Pastor’s Column 26th Sunday Ordinary Time September 27, 2020 “A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ He said in reply, ‘I will not,’ but afterwards changed his mind and went.” Matthew 21:28-29 The parable of the two sons has so much meaning for our lives. Who hasn’t encountered someone who tells us they will do something, but never actually completes the job? One son in the parable says “Yes,” but actually doesn’t do what he is asked, while the other son says “No!” quite emphatically, but then changes his mind and is obedient. Personally, I am convinced that this dad had another child that wasn’t mentioned – the one who said “Yes” and

Pastor’s Column 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time September 20, 2020 Once I lived in a community where one could see farm laborers standing around waiting to be hired. In many ways this scene was like this Sunday’s gospel of the parable of the landowner who hired people to work in his garden at various times of the day (Matthew 20:1–16). Some of these laborers worked for the master from the beginning of their lives, others from the middle of their lives and still others at the end of their lives. This gospel can strike us as both hopeful and disquieting at the same time. For example, a person wishing to come to Christ on their deathbed is still welcomed by him and is received with open arms as lo

Pastor's Column September 13, 2020 ''He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death even to death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him... '' Philippians 2:6-11 The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is Monday, September 14. There once was a man who felt he had an unbearable cross to carry and was given the grace to ask the Lord if he could choose another one. God did allow him to put his cross back, with the reminder that every Christian is given the grace of a cross to carry in imitation of Our Lord. So the man was asked to go into a big room to pick out another cross more to his liking. Here he found a room filled with crosses of every shape and size (though they d

Pastor Column 23rd Sunday Ordinary Time September 6, 2020 “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.’” Matthew 18:15 Jesus talks about the need to forgive others a lot. Often without thinking we pray the Our Father, perhaps without realizing that Jesus’ forgiveness of our sins is conditional on our (trying!) to forgive others. This is what we say: “….and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us”. Then for emphasis Jesus repeats this part of the Our Father. So, what is forgiveness and how do we do it? Forgiveness is not a feeling. I don’t have to like the person who offended me, or excuse what they