Pastoral Messages (Page 12)

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 2022

Sunday’s Readings: Exodus 17:8-13; Psalms 121:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2; Luke 18:1-8

……from your Pastor’s Desk – So, why pray? – What were the words you used the last time you prayed? I mean, really prayed, not just grace before meals or ‘Now I lay Me Down To Sleep’; but a heartfelt prayer. Was it words like, please or I want? Words like I need or Why don’t you? Or was it words like; Thank you and praise you and I love you and ‘What can I do for you, my God?’ …

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 2022

Sunday’s Readings: 2 Kings 5:14-17; Psalms 98:1, 2-3, 3-4; 2 Timothy 2:8-13; Luke 17:11-19

……from your Pastor’s Desk – What the Nine Lepers got Right – This weekend we have the story of the ten lepers who asked Jesus for healing. Lots of times, when we hear this story, nine of the lepers are portrayed as ungrateful. A word or two on their behalf is in order. They all approached Jesus and called out to him “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” They all obeyed his command to go show themselves to the priest. …

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 2022

Sunday’s Readings: Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4; Psalms 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9; 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14; Luke 17:5-10

……from your Pastor’s Desk – Learning from him – “Lord, increase our faith,” said the apostles in today’s Gospel. Elsewhere they asked him, “Lord teach us how to pray” (Lk 11:1). In essence the two requests were the same. To pray is to focus our heart on God, to have faith in God’s concern for us. Every prayer renews our trust in God, and whenever we turn to God in faith, we are praying. …

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 2022

Sunday’s Readings: Amos 8:4-7; Psalms 113:1-2, 4-6, 7-8; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16:1-13 OR 16:10-13

……from your Pastor’s Desk – “You cannot serve both God and mammon [money].” – Jesus’ final words in today’s Gospel Reading—“You cannot serve both God and mammon”—are sometimes falsely interpreted. They’re taken to mean that you cannot have both God and money in your life. In other words, this false interpretation claims that there’s a competition in your life between God and money. They battle against each other in a zero-sum game. The holier you are, the less money you will have, and the more money you have, the less holy you must be. This interpretation of Jesus’ words is false. …

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – 2022

Sunday’s Readings: Wisdom 9:13-18b; Psalms 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17; Philemon 9-10, 12-17; Luke 14:25-33

……from your Pastor’s Desk – Don’t be a Hater! – The first words we hear from Jesus in this Sunday’s Gospel passage might startle us. They were spoken by the Lord to convey without the shadow of a doubt a very important message to his followers. The words of Jesus are these: “If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” …