A message from Father Pete

For Sunday, November 9, 2025 Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12; 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17; John 2:12-22 While I’m sure all of us have visited many churches in our lifetimes, the one that probably remains most vividly in our memory is the church of our youth or one that was special because it's where we were baptized, received our first communion or confirmation, were married there, or our parents’ or loved ones’ funerals were there. Special places, special events that signify the loving presence of Jesus through the sacraments. Many of us have traveled and seen magnificent churches: basilicas like St. Peter’s in Rome, Notre Dame in Paris, Our Lady of Nock in Ireland, and many other famous worshipping, faith-filled churches. Many of these are cathedrals. “Cathedral” is the Latin word for chair. We call the church in which the bishop’s chair is located a cathedral. Each diocese has only one cathedral and it is the mother church of that diocese. If I asked you to name the “mother church” of ...

For Sunday, November 2, 2025 Wisdom 3:1-9, Romans 5:5-11, John 6:37-40 It is unusual that we celebrate the feast of All Saints on a Saturday and All Souls on a Sunday. All Saints is a Holy Day of Obligation and All Souls is not. This year All Saints is not a holy day, so All Souls Day is the weekend celebration of the Church.    What is important is that all of us have family in heaven, and all of us have family who have passed on from this life and to the Lord, waiting to be welcomed into heaven. This waiting place is known as purgatory. Let us look at these goals Jesus explained and promised everyone.    From way back I remember the Catechism answer to why God created you, me, and everyone: God created me to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in eternal life in heaven.  God is one, true, living being — supremely holy, unique, and omnipotent. God is above human understanding; a pure spirit, an absolutely loving b...

For Sunday, October 26, 2025 Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14 We pray. We are people of prayer. Our individual prayer is much varied, spontaneous, verbal — from the heart or established prayers. One distinction is that each of our prayers tends to be individual: It is mine ; I do it my way and have been doing it this way for years . That’s fine. It seems to be a consistent occupation of Christians to “discover ... find new devotions ... prayers ... that others have recommended and/or we feel will bring us closer to God.” It shows the insecurity we have in “God matters” … thinking, what does God want? What each person wants in all of this is to Know The Right Way to God through prayer . There is an insecurity in each of us and a desire to please God, who is totally consumed in love for each of us. The bottom line is that God is with you and me right now — God loves you and me right now — God is helping you and me right now to get closer to heaven. Scripture...

For Sunday, October 19, 2025   Exodus 17:8-13, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2, Luke 18:1-8 On occasion I surprise people who are very sincere in their Spiritual lives yet often doubt that they are on the right track and ask them a simple question that jolts them: “Since you are an expert in prayer, how would you advise a person on the best way to pray?” They immediately stop me and say, “Why do you say I’m an expert in prayer? I certainly am not — I feel like I’m on the bottom rung going up. I just pray the way I have been praying for years and keep trying other ways and new devotions, prayers, liturgical exercises. I would say I’m an expert on the number of ways I have looked into ... tried ... abandoned ... given up ... on prayer. I guess you could say I’m always trying. BUT ‘expert?’ No way! ” I did an interesting twist and looked into AI to see how one can be an expert in prayer. AI’s expertise is based on in its design and the information it is trained on; it’s NOT a form of spiritual or...

For Sunday, October 12, 2025 2 Kings 5:14-17, 2 Timothy 2:8-13, Luke 17:11-19 How do I feel about myself right now? How do I feel I am doing in my faith? Do I feel I’m on the right track? Or do I feel that there is something ... or many things ... that I must accomplish before I come to the end of my life and if I don’t, I won’t get to heaven? Is this my attitude? What do these questions tell me about my God? Is He my loving God who is leading me, or is He the God pounding His fist on the table for all my indiscretions? God just plain loves me all the time. Satan takes this sentiment and places all kinds of confusion and doubt in our minds, leading us to think, God just will never help me … lead me … care about me … or even really love me ... because I’m a big sinner. Jesus never said this! That loud, “convincing voice of anger, revenge, no caring or love” always comes from Satan. Today’s readings provide examples of how God is leading us to Himself through what happens in our lives....

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...