St. Paul Roman Catholic Parish Fort McMurray

480 Signal Road, Fort McMurray, AB T9H 4R7

780-791-4305; ; Fax: 587-258-6898 Visit us: Website at www.stpaulparishwb.com

Email: st.paulrccfm@shaw.ca

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Parish Staff

Pastor

Fr. Prabhakar Reddy, frreddy@dioceseofstpaul.ca

Bro. Jestoni Porras

Parish Secretary: Janet Alipio Youth Ministry: Sherry Flemming

Liturgy Schedule Monday-Friday

Rosary & Mass 8:40 am Saturday 7:00 pm

Sunday 9 am & 11 am

Mass/Adoration First Friday of every month 6:30pm

Night Vigil Third Friday of every month at 7pm

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Knights of Columbus cordially invites you to pray

the 5th Sunday Rosary in Spanish on Sunday 30th October 2016 at St. Paul

Church following 11:00AM mass.

“Let's join fraternally and pray together among the finest

and most praiseworthy traditions of Christian

contemplation."

Baptism preparation on every third Tuesday of the month. Next one will be held on October 18th at 7 pm at St. Paul Church. And The Sacrament of Baptism will be celebrated on every fourth Sunday of the month at 2 pm in St. Paul Church

Families are invited to celebrate All Saints Eve on Monday, October 31st from 6 to 8 pm at St Paul's Church Hall. Lots of fun activities! Candies and Treats! PS: Come dressed as your favorite Saint, Angel, biblical character or animal from the Bible! Volunteer are needed: please Contact Fafa 780-607-2679

HOW CAN I SEND IN MY DONATION QUICKLY

Donations by credit card (VISA,

MASTERCARD, AMEX)

Online: www.devp.org

Donations can be sent securely via the Development and Peace website. Simply click on the web banner on the homepage

In step 2 – Information, under the section I am giving towards choose the option – Emergency in Haïti

By phone: toll free number 1 888 234-8533

Donations by cheque or money order: Make out the cheque or money order to Development and Peace and mail it to: 1425 René-Lévesque Boul. West, 3rd Floor, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1T7

Write EMERGENCY-Haïti at the bottom of the cheque as a reference.

Sunday Reflection By Dn. Raymond October 16, 2016

There are two themes in this Sunday’s readings. One is “Do not get tired when you are praying." The other is, “but when you do, there will be support.” And Jesus also says in the Gospel “Pray always without becoming weary,” In the First Reading (Exodus 17:8-13), Moses held up his staff, and the Hebrews began to win the battle against Amalek and his people, the force of evil. This scene is more about prayer than battle. By holding up his staff, Moses was assuming the ancient position of prayer. His hands were held up to the Lord, depending on the Lord’s power and protection. But Moses got tired, his muscles were cramping. So, he had to let his arms down. At that point, the Amalekites started winning. Moses had to keep his arms up, but it was painful. When I was an altar boy I experienced this by holding the Missal out with extended arms for Father to read from. I just hoped someone or Father could help: “Please, please read faster,” my arms began to scream. Moses called two trusted companions, Aaron and Hur, to help. They got on each side of Moses and helped him stay in the position of prayer. And the children of Israel won the battle.

In the Gospel (Luke 18:1-8), Jesus tells a parable to illustrate why we should never grow tired of praying. The parable is about a persistent widow, unceasingly making her claim before an unjust judge. After a while the judge says to himself, "If I don’t do something this woman will just keep bothering me. I give up. I will rule in her favour". The widow is the model Jesus offers for times when, as Moses does in the first reading, we become weary waiting for the fullness of God's reign. The prayers and antiphons seem tailor-made to bear us up when we get tired. The Entrance Antiphon asks God to "hear" and "guard" us, while also trusting that God will, indeed, answer. We need to pray so that our desires become aligned with God’s will and action in the world. The Psalmist says, "our help comes from God". If we spend more time asking God to help us, and less time telling Him how to do that, we find help does come and we have more peace and joy in our lives.

We need to pray, and we need to pray every day. We need to stay united to God. We need to call upon God for help throughout our day. But we can’t do this alone. We need the help and support of others. We need others to hold our arms up. We need a prayer community. We need each other. Jesus formed us into a Church, a community of people united to Him as our head. He knows that we are dependent on others to stay united to God. That’s why it is so important that we come to Church on Sundays, and even daily mass, supporting each other, holding each other up when our prayer life starts drooping like Moses’ arms. That’s why it is so important that we have people in our lives with whom we are comfortable praying together. The parish is having a pre-marriage course in two weeks time. People seeking to marry should look for someone with whom they can pray together. Husbands and wives should make praying together part of their living. Remember, the marriage sacrament is the union of the two with Jesus Christ. We need each other to unite body and soul with Him.

We need to pray for our children, our spouse, and our families every single day. We need to say a prayer for our children when they go off to school, or our spouse when she/he goes to get the kids at soccer. A quick "Jesus watch over them/ her/him" puts the simplest most routine action in God's hands. If our children have moved on, we still need to pray for them and perhaps thank God that they have moved on.

Wherever we go in life, we have to find a prayer community. We need others to be accountable to us, to care for us, and we need to be accountable to others. When God’s people pray together, marvellous, wonderful things happen. The community at prayer is a great gift of God’s love. God loves us so much that He gave us each other. Like Moses calling upon Aaron and Hur, we need each other. We need others to help hold our arms up to God. We need each other to be a people of prayer.

St. Augustine once said : “Desire is your prayer; and if your desire is without ceasing, your prayer will also be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.” Jesus, you prayed with us and for us. Teach us to trust in you, and draw us to our knees, not so we get what we want but so we get what you want. Amen.

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Please come and celebrate Tagalog Mass

on October 30th at 6pm at St. Paul’s Church.

NIGHT VIGIL PRAYER MEETING

October 21, at 7 P.M. at St. PaulParish, Thickwood.

“Arise; cry out in the night at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord”

Led by: Priests and both Parishes prayer groups.

All are welcome! (For More information please contact: Syriac & Celin@ 780714 2095, Or see our parish website at www.stpaulparishwb.com

Youth nights will resume on October 19th & 20th. Grades

6-8 are 7-9 pm on

Wednesdays, grades 9-12 are 7-9 pm on Thursdays. Our NET Team is a welcome

addition this year! Come join us for an evening of fun activities, meaningful

discussions, inspirational music, and of course, great snacks! This group is open to youth of all faiths. For more information or

to get involved contact Sherry at sherry4youth@gmail.c

om. Volunteers are welcome!

We the Catholic Women League or CWL would like to invite you all to come and celebrate our 80th anniversary

On Sunday October 23 we invite you to share a cup of Coffee and a piece of Cake in honour of 80 years since we received our Charter in Fort McMurray.

We have along history of service in this community - and hope to continue for many more

St. John the Baptist Church will

be having Novena Masses to

Mother Mary starting on

October 19th to 28th at 5:15

pm.