Welcome

 These are text versions of the sermons I have prepared for the Sundays of the calendar year. I am a Catholic priest of the diocese of Gaylord (Michigan), ordained in 1997. 

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17th Sunday of Ordinary Time [C]

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17TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME [C] Can anybody name the topic for this weekend? If you answer with “prayer,” then you’re at least partially correct. More specifically, we are dealing with the subject of PERSISTENT prayer. Note the example of Abraham in our first reading. He learns that a severe judgment is being handed down, concerning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He responds with one petition after another, begging for the cities to be spared. As a result, we are now detecting flexibility, where previously there was no flexibility (see Gen. 18:16-33).  Jesus reaffirms the Abraham approach in this Gospel selection (Luke 11:1-13). When you pray, be sure to pray with persistence. What will that gain for you? Potentially, you will be blessed with the gift of mercy. That’s the point of focus for Abraham. And Paul likewise seems to be preoccupied with the gift of mercy as he writes to the community at Colossae. He proclaims that the bond being held against us has been nailed to the c...
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15th Sunday of Ordinary Time [C]

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  15TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME [C] Once the Christian movement gets underway, the next step is to look back so that we can sort out not only WHO Jesus was, but also WHAT he was? Some theologians will argue that Jesus was basically a human being—a human being commissioned by God to deliver a new body of teaching. Along with this point of view, we also have St.Paul and his point of view. Note how he opens his Letter to the Colossians: he opens by stressing the fact that Jesus possesses an actual divine nature (see Col. 1:15-20). In other words, Christ’s status can be described as an “exalted” status.  What about our own status? Maybe we are not at the same level as Jesus. Nevertheless, we do enjoy a privileged status. After all, it’s recorded in the Book of Genesis that we have been created in the image and likeness of our God (1:26). This is true for every member of the human race, regardless of their nationality or their culture. Therefore, we owe something to one another. We...
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18th Sunday of Ordinary Time [C]

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  18TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME [C] It’s all about letting the story unfold. Take that Harper Lee story, for example: To Kill A Mockingbird . It was originally released as a novel (1960), and then two years later it was adapted for the silver screen. Imagine yourself buying a ticket, sitting down to watch this highly anticipated film. What do you see as the opening credits begin to roll? You see a variety of objects, being kept within a box. What kind of objects? They list as follows: two Indian Head pennies; two carved figurines; a broken pocket-watch; a ball of string; a medal earned from a spelling bee; a jack-knife; and two sticks of Double-mint chewing gum.  Forget about trying to make any sense out of these objects. It’s too early. You have to let the story unfold. Likewise, forget about trying to make any sense out of the title. It’s too early. You have to let the story unfold. Eventually it will all fall into place. Eventually you will come to appreciate the significan...
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