Joe Gunn’s reflection on the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time is an invitation for our parish to reflect on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Joe shares:

“I think we all need to recognize what should be obvious. In the first place, this is not about us. It’s all about the children. It’s all about the systems that continue to oppress Indigenous peoples today…This week, the Gospel invites us to recognize that God didn’t arrive in the so-called New World the moment Columbus landed. Let’s use this week to reflect on how we can be more spiritually attentive to the authenticity, the beauty and the truth of the actions and beliefs of others, especially of Indigenous peoples. “

Parish History with Joe Gunn & Suzanne Doerge

*Joe Gunn’s reflection was taped before the publication of the CCCB’s apology for residential schools, issued on Friday September 24. We invite you to read this text, available at Statement of Apology by the Catholic Bishops of Canada to the Indigenous Peoples of This Land – OMI Lacombe

In Part 22 of the Parish History Series, Joe Gunn and Suzanne Doerge share their experiences over many years at St. Joe’s, including the experience of liturgical dance and the focus on social justice.

Liturgical Resources

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – September 26 2021 – Liturgy of the Word for use at home

READINGS FOR THE TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – 2021

READINGS FOR CHILDREN – 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 2021

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2021 – Prayers of the Faithful

Pope Francis – Message for World Day of Migrants and Refugee – 2021

Parish Update

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at St. Joseph’s Parish

On September 30^th from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. the St. Joe’s Women’s Centre will be making traditional crafts with their clients, as well as baking Bannock. For the noon Mass on September 30^th, the liturgy will focus on Truth and Reconciliation. All are invited to attend.

Grief, Loss and Healing

The Galilee Centre in Arnprior is offering a series focusing on grief, loss and healing — some particularly timely topics in this period of pandemic. For more information on the program offering, see here: Grief Programs at Galilee Centre

A Call from the Parish Finance Council

The Parish Finance Council is looking for parishioners who are interested in serving on the Council. It is a permanent advisory body to the Pastor and the St. Joseph’s Parish Pastoral Council, responsible for ensuring they are well-informed in all their decision-making with respect to financial matters.

Members serve for 2-year renewable terms and are selected from among the parishioners, based on their experience in financial management to the extent possible. Accounting credentials and experience on boards of corporate bodies or associations or management teams where financial issues are considered as part of management’s deliberations are assets.

The Council generally meets on a monthly basis with a break during the summer. Additional details about the Council and its members may be found in its Terms of Reference posted on the Parish website. If interested, please email: cadam@st-josephs.ca and your message will be forwarded to John Mark Keyes, Chair of the PFC.

Season of Creation Week Four 

Season of Creation Earth Examen (for the full Examen, click here https://seasonofcreation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/2021-SOC-Earth-Examen.pdf)

An examen is a way of beholding an object or being in prayerful wonder. Through questions, you are invited to reflect on God’s presence and the goodness of that which you behold. Pick a natural or agricultural place to contemplate.  Find a comfortable place to rest in or near this place. Enter into prayer in whatever way is natural to you. Invite Holy Wisdom to open the eyes of your heart.  When you are ready, reflect on the following questions:

1. Become aware of God’s presence in a natural or agricultural place that you are contemplating. How is God present in this place? How do you feel knowing that the Holy Spirit has filled this place for geological ages, with every plant, animal, organism and mineral that has called this place home in the deep past, makes its home here with you now, and will live here with creatures in this place in the future?
2. Reflect on the ecological cycles of this place with gratitude for all that it provides. What nutrient cycles are supported by this place? What plants, animals, microbes and minerals are sheltered here? How do they serve the whole earth in their being? For all that this place provides to nurture you and all that belong to this place, let a feeling of gratitude fill you.
3. Pay attention to what you feel as you contemplate the fragility, health of this site. What are the keys to sustaining the equilibrium and balance of this place? What threatens the balance of this particular ecosystem? What is your effect on this balance? What must you protect to maintain it?
4. Choose one feature of the site and pray for it, its rest and its renewal. When you consider the ways that this place is under stress, what does it need for rest, restoration and renewal? Pray for this site, and the wisdom to care for it.

Based on your examination, how do you identify with this place? What have you discerned is required to care for this place? What will be your act of compassion to promote rest for this common home?

 Reflecting on the Sunday Readings – September 26 – Praying for Our Home Planet & Its People

Numbers 11:25-29; James 5:1-6; Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

• There is a danger that responses to climate injustice and environmental chaos are only about activism: campaigns and advocacy. Today’s readings encourage us to also turn to God in prayer in times of crisis, recognising that activism needs deep foundations in a spirituality that sustains and renews us.
• Mark 9:42 uses strong language to warn of the danger of causing children and young people to stumble. A recent UK survey claimed 90% of young Christians see the climate as today’s most pressing and urgent issue, and yet 90% also say their churches are not doing enough on climate change. If churches are slow to pray, speak and act on the climate emergency, this passage suggests God will judge us harshly for causing young people to stumble in their faith. Our response should be one of lament and repentance, in prayer and fasting, and in speaking out and acting decisively.

Practical ideas regarding electrical power and renewable energy –

• Replace all light bulbs with LED.
• Use renewable energy sources (solar heat and wind) to dry laundry. B. – Municipalities in Ontario cannot ban clotheslines outdoors due to the Ontario Green Energy Act.
• Consider switching over to an electric lawn mower and an electric car.
• Or share a ride, share a car, share a truck or take public transit.

Mark your calendars –

• Saturday/Sunday, October 2-3 – Bike or Walk to Church Sunday.
• Monday, October 4 at 7:00 p.m. – Mass for St. Francis of Assisi Feast Day and the Closing of the Season of Creation. A bilingual Mass will be celebrated by Msgr. Kevin Maloney. In person and livestreamed on YouTube at Holy Redeemer Parish Kanata – YouTube. Holy Redeemer Church, 44 Rothesay Drive, Kanata. For info, contact Mireille Church at creationcare@archottawa.ca.

Vocation Reflection: “One Who Has Loved Him Too Late”
By Jarek Pachocki OMI – Vocation Director

“This weekend’s Gospel reading brings us rather terrifying images of a great millstone hung around the neck, cutting off hands and feet, torn out eyes… Jesus is a master in parable teaching; and he knows how to use shock value. Obviously, Jesus’ comments cannot be taken literally here. It’s an invitation to make a radical decision to follow Jesus in missionary discipleship through witness and action.”
Read the reflection here (published on Friday September 24): https://omilacombe.ca/become-an-oblate/