A message from Father Pete

Jeremiah 1:4-5,17-19; 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13; Luke 4:21-30 If you’ve a chance to read today’s Scripture passages before hearing them proclaimed in Church or reading this blog, your general reaction should be that these words are pleasing and engaging, care-filled and beautiful – with a message that is completely pertinent to our lives as Christians today. Are they? Do the last two sentences of the Gospel question my assessment? “When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. The rose up, drove Him (Jesus) out of the town, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl Him down headlong. But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.” [Luke 4:28-30] Their anger – better, their rage – infuriated Jesus’ hometown neighbors into an uncontrollable mob set on killing Him right then and there. Why? Where did this come from? This was a dramatic change of mood. The people had second thoughts about Jesus. They had grudg...

Nehemiah 8:2-4, 5-6, 8-10; 1 Corinthians 12:12-30; Luke 1:1-4; 14-21 We have come through Advent time remembering and reflecting on the hope the Lord’s people had on the coming of the Messiah. Finally there would be a time of certainty: The Lord would show that He is really with us, loving and caring for us. He had always reminded the Israelite people of His care and promise to send One who would lead them on the Lord’s way. Then we experienced the birth of our Savior, a birth we never would have imagined for the Creator of the World and each of us. I might have expected a Warrior King or a Kingly King, but never one born in poverty and in a place which had hardly any protection from the wind and storms that whip throughout the winter season. And how could the cruel ruler king be afraid of a little child and send out his storm troopers to kill the usurper messiah? His family ran to Egypt and continued to run until this King had died and then returned to Nazareth to raise their boy. We ...

Isaiah 62:1-5; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; John 2:1-11 We are never too young to be a part of God’s plan … AND … we are never too old to be a part of God’s plan. So the question today is even deeper: Do I realize that I am a part of God’s plan? Do I feel that I am important enough to be a part of God’s plan? Do I feel I am gifted enough to be a part of God’s plan? How do I know that I am a part of God’s plan? Do I want to be a part of God’s plan? When I look at the world that I am a part of I can see God’s beauty all around. I also see much of the beauty of the world’s hurt because of foolishness and unconcern in protecting God’s gift. And people not seeing the gift of themselves and the gifts and beauties of others and sharing them without exception.  A song has been going through my mind: What a Wonderful World , performed so perfectly by Louis Armstrong. I did some research: Its creators were producer Bob Thiele and songwriter George David Weiss, whose hope was that Armstrong’s grand...

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; Titus 2:11-14, 3:4-7; Luke 3:15-16, 21-22 I imagine many of us, at different times in our lives, have wanted to start over in a more positive way. I’m suggesting we like to go back and change the situations that perhaps have caused a little too much turmoil in our lives, and to be the person we would be much more comfortable with. Many of us have done this before in varying degrees. We’ve made New Year’s resolutions. We’ve made Lenten promises to give up … or stop being … an uncomfortable person to be around, but rather one who is somehow responding to the Lord. When we review our past records, we are not too pleased with the results because we keep falling back to the person we were:  an uncomfortable being. Could it be that we start with goals that are non-reachable? Could it be that we don’t accept the fact that we were born in sin and that Jesus has redeemed each of us? Could it be that we want to be totally successful in our relationship with the Lord so t...

Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12 Let’s start out this way: !sgnisselB ynahpipE Can you decifer that? Living the Word , a Scriptural reflection aid I use often, started its analysis of the readings this week and it stopped me What are they saying? Implying? What does this gibberish have to do with today’s readings? Were their fingers on the wrong keys? Have you figured it out yet? Sometimes ... oftentimes ... we are so familiar with the Scripture passages, especially during the Christmas season, that we lose sight of the main theme the sacred writers are emphasizing. We see the little baby in the crib … shepherds and magi coming to pay honor and praise to God ... and we are lost in the beauty of being present at this most important of all births. God’s plan is now upon us. All we have to do is look at Herod’s reaction at hearing of the birth of the “… newborn king of the Jews … he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” [Matthew 2:3] What happens when a ki...