THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
What is love? Each of us probably has our own understanding of love, as well as varying experiences of loving or being loved. We need love as much as we need the air we breathe. So, it’s important to ask ourselves: what is love? Is it just an emotion, or a virtue? Is it chemistry or a psychological commitment, or is it a rational decision? As Catholics we will find the answer by looking to Jesus and his teachings. And, as you know, Jesus came to fulfill the law and […]
Solemnity of All Saints and Feast of All Souls
This Wednesday, 1 November, we will join with the universal Church in celebrating the Solemnity of All Saints. We will celebrate a Vigil Mass on Tuesday at 6:00pm and will celebrate Mass at 6:30 and 8:00am and at 12:10 and 7:00pm on Wednesday. I encourage you to join in celebrating with all the saints who intercede for us in heaven. As we read so simply but powerfully written in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ document prepared for our reflection during this three-year Eucharistic Revival entitled The Mystery of […]
TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Wow – those scribes and Pharisees were slow to learn, weren’t they!?! Over the past three weeks, we’ve heard Jesus try to open their eyes to their disobedience, avarice and indifference toward God and today, instead of repenting and turning back to God, we hear them double down and plot against him. Let’s quickly review. Three weeks ago, we heard Jesus speak to them through the parable of the man who asked his two sons to go work in his vineyard. You’ll recall that the first son said “yes” but […]
STEWARDSHIP WEEKEND
“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” (Mt. 22: 21). As we hear in today’s reading from St. Matthew’s Gospel, when some of the religious leaders try to trap Jesus with a question about whether or not to pay the Roman taxes, Jesus reminds his listeners that everything belongs to God. After all, he is the creator of the universe and gives us all that we have. And so, on this Stewardship Weekend, I invite you to reflect on how we can all […]
TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Everyone loves a feast, and that was as true in ancient times as it is now. It is not surprising, then, to hear imagery about feasting to give us a sense of God’s overabundant generosity. “A feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines,” we hear in today’s first reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. Just listening to these readings makes my mouth water. And, you’ll notice that the prophet Isaiah sets God’s feast of rich food and pure, choice wines on […]
TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
When I think of a vineyard, I think of visiting a winery and tasting their selections or of enjoying a nice glass of wine with friends over a leisurely dinner. It’s a luxury that many of us enjoy. For the people in ancient Israel, however, wine was not a luxury but a necessity and vineyards were as important as wheat fields or sheep folds. Since their water was often impure, they had learned that adding a little wine to the drinking water made it safer to drink. They didn’t know […]