Church St. Mary's Cathedral Calgary
219 - 18th Ave. SW T2S 0C2 Calgary, AB, Canada

Advent is just around the corner! Here are a few ways to prepare your home and family for the season. https://pos.li/2hbgjh #CatholicYYC #IamBlessed2020

A printable Advent Devotional for children "Jesse Tree" will be downloadable in Faithfully, to be released at the end of this week. The Jesse tree devotional he...lps children connect the custom of decorating Christmas trees to the events leading to Jesus’ birth, a great companion for the Advent season. Read one amazing story a day, from Dec. 1 to Dec. 24 and get inspired to create your own Jesse Tree! To subscribe to Faithfully - visit https://subscribepage.com/faithfully See more

Registrations for Nov 23 to Nov 29, 2020 Masses will be opened at 3:00 PM on Sunday, Nov 22, 2020. Registrations for Saturday and Sunday Masses will be closed on Saturday, Nov 28, 2020 at noon.

#redwednesday2020 Please pray these intentions:

These 10 podcast episodes (from years past) will help you ready your mind, heart, soul, and home for the prayerful expectation of Advent. Get the list here https://pos.li/2hamvv #CatholicYYC #iamblessed2020

Both the woman in Proverbs 31 and the faithful steward in the Gospel remind us of God’s call to stewardship. Everything we have and are stems from God’s gift to... us. We do not own ourselves, our land, our homes, our money or anything else. We are stewards of God’s gifts. Faith asks us to treat all these gifts with reverence and to care for creation, for our people, and for ourselves as faithful stewards. In the second reading, Paul reminds the people at Thessalonica, and us, that nothing we steward will come with us when we die. So we are to care for the world without becoming attached to it. Most of us have some growing to do in that regard. What in my life do I steward well, with open hands, and what have I become unhealthily attached to, feeling entitled or enslaved? What would it take to deepen my stewardship for the life-giving blessing of all? Prayer of the Faithful: For Christians to grow in stewardship of the earth and of each other, we pray to the Lord. Lord of life, you created all things and asked humanity to be stewards of creation. Reveal to us where we have grown entitled or enslaved, and grow in us a spirit of stewardship that allows us to care for your gifts with open hands. Amen. #CatholicYYC #SundayMass Reflection: CCCB

A gentle reminder: If you have not been in touch with family and friends, please reach out to them soon by phone, email, social, video chat, letter or card - a...nd tell them that you are thinking of them, or that you appreciate them. Ask them how they are doing and see what you may be able to offer for them if they are in need. ======== I AM BLESSED 2020: Be that light for others during these difficult times. For more tips on how we can be a good friend, visit: https://pos.li/2hafcx #iamblessed2020 #beagoodfriend #catholicyyc #reachingout

"When sufficient emotional, psychological and spiritual support is lacking, individuals are not truly free to choose appropriate medical care or options and thu...s are led to having no other alternative than the tragic failure presented by euthanasia and assisted suicide, CCCB Bishops said. Medical Assistance in Dying will become Medically Administered Death, a reckless piece of legislation without adequate safeguards for the vulnerable, Physicians Together with Vulnerable Canadians said in a release. https://www.catholicregister.org//32386-bishops-deeply-tro Bishop McGrattan is asking you to voice your concern regarding Bill C-7 - contact your MP now. https://www.catholicyyc.ca/euthanasia.html #CatholicYYC #iamblessed2020 #ActNow #euthanasia #everylifematters

>>FROM THE BISHOP<< Now more than ever we need to relate to one another as sisters and brothers in one global human family. During this Season of Creation, Bishop McGrattan asks us to recognize the responsibilities we have to each other as stewards of creation. Read the Bishops message here: https://pos.li/2gsb43 #CatholicYYC #Faithfully

To celebrate and to help support Mission Mexico, an outreach program of the Diocese of Calgary, from Sep. 14 through to Sep. 20, participating Mexican Restauran...ts are collecting donations! We encourage everyone to support these great restaurants (even if its just through take out or delivery) and also support Mission Mexico. Through this initiative, you are helping support not only our these local restaurants by eating their fantastic food, but you are also able to support the dignity-affirming projects that Mission Mexico carries out in one of the poorest regions of the world, helping improve the education, health care, human rights, womens rights, and the youth in building a better future in Southern Mexico. Participating restaurants: Fiesta Market and Restaurant | Mestizo Mexican st Food | YYC Molcajete | Chilitos Taberna | Golden Cactus Mexican Grill | Tres Marias Mexican Market | Streats Calgary Braeside Kitchen | Tacos Mexico Macleod | Latin American Empanadas Ltd. https://www.catholicyyc.ca/blog/celebrate-mission-mexico

Please read the attached Pastoral Statement from the bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories, called On the Impact of COVID-19 & the Call to Christian ...Renewal. In particular, the bishops are inviting Catholics to review the impact of COVID-19 within their homes, schools, workplaces, and society in general, in light of the gospel and the social teaching of the Church. Which values, attitudes and behaviours will we want to hold on to going forward? Which may be in need of remedy or renewal? Through a process of reflection and discernment, the bishops are using this time as an opportunity to inspire and lead a renewal of Christian life in the Church that will impact society in positive ways. https://www.catholicyyc.ca/blog/covid19_thecalltofaith

Today is the Feast of Exaltation of the Holy Cross! Let us pray: O God, who willed that your Only Begotten Son should undergo the Cross to save the human race,... grant, we pray, that we, who have known his mystery on earth, may merit the grace of his redemption in heaven. #CatholicYYC Image: Les Trs Riches Heures du duc de Berry, Folio 153r - The Death of Christ

Love More 3.0 A Virtual concert for the benefit of the retired Priests in the Diocese of Calgary. Priests have dedicated their lives to serve the children of Go...d. Devoted so much of their younger onto the mid-age times of their lives keeping our faith alive and growing. The proceeds of this concert will help support the retired priests in the diocese. Also, this concert will feature the original compositions of Caloy Perez, which will be rendered by young talents in Calgary. Please watch and support Love More 3.0. To donate and support go to www.catholicyyc.ca/give (You can donate until September 30, 2020) #LoveMore3

To send or not to send? That is the question many families have been faced with during this back-to-school season. Covid-19 has prompted parents to either stay ...the course with adjustments or try something new. Read what families in the Diocese of Calgary, and an administrator from Christ the Redeemer Catholic School Division had to say about the new school year. #CatholicYYC #IBelieveinCatholicEd https://pos.li/2gr5p3

Today (September 10) is the World Suicide Prevention Day, and psychologist Eunice Peterson cant stress enough the importance of taking care of our mental welln...ess. She shares five resiliency based practices to help us care for one another, and spells out what loving our neighbour would involve at this time of pandemic. https://www.catholicyyc.ca/blog/loving-our-neighbour #CatholicYYC #Faithfully

Bulletin - September 13, 2020 https://www.stmaryscalgary.ca/sites/default/files/sep13.pdf

Impart to your servants, O Lord, the gift of heavenly grace, that the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin may bring deeper peace to those for whom the birth of her Son was the dawning of salvation. Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us. #CatholicYYC

The readings today lay out our duty to dissuade the wicked from their ways (Ezekiel); to not harden our hearts (Psalm); to love, love, love (Romans); and to lea...d sisters and brothers out of sin (Matthew). Important. Necessary. Baptismal duty. But let the last gospel sentence become our guide this week: For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Christ is always present. Christ is surely with us now in the liturgy, in Communion, in all the sacraments, in his word proclaimed, in the praying and singing Church and in this pandemic. As few as two or three of us assures his presence. => What is God saying to me about un-hardening my heart? => Let me read a Bible passage each day this week, either reprising the Sunday readings or using this weeks gospels of Luke 7 and 8. What is Christ saying to me each day? => With whom can I gather, even if kept from the church building, to sing Gods praise? #CatholicYYC #SundayMas Reflection: Diocese of Springfield Photo: Peter Baltutis

The Catholic Bishops of Alberta and the Northwest Territories have written new pastoral letter entitled Uniting Ourselves in Prayer as Schools Reopen. We ask th...e Lord to provide us all with His grace, comfort, and protection. Link to pdf: https://caedm.ca//uniting-ourselves-in-prayer-as-schools-r

Bulletin - September 6, 2020 https://www.stmaryscalgary.ca/sites/default/files/sep6_1.pdf

O God, who care for your people with gentleness and rule them in love, through the intercession of Pope Saint Gregory, endow with a spirit of wisdom those to wh...om you have given authority to govern, that the flourishing of a holy flock may become the eternal joy of the shepherd. St. Gregory the Great, pray for us. #CatholicYYC See more

With Covid-19 quarantine hitting hard and fast, Kathryn Nguyen (members of St. Francis Xavier Chaplaincy) found herself blessed with too much time and energy. D...etermined to use this time to work and release her artwork, she learned a very important lesson on imperfection, and how crucial it is in revealing Gods mercy and love in her life. Read her story: https://www.catholicyyc.ca/blog/overcoming-perfectionism See more

Bulletin: August 30, 2020 http://www.stmaryscalgary.ca/sites/default/files/aug30.pdf

Pray for Catholic Education and a safe return to school. #Day3 #CatholicYYC #IBelieveinCatholicEd

O God, who console the sorrowful and who mercifully accepted the motherly tears of Saint Monica for the conversion of her son Augustine, grant us that we may bitterly regret our sins and find the grace of your pardon. St. Monica, pray for us. #CatholicYYC

September 2020 Masses are now opened for registration. Please note there is a special 7:00 PM Mass on Friday, Sep 25, 2020 for Sacrament of Confirmation.

St. Bartholomew, pray for us.

Have you ever experienced a loss within yourself of a job or status, of reputation or role and felt your faith entitled you to have kept your position? Or h...ave you watched as someone with a less than perfect past was elevated to leadership and felt superiority? Todays readings remind us we are all sinners, and that God uses our failures just as surely as He uses our gifts. In the midst of the abuse crisis, we cannot use this truth to gloss over the sins of our leaders at the expense of the pain or lack of protection of victims or potential victims. The readings are intended to remind us that our losses can be Gods gains, and that our own recognition of and repentance for our sin makes us more pliable to God, rather than less. We must sink deep into Gods mercy, allow our self and others room to make mistakes, and be available for God to work in and through us, even while we make every effort to protect ourselves and each other from harm. For trust in Gods work through lowly and imperfect people, we pray to the Lord. God of imperfection, you allow us to fall and others to rise. You work through our weakness as well as our strength. Give us humility to believe you can make life rise from our ashes, and give us the strength to name our own sin and that of others in order to protect those victimized by sin. May your will be done in our rising and our falling, without exception. Amen. Reflection: CCCB #CatholicYYC #SundayMass

At this special feast day, please pray especially for the Our Lady of the Rockies Parish, celebrating their first patronal feast of the shrine, The Queenship of... the Blessed Virgin Mary! Lets pray: O God, who made the Mother of your Son to be our Mother and our Queen, graciously grant that, sustained by her intercession, we may attain in the heavenly Kingdom the glory promised to your children. #CatholicYYC

Today is the feast day for St. Pius X - and let us remember in our prayer St. Pius X community in Calgary, called to put Gods words of love into action every d...ay. O God, who to safeguard the Catholic faith and to restore all things in Christ, filled Pope Saint Pius the Tenth with heavenly wisdom and apostolic fortitude, graciously grant that following his teaching and example, we may gain an eternal prize. #CatholicYYC

This Weeks Bulletin: http://www.stmaryscalgary.ca/sites/default/files/aug23_0.pdf

There is profound challenging happening in this difficult Gospel reading. The interplay between Canaanite and Israelite cultures and notions about animals plac...e in the household, belonging in the Kingdom of God, and the primary place of those on the margins these are all at work. Jesus comment about the dogs is not a divine affirmation of hierarchies of grace, but rather a divine challenge to the systems that keep people down. The Canaanite woman rises to the challenge and claims her place among the saints, and Jesus proclaims the truth of her knowledge that salvation is not for a select few. In the midst of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, water crises on reservations, human trafficking, lack of housing, addictions, and poverty, it is profoundly clear God is not okay with the systems that keep some people begging while others live comfortably or lavishly. God is at the margins, asking all of us to be agents of healing, health and love for those most frequently ignored and excluded. Prayer: For outrage at injustice, and action that heals and liberates those who suffer, we pray to the Lord. God of the last and the least, pull us to the margins where we will see and be outraged by the suffering of your people. Transform our outrage into action that walks alongside the suffering to support their healing and freedom, as well as our own. Amen.

Have a blessed Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary! Let us pray: O God, who, looking on the lowliness of the Blessed Virgin Mary, raised her to ...this grace, that your Only Begotten Son was born of her according to the flesh and that she was crowned this day with surpassing glory, grant through her prayers, that, saved by the mystery of your redemption, we may merit to be exalted by you on high. Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us. See more

O God, who filled the Priest and Martyr Saint Maximilian Kolbe with a burning love for the Immaculate Virgin Mary and with zeal for souls and love of neighbour,... graciously grant, through his intercession, that, striving for our glory by eagerly serving others, we may be conformed, even until death, to your son. St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us. #CatholicYYC See more

Following the deadly explosions that devastated Beirut, the people of Lebanon need our solidarity. Development and Peace and CNEWA are responding to help those ...affected by this crisis. Please help us make a difference by donating to any of these funds: 1. Development & Peace Emergency Fund for Lebanon. All donations received for this emergency will be used to support those affected by the explosions and those most vulnerable to the impacts of the social and economic crisis in Lebanon.Donations received before August 24 will be matched by the Canadian government.To donate online, visit https://pos.li/2gilai or by phone at 1-888-664-3387 2. Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) Emergency Campaign for Lebanon. Funds raised will be directed to the CNEWA office in Beirut which, in turn, will share with local churches that offer essential health and emergency services and pastoral outreach. Read more about this Emergency Campaign. To donate online visit: https://cnewa.org/ca/campaigns/lebanoncrisis/ or by phone at 1-866-322-4441. Cheques can be made to "CNEWA Canada" and mailed to CNEWA Canada at 1247 Kilborn Place, Ottawa, ON K1H 6K9. For moreinformation visit https://www.catholicyyc.ca/blog/emergency-fund-for-lebanon #CatholicYYC

Bulletin - August 16: http://www.stmaryscalgary.ca/sites/default/files/aug16.pdf

Bulletin for August 16: http://www.stmaryscalgary.ca/sites/default/files/aug16.pdf