A message from Father Pete

For Sunday, April 27, 2025 Acts 5:12-16; Revelation 1:9-13, 17-19; John 20:19-31 We come to the second Sunday after Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, after experiencing the resurrection of Jesus. We are encouraged to be kind and recognize God's power and His love for each of us. All the readings on this day serve to guide new believers and followers of Jesus into deeper meaning and understanding of the religious mysteries and sacraments of the Church. Luke explains this in the readings from the Acts of the Apostles: “… many signs and wonders were done among the people at the hands of the apostles … yet more than ever believers in the Lord great numbers … were added to them. They even gathered the sick out into the streets … and those disturbed by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.” [Acts 5:12-16] We are given a glimpse into who we were from the beginning of the Church and an insight into who we should be today. And what do we see? What can we learn from these first Christians? Lu...

For Sunday, April 20, 2025 Acts 10:34, 37-43; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-9 It's Easter Sunday, the day we've been waiting for. At some point in our lives we've wondered: Does God exist? Did God create me? Is there any reason why I exist? Then we've asked: What does God mean to me and how important am I to God? From the earliest of times, different cultures and religions have struggled to come up with answers to these questions. Centuries ago Moses encountered God at a burning bush — which led to the freeing of God's people, the Israelites, out of slavery in Egypt and guiding them to the promised land. It took 40 years of wandering and learning about God. They continually rejected God, His invitation and His commands as to why they were chosen. The prayerful, mystic and prophetic Moses recorded the covenant, God's promise to us and the commandments — which is our response to God. The desert wanderers were too stuck on themselves and wanted what they wanted and d...

For Sunday, April 13, 2025 Isaiah 50:4-7, Philippians 2:6-11, Luke 22:14-23:56 Our days of Lent are coming to a close. We've lived through many holy weeks, felt terrible at Jesus’ suffering. We must realize that He died for you, for me. We ask the Lord to help us during the coming days. What is the significance of His message for me? He called you and me. We are called not to serve people’s wants but their needs. We serve others. We see that Jesus loved … we are called to love … to love all we see and even the ones we don’t see but are in need. How am I doing? What do these last days tell me about Jesus’ love, God the Father’s love, and the Spirit’s help in loving? Two points: First, it is important that the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus tells us about our God. The paradox of Christianity is not only that Jesus died and rose again, but also — importantly — that after His disgraceful form of death, God raised Him to victory. Think on this: that after Jesus’ seemingly comp...

For Sunday, April 6, 2025 Isaiah 43:16-21, Philippians 3:8-14, John 8:1-11 Last week we celebrated Laetare Sunday. How wonderful it is to realize that God loves everyone in a special way, all the time — no matter how we feel about ourselves. We heard about the Prodigal Son and all of us, at least partially, can identify with the younger son or the older son. Why? So often we have negative feelings about ourselves: I wish I could have … I just never worked on my gifts … I felt I could just not do it … I’m not good enough … why me, Lord … I’m just not worthy of Your love and goodness to me. Why do I do that? Why do I feel that way? I just tear myself down. God never feels that way toward me, you, or anyone. I am His special creation — no matter where He placed me in this world, He is constantly with me. He could have placed me here to be a help and example for a person who is so negative that they can’t see God’s love or His gifts in themselves. Or God placed that person in my life so I...

For Sunday, March 30, 2025 Joshua 5:9-12; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 We are waiting for Lent: It is a time to slow ourselves down to see how we are living in conformity to God’s commands … how we are living and loving in our relationships … how we are being instruments of God’s graces, kindnesses and gifts as we live each day with our eyes on heaven. To do this we have taken on Lenten disciplines along with different “varieties of giving up and sacrifices” to help us be in touch with God’s love and care for us. Today in the midst of Lent, the readings point to our rejoicing and provide us reason for our thankfulness. This is Laetare Sunday which echoes the all-inclusive and sweeping goodness of God. David expresses this so completely in the response to Psalm 34: “I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall be always in my mouth.” [Psalm 34:2] The Psalmist reminds us of being rescued from our problems and difficulties, feeling even defenseless and not knowing whe...

For Sunday, March 23, 2025 Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15; 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12; Luke 13:1-9 I have been asked this question a few times: “Tell me what your God is like. Is He kind, merciful, forgiving, rude, vengeful? What is He like?” Have you ever been asked this? I think this is a great question not to avoid — not to respond, “I don’t know,” or dismiss it by saying, “It's too difficult, I’m not a theologian” — or saying, “That is way above my pay grade.” Could the question be from God Himself, encouraging me to reflect on how big God has been to me? How He rescued me from deep, troubling situations I found myself in? Am I afraid to share my encounters with God? In reflecting on today’s readings, we see one major theme emerging: the incomprehensibility of God. We see this in Exodus where Moses encounters God’s voice from the area of the burning bush, calling him: Moses, Moses … take off your sandals … this is holy ground. Then the voice reveals His identity: “I am the God of yo...

For Sunday, March 16, 2025 Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 9:28-36 What was the closest experience in your life where you got a sense of God, the Almighty? A moving experience which was filled with so much but could be reduced to a moment of being with ... understanding ... the height and depth of beauty — love itself? Think on this! How long did it last? Was it so fleeting that it came and was gone in a moment? Yet that “moment” was so special that you still can describe every amazing part in detail. So many have shared these moments. I had a young girl tell me she was at her dying grandmother’s bedside and saw her pain and prayed to God to take it away. She felt bad asking God to let her die, but then there was a peace that flowed through her. I told her that was God, to which she replied, “I know.” Sadness to peace. Three ladies on a Holy Land Pilgrimage were on the platform at Transfiguration Mountain and put their hands through a trap door to touch the rock bel...