A message from Father Pete

Isaiah  63:16-17, 19; Isaiah 64:2-7; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37 Thanksgiving has departed. It was different this year. Some of us were with family and we were thankful. We are praying that the many who traveled are spared the ravages of Covid-19. Now we are beginning our preparation for Christmas: wondering, planning what we will be doing and how we will celebrate another difficult yet special season of love. What should our Advent calendar contain? What could be our direction as we continue to explore the depths of God’s love for each of us this Advent season? Pope Benedict XVI gives us definite ideas: “The essential meaning of the word adventus was: God is here, He has not withdrawn from the world, He has not deserted us. Even if we cannot see and touch Him as we can tangible realities, He is here and comes to visit us in many ways.” Am I aware that He is with me? Do I feel a pull to give God more attention during this busy season? Do I take time to see the splendor in t...

Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17; 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28; Matthew 25:31-46 St. Augustine said, “I beg you, join with me in love. Run with me in faith. Let us yearn for our heavenly home. Let us sigh for it. Let us realize that we are strangers here below.” We know our true home is heaven. We know this and we hope and pray that we “will be granted entrance when the time comes.” This is a distraction that Satan puts into our minds. Jesus has guaranteed that we will be in heaven if we have faith and follow the commandments and His triple command of love. How are we doing with this? Do we ask the Lord for help living our daily lives? Do we give up on ourselves? Fact: We are tempted and we sin, and we will continue to be weak and sin until we die. But what about that same old sin I keep committing? I do try, but I keep on slipping when I’m weak and unable to resist. I seem to condemn myself. Does God condemn me? Is there a checklist I can use on my journey to heaven? Today’s readings help us ...

Proverbs 13:10-13, 19-20, 30-31; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6; Matthew 25:14-30 Down through the years I have often thought what direction the Lord has planned for me. In my reflections I have discovered, not as quickly as I would have liked, that the Lord has given me an abundance of gifts and talents with the intention that I discover what I am good at, and what brings me satisfaction and completeness. In the process of bringing them to fruition I realize that God has needed me to help people who cross my path. This caring, giving and helping lets them know they also have been gifted and need to share their own gifts. God needs people to love. How better is it to let them know they are loved and special to God. If I don’t do my part, a whole bunch of people have been left out in the cold. Today’s readings bring this into focus. Proverbs begins by honoring a wise woman and fittingly concludes by describing an ideal wife  symbolically as Wisdom. The Scriptures speak continually of wisdom...

Wisdom 6:12-16; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13 I heard a great story from Pope Francis’ audience in St. Peter’s Square on April 9, 2014, that helps to understand Jesus’ parable about being ready for God’s kingdom. He was presenting a series of teachings on the Holy Spirit and the gift of wisdom. His prepared text in front of him, he stopped, looked at the crowd and, as teachers often do, threw out a question: “Imagine a mother running around after her children all day, attending to their every need. Eventually the mother gets tired, loses her patience, and starts scolding her child. Is that wisdom?” The crowd was stunned. Was that a direct question to them? Why would he ask their opinion? What was he getting at? Even so, what answer did he want? As expected, no one answered. The Pope again posed the question: “… scolding children — I ask you — is that wisdom? What do you say: Is this wisdom or not?” Ask yourself the question. How would you respond? Still no one responded, s...

Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12 Today we are celebrating the feast of All Saints — what does that mean? Every person in heaven is a saint. They have accomplished the plan God has for each person — eternal life with Him forever. God laid out the plan but they didn’t exactly latch on to it right away. They had so many different plans and goals they wanted to achieve. But they came to discover in so many different ways that God loves them. It’s very special to know that we are loved. Hopefully, we've heard it many times in our lives, perhaps every day. We have said “I love you” to a whole array of people who have touched us, encouraged us, taught us, been examples for us, even plucked us out of the gutter. Our “thank you” is spoken from the depths of our being. Each of us has experiences of this uncomplicated, sincere, giving and caring love from those who are special to us. So then what is heaven? This is God’s place where He is embracing those who have loved H...

Exodus 22:20-26; 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Matthew 22:34-40 The readings today ask very practical questions about God’s command of love and Jesus’ triple command of loving God … loving our neighbor … loving ourselves. How am I doing with these? Am I better at one and not so good with the others? Which one(s) give me the hardest time? How do I interpret these commands? Do I tend to place exceptions in interpreting and acting? Do I really believe that Jesus meant no exceptions, none excluded? Do I find myself helping only the “group” that I am on good terms with, or is my caring all-inclusive? How can I live when many are concerned only with themselves? Are these commands unreasonable or am I unreasonable? How do I live love today? The readings help interpret God’s command of love. Exodus begins with the story of Moses leading God’s people from Egyptian slavery. They leave in the 12th chapter … cross the Red Sea in the 14th chapter … are fed by God with quail and manna in the 16th chapter ...

Isaiah 45:1, 4-6; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5; Matthew 22:15-21 Is God a God to everyone on Earth? What about to those of different religious affiliations? What about those who have no association with God? Does God care for everyone equally? Do we as Catholics have an upper hand? God is the giver of all gifts, we know this. Does God give His gifts equally or does it help that we are baptized and belong to the Church? The themes in today’s readings are faith and civil law. Do we have a problem with these being considered together? With presidential elections looming, can we ever find a candidate who expresses only Christian-based values? What basic Christian values are … or should be … a part of civil law? How would this impact the fairness of the law for people who are non-Christians? We turn to the readings today to help us understand God’s plan and our response. Isaiah is one of the major prophets relaying and interpreting messages from God. Often these messages come in response to an inq...