…From Your Pastor’s Desk Ascension Day Parting messages have their own impact. The last words said by someone moving away or even going away for a long time hold special places in our hearts. I remember the many deployments I went on in my years of military service and how touching were those words between husband and wife and parent and child.…

…From Your Pastor’s Desk Have you ever fallen in love? I hope so. To fall in love is essentially an emotional experience. And the word “love” is often used casually as we hear phrases like “I love Pizza” or “I love the Giants” or “I love that person – be they, actor, athlete or even favorite saint”. But back to falling in…

…From Your Pastor’s Desk In last Sunday’s gospel reading Jesus was the good shepherd and we the sheep. Today’s image expresses an even closer relationship: a vine and its branches. This is so close a relationship that you could say it is beyond relationship; it expresses identification. “I am the vine…you the branches.” But, as I’ve found out since living in ‘wine-county’…

…A Reflection by Sr. Candice Tucci, O.S.F. The stone rejected by the builders,becomes the cornerstone. Cornerstones are crucial to the integrity of the building. It is laid first to make sure of the building’s stability and is the rock upon which the weight of the whole stands strong. This one stone is crucial to the whole. Jesus the Christ is the Cornerstone…

And Now….The Rest… of… the Story Folks of a certain age will remember the Paul Harvey radio show called “The Rest of the Story.” Harvey always reserved until the last thing in his show a surprise ending to the story he had been reporting that week. Well, Sunday’s Gospel contains the surprise ending to a tale we all know well, the Emmaus…

…from the Pastor’s Desk “Thinking Thomas” – No Doubt. There is something to be said for doubt at times. It is a good thing to be able to doubt oneself, provided it doesn’t become an addiction that cripples us; to doubt one’s ideas, one’s principles, one’s work and to doubt much of what we hear. Although religion can provide emotionally unstable people…

…from the Pastor’s Desk HAPPY EASTER! A Happy Thought on a Happy Feast. Have you ever considered that this is the only time when people, even strangers, give a spiritually based greeting? Merry Christmas is often replaced by ‘Happy Holidays’ and ‘Happy Thanksgiving’ has become a secular salutation; but so far ‘Happy Easter’ stands firm in its acknowledgement of what we commemorate.…

…from your Pastor’s Desk This week we begin a time so sacred to us Catholics that it is called ‘Holy Week.’ It is true that as far as individual celebrations go, Christmas seems to overshadow Easter, but Holy Week is more than just Easter Sunday. Today’s Liturgy makes a diametrical shift from the celebration of our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem to…

…from your Pastor’s Desk Here is a ‘truism’ Every life worth living, every great work, has a price that has to be paid. And whatever that price is, it always involves letting go of something we value.The child, in a sense, has to let go of childhood to become an adult.The single have to let go of the ‘single’ lifestyle to become…

…from your Pastor’s Desk Here we are, half-way through Lent 2024. If you are like most of us – you’ve already struggled with your Lenten Resolutions – perhaps you have even flat out failed and fallen. Do not be discouraged – Christ Himself fell 3 times on His way to Calvary – but He got back up each time and so can…