A message from Father Pete

For Sunday, October 5, 2025 Habakkuk 1:2-3, 2-2-4; 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14; Luke 17:5-10 What point-blank, straightforward complaints in the readings do we find ourselves at right now? Habakkuk says “I’m hurting.” What is that about? God's chosen people face injustices all around: The Babylonian invasion will be violent and devastating. Will I and my loved ones live or be put into concentration camps? It seems definite that Judah and Jerusalem will be destroyed. So the question is:  How long will God allow this violence and killing to go on before He intervenes? We ask: How long will it be before He answers us? Timothy is complaining. A disciple of Paul, he has been commissioned to preach the gospel and not to be afraid in the face of hardship. Jesus’ gospel of love should be easy to share; doesn’t everyone want and need real love in their lives? Why are they not listening and attaching themselves to belief in Jesus? In his own right, Timothy is struggling with a certain amount of...

For Sunday, September 28, 2025 Amos 6:1, 4-7; 1 Timothy 6:11-16; Luke 16:19-31 What has our culture taught us? Has it encouraged the possessing  of things, pleasures, money, living in comfortable settings — enjoying life as fully as we can? Is there anything wrong with this? Is it possible for me to live with gratitude in my heart for the abilities, circumstances and advantages that God has placed in my life along with the challenge to share the good things of my life with others — especially those in need? Does my response say this is a need I have — to help others? Is my need one to be lived or one that is merely suggested? The readings seem to be directing us to look at the chasms that exist in our surroundings — the ones that separate rich from poor, hungry from well-fed, children from adults, humans from the rest of the earth. Am I conscious of the rest of the world or do I even care to be? Do I distinguish people who know it all from other people who also know it all? Or peop...

For Sunday, September 21, 2025 Amos 8:4-7, 1 Timothy 2:1-8, Luke 16:1-13 Many years ago, a student of mine was killed by a drunk driver going back to college. He had met his bride-to-be for lunch and her assignment was to call me to see if I would officiate at their wedding. I saved the obituary for years. One day that obituary fell on the rug upside-down and I saw the saddest picture of a mother in an impoverished country feeding her newborn. The caption said she had twins but only enough milk for one. I called her the madonna of the poor . It brings us a fundamental, essential question: The right to life includes more than questions about reproduction or war or capital punishment . It means all have a right to eat, to be clothed, to be sheltered, to be nourished — because we live in a world of plenty. But is this available for all? How much and what quality of food do we have a right to claim when others who also have the right to eat don't have enough to live on? How many chang...

For Sunday, September 14, 2025 Numbers 21:4-9, Philippians 2:6-11, John 3:13-17 There is a commonality in all of us reading this blog. Each person who listened to and studied the readings at today’s liturgy knows about pain. We’ve experienced suffering; we are well aware of death. They surround us. They come when expected and unexpected. No matter how and when they come, we are not ready for them. It seems that for the most part they overwhelm us. Does God know how we feel? Yes — look at His cross. One spiritual writer states that the complete response of God to your suffering, my suffering, everyone’s suffering — from all time, down through the ages — the raison d'être of God’s actions and the most important reason for His existence — is that God completely changed the story’s end . Suffering, pain and death are the instruments Jesus lived through to show us that God does love us and He knows how we feel. In Paul’s day crucifixion meant shame, debasement, degradation, loss of pri...

For Sunday, September 7, 2025 Wisdom 9:13-18; Philemon 9-10, 12-17; Luke 14:25-33 The readings this week continue to stress that as Christians, each person must strive: to be more in love with God, to be continually grateful for His presence and care each day, and to realize He is helping every individual continually to make the right choices — love choices. That is how much God is in love with you and me — right now, and every moment. How can I get in touch with this love? The readings help us. Thank you, Lord. The readings bring out a fact of our daily lives — the need we have to make choices. Wisdom puts it bluntly that life is a matter of choices. Paul’s teachings and the Gospel of Luke give us examples of the way Christians should choose. Then Psalm 90 puts it all in perspective: God is eternal; we live day by day: God doesn’t worry about providing a plumber, an electrician, a master repair artist for our problems. His desire and promise is for you and me and all of creation to l...

For Sunday, August 31, 2025 Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29; Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24; Luke 14:1, 7-14 At first glance, today’s themes talk to us about being humble, realizing that our lives are a gift from God. Underneath there is a deeper insight into our actions in responding to God’s gifts to each of us. I’m gifted — you’re gifted. We look at our basic gifts: sight, hearing, speech, taste, feeling, smell. Then we explore how these gifts have influenced our memory, understanding, imagination and dreams for the future, and the development of our personalities and relationships. We should start with a basic question: How grateful am I to God for these unique gifts He has blessed me with? Have I abused them more than using them gratefully? Why? How have my actions influenced my relationship with my loving God? The readings today describe the attitude we should have when we give and when we receive. Am I developing humility and gratitude and a desire to spread the extravagant generosity of Go...

For Sunday, August 24, 2025 Isaiah 66:18-21; Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13; Luke 13:22-30 How do I view myself in God’s eyes? God considers all of us as His friends. “This is my commandment: Love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. ” [John 15:12-14] This is God’s vision. Is it mine? Some points to ponder: The vision of a disciple must be the vision of God. My vision cannot be small-minded — I must see with wide-angle lenses. God offers the grace of salvation to ALL , including people I don’t know, don’t like, or are mean to me — and all others. God’s saving grace is unbounded — limitless. It reaches out to those whom the People of God not only distrust but even sometimes despise. Do I feel that only those in the right groups, who believe the correct religious doctrines and follow an approved way of life, should be in the company of the saved? God doesn’t. There is something dang...