THE WINDOWS OF ST. KATHARINE OF SIENA CHURCH
Ever since the coronavirus pandemic forced private Masses throughout the archdiocese, many of you have joined in our Sunday Mass celebrations virtually as we live streamed our 9:30am Masses. In order to enhance our celebrations, we have taken the opportunity to highlight appropriate stained glass windows, leading to an increased interest in them. In fact, anyone who visits this church during the day is immediately impressed by its stained glass windows. The floor-to-ceiling windows allow the sun to light up the entire body of the church! But, they are also [...]
SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Year A)
Wisdom 12:13, 16 - 19 Welcome to my annotated commentary on Sunday’s readings. The purpose of my commentary is to give you the background for each reading, a little better understanding of its message and the message that all of the Sunday readings together provide us. As we celebrate the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we address an issue that is certainly on our minds today as we continue to struggle with the coronavirus pandemic: does evil exist? This virus certainly seems to be a force of evil. [...]
WELCOME NEW RCIA MEMBERS
Easter is the time in our liturgical year when we celebrate the new life that our Lord has offered us through his Resurrection. As a Church, we rejoice in this promise of new life and are eager to share this Good News with everyone. So, we ordinarily welcome into our Church those adults who have undergone the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) at our Easter Vigil. Unfortunately, like so many other important events in our personal and parish lives, this had to be postponed due to the coronavirus [...]
FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Year A)
Isaiah 55:10 - 11 Welcome to my annotated commentary on Sunday’s readings. The purpose of my commentary is to give you the background for each reading, a little better understanding of its message and the message that all of the Sunday readings together provide us. This Sunday, we will hear just two verses from Isaiah, chapter 55. Since it is from one of the chapters between 40 and 55, we know that it is deutero-Isaiah, a prophecy dating to the time of the Babylonian Exile (587 – 539BC). As [...]
UNDERSTANDING TRUE FREEDOM TODAY
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” (Mt. 5:43-45) As we celebrate Independence Day this weekend, we rejoice in the freedom God has provided us in this country as the result of a hard battle [...]
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)
Welcome to my annotated commentary on Sunday’s readings. The purpose of my commentary is to give you the background for each reading, a little better understanding of its message and the message that all of the Sunday readings together provide us. ZECHariah 9:9-10 We hear from the Book of the prophet Zechariah only twice in the entire three-year Sunday readings cycle: on the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time in year C and this Sunday, the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time in year A. So, let’s review who Zechariah is, [...]