Gratitude - Marilyn Calderone

A reflection on this Feast of St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin, Feb. 27, 2022, with a Grateful and full heart: 

I have been involved with the Music Ministry at St. Gabriel’s since I was a teenager in the 1970’s. 

Those were formative years for me personally, for St. Gabriel’s Community, the Passionists and our Universal Catholic Church, post Vatican II. 

The 12:00 Sunday Mass, in the 1970’s and beyond, was a “Folk Mass” with guitars, harmonicas, percussion and young, talented, engaged and engaging youth. 

The Passionist priests, dynamic preachers and visionaries, were involved and encouraging in the community emerging as St. Gabriel’s Parish. 

I am so grateful the Passionists agreed to establish St. Gabriel’s, building the old church in a farmer’s field, along the then-dirt road of Sheppard Avenue, in 1953. 

The Archdiocese was listening and attending to the needs of the people as Toronto’s boundaries spread.  The Passionists answered the Call to establish a Missionary Ministry in Canada, their first! 

My family moved into the parish in 1970, leaving Montreal due to the FLQ crisis.  Shortly after, my observant, faith-filled mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.  St. Gabriel’s became a safe haven for us in my tumultuous teenage years. 

I met many lifelong friends, and my husband, through my active participation in Catholic schools and Church youth initiatives. 

Ultimately over the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s,  my mother was buried, Joe and I were married and our four sons were baptized and formed amidst our St. Gabriel’s Faith Family. 

There are no adequate words of gratitude for the constancy and security of Belonging, Believing and Becoming amidst this Faith Family.  As I matured, my role in the community also expanded in the Music Ministry and the Parish Team. 

I am forever grateful to Fr. Paul Cusack and the Passionists.  Mary Landry, an early mentor/guide to me, was among the first lay women theologians studying in Toronto, working for years in Ministry at St. Gabriel's.  Fatima Lee furthered Mary's inspiring role modelling, creating her own legacy within the Parish’s life. 

I was naively unaware of how extraordinary our parish’s girls' and women’s participation in ministries was.  Only in January of 2021 did Pope Francis formally endorse what St. Gabriel’s had been pioneering for decades.  https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-01/pope-francis-opens-ministries-lector-acolyte-women.html 

For the progressive vision and courage demonstrated then, and with the visionary preaching and teaching of Ecotheology, represented in the new St. Gabriel’s architecture and garden, I am also incredibly grateful! (Ecotheology embraced by Pope Francis in Laudato Si’ https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html ) 

I am grateful to have witnessed the normal, dynamic ‘Family’ joys and sorrows of St. Gabriel’s…….there have been many tumultuous times of weeding, pruning and new growth, all passed through with God’s Grace and Mercy!  Through it all, I have gratefully witnessed the faith of so many ‘good people’, too many to mention by name, through their joys and sorrows, along with my own. 

We have all had time and space to reflect through COVID-19.  For me it was a time to “Become”, away from St. Gabriel’s, to ‘leave home’ after  almost five decades of living and loving, groaning and growing, praying and playing, singing and seeking with my Faith Family. 

Our Parish’s St. Gabriel (Possenti) is the patron of youth and students.  Fresh, young people are now growing their faith at St. Gabriel’s.  I am grateful for the privilege of witnessing their Becoming as they explore their unique journeys. They have been among of the greatest joys of my life. 

Along the way, the Passionists continue to support lay men, women and youths to active participation, to contribute their talents and voices, engaging with the diversity and inclusion of all, always offering respect inside and outside Catholicism. 

The many Ministries nurtured were collectively commissioned to serve.  The presider at Sunday Mass led the congregation in extending their hands in blessing, support and united prayer over the Ministers of Hospitality, Music, Lectors, Altar Servers, the Candidates preparing for Confirmation and their sponsors, and so many others. There was always a humbling solemnity and reverence, standing before the community, to take on a role within the Parish’s mission to live and follow Jesus’ teachings. 

For the consequential, groundbreaking nurture of our Baptismal dignity and calls to serve and be served, I am profoundly grateful to our Passionists leadership.  Theirs has been a consistent invitation to ‘Become’ while Belonging and Believing. There have always been opportunities to ‘do’, to offer one’s time, talents and treasure. 

COVID-19’s unprecedented times facilitated 20/20 vision and 20/20 hindsight from 2020 to now, allowing me to see the courage and tenacity of our priests and community.  Fr. Brando has served as pastor in the most challenging of times. My heart, prayers, shared grief, respect and gratitude are with Fr. Brando, Fr. Steve, Fr. Bernard, the Passionists and all St. Gabriel’s community past and present on the death of Fr. Paul. 

After all these years, I am still Becoming and Believing.  As I discussed with Fr. Paul, my Belonging now mirrors the reality of an adult child leaving home - no matter what life brings or where you go, you never really leave where you came from.  You take it all with you in every God graced moment you’re given,  to gratefully share in new situations all the grace bestowed blessings, all the lessons learned. 

These have been times for prayer, listening, reflection, renewal and difficult choices.  I have been graced with a new ministry call  - to question and explore, away from ‘home’, but forever a child of St. Gabriel’s Faith Family. 

St. Gabriel’s community, the Passionists, Pope Francis and the Church are similarly in process of listening, reflection, renewal and evolving, perhaps with difficult choices ahead.  May all have the courage and fortitude to answer the call, inspired by the Holy Spirit, to full and active participation in this synodal undertaking. 

Thanks for listening.  It means a lot.

Marilyn Calderone