A message from Father Pete

For Sunday, March 9, 2025 Deuteronomy 26:4-10, Romans 10:8-13, Luke 4:1-13 One of the fallacies of Lent is that it is a time when I have to do something … I have to restore my relationship with God. It’s all about me, and God is watching and hopefully affirming what I am doing. What I am giving up? Well, what is God doing? Is my life and living my life all about me? OR: Do I live my life in gratitude for all God has done for me as He keeps me on the “straight and narrow” — while leading me and helping me get to heaven, which is totally impossible if I'm left to my own initiatives? In the Deuteronomy text, the Israelites have been wandering in the desert for 40 years and they stand at the edge of the promised land, ready to enter. They are to observe all the regulations of the Covenant as to what to pray ... and how to tithe a portion of the first fruits of the harvests in gratitude for God’s role in rescuing them from their years of slavery at the hands of the Pharaohs and the Egy...

For Sunday, March 2, 2025 Sirach 27:4-7, 1 Corinthians 15:54-58, Luke 6:39-45 When I look in the mirror, what do I see? Do I see a person I like? Do I see a person I am uncomfortable with? Do I wonder about what I see? Do I feel that I am in need of changing? Do I need a Lenten purging of the me I don’t like? I need to ask why and how I got off track from the person I need to be — that God created me to be. There are good, reflective questions that we need to unpack, and our readings help us do this. The passage from Sirach uses three analogies from the arts and primitive technology. Throughout the ages humanity applies its conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals that are needed to enhance life and living — the advancement of skills that make “life is worth living” (the title of Bishop Fulton Sheen’s TV program from long ago). The first analogy is a sieve, which is like a colander. It sorts out larger, dead husks or grains to uncover the soft, living grain used to make bread. ...

For Sunday, February 23, 2025 1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23; 1 Corinthians 15:45-49; Luke 6:27-38   Ten days before Ash Wednesday, today’s readings bring us some first-class reflective points. Often I start out with: What am I going to do this Lent? We assemble so many different devotions ... prayer summaries ... ways to get closer to the Lord. We hope and pray that we are on the right path to be closer to the Lord, who loves us just the way we are and wants us to know how close the Father, Jesus and the Spirit are with us each day — loving us and leading us. Today the schooling of the disciples continues. We seldom reflect that Jesus is their teacher. Like ours, their schooling is intent on changing the way we think as well as the way we act. One area we shy away from and need help with is perhaps the most difficult lesson: forgiving those we consider our enemies ... those who have wronged us . This conjures feelings within us — feelings of getting even, revenge, hurting, ang...

For Sunday, February 16, 2025 Jeremiah 17:5-8; 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20; Luke 6:17, 20-26 The contrasts of life are very interesting. We have the poor — the rich — the lowly — the satisfied — the outcast — the accepted. Then there are the victims of our socioeconomic system — those who have been ravaged by war; those being made vulnerable by life versus the wealth of this world and its pleasures. Where am I? Where do I want to be? Last week we met Peter who has been following Jesus; he is working his fishing trade with his brother Andrew and partners James and John. As always, their success depends on the weather and the fish. It has not been a successful night — or maybe a few nights — we don’t know. Jesus has been watching them and instructs them to put the boat out and drop their nets. Despite Peter's assertion that they haven’t caught anything, the partners go out and the catch overflows both of their boats. As fishermen they know the water, they know their skills — yet they ...

For Sunday, February 9, 2025 Isaiah 6:1-8, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Luke 5:1-11 Jesus is an important part of each of our lives. When did we first recognize His name? When did we come to know about Him? When did we begin to pray? When did we realize that He loves us just the way that we are? When did we follow His call to be His disciple? Where are we now in our worship? The “first Sundays” of Ordinary Time deal with the beginnings of the ministry of Jesus. God’s plan has finally reached its culmination: Jesus, the promised Messiah of the ages, has arrived and told us of God’s total, complete love, and the promise of heaven’s guarantee for all who believe in Him and follow the Commandments and the commandments of love. This can be labeled the inauguration of the new age of fulfillment. The themes of the readings now shift their focus a bit to highlight the call to each of His followers to continue the mission of Jesus by engaging in some form of ministry. If God is love — and Jesus sho...

For Sunday, February 2, 2025 Malachi 3:1-4, Hebrews 2:14-18, Luke 2:22-40   Imagine the scene: An old man and an even older woman who have lived all their lives in the Temple. We’ve witnessed people who are always around Church: some very active in organizations; some at every celebration and liturgical mass; some who always seem to be present, usually on their knees, praying the Rosary or some liturgical novena or the like. It seems like they are deep in their devotions, almost oblivious to people around them, but on the occasions when we speak with them we are impressed with their goodness and kindness and are convinced of their holiness … a holiness that isn’t our type of holiness. They are beautiful in their dedication to God and our Lady. Seldom do we encounter them one-on-one, but when it happens, we are still convinced of their holiness. They are identical to Simeon and Anna; this is how I envision them. If I did have the chance to talk to “my couple,” I would be tongue-tied...

For Sunday, January 26, 2025 Nehemiah 8:2-6, 8-10; 1 Corinthians 12:12-30; Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21   Today we hear from the readings that God is our Father — that He loves us — that He sent the Holy Spirit to guide us — and He sent Jesus to explain what it all means. How grateful we are to know we are loved and that God has put each of us here for a purpose — to help others realize God’s love through our love and for all to be united with the Father, Son and Spirit in our forever home ... Heaven. Consider taking today’s readings to a quiet place with the Lord. Sit down and reflect on each of them, imagining that you are listening to Nehemiah, Paul and Luke explaining God’s message to you. Each encompasses God’s love and His eternal plan for all of creation. Ezra is the priest-scribe who acts as religious leader to the Jewish community that returned recently from the Babylonian captivity. Nehemiah led the people back and has supervised the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. Ezra and ...