Thanksgiving and The Carpenter

Thanksgiving is always a wonderful time to look back on the ways God has blessed our lives and give thanks. It is also a perfect time to look at those gifts we have been given and ask ourselves, "Am I doing justice to my skills, my talents, my treasures? Am I giving back what has been given to me? Am I helping to build the kingdom with Joy in my heart, or am I stingy? Does my giftedness move me to generosity with all I have, or do I hold back, afraid there will be nothing left in the end for me?"

It is on this theme that I share with you the following;

The Carpenter

A highly skilled carpenter had grown old was ready to retire. He approached his employer-contractor and told him of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his family. He would miss the paycheck, but not the back-breaking labor...he was more than ready to retire.

The employer was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter was reluctant at first; hadn't his boss been listening to him? He was exhausted, physically, and emotionally. He hadn't come in today to be given another job, he needed to rest, it was time for him to be served for a change!

His employer was a very persistent man, not used to taking 'no' for an answer. In the end, the carpenter agreed to this proposal but secretly promised himself that he would make sure sure this was his last project...ever!

Distracted by his frustration at not being able to finally enjoy 'the good life' the carpenter didn't pay the same kind of attention to building this house as he normally might have. His heart just wasn't in the project and it was not at all up to his usual standard of work. He resorted to poor workmanship and used inferior materials. All-in-all, it was an unfortunate way to end his career.

When the job was done, the carpenter called his employer and showed him the house. The employer rejoiced and patted him on the back. He was especially impressed that he had managed to complete the project in so short a time. Then he turned to the carpenter and smiled. He handed over some papers and the key to the front door saying, “You have been such a good and faithful carpenter. Your work has helped to build this company into the respected business that it is today, please accept this wonderful house, as my gift to you!”

Peace and God Bless

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Lord of the Dance

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Water For All, Let Justice Flow!

The Fall campaign for the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace has begun. The focus for the year is on the preservation of access to publicly funded sources of fresh water for all persons.

There are tons of resources for anyone wanting information on the struggle the majority of the world's population has in maintaining ready access to clean, safe drinking water. Below you will find a couple of videos from Development and Peace highlighting the challenges many face, the problems inherent in supporting the privatization of water sources including the bottled water industry, and exactly what you and I can do to help.

Some quick facts about bottled water from Development and Peace;

*The Water in My bottle is purer; false: 25 per cent of bottled water sold in Canada comes directly from a public tap before being reprocessed. That is the case for Pepsi’s Aquafina and Coke's Dasani bottled water.

*My bottle of water is expensive; true: A litre of bottled water can cost up to 2,000 times more than a litre of tap water. Between 10 and 15 per cent of the price of a bottle of water can go just to cover marketing. Would you be willing to pay 2,000 times more for your coffee or your sandwich?

*The water in My bottle is safer; false: The water in a major Canadian city might be tested over 120,000 times a year. By contrast, bottled water is often not tested at all. Companies are not
required to comply with voluntary testing programs. Since 2008, the federal government has inspected only six per cent of all water bottling plants.

*In the north, more and more people are giving up bottled water. now companies are focusing their efforts on developing new markets, this time in the Global south, by privatizing many water sources.

*North Americans use an average of 565 litres of water each day while millions of people in the Global South use less than 20 litres.

*Women in the Global South walk an average of six kilometres to fetch water.

*In 15 years, 1.8 billion people will be living in regions where water is a scarce resource.

*In many countries in the Global South, more than half of the urban population must buy bottled water as its sole source of drinking water.

The Following Short Videos Help Expand on these topics even more;





What Can You Do?

Sign the pledge on-line to support access to water for everyone

Check out D&P's Action Sheet – Water for all, let justice flow !

Campaign Tabloid 2010
A newspaper with stories on the issues covered in our five-year theme. It explores Development and Peace’s relationship to social movements.

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Spiritual Direction In Action

Ever wonder exactly what meeting with a spiritual director would be like? Bill Dietrich and Jean Sweeney of Washington DC offer a glimpse of their own session as Bill helps his directee, Jean deal with the loss of her oldest sister to old age and dementia. They were gracious enough to allow PBS to film and air portions of their session for their 'Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly feature'.

Near the beginning, the interviewer asks Bill to describe Spiritual Direction which he likens to "being a midwife". A very apt description indeed.

Follow the link to the video; Spiritual Direction on PBS

If you or anyone you know would like more information on Spiritual Direction, or would like help in finding a Spiritual Director in the city, check out our Spiritual Direction page on our parish website, call the parish office at 586-9020, or email Eric.

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Being a Christian is definitely not boring...guest post by Laura O'Reilly

Being a Christian is definitely not boring...and Christ the King’s K4J Circus of Stars VBS certainly did prove that! With clown wigs and goofy glasses in place the 64 K4J kids and 19 youth leaders spent the week learning about the love of God the Father for each one of them and that they too can be His stars. With five wonderful saints as their role models the K4J kids learnt about the importance of balancing their day with work, play, rest and pray and found many ways to live it out through the daily themed skits, games, crafts, snacks and teaching time.

They watched saint skits performed by the captain youth leaders, had a tour of the confessionals and sacristy, made confessional light cookies to eat, balanced candy peanuts on their noses, and visited Jesus in the tabernacle.

Each day the kids worked hard to remember the saint of the day and little facts about them (what circus acts St. John Bosco performed while telling people about Jesus, how many hours St. Jean Vianney spent in the confessional each day..etc). As the K4J kids arrived each morning they would nervously line up to answer their two questions regarding the saint from the previous day. We were amazed at how many of them, even the 31/2 year olds, could recite the saint’s name and even something about them! Once they answered the questions they were able to enter into the draw of the day for the big balloon hat. This was such a great success that even the parents and grandparents would make a point of coming into the hall each day so that they could see the new balloon hat creation!!

During the VBS camp the K4J kids put their faith into action through their “Thank You Father Mission”. They were each given a “helping hand glove” (latex kitchen gloves) to fill with money to help take care of the retired priests in our diocese who live at Martha house. The kids came up with many creative ways to fill their gloves with money. Some did chores they don’t normally do, like folding laundry, there were many lemonade and cookie stands and one girl even made cookies and sold them to her dad! Three young brothers played their violins at the Farmers Market and raised $44 for our mission. In total the kids raised $795.00 for Martha house!

We also had the great privilege of having Fr. Antonny come hang out with us during the week. He was busy high fiving the kids, learning their names, showing them the sacristy and meeting the parents. Fr. Antonny was also more than willing to try on a few clown wigs and learn some magic tricks!

Our prayers for this VBS camp was that it would be so much more than just a fun week for the kids, our prayers were that it would impact the faith of the families as well. One mom sent this note:

“Thank you so much for all the work you and your “staff” did to prepare for this week. Watching the kids during the show today was so rewarding. I can’t tell you how much my son enjoyed this week. In fact it’s been really great for our family too. We’ve read the saints cards together and talked more about our faith this week than we ever had. Both of my children loved the K4J music CD and many times this week my son would turn it on and just start dancing and singing. This week has been such a blessing for our family. Thank you.”

We think this makes it all worth it!

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A special thank-you to Laura O'Reilly who, along with a great team of helpers and angels, organized and ran this wonderful event for our parish!

Peace and God Bless

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What to do with Blessed Items?

You're in the middle of packing for a move and you find a stash of old rosaries. You're downsizing your 'stuff' and you discover a blessed crucifix from you child's baptism, or a St. Christopher's medal that used to be for the car. Candles, plaques, pictures, paintings, necklaces, souvenirs, maybe even sacred relics. In your gut you know they shouldn't just be thrown in the trash, but you also know at some point that there isn't always room for it all.

So what can you do with the host of sacred, blessed, and devotional items you've discovered while getting ready for your garage sale or helping mom and dad get ready for a move?

Some of the most frequently found items, the ones we get a ton of calls about here at the parish, are Rosaries and blessed palms from Palm Sunday. Both are very easy to deal with. Blessed palms are usually collected in the weeks leading up to Ash Wednesday in the entrances to the Church. Melissa is always sure to put a bulletin announcement in letting people know when they can bring them to Mass. In addition, throughout the year you can always bring your blessed palms into the parish and we will make sure they are taken care of appropriately. The most important use of blessed palms? Ashes for Ash Wednesday of course!

Dealing with a proliferation of Rosaries is even easier since the spring. In the main entrance to the parish you will find a small box with the title "Have a Rosary, Leave a Rosary...Need a Rosary, Take a Rosary". This is a great opportunity to share one of our Church's most ancient devotions with others. The box also includes brochures on how to pray the Rosary for those who may not know, or may have forgotten some of the key prayers.

For everything else, as well as an explaination about what constitutes a sacred object and answers to questions like "Can I sell this stuff at my garage sale?", the folks at BustedHalo.com have put together a wonderful podcast talking all about it;

Disposing of Blessed Things

Peace and God Bless

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Anthony de Mello on How to Love - Part 3 of 3

The Final video of the only conference Father Anthony de Mello SJ allowed to be video taped. In this last of the series he breaks open our ideas of love and true charity vs. refined self-interest that often masquerades as selfless love.

Within his talk the words of Christ can again be heard;

" ‘Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. ‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you." Matthew 6:1-4

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