My Dear Friends, “…the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5) A few weeks ago, I received a Christmas card from a brother priest in a neighboring parish that had a beautiful silhouette of the newborn Jesus along with Mary and Joseph in the manger and the bible verse …
Continue reading “December 20th – Pastor’s Christmas Message”
My Dear Friends, As we rapidly approach Christmas, which is less than two weeks away, today we are called to reflect on the virtue of joy on this Gaudete Sunday. The joy that the Lord is near. The joy that Christmas always brings. The joy of our God definitively intervening in our lives to cast …
My Dear Friends, Stillness. Advent should be a season marked with stillness and silence. We are waiting, and yet our hearts are full of clutter and confusion. During this time of year, we are called to be at so many parties and events, to buy presents for a certain number of people, and we never …
This Sunday we begin the beautiful season of Advent. It is a time of waiting and hope. And boy do we need hope this year. I am so looking forward to Christmas this year, but first we have Advent where we wait and hope! Waiting: because we wait for the newborn Christ who will bring light to the darkness …
My dear friends, “What could we possibly be thankful for during this challenging year?” I’m sure many of you have been asking yourself that question as we approach Thanksgiving Day. Yet we are reminded by St. Paul in his First Letter to the Thessalonians: “In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ …
My dear friends, Today in the gospel we hear the parable of the talents, and I want to focus specifically on the third servant who buried the one talent his master gave him in the ground. The third servant had been blessed. Sure he hadn’t been blessed with as many talents as the other two …
Continue reading “November 15th – XXXIII Sunday in Ordinary Time”
My Dear Friends, The Catholic tradition of offering Masses for our loved ones, especially those who have died, can be traced to the beginnings of the Catholic Church. In the Eucharist we are united in a unique way with the faithful departed and the Communion of Saint. Why do we offer Masses for our loved …
Continue reading “November 8th – XXXII Sunday in Ordinary Time”
My Dear Friends, Happy All Saints Day! On this solemnity, I invite you to open up the Catechism of the Catholic Church to explore a line that we say in the Creed every Sunday. Paragraph 946 says: After confessing “the holy catholic Church,” the Apostles’ Creed adds “the communion of saints.” In a certain sense this …
“Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” (Matthew 22:36) We hear this question in today’s gospel. This is more than just a trick question that the Pharisees offer up to Jesus. We hear this question and immediately think that Jesus has to choose from among the 10 commandments given to Moses. But the Pharisees …
Continue reading “October 25th – XXX Sunday in Ordinary Time”