A message from Father Pete

For Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022 Wisdom 11:22-12:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2; Luke 19:1-10 I just returned from leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I have done this before. People ask me why I keep going back: because this is God’s land and God calls each of us every day to be His people of love. As I so often have said, “You will never be the same on returning from the Holy Land.” Going to the various sites where Jesus ministered, cured, encouraged; promised His graces and love, and the gift of heaven to all who follow His way of love is life-fulfilling. I have never been the same … I have never been bored … I have experienced God’s lifting up the pilgrims to be a people convinced of God’s presence and knowing that He has called them to His Land.   Each of today’s readings emphasizes that God is love and that He loves each of us and helps us right where we are.  Am I listening? Do I allow this to happen? Do I feel that I have to do something special to deserve this? The point is that God

For Sunday, October 23, 2022 Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14 It seems that most people have favorites. They are attracted to a particular sports team, news program, TV series, mystery author, self-help author, actor, actress. This carries on to a favorite meal, beverage, route to take home, car dealership, restaurant. We like what attracts us. When we look at these favorites of ours, we encounter those who just don’t like our choices. This brings with it some unpleasant distractions in relationships. Another example is sports teams — especially our favorites which produce rivalities that attract others to “cheer for the underdog” that has little chance of winning. According to the internet, an underdog is “the person or persons who are not favored to win or be selected. It is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose.” It also gives us words that define the opposite of underdog: happy, respect

For Sunday, October 16, 2022 Exodus 17:8-13; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2; Luke 18:1-8 There is so much I don’t understand. I enjoy reading — listening to people talk about their  interests, having experts explain what they have learned, been taught and what they have discovered in God’s world. These we can refer to as FACTS … but there is much more when we bring in our troubles, worries and fears. Wisdom figures from early ages to the present lead us in bringing our doubts and hesitations to the Ultimate Wisdom figure … the Lord … ultimate figures in extended faith beliefs … to help us understand, in short, the ways of the Spirit. The common, ultimate question is that we just don’t know all about everything. This unknown has been labeled as mystery. In Christian theology, a mystery is a religious belief based on divine revelation — especially one regarded as beyond human understanding: the mystery of Christ, the mystery of the universe, the mystery of humanity, the mystery of me. Why did I beg

For Sunday, October 9, 2022 2 Kings 5:14-17; 2 Timothy 2:8-13; Luke 17:11-19 As we grow in age and our health is as good as can be expected, we don’t usually look at our death … we try to avoid the subject and be involved with living. This is fine — it’s concentrating on taking each day as it comes; on living with its joys and sorrows. A worthwhile contemplative question to ask is, What will our legacy be? Legacy.com states, “For more than 20 years, Legacy has partnered with local newspapers and funeral homes to create a space where life stories live on.” How will the stories of our lives live on? How do we want to be remembered? Has my world been a better place because I was a part of it? I say it has: Every life impacts us in so many ways that we could never imagine. People have shaped us, formed us, led us, taught us ... to be people who recognize our God-given gifts to be the people God formed us to be. I am grateful. Fr. Henri Nouwen writes a daily companion — Bread for the Jour