Pastor's Messages from 2023

Dear brothers & sisters, Christmas is a special time of Worship and Praise to Our Saviour Jesus Christ. May the miracle of Christmas fill your hearts and homes with hope, peace and joy now and throughout the coming New Year – 2024. I thank everyone for your contributions to our celebrations during the Advent & Christmas Seasons. On behalf of the Catholic Parishes of Penticton we wish you a Blessed Christmas filled with the wonder of the birth of Jesus…

My dear sisters & brothers, Praise & Worship God for His Great Love for us! In our first reading this weekend, David was planning to give a present to God. He thought of building a House for the Lord and moving the Ark of the Covenant from a humble tent but God had other plans. God wanted to be present to His own people, house or no house, temple or no temple. This is the story of a God who…

My dear brothers & sisters, Praise God! I had the opportunity, with joy, to finally meet Penticton’s hockey team – the Vees. This week they came to help us prepare our Christmas Hampers. See page 4 of the bulletin for more. The primary enemy of our joy is anxiety. Fear and anxiety rob us of our joy. However, if we understand who Christ is, and what he has done for us it deepens and opens up a new dimension of…

My dear friends, Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ! This week I was able to attend the Christmas Concert at Holy Cross School entitled “A Play in the Manger”. It was really amazing to see how our kids did their role and acted with love, enthusiasm and hard work. The play really made me ponder on these messages: Jesus, the Son of God was born in humble surroundings, that God became flesh and lived among us, so that we could…

My beloved brothers & sisters, Praise Jesus the Prince of Peace! Happy New Year! It is a new year in our liturgical year that begins with the Advent season. Advent is derived from the Latin word Adventus, meaning “arrival” or “coming”. Adventus refers to the arrival of an important person with great power – an emperor or a king or even of a god in the empire world. For us, Advent is the time to patiently prepare and prayerfully wait…

My dear brothers and sisters, This weekend, our liturgical year culminates with the solemn feast and what a fitting conclusion, we are celebrating Jesus Christ as the King of the Universe. It reminds us and gives us hope that it is still the Lord who is going to triumph in the end. Our Mighty King identifies Himself with the lowly – the least of this world. That is how the divine might is manifested to us, in lowliness and the…

~ Fr. Harry Clarke

Love Commanded: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Readings:                               Exodus 22:20–26                        Psalm 18:2–4, 47, 51                                                  1 Thessalonians 1:5–10         Matthew 22:34–40 Jesus came not to abolish the Old Testament law but to fulfill it (see Matthew 5:17). And in today’s Gospel, He reveals that love—of God and of neighbor—is the fulfillment of the whole of the law (see Romans 13:8–10). Devout Israelites were to keep all 613 commands found in the Bible’s first five books. Jesus…

My dear brothers and sisters, Praise the Lord Jesus Christ! Pope Francis declares October 27, 2023 as World Day of Prayer, Fasting and Penance for Global Peace; We can do that this week with your choice of the day. This week we will have lots to Achieve! 1) Ministry Fair on the Weekend. Please come and be a missionary of God – He is waiting for us. 2) Conclusion of our Rosary Month – Living Rosary on Monday, October 30 at St.…

Caesar and the King: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Readings:                               Isaiah 45:1,4–6                                 Psalm 96:1,3–5, 7–10                                                  1 Thessalonians 1:1–5           Matthew 22:15–21 The Lord is king over all the earth, as we sing in today’s Psalm. Governments rise and fall by His permission, with no authority but that given from above (see John 19:11; Romans 13:1). In effect, God says to every ruler what He tells King Cyrus in today’s First Reading: “I have called you…