OUR LADY OF THE ROCKIES PARISH

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  • Home
  • COVID-19 UPDATES
  • About Us
    • Dedication and Publications
    • Our History
    • Final Mass at Sacred Heart Church
  • DONATE
  • The Shrine
    • Drop In Times
    • Shrine Tours
    • OLR_Art >
      • OLR_Adoration
      • OLR_Annunciation
      • OLR_Shives
      • OLR_WhiteCrucifixion
      • OLR_NoManger
      • OLR_Autumn
      • OLR_StJosephDream
      • OLR_Coronation
      • OLR_Salvator
      • OLR_Flight
      • OLR_Virgin
      • OLR_KOROL
    • Self Guided Tours >
      • OLR Narthex
      • OLR Table of Recognition
      • OLR Hall
      • OLR Meeting Room 1
      • OLR Meeting Room 2
      • OLR Nave
      • OLR Baptismal Font
      • OLR Rosary Corner
      • OLR Ambry
      • OLR St Joseph Chapel
      • OLR Stations
      • OLR Gate
      • OLR Tabernacle
      • OLR Altar and Ambo
      • OLR Stained Glass Window
      • OLR Marian Chapel
      • OLR Marian Scenes
      • OLR Columbarium
      • OLR Exterior
      • OLR Bells
      • OLR Sacred Heart
    • Pilgrim's Page
    • Updates
  • Parish Life
    • Mass Attendance *
    • Bulletin
    • Calendar
    • Ministries
    • Parish Groups
    • Auspice Maria
    • Formed Media
  • Contact Us
  • Sacraments
    • Baptism
    • First Reconciliation & Eucharist
    • Confirmation
    • Marriage
    • Funeral & Columbarium
    • Annointing of the Sick
    • Holy Orders

Fourth Sunday in Advent



​The Witness of Mary and Joseph

 As we enter into the fourth week of Advent, we are given our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph to reflect upon.  Though our Blessed Mother was perfect, and St. Joseph was a deeply virtuous man, they were both still fully human and would have walked through Mary’s pregnancy and Jesus’ birth with every human emotion and experience.

St. Joseph was faced with an extraordinary mystery as he discovered his wife was pregnant.  He knew her to be a woman of exceptional virtue and holiness and had to reconcile that with her surprising pregnancy.  Even after the angel appeared to him in a dream he would have had questions arise in his mind as he faced this situation.

Our Blessed Mother was also invited by God to face her pregnancy in faith.  Her response was perfect, “Let it be done to me according to your word.”  She could not explain nor understand what was happening but, nonetheless, she knew deep in her soul that God was in charge leading all to His glory.

Both Mary and Joseph are wonderful models of faith and obedience.  They were obedient to the will of God despite the fact that the will of God drew them into an incredible and unfathomable mystery.  They were first-hand witnesses to the salvation of the world and to the greatest act ever known.  And they both embraced this mystery and accepted it in faith.

Reflect, today, upon your own invitations from God to embrace the mysteries of life.  God’s ways are often more than we can comprehend and figure out.  Mary and Joseph give us the witness of how we are to handle every mystery God invites us to participate in.  Say yes to the will of God just as this holy couple did. Dearest Mother Mary and Saint Joseph, pray for me that I may have the faith you both lived.  When questions arise in my heart, help me to respond generously to God as you did.  May I trust in all that God has spoken in imitation of each one of you.  Jesus, I trust in You.

​ “Joseph, Son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.  For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.”  Matthew 1:20 (Year A) 

“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Luke 1:38 (Year B) 

“Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”  Luke 1:45 (Year C)
​

​Phone 403-678-5022     Fax 403-678-1834     Email:  rockiesparish@shaw.ca 
Emergency No. ​403-675-5044 

 ​Welcome to your parish in Canmore!​
The Shrine Church of Our Lady of the Rockies is a Marian Shrine in the Diocese of Calgary

Our sister parish in the Bow Valley is The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Banff
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