July 14, 2011

By Jeanne Hunt

 It’s summer and it’s too darn hot. The only happy people are the tomato warriors who are delighted with God’s little joke because juicy, red Big Boys are in the making.

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July 17, 2011

By Father Timothy Schehr

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Wisdom 12:13-19; Romans 8:26-27; Matthew 13:24-43

This Sunday we hear three parables about the kingdom of God. They build on each other, each one illuminating in its own way the kingdom’s presence and value. The first parable highlights God’s protection of it; the second, the kingdom’s benefits; the third, the kingdom’s influence for good.

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July 8, 2011

By Father Timothy P. Schehr

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Isaiah 55:10-11; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-23

Every summer we see the miracle of life in the gardens around our homes. We plant seeds and if conditions are right the seeds do all the rest. In this Sunday’s Gospel Jesus takes this image to the spiritual level.

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July 3, 2011

By Father Timothy Schehr

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Zechariah 9:9-10; Romans 8:9-13; Matthew 11:25-30.

Are any of us feeling tired and weary? If so, Jesus invites us to come to Him for some rest. And why not accept His invitation? All of us from time to time find living in this world a bit overwhelming.

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June 28, 2011

By Father Kyle Schnippel

With the advent of the 24-hour news channels, it seems that there is now a greater desire to, in a way, manufacture news. With 168 hours of news coverage to fill per week, there is a great deal of time to rehash and recover stories that even just 10 years ago might have fallen quickly to the wayside, especially when those stories center around the fall from grace of a public figure who has become bigger than the law, the constituents, the cause which he or she serves.

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June 15, 2011

By Father Earl Fernandes

Sic semper tyrannis! Often mistranslated as “Death to tyrants,” this Latin phrase was shouted by John Wilkes Booth as he shot President Lincoln and serves as the motto for the Commonwealth of Virginia. It really means “Thus always to tyrants.”

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June 18, 2011

By Sister Betty J. Lillie, S.C

The Most Holy Trinity: Exodus 34:4b–6, 8-9; Daniel 3:52-56; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; John 3:16-18.

Two weeks ago, on the feast of the Ascension, we celebrated the exodus of Jesus from His historical presence on earth. Then on the feast of Pentecost we rejoiced in the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, whereby Jesus remains in the church on earth until the end of time. This week we come to the wonderful feast of the Most Holy Trinity. 

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June 7, 2011

By Jeanne Hunt

Abba is the name Jesus used for His father. It can mean “Daddy” in Aramaic. It may seem a bit immature for a grown man to call his father “Daddy.” My kids outgrew “Daddy” around eight years old when it was not cool to talk like a baby. But not our Jesus. He couldn’t think of dear ole’ Dad in any other way than “Daddy.”

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June 12, 2011

By Sister Betty J. Lillie, SC

Pentecost Sunday:  Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104: 1, 24, 29-31, 34; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23.

Let us take as a focus for this reflection the spirit of the feast of Pentecost as we hear it in our first reading. As the disciples were gathered together in one place on the day of Pentecost, a sound from heaven like a rush of a mighty wind filled the house where they were sitting. But in this case the Spirit was not in the wind.

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June 5, 2011

By Sister Betty J. Lillie, S.C.

The Ascension of the Lord:  Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47: 2-3, 6-9; Ephesians 1:17-23; Matthew 28: 16-20.

Our first reading for this Sunday from the Acts of the Apostles follows the tradition that through 40 days Jesus presented himself alive to the Apostles He had chosen. Some of the many proofs Jesus gave them are related in the last chapter of the Gospel of Luke (Luke 24), and they provide a link with the Acts of the Apostles.

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