What does it mean to have a Mass “offered” for someone? ~ A Message from Father John Thomas An individual may ask a priest to offer a Mass for several reasons: for example, in thanksgiving, for the intentions of another person (such as on a birthday), or, as is most common, for the repose of…
News
October 10 – Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
My Dear Parishioners: At first sight the young man comes across as an exceptionally good person, deferential to Jesus and somehow searching for the way of eternal life. He had kept God’s commands since his youth, and Jesus looked on him with love. An ideal person, you would think, to receive the gospel. And yet…
October 3 – Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
My Dear Parishioners: According to Genesis chapter 2, God created man from the earth and God created woman from the side of man. This account has often been misinterpreted to suggest the subordination of woman to man. The translation ‘helpmate’ is not an accurate translation of the Hebrew word. Something like ‘indispensable partner’ would be…
September 26 – Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
My Dear Parishioners: More than once I have had the experience of walking along and then suddenly falling forward, having stubbed my foot against a slightly raised paving slab. Sometimes the very paving that is meant to help us walk safely can prove to be a stumbling stone because they are out of alignment with…
September 19 – Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
What does it mean to have a Mass “offered” for someone? An individual may ask a priest to offer a Mass for several reasons: for example, in thanksgiving, for the intentions of another person (such as on a birthday), or, as is most common, for the repose of the soul of someone who has died.…
September 11 – Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
My Dear Parishioners: I think we would all agree that it is never easy to get to know someone really well. A husband and wife who have lived together for many years probably know each other really well. They have come to know each other’s qualities and limitations and have learned to accept one another.…
September 5 – Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
My Dear Parishioners: When it comes to people it is very difficult for us not to make distinctions. We invariable favour some over others. We choose some and not others. A man chooses one woman to be his wife out of several he may have come to know. A woman chooses one man to be…
August 29 – Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
My Dear Parishioners: In ancient times burial was rarely permitted within the walls of a city, while one of the commonest places for tombs was by the side of public roads. You can see a great number of these latter, still bearing their inscriptions, more than 2,000 years later, just outside Rome, along the Appian…
August 22 – Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
My Dear Parishioners: In our culture success can often be a game of numbers. A successful television program is one that has a very large viewing audience. If the numbers watching declines, the program is in trouble. Democracy is based on majority vote. The candidate with the most votes gets elected. Every political party is…
August 15 – The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
My Dear Parishioners: The Assumption of Mary is, according to the beliefs of the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodoxy, Church of the East, and some Lutheran and Anglo-Catholic Churches, among others, the bodily taking up of Mary, the mother of Jesus, into Heaven at the end of her earthly life. The analogous feast…