Blog & Pastor Letters

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 29, 2023

10-29-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Louis Philip Masi

Every word Jesus speaks has weight and is rich in meaning. Jesus says to us today: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. When we read this second great commandment that the Lord gives us, we usually focus on the “love your neighbor” part. Jesus, however, did not just say, you shall love your neighbor. He added two more words — as yourself — and those words are important. Today, let us focus only on what those last two words teach us. Jesus asks us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. That, of course, presupposes that we actually do love ourselves. If we do not love ourselves or if we do not properly love ourselves, it will be impossible to love others as they ought to be loved.

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29th Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 22, 2023

10-22-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Louis Philip Masi

In today’s first reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, we hear about a very interesting figure in the history of the world: the great King Cyrus. He ruled over one of the largest and most powerful empires the world has ever known. He was very good to the people of Israel even though he was not one of them. While many kings throughout history sought to eradicate God’s holy people, Cyrus justly allowed them to live in peace and to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. God, as they say, writes straight with crooked lines! God used a king who did not even follow Him to continue to unfold His plan of salvation.

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Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 15, 2023

10-15-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Louis Philip Masi

In the Gospel today, we read about a King who is throwing a wedding feast for his son. At the banquet of a king, the food is sure to be an epicurean delight; the vintage of wine is certain to be exceptional; the musicians are going to be concert quality; the guest list will unquestionably include the most important people the King knows. This is one of those invitations that you just do not turn down. First of all, because the King has invited you, and if the King’s invitation is not enough to convince you, at least you know it is going to be a good party.

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Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 8, 2023

10-08-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Louis Philip Masi

We often feel crushed under the weight of the anxieties of our lives and of the world — anxieties that come from personal struggles, family struggles, work struggles. We might worry about a loved one who is sick. We might worry about elderly parents. We worry about children or other family members going down the wrong road. We might be worried that they will harm themselves or be miserable their whole lives. We worry about paying all the bills and providing for everything the family needs. If we did not have enough to be anxious about in our own lives, when we turn on the television or grab our phones, we are bombarded with the bad news of the day: hostile politics, wars raging, violence in the streets, hurricanes and wildfires, and more. There is no doubt that a huge segment of the population nowadays is worried, anxious, and suffering from depression.

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26th Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 1, 2023

10-01-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Louis Philip Masi

In today’s Gospel, the Lord severely scolds some of the chief priests and elders of the people. On the outside many of them looked righteous and holy, but as we know from many passages in the Gospels, the Lord is never fooled by a person who looks holy yet is full of filth on the inside. The Lord is never fooled because His Divine gaze pierces deeply into the hearts of those in front of Him — then and now. He knew those to whom He spoke and He knows each and every one of us. In fact, the Lord knows us even better than we know ourselves.

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25th Sunday in Ordinary Time – September 24, 2023

09-24-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Joseph Sigur

One of the chores that my little brother and I were given as children by our dad was mowing the lawn. The agreed-upon rate at the time was a whopping $1 each time we mowed the lawn. After several weeks we would have enough money to buy a pack of trading cards at the store.

There came a certain point in my adolescence when I realized that many of my friends at school were making twenty times my measly $1 for cutting the lawn, and so I went to my dad in protest. In typical fatherly fashion, Dad recounted how when he was young, the only money he and his younger brother made cutting grass was from cutting the neighbors’ yards; cutting their own yard was, to quote my grandmother, “the rent for living in her house.”

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24th Sunday in Ordinary Time – September 17, 2023

09-17-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Joseph Sigur

In my short time as a priest (I will celebrate my fifth anniversary in December), some of the most powerful moments have been accompanying death row inmates at the Polunsky unit in Livingston, Texas. About a year ago, I was able to celebrate Mass with one such inmate the night before his execution. This inmate, Kosoul Chanthakoummane, had been convicted of the murder of Dallas real estate agent Sarah Walker in July of 2006.

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Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - September 10, 2023

09-10-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Joseph Sigur

I was recently at a local barbershop getting my hair cut when one of the barber’s customers immediately identified me as a priest. As often happens, an interesting conversation — or rather an interesting monologue — ensued: thoughts about problems with contemporary America, the state of public education, the effects of technology and social media on Gen Z and Gen Alpha, etc. The conversation eventually led to our different Christian denominations, and something that this other gentleman in the barbershop said stuck with me. He assured me that one’s particular denomination is of no import, because “God is a God of love.” “Man made religion,” he declared with absolute confidence before correcting himself, “No! The devil made religion!”

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22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – September 3, 2023

09-03-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Joseph Sigur

Simon, having received his new name “Peter” after his confession of faith at Caesarea Philippi, the “rock on which he will build his Church” (Mt 16:18), almost immediately receives a very different title from Jesus: “Satan.” Jesus, of course, uses this title with its traditional meaning: an “opposer” or “adversary,” telling Simon Peter: “You are a stumbling block (σκάνδαλον) to me, for you are not on the side of God, but of men.” (Mt 16:23) The same disciple who five verses prior was named the “rock” on which Christ would build his church has become a “stumbling block.”

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Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time - August 27, 2023

08-27-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Joseph Zwosta

In his prophetic 1907 novel Lord of the World, Msgr. Robert Hugh Benson describes a future society dominated by Marxism, atheism, and secular humanism. At the beginning of the book, the Catholic Church is allowed to operate in a limited fashion, though her influence over ordinary life is almost non-existent. Evils such as physician-assisted suicide are commonplace. Eventually, a charismatic politician gains enormous power and leads an outright persecution of the Church. A small group of faithful priests and laity keep the Church on earth alive. Without giving away too much of the ending, the gates of hell do not prevail against her.

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Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

08-20-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Joseph Zwosta

There are certain passages in the Gospels in which Christ’s interactions do not unfold the way that many of us would expect. Today’s Gospel certainly qualifies. A sincere Canaanite woman informs the Lord that her daughter is possessed by a demon. By this point in St. Matthew’s Gospel, we’ve heard about Christ performing numerous exorcisms. The afflicted mother even employs words that others have used with success: “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!” (Mt 15:22) In this case, however, He does not respond to her at all. When she later asks a second time for His help, accompanied by an act of homage, He seems to treat her even more harshly. He says: “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” (Mt 15:26) How can we understand Christ’s unusual behavior?

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“Do not be afraid! I am with you.”

08-13-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Joseph Zwosta

This Sunday occurs (in the Northern Hemisphere) during the middle of summer. Many families and groups of friends are spending recreational time together near oceans, lakes, and rivers. As human beings, there is something that draws us to such bodies of water, even though we understand the dangers that are also inherent in them.

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Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord

08-06-2023Weekly ReflectionFr. Joseph Zwosta

Today’s feast marks a pivotal moment in Christ’s earthly ministry: the manifestation of His radiant glory to Saints Peter, James, and John in the presence of the Old Testament figures of Moses and Elijah. As the Catechism explains, “Christ’s Transfiguration aims at strengthening the apostles’ faith in anticipation of his Passion: the ascent onto the ‘high mountain’ prepares for the ascent to Calvary.” (CCC 568) In light of this traditional interpretation of the reason for this wondrous event, one may ask: why were only these three Apostles chosen to be present? Why not all of the Twelve? Why not even a larger group of disciples? Every follower of Christ could surely have benefited from a strengthening of faith before witnessing the great trial of the Lord’s Passion and Death.

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