Dear Parishioners of St. Mary's & St. William's,

Greetings from Toronto!

Christmas and New Year Blessings on your parish communities and on all your families. Sisters Patricia, Gwen and I want to thank you for your warm welcome when we visited in November.

Sometimes when we stop for a while and take stock of the past, we rediscover great gratitude with which to carry on into the future. Our trip was one such occasion.

We all thank you too, for your continued support and prayers. Fr. Dan, Sr. Odelia and Sr. Mary Ida gave us our beginnings… you sustain us.

This past year has been full of changes for me. While I am happy to get re-connected with things Canadian, including my family, I also miss the Philippines very much. I am also faced with the challenge of creating a meaningful, mission-focused life for myself here in Canada. Through this experience, I am realizing that it is good to have my life turned upside-down every now and then! I’ve been thrown out of my ruts and assumptions, and made to face the things I’ve taken for granted for so long… quite an awakening!

May the New Year hold many graces for all of you… and may you find the wherewithal to answer the challenges through which the graces will be sent!

Peace, Christine Gebel OLM

NO ONE OWNS GOD

Last Weekend ‘Our Lady’s Missionaries’ made a visit to both our Parishes. Sr. Christine Gebel gave us an update on their work since her last visit with us about two years ago. As she spoke at all our Masses, she reflected on the Gospel passage of the lady who had seven deceased husbands and the Sadducees question: “In the Resurrection whose wife will the woman be?” (Lk. 20) Now in Jesus’ time a wife was more or less the property of a husband, and therefore the question not only enquired about the marriage bond in eternity, but had a connotation of ownership. As she pointed out, no one owns anybody in eternity, and in God’s kingdom in the here and now. As Christians we are called to love our neighbor as our selves, and to live in freedom, as children of God. Her insights came from the Sisters work with oppressed people around the world who are often owned by another. An example being prostitutes one of the Sisters works with in one of their missions. And, from a personal point of view and her involvement in Muslim Christian dialogue in the Philippines, she offered the insight that no one even owns God.

As I reflected on this statement, I thought of the many ways, as humans, we tend to take ownership of another, rather than living in mutual respect, trust, and love. And, even in religion, as we profess and cling to our faith, we assume a certain ownership of God. As we come to the end of our Liturgical year and the feast of Christ the King, it behooves all of us to reflect on our relationships with God and neighbor, and to remind ourselves of this very important insight from a woman who has given her life to Christ, and the building of God’s Kingdom. After all, wasn’t that one of the biggest problems many had with Jesus when he reached out to the sinners and tax collectors. We still hear their shock and complaint week after week in the Gospel: “He eats with sinners and tax collector.” (posted oringinally on frbobscorner.com on Nov. 17, 2007 by Fr. Bob MacDonald)