Twenty-Fouth Sunday after Trinity, November 15th, 2026

 

Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Trinity, November 15th, 2026

I guess you could call this little essay "Part Two" of what I had posted earlier in the week.  Earlier this week I had pointed out that very often the young men whom I work with at the correctional facility fail to show love to those who show them the most love.  Instead, they spend their time hanging out with people and friends who do not have their best interests at heart.  They hang out with people who use them and abuse them.  Instead of spending time with people who have "unconditional love" for these young men, they spend their time chasing after people who very often lead them down a path of destruction.  Those who have "unconditional love," as we discussed, only want the best for us.  Those who have "unconditional love" do not want anything from us.  They want us to grow, to succeed and to be our best.  

But, quite frankly, doesn't this certainly describe God?  God wants the best for us.  God does not love us for what we can give Him.  If anyone has "unconditional love," wouldn't you agree that God certainly has "unconditional love" for His children.  He only wants the best for us.  And yet so often we are like the young men I described at the correctional facility.  We spend our time running after what the world has to offer.  We spend our time chasing after our wants, our needs, our desires.  Instead of spending time with the One Who loves us the most--Our Heavenly Father, we spend our days running after things which ultimately have no meaning.  "But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)  God sent His only Son into the world to save us from our sins because He loves us.  God wants the best for us.  God loves us with an indescribable love.  For these reasons and so many more, shouldn't we do our best to spend time with God?  Shouldn't we go to Him daily with our prayers?  Shouldn't we stay close to the One who stays close to us?  Do not spend your days and weeks chasing after people or things that do not care for you.  Spend some time with the One who defines "unconditional love."  "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (St. John 3:16)

Showing Some Love to Those Who Matter

 

Showing Some Love to Those Who Matter

When you work at a Maximum Security Facility for juveniles, believe me when I tell you that you do not only work there to get a paycheck. You work there because you hope to make a difference in their lives. And like with most teenagers what you tell them goes right in one ear and out the other. But one of the things which I have tried to emphasize to these young men is to stay close to those who show unconditional love to you. A person who shows unconditional love only wants the best for you. A person who has unconditional love does not use you for their own gain. A person who has unconditional love wants to see you grow and have life better than they do simply because they want the best for you. But most of these young men in the juvenile facility more than likely did not follow this advice. Just the opposite. Instead of spending time with people who want the best for them, they hang around people who used them. They hung around people that could care less about them. They hung around people who tore them down little by little by little each and every day. Most of us have somebody in our lives who have unconditional love for us. Most typically it is your parents, whether that be a mother or a father or both. Very often it is your grandparents. It may be an aunt or an uncle. But sometimes people who have unconditional love for us are not even related to us. It could be a dear friend. It could be a teacher. It could be a neighbor. The bottom line is that anyone who has unconditional love simply wants the best for us. Nothing more. Nothing less. If you have someone who meets this description, why not show some love in return? Reach out to those who love you. Reach out to those who care. So often in life we keep so busy with our jobs and careers, taking care of family things, taking care of homes, taking care of ourselves, taking care of our wants, needs and desires, . . . . . we get so caught up taking care of all of these things I just mentioned that we end up having no time for those who love us, for those who care for us. We dedicate our days to our jobs and earning money and taking care of our day to day cares and before you know it the week is over and we haven't spent any time with the people who love us the most. I know that all of us are busy. I know that we all have a million and one things to do in our lives. But take some time out to show some love to those who have shown love to you. Show some love to those who have loved you. Show some love to those who matter.

Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity, November 8th, 2026

 

Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity, November 8th, 2026

If you read through the Twenty-Second Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, we are told of all sorts of attempts by not only the Pharisees but also the Sadducees and even the Herodians are thrown in there for good measure.  There are all kinds of attempts by these folks to catch Our Lord in His words.  Each of them is doing their best to trip Him up by asking Him loaded questions, hoping that He will say something wrong and they could use His words against HIm.  But Our Lord does not all for any of their traps.  He responds to each question directly and to the point.  In fact, some of the responses He gives throws them off-guard because they aren't prepared for what He says.  The reason why they were not prepared for what He had to say is because they were too busy trying to get Him to say what they wanted Him to say.  They wanted Him to say what THEY wanted Him to say.  So often aren't we like this as well?  We gravitate towards the people who have similar tastes or have similar opinions.  When we are on social media we do the same thing.  We listen to those who have the same opinion as we do and do our best to "tune out" the rest.  But in regard to our salvation we should always remember Our Lord's words found in verse Fourteen of this chapter:  "For many are called, but few are chosen."  God has chosen YOU.  He calls YOU.  He has singled YOU out for great things.  We are called.  But more importantly we are chosen!  Chosen to be God's children. As much as possible try to focus on the fact that you are called.  You are chosen.  Everything else in this world is secondary.  We belong to God.  Not to the world.  

Please join us as we gather together at the beautiful Chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  Mass begins at 10:30 am.  Please join us this day and hear the Word of God and give praise and honor to Our Risen Saviour! 

Feast of All Saints, November 1st, 2026

 

Feast of All Saints, November 1st, 2026

Let's face it, in the secular society in which we are all a part of, Halloween has become a staple of life this time of year.  I read an article last year stating that money spent on Halloween related items . . . . whether it be costumes, or candy, or decorations, etc. . . .  . has sky-rocketed to Number Two right behind Christmas.  What does this have to do with the feast of All Saints, you are probably asking.  Well, our secular version of Halloween sprung up out of "All Hallows Eve," in other words, the day before All Saints Day, November 1st.  And the only reason we are pointing out this fact is to ask the question:  how many people in our secular society know anything about All Saints Day and yet they all know about Halloween?     Halloween comes and goes.  And yet each one of us is called to be a saint.  A saint, you see, is someone who has given their life to God. A saint is someone who has dedicated his or her life to God.  A saint is someone who,  despite all the struggles in this earthly life, has said to themselves, to God, and to the world that God is "Number One" in their life.  In that sense, the saints are a role model to all dedicated, committed Christians throughout the world.  And this is why the Church celebrates the feast of All Saints every November 1st:   to celebrate those who have fought the battle and have won the prize!  Of course, that prize is eternal companionship with God in Heaven. 

 So many people do not care about becoming saints, quite frankly, because in their own mind they do not consider themselves to be "worthy" of becoming a saint!  They look at the other examples of the saints:  St. Peter; St. Paul; Our Blessed Mother; St. Augustine; St. Monica; St. Gemma; etc., etc.  These people look at the lives of the saints and they see extraordinary people doing extraordinary things.  And they quietly tell themselves that they could never be like that; they could never be holy like that; they could never do extraordinary things like the saints have done.  Thus, we defeat ourselves even before we begin and we never even try.  if would only stop to remember that we are the "ordinary" and God is the "extra."  And when you put the two together, that is how we get the "extraordinary!"  That may seem very simple, but quite frankly, it is as simple as that:  the saints are ordinary people just like you or me but with the help of God, they became extraordinary in their faith.  They were willing, they were committed  . . . . and God provided the rest.  

Dedicate your life to God.  Stay committed to becoming a saint.  Make God the top priority in your life.  And let God provide the rest.  Soon, you will see how extraordinary your life will become.

Please join us as we gather together at the beautiful Chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  Mass begins at 10:30 am.  Please join us this day and hear the Word of God and give praise and honor to Our Risen Saviour! 

St. Luke the Evangelist, October 18th, 2026

 

St. Luke the Evangelist, October 18th, 2026

Have you ever been in a store where you felt the employees were everywhere.  In other words, the employees were plentiful.  But then I am sure you have also had the experience of going into a different store and there weren't any employees in sight anywhere.  In the Tenth Chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, we are told that Our Lord appointed another seventy disciples to go out in pairs to "every city and place." (St. Luke 10:1)  And before He sent them out He told them:  "The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few."  (v.2)    In the world in which we live the labourers are few when it comes to working on behalf of God and His Kingdom.  How many people work for God and how many people work for themselves?  How many people work to further the Kingdom of God on earth and how many people work to further themselves here on earth?  "The labourers are few."  We should pray that God uses each of us as His instrument in the world.  We should pray that we do the work of God that needs to be done.  "The labourers are few."  God will give us the strength.  God will give us the knowledge.  God will give us the fortitude.  With God, all things are possible. 

Please join us as we gather together at the beautiful Chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  Mass begins at 10:30 am.  Please join us this day and hear the Word of God and give praise and honor to Our Risen Saviour! 

Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, October 11th, 2026

 

Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, October 11th, 2026

St.  Paul writes:  "I therefore . . .  beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called." (Ephesians 4:1)  Those who are called to be Christians are called to be something truly noble.  That may sound very lofty but it is true. This is because we are called to imitate "light" in a world of "darkness."   St. Paul goes on to give some pretty sound advice in this fourth chapter of Ephesians.  In verse 31 of this chapter he writes:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice." (Ephesians 4:31)  Probably, I would dare say, this is the best advice of the whole chapter for us to keep in mind.  I say this because we live in a fast paced world.  I would say this is true for all of us.  Whether we are working or retired; whether we live in cities or in towns; whether we are young or old.  Just about everybody I know . . . . myself included . . .  is constantly busy at doing this or doing that.  Going to work.  Going to doctor's appointments.  Going shopping.  Cleaning the house.  Fixing the house.  Doing yardwork.  Picking up the kids.  Going to games.  The list goes on and on.  And, unfortunately, for many of us . . . .  again, myself included . . . . busy schedules oftentimes lead to stressful living.  And stressful living can lead to short tempers and lack of patience with those around us.  We get angry with the idiots who cut us off in traffic and almost cause a wreck.  We get irritated with the people in front of us at the store who are holding up the checkout line by trying to use coupons that have been expired for five months.  We get mad at people who may have a different opinion than we do.  The list goes on and on.  And while these things may seem insignificant in and of themselves, added all together these things have the potential to make our lives very stressful.  

God does not mean for our lives to be filled with stress and anger and irritation.  Quite frankly, when we get irritated with someone or something . . . . even if we are correct to be irritated . . .  this irritation does not harm the other person;  it harms us.  The other person probably doesn't even know of our irritation and probably wouldn't care anyway even if they would know.  The irritation and the anger and the bitterness is what builds up inside of us and harms us. Period.  St. Paul is warning the church at Ephesus just like he is warning us two-thousand years later:  be filled with things of God instead of things of the world.  Fill yourself with the love of God so that you will not be filled with the anger and bitterness offered by the world.  In a certain sense, we are similar to a pitcher or a glass or a box.  If the container is filled with whatever objects we can think of and the container is filled to the brim, we can not fit anything else in.  Thus, remove the items from the container so that we can fill the other items in there.  Thus, in that sense, how can we expect to fill ourselves with the love of God if we are already filled with anger and bitterness and hate?  Conversely, how can anger and bitterness and hate fill us if we are already filled with the love of God?

Please join us as we gather together at the beautiful Chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  Mass begins at 10:30 am.  Please join us this day and hear the Word of God and give praise and honor to Our Risen Saviour!

Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity, October 4th, 2026

 

Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity, October 4th, 2026

The beginning of today's Epistle states:  "I thank my God always on your behalf . . . "  (I Corinthians 1:4 ff)  St. Paul is making the point that he thanks God for the witness of faith found in the Church at Corinth.   It is amazing how many times in a day that we say "Thank you."  Have you ever tried to count the number of times that you said these two simple little words in the course of a day?  Probably not but I bet you say it a lot.  If you go to the store and you buy something, the odds are probably good that you say "Thank you" to the cashier after making your purchase.  If someone holds the door for you on the way out, again, the odds are probably good that you once again say "Thank you" to the person showing the courtesy of holding the door for you.  If the waiter takes your order . . .  if the server brings you your drink  . . . . if someone says "God bless you" after you sneeze . . .  I would be willing to bet that you probably said "Thank you" at  each one of these scenarios I just described.  (And if you do NOT say "Thank You" in the examples I just mentioned I would suggest that you begin!  But I digress!)

But how often do we say "Thank you" to God?  As demonstrated above, the odds are that we thank an awful lot of people in the course of a day, week, or month.  But how often have we thanked God during the last 24 hours . . . or week . . .  or month?  Have we thanked Him at all?  We are awfully quick to speak to God when we need something from Him but is that the only time we ever take the time to speak to Him?  When we need a favour?   If we had a friend that only spoke to us when that friend needed something from us, over time, I doubt if we would think very highly of that so-called friend.  And yet that is what we do to God at certain times during our life.  We get busy with the "busy-ness" of everyday living and we do not take time out for God:  to spend time with Him  . . .  . to talk with Him ... . to thank Him.  And then when we get in trouble over one thing or another, then we run to Him and ask Him to help us.  The bottom line is this:  God wants us to run to Him when we are in need.  He wants to help us.  And yet I am willing to bet that He would also like to hear from us for no other reason than to simply say "Hi" or to say "Thank you for the blessings you have given me this day."   Make a point to thank God for what He has given you.

Please join us as we gather together at the beautiful Chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  Mass begins at 10:30 am.  Please join us this day and hear the Word of God and give praise and honor to Our Risen Saviour!