Pastoral Messages on Pastoral Readings (Page 17)

Homilies

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 2021

Sunday’s Readings: Wisdom 2:12, 17-20; Psalms 54:3-4, 5, 6 and 8; James 3:16—4:3; Mark 9:30-37 ……from your Pastor’s Desk The Focus of Our Love “‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ But they remained silent.” In the silence that follows the simple question of Jesus, we cringe along with the disciples, almost intuiting the truth which comes then to explicit expression:…

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 2021

Sunday’s Readings: Isaiah 50:5-9a; Psalms 116:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9; James 2:14-18; Mark 8:27-35 ……from your Pastor’s Desk Hello Friends, What a year it’s been With the pandemic, the smoke, the possibility of another fire, social distancing, vaccine or no vaccine, sheltering in place and having to wear these darn masks – we cannot help but focus on just surviving today.But, today, 9/11/21…

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – 2021

Sunday’s Readings: Isaiah 35:4-7a; Psalms 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10; James 2:1-5; Mark 7:31-37 ……from your Pastor’s Desk Next Saturday will mark the twentieth year since the September 11 (“9-11”) terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, New York City. Most of us can recall exactly where we were when we first heard of the attacks. But the details fade. While the starkness of…

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – 2021

Sunday’s Readings: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8; Psalms 15:2-3, 3-4, 4-5; James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 ……from your Pastor’s Desk History is not the past: it is the present looking at the past. By placing the Pharisees before our eyes in so many readings the Liturgy today is clearly calling us to see ourselves in them. Like them, we know that…

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time – 2021

Sunday’s Readings: Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b; Psalms 34:2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21; Ephesians 5:21-32 or 5:2a, 25-32; John 6:60-69 ……from your Pastor’s Desk Since I always address this topic when it appears, and I am not with you now ‘in-person’ I will do so in writing. I want to get rid of the large elephant in the room. It entered during the 2nd…