26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year AEzekiel 18:25-28Psalm 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 (6a)Philippians 2:1-11Matthew 21:28-32September 27, 2020 Today Jesus poses a question to the chief priests and the elders. They have been asking him questions. They often asked Jesus questions to try to trap him to get rid of him. Jesus has a different motive in …
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As I have begun to write articles explicitly on morality, I acknowledge that discussion on the morality of specific behaviors can be difficult. I pray that nothing I will write be interpreted as judgment on anyone. My goal is always to lead people to Christ. With this in mind, I have titled this article, “Never …
24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year ASirach 27:30-28:7Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12 (8)Romans 14:7-9Matthew 18:21-35September 13, 2020 It can be hard to forgive. It can be even harder to forgive the same person over and over for the same thing. Peter knows this. So, he asks Jesus, “How often must I forgive? As many as …
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23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year AEzekiel 33:7-9Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9 (8)Romans 13:8-10Matthew 18:15-20September 6, 2020 Today we hear about how God calls us to respond to sin. The first reading is sometimes known as the Parable of the Watchman. A watchman was assigned as a lookout to watch for danger. If he saw danger …
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After we have confessed our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we receive a “penance.” We are not just “given” or “assigned” a penance as punishment for our sins. We must receive the penance. By “receive” I mean we willing accept the penance as an admission of our sins and our desire to change. If …
Does God change? God is eternal, without beginning or end. Does He ever change? I ask the question because recently I was asked about God’s vengeance. There is some tendency to see God in the Old Testament as a punishing God while in the New Testament God is loving and forgiving. Why the difference? The …
Prior to the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) it was common for Catholics to go to Confession at least monthly if not every other week. Some even went weekly. For some it didn’t matter if they didn’t know of any mortal sins they had committed. You went because you were supposed to. After the Second Vatican …
The Coronavirus shutdown continues. Some states are beginning to lift restrictions. New York State, where I live, continues under shutdown. We are now around the six week mark. Of course, the challenges caused by the pandemic started before we actually shutdown. We had started social distancing and the shelves in the grocery stores went bare …
I was scheduled to do the next presentation in my series on the Sacraments on March 25th. Like so many other things, because of the Coronavirus, that in-person has been cancelled. Because of the uncertainty of how long it will be before we can gather for presentations, I decided to go ahead and make a …
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2nd Sunday of Advent, Year A Isaiah 11:1-10Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17 (3)Romans 15:4-9Matthew 3:1-12 December 8, 2019 Advent is a time to reflect on the coming of Jesus. Last week’s gospel spoke of the Second Coming. The birth of Jesus that we celebrate at Christmas is the First Coming of Jesus. Today our gospel …
