From the Pastor - 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 15, 2023

Today’s readings call us to look inward to the state of our hearts, our thoughts and emotions.

 

Our first reading, from Sirach, addresses the complicated emotion of anger. “Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the Lord?" We have all been wounded by others at some point, some perhaps quite deeply. Our emotions are gifts from God. But we must steward them well, rather than allowing them to overcome us.

 

How do we do this? Sirach tells us. “Remember your last days, set enmity aside... Remember the Most High’s covenant and overlook faults.” We embrace the stewardship mindset— not brooding over hurts but recalling all the gifts our good God has given us, all the love He continually pours out upon us, and we put our focus and trust in Him.

 

In our Gospel passage from Matthew, Jesus reminds us of the true position we have before Him in light of all that He has done for us, comparing the kingdom of heaven to a “king who decided to settle accounts with his servants.” In the parable, a debtor is brought before the king, owing such an overwhelming debt that it could not possibly be repaid. Yet, the king is filled with compassion for the servant, forgives the debt and lets him go free.

 

Doesn’t that sound like each of us in relation to the King of Kings? The Father has given us life, and then sent His only Son to die for us to free us from our sin “debts” and make eternal life with Him possible for us. It is impossible for us to repay this debt. All we can do is thank God by giving Him our whole selves — inside and out.

 

What joy and freedom we find in the stewardship way of life!

 

©Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2023

 

Pastoral Pondering

This weekend we have the opportunity to come together and celebrate Septemberfest as a parish family. It is good to worship together. It is good to pray together. It is also good to have fun together! Thanks to Rose George and all the staff and volunteers who make this annual event possible.

 

In this weekend’s pondering, I wanted to address a topic that I have been asked about a number of times over the last few months, the warning and the three-days of darkness. Recently, Father Chris Alar, MIC produced a YouTube Video concerning this topic. The notion of the warning and the three-days of darkness did not originate with Father Chris. Rather, it is deeply rooted in Sacred Scripture, especially in the book of Revelation. Moreover, it has been propagated by various private revelations including those of Fatima, Akita and LaSalette.

 

At Fatima, and through Our Lady’s instructions to Sister Lucia regarding the First Saturday Devotion, we know that Our Lord desires reparation. God’s justice will come, but the severity of his justice might be assuaged by our prayers of reparation united with the intercession of Our Lady. We know that her Immaculate Heart will triumph, but we also know that we must be obedient to her call for penance and reparation. This is encouraged primarily through the First Saturday Communion of reparation and by praying the rosary daily for the conversion of sinners.

 

St. Padre Pio is said to have prophesied about the three-days of darkness. Before him, however, similar messages were given to St. Anne Catherine Emmerich, St. John Bosco, St. Anna Maria Taigi and St. Faustina Kowalska. In 1918 Padre Pio began to experience the stigmata, the five wounds of Christ. Padre Pio testified to the truth of the revelations he received from the Lord in a letter he sent to the Vatican commission investigating the veracity of his experiences. The Lord told him that the time was at hand for his judgment to come. His faithful ones are told to be faithful in prayer and reparation. The Divine Judgement shall strike like a thunderbolt as were the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. During this time, the faithful are admonished not go outside nor even look outside. They are to pray constantly. Blessed candles will provide the only light and hurricanes of fire will come upon the earth. The Lord said that no harm will come to those who keep my will and observe my warning. Following this punishment, on the fourth day, the sun will shine, and the angels of peace will descend on the earth.

 

So, what are we to do in response to these prophecies? We are to do what we are called to do always. We are called to pray, to be obedient to the Lord’s commands and to remain in the state of grace. In other words, we are called to pursue holiness in all we say and do. This, of course, is more and more difficult in the world in which we live. To be sure, there is still great goodness in the world, but there is also great evil. That which is wrong, the world presents as right. That which is good, the world presents as evil. Reality is being turned upside down. In light of this, we must remember the words of Sacred Scripture, those who walk in darkness have seen a great light (see Isaiah 9:2; Matthew 4:16; John 8:12 and Acts 26:18). The LIGHT has been revealed to us, and our job is to follow the LIGHT and not take our eyes away from HIM. In John chapter 6 verse 20, Jesus says to the apostles, “It is I, do not be afraid.” He speaks those words to us as well. God is just, but He is also merciful to those who seek His mercy. Therein lies the key. We must seek His mercy every day. We must pray every day, and we must heed His words through St. Paul: So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. (1 Thess. 5:6)


From the Pastor

From the Pastor - 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By John Putnam • October 9, 2026
This reflection pertains to the regular readings for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time. We have been given so many gifts and blessings by our Heavenly Father. Yet, in our fallen state it is all too easy to take them for granted. Our readings today teach us that we must live with an intentional awareness of our many blessings and use them gratefully to glorify God. In our Gospel passage from Matthew, Jesus uses the image of a vineyard to teach the importance of using our blessings well. He tells the story of a landowner who plants a vineyard and leases it to tenants before he goes on a journey. Instead of tending the vineyard, the tenants mistreat the servants in the vineyard and even the son of the landowner, whom they kill. When the landowner realizes what the tenants have done, he puts them to death and leases his vineyard to tenants who “will give him the produce at the proper times.” By Baptism, we have received the gift of salvation and membership in the Kingdom of God — we are now “tenants” called to work in the “vineyard” and produce fruit for its owner, our Heavenly Father. Jesus makes it clear that if we squander the gift of salvation, we will lose it. It is a sobering truth. So, let us use our intellect to think on these gifts throughout the day and resolve to use all our gifts for God’s glory. ©Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2026 Pastoral Pondering Why St. Francis still matters to the Church On October 4 the Church honors St. Francis of Assisi, one of the most beloved and most demanding saints in our history. He is not merely a garden statue or a gentle friend of animals. Francis is a living reminder of what the Gospel looks like when it is taken at its word. Born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone around 1181 in Assisi, he was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant. After a brief taste of knighthood and a season of pleasure, he heard Christ speak from the crucifix of San Damiano: “Francis, go and rebuild my house, which, as you see, is falling into ruin.” He took those words first as a command to repair a crumbling chapel. The Lord meant something larger: the renewal of the Church herself. What Francis restored in the Church Poverty as freedom. Francis stripped himself of inheritance, status, and even the clothes on his back. He called Lady Poverty his bride. That was not a romantic gesture. It was a protest against a Church and a society grown comfortable. Every generation of Catholics needs that protest. When we confuse the Gospel with respectability, Francis stands at the door of the Church and asks whether we still believe that Christ is enough. The crucified Christ at the center. In 1224, two years before his death, Francis received the stigmata on Mount La Verna—the wounds of Christ marked in his own flesh. The Church has always taught that holiness is configuration to Jesus crucified and risen. Francis made that teaching visible. He did not invent devotion to the Passion; he embodied it so completely that the Church could not look away. A family of religious life. From one poor man came the Friars Minor, the Poor Clares with St. Clare, and the Secular Franciscans for men and women living in the world. That threefold family still serves the Church on every continent: preaching, serving the poor, praying, and keeping the memory of the Gospel simple. When we speak of “Franciscan” today—whether a friar, a sister, or a parishioner in the Secular Order—we are naming a way of belonging to Christ that the Church has never outgrown. Creation as gift, not possession. The Canticle of the Creatures—“Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Mother Earth”—is not nature poetry. It is theology. Francis saw every creature as a brother or sister because all things come from the same Father. Pope Francis took that insight into Laudato Si’. Care for our common home is not an optional hobby for Catholics. It is part of the same conversion that led Francis to kiss the leper and to call the wolf of Gubbio his brother. Peace that costs something. In 1219 Francis crossed battle lines during the Fifth Crusade and stood before Sultan al-Kamil. He did not win a treaty. He witnessed to a Lord who is Peace. The Church still needs disciples willing to speak of Christ without hatred and without watering Him down. Francis did both. Why this matters here St. Francis matters to the life of the Church because he keeps returning us to the essentials: Christ poor and crucified, the Church always in need of reform, the poor as our brothers and sisters, creation as a hymn of praise, and joy that does not depend on having more. He is not a saint for specialists. He is a saint for anyone who has grown tired of a faith that costs nothing. As we keep his memorial, I invite you to do one Franciscan thing that is within reach: give something away that you do not need; speak peace where there is friction in your home; spend a few minutes outdoors thanking God for what you did not make; or pray before the crucifix and ask, as Francis did, to know Jesus and to make Him known.  The little poor man of Assisi still rebuilds the Church—one converted heart at a time. May he rebuild ours.

From the Pastor - Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

By John Putnam • October 2, 2026
This reflection pertains to the regular readings for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time. We have been given so many gifts and blessings by our Heavenly Father. Yet, in our fallen state it is all too easy to take them for granted. Our readings today teach us that we must live with an intentional awareness of our many blessings and use them gratefully to glorify God. In our Gospel passage from Matthew, Jesus uses the image of a vineyard to teach the importance of using our blessings well. He tells the story of a landowner who plants a vineyard and leases it to tenants before he goes on a journey. Instead of tending the vineyard, the tenants mistreat the servants in the vineyard and even the son of the landowner, whom they kill. When the landowner realizes what the tenants have done, he puts them to death and leases his vineyard to tenants who “will give him the produce at the proper times.” By Baptism, we have received the gift of salvation and membership in the Kingdom of God — we are now “tenants” called to work in the “vineyard” and produce fruit for its owner, our Heavenly Father. Jesus makes it clear that if we squander the gift of salvation, we will lose it. It is a sobering truth. So, let us use our intellect to think on these gifts throughout the day and resolve to use all our gifts for God’s glory. ©Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2026 Pastoral Pondering Why St. Francis still matters to the Church On October 4 the Church honors St. Francis of Assisi, one of the most beloved and most demanding saints in our history. He is not merely a garden statue or a gentle friend of animals. Francis is a living reminder of what the Gospel looks like when it is taken at its word. Born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone around 1181 in Assisi, he was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant. After a brief taste of knighthood and a season of pleasure, he heard Christ speak from the crucifix of San Damiano: “Francis, go and rebuild my house, which, as you see, is falling into ruin.” He took those words first as a command to repair a crumbling chapel. The Lord meant something larger: the renewal of the Church herself. What Francis restored in the Church Poverty as freedom. Francis stripped himself of inheritance, status, and even the clothes on his back. He called Lady Poverty his bride. That was not a romantic gesture. It was a protest against a Church and a society grown comfortable. Every generation of Catholics needs that protest. When we confuse the Gospel with respectability, Francis stands at the door of the Church and asks whether we still believe that Christ is enough. The crucified Christ at the center. In 1224, two years before his death, Francis received the stigmata on Mount La Verna—the wounds of Christ marked in his own flesh. The Church has always taught that holiness is configuration to Jesus crucified and risen. Francis made that teaching visible. He did not invent devotion to the Passion; he embodied it so completely that the Church could not look away. A family of religious life. From one poor man came the Friars Minor, the Poor Clares with St. Clare, and the Secular Franciscans for men and women living in the world. That threefold family still serves the Church on every continent: preaching, serving the poor, praying, and keeping the memory of the Gospel simple. When we speak of “Franciscan” today—whether a friar, a sister, or a parishioner in the Secular Order—we are naming a way of belonging to Christ that the Church has never outgrown. Creation as gift, not possession. The Canticle of the Creatures—“Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Mother Earth”—is not nature poetry. It is theology. Francis saw every creature as a brother or sister because all things come from the same Father. Pope Francis took that insight into Laudato Si’. Care for our common home is not an optional hobby for Catholics. It is part of the same conversion that led Francis to kiss the leper and to call the wolf of Gubbio his brother. Peace that costs something. In 1219 Francis crossed battle lines during the Fifth Crusade and stood before Sultan al-Kamil. He did not win a treaty. He witnessed to a Lord who is Peace. The Church still needs disciples willing to speak of Christ without hatred and without watering Him down. Francis did both. Why this matters here St. Francis matters to the life of the Church because he keeps returning us to the essentials: Christ poor and crucified, the Church always in need of reform, the poor as our brothers and sisters, creation as a hymn of praise, and joy that does not depend on having more. He is not a saint for specialists. He is a saint for anyone who has grown tired of a faith that costs nothing. As we keep his memorial, I invite you to do one Franciscan thing that is within reach: give something away that you do not need; speak peace where there is friction in your home; spend a few minutes outdoors thanking God for what you did not make; or pray before the crucifix and ask, as Francis did, to know Jesus and to make Him known.  The little poor man of Assisi still rebuilds the Church—one converted heart at a time. May he rebuild ours.