Gospel Acclamation
cf.Jn15:16

Alleluia, alleluia!
I chose you from the world
to go out and bear fruit,
fruit that will last,
says the Lord.
Alleluia!


​“Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News” Jesus directs his disciples, and it is a call to everyone who is baptised in Jesus Christ. Our seminarians who responded to the call are experiencing setbacks due to the Pandemic like everyone of us. Seminaries have closed for in-person study and our Bishop assigned them to different parishes to live there and continue their formation on-line. Seminarian Daniel Naim has joined me at St. Mary’s rectory last week and will remain here for the next several weeks. His presence brought some positive change to my usual lockdown isolation. We know pray together every day for you! Please offer a prayer for Daniel as he is on the last stretch of his formation before the diaconate ordination this year and priesthood next year. 

THE SUNDAY OF THE WORD OF GOD
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“The Sunday of the Word of God, instituted by Pope Francis and to be held every year on the third Sunday of Ordinary Time, reminds us, pastors and faithful alike, of the importance and value of Sacred Scripture for the Christian life, as well as the relationship between the word of God and the liturgy: “As Christians, we are one people, making our pilgrim way through history, sustained by the Lord, present in our midst, who speaks to us and nourishes us. A day devoted to the Bible should not be seen as a yearly event but rather a year-long event, for we urgently need to grow in our knowledge and love of the Scriptures and of the Risen Lord, who continues to speak his word and to break bread in the community of believers. For this reason, we need to develop a closer relationship with Sacred Scripture; otherwise, our hearts will remain cold and our eyes shut, inflicted as we are by so many forms of blindness”.” 
​            - Cardinal Robert Sarah

Who are the relatives of Jesus Christ? This question puzzles many who read the Gospel today or other passages where his brothers and sisters are mentioned. Jesus even a lone son but he had family, cousins and other relatives from his mother and father side. Kathy Schiffer is a Catholic blogger goes deeper into this problem in her article she published with National Catholic Register. It explains a lot. You can find it here.
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"Do we live our lives as a seeker of God or realize that God is seeking us? God is indeed seeking us. In fact, we have been found in our Baptism. We enter into the mission of the Son who was sent by the Eternal Father into the world to save us. We are co-responsible for this mission and are in “holy cooperation” with the Most Blessed Trinity. Therefore, we are sent by Christ as his apostles or missionary disciples into the Church and the world to revive faith and rekindle charity. We accompany other seekers in becoming found in Christ and through his Church."
                                                                       -   Fr. Frank Donio SAC (Washington DC, USA)

​​The world has seen many religions and priests, but it doesn’t even remember their names, and nothing is left of them. People used to throw their hands up in prayer and preach passionate sermons, but no one really cares about them any longer. It is easy to proclaim a new religion now and we see them all the time, the new gods, new ideologies, new systems. They don’t last long and fall into oblivion like many before. Jesus Christ is the only true priest of the One God. Jesus Christ is not only the priest but also the sacrifice. His sacrifice lasts and will continue as long as we need to be rescued from death. When you see the priest at the altar celebrating the Holy Mass think of Jesus Christ who is our eternal Priest.

“He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.”

​   -   Gospel, Mark 3: 1-6

​We have incredible medical science and technology that can safe life and can work miracles. We know how to care for each other. We can sacrifice ourselves to protect other human beings, but we don’t know how to treat hardened hearts.    God can heal body and soul. God can cure withered hand and God can heal a broken and cold heart. We don’t need technology, we don’t need science to believe, we just need to meet Jesus who comes our way.

BISHOP OF HAMILTON

FOR THE COMMON GOOD
On the Pandemic Sacrifices

My dear friends,
The decision to close our churches and suspend public celebrations of the Mass has been a
painful one for our clergy, religious, and all the lay faithful in the Diocese. While the
sadness of our inability to gather to celebrate the Eucharist is profound, some of the
responses to this closure — in addition to falling short of the demands of charity — betray a
fundamental lack of understanding not only of why this great sacrifice is being made, but
also whose example we follow in so doing ... (read here the full letter)

We know that this life is only a tiny piece of the life that we are destined to enjoy in God. Once born we are not going to die because even behind the curtain of death there is only more life, a life without end, a life in eternal happiness. We only see the curtain now, but we know what is behind, because we believe Jesus who already walked behind the curtain and will show us the way ...​

January 18 to 25 marks the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. "The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has a history of over 100 years in which Christians around the world have taken part in an octave of prayer for visible Christian unity. By annually observing the WPCU, Christians move toward the fulfillment of Jesus' prayer at the Last Supper "that they all may be one."' (cf. John 17:21) 
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