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Dear Parishioners, Appropriately, the Church celebrates Trinity Sunday on the Sunday following Pentecost, or “Holy Spirit” Sunday, since the earthly work of Jesus has been completed, and He has sent the Holy Spirit as He promised. The “Community of the Trinity” is now celebrated as the relationship between God - Father and Creator, God - Son and Redeemer, and God - Spirit and Sanctifier. If God the Father’s plan is to live in community, so it should be with us as the Father’s children, as the brothers and sisters of the Son and the Spirit. We are not designed or destined to live our Christian lives alone and isolated. God did not create Adam to be alone. God created Eve to begin a community of persons with Adam. Jesus did not preach, teach, and heal alone. From the beginning of His public ministry Jesus called 12 particular men around Him, as well as inviting many other men and women to be His disciples, or student followers. So just as Jesus from the beginning formed a community around Him, so did God the Father form a community of Himself, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit from the beginning of time. Our most important celebration of our faith, the Mass, is not celebrated normally by the priest alone, or just with a server or two; the Mass can be celebrated privately by the priest, but this is the exception and not the rule. Mass is celebrated with at least several people in addition to the priest to symbolize Jesus’ coming into the world for the salvation of the many, not just the few. It is not easy to try and explain the Holy Trinity – it never has and never will be – it is one of the “Mysteries of our faith.” It’s not something for us to understand fully, but to embrace fully in faith and trust God’s wisdom.

Dear Parishioners, As I have said before numerous times in these Pastor’s Corners and in homilies: God’s plan are perfect and full of all goodness and right. So why wouldn’t the Descent of the Holy Spirit as related to us in the Acts of the Apostles be anything but perfect, good, right, as well as dramatic – great material for a wonderful scene in a movie! Yet the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, our Blessed Mother Mary, and surely the other close disciples of Jesus, both men and women, was more than just a wonderful scene in a movie. This event changed the world and officially established Jesus’ Church by a public, fully audible and fully visible event. Public, because it was in the city of Jerusalem and there were lots of Jewish people present for the celebration of the Jewish feast of Pentecost – the fiftieth day; fully audible because of the sound of the strong driving wind, and fully visible because of the numerous tongues of fire that were seen to separate into individual flames over each of the followers of Jesus who were chosen to be specific leaders of the newly-born Church that day. This Christian Feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem was, as I mentioned before, first a Jewish feast commemorating the fiftieth day of some Jewish event or observance, but God chose to use this day with all its festivities and Jewish people from far and wide in attendance to “give birth” to the Church that Jesus had successfully established by His Birth, Ministry, Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension. Therefore, it is correct and right to call the Christian Pentecost the “Birthday of the Church,” of Jesus’ Church which He established on the Rock of St. Peter, His specifically-chosen Apostle, and about which Jesus said that the “gates of Hell shall not prevail” against this Church He was establishing. Not only were the strong, driving wind and the tongues of fire miraculous, the real miracle was when all of these Jewish people from different parts of the known Jewish world heard the Galilean-born Apostles, who knew no other languages, speaking in his or her own language! That was another miracles in addition to the great manifestation of God in the coming of the Holy Spirit in wind and in fire. Come Holy Spirit! Fill us with the fire of Your Love, and in us, renew the face of the earth.

Dear Parishioners, God’s plans and timing are always perfect and correct – how could they be anything else? So when God the Father sent His Son Jesus to the earth, God planned that Jesus would have a threeyear public ministry, undergo His Passion, Death, and Resurrection, and ascend back to His Father in Heaven forty days after He rose. Also, there are really no coincidences nor accidents when we believe in God and His omniscience, His overall knowledge and control, of us and our world, and the entire universe for that matter. So it doesn’t matter whether Jesus ascended to Heaven after three, five, ten, 25, or 50 years of preaching, teaching, healing, and preparing His Apostles and disciples, there was going to be a time when He had to turn over His earthly leadership to the Apostles and preside over the developing Church from His heavenly Kingdom. God’s plan was three years, and since the Church founded by Jesus, with His delegation of the Apostles – the Roman Catholic Church – is alive and well all these centuries, we see that God’s plan of a three-year earthly ministry of Jesus was perfect – because it was from God. We as the apostles and disciples of today are called to be encouraged and strengthened by the fact that, with our faith in Christ as members of His Church, we can accomplish great things with the gifts which we have been given by God as His beloved sons and daughters. The original Apostles and disciples took up the challenge as soon as Jesus ascended from the earth, yet they were no different nor better equipped than we are to be witnesses of Jesus today exactly where we are. Even though we have not witnessed in our lives, nor will we ever, what the Apostles and disciples who knew, saw, talked with, and traveled with Jesus witnessed, we have the legacy of what these early Christians, the early witnesses, have left us. Today, we are witnesses of different things that help us to continue the work of Jesus and the Apostles. We don’t see Jesus Himself or the Apostles instantaneously healing the sick, raising the dead, changing water into wine, walking on the water, or anything like that today. But we believe this because of the testimony of our brothers and sisters in faith who actually did see these things because they happened to live at the same time and in the same place as Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Mary, and the longawaited Messiah, who came to save us and to show us the way to the Father and to bring us with Him to everlasting life. Jesus could not stay on Earth forever—He stayed as long as God His Father planned for Him – a perfect period of time. The Church is still here today – because God’s plans are perfect.

Dear Parishioners, In our lives, when we take on a role that is not rightly ours, it usually causes major problems. A minor children is not supposed to take on the role of a parent. A teacher is not supposed to take on the role of a student. An employee is not supposed to take on the role of employer. In the biblical world, sheep are not supposed to be shepherds. I think you get the picture. So, since Jesus Himself, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, repeatedly tells us in the Gospels that we are the sheep and He is the Good Shepherd, why, as believers and thus, followers, would we want to reverse those roles, especially by not listening to His voice – the voice of the Risen One who gives perfect advice as the Son of God and yet is also our Brother? Listening and embracing and heeding what we hear from Jesus are “keeping His word,” as Jesus says in the Gospel this weekend. (see more)

Dear Parishioners, As you well know, the readings at Sunday Masses have been carefully chosen and arranged for each week for our benefit and our spiritual growth. The words contained in these readings are divinely inspired, with the words of Jesus Himself in the Gospels that we hear. In the second reading this weekend from the Book of Revelation, the passage ends with God saying “Behold, I make all things new.” Naturally, as human beings and not divine beings, we interpret God’s work in our world and in our lives differently and individually, yet as members of the Church and sheep of the flock, we are called to see God’s work as always beneficial for us, yet sometimes our interpretations don’t indicate that, at least not when God’s work first takes place in our lives. Yet, my brothers and sisters, this is where our faith becomes operative and that upon which we rely and depend—to see that God makes all things new in our lives, especially when change happens. (see more)

Dear Parishioners, This Fourth Sunday of Easter has a subtitle just as the Second Sunday of Easter has a subtitle of “Divine Mercy Sunday,” and today’s Sunday is rightly called “Good Shepherd Sunday,” as Jesus stresses His role as Redeemer and our role as the Redeemed, or more simply: His role as Shepherd and our role as sheep/followers. There are two key verbs, action words, in the Gospel this weekend: “hear” and “follow.” Listening well and hearing correctly and intently are so important in our technological world that advances from day to day and following the voice of Jesus are crucial if we consider ourselves His followers and want to be counted among the believers. We must submit to Jesus, plain and simple. We must let Him be the Shepherd and take our places as the sheep who hear and follow as He firmly but lovingly invites us. From the time people have heard these words from Jesus Himself, the response has been twofold: some people have willingly and lovingly heard and followed His invitation, and others have unwillingly and arrogantly rejected His invitation, feeling that their submission to Jesus makes them weak, powerless, and inferior. (see more)

Dear Parishioners, As children of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus, we always need to be mindful that we do not know ourselves or anything else better than God does. I say this because I sometimes hear someone say that they couldn’t be forgiven for a sin that they’ve committed or that it would take a week in the confessional for this person to go to confession. These two beliefs are the farthest from the truth. First, a person has to have the desire to want to be forgiven by Jesus, and also has to believe and know that Jesus can forgive any sin that we express sorrow for, no matter how horrible we might think it is. All we need do is to read and understand the Gospel today, the Third Sunday of Easter – Year C – and see the overwhelming greatness of the forgiveness of Jesus and His true Divine Mercy. Peter has denied Jesus three times after being told plainly by Jesus that he would do so, and this is the third time that Peter and the other Apostles meet with the Risen Jesus. (see more)

Dear Parishioners, On this Second Sunday of Easter, the Gospel tells of what happened on the evening of the Resurrection day when Jesus stood among the ten Apostles gathered in the room where they had eaten the Last Supper three nights before. Remember – there were only ten Apostles on this occasion since Judas killed himself and Thomas was not present for some reason. Jesus unexpectedly walks through locked doors and greets His dear Apostles with “Peace be with you!” After initial surprise and possible shock, they rejoice with their risen Master, Rabbi, Teacher, and Lord. The Risen Jesus (see more)

Dear Parishioners, Have you ever realized something that has always been, that you’ve experienced all your life, and, suddenly, it’s like a light bulb goes off in your brain? Well, that happened to me this past Monday night as I began writing this article. From Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday is 40 days, and from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday is 50 days – a total of 90 days or three months.

Dear Parishioners, It is obvious why Palm Sunday is titled the way it is: Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey for the Passover, while many of His fellow Jews waved palm branches and shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David!” Blessed palms are taken home by Mass-goers today. On Ash Wednesday, blessed ashes, from burned blessed palms leftover from the year before, were applied to our foreheads, giving the name to this first day of Lent. The distinction between sacramentals and sacraments needs to be brought to our attention always, and it is important that a sacramental is never given more importance than a sacrament. Two good examples: A person should not be upset that he or she is not able to go to Mass and receive ashes on any given Ash Wednesday for various reasons. Ash Wednesday is not a holyday of obligation, nor are ashes on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday a “religious” requirement.

Dear Parishioners, We received our ashes this past March 5th, and here we are on the weekend of April 5th & 6th, a month later, on the Sunday before Palm Sunday. Holy Week starts after that, and soon it will be April 20th Easter Sunday for 2025! Sometimes it’s not easy to observe Lent in our world today, because our world is not exclusively Christian or Catholic today – not that our world ever was exclusively Christian or Catholic – but the overall observance of religion, Christian or non-Christian, is not very prevalent in this 21st century.

Dear Parishioners, When has it happened last that your plans and/or your usual schedule in your personal life or in your work changed somewhat significantly temporarily? I know that this is a wordy and maybe grammatically incorrect question, but I want to be clear. Well, a change in our usual schedule at the St. Peter Church campus took place this past Monday morning when the short but heavy rainstorm caused the “roof-in-process” to leak in several places inside of the church, and the contractor had the refinishers start on repairing the water damage to the wood plank decking of our “cathedral” ceiling in the church, which required temporary movement of pews, installation of scaffolding, and plastic covering over the pews to catch the dust and debris that fall from overhead while the wood was being repaired. This results in a literally “unusable” church building now for an unknown period of time. Weekday Masses are now in the Lacour Center (the former convent ) and weekend Masses begin this weekend are at St. Hubert’s.

Dear Parishioners, Some medical conditions that people are diagnosed with can be greatly improved or even cured by the active role the patient takes in the treatment of and the living with the particular disease/diagnosis. High blood pressure requires weight management, proper diet and exercise. Lung/respiratory problems in smokers will certainly improve if they stop smoking. Those with congestive heart failure and fluid retention must watch their sodium intake if they want to have a close-to-normal life. Weight management, exercise, adherence to a healthy diet, and quitting smoking are things that people must decide to do and actually do themselves – no one else can do these things for them – if they are going to improve their health and possibly reverse the disease. Jesus talks about this in the Gospel this Sunday with the example of the fig tree and the gardener. Jesus is the Master Gardener, and we are the fig trees.

My dear parishioners, On this Second Sunday of Lent, Catholics all over the world hear the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus in the Gospel today. It is said that this event on Mount Tabor took place forty days before Jesus’ Passion, Death, and Resurrection as a preview of the glory that would come to Him from His obedience to God the Father and in His love for us, shown in His Crucifixion. The actual time of the Transfiguration is not as important as the vision Jesus was giving to Peter, James, and John, and we might wonder why Jesus didn’t have all 12 of the Apostles present for this glorious manifestation of the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth, but we have to trust Jesus’ decision in only bringing these three up the mountain with Him.

Dear Parishioners, Lenten penances that we choose to do for forty days can be compared to New Year’s resolutions: if we want them to last and to be effective, even though Lent is only forty days, the penance has to be realistic and doable, just as a New Year’s resolution has to be if it will do us some good. The Gospel of Ash Wednesday is a good source for something that we will “do” or “give up” for Lent. First, Jesus talks about almsgiving, or giving our money or time to charity in some way.

Dear Parishioners, This Wednesday, March 5, the 40- day season of Lent begins. We might and can say that we begin the observance of Lent. All of us are born with different levels of observation – that goes without saying – yet it is possible, and sometimes quite necessary, to sharpen our observation of various aspects of our lives. If we consider ourselves by virtue of our Baptism and the other Sacraments, members of the Church, then our ongoing observance of what it is that we do as Catholics is crucial and necessary, especially if we are going to be and feel united with our brothers and sisters as true members of the Catholic – which means universal – Church. The Lenten observances bring us to that awareness each year and are not so hard to remember or to do if we simply sharpen our observation skills when it comes what we are to be about during Lent as the Church – the Body of Christ on earth today. As a reminder, Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays of Lent, including Good Friday, are days of abstinence from beef, poultry, pork and game meats. In addition, on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, the Church asks us to fast as well – to eat only one full meal with two or more smaller portions eaten on those days, as our health/diet situations allow, so that we might be aware of Jesus’ sacrifice for us and share in that sacrifice in this traditional practice of the Church. Lenten practices/ observances are not complicated today, as some may remember from decades past, and what I have spelled out above is the current observance/practice that Rome encourages us to participate in as best we can. We are the ones who benefit from these observances - these practices that have been part of our Catholic heritage for so many centuries. Being a follower of Jesus, a Catholic Christian especially, is not a “do-your-own-thing” way of relating to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The season of Lent unites us in our diversity and calls us to observances that have proven manageable and doable all these years.

Dear Parishioners, What usually happens when someone tries to take the law into his or her own hands? Well, usually, a less-thandesirable, maybe even a terrible or tragic outcome all around and for all involved. The Gospel for this weekend, from the mouth of Jesus Himself, tells us to let the civil law authorities handle civil law issues between citizens, but more importantly, to let God handle the interpersonal issues between people. Jesus is always calling us to integrity, and not to ignorance. Integrity and ignorance both start with the same letter and have the same number of letters yet mean the opposite of each other. Integrity can do so much good, while ignorance can do so much harm. Another way of defining these terms is that Christian integrity is surrendering to God to avenge, punish or intervene, and ignorance is taking revenge, punishment and intervention into one’s own hands and control, with the latter being almost always harmful and dangerous. So if anyone professes to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus, then what Jesus has to say in the Gospel this weekend is the guide for how we are to live and view our lives in Christ. It is certainly a challenge – it is easy to be ignorant, but integrity takes some work and commitment – work and commitment that we are capable of if we believe that Jesus has the words of everlasting life and that His words, directions, and instructions are truly what we need to live by if we are going to live up to our baptismal call to discipleship and to be people full of the integrity that can only come from Jesus.

Dear Parishioners, As a parish priest, I have the responsibility to teach, preach, and guide the souls entrusted to my care in the ways of the Church, to be honest and truthful, and at the same time to be charitable, loving, and pastorally sensitive. This coming May 16 I will celebrate 38 years of priestly ministry, and I have tried to do my best in parish ministry with the help of Christ the High Priest. As such, I try to be faithful to my baptismal and my priestly calls, and all of us who are members of the Church by our baptismal call--clergy, religious, and the laity alike--are called to charity (love), sensitivity, honesty, and truthfulness. For all of us, this is a challenge that we can certainly accept and live if we heed the words of Scripture. The prophet Jeremiah in the first reading this weekend is truthful yet blunt: Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings…whose heart turns away from the Lord. Jeremiah is really speaking to those whose turning away from God is a longtime or lifelong state for them – those who have no need or use for God, Jesus, the Church, as shown by their complete neglect of the practice of their Catholic faith, despite the fact that they are baptized, confirmed, and have received the Eucharist in their childhood. In all truthfulness, many times the families of these people arrange for a visitation and funeral Mass in the church when they die. They had no need nor desire for the Church when they were living – why in death now is the Church so important? I’m really trying not to be judgmental, and “deathbed conversions” happen more than we may know, but throughout the illness that may result in their death, the priest/ pastor is not even notified until the person has died or is literally taking their last breath. This is where we are called to move away from hypocrisy as far as we can. Those who are reading this item are not the hypocrites, yet the devil is always trying to lead us all with false and empty promises. The practice of our faith is what protects us from the weak and strong temptations of the devil to hold God at arm’s length because we have better things to do in our lives than to go to church and practice our faith. We don’t know what happens immediately after a person dies and they see Jesus face to face in their personal judgment, but we do know that His forgiveness is endless and generous. Jesus is still our judge as well as our brother, so let us strive to be faithful and consistent followers of Him who constantly calls us to Himself. May we constantly listen to His voice.

Dear Parishioners, The Oxford dictionary of the English language defines “integrity” as “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles and uprightness,” and is “the state of being whole and undivided.” I think anyone with any self-respect would want to be a person of integrity or at least strive to be so. It goes without saying that a follower of Jesus who is brutally honest with himself/ herself would embrace integrity as his/her way of life and try to avoid going back and forth from being whole and undivided to fragmented and split. Our patron saint, Peter, in the gospel this weekend, shows a bit of going back and forth by readily obeying Jesus’ “command,” as Peter puts it, but then tells, not asks, Jesus to depart, to leave him because of his sinfulness. Peter is certainly being honest about himself with Jesus, but Jesus already knows, as the Son of God, this fisherman Peter through and through yet still favors and blesses him with two overflowing boatloads of fish, and thus, a sizeable monetary profit. Jesus then responds to Peter by telling him not to be afraid and that he will be catching people, not fish, from then on. At this point, Peter, along with his brother Andrew and their business partners, James and John, make a decision for integrity and strive for “the state of being whole and undivided” in their rather instantaneous abandonment of their nets and boats to follow the Source of the miracle they just witnessed. What is our response to Jesus’ invitation to us as far as following Him, who knows us through and through and our strengths and weaknesses too? Following Him starts with leaving the things in our lives that keep us from His presence, just as these four fishermen did. Doing this was risky, but soon they found out that they had made the right decision. They sought integrity, wholeness, and uprightness with undivided hearts. We can do that in our lives too. Peter was married, possibly had children, had a job, while Andrew, James, and John were also employed full-time. They are not so different from us except that they lived at a different time. Yet striving for integrity is a timeless goal--no matter who we are, what we do, our age or our health, wealth, or marital status. Let us follow His call.

Dear Parishioners, In my bulletin article two weeks ago I spoke briefly about parishioner involvement in liturgical ministries at Masses. Next week’s Gospel relates the calling of Peter, Andrew, James and John by Jesus, from being fulltime professional fishermen to His full-time followers. Perfection and experience were not required of these men for the roles Jesus wanted them to fulfill as Apostles, and neither are perfection and experience required of those who share their talents, gifts, and abilities in the parish setting. If you are reading this church bulletin, that is a sign that you have an interest in our church parish family/community and may have the desire/wish/inclination to see if and where Jesus is calling you to give/use your talents and abilities for the good of your St. Peter parish brothers and sisters. Among our Mass-goers, there are those who would be effective lectors/readers, as well as those who would be effective choir members, instrumentalists, and/or song leaders/cantors, as well as those who would be good Eucharistic ministers, those who would be effective hospitality ministers/ushers/collection personnel, and those would be good servers, both children and adult servers as needed. As you hear the Gospel next week of the call of the two sets of brothers, think about your own personal abilities/talents/gifts and the call of Jesus. Parishioner participation in parish life has many more possibilities than the ones I just talked about earlier and are not just limited to participation at Masses, but have many forms in parish life, from being “behind-the-scenes” to being “in-front-of-the camera,” so to speak. Yet to make our Eucharistic celebrations the best that they can be for us to better experience Jesus, our faith, and our unity as a parish family, the Mass is the best and most appropriate place to start. So, evaluate your talents/abilities/gifts, don’t be afraid to use them if applicable for our parish, consult me with your questions and/or ideas, and like the 12 Apostles, see that we should not be afraid to respond if we hear Jesus’ voice in our hearts calling us to continue building up His Body in our parish community, our spiritual home. Again, perfection and worthiness are not required – just a faithfilled heart.