1)  Teresa Downey of Sheenboro turned 89 on April 28th. Many locals honoured her by gathering for a drive-by birthday. Teresa asked me to post a thank you from her to the fiddlers, the photographers and all those who celebrated her birthday from their cars She would also like to thank those who gave cards and brought gifts for the baskets. Their efforts were very appreciated. Thank you.

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2)  We are still struggling with our live streaming equipment this week. One essential component (video encoder) isn’t working because it’s not compatible with the rest of the equipment. Unfortunately, almost every online site from Amazon to Best Buy has sold out their entire stock of encoders at this time and they have no anticipated date for new ones to sell. The reason? Because churches, institutions, and families have bought them all up so that they can live stream and video conference during this time of being quarantined into our homes. But fear not! We will eventually get the item we need and then the quality of picture and sound from my live-streamed masses will be much better than it is now. Thankfully, at least we’ve been able to use my iPhone and will continue to use it for the time being. Just say a prayer that I can soon locate an Aja Video encoder that works with HDMI and USB ports because that’s the make and model of equipment that we’re searching for. Perhaps you can offer a prayer to St. Anthony or St. Jude to help us find this missing piece of our live streaming puzzle.

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3)  My sincere thanks to the folks who are using the ‘Donate’ widget on our parish blog (https://uppontiacparishes.wordpress.com/) to make their financial contributions to the parishes. Hopefully, others will soon discover this means to resume their support as well. You can use either a credit card, PayPal, or a gift card to pay for your donations. I personally use PayPal as I was able to link it to my personal bank account as a debit card so that I don’t have to put my credit card numbers out there online. If you go to PayPal.com you can discover how easy it is to set such a service up. Note as well please that our donation widget allows you to either make a ‘one-time donation’ or set up a monthly one. If you choose the latter, you can send us your total monthly support automatically and will receive at the same time the tax receipt issued in the parish’s name. I thank you again for your consideration of this option as it will ensure that we can depend on a set amount of money each month which makes budgeting a lot less difficult for us.

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4) Another Sheenboro native has died. Mary Grace Bryson (née Morris) passed away. Her obituary is posted on the parish blog, but I also include it below. May God grant comfort and consolation to those who grieve her death.

It is with deep sadness but also with much gratitude for her long fulfilling life, that we announce the gentle passing of Grace Bryson on Monday, April 27, 2020, in her 96th year. Beloved wife of the late Jim Bryson. Dear mother of Joyce and Brady. Loving grandmother of Jean Pierre (deceased), Denis Claude (Lizl), Marc, Grace and Georgia. Cherished great grandmother of Ciel. Lovingly remembered by her many nieces and nephews and friends. Grace spent all her years caring for others as a nurse in Pembroke. She was a wonderful hostess and welcomed all with warmth and hospitality and the teapot was always ready to greet visitors. Grace will be remembered for her strong faith, her deep love of family, her sense of fun and many humorous sayings and stories. Many thanks to Dr. G Clersaint and Dr. Andrew Douglas. Thank you to the caseworkers from LHIN, the personal support workers from Bayshore, especially “my Farida”, and the nurses from Carefor, especially Ruth. A celebration of mom’s life will be held at a later date when we can gather to remember her and share stories.

“Fear not nor grieve at my departure
You whom I have loved so much,
For my roots and yours
Are forever intertwined.”- “A Psalm for the Dying”, Edward Hayes

Condolences gratefully accepted at: 32 Inuvik Cres. Kanata, OnK2L1A2. Donations may be made in Grace’s name to the University of Ottawa Heart Unit, or St. Paul the Hermit Church, Sheenboro, PQ.

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5) The theme of this weekend’s readings all deal with Christ as the Good Shepherd. Here’s a short reflection on that subject.

Today’s readings revolve around the truth of faith that Christ is our Shepherd and we are his flock, called to participate in his admirable victory over sin and death (cf. Opening Prayer).

• Through baptism we enter into His sheepfold, we are integrated into His flock which is the Church He established with Peter as His vicar (1^streading: Acts 2: 14a, 36-41). After the Ascension of Our Lord, Peter and the apostles started proclaiming the necessity of repentance from our sins and of being baptized in order to receive the forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit and form part of Christ’s flock.
• Forming part of Christ’s flock, Christ’s Church entails following the footsteps of Our Lord, who suffered for us and “bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness” and made it possible for us to return to God, the “Shepherd and Guardian of our souls”(2^nd reading: 1Pt 2:20b-25).
• In addition to the title of Good Shepherd, Christ applies to himself the image of the dooror gate into the sheepfold of the Church. “I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. (Gospel, Jn 10:1-10).”
• Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd “calls his sheep by name and leads them out.” That is why we can always exclaim with joy and confidence in Christ: “The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want,” for He not only gives us his grace in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist, whose abundant table He prepares for us every Sunday (Resp. Psalm) but also promised that we “might have life and have it more abundantly.”

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6) PLEASE PRAY FOR THE SICK: Lisa Lariviere, Dan Kelly, Barbara Coventry, Leonard Duff, Fran Flavelle, Earl Lepine, Annie Gaudette, Sandra Fletcher- McGuire, Roseanne Gagnon, Viola Fleury, Joanne Souliere, Patsy Lariviere, Ida-Mae Turner, Kerry Kelly, Kim Warren, Paul Dennie, and Judy Sullivan. Don’t forget to add a prayer or two for those suffering in any way from the COVID-19 virus and for those people tasked with helping to make them well again.

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7) Don’t forget that our Sunday Masses are celebrated at 10 am on Sunday morning. You can always find it on my personal Facebook timeline and (hopefully) on the Catholic Parishes of the Upper Pontiac page as well. All you need to be able to participate fully is your Sunday Missal which includes all the appropriate responses and refrains. I will simply presume that you’re doing your part to make this as full an experience of the liturgy as possible. Hope to see you there!