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On Sunday, April 22, the Church marks the 55^th anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. The message which Pope Francis has written for this day is entitled “Listening, discerning and living”. Pope Francis has also linked his message to the upcoming Fifteenth Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, scheduled to take place in October, entitled “Young People, The Faith and Vocational Discernment”.

In 1963, Pope Paul VI designated Good Shepherd Sunday as the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Good Shepherd Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Easter; that is, the Sunday three weeks after Easter Sunday. The name comes from the Gospel reading for this day which in all three lectionary years is taken from the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John. In this reading, Jesus is described as the Good Shepherd, who protects us as his flock and promises us the gift of eternal life.

Please join in praying that young men and women may hear and respond generously to God`s call to consecrated life.

The purpose of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations is to publically fulfill the Lord`s instruction to, ‘Pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest’ (Mt 9:38: Lk 10:2). While the Church appreciates the vocation of all Christians given at Baptism, it concentrates its attention this day on vocations to ordained ministries, religious life, societies of apostolic life or secular institutes.

Sympathy is extended to Father Joy Paul Kallikatukudy and his family on the death of their mother Mariam Kallikatukudy.    Mrs. Kallikatukudy died on Saturday, April 7, 2018 in India.  She was predeceased by her husband, Papachan Kallikatukudy, on November 14, 2014.

On Monday, April 9^th, the most recent Apostolic Exhortation, entitled Gaudete et Exsultate (Rejoice and Be Glad), was promulgated in Rome. This latest writing of Pope Francis was written to encourage all people to accept the call to holiness in daily life.

 

APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
GAUDETE ET EXSULTATE
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCIS
ON THE CALL TO HOLINESS 
IN TODAY’S WORLD

 

1. “REJOICE AND BE GLAD” (Mt 5:12), Jesus tells those persecuted or humiliated for his sake. The Lord asks everything of us, and in return he offers us true life, the happiness for which we were created. He wants us to be saints and not to settle for a bland and mediocre existence. The call to holiness is present in various ways from the very first pages of the Bible. We see it expressed in the Lord’s words to Abraham: “Walk before me, and be blameless” (Gen 17:1).

2. What follows is not meant to be a treatise on holiness, containing definitions and distinctions helpful for understanding this important subject, or a discussion of the various means of sanctification. My modest goal is to repropose the call to holiness in a practical way for our own time, with all its risks, challenges and opportunities. For the Lord has chosen each one of us “to be holy and blameless before him in love” (Eph 1:4).

Click here to read Gaudete et Exsultate in its entirety.

URBI ET ORBI MESSAGE 
OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS

EASTER 2018

Central loggia of the Vatican Basilica 
Easter, 1 April 2018

 

Dear brothers and sisters, Happy Easter!

Jesus is risen from the dead!

This message resounds in the Church the world over, along with the singing of the Alleluia: Jesus is Lord; the Father has raised him and he lives forever in our midst.

Jesus had foretold his death and resurrection using the image of the grain of wheat. He said: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (Jn 12:24). And this is precisely what happened: Jesus, the grain of wheat sowed by God in the furrows of the earth, died, killed by the sin of the world. He remained two days in the tomb; but his death contained God’s love in all its power, released and made manifest on the third day, the day we celebrate today: the Easter of Christ the Lord.

We Christians believe and know that Christ’s resurrection is the true hope of the world, the hope that does not disappoint. It is the power of the grain of wheat, the power of that love which humbles itself and gives itself to the very end, and thus truly renews the world. This power continues to bear fruit today in the furrows of our history, marked by so many acts of injustice and violence. It bears fruits of hope and dignity where there are deprivation and exclusion, hunger and unemployment, where there are migrants and refugees (so often rejected by today’s culture of waste), and victims of the drug trade, human trafficking and contemporary forms of slavery.

Recently our diocese received a grant from the Ex Corde Foundation of the Diocese of Hamilton.  This grant will assist in the funding of the pastoral ministry of the Innu Aboriginal Parishes of Our Lady of the Snows in Sheshatshui and Tshukuminu St. Anne in Natuashish for 2018.

Dear People of the Diocese,

The Gospel passage proclaimed at Masses on the afternoon and evening of Easter Sunday is St. Luke’s account of the two disciples meeting and walking with Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Lk. 24: 13-35).  (This same scripture passage is proclaimed at Masses on the Wednesday after Easter and on the 3^rd Sunday of Easter in the Year A cycle of readings.)  It is a beautiful passage of Scripture.  These two disciples are leaving Jerusalem depressed and dejected, their hopes in Jesus crushed.  As they walk along the road speaking of Jesus’ crucifixion and death, Jesus himself joins them and walks along with them, although they do not recognize him.  Jesus engages them in conversation and explains to them the prophecies about his suffering and death.  Only when he joins them at table and takes the bread and breaks it do they recognize who he is.  Immediately their sorrow and sadness is turned to joy and they return to Jerusalem that same day to share with the Apostles and their companions what had happened to them on the road to Emmaus.

It seems to me that this scripture passage not only provides us with the account of an appearance of the Resurrected Christ, but also invites us to reflect on the image of Jesus walking with each of us as we journey through life.  One of the messages this scripture passage gives to me is that I am never alone, that always Jesus walks beside me, wishing to share with me his love and explain to me his message of salvation.

Once the two disciples on the road to Emmaus had recognized Jesus, and he had then vanished from their sight, they said to each other: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”  As we celebrate the Solemnity of Easter this year, I pray that each of us will be open to the presence of Jesus journeying with us.  Like those two disciples on the road to Emmaus, I pray we will be blessed both with feeling “our hearts burning within us” because of his presence, and with recognizing his presence and love for us in the Eucharist (i.e. the “breaking of the bread”).

Sincerely yours in the Risen Lord,

+Peter Hundt

Bishop of Corner Brook and Labrador

The Easter Triduum - from the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday - is the summit of the Liturgical Year of the Church. Though chronologically three days, they are liturgically one day, unfolding for us the unity of Christ's Paschal Mystery.

The single celebration of the Triduum marks the end of the Lenten season, and leads to the Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord at the Easter Vigil.

The liturgical services that take place during the Triduum are :

Mass of the Lord's Supper

Good Friday of the Lord's Passion

the Easter Vigil and the Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord

Each year on Good Friday, dioceses and parishes in Canada and around the world hold a collection for the needs of the Church in the Holy Land. In the celebration of the Lord’s Passion, Catholics pray for the needs of all the world and they remember in a special way the Holy Land and its people. Christians living in the Holy Land today are descendants to those who first believed and lived the Christian faith. The funds collected are used to support the work of the Catholic Church - providing Christian formation and education, conducting parish ministry, offering housing and food to the poor and maintaining the shrines of the Holy Land.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation, also known as Confession and the Sacrament of Penance, is a Sacrament of Healing in which we encounter and celebrate in a very special way the merciful love of God.  While it is especially important that we bring to this sacrament mortal sins, it is a precept of our Church that we celebrate this sacrament at least once a year.  Speaking of the beauty and benefits of this sacrament, even when we have no serious sins to confess, St. Francis de Sales, a patron saint of Confessors, said:  “By confession, you not only receive absolution from the venial sins you confess, but likewise strength to avoid them, light to discern them well and grace to repair all the damage you may have sustained by them. You will also practice the virtues of humility, obedience, sincerity and charity: in a word, in this one act of confession, you shall exercise more virtues than in any other whatsoever.” Lent is a wonderful time to celebrate this sacrament.  Please check  your parish’s confession times and consider celebrating this sacrament soon.