September 21, 2026: Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist

The Gospel according to St. Matthew is bookended by an important reality:  God is with us, as the promise of Emmanuel indicates.  Jesus sends His apostles forth, promising to be with them, and with us, always.

This abiding presence of God comes to us in our lives and summons us to live with wholehearted devotion to our God, giving the honor due to Him, as Matthew 22 states, for God frees us from sin and directs our lives with purpose toward Him, as He directed the Magi by the light of a star.

May St. Matthew, whose Cathedral is in Washington, D.C., intercede for the USA, that our 250th anniversary of Independence will inspire us to live with purpose.

September 20, 2026: 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The words in the reading from Isaiah set the tone well for the Gospel reading, when God declares, in Isaiah, that His ways are above our ways, as high as the heavens are above the earth.

The parable in the Gospel reading doesn't make sense economically.  It's a story that reveals the abundant generosity of our God.  When our sins broke our relationship with Him, He saved us, offering us abundant grace and mercy so we could live the abundant life of faith in Him.

While we may feel that some are undeserving, like those who come to faith toward the end of earthly life, what counts is that our God is generous in giving us what we don't deserve.  His grace is enough to lead us to Heaven, and to transform us so that we reflect His image in this world while on the way to Heaven.  By embracing His grace and mercy, we can live a life with great purpose in devotion to God, magnifying Him by living out the gifts He has given us.

On this Catechetical Sunday, I'm grateful for the ways I experience Heaven as I lead my students to encounter God and grow in relationship with Him.

September 14, 2026: Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

By faith, we experience a great triumph in Christ.

He was crucified upon the Cross, a terrible instrument of suffering and death.

He did so in fulfillment of the Father's plan. He has exalted the Son and redeemed even the Cross to be the means of salvation and glory.

Indeed, Jesus Christ was lifted up, and now we praise Him as our Savior, in Whom we have Eternal Life.

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.