Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, August 23rd, 2026

 

Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, August 23rd, 2026

In the Seventh Chapter of St. Mark's Gospel, we read the encounter between Our Lord and someone who could neither hear nor speak.  "And they bring unto Him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech."  (St. Mark 7:31)  St. Mark tells us that Our Lord healed the man so that he could hear and speak.  Our prayer should be that we are cured from our deafness.  What?  Deaf?  "I'm not deaf," you might be saying to yourself.  Keep in mind that I am referring to a spiritual "deafness."  I am referring to being "hard of hearing" when to comes to listening to God   When I was in the seminary, I lived in a church not far from the elevated train.  And every few minutes or so the trains would pass by.  And as you can imagine, the trains were very loud.  Factor into this the other "sounds" coming from the neighborhood:  car alarms going off constantly . . . . traffic going by . . . . sirens wailing.  At first, with all this noise it was hard to concentrate.  But over time I became accustomed to the racket and the noise and it didn't bother me.  I would dare say, spiritually speaking, we get used to the "noises of the world."  These "noises" drown out our listening to God.  These "noises" keep us from listening to what God is telling us.  These "noises" keep us from paying attention to what we need to focus on.  The problem is that we get used to these "distractions."  We get used to these "noises."  We get used to these "hindrances" which keep us from God.  Thus, in a spiritual sense we become "deaf" or at least "hard of hearing" when it comes to hearing what God is trying to tell us.  Let us pray that our spiritual hearing will be healed so that we can listen fully to what God is saying to us.

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!

 

Tenth Sunday after Trinity, August 9th, 2026

St. Luke describes to us Our Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem in the Nineteenth chapter of his gospel.  Now, keep in mind that all four of the evangelists talk about this event in their respective gospels but in St. Luke's Gospel, we hear something that is not found in the other three.  ". . . he beheld the city, and wept over it " (St. Luke 19:41)  In other words, St. Luke is describing the fact that as Our Lord beheld the great city of Jerusalem, as He saw it, He began to weep, . . .  . He began to cry.  Now we cry for a multitude of reasons, don't we?  We can cry out of sadness.  We can cry out when we get frustrated.  When we are at our wit's end we may start crying.  We even cry sometimes when we are happy . . .  they are called "tears of joy."  Perhaps Our Lord could have been crying for all of the above reasons.  He was crying because He was sad.  Sad at the fact that the people wasted so much time and energy on useless pursuits instead of pursuing a relationship with God.  He cried too out of frustration because He knew that despite all of the best efforts of the prophets, despite the best efforts of St. John the Baptist and all the holy men and women of God throughout the ages to let the people know of the love of God.  And now, despite the best efforts of the Son of God Himself, despite all these efforts and energies, people still turned their back on God!  And, finally, Our Lord was crying with some joy in His heart because He knew that there is hope for all those that He saw.  Our Lord is the hope of the world!  Our Blessed Saviour is the remedy for all the illnesses of the world.  He is the Way, the Truth and the Life!  

As parents, we want the absolute best for our children.  In particular, we want them to have the best "future" that they possibly can with the best job, with the best home, with the best spouse, etc.  We want them to be happy but we don't want them to settle for the "second best."  But, as parents, we still need to let our children live their own life when they grow up.  As babies, as children, their parents have to make decisions on their behalf but when they grow up, they have to live their own life.  And, sometimes, as parents, we are disappointed in the choices that our children make.  It grieves us and frustrates us as parents because we don't want our children to settle for "second best."  This is why Our Lord was crying for the children of Jerusalem because He knew that they could have so much more by following God but instead they settled for "second best."  And Our Lord certainly knew that despite the fact that He died on the Cross many souls would still choose to turn their back on God.  Let us never turn our back on God.  Let us never settle for "second best."  Let us always choose the "best" way of life . .  . and that is a personal relationship with Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!

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!

Ninth Sunday after Trinity, August 2nd, 2026

 

Ninth Sunday after Trinity, August 2nd, 2026

As it has come to be known, the story of the "Prodigal Son" is certainly one of the most famous stories in all of Holy Scripture, if not the most famous.   There are so many aspects of this story that it is hard to pin it down to just one thing.  Of course the story revolves around the son who decides that he would rather have the inheritance "now" rather than "later."  And as a result he spends his inheritance on lavish living and then finds himself afterwards broke, and living in squalor.  And ultimately he comes back home with the intent of begging forgiveness from his father.  In my opinion, the most wonderful part of the whole story comes at about the midway point of the story:  "But when (the son) was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him."  (St. Luke 15:20)  If you notice, Our Lord tells us that the son was still a great way off when the father saw his son.  This implies to me that the father was on the "look-out" for his son.  And then when the father did finally see his son, he ran to him.  The father did not wait for the son to come to him.  He not only went to the son.  He went running to meet his son.  

This story of the Prodigal Son is really the story of humanity.  Humanity is the "prodigal son."  We have been given the gift of life.  We have been given the gift of salvation.  But not content with these two gifts we spend our "inheritance" also on riotous living as well.  We want to live life our own way and rarely bring God into our day to day living.  And just like the prodigal son in the story, we only think about God when we need Him or when we find ourselves in desperation.  And it is  then that we go to Him for help.  Like the loving father in the story, though, Our Heavenly Father also waits for us.  Our Heavenly Father comes running to us.  But He came running to sinful mankind in the form of His Son.  He sent His Son to rescue fallen mankind from their sinfulness and pride.  God is always on the lookout for us.  He not only waits for us . . . . . He looks for us to return to Him.  He is always ready to forgive, ready to bring us back, ready to love us and embrace us.  

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!

Eighth Sunday after Trinity, July 26, 2026

 

Eighth Sunday after Trinity, July 26th, 2026

In the Eighth Chapter of the Letter to the Romans, we hear the following:  "The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."  This passage is a powerful reminder that the Holy Ghost Himself is our Witness that we are the children of God.  And, as children, we are "joint-heirs with Christ."  But we should point out that we are joint-heirs in the glory but also the suffering.  We must always remember that we are not exempt from suffering simply because we are a child of God.  Our Blessed Lord was not exempt from suffering . . .  His Blessed Mother was not exempt from suffering . . .  the saints in Heaven were not exempt from suffering while they were here on earth.  None of us is exempt from suffering.  What we are called to do, just like Our Blessed Lord did, is to embrace our Cross and to endure the suffering.  Sort of like riding out the storm together with Our Blessed Saviour.  The point is that as Christians we are called to offer up our victories and also to offer up our sorrows as well.  Whether we are in the valley or up on the mountain-top, the key is to always keep close to Our Blessed Lord.  Make Him a part of every day of your life.  Some people only run to God when they are in trouble.  These people see God as their "last resort."  Please do not run to God only in times or trouble or only when all other avenues are exhausted!  Run to Him on a daily basis . . . in both good times and bad  . . .  . keep close to Him and He will keep close to 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!

Seventh Sunday after Trinity, July 19th, 2026

 

Seventh Sunday after Trinity, July 19th, 2026

In the Sixth Chaper of the Epistle written to the Romans we hear:  "I SPEAK after the manner of men"    And then he continues:  " . . . . for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity "  (v. 19)  So often we choose to talk the way we hear others talk.  We make a point to talk the same way, use the same phrases, speaking like we hear our friends or people on TV or what we hear in songs, etc.  But it is not just limited to speech, we imitate mannerisms we see in others.  We imitate others through our actions and what we do ourselves.  Just turn on the nightly news to see proof of exactly what I am speaking of.  Night after night, day after day, we hear of shootings and robberies.  We hear about road rage incidents.  We read about strings of burglaries and robberies.  The list goes on and on and on.  As a people, we have indeed "yielded our members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity!"  All the more reason that we as Sons and Daughters of the Most High need to let the world know that there is a new way.  There is a different path.  We hear in verse 23 of this same chapter:  "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord"  We need to remind the world that the only thing worth chasing in life is not anything that the world has to offer.  The only thing worth chasing is a relationship with Our Heavenly Father.  He is the One Who offers eternal life.  He is the One Who heals what is broken.  He is the One Who sent HIs Son into the world to die for our sins.  

 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!

Sixth Sunday after Trinity, July 12th, 2026

 

Sixth Sunday after Trinity, July 12th, 2026

In the Sixth Chapter of the Epistle written to the Romans we hear the following:  "KNOW ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?"  When we are baptized into the Christian faith, in essence, we are called to die to the world.  When Christ was crucified on the Cross and laid in the grave, His enemies thought that He had been defeated.  They thought He was gone and done for.  And yet He rose on that first Easter morn.  He rose to new life utterly defeating death itself.  In our Baptism we are called to die to the world and rise from the waters of Baptism as a new creature in Christ.  And yet, so often this is not the case.  The world continues to attract us in so many ways.  The things of the world seem to hold us captive and hold us down.  As Christians, we are called to focus our attention on God and the things of God.  We are called to be the instruments of God in this world.  And yet so often we only do the things which we want done instead of doing what God calls us to do.  We focus on what we want instead of focusing on what God wants.  We need to remind ourselves Who we belong to.  We need to remind ourselves what our purpose in life is as faithful sons and daughters of the Most High.  We must remind ourselves that through our relationship with Our Blessed Saviour we have died to the world and have a new life with Him.  And we need to have put all things into perspective that God comes first and foremost in our lives and our life in Him needs to take priority.

   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!

Fifth Sunday after Trinity, July 5th, 2026

 

Fifth Sunday after Trinity, July 5th, 2026

In the Fifth Chapter of St. Luke's Gospel we hear the story of when Our Blessed Saviour first met St. Peter.  This, of course, when he was still the fisherman known as Simon.   Now, Our Lord requested help from St. Peter because the crowd was so great that He wanted as many people to hear Him as possible.  Thus, the favor which He sought from St. Peter was to let Him preach from his small ship in order that He would not be hemmed in by the multitude and more people could hear Him.  Now, when Our Lord was done teaching He intended to pay back the kindness to St. Peter for letting Him use the ship.  You see, St. Peter had toiled all night long and had not caught any fish.  St. Peter tried every which way to catch some fish and he just could not catch any that night.  But when Our Lord told St. Peter to cast out their nets, they pulled back a catch that was beyond belief.  St. Peter could not believe his eyes.  St. Peter had witnessed with his own eyes an astonishing miracle which was so amazing to him.  St. Peter had worked so hard all night to catch nothing but Our Lord made it look so easy.  Our Lord rewards us with far more than we ever deserve:  He gives us life; He blesses us; He provides for us; He gives us redemption through His death on the Cross; He gives us the opportunity to have everlasting life with Him in Heaven.  All we have to do is give our heart to Him and follow Him.  Our Lord promised St. Peter great things.  Our Lord said that St. Peter would go on to catch men for God.  St. Peter was willing to follow Jesus.  St. Peter was willing to give his heart to Our Blessed Lord.  Did St. Peter still make mistakes after that?  Certainly.  Did St. Peter stick his foot in his mouth at times?  Of course.  St. Peter even denied Our Blessed Saviour when the hour looked darkest.  And yet Jesus still loved St. Peter.  He still forgave St. Peter.  He still kept hope in St. Peter.  Our Blessed Saviour does not expect us to be perfect.  He knows that we will fall.  Our Lord knows us better than we know ourselves.  And yet He still loves us.  He still forgives us.  Knowing everything He knows about  us, He still freely chose to die on the Cross  . . .  for you . . .  for me.    St. Peter had toiled all night long, St. Luke tells us, and caught nothing.  But with Our Lord's help, they caught so many fish the nets began to break.  How often in life do we "toil all night long" like St. Peter?  How often do our efforts fail us?  God will bless your efforts.  God will give you everlasting life.  God has already given His Son for you.  Christ died on the Cross for you.  Our Blessed Saviour defeated death for you.  What will you do for Him?

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!