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.
This Sunday, after six weeks of reading it at the Sunday Masses, we conclude the Bread of Life discourse from the Gospel of John. As it comes to a close, we hear the reaction of those who have heard Jesus say: “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” For many of Jesus’ contemporary listeners, the idea of eating His flesh and drinking His blood is incomprehensible and they reject the idea completely. And yet, while in many other cases when He is misunderstood, He explains himself more clearly, on this matter Jesus does not back away from his insistence that those who wish to have eternal life must consume His Body and drink His Blood. Unable to accept this idea, many of His followers state that it is a teaching that it is difficult to accept. We are told at this point, that many of Jesus’ followers turned away and no longer followed Him. When He asks the twelve if they also wish to leave, they do not indicate that they understand, they simply state that they have nowhere else to go because in faith they affirm that He has the words of eternal life and they have “come to believe and know that [Jesus] is the Holy one of God.” 
In recent weeks there has been a sharp increase in the amount of fake/scam emails being received by parishioners throughout the archdiocese. These emails – usually sent from Gmail accounts operated by scammers – appear to be from a priest and often request the purchase of gift cards or electronic payments. Please exercise caution should you receive an email like this and contact the parish via telephone to validate its authenticity.