the INRI Sign above the Cross, and a nail from the Crucifixion. St Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, brought many of these relics to the Eternal City, along with some of the wood of the Cross. In St. Peter’s today, many of these relics are placed on the Papal Altar. At Vespers, the crowds are blessed with the Veil which Veronica used to wipe the face of Jesus as the clergy sing in procession the Passiontide Hymn, the Vexilla Regis. 

• SHJ/SHM, Mamora: Sun, Mar 26 @ 3pm
• St. Joseph's, Belleville: Tues, Mar 28 @ 7pm
• St. Charles, Read: Wed, Mar 29 @ 7pm
• St. Mary's, Campbellford: Thurs, Mar 30 @ 6:30pm
• St. Peter's, Trenton: Thurs, Mar 30 @ 7pm
• St. Michael's, Belleville: Sun, Apr 2 @ 3pm

• Veiling the Images: On this Passion Sunday, we veil all of the statues, crucifixes and sacred images in the Church. As we transition from our emphasis on our own spiritual combat during Lent to concentrating on the Lord’s suffering and death in Passiontide, we emphasize the mystery of what we are celebrating by covering up anything that can distract us from the interior life. On Holy Thursday, we change the veil of the Cross to white, and on Good Friday a Cross covered in red cloth is processed through the Church and gradually unveiled before we come to venerate it.
  In the Middle Ages it was common for the entire sanctuary to be veiled for all of Lent with what was called a hunger veil, to remind us to develop a hunger for the presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. Special thanks to Joanne F. & Cathy A. (SHM) & Rory C. & Bob V. & Dale C. (SHJ) for veiling the statues for this weekend.
• A Dufferin-Peel teacher told me they've been told that the Board will be 'auditing' religious art in schools, and will remove any that is "culturally insensitive" - (aka Jesus looks too white).  And what's the image they used as an example? The Divine Mercy image is apparently too racist to be in their Catholic schools.... God help us.
• MRI scan of a baby at 18 weeks.
• The Good Friday Collection is requested by the Holy See to help maintain the Church's holy places in the Holy Land, so important to the faith of Christians everywhere, and also to support the faithful who struggle to survive under political and economic oppression and persecution. This Pontifical Collection will be taken during the Good Friday celebration on April 7. Those who are unable to attend the service, or who prefer to contribute online, may do so by e-transfer by visiting www.commissariat.ca/supporting-us
• Upcoming Food Drive on April 1st: The Madoc Lions club is holding a food drive on Saturday April 1, from 10-2 in front of Trinity United Church in Madoc to help restock the newly renovated Madoc food bank. (see Madoc Lions FB page) Needed items are: bags of potatoes, lunch items for kids, canned fruit, canned vegetables, pork and beans, peanut butter & sugar. Thanks for supporting the Madoc Food Bank and Madoc Lions.
• Palm Sunday's Archdiocesan Lenten Collection: On behalf of Archbishop Mulhall, please see his letter regarding next weekend's collection. His Grace asks us to be generous, as these funds will be allocated to local agencies serving vulnerable groups in our communities to help alleviate poverty, homelessness, crisis pregnancies, food insecurity, end of life issues, and mental health.

Friends, check this video out sent by someone I know who does a lot of advocacy work among Canadian politicians, promoting values that used to be common sense but now need advocacy. Here is a video against MAID that she put together with Garnett Genuis (an MP in Alberta). Maybe you’ve already seen it. If not, it’s a good one to share!

A wonderful turnout at This Man Is You last week, where Dr. Scott Hahn got vulnerable when talking about his own marriage.  He shares his both biggest cross and his wife’s biggest cross (Spoiler Alert- It’s him!).  He recounted the very real struggles his own marriage has faced and how he now delights in what God has accomplished in and through it. The future of the world and the Church indeed pass by way of the family.  It is the first society that impacts every aspect of society.  In turn, Christ and the Church are a constant source of grace for each of our marriages.  The Sacraments don’t make marriage easy, they make it possible.