A message from Father Pete

For Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023 Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11 Our readings today take us back to where our relationship with God began: in the Garden of Eden. It was beautiful and wonderful to behold. We see the wonders of the world God created. All creation spoke of God’s love and total commitment to create beauty encompassing the vast halo of the Milky Way and beyond. Nothing is in need of repair … everything God touches is total beauty and complete in itself. The bottom line is that humans came and tried to remake, reconstitute and even redo God’s creation to satisfy their own desires, wishes and selfish ambitions. This was not man’s mission to do: Jesus was sent to restore what was lost through the pride of our ancestors. God gave the breath of life to humans; He is the source of all life. Thinking they knew better, Adam and Eve were tempted to turn away from God’s plan … the age-old temptation to do what I want to do because I want to do it … for me! This has been...

For Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023 Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18; 1 Corinthians 3:16-23; Matthew 5:38-48 We look back at the Garden of Eden and ask: What is the SIN associated with Adam and Eve? Moses started off his Primeval History with the first story of Creation. God created the heavens and the earth, and continued with “making it beautiful to behold.”   God examined His creation and “saw how good it was. Then God said: ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. ... God created man in His image; in the divine image He created him; male and female He created them.” [Genesis 1:26, 27] “And God looked at everything He had made, and He found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed — the sixth day.” God continued creating, instructing man: “You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and bad. From that tree you shall not eat; the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die.” [Genesis 1:16] Then God created woman, a compan...

For Sunday, Feb.12, 2023 Sirach 15:15-20, 1 Corinthians 2:6-10, Matthew 5:17-37 Today's readings ask me to focus on myself and my relationships with others, beginning with those who had “charge of me” and were “forming” me as I grew up. I was asked, “Please do this job ... finish this chore … take this and do that.” In reflecting, did I tend to look at the “job,” conclude “that’s good enough,” and then rush off to resume whatever I had been doing, which was much more fun? For the most part this was a learning experience that helped me recognize parental rules and those in authority while expanding my living to be obedient, and redirecting my living for  myself to helping and caring for others. This is a good way of reflecting upon how we are encouraged to dig a little deeper by moving from what is “good enough” to the higher, more thoughtful, more mature commitment of realizing that we live in relationship with others. Has my approach been respectful toward all? Or have I cont...

For Sunday, February 5, 2023 Isaiah 58:7-10, 1 Corinthians 1:2-5, Matthew 5:13-16 Am I a happy person? Am I an angry person? Am I a caring person? Am I an indifferent person? Am I a joyful person? Am I an insulting person? Am I a person who is halfway between these “opposites” just listed? Am I concerned that I have much work to do to make myself the person I have been created to be, or am I satisfied with myself — having fallen into the rut that “it's just the way that I am ... there’s no need for me to change?” In the second year of his pontificate, Pope Francis gathered the Roman Curia on Dec. 22, 2014, for an “expected Christmas gathering.” Having begun his pontificate on March 13, 2013, this was his second Christmas as leader of the Catholic Church. The Curia comprises the administrative institution and the central body through which the affairs of the Church are conducted. This certainly is a group of very qualified and talented people, many of whom have spent their lives i...

For January 29, 2023 Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 5:1-12 We all have a need to belong. And we like to belong to the best or be considered the best. The world … or at least our world ... is involved in seeing which team will win the Super Bowl on Feb. 12. Teams will be determined this weekend and the winner from each division will be waving banners and screaming, “We’re Number One!” And the defeated will be proclaiming, “Wait till next year!’’ And life goes on. We certainly like to cheer when winning a game, a race, a pennant, even an election. We are proud and like to be involved when “our side” has accomplished something great. Is this need of ours really that important? Years ago many of us studied Abraham Maslow, an “expert” who suggested that the need to belong was a major source of human motivation. He taught that it was one of five of a hierarchy of human needs. Do you remember the others? They were physiological needs, safety needs, self-esteem needs...

For January 22, 2023 Isaiah 8:23-9:3; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17; Matthew 4:12-23 What are the dark areas of my life? Why do I consider them dark? Is it because darkness traditionally keeps me from seeing what is happening? Could it be that darkness keeps me in suspense? Am I possibly carrying over scary notions from my youth, where hidden figures — sounds — are frightening? Do they obscure my seeing and distract me from life’s realities? According to Peter, “But you are a ‘chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own, so that you may announce the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.’” [1 Peter 2:9] God not only calls us out of darkness; we are called to be light for others who are lost or in need. Light defines the love and face of Jesus Christ. He calls us to lift up those in a dark and troubled world. His light shines over us and ahead of us. Psychology tells us that the unpreparedness caused by darkness makes us anxious, and...

For January 15, 2023 Isaiah 49:3, 5-6; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34 Whom do I consider great? Is it a person well-known, famous in a certain area or areas? Is this person a family member, relative, boss, work companion, teacher, one known in my community? Down through the years I have had numerous people replace my original choice because a new one touched me when and where I needed it most. Many years ago I was given a copy of a “letter” that was written by a young person whose father had died at a relatively young age. It read: “A great man died today” … and the youngster listed why he felt this person was great. He concluded, “that great man was my dad.” I’m sure tears were concealed. Today’s readings describe every Christian’s role to be “a light to the nations” [Isaiah 49:6]. It is no accident that the first Vatican II document is titled “Lumen Gentium”… “Light to the Nations.” Paul writes how he was called to be “an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God” [1 Corinth...