Pastor's Corner March 9, 2003 |
1st Sunday Of Lent |
On the 26th of February I attended the Rite of Installation of Bishop De Angelis in
Peterborough. Bishop Nicola De Angelis was previously the Auxiliary Bishop of the
Archdiocese of Toronto. The main celebrant that day was another Bishop familiar to
us, Bishop Meagher. A short while after he transferred to the Archdiocese of
Kingston, he was diagnosed with cancer. Nevertheless he looked good on the day
that I saw him. Both bishops sent their greetings.
This year, Pope John Paul II wrote a Pastoral letter for Lent to the church, with the
theme "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).
The Pope writes, "It is natural and right that people, by using their own gifts and by
their own labour, should work to obtain what they need to live, but an excessive
desire for possessions prevent human beings from being open to their Creator and to
their brothers and sisters."
He also encourages young people to volunteer in a third world country, or even to
enter into priesthood, because pastoral work is a prime example of a lifelong
vocation to serve.
Before concluding the Pastoral letter, John Paul II writes, "The vocation to charity is
the heart of all true evangelization".
May God complete our inadequacies in faith and charity.
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