4 Living Water - December 11, 2015

SEE YOU AT OUR COMMUNITY ADVENT CELEBRATION —- Dec 12, 2015 at the North Thornhill Com-munity Centre, 300 Pleasant Ridge Ave-nue, Thornhill (N of Hwy7, W of Bathurst). Fun starts at 6:00pm. We promise and evening of food, fun and entertainment.

For tickets, please contact: Aldric/Loida Uchida @ 416-887-0701 or Jolan/Nene Gavia @ 416-786-8975 or see us at OLA basement hall after P&W tonight.

Tickets $15 (adult); $8 (youth); Free chil-dren 13 years old and younger. (Sponsor: FE Class #17)

TABLE OF LOVE

In the spirit of Christmas, we encourage you to please donate non-perishable goods (cereals, canned goods, pasta/pasta sauce, school sup-plies, slippers and personal hygiene supplies) to Immaculate Heart Queen of Heaven Mis-sionaries in the Philippines.

Your donation will benefit the underprivileged children who persevere in completing their education and enriching their faith in God de-spite the barriers they face.

As Mother Teresa said: ‚It’s not how much you give, but how much love we put into giving.‛

EXTRAORDINARY JUBILEE YEAR OF MERCY December 8, 2015 to November 20, 2016

The Catholic Church throughout the world formally began the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of

Mercy on December 8. After the inauguration of the Holy Year marked by the opening of the Holy

Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, all locally-designated Churches throughout the world will open their

own Doors of Mercy in communion with the Church of Rome on the Third

Sunday of Advent. Here in Toronto, Cardinal Collins has designated 7

churches as Jubilee Churches, each with a Holy Door of Mercy:

St. Paul's Basilica 83 Power Street, Toronto

St. Patrick's Parish 131 McCaul Street, Toronto

Merciful Redeemer Parish 2775 Erin Centre Blvd., Mississauga

St. Anthony of Padua Parish 940 North Park Drive, Bramalea

St. Patrick's Parish 11873 The Gore Road, Brampton

St. Theresa's Parish 2559 Kingston Road, Scarborough

The Martyrs' Shrine 16163 Highway 12 West, Midland

The Holy Door symbolizes the extraordinary way that we, as Catholics, can

open ourselves up to our faith. It is Pope Francis’ invitation to the whole Church to refashion itself

as a place not of judgment or condemnation, but of pardon and merciful love. Let us not miss this

wonderful opportunity to proclaim the merciful love of God for each and every person no matter

who they are, what they have done or failed to do.

December 11, 2015

BUKÁS-LOÓB SA DIYÓS • OPEN IN SPIRIT TO GOD

www.bldworld.org www.bldtoronto.com

THEME We believe Jesus

Christ is our way

to salvation when

we are filled with

hope in Him and

bring our expecta-

tions to others.

WORD

Zep 3:14-18/Is 12:2

-3,4,5-6/Phil 4:4-7/

Lk 3:10-18

ORDER

Do not fear, do not let your hands go weak (Zep 3}

Do not worry about anything (Phil 4)

Share with anyone who has none (Lk 3)

Let your gentleness be known to every-one {Phil 4}

DIRECTION

Give thanks to the Lord

Let your requests be known to God

Proclaim the good news to the people

Be satisfied

REFLECTION We find ourselves in a world in

turmoil.

Bloody shootings between

Israelis & Palestinians;

Wars in Syria, Iraq and

Ukraine -- millions of people

turned into refugees;

Terrorist acts in France &

Mali using religion as an excuse –

mass murder of the innocent while

shouting God is great!

On top of all the brutality that humanity seems

to be capable of, our earth itself is disintegrat-

ing. Our world is on the verge of becoming

uninhabitable because of our own unthinking

disregard for the environment – and , my

friends, We are all guilty.

What starts as our pursuit of ‘a better life’ has

led to an escalating culture of consumerism …

of wanting new and better and more. We con-

veniently ignore the fact that producing this

‚new and better and more‛ of the things we

want takes resources and energy from our

planet. (Cont’d on P2)

Third Sunday of Advent

www.bldworld.org www.bldtoronto.com

2 Living Water - December 11, 2015

(Cont’d from P1)

It may make us uncomfortable, but the truth is

consumerism has conditioned us to accumulate

things and to keep on accumulating. We have

taught ourselves to think and believe that we

need yet another new pair of shoes, new shirts,

new coats, a new car, a bigger house. Uncon-

trolled, we can become slaves to … greed.

And greed creates bigger and bigger holes in

our souls that only make us feel empty and

desolate. The pursuit of worldly pleasure does

not satisfy.

Brothers and sisters, there is hope beneath this

darkness. The good news is that we, as Chris-

tians, are a people of hope. Our saviour has

come and we fully believe in the eternal life

that awaits us after our temporary stay on this

earth. Salvation is our one true treasure. We

have been given the roadmap to peace and true

happiness. Our roadmap is the Word of God,

and it tells us to love one another as Christ

loves us.

Advent is our special time. It is a time for us to

prepare for the First Coming of Christ - which

is Christmas – as well as for his Second Coming

on Judgment Day. Unfortunately, this time of

the year has become more associated with

Black Friday, mad shopping, office parties and

vacation time. And instead of anticipating the

birth of Jesus, our children are more familiar

with waiting for the coming of a tall, round-

shaped guy, dressed in red and white, with

silver hair and a big beard.

Is Christmas really lights, presents, turkey and

Santa Claus? Or is it a time for Christ? Just as

the crowd asked John the Baptist in the gospel

reading, we find ourselves asking.…‛What

should we do?‛

Perhaps we need to get back to basics, to the

core value of Christmas, and celebrate the day

with our family for what it really is … the birth

of our Messiah, Jesus. The Good News he

brings is what gives us hope. Hope for an eter-

nal, joy-filled life for those who live a life of

holiness on earth. A life of giving and sharing

love.

This Christmas season, let us light up the world

with hope. Let us be true Christians and let the

love of Jesus flow through us to others, espe-

cially to those in need.

Pause for a minute and bring to mind at least

one person you know (or more if you can) who

could use a smile, a hug, a kind word, or maybe

some financial assistance.

If we truly want to celebrate the birth of Jesus

and honour him, let us do what he did. He vis-

ited the sick and brought comfort to those go-

ing through very difficult times. Can we do

that?

May all of us experience a joyful Christmas and

an unlimited supply of God’s blessings that we

can share with others now and in the coming

New Year!

Praise the Lord!

PROMISE

‚The peace of God that surpasses all under-

standing will guard your hearts and minds in

Christ Jesus.‛ (Phi 4:7)

A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE From Fr. Ben Ebcas, BLD Toronto Spiritual Director

Every Christmas should be an “Immanuel” experience. An experience of an

intense awareness of God’s presence in us, in our families, in our families of

Faith and in the hearts of all people of good will. If all of us will have this fo-

cal point of our celebration on the Feast of the Incarnation or Christmas, we

will experience meaning as opposed to mere satisfaction; inner peace as op-

posed to boisterous songs that are devoid of relevance when not rooted on the

rationale of the celebration.

My wish for all of you is an intense experience of God’s presence in your hearts, homes and in out community

during this beautiful season of the year. May His presence make our Christmas truly blessed and Peace-filled.

May His presence made manifest in our sincere sharing of Time, Talents and Treasures. May His presence be

a reminder for us of God’s LOVE which is the reason why His Son became like one of us. May we become

His instruments of His loving and compassionate presence in the world. God bless you all.

A BLESSED CHRISTMAS.

THE COLOR OF ADVENT IS PURPLE A Christmas Message from the DSL and the DCS

The color of Advent is purple. Purple is also the color of

Lent. Thus, Christmas has the same theme before we cele-

brate Easter. In Filipino the Christmas of birth (Pasko ng pag-

silang ni Kristo) is a foreshadowing of the Christmas of Res-

urrection ( Pasko ng Pagkabuhay).

In short, this is a time of penance and recollection through

prayer and alms giving, and of being alive with the spirit of

remote possibility that we have hurt any one. This is the time

to forgive, and to ask for forgiveness. We cannot celebrate Christmas with the baggage of

unforgiveness. Repent or otherwise be merciful.

Advent is also is a season of hope, as the prophet Isaiah declared many centuries before the

coming of Jesus. Let us be positively gracious in our view of our BLD family, a family of Christ:

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is God from of old,

creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary,

and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny.

He gives power to the faint, abundant strength to the weak.

Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall,

They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar on eagles’ wings;

They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.” Isaiah 40: 28-31

Have a blessed and joyful season as well as in all seasons of the year!