A message from Father Pete

Acts 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23 Our minds are filled with many things. Talking with an old friend, we sometimes notice that we’ve been all over the place getting caught up in the many “newsy” items we want to share since the last time we connected. The “crazy” thing about friendship is that we never get lost in this conversation. It's just great connecting with someone special and realizing the depth and importance of our love together. Today’s readings are also all over the place . They give an account of the Church’s beginnings. They describe why the message of Jesus hasn’t gone out of people’s minds after His ascent into heaven. They put into words the transformation of easily frightened followers, to 12 chief disciples who are fiery apostles. The readings also convey insight into the mysterious Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. Quite an undertaking … what a transformation! Think for a moment: When have powerful words changed our live...

Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 4:1-13; Mark 16:15-20 The world has existed for a long time. With God’s creation there has always been a spiritual component urging gratitude to God and at the same time keeping all focused on His love and grace. All awaited for contact with the Divine, and Jesus was born in time to show God’s love to redeem us and the way to eternal life. He was born in Bethlehem … lived in Galilee where He began His ministry … condemned to death in Jerusalem … crucified and died on Mt. Calvary on Good Friday and was buried … rose on Easter Sunday ... and today we celebrate His return to the Lord: the Ascension of the Lord. Tradition tells us that this covers about 33 years. In the first few lines of the Gospel, Mark summarizes the whole history of the Church: “Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.’ ” [Mark 16:15-16] The task is s...

Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48; 1 John 4:7-10; John 15:9-17 These quotes are from my Google search of “love is in the air:” Love is in the Air is a 2013 romance/comedy . A synopsis: “On his way back to France for the final round of a job interview, Antoine finds himself sitting right next to his ex-girlfriend Julie. With a seven-hour flight ahead to them they are going to have to speak to each other.” Love Is In The Air is a song by John Paul Young. The opening lines: “Love is in the air, everywhere I look around; Love is in the air, every sight and every sound …” Love is in the air meaning: “ A blissful, love-like vibe can be sensed from the people around you or the surroundings. Example: On Valentine’s Day, love is in the air and you see happy couples all around.” Today is Mother’s Day. My prayers are with all mothers and mothers-to-be on your special day. May is the month we honor the Blessed Mother, the model of Love. Love is the main theme in today’s readings. It is mentioned nine...

Acts 9:26-31; 1 John 3:18-24; John 15:1-8 Have you ever thought about: Where do I find the source of my knowledge about Jesus? How much time do I spend reflecting on the meaning of Jesus’ message in my life today? Is Jesus important to me each day? Do I find myself only thinking about Jesus’ actions and words when I go to Mass or livestream it? Is the time I spend with God, mostly with age-old prayers and devotionals; or in sitting, reflecting, talking and listening with my Lord and Creator? What have I found is the best way for me to build up my relationship with my loving God? Today Jesus tells us, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in Me and I in them will bear much fruit, because without Me you can do nothing.” [John 15:5] This is gardening season. Life is springing up all around us. Flowers, trees are blooming; sap is running and it is a bad pollen season. So we know all about sap flowing life through the vine to the branches. The source of all life is Our Lovi...

Acts 4:8-12; 1 John 3:1-2; John 10:11-18 We are in the Easter Season and realizing how grateful we are to God, the Father, for sending us Jesus to let us know how much we are loved each moment of each day, and that He always has had a plan for us. God constantly lets humanity know about this plan. He has been spoon-feeding this to us; we’ve been slow in our acceptance of His nourishment. He has loved each person from the moment of creation and has promised life forever with Him. Moses shares a tremendous story of the fall of Adam and Eve. It describes the transition of the first man and woman from a state of truthful obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience. We’ve been through this during our growing stages. We wanted what we wanted, whether it was good for us or not. We felt that we knew what was “good” for us. We thought what we “desired” was good and would lead us to happiness. So very often it didn’t because we were only thinking of ourselves. Yet God consistently showe...

Acts 3:13-15, 17-19; 1 John 2:1-5; Luke 24:35-48 Holy Week has been a wonderful time to place myself in the scenes of Jesus’ life, love, and total sacrifice. I’m one of the crowd members with a good view of the actions and words bandied about. I’m there evaluating the people’s responses to Jesus: the religious authorities, the Jewish and Roman rulers. I want to see whether their responses are coerced or honestly given. I’m evaluating them on the basis of Jesus’ triple command of love given in response to a scholar of the law who tested Jesus in Matthew’s gospel: “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.’” [Matthew 22:36-40] In the Acts reading, Peter encounters a man crippled from ...

Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31 We have celebrated the greatest feast in the Church year: The Resurrection of Jesus. It was preceded by Holy Week, where we remembered and relived the Passion and Death of Jesus. We all have our thoughts, meditations and reflections that remembered these solemn days. On Feb. 25, 2004, Mel Gibson starred in the New Testament-based movie The Passion of the Christ . Those of us who have seen this movie have witnessed more terror and fright at all that Jesus endured at the hands of evil people: the Romans, Jewish religious authorities, and people who did not believe in God’s presence in our lives and world. What did we learn that we didn’t already know? Probably not much … but this movie was very graphic. We were asked ... in a sense forced ... to watch the depth and extent of God’s suffering in the person of Christ, and the ridicule, anger and hate that was painfully inflicted on Him. Why do people get angry, we may ask? Why do they hate? Jesus’ l...