NOT to be

02-16-2025The Pastor's PenRev. Matthew R. Paratore, S.T.L., J.C.L.,Pastor

Dear Friend,

The Bible defines worldliness by centering morality where we intuitively know it should be. Worldliness is the lust of the flesh (a passion for sensual satisfaction), the lust of the eyes (an inordinate desire for the finer things of life), and the pride of life (self-satisfaction in who we are, what we have, and what we have done). Worldliness, then, is a preoccupation with ease and affluence.

READ MORE

02-09-2025The Pastor's PenRev. Matthew R. Paratore, S.T.L., J.C.L.,Pastor

Dear Friend,

In football they have a "huddle."

The goal of the huddle is to give you thirty seconds to call the play, that is why they give you a huddle.

At a professional football game there may be sixty thousand people watching you huddle, they don’t mind you taking thirty seconds to call the play.

READ MORE

Live in Present-Tense

02-02-2025The Pastor's PenRev. Matthew R. Paratore, S.T.L., J.C.L.,Pastor

Dear Friend,

Jesus calls us to be people who live in present-tense.

An average person’s anxiety is focused on:
40% -- things that will never happen
30% -- things about the past that can’t be changed
12% -- things about criticism by others, mostly untrue
10% -- about health, which gets worse with stress
8% -- about real problems that will be faced

READ MORE

Finding God In Times of Depression (Just A Minute Meditations) by SisterKathryn James Hermes

02-01-2025Book Recommendations

This pocket-sized booklet of thirty meditations will help you unlock the courage to believe in God’s desire to save and bless you, especially in times of sadness and desolation. Each meditation includes a Scripture passage; a brief reflection by Sister Kathryn James Hermes, FSP, award-winning author of Surviving Depression: A Catholic Approach; and a short prayer.

READ MORE

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

01-26-2025The Pastor's PenRev. Matthew R. Paratore, S.T.L., J.C.L.,Pastor

Dear Friend,

Many people turn water into wine. It takes at least six weeks. But with Jesus it took no time at all. And it required no effort: he did it without even a word or a gesture or command; it just turned into wine in his presence, and he instructed the waiters to take it to the table. C.S. Lewis remarked that all the miracles worked by Jesus were in accord with the laws of nature, and not against them.

READ MORE

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

01-19-2025The Pastor's PenRev. Matthew R. Paratore, S.T.L., J.C.L.,Pastor

Dear Friend,

The "Coronary and Ulcer Club" lists the following rules for members:

1. Your job comes first. Forget everything else.

2. Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays are fine times to be working at the office. There will be nobody else there to bother you.

READ MORE

Baptism of the Lord

01-12-2025The Pastor's PenRev. Matthew R. Paratore, S.T.L., J.C.L.,Pastor

Dear Friend,

At a recent gathering of university professors, one teacher reported that at his school the most damaging charge one student can lodge against another is that the person is being "judgmental." He found this pattern very upsetting. "You can't get a good argument going in class anymore," he said.

READ MORE

Epiphany of the Lord

01-05-2025The Pastor's PenRev. Matthew R. Paratore, S.T.L., J.C.L.,Pastor

Dear Friend,

These are the last New Year's Resolutions of Saint Sir Thomas More who was executed by the English King Henry VIII in 1535 because of his fidelity and loyalty to the Pope. He was the Lord High Chancellor of England. The Church has named him Patron of Statesmen and Politicians.

READ MORE

Brilliant! 28 Catholic Scientists, Mathematicians, and Super Smart People By David Michael Warren

01-01-2025Book Recommendations

Think faith and science don't go together? Think again! Meet the faith-filled Catholics behind groundbreaking discoveries in science and math with this illuminating collection of twenty-eight biographies and stunning black-and-white illustrations of pioneering men and women like Father Gregor Mendel, Louis Pasteur, Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, and Sister Miriam Michael Stimson.

READ MORE