Dear Parishioners,
St. John Vianney is open for prayers/Confession/Extended Eucharistic Adoration
Every Wednesday after Mass, St. John Vianney will remain open for extended Eucharistic Adoration until noon. During this time, I will be in the Church for prayer and for Confession. This begins next week Wednesday, February 1st.
Divine Office: Beginning next week Friday (February 3), we will say the Divine office (morning prayer) after Rosary in St. Ann’s Church. This starts from 8.45 until 8.58.
February 11: Anointing of the Sick
February 11 is the Feast of our Lady of Lourdes. It is also known as World Day of Prayer for the Sick. This is a Saturday. We will have anointing of the sick after Mass for our parishioners. Through anointing of the sick, our dear Lord grants healing in various ways to the sick, strength to bear our sickness and most importantly gives us an assurance of the closeness of Jesus to us: He who is our healer!
Parish Family Prayer – beginning this weekend, January 28/29
Beginning this weekend, the prayer for peace will be replaced with our new parish family prayer. This will only be on the weekend Masses. Prayer for peace will continue at the Weekday Masses. On my way back from Ottawa, as I was praying for our parish, the Lord inspired this prayer. It encapsulates the mission and vision of our parish: the kind of parish family the Lord wants for us to be. The prayer is in the pews. We will be saying only part 1. I encourage you to say part 2 after Communion or at any other time.
National Evangelization Team (NET)
On February 17, the weekend before Ash Wednesday, NET will be coming from Ottawa to hold a retreat for our youth. These are young people who have given their lives completely to Jesus and are now travelling around Canada evangelizing the youth through their exciting and spirit-filled activities. Please pray that this will be a life-changing event for our young people and for our parishes. The parishioners will also get to meet and interact with the NET team while they are here. More details to follow in the coming weeks.
Eucharist Exhibit
As part of our Eucharistic Revival efforts, I have invited Carolyn to bring a Eucharist Exhibit to us in Penticton. Thanks to Linda Adam who introduced me to her. This exhibit will show us some of the great Eucharistic miracles in our Catholic tradition and also show us things about the latest Apostle of the Eucharist: Carlos Acutis, who said that the Eucharist is, “his highway to Heaven.” I am in contact with Kelowna so that this exhibit will also be brought to Kelowna parishes and the High School there. This will take place in our parish on Easter week leading to Divine Mercy Sunday. We will have a grand finale of the Eucharist exhibit with Divine Mercy Celebration. Date: April 13th-16th.
We look forward to these events. We pray that they draw us into deeper relationship with Jesus Christ and give us strength to be intentional disciples and evangelizers.
Happy Sunday.
Your brother, Fr. Obi