Our Lady of the Annunciation Parish

Wonderful Happy Remembrance themed Display and web insert created by the CFE 2026-27 Program. Thank God for our faithful protectors who sacrificed their lives to protect us, following how Jesus sacrificed himself for us on the cross!

Some key points in Father Gerry’s sermon:

• Boy/Girl scouts‘ honor:
  • Honor and duty to God and country
  • Honor and duty to people around me
  • Honor and duty to myself
• Boy/Girl scout’s pledge: Be prepared
  • Father Gerry recommends to prepare yourselves to enter into heaven, like the prepared handmaids in Sunday’s Gospel (Matthew 25:1-13)
    • Not just at the end of your life, but every day
    • Actively improve your spiritual condition daily
• In honor of remembrance day:
  • We recognize that war should never happen, and is horrific, as depicted in the movie Saving Private Ryan (link not for the young or sensitive)
  • We remember and honor the young people who fought and gave the ultimate sacrifice (their youth and their lives) to protect us and their loved ones
  • Flander’s Field poem is a famous Canadian poem that honors our fallen heroes.

This week’s reflection: Are we prepared to receive Jesus, every day as we aim for our life in Heaven?

Happy All Souls Day! Loving Display and Website insert generated by the CFE 2026-27 program! When a Cardinal appears…

Summary of Father Gerry’s sermon:

• The Beatitudes are a map to become a saint, and suggests to keep a copy in your wallet.
• Find a goto Saint to pray for.
  • Ex: Daniel Thomas became a devotee to St. Jude, the patron Saint of lost causes, with a focus to help him find his vocation. Daniel became a well known actor through his devotion. As an appreciation to St Jude, Daniel founded the now famous Children’s hospital St Jude in Memphis Tennessee, which continues it’s good works today.
• Purgatory is a state of being. A process to prepare ourselves before going to heaven after death.
• Pray for the deceased in purgatory, who can’t pray for themselves.
• Prayer for lost loved ones.

Halloween Prayer:
Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
^{John 8:12}
Daylight ends tonight (Nov 1 @2am). Time moves back 1hr. Phones and computers should update automatically, but microwaves and stove time need to be manually adjusted!

Some reflections from this Sunday’s sermon by Father Gerry:

• God loves each and every one of us equally to the maximum, like a father looking at a sleeping child with absolute delight
• Are you able to love God with your whole heart? Your whole being? And share that same love with your neighbor?
• Some practical strategies to have a more loving mindset while driving:
  • Flash the peace sign when offended
  • Blow a kiss when betrayed
• 2 Mother Theresa quotes:
  • It is not enough for us to say I love God, but I also have to love my neighbor. Saint John says that you are a liar if you say you love God, and don’t love your neighbor. How can you love God who you don’t see, if you don’t love your neighbor whom you see,  whom you touch and with whom you live?
  • To show great love for God and our neighbor we need not do great things. It’s how much love we put into the doing that makes our offering something beautiful for God.

Challenge for this week: Do something beautiful for God.

Thanks Deacon Marco for the visit and sermon! May God Bless you and your family always, and for God to be an important part of the parish’s (and the faithful’s) every day lives even on the days we are not in church!