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Pentecost 2003 300th anniversary of the Spiritans

300th Anniversary of the Spiritans CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY CELEBRATES PENTECOST   Our Lady of Good Counsel Caribbean Catholic Church & Centre in Toronto will be hosting a special Pentecost Mass at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 8, 2003. Music during the Mass will be in the traditional Caribbean style. Pentecost Sunday, celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, is a particular time of rejoicing in the Roman Catholic community, especially within the Spiritans, a Roman Catholic religious order dedicated to the Holy Spirit. Our Lady of Good Counsel Caribbean Catholic Church & Centre was established under the auspices of the Spiritans, who have had close ties to the Caribbean for nearly 300 years. Our Lady of Good Counsel Caribbean Catholic Church & Centre is located at 867 College Street in the west end of Toronto in the ethnically diverse area around Dufferin St. and College St. The Centre caters not only to the Catholic families which are registered in the church there, but to all who share in common the rich cultural heritage of the Caribbean. The Spiritans first became involved with the people of the Caribbean in 1715, and within a few decades were working in considerable numbers in Guadaloupe, Martinique, San Domingo (Haiti) and Guyana, and subsequently in Trinidad, Puerto Rico and Barbados. As West Indian immigration to Canada increased in the 1970s, the Canadian Spiritans asked their colleagues in Trinidad to send someone to work in Toronto with the new arrivals, which resulted in the establishment of the Caribbean Catholic Centre in January 1978. At the Centre, the Caribbean community comes to sing, to dance, to celebrate. They come together in groups to discuss problems and issues such as immigration and race relations. Families and individuals come for counseling and help. For those who suffer from unemployment and economic hardship, a food bank is provided.

The Spiritans of TransCanada cordially invite you to join them for their 300th Anniversary Pentecost Mass Sunday June 8th, 2003 Location: Our Lady of Good Counsel Caribbean Catholic Church & Centre 867 College Street, Toronto   Mass time: 3:00pm Refreshments to follow

As Spiritans around the world prepare for Pentecost 2003, our 300th anniversary, it may be helpful for us to reflect upon the workings of the Holy Spirit in helping us to discern the direction of our Congregation. To this end we turn to the writings of our founders: Claude Poullart des Places on Discernment O my God, guide to the heavenly Jerusalem for those who really trust in you, I have recourse to your divine providence. I abandon myself entirely to you. I give up my own inclinations, appetites and will in order blindly to follow yours. Be good enough to show me what you want me to do so that I may follow here below the way of life you have traced out for me. May I serve you during my pilgrimage in a way which is agreeable to you and may you shower on me all the graces I always need to offer the glory due to your divine majesty! Claude Poullart des Places while on retreat in 1701 trying to discern his calling in life. From Led by the Spirit by Sean Farragher, p. 71. Francis Libermann on Direction The following may help you for your manner of acting in general. A ship has its sails and its rudder. The wind blows into the sail and makes the ship move in the desired direction. It advances by means of the sails and takes a general direction. Nevertheless, this direction would be too vague and could even put the ship astray. That is what the rudder is for; it steers the ship exactly in the direction it should take without going astray at all. "Your soul is the ship, your heart represents the sail, the Holy Spirit is the wind; he breathes into your will and the soul goes forward, forward to the end God destined for it. Your mind is the rudder that must prevent you from straying outside the straight line determined by the divine goodness, as could happen from the strength and liveliness given to your heart." (ND VII 148) From A Gentle Way to God by Alphonse Gilbert, p. 76

Acts of the Apostles Chapter 2:1-11 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. And they were amazed and wondered, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God."

Spiritans, The Congregation of the Holy Ghost Laval House 121 Victoria Park Ave. Toronto, Ontario CANADA M4E 3S2 www.spiritans.com