The ominous tones of the readings point to the end of the liturgical year, for indeed next week is the Feast of Christ the King, the One of whom Malachi writes will arrive with healing in his rays.
11.16.25 Bulletin
33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
11.9.25 Bulletin
Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
Today we celebrate the dedication of the first legally built church, commissioned in Rome after the edict of Milan decriminalized Christianity, called the basilica of the Most Holy Savior also known as St John Lateran.
11.2.25 Bulletin
All Souls Day
Remembering our loved ones on this celebration of All Souls Day, reminds us of the greatness of our God who would use you and me, to remember and pray for those who have gone on ahead of us and await the kingdom.
10.26.25 Bulletin
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Last week in Luke’s travel narrative, we learned that we ought to pray and not lose heart. This week Jesus uses the beloved and faith-filled Pharisee and the despised tax collector to warn us to neither think of ourselves as righteous, nor despise others as inferior to us.
10.19.25 Bulletin
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Do you ever find that irritating interruption returns you to what the Lord intends? We have our plans for each day of the week, and then the Lord sends us someone needing attention, who stops us from completing our task to help them.
10.12.25 Bulletin
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
As the harvest is gathered and the weather turns colder, we give thanks to God for the fruits of the earth and the many benefits of life that we often take for granted. But how about giving thanks to God that we even exist?
10.5.25 Bulletin
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
“If today you hear his voice, harden not your heart.” When bad things happen, we might think that we are forgotten, or somehow outside of God’s will for us. But suffering comes to all. We can choose to go through suffering and learn, or we can stomp our feet and become resentful, indignant, and mean spirited towards others.
9.28.25 Bulletin
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
“Time keeps on slipping into the future,” says an old song. The God of Abraham calls you and me to a covenant that not only puts God first but also calls us to notice and care for the poor and needy. Like the rich man, we can be too preoccupied to take the time to notice who is at our doorstep.
9.21.25 Bulletin
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
The parable of the dishonest steward reminds us that we must put first things first. Knowing that his service was coming to an end, he started to plan for the future, stretching the boundaries of what was acceptable, to accomplish his goal. Jesus gives him credit for doing just that.
9.14.25 Bulletin
The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Many Christians are worried about worshiping graven images and idols, but the scriptures today show something different. Perhaps in a desire to hide our worship of idols we rail against images like the cross and statues of saints. What or who do you really worship?
9.7.25 Bulletin
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Are you “all in” as a Catholic Chrier Him to your mother, father, brothers, sisters. He says my yoke is easy and my burden light; but that only happens when you put the Lord first in your life.
8.31.25 Bulletin
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Our identity and dignity as human beings is based on our creation in the image and likeness of God. In humility we acknowledge that we are dust of the earth filled with the breath of God that gives us intrinsic value, based not on what others think of us or the number of “likes” we receive from others.
8.24.25 Bulletin
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
To the question, “Will many people be saved?” Jesus responds, “strive to enter through the narrow gate.” To strive means to make great efforts to obtain something. Do you make great efforts to hear the word of God and act on it?
8.17.25 Bulletin
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
The author of Hebrews describes us as running a race and if you are lagging: #1 Remember that you are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses; we call it the Communion of Saints.
8.10.25 Bulletin
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
What is faith? Beyond intellectual assent, faith means putting your trust in God into action that changes everything. Abraham, in a foreshadowing of Jesus’ sacrifice on Mount Calvary, has Isaac carry the wood up the mountain, who then lays down his life on that firewood, as a sacrifice.
8.3.25 Bulletin
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Once every three years we hear the parable of the rich fool, who is selfishly concerned only with himself, and focuses on what does not last. Our sinful tendencies need instruction and discipline that come through spiritual practices. If you were to die today, what would matter most to you and your loved ones?
7.27.25 Bulletin
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
What’s in a person’s heart? You and I can never know another’s motivations, but the Lord God, who outside of space and time, does. God knows what we need and even our destiny.
7.20.25 Bulletin
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Henry Nouwen writes that hospitality means primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy.
7.13.25 Bulletin
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Doing the right thing seems difficult; Moses in Deuteronomy says that it is already written in our hearts. It’s not a matter of greater knowledge nor of our will power, but only desire. What do you desire more than life itself? If the Lord God is your desire, you will love him, and that love will change your behavior.
7.6.25 Bulletin
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
As we celebrate the freedom of Independence Day, we acknowledge that there is no greater freedom than that of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We become a new creation as we share the peace and mercy of the gospel with those around us.
6.29.25 Bulletin
Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
The two pillars of the Church: Peter, one of the twelve and a simple fisherman, immediately dropped his nets on hearing Jesus say, follow me. Peter didn’t calculate and think before he acted or spoke and didn’t allow excuses to delay him.
6.22.25 Bulletin
The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)
Give them some food yourselves, says the Lord in St. Luke’s gospel. You and I are called to give others ‘something’ that is, a someone, to eat.
6.15.25 Bulletin
The Most Holy Trinity
“…then was I beside him as his craftsman,” the author of the Book of Wisdom writes to describe Jesus at the time of creation, or perhaps it is the Love that, St. Paul writes, has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
6.8.25 Bulletin
Pentecost Sunday
Happy 199th anniversary St. Mary Church and Happy Pentecost! Holy Spirit, show us what is right and give us the strength and courage to do it!
6.1.25 Bulletin
Seventh Sunday of Easter
Congratulations to our First Communicants and to our Confirmandi in receiving their sacraments this month! A big thank you to all our catechists in our religious education program.
5.25.25 Bulletin
Sixth Sunday of Easter
The controversial question that had to be put to rest in the first reading, is an example of the action of the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised in the Gospel.
5.18.25 Bulletin
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Jesus is glorified by suffering and dying on the cross for us. We need to learn to go beyond fear and love one another as Christ loves us. The new commandment is so simple yet so difficult. Love one another as I have loved you. Be humble enough to reconsider, and to try again. You and I, like Pope Leo, are a living advertisement for the love of God.
5.11.25 Bulletin
Fourth Sunday of Easter
“My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” That inner voice through which the Holy Spirit speaks to each of us and to the whole body, as in the conclave in Rome, reminds us that we are not left to fend for ourselves.
5.4.25 Bulletin
Third Sunday of Easter
The conclave will meet to elect the one to follow our beloved Pope Francis, who as the 266th leader in the shoes of St. Peter died last week at the age of 88. After denying the Lord, Peter, as the servant of the servants of God, was called to feed his lambs and sheep.
4.27.25 Bulletin
Sunday of Divine Mercy
How are you doing? Fine, we always say. Shame and fear might keep the doors of our hearts tightly closed, keeping us isolated. But Jesus, the Lord of life, enters through locked doors.
4.20.25 Bulletin
Easter Sunday
St. Paul proclaims 20 years after the death and resurrection of the Lord: “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” What has the Lord God given you in your hidden life with Him? Today all Catholic Christians renew their commitment to the Lord through baptism when we die with Christ, and each “I do,” is a renewed commitment to living resurrected life in the Lord Jesus.
4.13.25 Bulletin
Palm Sunday
St. Paul writes that Jesus, in obedience to the will of his Father, doesn’t seek what is comfortable but conforms himself to his imminent suffering and death on the cross. He trusts that his heavenly Father will bring about good from what appears evil.
4.6.25 Bulletin
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Jesus bends over and writes into the dust of the earth, dissipating the chaos and screams swirling around the woman caught in adultery. People will always use others to make their point and win the argument, often out of jealousy, hurt feelings, or pride. Jesus the Word wants to write something completely new in your life.
3.30.25 Bulletin
Fourth Sunday of Lent
We read today of the prodigal son, but the parable might better be named the indulgent Father from whom nothing can separate us. His holiness, Pope Francis has invited us to ponder this indulgent love during this Jubilee year of hope.
3.23.25 Bulletin
Third Sunday of Lent
There is a sense of urgency in today’s readings, both in the fig tree being given one more season, and in St. Paul’s reminding us of the insecurity of our personal standing in this world. Repent and convert or face the likelihood of perishing, but also keep in mind that the owner of the garden is also the One who cultivates and prunes that we might come to fruition.
3.16.25 Bulletin
Second Sunday of Lent
The smoking fire pot and burning torch seal the deal in the first covenant with Abraham. The blinding light that knocks Saul down and lovingly sets him on a new path as missionary to the Gentiles, like the Transfiguration of the Lord, reveals the one who from before and within, calls us his sons and daughters.
3.9.25 Bulletin
First Sunday of Lent
“Jesus, after 40 days in the desert,
experienced the temptations we all face yet did not fall. Notice that He cites the bible in his encounter with temptation. Wrestling with pleasure, honor, glory, and wealth pursues us all the days of our life. The three-prong strategy of Lent, prayer, fasting and abstinence, plus almsgiving, however, are keys to discipleship in the Lord.
3.2.25 Bulletin
Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“From the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks,” reminds me of a guided walk through an obstacle course on a youth retreat. The guide gives verbal instructions to the blindfolded person as the rest of the group together communicate messages that both help and hinder the one who must discern the correct next step.
2.23.25 Bulletin
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
The first sentence of the Catechism of
the Catholic Church states that “God,
infinitely perfect and blessed in
Himself, in a plan of sheer goodness
freely created man to make him share
in his own blessed life.”
2.16.25 Bulletin
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The first sentence of the Catechism of
the Catholic Church states that “God, infinitely perfect and blessed in Himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life.”
2.9.25 Bulletin
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
I remember the night that God called me to the priesthood; after overcoming my misgivings, I said yes, and then sensed his tremendous peace. Isaiah writing about his call says, woe is me for I am doomed having seen the living God.
2.2.25 Bulletin
The Presentation of the Lord
The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord does not often fall on a Sunday when most Catholics attend mass. Here the Lord is presented in the temple to be consecrated as the first born, and Mary his mother, following the Jewish prescriptions, to be purified 40 days after childbirth.
1.26.25 Bulletin
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
The world around us is swirling in the opposite direction, yet we are sons and daughters of the Lord called like Jesus to stand in public and proclaim the year acceptable to the Lord.
1.19.25 Bulletin
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
St. Augustine, in writing about the water turned wine at Cana, remarks that for the Christian who knows of the wonders of God, this should come as no surprise, as the Lord God does this every year in vines.
1.12.25 Bulletin
The Baptism of the Lord
I’m always edified when we touch our fingers to the holy water, and bless ourselves in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
1.5.25 Bulletin
Feast of the Epiphany
Epiphany is three celebrations in one! First, it celebrates the manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles after his birth by the visitation of the three pagan Magi from the East, also known to us as the three kings, who through the virgin Mary encounter Christ for the first time as an infant. This expression of universality was the Christmas celebration of the Eastern or Greek church introduced into the Latin or Roman Rite in the 6th century.
12.29.24 Bulletin
Feast of the Holy Family
Jesus was born into a Jewish family that often moved because of economic or political reasons from Bethlehem of Judea to Nazareth, and to Egypt, and back again. And like the millions around the world migrating today, family bonds hold us together.
12.22.24 Bulletin
Fourth Sunday of Advent
Next August 8th – 10th, 2025, you are welcome to join us on a pilgrimage to Detroit where the now Blessed Solanus Casey is buried. He arrived for the first time at St. Bonaventure Monastery in Detroit on December 24, 1896, on a snowy Christmas Eve and was shown to a small room containing a bed, a desk, and a chair. He stretched himself out on the bed and fell fast asleep.
