This week and next, we will hear several parables in the Sunday gospels.  Jesus often spoke in parables to teach his followers.  In fact, there are over 100 parables in the Bible and Jesus uses at least 35 parables in his teachings.  About 20 of them are found in Matthew’s Gospel – the one that is featured this liturgical year – so it’s especially helpful this year to understand them.  But what exactly is a parable and why did Jesus choose to use them as a teaching tool?

The English word […]

 As we continue to celebrate our nation’s semiquincentennial, I would like to offer some more reflections on the tremendous freedom we enjoy in our country.  One of these freedoms is freedom to worship God according to our consciences.  Our nation’s Constitution declares in its very first amendment that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”  The Constitution regulates Congress which, according to its first amendment, should not make any laws that would prohibit the free exercise of our religion.

In 2012, the […]

Our Lord calls us to “do to others whatever you would have them do to you” (Mt. 7:12), and then teaches us to love our neighbor, using his parable of the Good Samaritan to demonstrate who is our neighbor (cf.  Lk 10:29ff).  It should be a matter of great concern for all of us that, in a country as prosperous as ours, so many of our fellow Americans (approximately 11% of the 340 million Americans) live in poverty.  For more than half a century, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development […]

Our nation’s semiquincentennial is well underway with a variety of special celebrations.  Since one of the important freedoms that make up the foundation of our country is religious freedom, the Catholic Church has gotten involved in a number of significant ways.  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops consecrated the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on 11 June, the eve of the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  This historic event was designed to recognize the Kingship of Christ and promote healing and peace in our nation.

Later […]

“Together, as one people, as brothers and sisters, let us walk towards God and love one another.” – Pope Leo XIV, Homily at Mass for the Beginning of his Pontificate, May 18, 2025

From his first appearance after his election in May 2025, Pope Leo XIV has called upon Catholics to live in peace and unity with one another within the Church and to share this invitation to peace and unity with the whole world. Throughout history, Catholics have shared the peace and unity of Christ with the world by proclaiming […]

You may recall that everyone throughout the archdiocese was recently invited to participate in a planning study survey.  This was the latest chapter in the ongoing initiative that Archbishop Nelson Peréz introduced in the spring of 2023 to plan for the future of our archdiocese.   At that time, Abp. 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 his vision for our archdiocese.  Since […]

“Jesus said to the crowds: ‘I am the living bread come down from heaven.  Whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.’” (Jn. 6:51).  Last week, we explored the central mystery of the Church as we celebrated the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.  Today, we celebrate another important mystery of our faith: the magnificent gift of the body and blood of Christ given to us to remind us of his continued presence in our […]

MAGNIFICA HUMANITAS

 Last Monday, Pope Leo XIV promulgated his first encyclical letter.  Entitled Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence, it acknowledges familiar concerns about AI, including job insecurity, manipulation of information, privacy violations, ideological bias, autonomous weapons, and a futuristic vision of an “enhanced human being.”  But Pope Leo identifies a deeper danger: that human beings may begin to see themselves and others as projects “to be optimized” (§112).  The title, Latin for “magnificent humanity,” points to the document’s teaching that no […]

PENTECOST SUNDAY

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together.  And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were.  Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.   (Acts 2:1-4)

With this dramatic description, we […]