Canadians should seek to be witnesses to Christ in Canada and the world, and to continue working to influence those in government to act from Christian principles and attitudes.

Christians, realizing they do not have a lasting home here, should pray and work for justice and peace in Canada and throughout the world, so that all God’s people may share in the goods of this earth. God’s kingdom will come only when all people are ready to let Christ’s teaching guide and rule their lives and actions.

Families should be encouraged to mark this day by prayer for our country and its leaders, and by taking a few moments to give serious consideration to their responsibilities as citizens; they should consider what they are doing for peace in Canada and in the world.

With the many problems that are facing our country please remember to pray for our leaders that they may be guided true Christian values and principals. And give thanks for the gifts that come for living in such a blessed nation.

Our procession is going to be somewhat smaller. At the end of the 9:00 a.m. mass the Blessed Sacrament will be placed in the monstrance and Fr. Tom will process from the altar immediately out of the church, left up St. Lawrence Street turning at the school on Glenelg Street. We will have an Altar of Repose where we will have a Litany of the Sacred Heart then proceed around onto Huron Street where we will a second Altar of Repose and where we will have a Litany of Our Lady. Then we will come back onto Russell St. and finish on the steps of the church. We will have Benediction and the Consecration to Our Lady.

For all the 9:00 a.m. parishioners, get ready to stay later and for all the11:00 a.m. parishioners come earlier. It is only 4 blocks. You are encouraged to accompany the Blessed Sacrament for all or part of the procession. We hope to have all the parish groups and organizations represented along with music.

Here is an easy and consistent way to support the Restoration Campaign for our historic Church. Purchase your Support Cards for various amounts from the rectory office or at St. Mary’s Church.

Each week at the church will be a table to sell the Support Cards. These Support Cards can be used at local businesses such as Value-Mart, Loblaws, National Groceries, LaMantia, Food Basic, Canadian Tire, Tim Hortons, Home Hardware, M&M Meats, Boston Pizza. Six percent of all the money you spend at these participating stores while using the Support Cards comes back to St. Mary’s Parish for the Restoration fund. That’s it! Everybody has to buy groceries and other house things, or gas so this is an easy way to give a very needed boost to our ongoing restoration campaign. You get the cards; use them like cash at your favourite stores and the percentage works for the Church.

Support Cards sold to-date total $37,367.00. We have received around $1,868.00 profit which continues to increase your contribution towards the restoration fund. So please keep buying your support cards while they continue to be sold at the church rear door after each Mass.

The Resurrection of the Lord
What is the resurrection? It does not form part of our experience, and so the message often remains to some degree beyond our understanding… The Church tries to help us understand it by expressing this mysterious event in the language of symbols in which we can somehow contemplate this astonishing event.

First of all, there is light…. Where there is light, life is born; chaos can be transformed into cosmos… The resurrection of Jesus is an eruption of light… With history… This Light alone – Jesus Christ – is the true light, something more than the physical phenomenon of light. He is pure Light: God himself, who causes a new creation to be born in the midst of the old, transforming chaos into cosmos… Let us pray to the Lord that the fragile flame of the candle he has lit in us, the delicate light of his word and his love amid the confusions of this age, will not be extinguished in us , but will become ever stronger an d brighter, so that we , with him, can be people of the day, bright stars lighting up our time.

The second symbol of the Easter Vigil –the night of baptism – is water… Christ descended into the sea, into the waters of death, as Israel did into the Red Sea. Having risen from death, he gives us life. This means that baptism is not only a cleansing, but a new birth: with Christ we, as it were, descend into the sea of death, so as to rise up again as new creatures. The other way in which we encounter water is in the form of the fresh spring that gives life, or the great river from which life comes forth … In baptism, the Lord makes us not only person of light, but also sources from which living water burst forth. We all know people like that, who leave us somehow refreshed and renewed; people who are like a fountain of fresh spring water. Thanks be to God, we find them constantly even in our daily lives: people who are like a spring… Let us ask the Lord, who has given us the grace of baptism, for the gift always to be sources of pure, fresh water, bubbling up from the fountain of his truth and his love.

The third great symbol of the Easter Vigil is … the singing of the new song – the alleluia. What happens when a person is touched by the light of the resurrection, and thus comes into contact with Life itself, with Truth and Love? He cannot merely speak about it. Speech is no longer adequate. He has to sing… Year after year, we…sing it as our song, because we too, through God’s power, have been drawn forth from the water and liberated for true life. While, strictly speaking, she ought to be singing, the Church sings the song of thanksgiving of the saved…Once Christ is risen, the gravitational pull of love is stronger than that of hatred; the force of gravity of life is stronger than that of death… The Lord’s saving hand holds us up, and thus we can already sing the song of the saved, the new song of the risen ones: Alleluia!
Pope Benedict XVI

Here is an easy and consistent way to support the Restoration Campaign for our historic Church.

The fundraising Campaign will be buying prepaid cards for various amounts at local businesses such as all the local grocery stores, Canadian Tire even – yes- Tim Hortons – and you can buy them here at the church.

Six percent of all the money spent comes back for the Restoration fund. That’s it!

Everybody has to buy groceries and other house stuff and this is an easy way to give a very needed boost to our ongoing campaign.

You get the cards; use them like cash at your favourite stores and the percentage works for the Church.

We’ll have the co-ordinators at the doors to run this initiative. We hope to kick off in a few weeks.

At Fleming College the Fleming College Catholics group will be hosting Soul Food – Lenten Lunches at the College. With free soup and fresh bread followed Breaking Open the Word in Bible study, you are invited to make a journey through the examination of the Passion in Lent. Thursday Feb 18, 25, March 11, 18, 25 from 12-1 pm in room 222.

You’ll see at the doors of the church handouts for Daily Meditations to consider throughout Lent. If we run out, we’ll photocopy more, while other Lenten meditations can be accessed on websites that we would suggest e.g.
http://www.ewtn.com/faith/lent/ash_F17.htm

Canadian Food for Children
25 years ago Dr. Simone from Toronto initiated this program to “Feed All Children in 3rd World Countries.” St. Mary’s Church and Schools have been collecting and shipping food after Easter ever since. Please help fill the boxes at the Main and Side Entrances. Basic Needs, salt, sugar, pasta, rice, lentils, dried peas, beans, sauces in packages, pens, pencils, paper, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, canned meats, died soup mixes. A list of articles will be at each door. Assistance is always appreciated. Call Kay at 324-3596. Thank You

Lastly, we have a number of Lenten activities being promoted by our Development and Peace. Dessert and movie St. Mary’s School Gym, February 28 at 2:00 p.m.. Bring your favourite dessert and watch an eye-opening expose of our modern food industry. It’s a must to see and is hosted by Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace. Free will offering. On the Fifth Sunday of Lent there will be the collection for Development and Peace or other charities as you may wish.

We have a number of activities here. Ash Wednesday we will have 6 Masses so as to make the reception of the ashes and the beginning of Lent accessible to as many parishioners as possible. As you know we will have our Parish Renewal Mission preached by Fr. Dominic Borg, a Carmelite preacher from London, Ont., who will help us “On the Road to Easter”. He will preach on Feb. 20-21at the weekend Masses and on Feb 21, Sunday, Feb. 22, Monday and Feb. 23 Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.. Please make a real effort to attend all the sessions or as many as possible. It may take re-arranging of you schedules as this is for your children and young people as well. Rides can be arranged. Have you invited a friend or family member yet? Please re-double your prayers for a might outpouring of God’s grace!

As part of the Renewal Mission our Youth Ministry is having a Morning Watch which is an all night Eucharistic Adoration. It will begin after 6 pm. after the 5 pm Mass and finish at 8:30 am on Sunday. This is a great chance for young people who are invited to stay all night (Supervision is provided) and not-so-young people to spend time before the Blessed Sacrament and be the Prayer Warriors for the success of our Mission and the conversion of hearts. Please sign up to spend some time with our Eucharistic Lord. Please contact Brad – our youth coordinator.

Fr. Fitzpatrick will be giving a Lenten Series on Prayer staring February 27 each Saturday morning from 9:30 – 10:30 in the Chapel, ending on Saturday March 27. If you are interested in the many families of spiritualities within the Catholic Church, please feel welcome to attend.

At Fleming College the Fleming College Catholics group will be hosting Soul Food – Lenten Lunches at the College. With free soup and fresh bread followed Breaking Open the Word in Bible study, you are invited to make a journey through the examination of the Passion in Lent. Thursday Feb 18,25, March 11, 18, 25 from 12-1 pm in room 222.

Each Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m. after the evening Mass various groups in the parish will lead the Stations of the Cross. This ancient and well known prayer is a chance to re-orient ourselves as to the way that we can walk with Christ in our daily lives. Accompany us in person or, if you cannot, please accompany us in your prayers.

You’ll see at the doors of the church handouts for Daily Meditations to consider throughout Lent. If we run out we’ll photocopy more. Other Lenten meditations can be accessed on websites like http://www.ewtn.com/faith/lent/ash_F17.htm

Please pray as well for a number of people who have been involved in the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults who are looking to be received in to the church at Easter.

Canadian Food for Children will be collecting food at the doors of the church throughout Lent and this will be collected and sent to Dr. Andrew Simone’s warehouse in Toronto to be distributed.

Lastly, we have a number of Lenten activities being promoted by our Development and Peace. Dessert and movie St. Mary’s School Gym, February 28 at 2:00 p.m.. Bring your favourite dessert and watch an eye-opening expose of our modern food industry. It’s a must to see. Hosted by Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace. Free will offering.On the Fifth Sunday of Lent there will be the collection for Development and Peace or other charities as you may wish.

In all that we do let us keep in mind the ultimate goal of preparing for the Great Feast of Easter with the Risen Lord!

As always, In Christ,
Fr. Tom Lynch

The Campers, Counsellors, Staff and Board of Directors thank you for your generosity.

If you were not able to donate you can mail your donation to Fr. Bill Moloney at 859 Barnardo Ave., Peterborough, ON K9H 5W2. Make cheque payable to Camp Northern Lights.

If you have any questions please call Fr. Bill Moloney at 705-745-3229. Once again thank you for your support.

Please keep the Camp in your prayers.