Pastor’s Column 13th Sunday Ordinary Time June 28, 2020 “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” ---from Matthew 10:37-42 (this Sunday’s gospel) All of us have periods of our lives where things just don’t seem to go the way we hope they will, especially in these challenging times. We have to struggle with God’s permissive will (things he allows to happen for our ultimate greater good) or his active will (things he chooses for us that we would not necessarily prefer). How true it is that in seeking to escape one cross we have encountered, we often run into a heavier

Pastor’s Column 12th Sunday Ordinary Time June 21, 2020 It can seem as if there is so much to fear in our modern lives. It would not be hard to come up with a list, what with the coronavirus, financial unemployment worries, riots in various places, to name only a few. Jesus teaches us (Matthew 10:26-33) that we are not even to fear if someone is trying to kill, slander or calumniate us, since a time will come when those who do such things will be completely exposed! Actually, most of us tend to worry about the wrong things. You could come up with your own laundry list of personal fears, but Jesus tells us clearly that the crucial thing is to fear sin, especially mortal sin, which is deadly

Pastor’s Column Corpus Christi 2020 “Remember how for forty years now the Lord, your God has directed all your journeying in the desert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was your intention to keep his commandments.” Deuteronomy 8:2-3 When the Israelites were wandering around in the desert of Sinai for forty years, it must have seemed like anything but a honeymoon to them. They complained constantly and, frankly, it appears they had some reason to complain. For example, when Pharaoh was about to slaughter them and they appeared trapped by the Red Sea, it was only when they were desperate, without any hope, that God opened a path in the water to rescue them. Ag

Pastor’s Column Trinity Sunday June 7, 2020 Everyone knows that what we eat is eventually expressed in our bodies: how we look, how we function, how healthy we are, and, often how long we will live. For example, if my diet consists mostly of pizza, in a sense I am going to begin to look like a pizza, especially in the waist, hips, heart and arteries! Well, no matter how much we try, most of us will make unhealthy choices on occasion, no matter how much we may wish to avoid them. Of course, this is not just a column about food, but about unhealthy spiritual choices as well, choices that can poison our minds, our souls, our relationship with God and with other people. The choices we habitua