Adopt-a-Family. Christmas Food Baskets, Mercy Hospice Giving Tree
After an extended time with summer-like weather, I hope you are enjoying the cooler days of fall. As you have surely already noticed in the stores, Christmas preparation has begun. We have several parish initiatives that will allow you to give to those in need as you celebrate God’s great gift of his son, Jesus. For those of you not familiar with them or who would benefit from a little refresher, allow me to explain each of these excellent programs: Adopt-a-Family, Christmas Food Basket and the Mercy Hospice Giving Tree.
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Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
“I did not come to be served but to serve,” we hear Jesus declare after two of his disciples, James and John, asked to be seated at his right and his left when he established his kingdom. It sounds as if even his closest followers did not understand the Gospel that Jesus had come to proclaim – or, at least, they were unwilling to accept it. Like the Jewish leaders whom we hear Malachi condemn in today’s first reading and Jesus condemn in our Gospel, they were more interested in […]
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 […]