St. Pius X Roman Catholic Parish - Charlottetown, PE

Ascension of the Lord

St. Pius X — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:09:56 +0000

The Acts of the Apostles tells us that for forty days after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples, teaching them about the Reign of God. At the end of that period, “while they were watching he was lifted up and a cloud took him from their sight.” We call this return of Jesus to the Father the “Ascension.” The reaction of the disciples was to be expected: they gazed up after him, no doubt puzzled and amazed—to say nothing of being afraid. “Why do you stand looking up to heaven?” asked the two men in white robes, “This Jesus will return in the same way you saw him go.” In the meantime, they have been told to prepare for the coming of the Spirit, and not to become preoccupied with the “where and when” of the Lord’s return, but rather to be his “witnesses….to the ends of the earth,” witnesses, whom the gospel reminds us will not be stopped by even the most challenging and difficult obstacles. We, in the twenty-first century, live in expectation of the return of the Lord. Like those first disciples, we can easily get caught up in fascination with the second-coming of Jesus—the end of the world. Whether it be the “Mayan Prophecy” – recently called into question by historians—or the calculations of TV evangelists or the predictions of some obscure doom-sayer, there is a long list of those who seek to capitalize on our curiosity and our desire to figure things out. Then we remember that mystery is not a riddle to be solved, but a reality in which we are called to live. Jesus will return: this is one of the fundamental teachings of Christian faith. This is cause for hope, not dread and fear. God’s will for humanity and for all his handiwork will finally be accomplished. It will not be thwarted. In the meantime, ours is not to get caught up in looking for hidden messages or drawn into schemes of stockpiling and building fortresses. Ours is to live each day, knowing the Lord’s constant presence to us, doing the best we can to live as he taught us, and supporting each other to do the same. No spectacle, no bell and whistles, but life lived in faith, in hope, in love.

Catechism Registration is now underway!

St. Pius X — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:01:04 +0000

Catechism registration for 2012-13 classes is now underway. Parents can register their children online at: http://stpiusxpei.com/ministries-2/catechetics/catechism-registration-grades-2-9/. For children entering Grade One the link to use is: http://stpiusxpei.com/ministries-2/catechetics/grade-one-catechism-registration/.

Registration forms are also available on the catechism table in the Church lobby or at the Parish office.

Materials from past years can be returned to the catechism table in the Church lobby. Thank You!

6th Sunday of Easter

St. Pius X — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:04:44 +0000

Peter recognizes a startling truth in today’s Fist Reading from the Acts of the Apostles: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” In other words, God has no favourites. God pours out the abundance of his love upon everyone—regardless of who they are or where they’re from. The loving actions of anyone are the work of God made flesh in our world. That love which God has for every human person—Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, atheist, and agnostic—is to be the origin of our love for all others, our recognition that humankind are members of one family. That is not to diminish the unique revelation of Jesus Christ, who speaks to us, his followers, his commandment, “Love one another as I have loved you”, and appointed us “to go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last.” Our call, in that same Christ Jesus: through prayer, actions and attitudes of justice and peace, to build up all humankind, to help us live together as one—in the midst of all our diversity—one people who inhabit one home, loved and cared for by the God who made us all and offers us love forever.

5th Sunday of Easter

St. Pius X — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:40:11 +0000

We live in an age of individualism, placing a high value on independence, and many times ascribing to the belief that if we just work hard enough, everything will fall into our hands. Into this deeply-held way of looking at our lives and the life of the world, steps Jesus with his words in today’s gospel, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” All around us, spring is breaking. In our part of the world, what’s going on with the trees may be a more familiar image than vines, which were commonly seen in the grape-growing region where Jesus lived. Leaves on branches of the trees in our yards and in the woodlands around us are able to come to life because the branches are nourished by the trunk of the tree whose roots carry nourishment from the earth in which they are planted. We are like those branches and leaves. We draw life from our rootedness in Jesus Christ who anchors us in the life of the Trinity. Those tree branches also help sustain life in one another, carrying food and energy from soil and sunlight through the whole structure. So it is with us. Individualism and independence are – strictly speaking— illusions. Life—whether it be that of a vine, a tree, or human life and society, or the Church—is much more a matter of interdependence lived within the vine-branch relationship of a life-sustaining community. We function best and serve each other best when we remember that, and seek to live by that awareness

2nd Sunday of Easter

St. Pius X — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:32:24 +0000

The character at the centre of today’s gospel story lives on in our memory—and even in our culture—as one of the most remembered of those we meet in the New Testament. We still use the expression “Doubting Thomas” to describe someone who is not quick to believe something they haven’t seen with their own eyes. But should we not cut Thomas a little slack? He saw Jesus crucified and dead. Then, a few days later, is expected to believe that he has risen, and visited the other disciples. Thomas is not shy to express his doubts. Neither is Jesus annoyed when he has them. The two meet and in response to beholding the presence of the Risen Lord, Thomas makes a statement of faith—at once, simple and profound—that also continues to live on in the hearts and on the lips of Christians: “My Lord and my God!” Note that Thomas is called “the Twin.” In other words, there is someone—unnamed—who is just like him out there. Someone who finds it difficult to believe sometimes when confronted with hurt and fear and disappointment, as Thomas was. Someone to whom Jesus invites to come a little closer. You and I—we—are the twin of Thomas. The Lord understands, and in those moments when he seems gone for good, reassures us that he is still there. Blessed, indeed, are we when we come to believe that.

4th Sunday of Easter

St. Pius X — Tue, 01 May 2012 17:34:28 +0000

Each year on the fourth Sunday of Easter, we remember Jesus as the “Good Shepherd.” As more people in our society leave the rural areas to become city-dwellers, and small farms virtually disappear, the image of the shepherd becomes less and less familiar to us, and we need to remind ourselves of what it means to refer to Jesus by this title. The image comes from a place and a time when large flocks of sheep roamed about in search of grazing land. To guide those sheep and to protect them from thieves and predators, shepherds travelled with them. Stories abound of the sheep being able to know their shepherd from others, and of shepherds being able to identify their sheep in the midst of many that, to the untrained eye, all looked the same. Jesus is our Shepherd: the One who guides and leads us, who protects us from what could do us harm, who lays down his life for us. He knows us, and we are invited and empowered to know him. One more thing about Jesus and us that differs from shepherd and sheep: we are able to become like him. As he guides us and cares for us and knows us by name, so are we able to do the same for each other. May we who are loved and cared for by the Good Shepherd become shepherds to and for one another.

3rd Sunday of Easter

St. Pius X — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:12:38 +0000

We live in an age of uncertainly. Recent news of lay-offs and job cuts have increased the level of anxiety many already feel, adding to the burdens of worry we carry around about so many other issues. In our fears and frustration, and the lack of assurance for the future that often accompany these realities, it is not difficult to relate to the disciples of Jesus whom we meet in the gospel today. The rug had been pulled out from under them when they saw Jesus dead on the cross and buried in the tomb. They had seen him as the guarantee of their future, and he was gone. For many, it was the last straw; they gave up. Then he’s there, unbelievably and unexpected, with his gentle question, “Why are you frightened?… See it is I, myself.” In our fears and disappointments, in those moments when we have given up, the same question and the same reassurance is offered to us by the same risen Christ. Oh, to be sure, we may have to make some adjustments, and sometimes they will be challenging. So, too, did those first followers. But, also like them, disappointment and fear and uncertainty will not speak the final word to us or for us. Never patting us on the back with faint assurances and platitudes, Jesus—having lived life on this earth—understands our dilemmas, and the chaos they bring into our hearts and lives. He wants us to know he’s with us in them, and through the power of his Spirit, and the company of one another, like those disciples we hear about in the gospel today, we will recover hope and come to know the courage that empowers us to see life as gift, and to relish that gift with generosity and joy.

Easter Sunday

St. Pius X — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:42:56 +0000

“O truly blessed night, when things of heaven are wed to those of earth, and divine to the human.” This is a line from the “Paschal Proclamation,” commonly known as the “Exultet,” sung at the beginning of the Easter Vigil. Those few words disclose to us the implications of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Christian Tradition teaches us that the rift between God and his Creation, brought about by the decision of Adam and Eve to “go it alone,” is completely and finally healed in Jesus Christ, through his constant openness to the presence of the Father during the entire course of his earthly life. In him, God become one with us, so that we could be empowered to be one with God. In Christ, God is closer to us than we are to ourselves. The implications of that profound reality open possibilities beyond our most hope-filled imaginings, for who we are as individuals, as families, as a Church, a world society. We are able to live in hope, even in the midst of life’s many challenges, struggles, and disappointments. The Resurrection of Jesus assures us that life and love always speak the final word. Problems have a solution; darkness can be penetrated by light; death—in its final form and in the ways that it nips at our heels many times in life—can be transformed by life. Our call is to grow in our belief in that—through the grace of the risen Christ and the support of the Christian community—and to discover how to work together so that the possibilities at hand for all good things can be grasped and put to use for the up-building of our lives, our Church and our world for the Glory of God and fullness of life for humanity and all creation.

Palm Sunday

St. Pius X — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 19:14:14 +0000

The time is fast approaching when we will celebrate the mystery that is at the heart of Christian faith, the event which gives meaning to our lives and to the life of the world: the death and resurrection of the Lord. Our Lenten preparation for this celebration will reach its high point during this Holy Week. Today, we commemorate his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, being hailed and lauded by some of the same people who, later in the week, will demand his death. On Monday evening, the Diocese will gather at the cathedral church, St. Dunstan’s, where the oils used in the celebration of the sacraments—the means through which we are drawn all the more profoundly into the new life of Christ—will be blessed. On Holy Thursday, in imitation of the Lord, and as a pledge of our commitment to mutual service, we will wash feet at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Entering into a time of fasting on Good Friday, we will hear the story of the Lord’s Passion and acknowledge the struggle of the Cross, not only in the life of Jesus, but in our own lives, in the life of the Church, the life of the world. That struggle and pain, the crown of thorns we all experience in myriad ways, we will recognize not to be senseless or empty, as we are bathed in the new light of Christ, hear the story of salvation, welcome new Christians, and renew the promises of our own Baptism at the Easter Vigil. In the busy-ness of our lives, in the midst of the challenges and distractions that command the attention of us all, may we pause over these days to recognize the hope and glory that are ours, in Christ. The death and resurrection of Jesus reassures us that nothing is ever so lost that it can’t be found, nothing is ever so dark that the light can’t shine in on it; nothing is ever so dead that its life can’t be restored. May our many comings-together over these next days convince us ever-more deeply of this Truth, and may we support one another in living that conviction in our lives, for our own benefit, and through us, for the life of the world.

5th Sunday in Lent

St. Pius X — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:55:09 +0000

The story of the rising of Lazarus completes the three passages from John’s gospel used by the early Church to reflect with catechumens about the mystery of Baptism. Initiation into the Body of Christ is like rising to new life. It introduces us into the resurrected life of Christ, draws us into the heart of the Trinity. That life is God’s gift to us, shared with his children in love. The final words of Jesus in today’s passage tell us something important about living that new life. When Lazarus comes out of the tomb, he remains bound, hand and foot, and his face is covered with a burial cloth. To those around him, Jesus says “Unbind him, and let him go.” That scene and those words tell us some important things: first, we depend on one another; we need the community’s support in order to reach the potential for life that is ours in Christ. We can’t go it alone. Second, the mission of the Church, a mission in which we all share, involves our following the directive Jesus issued to those who gathered around Lazarus. We participate in the unbinding of our brothers and sisters, helping to release them from whatever holds them captive and prevents their living in the freedom and dignity of the children of God. Lazarus teaches us what it is to receive Baptism, and what it is to live this gift in our lives.