Pastor’s Column 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time October 27, 2019 When going in for a job interview, we naturally hope to impress the person doing the hiring! We try to learn what it is the company is looking for and how to approach them in a way that will be (hopefully!) to their liking. Yet when we approach God in prayer, do we stop to consider what pleases God when we speak to him? Of course, the Lord is always glad to hear from us, but certain ways of praying are more attractive to him than others. Fortunately, the scriptures teach us what is pleasing to God when we pray. Let’s look at this Sunday’s gospel (Luke 18:9-14) for clues. A Pharisee and a tax collector go up to pray. The Pharisee a

Pastor’s Column 29th Sunday Ordinary Time October 20, 2019 Inasmuch as Saint John Henry Newman was proclaimed a universal saint in the church last Sunday, I feel it appropriate to rerun his most famous quote (below), Despite all his many successes, we see that he had within him a certain quality of vulnerability, as do we all, that united him to the Lord. Perhaps if his little prayer helps you, you might also ask for his prayers for your life. Father Gary God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a b

Pastor’s Column 28th Sunday Ordinary Time October 13, 2019 Ten lepers were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give thanks except this foreigner? Luke 17:17-18 Learning to be a thankful person, a person who praises God in all circumstances takes practice; it is a habit, just as complaining is also a habit. This is something I personally have to keep working on, so I keep quite a few reminders about praise and thanksgiving that I have heard or read over the years. Here are a few of them. Praising God every morning. How we start the day is a critical component of a fruitful spiritual life. What do you say when the alarm goes off? “Oh no, not again?!”

Pastor’s Column 27th Sunday Ordinary Time October 6, 2019 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” The Lord answered, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this sycamore, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” Luke 17:5-6 If the apostles, who witnessed Jesus’ miracles, needed more faith, how much more do we? Think about it for a moment: only in this brief lifetime, during our short stay on earth, is it possible to have faith. The moment we die and see the Lord, it will no longer be possible to have faith, because then we will have seen the truth. This short lifetime of ours is filled with incredible riches. According to some mys

Pastor’s Column 26th Sunday Ordinary Time September 29, 2019 This Sunday we read one of the more disturbing passages of the New Testament (Luke 16:19-31), a parable of a rich man and a poor one. The rich man has traditionally been called “Dives” (Latin for “rich”); the poor man’s name is Lazarus. Look at this description of Lazarus! He is covered with sores… so he would have been smelly, messy, and ugly. Most people would not go near him. He has only street dogs for company. He is a beggar. People of that era would have thought him a great sinner, since he had to suffer so much, but how wrong this judgment is. Then Lazarus dies. Now let’s take a look at “Dives,” the rich man. He eats