Parish News

Dear People Whom God Loves, Entering the reign of God  is becoming more and more divinized . . . in other words, being “gifted” (remember it is a free, unearned gift from Love) with more and more God-likeness.  What is God like?  To be God means to be self-emptying love.  Listen to what the Apostle […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, We now turn to the third temptation of Jesus.  The devil takes him to the top of the temple and tells Jesus that he should throw himself down.  The devil quotes scripture.  “God will send his angels to protect you so that you will not be hurt.” Why would this […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, We come now to a second temptation of Jesus.  The devil offers him all the kingdoms of the world with all the wealth and power that would bring.  I don’t know whether wealth and power were that attractive to Jesus.  Perhaps not.  But this could be a more subtle attraction.  […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, Worship is attacked (Amos) The prophet Amos challenges his people:  “repelling the needy at the gate…let justice prevail at the gate”.  “I hate, I spurn your feasts…your cereal offerings I will not accept nor consider your stall-fed peace offerings.” Jesus says in Matthew’s gospel, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”. Worship […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, We turn now to the temptations of Jesus.  For me, they offer an insight into why so many different kinds of people were drawn to Jesus.  They also help me to understand why he was a threat to others. The first temptation from the devil was to turn the stones […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, We will now look at Jesus as bridge.  God made this bridge by the Incarnation that we celebrate every Christmas.  God enters into humanity in Jesus and, in a mysterious way, lives humanly.  This blows my mind.  It seems too good to be true.  Yet it is at the core […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, I write this series of columns not as a professional theologian or a scripture scholar.  I write this from my own religious studies, but much more, from my own spiritual journey including 60 years of being with people as a priest.  This is not more than that.  It also is […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, Please relect on the following quotation.  The quotes are found in the book Prayerfulness by Robert J. Wicks.  They are on page 64 It is a response by a Vietnamese monk to this question: “Why do you meditate?” He answers in almost perfect English, “I meditate to be happy.  When […]

Dear People Whom God Loves, A major part of Jesus’ life was the healing of wounds…spiritual, mental, and physical.  I remind you of the healing mission of Project Rachel.  I invite you to consider whether this would be helpful to you. Project Rachel is the Catholic Church’s outreach for confidential ministry for anyone who desires […]