September 13, 2026: 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

God has offered us the great gift of forgiveness for our sins and calls us to extend it to others as part of putting our faith into action.

The first reading from Sirach directs us to remember God's commandments and to forgive others so that we can experience forgiveness.

Jesus tells a parable in which a servant is forgiven a great debt but then is oblivious to the gift he was given and shows no mercy to a fellow servant who owes him a much smaller debt.

By growing in faith, the implications of forgiveness enter more deeply within us, enabling us to show mercy and grace to others as a reflection of what God has done for us.

We recognize that God has created us all, and that, by faith, we live and die for the Lord.

So we seek to live out our relationship with God by sharing these great gifts with others.  St. Peter asks if it's enough to forgive someone 7 times, a number that was thought to symbolize perfection in Judaism. Jesus calls him, and all of us, to go further and reflect the perfection of God Who has forgiven us, as we live out our faith by extending His gift of forgiveness to others.

September 8, 2026: Nativity of the Virgin Mary

Mary the Blessed Mother is a marvelous example of God working wondrously in someone who displays great faith.

The prophecy of Emmanuel, God with us, is fulfilled through the power of the Holy Spirit when Mary said yes to God's plan.

God has called of us, His people, to be part of His plan. As we say yes, may we marvel at the wonders we encounter.

September 6, 2026: 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

God desires for us to care for our brothers and sisters, seeking to support them in steering them from wrong to right.

The reading from Ezekiel indicates that God holds us responsible for doing our part to give warning to our brothers and sisters.

Jesus in the Gospel reading lays out an approach for responding to those who have wronged us.

Ultimately, it's about living out the command to love.  Indeed, as St. Paul writes, all the commandments are about expressing our love for God by living that love toward our neighbor.

This first weekend of September marks the anniversary of multiple canonizations, including the 10th anniversary of St. Teresa of Calcutta and the first anniversary of St. Piergiorgio Frassati and St. Carlo Acutis.  Their lives are great examples of how we can put our faith into action by loving others.

August 30, 2026: 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

After a profound conversation in which St. Peter acknowledges Jesus as the Christ, and then Christ grants St. Peter the important role as the rock of the Church, Jesus Christ elaborates on what it means for Him to be Christ. It means that He must suffer, die, and rise on the third day.

It's understandable that St. Peter, and likley the other apostles, didn't want Jesus to suffer, which was seen as some kind of punishment from God.  Yet when St. Peter rebukes Jesus, He makes clear that he thinks as humans do, not as God.

Then Jesus says the way for disciples following Him is to also experience suffering.  As experience has shown over the centuries, we face suffering because the world opposes what we stand for in the Truth of God.  Like Jeremiah the prophet, we might grow weary of following this way.  Yet he acknowledges that when he aims to stop, the Truth becomes like a fire in him, and he can't hold it in.

St. Paul, in the 2nd reading, urges us to be living sacrifices, offering ourselves for God, which is how, in the midst of the challenges of being a disciple, we can find purpose and even joy, as we worship God from the heart.  We turn our focus from world ways to focus on God and discern His will.

Ultimately, Christ will die, and then rise and enter glory.  We have the chance to share in this glory, after we struggle and suffer, while living with wholehearted devotion to God and following His will, as a reward for faithfulness to God.

August 23, 2026: 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sooner or later, we must all answer the question that Christ poses to His Apostles, "Who do you say that I am?"

We must answer it in a personal way, because the answer affects how we live our lives.

May Christ truly be our Lord, directing our lives closer into union with Him, and His Church.

Christ established the Church, with St. Peter as the leader.  By the authority given to St. Peter and teh apostles, handed on to their successors, the Church stewards the Truth of His teachings and upholds them so that we can enter more deeply into a life-giving relationship with Him, building His Kingdom on Earth, declaring our praises to the Great One Who is beyond understanding yet is the Source of All, and is worthy of all praise.

I answered this question in an important way 17 years ago when I attended Mass for the first time at St. Teresa's, the day after I arrived at Valparaiso University to begin my time as a student there.  At that first Mass, I felt the call to make a decisive commitment ot faith and take my part in the Church, to live out my answer to Who Christ is to me.

August 16, 2026: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

God sent His Son as Savior for Israel and created a way for all people outside of Israel to receive His salvation and come to Him.

I greatly enjoy this Sunday's Gospel story.  While Jesus at first seems dismissive of the woman, even to the point of saying that food for teh children shouldn't be thrown to the dogs, she has great faith to recognize Jesus can provide healing for her daughter and she masterfully draws upon Jesus's metaphor to talk about dogs even eating scraps.

Jesus rewards such faith.  He has come to break down barriers in providing salvation. So let us build faith, constantly striving after Jesus and waiting upon Him, in His way and His timing to meet our needs.

August 15, 2026: Solemnity of the Assumption

After a life living by faith in her Son, the Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, was assumed body and soul into Heaven, receiving the great reward for living by faith.

We have hope to follow Mary, who was the first disciple, and experience the fullness of the Resurrection, body and soul, because Christ was the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, as St. Paul writes.

In this hope, we rejoice in God our Savior, Who has already manifested the power of redemption in transforming our lives.  Indeed, we join with Mary in magnifying the Lord, who, like Pope St. John Paul II declared at the end of World Youth Day 1993 in Denver, has done great things for her and for us.