Dear sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, This September we have been reflecting on God’s generosity toward us, on giving thanks for God’s gifts to us, and on responding in generosity toward others. Good stewardship of God’s gifts is the disciple’s response to God’s generosity. Now we want to put this spirit of gratitude into practice, and practice stewardship as a way of life. This weekend I want to make a direct appeal to you, as parishioners, to consider your weekly offering to God at Mass. Our weekly contribution to the offertory is our way of giving thanks to God for all we have received each week. We present our gifts to God to be blessed and shared, along with the bread and wine
“Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, ‘If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.’ Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it, he said to them, ‘Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me.’” Dear sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, We strive to excel in all that we do; we are made for greatness! Yet we need to take care that our goals are good for the whole Body of Christ, the Church, not just for ourselves. Selfish ambition sets us against our brothers and sisters; it isolates us. Instead, we can order our ambitions toward building up the Church and earn the gratitude of those
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.” When was the last time we were asked to lay down our lives for our faith? When were we last asked to pit our Christian way of life against the ways of the world and take a stand? Is it too easy to be a Christian, or too hard? If being a Christian does not involve a personal Cross for each of us, are we doing it wrong? Our faith makes demands of us. Belonging to the Church means sacrificing for Her. We give of our gifts because we recognize them as gifts from the God who suffered greatly for us, was rejected, and was killed
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, As I mentioned in my homily a few weeks ago, I want us to make an act of reparation and healing for survivors of abuse, for the reform of our clergy, and for the strengthening of our Catholic Church. I am asking us all to practice fasting and abstinence (like we do on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday) from the morning of this Friday, September 14th, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, through 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 15th, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. We will be celebrating a special time of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Confessions on Saturday, beginning at noon with Exposition and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and conc
