St. Leonard Catholic Parish

Manotick, Ont

"Where disciples grow"

As a result of the Province "Stay at Home" lockdown extension announced yesterday, the public observance of Mass at St. Leonard is cancelled until May 20th. The 4:30 pm Saturday Mass will be Livestreamed and will also be recorded for viewing throughout the weekend. It will be made available on Saturday evening here.  Weekday Masses scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday at 9:00 am will also be Livestreamed to our YouTube Channel. To visit this site click here. 

Mass Readings: 3rd Sunday of Easter

Peter's Discourse on Jesus' Resurrection • Acts 3:13-15, 17-19
Psalm 4:2, 4, 7-8, 9
Keeping the Commandments • 1 John 2:1-5a
Jesus Appears to the Eleven • Luke 24:35-48

If Jesus were to appear in front of us today, what would our reactions be? For most of us I suspect our first feeling would be fear since we would not know it was Jesus at first. Upon realizing who He was, we may well immediately feel guilty and remorseful; perhaps not worthy to be in His presence.

Jesus likely said “peace be with you” to calm both feelings. As anyone would be, the apostles were “startled and frightened” when Jesus appeared out of nowhere – and Jesus said “peace be with you” to calm their fears. Additionally, even though the apostles were not perfect in all their actions, having abandoned Jesus during His Passion, Jesus wanted them to know that they are forgiven, that only peace lies between Him and them.

Jesus not only offered peace to the apostles, but Jesus also promised all His disciples (including us!) peace: “Peace I give you” (John 14:27). He would give them His peace. The peace that comes from the Resurrection and the forgiveness of sin. The peace that the world cannot possibly give.

Knowing that Jesus is with us in this time of global pandemic, we should take comfort in His promise of peace. If we are convinced of His love, what have we to fear? If we are convinced that He is with us, why be anxious about anything?  He asked His disciples, “Why are you troubled?” They were witnesses to His love on the cross and the glory of His resurrection. They were witnesses to His power and His goodness. If God is for us, who can be against us? Are we troubled? What weighs on our heart and mind? What robs us of our sleep and peace? We need to give it to Jesus. We need to remind ourselves of His love and presence and His gift of peace. As often as worries assail us, we need to go to Jesus in prayer and let His peace wash over us.

Over the past two weeks, the Sunday gospels have recalled the confusion and fear caused by the Resurrection. They have also echoed Jesus' greeting of “Peace be with you” that soothed the emotions of the early followers. In these troubled times that we are currently going through, this message is for us too. Let us be confident that God’s love will never fail us and let us boldly share His message of forgiveness, repentance, and peace with all that we meet.

God bless you folks, Father Gerard

Worship

Regular Mass Times

There will be no public observance of Mass until May 20th as we remain under a Province wide lockdown.

Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon

Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons will air every ‪Sunday morning at 8:15 AM Eastern Time. Click on Bishop Barron’s YouTube channel and then chose the Sunday you wish to view.

Virtual Children's Liturgy

The St. Leonard Children’s Liturgy Team offers virtual Children’s Liturgy of the Word videos to keep our children connected to their faith! The videos include prayers, the week’s Gospel reading, lessons, all geared for our younger parishioners. Click here to view. to view.

Campaign for Conscience Rights Legislation in Ontario

Archbishop Damphousse encourages all the faithful to engage in a new communications campaign launched by the Bishops of Ontario in support of establishing conscience rights legislation to protect physicians, nurses and other health care workers in Ontario. Please refer to the Archbishop's letter and the link for sending automated letters to your local MPPs: en.archoc.ca/current-m.... To directly access the website for sending automated letters to your local MPPs, please go to: Ontario | Canadians for Conscience (Note: to access the automated letter, scroll down the page where you will find the letter info boxes just below the Youtube information message video for Coalition for HealthCARE and Conscience).

Stewardship

Roof Fundraiser Update

This summer, major repairs will be made to our Church roof at an estimated cost of $35,000. As of April 14th we are sitting at 14.4% of our goal. With the support of all our Parish families we can reach our fundraising goal to pay for the project!

Faith Formation