In today’s first reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, Paul describes God as a loving Father. He notes that THE Father, like any human father, chastises his children when they are in error so that it would bring the children the “peaceful fruit of righteousness.” In the Gospels, Jesus often reveals the Father’s love […]

Today’s Gospel presents us with another of many passages in which the Pharisees come into conflict with Jesus because of what they saw as his disregard for the full observance of the Sabbath law. In this case, Jesus is in the synagogue, along with some Pharisees, when he sees a man with a withered hand. […]

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Religious, Memorial In today’s Gospel, we hear the story of Jesus calling his first disciples again. The disciples’ readiness to leave everything and follow Jesus is striking. Jesus must have had a very attractive personality. Of course, they were “newbies” who had no idea what path they were beginning to follow. […]

The readings of the fourth week of Advent remind us of women’s important role in salvation history – two women were beyond child-bearing years, and one was a virgin. Each responded positively to an angel’s request that they give birth to a son. Their commonality was their obedience and trust in God, who told each […]

The season of Advent is upon us – a time of waiting, a time of anticipation. We look forward to celebrating one of the central mysteries of our faith, the Incarnation, again. We seek to appreciate anew the fact that God so loved the world that God sent the Eternal Word, his own Son, into […]

A theme that runs through today’s readings is what we do with the talents and gifts that we have been given. I have been deeply involved in the life of my parish for quite some time, and I continue to find it a community that gives life to its members. Today’s readings offered me food […]

The Feast of All Souls Today is a feast of remembering – remembering all those men and women who somehow touched our lives, were a blessing and helped us grow. They were and are the saints in our lives. Today, we as a Church are called to remember them publicly and thank God for bringing […]

Our Gospel today tells us that Matthew was a tax collector, which would have made him an agent of the Roman occupiers, and a despised collaborator of the enemies of his own people. But a simple invitation from Jesus to come and follow him inspired Matthew to leave everything behind to follow the Lord. There […]

Recently I accompanied our pastor to provide a picnic lunch for the residents of our county juvenile justice center. Our pastor is the chaplain of this institution which houses about 95 young men and women between the ages of 13 and 17. All of them are serving time for having committed rather serious crimes. We […]

The Gospel reading today is tough. Our American sense of justice and fair play would have the full-time workers filing a grievance with their local union. How is it possible that the people who worked for one hour received the same pay as those who worked all day? It was unfair, and the workers let […]