Genesis 18:20-32;  Colossians 2:12-14;  Luke 11:1-13 The disciples came to Jesus with the request, “Lord, teach us to pray.” In reply Jesus gave us some of the most familiar words to Christians, “The Lord’s Prayer.”  Luke’s version is worded differently than Matthew’s from which we derive the memorized prayer.  But the first lesson we...
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2 Samuel 12:7-10,13; Galatians 2:16,19-21; Luke 7:36-8:3 “I am sorry;” three simple words; three very easy words to pronounce.  But when put together into one sentence three of the hardest words to utter.  “I am sorry,” is hard to say for a variety of reasons.  First of all it means swallowing our pride and...
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Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Revelation 21:10-14,22-23;  John 14:23-29 Since the beginnings of the Church there has always been a need to resolve conflicts and to clarify Church teachings.  This has often been the case when the Church finds itself at odds with the secular laws and popular secular attitudes.  We read of this reality in...
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That is the sad truth of the reality of the sexual abuse cases in our Church. Men who were called by God to live holy lives, allowed their own personal brokenness to get in the way of their vocation. As a result many people were victimized. Furthermore, some of the bishops...
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Isaiah 43:16-21; Philippians 3:8-14;  John 8:1-11 The scribes and Pharisees were trying to find some charge with which to discredit Jesus;  and here they thought they had put him in the perfect dilemma.  Whenever a difficult legal question arose, the natural thing was to take it to a Rabbi for a decision.  So the...
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Joshua 5:9-12;  2 Corinthians 5:17-21;  Luke 15:1-3,11-32 We are halfway through the 40 days of Lent and today we pause to celebrate.  The Church calls today Laetare, “Let us rejoice.”  And for what do we rejoice?  Why do we break our solemn fast of forty days to celebrate?  The answer to this is found...
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When we dare to go to these places, when we work to level the mountains and valleys, we may be frightened, we may be nervous, we may feel as though life as we have known it has ended. This is why have the assurance that Baruch, and John, and Jesus give to...
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Jeremiah 33:14-16;  I Thessalonians 3:12-4:2;  Luke 21:25-28,34-36 * It is so dark! And the darkness is not all outside. There’s the darkness of recession that has put many American’s out of work, of the senseless acts of violence and suicide bombers inflicting terror around the world, of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East,...
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When the world will end is a question which has eluded the Christian community since the time of Christ.  Even though the gospel is very clear in stating that no one knows the time or the hour, many people still are preoccupied or at least curious as to when this will happen.  The end...
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1 Kings 17: 10-16; Hebrews 9: 24-28; Mark 12: 38-44. I will never forget the first time I met Matthew.  He was a gentleman that the priest’s at St. Paul Seminary had “adopted.”  About once a week he would show up on the doorsteps of the seminary looking for one of the priests to...
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