There is a man, by the name of Winston, whom you will often find sitting on the rock in front of St. Peter’s Church. Much like the man in the famous statue called ‘The Thinker,” Winston does a lot of thinking. Winston is a person who has been homeless and lived for many years on the streets of our city. Often Winston transports all of his belongings in two or three different grocery carts. He frequently attends the parish’s Winter Welcome Table Program in the Winter. I think Winston reads all of the newspapers that are published in the city and knows about the political situation around the world. Although I do not think that Winston is Catholic, I like to think of Winston as the parish philosopher. He is keenly concerned for justice and desires a solution to many of the world’s problems. When Archbishop Leo visited the parish, he and Winston discussed at length many of the problems and challenges in the world today. Winston, as I believe most of us do, would love to see a world without poverty, war, suffering and injustice. Continue reading →

In our first reading this Sunday, from the Book of Deuteronomy, we hear the people of Israel asking what other nation has a god who lives so closely with them as the God of Israel dwells with them. They believed that by observing the commandments, they were God’s people and God dwelt with them. As the psalmist proclaims: “The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.” As a sign that the Lord lived with them, the people of Israel kept the Ark of the Covenant, containing the Ten Commandments given them by God, in the Temple in Jerusalem.

For us as Christians, the idea that God dwells with us actually takes on a much greater significance. We believe that God sends His Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts. We no longer have the idea that God dwells in a building. For the Christian, each human being is called to be a Temple of the Holy Spirit. This reality, that God desires to come and dwell within us, is why Jesus places such a significance on the interior life. In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus draws our attention to the reality that it is what is in a person’s heart that determines whether the Lord Himself is able to dwell within that heart. As many of the great spiritual writers of our tradition have written, God cannot dwell in a heart that is full of hatred, envy, pride and greed. The heart must be a place that is open and free to contain the Lord. Continue reading →