From the Pastor's Desk - Archive

September 20, 2020

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, One of the great challenges in the spiritual life is comparison. How necessary and natural it is to compare things, virtues, experiences, and even persons. At the same time, comparison can be a grave danger and an enemy of grace! For example, I am often tempted to compare myself to others, and not for the sake of an honest, objective assessment of skill or merit. Rather, I am tempted to compare myself in a way that makes me think I am better than someone else. This is, obviously, not particularly noble, and easy to…read more

September 13, 2020

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I distinctly remember the night, sometime in the fall of my ninth grade year, when I heard the testimony of NYPD Detective Steven McDonald. My parish was hosting him and had asked the Confirmation students to attend his talk. That night, his witness was both visible and verbal. He told us the story of being shot in the line of duty in July of 1986 while he was on patrol, leaving him a quadriplegic. But the sight of his wheelchair and the sound of his ventilator were nothing compared to the words he spoke.…read more

September 6, 2020

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Correction is hard to receive, and often even harder to give. Yet it is precisely correction that Jesus instructs His disciples to give in this Sunday’s Gospel. Those who follow Jesus are to face conflict, difficulty, and sin in their number in a very direct way. When one sins, tell him his fault, and if he will not listen, bring another person into the conversation, and if he will not listen to multiple people, bring the fault to the attention of the church, that is, of the community. Name the fault, not out of…read more