Mailing Address: 1320 Johnson Street, Coquitlam, BC V3B 4T5

Street Address: 2888 Delahaye Drive, Coquitlam, BC

Phone: (604)941-4800

Greetings!

Happy Easter!

We continue to rejoice in this beautiful Easter season. Thank you for your heartfelt participation throughout Holy Week. It was truly uplifting to see our church filled with so many worshippers—families, friends, and visitors—gathered in prayer. I am also deeply grateful to all who helped prepare the church and supported the liturgies behind the scenes: our ministries, parish groups, and dedicated volunteers. Your service made these celebrations possible.

This year, our parish has been especially blessed as we welcomed eight newly baptized RCIA candidates into our community. Their presence is a joyful sign of the growth of the Church—both universally and here in our parish family.

In the weeks ahead, we look forward to many important celebrations and events: First Communions, Confirmations, and several parish gatherings, including our Ministry Fair on April 19th. Please stay attentive to the announcements before Mass. We warmly encourage your participation in these religious and social events, which help us grow together as a community of faith.

Speaking of celebrations. This week Sunday, April 12^th Fr. Roman celebrates his birthday. Happy Birthday Fr. Roman!

We also continue to accept donations for Noah, one of the little triplets from our parish who is undergoing another round of specialized treatment in the United States. If you wish to support Noah and his family, please place your donation in a clearly marked envelope labelled “Noah” and drop it into the collection basket or box. We will ensure it reaches the family.

If you are not familiar with Noah’s story, here is a link to a previous CTV News report about his journey:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/bc-parents-heading-to-duke-university-for-stem-cell-treatment-for-their-triplet-son/

Fr. Maciej

UPCOMING COLLECTION

Work of Vocations - April 26

Please drop your donation in the designated drop box located at the back of the church.

TICKETS FOR THE BANQUET FOR SALE

AFTER ALL WEEKEND MASSES ON APRIL 11/12!

EASTER BLOOMS INTO ROOMS

I wish to thank all the wonderful volunteers who attended Dufferin Care Centre with me on Holy Saturday, April 4th to distribute flowering plants and cards to the residents. I know the visit brought some Easter joy to them by brightening up their rooms and the interaction between the volunteers and residents was heartwarming. I also attended Crossroad Hospice and the residents there were so very grateful for the gift. Our message this year was "Your Life Matters".

God Bless, Sandra Dulong

Food for Thought . . . and for the Soul

Easter: God, and Love, and Life

During the first half of the 20th century, there emerged an extraordinary constellation of English Catholic writers, many of them converts, who had the great gift of being able to explicate the Catholic faith on a popular level without watering it down. Names like Chesterton, Knox, Sheed (originally from Australia), and Houselander come to mind.

Not surprisingly, as an expatriate Englishman, this arrticle fascinates me. So I have chosen to share it with you readers. Whatever your opinion, please do not hesitate to share your thoughts with me. The article focuses on a Jesuit priest named C.C. Martindale, who, after having spent five years of internment under the Nazis, was asked by the BBC to deliver six talks on radio during Holy Week of 1946.

Father Martindale ended his first talk with these words:

"Whether it be the problems set by long history or by the present hour, whether it be the problems set by our own soul and our inner experience, whether it be the Sufferings and Death of Christ – the Christian has but one starting point, that is to say God, His Love, and His will that we should live. This truth never changes, however much we may change. God wishes not the death even of the sinner, but that he should live. I cannot say it too often, nor too emphatically. . .that at the origin of all things, during all things, and at the end of all things are God, and Love, and Life."

Fr. Martindale was able to say those words, even after having endured the horrors of war and prison, because he had assimilated and made his own the bright, shining message of Easter. It was this message that helped transform the cringing apostle Peter into the courageous and forceful preacher we meet in the Acts of the Apostles. It was this message that prompted Paul to write to the Colossians, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,” and “you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

Paul understood that Christ hadn’t risen from the dead just for Himself but for us, that united to Him, we might already begin to rise with Him. Our feet might be mired in the grime of earth, but our heads and hearts are with Christ in Heaven. What had Peter, what had Paul to fear on earth when already they shared in the risen life of Christ?

When Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John found the tomb empty on Easter morning, Christ’s burial clothes still lying there, the Gospel tells us that John believed, but also that “they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”

John believed that Jesus was risen but did not yet fully comprehend all that was implied in the monumental fact of the resurrection. Understanding would come, however, and the only apostle to escape violent martyrdom would spend sixty more years on earth preaching the God who is love and who wants us to have life to the full, not only now, but forever.

The message of Easter is not that there will be no more crosses but that all our crosses, even death, can lead to new and eternal life, an eternal life begun here and now by our union with the risen Lord. We are like divers in those old movies, who are lowered into the sea from a ship, “strangers in a strange land,” surrounded by darkness, but all the while receiving life from above, our share in the risen life of Christ.

Easter must be for us what it was for Peter, Paul, Mary Magdalene, and all the saints, not just something we believe once happened and will someday benefit us. It is that but so much more. It is a present reality, something we share in here and now. Let the world do its worst. It can never do worse than to kill the Son of God, and we know what came of that. And we share in His life.

We are all familiar with the expression “Rise and shine.” It can, of course, be just an annoying cliché or the interruption of a good night’s sleep. But for Christians, it can be a reminder that, sharing in Christ’s life, we have already begun to rise and must manifest that by radiating Christ’s light and life and love in all we do.

Remember the words of Fr. Martindale: “at the origin of all things, during all things, at the end of all things, are God, and Love, and Life.” Easter calls us, by the way we live, to make it easier for others to believe and experience that. In a world so full of darkness and despair, conflict and confusion, with so many, especially young people, hungering and thirsting for meaning and hope, it is our moral imperative to be Easter people in season and out. We simply cannot afford to hide our light, the light of Christ, under a bushel basket.

Announcement re the Parish Fair: the Senior Walkers will have representatives at all the Masses on April 19 to answer any questions you might have about its functtion, membership, etc. Don't be shy; it's a vibrant group, always looking for new members (currently 30-ish on the books).

You may even meet the writer of this column!

Parish Ministries

If you are asking these questions, or questions like them, the Catholic way of life awaits you. Click here for more information.

Everyone is invited to join us online daily at 7:30pm

Contact

maria.magnusson-cwl@shaw.ca

Please contact the parish office to make arrangements for

baptisms, weddings, funerals and other Sacraments.

If you wish to book a Mass Intention, please send your request via email at stclareofassisi@shaw.ca giving the name of the person, whether it is for a living or deceased person, who it is from and if you have any preferences for the day of the week, a weekend mass or specific date. We will try to book your mass intention as close to the request as possible.  Please note that there may be unforeseen situations when your scheduled date may be changed without notice.

The suggested offering for a mass intention is $10 and can be brought to the office, mailed to 1320 Johnson Street, Coquitlam, V3B 4T5 or dropped in the collection box in the church. Enclose your offering in an envelope clearly marked with the name and date of your Mass intention. Your offering will go to the priest who says the mass, not to the church.

If you are unable to use email, mass intentions may be phoned in at 604-941-4800.

We are able to accept multiple Mass intentions on Fridays. For all other days, the priest can accept one intention only per day.

Please pray for the sick of our Parish

Crystal Phung, Allan Thiele, John Seifert, George Allen, Michael and Carol Berry, Claudia Eberle, Suzanne Davies, Connie Tarling, Matthew Tarling, Valerie Ng, Melvin Anthony, Peter Adamkovics, Aldo de Loza, Mike Van Duynhoven, Bernie & Zeny Perez, Marge Hogan, Jamie Willis, Helen Dougan, Noah Zanatta, Loni Cain, Brendan Pace, Gracienda Ramos, Brian Stewart, Catherine Dunne, Lucy Chase, Doreen Allyen, Tyson Ward, Nora Arroyal, Christopher Brown, Joan McDonald, Annabella Cirko, Frank Matchett, Kelly Durkin, Jason Kendall, Bill Clendinning, Chris Mah, Lydia Guzman, Angelo Visentin, June Cross, Katelyn Boudewyn, Ramon Montecillo, Janice Caine, Nadine Classen, Leanne Theiss, Sierra Osborne, Sebastien Robillard, Sandra Diersch, Lori Dennis, Mazoe Kaufman, Cindy Mazerolle-Kass, Anna Figura, Ed Garcia, Viray Family, Walter Banke, Elizabeth Teixeira, Reema Ferreira, Terry McDonald, Andrew De Boda, Hari Vijay, Peggy Maas, Chad Galitzky, Al Trotter, Pat Dizy, Brett Lawrence, Norman Schuster, Brenda Haines, John Bergen, Laud Vidal, Rick Empey, Dan Arseneault, Addie Jamieson, Jean-Yves Duret, and all recipients of St. Clare’s Prayer Shawls.

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