A message from Father Pete

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...

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...