Caritas Christi Urget Nos - Latest Comments

Re: Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time

petrohd — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:09:21 -0000

OK now I KNOW we think on the same plane at times....we sang the Summons on Sunday too but sort of a different light as we had the installation of Altar Servers that morning...

Re: Mary, the Mother of God

Jess — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 22:03:56 -0000

A wonderful homily! One that all Protestants should hear and reflect in their hearts :)

Re: St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church : Caritas Christi Urget Nos

scam — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 21:27:16 -0000

the website is good and gave me lots of help with my homework , but please could you include something about the choices St.Augustine had to make?

thankx

Re: Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Linda D — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:15:34 -0000

Thanks for the idea for adding prayer to my to do list. Usually I am praying in the car on by way back & forth to work, but it is still a priority to watch the road! This way I can remind myself to pray even on my day off! This is a simple way to keep me on track, and devote that five or ten minutes entirely to the Lord...starting TODAY!

Re: Monday of the Twenty-ninth Week of Ordinary Time

petrohd — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:25:29 -0000

thanks for that perspective...its good to see some reassurance of what I've always believed in...

Re: Twenty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time

comets — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 10:01:07 -0000

Good message. It can seem impossible sometimes to find a candidate to vote for who is in line with church teachings and has a chance to win.
We find ourselves deciding whether to "vote for the lesser of two evils" or some third party candidate who we like more. Are you one who believes that voting for a third party candidate is a waste of a vote and should not be done? If so, the choice is often either vote for the pro life candidate or vote for someone who might better aid the poor.

Re: Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist : Caritas Christi Urget Nos

comets — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:30:28 -0000

I liked the first reading where Paul says that Christ is foolishness to the Greeks. That is still the case today. There are people who think that they are too smart to believe in Jesus. I am not smart enough to know all the answers. In fact, I think that anyone who claims to know all the answers is fooling themselves. I am not afraid to tell people that I don't know. There are a number of times in the church when our explanation of something is "It's a mystery".

Re: St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church : Caritas Christi Urget Nos

comets — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:39:46 -0000

St. Paul spent a lot of time giving thanks, even though he was imprisoned and suffered a lot for following Christ. I am reading a book now, called "The Last Lecture", by Randy Pausch. While not a Christian per se, he does write about how good life is and gives lessons for daily living. All this while dying of cancer. It always impresses me when I see people who don't give up and feel sorry for themselves. We can all learn a thing or two from St. Paul, and from Randy. I recommend the book.
One of the saints that we had at St. Raphael was Cathy Daren. She was the most upbeat person I ever knew with cancer. She died almost 5 years ago. The fact that these people are able to give thanks even when it seems like they don't have things to give thanks for. It makes me realize I need to look closer. We all have things to give thanks for.

Re: Tuesday of the Twenty-first Week of Ordinary Time

comets — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:10:53 -0000

Good homily again.

My thoughts are probably consistent with yours.

The first reading (2 Thes 2) seems to be saying that we must judge what we hear from people who claim to be speaking in the name of the Lord in the context of what we have previously been taught by the law and tradition. We must watch out for people preaching falsehoods.
The second reading (Mt 23) condemns people who follow just part of the law. Without getting too political, it is like those politicians who get reelected by being anti-abortion, while ignoring “judgment and mercy and fidelity”. Jesus said we need to be clean on the inside as well as the outside. That is definitely a lesson for us all.

Re: Twenty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time

comets — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:21:03 -0000

Jesus said elsewhere in the gospel that he came not to bring peace, but to cause division. Because if we believe that he is Lord, then we must follow him and live our lives differently. And that upsets our families, our friends, etc. We have to be willing to have some of our relationships fractured. I ask you, Fr. Pat, in your expereince, are there priests who experienced some sort of division in their families when they announced a desire for the priesthood. As much as we look up to priests, we also look forward to grandchildren. Becoming a priest obviously seems to be a sacrifice in some respects, not only for the man, but for his parents. Any insight?
Many of us who went thru RCIA (and therefore came from other religions) went thru a certain degree of division. Is it worth it? Of course it is.

Re: St. Pius X, pope

comets — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:00:09 -0000

The reading makes a point of saying that one of the guests at the wedding was not properly dressed at the feast. You blogged about the Eucharist. I have also always thought of the Eucharist in connection with this reading. I take the "not properly dressed" part to mean that we should not be taking communion if we are "not properly dressed" spiritually.

Last November, the U.S. bishops voted in favor of a document calling on those in a state of serious sin to refrain from receiving Communion.

I have thought that if I am in such a state of sin I should skip communion. I've only done it occassionally. (Years ago when I had a baby with me I would walk out with my child and people would not know that I did not feel in sync with God at that time.

What are the guidelines or advice that you can offer? Generally, my serious sin might have only been an argument with my family that I hadn't gotten over yet. I know that is what Reconciliation is for, but it doesn't always work out for me.

Re: Tuesday of the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time

comets — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:41:58 -0000

These were good readings. The problems described in the readings (thinking of oneself like a god) are still present. Some readings aren't as easy to place in today's context. Wasn't Moses guilty of some pride that kept him from entering the promised land?
I liked the part of the reading about how we think we are wiser than David. That is so easy to do. "We" can make the lame walk (false legs for amputees); we can "cure" some cancers either by drugs, radiation, or removal of tumors. We can send man to the moon.
We need to always remember to give God thanks and praise. We can do things only because he has given us something.
One of the prayers that I pray most often (and it is tied to pride) is I thank God for having me be born to the parents that I was born to, and in the country that I was born in. No matter how smart or wise I may think myself, it was not my wisdom that had me born here. This helps me realize that I am not better than all those people in the third world countries. Was it I who determined where I would be born? No. Was it they who decided to be born poor? I think not.
The Gospel today is reflective of today as well. Church is not "needed" for the rich. My wife taught RE a few years back and she actually had a child tell her "my dad says we don't have to go to church because we're rich". Sometimes the rich are the poorest in faith. That really brings clarity to Jesus' saying "the last will be first and the first will be last".

Re: Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time

petrohd — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 21:38:13 -0000

"Leap of Faith"...I know that phrase well....I did a talk to a teen group I help with on that very same topic of how I changed majors in college not knowing what the future would hold....but with faith and with a lot of prayer, I made it through and although I am not quite in the "career" i had studied for, I still apply what I learned in college in a lot of different ways. Thanks for bringing that to light.

Re: Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time

comets — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:23:26 -0000

I happenned to go to Mass up the road at Sts Peter and Paul today. The priest there had an interesting take on the gospel about the Canaanite woman. He spoke of how the country of India has long had a caste system. This system keeps people from different groups from having anything to do with each other. He told a story that seemed apocryphal to me. Mahatma Gandhi was frustrated by the caste system of India and apparently he read the Gospels and came across the story of Jesus and the Canaanite woman. It peaked his interest and he set off to find out more about Jesus. He came to a church with the hope of talking to the minister after the service, but as he entered, one of the ushers stopped him and told him to go worship with his own kind. According to his autobiography, he said, “If Christians have caste differences also,” he said, “I might as well remain a Hindu.”
To turn this back to Fr. Pat's homily, how many times is someone's only contact with the Catholic Church when they cross our path? We may not be able to bring someone to Christ singlehandedly, but we may be able to put road blocks in their way by our actions.
Great our the days when people say "great is your faith". For that reason, we should not hold back thanks and praise from each other. We can all use that encouragement at times. And in case I haven't mentioned it before, thank you Fr. Pat for this blog, because it really helps me think about the Lord and put together (hopefully) coherent thoughts on a somewhat daily basis.

This is also one of the Gospel verses that I think of when the subject of "dress code" comes up in church. On the one hand, we want to make it clear to people that they should be respectful of God and the holiness in the church, but we don't want to turn people away if they can't afford or don't have nice clothes. It's a hard topic to breach, and it would be nice if others could realize and respect the holiness of the Mass.

Re: The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

comets — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:02:11 -0000

I agree with what you said. It is always difficult for a parent to watch a child die. Maybe such people can take comfort in the life of Mary.

Very appropriate first reading today from Revelation.

Re: The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

petrohd — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:43:45 -0000

short but to the point and well done!

couple of Mary's titles came to mind while reading this....Mother of Sorrows and of course Our Lady of Lourdes....

Good job!

Re: St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, priest and martyr

comets — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:36:06 -0000

“For Him Who Has Ears To Hear” was the debut release by gospel singer Keith Green back in 1977. That was my favorite album when I first became a Christian two years later. I thought of that album and its songs when I read the 12th chapter of Ezekiel, which was today’s first reading. Ezekiel says “they have eyes to see but do not see, and ears to hear but do not hear.” The album title probably comes from Mark 4:9 "He who has ears to hear, let him hear”, but Ezekiel got me thinking of it none the less.

Today’s gospel from Matthew, the parable of the debtors is one that I like. As opposed to so many parables that are a bit difficult to understand, this one seems easy to follow. Because God has showed us mercy, we should show our fellow man mercy.

Re: Saturday of the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time

comets — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:04:09 -0000

I may have went off the path on this one. What I meant to say (or should have meant to say) is that if we look at all that we as a people have been able to do on our own (although we may not have been on our own since we are a people of faith) then we should be able to believe that we can do much more (even move mountains) if God so commands us to or allows us to. It may even have been through our faith that we have been able to do the things that we have done. Didn't mean to indicate that we can do these things on our own or that they compare to what God can do.
But I got a response out of you so I know that you read my post. :>)

Re: Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time

comets — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:01:17 -0000

To love God like a child is to love him unconditionally. A rich man asked Jesus what he needed to do to enter the kingdom. Jesus said to give your money to the poor (something like that) and follow me. And the rich man was sad because he could not do that.
Jesus told his disciples to not take posessions with them. I think he did not want us to get tied down by them. How many preachers are tied to TV ministries, radio ministries, or just the simple building fund at church? How many people, when they are deciding whether to follow Jesus, worry about what their parents or friends will think?
That's why we are to go to Jesus like little children. Children are trusting to a fault. If Jesus says follow, they say "okay", not "let me check with my friends or parents". That's a danger that we have to deal with, as many young people have been drawn to charismatic people "like children" only to end up in dangerous cults. We need to pray for discernment. It can be so hard sometimes.

Re: Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

comets — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:33:46 -0000

The story of Jesus walking on the water reminds me of a comic book that I read as a kid. I used to like horror comics, and stories that had a "Twilight Zone" type of twist at the end. There was one story of a boater who comes across a man walking on the water. He asks the man to tell him how he can walk on the water. The walker refuses. The boater pulls out a gun and forces the water walker to give him the ability to walk on water. The walker relents. The boater is then able to walk on water. The twist at the end was that while he could now walk on water, he would sink on dry land.
I thought about this while listenning to the homily today. Peter walked on water, but his faith wavered.
In other gospel stories, Jesus says that we must be willing to leave everything and follow him. What a metaphor for that my comic was! If we want to have the faith in Jesus we must be willing to leave our old lives behind. What better example of this than not being able to walk on dry land anymore. What was a horror ending in my comic, is a way of life for so many people who have been the saints and martyrs of our church. For once you have faith in Jesus you really have to be willing to not go back to where you came from.

Re: Saturday of the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time

fatherpat — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:04:14 -0000

I appreciate your many comments, but I have to say, you are totally missing the point on this one. Moving the mountain is not about us, never ever ever about us, not us individually and not us collectively. Moving the mountain is about faith in the One who can do anything he wills, faith in God. These are all inspiring examples of human progress, but they are nothing compared to what God can do, if our faith would be even as tiny as a mustard seed.

Re: Feast of St. James, Apostle

comets — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:16:09 -0000

Drinking the chalice. I am reminded of the history of the church which was written by Eusebius sometime between AD 200 and 300. This told of many founding fathers who "drank of the chalice" and became martrs and saints. People who thought that they would be condemned if they denied the Lord.
How many of us today are strong enough in our faith to stand up to a terrorist who might come up to us someday and say "deny Jesus and live." It is really easy to justify our denials. But if faith is only something that we proclaim when it is convenient, then what kind of faith is it?
I am reminded of a story that illustrates a pet pieve of mine with the Catholic Church.
During Lent, if St Patrick's Day happens to fall on a Friday, the church will grant dispensation so that people can eat meat. Obstaining from meat is too much of an inconvenience then. A fellow parishioner told me once that he went to openning day for the White Sox some years back and realized once he got there that it was a Friday in Lent. He called the parish and got the pastor to give him permission to eat meat, because "you have to have a hotdog at the ball park". These are examples of people not drinking the chalis that Jesus drank. These are examples that are hard for some of us RCIA taught Catholics to understand. Our lives are not supposed to be easy.

Re: Saturday of the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time

comets — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 22:00:24 -0000

So we don't think that we can move mountains?
There have been plenty of examples in US history where we (collectively) moved mountains.
In WWII, Germany had taken France and a number of other countries. It looked like Great Britain would fall. Roosevelt had a hard time getting the congress to go along with loaning arms to Britain. Who wants to load to someone who will probably not be able to pay you back? Gernany was a mountain that was moved.
In the 1980s, the Soviet Union was a mountain of a country. Many people did not like Reagan's tough talk with "the evil empire". They thought it was an unmovable mountain.
In the time of Lincoln, many people thought that the institution of slavery was a mountain that could not be moved. They sought to keep slavery from expanding, but didn't think that they could end it where it existed. Abolitionists kept fighting and moved that mountain.
Roe vs Wade as the Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion is a mountain. Many think that this mountain can not be moved. But how many thought that any of the other mountains that this country has faced would have been moved?

Re: Ss. Joachim and Anne, Parents of Mary

comets — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:33:34 -0000

The parents of Mary were not known in the Bible, so we have inferred what we know about them now. In a similar (if a bit warped) way, when people get to know me and think that I have a different sense of humor and can be very outgoing, I tell them that if they knew my father they would understand me better. And if they had know his mother they would understand him better.
In the same way (or backwards way) we know about Mary and we determine what her parents would have been like. Of course, my parents are very different, so maybe Mary took after Joachim or maybe she took after Anne. It's a question that can't probably be answered, but it might make an interesting conversation over a cup of coffee.

Re: Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

comets — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:24:56 -0000

This is a good Gospel. I have to remind my wife and myself of it often. We have to ask ourselves, "what is important in life?" I look at men around me who make more money than I have, better cars, etc. But when I go to my kids' ball games and concerts often these other men (whose kids are in the same activities) are not there. It is okay to leave some money on the table. We don't have to play the "whoever dies with the most money wins" game. I've known a lot of good men thru the years who give money to charity. But I believe that often times it is more important to give of your time. Spend time with your children and even other people's children (as a coach or mentor). One of the things that Hillary Clinton got grief for years ago was her statement (and book) that it takes a village to raise a child. This world would be a better place if children knew that others cared for them and watched out for them.