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~ TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME ~

October 10 and 11, 2026

*** HAPPY THANKSGIVING ***

​Saturday          - Haliburton         4:30 pm           Jeanette Wagenaar - St. Anthony's Parish

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                          - Haliburton         8:00 am          Missa Pro Populo - Mass for the People

 

Sunday            - Bancroft            10:15 am          Leona and Shirley - Rita Irwin

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ROSARY WILL BE PRAYED BEFORE THE 9:00 AM MASS

 

ADORATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT @ OLM -  Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday

2:30 pm - 3:30pm

 

Monday           - Bancroft             9:00 am           Gary and Katherine Basset – Jack and Roseanne Wilson

 

Tuesday           - Bancroft             9:00 am           Wayne Merentette - Michael Marentette

 

Wednesday     - Haliburton         8:30 am            Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament

                                                        9:00 am            Rosary

                                                        9:30 am            For the Poor

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                       - Extendicare        11:00 am           Beno Luna - His Estate

 

Thursday         - Bancroft                                      Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus

                                                        8:30 am           Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament                                                                                                              9:00 am           Rosary

                                                        9:30 am           Special Intentions of Ewa Konopka - Richard and Ala Konopka

           

Friday              - Bancroft             9:00 am           Memorial of St. Marie-Marguerite D'Youville

                                                                                 Mieczyslaw and Maria Konopka - Richard Konopka 

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~ TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME ~

October 17 and 18, 2026

  

Saturday          - Haliburton        4:30 pm           Missa Pro Populo - Mass for the People

 

Sunday             - Bancroft          10:00 am          Doris Manteuffel - John and Kathy Pires

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TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

 

Once again we have to speak of the Kingdom of God as a banquet, as a feast, as an invitation of God Himself to each one of us to come and share His divine life. Just as we can be seen as people invited to care for the vineyard of the Lord, so also we can be seen as those invited to this great feast.

The message is again clear that there is no cost involved in this feast, other than accepting the invitation of God Himself. And so often we can’t believe that there could be any value at all in something that costs nothing. Is God fooling us? Doesn’t God really demand every aspect of our lives in return for this gift of eternal life?

Sometimes we don’t want to become part of the Kingdom because it would demand that we change our lives. Somehow we have this irrational fear that changing our lives in the way that God asks of us will be a terrible experience. We have grown to believe somehow that conversion to God means giving up all the joys and gladness of this world and then somehow enduring with suffering in this life so that in the next we might have joy.

But this is surely not God’s message to us. Rather, God is always inviting us to live a life of wisdom, a life of joy and gladness because we are trying to live in Him. There is no sense that the realities of this world are evil or bad or dirty or somehow against God. But we ourselves sometimes use the goods and the values of this world in ways that damage ourselves and one another.

The wisdom teachings of the Scriptures are about how to use rightly the gifts of this world so that even now we begin to live in the Kingdom of God, preparing ourselves for the world to come.

The first step to the kingdom for those of us who choose to follow Christ is baptism. And the ending of today’s Gospel is probably a reference to baptism. We have to be careful to recognize that even in the early Church there was a recognition that there was the possibility of baptism by desire. Today our Catholic teachings that non-Christians can be saved seem to be an extension of this baptism by desire, recognizing that lots of people are really searching for and longing for an encounter with the living God, even though they may not be able to express this desire in any understandable way so far in their lives.

So the real condition is this longing for God, longing for divine love, longing for justice. All we have to do is think of the beatitudes.

Then we must start living. Living is about learning to live well. This is what wisdom is: living well the divine life that is given to us. We should enjoy completely the gifts of this world, always using them for God’s glory. Some of us are called to live as chaste celibates—and that should never be seen as a denial of the joy of marriage or of sexuality. It is simply another call given by God to which some of us must respond.

What really makes the difference is when we are so involved in the relationship with God that all we care about is doing what He wants. Life becomes so fully alive and so filled with joy that any thought that we must give up something is transformed into the thought of what more I can do to live for my God.

Let us come to the banquet of the Lord today and give thanks for His invitation to share His life. May each one of us rejoice in his or her personal call. May we all rejoice that we have been called to form this community of believers. And may we rejoice in the life given to us and use all our energies to respond to this God of love.

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OUR LADY OF MERCY CHURCH

JOHN PAUL MOREAU

“Please, God, What’s the answer?

 

John Paul and his wife, Anna, will be joining us on

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16TH

To talk about his new book recently published.

 

We will be having a Potluck dinner beginning at 5:00 pm for a time to meet John Paul and Anna

Talk will begin at 6:00 pm

EVERYONE IS WELCOME AND ENCOURAGED TO COME

 – COME AND BRING A FRIEND!!!

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