Established 1982

Old-Fashioned Restoration

M6P 1Z7

Restore • Buy • Sell

Fine Antique Furniture

Emanuel Calleja 416-767-6989

CATHOLIC CEMETERIES - ARCHDIOCESE OF TORONTO

ASSUMPTION CATHOLIC CEMETERY

6933 Tomken Road, Mississauga (905) 670-8801

Visit our website at www.catholic-cemeteries.com

Angelo Portelli Free Estimate

CALL THE SPECIALISTS

1 ST. JOHN RD. MAIN FLOOR

TORONTO, ON M6P 4C7

AMANTINE

SECURITY

SYSTEM

24 hour Monitoring

Marc Govè (905) 454-4855

3299, Dundas Street West, Toronto

(One block east of Runnymede)

www.lynettfuneralhome.ca

Compliments of

Melita S.C. Inc.

Tel: 416- 763-5317

MALTA BAKE SHOP

3256 DUNDAS STREET WEST Tel: (416) 769-2174

OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK

Frozen Pastizzi are available at:

Messina Bakery, Solero Bakery, Molisana Bakery; Atlantic Bakery; Malta Band Club; Lisboa Bakery;

Coppa’s Fine Foods; Highland Farms; Mama Malta Pastizzi; Cedar Nights; Bolton’s Convenience;

Maryland Variety; Connor’s Cones & Café; various No Frills;

and more than other 30 locations close by

Contact us for more information

- Always ready to help you -

MALTA BAND CLUB 5745 Coopers Avenue

Mississauga, ON L4Z 1R9

Hall for Rent

Weddings - Baptisms -

Showers - Private Functions

Tel: (905) 890-8507

Compliments of the

Festa San Gorg

Committee

www.festasangorg.ca

Festa San Gorg Association

Meadowbrook A fully integrated Multi-Trade Constructor

Steve Buhagiar

5579, McAdam Rd., Mississauga, ON L4Z 1N4

Contact: 905 507 9507

http://www.meadowbrookconstruction.ca

Residential / Commercial / Industrial

Blocked drains & sewers

Boilers / Snow Melt / In-floor heating

Backflow installation & testing

Government Rebates

Attard Plumbing Ltd

416-881-PIPE (7473) Serving the GTA over 30 years

At a time of need, or when planning ahead,

rely on the trusted specialists.

Call 416 767-1176

Tony Saliba - Bonded & Insured

24 Hour Service - Complete Janitorial Service

Roofing, Paving/Concrete, Line marking,

Carpet Cleaning - Window Cleaning

Power Sweeping & Power Washing

General Contracting.

Bus: 416-762-6302 Fax: 416-766-4000

MELITA

MAINTENANCE

Please Support Our Sponsors.

These ads help in the everyday running of

the Parish

416-571-3944

lehenmalti@hotmail.com

ST. PAUL’S HALL

The Lower hall of our Parish can be hired for occasions such as Baby Showers, Funeral Wakes, Baptisms, Weddings and other activities. The income supports the daily expenses of the running of our parish.

Special, reduced prices for our Parishioners!!!

For information and bookings contact Paul on

416-231-9710

Compliments of the

Festa San Gorg

Committee

www.festasangorg.ca

Festa San Gorg Association

Proudly Helping Clients Buy and Sell Real Estate in West Toronto, Etobicoke

and Mississauga

RYAN FENECH Sales Representative

For A Free Evaluation Call 416-618-9459

Sutton Group Old Mill Realty Inc., Brokerage 4237, Dundas St W. Toronto ON M8X 1Y3

St. Paul the Apostle Church

Maltese-Canadian

Community Parish 3224 Dundas Street West, Toronto, Ontario M6P 2A3

416-767-7054

Pastor: Fr. Mario Micallef MSSP

Associate Pastor: Fr. Ivano Burdian MSSP

Parish Secretary: Mrs. Rita Apalit

OFFICE HOURS Tuesday & Friday: 10:00 am to 5:30 pm

Emails and phone calls are still being attended to.

MASS SCHEDULE and Other Activities Daily morning Mass

Monday, Wednesday & Friday—9:15 am (Maltese)

Tuesday & Thursday—9:15 am (English)

First Friday of the Month:

Mass in Maltese at 9.15 am, followed by Adoration &

Benediction

Weekend Masses;

Saturday 5:30 pm (English)

Sunday: 9:00 am (English)

10:30 am (Maltese)

12:00 noon (English)

All other activities are temporarily cancelled

SACRAMENTS Baptism: Please contact the Rectory. Baptisms are generally held on the first & third Saturdays of the month at 11:00am.

Marriages: Contact the priest at least one year in advance of the wedding. A marriage preparation course is required.

Sacrament of Reconciliation: Any day, by appointment; call the office

Anointing of the Sick: Contact the priests. Parishioners are reminded that this is not a sacrament that should be left for the last possible minute. It is a

Sacrament for the sick, not just for the dying.

September 20th, 2020

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time - A

email: stpaulmssp@gmail.com Website: www.saint-paul-maltese.com

Mission Statement

We, the community of St Paul the Apostle, are a Maltese-

Canadian personal Parish, founded on September 8, 1930,

and administered by the Missionary Society of St Paul. We

are a faith community reflecting the gospel values of

Christ according to the teaching and tradition of the

Roman Catholic Church. We serve the Maltese community,

welcoming also other people from other nationalities. Our

mission is to follow Christ by sharing our gifts of time,

talent and treasure: by imitating Christ; and by giving

witness to our faith through our everyday lives..

MA

SS

IN

TE

NT

IO

NS

Saturday, September 19

Carmen Galea

Sunday, September 20

9:00am

Guza Cauchi

10.30am

Rita Chircop

Nenu Dingli

Carmen Muscat

12:30 noon

Suzanne Camilleri

Michael Bond

Monday, September 21

Frankie Saliba

Tuesday, September 22

Frenċu Cefai

Wednesday, September 23

Our Lady of the Immigrant Perpetual Mass

Michael Galea

Thursday, September 24

Friday, September 25

Paul Delicata

When he speaks about God the Father early in his gospel, St Matthew tells us that “he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust”. From the very beginning Matthew wants us to understand that the God of his Gospel is a God who gives us sunshine and rain not because we deserve it or because we do something to earn it, but simply because we need it. And since God is a good God who loves us, he gives us what we need, irrespective of how we live our lives. This is, indeed good news.

Unfortunately, very often people tend to forget the fact that the gospel is good news. They turn religion into what we might call a meritocracy: I do good so that I can earn God’s love and God’s favors. Fact is God’s love can never be earned. It’s free and gratuitous. That was the constant message of Jesus

throughout his life. God loves me not because I am good. God loves me because he is good, and that helps me to become good.

This is the underlying idea in today’s gospel. The landowner (referring to God) goes out in different hours during the day to hire workers for his vineyard. He promises a day’s wage (what was deemed necessary to feed a normal family for a day) to those he found early in the morning, and “whatever is right” to the rest. He keeps doing this until the very last hour of the day. When evening came, he pays a full day’s wage to those whom he hired last. According to him, that was “whatever is right”, the money needed to survive for the day. When those who started early got the same wage, they started grumbling against the landowner, because they expected more. The master, however, quickly reminded them that that was the agreement made with them when he hired them in the morning.

When we think of religion as meritocracy, we are distorting all that Jesus is all about. Jesus’ life and mission was always about love and self-giving. It’s about love that is freely given, never expecting anything back in return. The distortion lies in the fact that we tend to turn religion into doing good so that I can gain something, whether it’s heaven or God’s love or some favor from him. This smells more of selfishness rather than love: I do something so that I can get something else in return.

God’s love is different, as we already said. Jesus Christ was the personification of God’s love for us. He lived his life constantly giving of himself to others, until the very end when he did it on the cross. Throughout his life we see him constantly reaching out to others, taking the initiative to invite others into his life. It was he who approached the Samaritan woman at the well, or who invited himself to go to Zacchaeus’ house. He is the father of the prodigal son, who goes out to meet and embrace the wayward son and goes out in the darkness of the night to persuade the older son to come reconcile himself with the rest of his family. In today’s story, the landlord keeps going out to invite strangers into his vineyard. Those who, for some reason, were not there in the first place, he managed to get them later in the day. It doesn’t matter when they come as long as they do, so that they can receive the day’s salary. The thief crucified next to Jesus is a living example of this. As long as there’s life, with Jesus there is always hope.

Fr Mario

2

Pastor’s thoughts ...

BISHOP’S COLLECTION (September 26th/27th)

Next weekend we will be having the annual collection for Needs of the Church in Canada. Archbishop Richard Gag-non, the President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, notes the impact of the coronavirus on the Church in Canada and society at large. “Our Episcopal Conference too has remained fully engaged,” he writes in a letter to Pastors and collaborators in pastoral min-istry. “In the face of real obstacles, we innovated, drew strength from God and each other, and brought the Lord’s enduring message of comfort and healing to the weary.” After thanking them for their continued support, Archbishop Gagnon says the Bishops’ Conference, “supported by donations to the Collection for the Needs of the Church in Canada, will continue to facilitate common action among the Bishops, providing pas-toral encouragement and resources for the local churches, and announcing the message of the Gospel for all to hear.”

OFFICE HOURS

The Parish Office is now open twice a week:

Tuesday and Friday, 10:00 am to 5:30 pm.

Please call our office before visiting. When you come to the office you must be wearing a mask according to the instruction of the City of Toronto.Wednesday and Thursday the Parish Secretary is working from home,

answering phones and attending to emails.

90th ANNIVERSARY

This year we are celebrating the 90th anniversary of our Parish. Due to Covid-19, we cannot celebrate this event in the way we were hoping to in the beginning of the year. However, it is good that we can come together as a parish community to:

thank God for these 90 years,

pray for all the people and priests who have been part of the parish, both dead and alive,

Ask God to continue to help and bless us as a parish community as we move forward in our journey together.

Since we can have a very limited number of people in the church, our regional bishop, Bishop Robert Kasun CSB, has graciously accepted to celebrate with us both the 9:00 am and the 10:30 am Masses next Sunday, September 27th. See you there!

RIGHT OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION OF ADULTS (RCIA)

Persons who are not baptized and are interested in becoming Catholics are encouraged to participate in an RCIA program which will lead them to receive the Sacrament of Baptism.

Those who have been baptized in another Christian church and who wish to become Catholics are encouraged to participate in the RCIA before receiving the Sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Eucharist.

Those adults who have been baptized in the Roman Catholic faith, but have not yet received the Sacrament of Confirmation, will, after completing the RCIA process, be received as adults in the Catholic Church.

If you know someone who might be interested in participating in this program, please contact one of the priests.

MALTA INDEPENDENCE DAY

Monday, September 21, marks the 56th anniversary of the Independence of Malta. This Sunday the 10:30 a.m. Mass in Maltese, is

being celebrated both as thanksgiving to God and as a prayer for Malta.

To commemorate this event the Consulate General of Malta to Canada is putting up an exhibition at the DePiro Hall in our parish entitled “The Heritage of Postage Stamps in Malta”. This will be opened after Mass on Sunday, and stays open till Friday between 9:00am and noon and 2:00pm to 4:00pm.