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: [email protected]Christ the King Parish Staff Pastor Fr. Reddy [email protected]Assistant Pastor Fr. Jhack Diaz [email protected]Bro. Jayson [email protected]Parish Secretary: Janet Alipio [email protected]Liturgy Schedule Monday-Friday Rosary & Mass 8:40 am Saturday 7:00 pm Sunday 9 am & 11 am Mass/Adoration RCIA- Every Wednesday at 7pm at St. Paul’s Church Spanish Rosary -Every Second Friday of each month at 7pm THANK YOU for your donation made to St. Paul Parish. November 18th and 19th General collections $4,292.50 St. Paul Parish Confirmation/ First Communion Schedule 2017-2018 Confirmation December 6, 7:00 pm December 7, 7:00 pm Passover Sunday January 27, 7:00 pm January 28, 9:00 am Simbang Gabi/ Novena Mass is a Filipino Christmas tradi- tion, it is a series of nine mass- es, the mass starts at 7:00 p.m at St. Paul’S ChurCh. It begInS on December 15 th and ends on UNREGISTERED ENVE- LOPES If you are using an Unregistered Donation envelope for 2017 you will not be receiving a receipt for income tax purposes. Please check this list to determine if is this applies to you. Please write your name, address and phone number on the next envelope you use. Thank you. 2017 UNREGISTERED EN- VELOPES 529, 619, 642, 643, 644, 647, 671, 703, 764, 774, 783, 797, 802, 829, 831, 839, 847, 848, 864, 866, 877, 865, 844, 912, 918. Parish Advent Reconcil- iation Service will be held on December 13th at 7:00pm at St. Paul’s Church.
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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
Spanish Rosary -Every Second Friday of each month at 7pm
THANK YOU for your donation made to St. Paul Parish. November 18th and 19th General collections
$4,292.50
St. Paul Parish Confirmation/ First Communion Schedule
2017-2018
Confirmation December 6, 7:00 pm December 7, 7:00 pm Passover Sunday January 27, 7:00 pm January 28, 9:00 am
Simbang Gabi/ Novena
Mass
is a Filipino Christmas tradi-tion, it is a series of nine mass-es, the mass starts at 7:00 p.m at St. Paul’S ChurCh. It begInS on December 15th and ends on
UNREGISTERED ENVE-LOPES
If you are using an Unregistered Donation
envelope for 2017 you will not be receiving
a receipt for income tax purposes. Please
check this list to determine if is this applies
to you.
Please write your name, address and phone number on the next envelope you use. Thank you.
Parish Advent Reconcil-iation Service will be held on December 13th at 7:00pm at St. Paul’s Church.
Sunday Reflection By Dn. Raymond Christ the King
While in Hong Kong, my wife had the opportunity to visit a Christian retreat centre: Tao Fong Shan Christian Centre
(道風山基督教叢林), situated at the top of a hill. Tao means the way and Fong, the wind, symbolizes, the Holy Spirit.
The Centre was founded in 1930 by a Norwegian missionary Karl Ludvig Reichelt (1877–1952). Reichelt was origi-nally sent to Hunan province in China in1904 to develop an idea to share the gospel with the Buddhists. In 1929, due to chaos of the Chinese civil war, Reichelt moved his work to Sha Tin, Hong Kong, and asked a Danish architect, Johannes Prip-Mooler to design the buildings. They reflect a combination of the Chinese Buddhist culture with that of the Christian. There is an octagonal chapel, The Christ Temple, a 12-metre-high cross facing town centre, a Laby-
rinth, a repentance room, a retreat centre, ... At the far end, there is a narrow gateway named 生命門 (Door of Life).
On the door posts is a Chinese poem translated as “Many choose the wide road but they have no true happi-ness; only a few choose the narrow path that leads to eternal life.” Behind it is a very narrow path with many
turns through the forest and at the end, you reach a big cross. On the big cross, there are two Chinese characters, 成
了 “Mission Accomplished” (The resurrection of Jesus has restored the life that was lost in mankind ).
This Sunday we celebrate, the Solemnity of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe. We might think, “That’s nice, but really what does this have to do with me?” What does the celebration of Christ the King mean? It means everything. The feast reminds us to be part of the Kingdom. Today’s celebration concludes the Church year by reflecting on the fundamental truths of Christianity. Those truths are that Jesus Christ came to restore spiritual life to mankind and form mankind into a Kingdom for God the Father. This is made explicit in today’s second reading (1 Corinthians 15:20). “Christ has been raised from the dead, .... just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life,....at his coming, those who belong to Christ; then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father, ”
The Solemnity of Christ the King is about us, right here, right now. If we do not have God in our lives, then our lives are futile, meaningless and dead. Without God, we go through the motions secretly asking ourselves, “Why bother? Why bother with raising children? Why bother with caring for others? If we do not have God in our lives, we will easily overlook His Presence reaching out to us in the hungry, the thirsty, the poor, the naked and all those Jesus mentions in the Gospel reading (Matthew 25:31-46). The Presence of God gives us the ability to live each moment as an opportunity to draw closer to Him. The Presence of God within each of us leads us to have love, to reach eternal life.
A young man finally graduated from university after years of hard work. His dad gave him the key of a new car as a graduation gift. The young man asked his father, “What’s next? What is life?” His father replied, “Sleep well tonight. Get up at dawn and I will tell you.” At dawn, his father gave him a map showing a red path, “Follow this path. Bring nothing. By sunset you will know what life means.” The young man asked, “Can I go across the street and get some takeout from my favourite restaurant and then google for a short cut using my new car?” “No. No iPhone. No car. No food. Just yourself.” So the young man started the journey. It is not an easy path, many hills to climb in scorching hot sun and coming down the slippery path in thunderstorms. On the way, when he was thirst, people gave him water. When he was hungry, people gave him food. When there were thunderstorms, people offered him shelter. When he was soaking wet, people gave him dry clothes. Finally, by sunset, he reached the destination. His dad and his good friends were greeting him and offered him a banquet at his favourite restaurant across the street. “Son. This is life. There will be many ups and downs. But if you follow the way of the Lord and not yours, and have hope, love and faith in His mercy, you will be loved by your neighbours and welcomed to His Kingdom, with feast waiting for you.”
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:31-32). So be the sheep not the goats. The sheep did not need to be told what to do. They cared for others. They did what the presence of the Lord within them led them to do: they reached out to those who needed them. They cared for Christ. The goats could not be concerned with anyone but themselves. They ignored the plight of others and missed the Presence of God. Now, at the conclusion of year A,
let’s beg Him to help us recognize Him in our world and to acknowledge His presence in others. We seek the mercy of His continual grace. We humbly seek to be part of the Kingdom. Christ is our King. May we all be true members of his Kingdom.
Psalm 80 asks “Why, Yaweh, do you let us wan-der from your ways and let our hearts grow too hard to hear you?” On earth as it is in heaven, we recognize the urgent need for Christ as we work in collaboration to create peaceful systems and structures that hold justice and respect for life above economic gain. Thank you to everyone for their support of Devel-opment and Peace’s Fall Action campaign to put Women at the Heart of Peace. May you all have a blessed Advent season!
Please Note: Baptism Preparation for Tuesday
December 19th has canceled.
December 15th Night Vigil Prayer
Meeting has canceled.
Spanish Mass on December 17th has canceled.
There will be a training ses-
sion for altar servers on Sun-day, 03 December 2017 after the 11a.m. mass. Snacks will be provided. There is no need to pre-register, just come. If you have questions, please
