From the Pastor – 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 6, 2019

From the Pastor – 27 th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings today show us that living a stewardship way of life — a life focused on serving God and His Kingdom — is not easy. They also show us that our lives belong to God, not to us, and that God will indeed bring about the fulfillment of His kingdom. We just need to have faith that He can do it and commit to our small part in His grand design. This is both our privilege and responsibility as Christian stewards.

Jesus makes this privilege and responsibility clear in today’s Gospel passage from Luke. When the apostles ask the Lord to increase their faith, He tells them that even a mustard seed-sized faith is all that is needed to move mountains (because it is God who does the heavy lifting). We need only take the tiniest step forward, and He will do the rest.

But living our lives in His service is also very much our responsibility, as Jesus explains through the parable of the unprofitable servant later in this passage. Our Lord describes a scene in which a servant has just come in from tending to the master’s affairs and asks whether it would be reasonable for the master to begin waiting on his servant. Of course, it would not be reasonable! The servant would be expected to continue to serve his master until he has completed the work the master has given him that day. Jesus says we should have this same attitude before God.

The time, talents, and treasure entrusted to us are all God’s. Our very lives belong to Him. Whatever we do on God’s behalf with our lives and our gifts is simply our God-given responsibility.

The stewardship way of life makes the privilege and responsibility of serving Christ and His kingdom a reality. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants

Pastoral Pondering – Once again we, as a Church, celebrate Respect Life Sunday. While great strides have been made in our defense of human life, much still needs to be done. The culture of death continues to fight for supremacy and, sadly, many places are embracing it fully. The following is offered by the USCCB to commemorate this special observance this year.

From the time we are knit together in our mothers’ wombs until we take our final breaths, each moment of our lives is a gift from God. While every season of life brings its own challenges and trials, each season also gives us new opportunities to grow in our relationship with God.

“Hold fast to the hope that lies before us. This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm.” Hebrews 6:18-19

Today the gift of life is threatened in countless ways. Those who are most vulnerable, rather than receiving the protection they deserve, are all too often seen as a burden and as expendable. As new attacks on human life continue to emerge, we can be tempted to despair, but Christ instead offers us unfailing hope.

Hope is not false optimism or empty positivity. Christian hope is something much more profound and goes to the very depths of our identity as followers of Christ.

Hope is the virtue “by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit” (CCC, 1817).

Like us, Christ entered the world through the womb of a woman. He willingly experienced the fullness of human suffering. He breathed his last on the Cross at Calvary in order that He might save us. Therefore, “God is the foundation of hope: not any god, but the God who has a human face and who has loved us to the end” ( Spe salvi 31).

Christians know “they have a future: it is not that they know the details of what awaits them, but they know in general terms that their life will not end in emptiness” (SS 2).

For this reason, a woman experiencing a difficult pregnancy can find the strength to welcome her precious child into the world. A man facing a terminal diagnosis can see that the end of his earthly life is only the beginning of eternal life with Christ.

The Church teaches us that “the one who has hope lives differently” (SS 2). Christ’s promise of salvation does not mean that we will be spared from suffering. Rather, the promise of salvation ensures that even in the darkest moments of our lives, we will be given the strength to persevere. By virtue of this Christian hope, we can face any challenge or trial. When the seas of life swell and we are battered by the waves, hope allows us to remain anchored in the heart of God. May we hold fast to Christ our hope, from the beginning of life to its very end.

NABRE © 2010, CCD. Used with permission. Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition © 2000 LEV-USCCB. Used with permission. Excerpts from Spe salvi, © 2007, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2019, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, D.C.

All rights reserved. Reprinted (excerpted) from Respect Life Program © 2019, USCCB, Washington, D.C. All rights reserved.

From the Pastor

From the Pastor - Fourth Sunday of Easter

By John Putnam • April 24, 2026
Today’s readings on this fourth Sunday of Easter offer us a glimpse into the heart of our loving Savior. He is the Good Shepherd and we can confidently place our trust in Him as we live the stewardship way of life. This endearing image of Jesus as our shepherd, and His personal love for each one of us, is described in our Gospel passage from John, through the words of Jesus Himself. Here we read Jesus’ description of Himself as the “Good Shepherd.” He says of Himself, “The sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.” This aspect of our Lord’s tender and personal love for each one of us is a compelling reason to embrace the stewardship way of life — in the offering of our time, talent, and treasure to Him, we can express our gratitude to Him for the incomprehensible love He has for us. Embracing this way of life certainly requires trust on our part. But Christ has proven Himself worthy of our trust. He “bore our sins in His body.” He calls Himself our shepherd and He offers Himself as the guardian of our souls. He has withheld nothing of Himself and His goodness from us. He would never ask anything of us that would bring us harm. He tells us “I came so that [you] might have life and have it more abundantly.” This Easter season, let us resolve to entrust ourselves and our lives gratefully to Him. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2026 Pastoral Pondering As we continue our treatment of the basics of the faith and following up on last week’s discussion of cohabitation, this week I wanted to focus on Natural Family Planning which some people misconstrue as Catholic contraception. Natural Family Planning: The Catholic Way to Responsible Parenthood Natural Family Planning (NFP) consists of moral, scientific methods that help married couples achieve or postpone pregnancy by observing a woman’s natural signs of fertility—such as cervical mucus and basal body temperature—without drugs, devices, or surgery. The Catholic Church fully supports NFP because it respects God’s design for marital love, which is both **unitive** (bonding) and **procreative** (open to life). Unlike artificial contraception, which deliberately blocks fertility, NFP works with the body’s natural cycles through periodic abstinence when needed. Church Teaching In Humanae Vitae (1968), Pope St. Paul VI taught that couples may use the infertile periods for serious reasons, while always remaining open to the gift of children. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2370) affirms that methods based on self-observation and infertile periods are morally acceptable because they respect the dignity of the spouses and promote authentic freedom. NFP is not “Catholic contraception.” The difference is in the heart: contraception rejects fertility in the act itself; NFP involves responsible discernment and periodic continence when there are just reasons (health, financial, emotional, or other proportionate circumstances). Couples should prayerfully discern together, ideally with a priest or spiritual director, avoiding a selfish “contraceptive mentality.” NFP can also help couples conceive by identifying the fertile window. Benefits for Catholic Couples - Strengthens marriage through better communication, mutual respect, and shared sacrifice. - Respects the woman’s body and natural rhythms. - Highly effective when properly learned and used. - Supports monitoring of reproductive health. Popular Church-approved methods include the Sympto-Thermal Method , Creighton Model , and Marquette Method . Instruction from a certified teacher is strongly recommended. A Parish Invitation As the domestic Church, families thrive when they live God’s plan for love and life. If you are preparing for marriage, newlywed, or seeking to grow in this area, contact your diocesan Family Life Office or visit the USCCB Natural Family Planning page for resources and local classes.  May the Lord bless all married couples as they cooperate with God in the beautiful vocation of responsible parenthood!

From the Pastor - Third Sunday of Easter

By John Putnam • April 17, 2026
Today’s readings focus on a theme of “sojourning.” As Christian stewards, we know our lives are a sojourn toward the ultimate destination of heaven. Our Gospel passage today describes the sojourn of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The two are dejected and despondent after Jesus’ death. They knew Jesus personally. They had heard the Gospel message directly from His lips. They heard the testimony of the women who discovered our Lord’s empty tomb and saw a vision of angels announcing He was alive. They had been informed by other disciples who went to the tomb that all was exactly as the women reported. How much more obvious could the Good News be? And yet, at times, the reaction of the two disciples describes our own stewardship journey, doesn’t it? We have the fullness of the Catholic faith, the power of the sacraments, and the support of our parish family. Yet, we often lose our way. We fail to see all the gifts we have been given. We lack trust in the perfect goodness and almighty power of God. But notice what happens to the two men when their eyes are opened once again, and they recognize Jesus in the Eucharist — the “breaking of the bread.” They are transformed! Their hearts are set on fire with love for the Lord and for their faith. They recall that their hearts began “burning within” as the Lord was explaining the Scriptures to them. When we find we have lost our way, we can go to the same sources as the two disciples on the road to Emmaus — the Scriptures and the Eucharist. In this Easter season, resolve to feast deeply on these two sources of grace. They are the fuel that will propel us on our journey toward heaven. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2026 Pastoral Pondering Returning to a review of Catholic teaching basics, as we move into Spring, we often see an increase in the number of weddings requested. Sadly, it is not uncommon these days to find couples choosing to live together prior to their marriage. Hence, I thought it would be a good idea to lay out the Church’s teaching on this matter in a concise way. Living Together Before Marriage: A Catholic Perspective From the Catholic Church’s teaching, living together (cohabitation) before marriage is morally wrong, primarily because it typically involves fornication —sexual relations outside of marriage—which is gravely sinful (CCC 2353). Human sexuality is a sacred gift ordered by God to the unitive and procreative purposes of marriage alone. Sexual intimacy outside marriage cannot express the total, faithful, and permanent self-giving that spouses vow in the sacrament. Instead, it says with the body what is not yet true in commitment: “I give myself to you completely and forever.” This makes the act a contradiction, contrary to the dignity of persons and God’s plan for love (see CCC 2391; USCCB resources on marriage preparation). Cohabitation also: Creates a near occasion of sin , placing the couple in a situation that strongly tempts them toward grave immorality. Gives scandal , leading others—especially the young—to doubt or dismiss the Church’s teaching on chastity and the sacredness of marriage. Treats marriage as a “trial” rather than the definitive covenant it is meant to be. True love “demands a total and definitive gift of persons to one another” and cannot be an arrangement “until further notice.” Additionally, studies cited by Catholic sources show that couples who cohabit before marriage face higher risks of divorce, instability, and weaker commitment compared to those who do not. The Church calls engaged couples to practice chastity in continence during preparation for marriage—an “apprenticeship in fidelity” that builds mutual respect and prepares them to receive the grace of the sacrament (CCC 2350). Priests, deacons and pastoral ministers accompany cohabiting couples with mercy and truth, encouraging them to live separately or chastely while preparing for a valid sacramental marriage. In a culture that often views cohabitation as practical or normal, the Church invites couples to witness the beauty of God’s design: chastity before marriage, followed by a joyful, lifelong union blessed by the sacrament. For more, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church (esp. 2331–2400).