SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
I don’t know about you, but I have come to rely very heavily on my GPS whenever I hit the road. Especially during those stormy days when roads were closed due to downed trees or wires, I even used GPS when I was going to Bryn Mawr or Paoli Hospital to anoint someone. And, I made sure to use a GPS with real time traffic alerts where up-to-the-minute details made my journey faster and easier.
Life is often described as a journey. For us Christians, it’s a journey through this life […]
CATHOLIC CHARITIES APPEAL
What does it take to make 7.5 million meals? That’s how many meals were served to hungry people in the Greater Philadelphia area by the various agencies funded through the Catholic Charities Appeal last year. You may not notice them, but these hungry people are in every county, town, parish and neighborhood. The Catholic Charities Appeal is the largest fundraising initiative in the archdiocese and, as you can well imagine, this assistance is particularly important at this time as we all face the effects of ongoing inflation. The needy are […]
SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – Wedding Anniversary
“Thus says the Lord: ‘Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh.” Woe to you who are rich, …woe to you who are filled now, …woe to you who laugh now, …woe to you when all speak well of you.’” As you listened to today’s first reading and gospel, you may have felt a little uncomfortable. Reviewing this weekend’s readings, I was reminded of an observation one of my scripture professors made: “Our Lord came to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” […]
A NEW WAY FORWARD TOGETHER
In March 2023, Archbishop Peréz sent to all the priests of the archdiocese a book entitled From Christendom to Apostolic Mission and asked us to read and reflect on it in preparation for a series of meetings to discuss the future of our archdiocese. Since then, the archbishop has met with us priests as well as the permanent deacons and the leadership of a variety of Catholic institutions in the archdiocese. On 5 January, he sent a letter to all of the faithful of the archdiocese. His letter begins very […]
FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
“Put out into the deep and lower your nets for a catch.” Think about it, that’s what the son of a carpenter said to a lifelong fisherman. Peter did it, perhaps just to humor Jesus, or because Jesus had just cured Peter’s mother-in-law. And what happened? They took in the biggest catch of their lives. A fluke? A trick? Or a sign of things to come? Whatever, it overwhelmed Peter. “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man,” we hear Peter exclaim as he falls on his knees […]
PRESENTATION OF THE LORD
In all of sacred scripture, there are only two accounts that tell us of the life of Jesus between his birth and the beginning of his public ministry: his presentation in the temple – as we celebrate today – and his finding in the temple when he was twelve years old. We hear the account of Jesus in the temple every three years on Sunday but the account we heard today about his presentation in the temple occurs only when the second of February is a Sunday; the last time […]
PRESENTATION OF THE LORD
In the Book of Exodus, we read about the Lord striking down “every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, as well as all the firstborn of the animals” (Ex. 12:29). Pharaoh then called Moses and told him to “leave my people at once, you and the Israelites! Go and serve the Lord as you said” (Ex. 12:31). As they left Egypt, God commanded Moses: “Consecrate to me every firstborn; whatever opens the […]