On the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in December 1990, Pope St. John Paul II released his encyclical letter Redemptoris Missio. In it, he wrote about the mission of the Church, the mission of all of us as the people of God, to carry out and bring to completion the mission of…
Over the last few weeks, I know that I have been preaching more and more about the state of the world and how opposed it is currently to the Church and the tenets of our faith. It seems so deaf to the message of the Gospel. And, at times, it might even seem as though…
Cardinal Joseph Zen is the 91-year-old Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong. Over the last several decades now, he has been an outspoken critic of the Chinese government and its treatment of its citizens, specifically calling out issues regarding human rights, political freedom, and religious liberty. He has organized financial support for the underground Church in…
Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, the two greatest apostles of the Church. The reason these two saints are celebrated together is because the tradition of the Church holds that they were martyred together on this date sometime between 64 and 68 AD at the hands of Emperor Nero. But these…
I have to admit, I feel somewhat called out by the Lord in this Gospel this morning. Being judgmental is something that so many of us, myself included, struggle with on occasion. That particular vice is one that can be very challenging to overcome. Why is that? In terms of being judgmental, that sin usually…
Jesus never promised us that being one of his disciples would be easy. In fact, quite the contrary. Throughout the Gospels, we see how Jesus shares with His disciples just how much hardship and suffering they will have to endure simply for following Him and spreading the Good News of salvation. Our Gospel reading for…
In 1263, a German priest, Peter of Prague, was traveling throughout Italy on a personal pilgrimage to Rome. Tradition tells us that Peter was a good and pious priest who was constantly striving for holiness in his life. In his ministry, however, he became quite troubled by the indifference of many of the faithful in…
Look at the Pharisees and the Herodians in this Gospel…how devious! They first try to flatter Jesus by saying He is a truthful man. But Jesus knows they mean that in a sarcastic way and that they’re trying to trap Him. They pose a false dilemma to Him. It's “either/or.” Either Jesus must accept Caesar…
We live in a world that is hard to sometimes really difficult to understand and, I think, we have let the frustration and uncertainty that have emerged in our own hearts to determine how we respond to various situations that we experience. Just look at all that we have endured over the last couple of…
On Friday, we celebrated the Memorial of St. Philip Neri, who has become one of my favorite saints over the last couple of years. He is well known for his humor and cheerfulness, his gifted spiritual direction, and his habit of making a fool of himself for humility’s sake. On one occasion, he even shaved…
Fr. Tom Pringle 