Evangelization
As I have said before, many people today have some knowledge of what the Catholic Church teaches on various topics without knowing why the Church teaches it. Helping people understand not just what the Church teaches but why is at…
Read MoreIt is no secret that 2020 was a difficult year. A number of my blog articles in the last year reflect that. In particular, there were the articles, “2020: What a Year!” and “2020 is Over!”. Now, we try to…
Read More2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B1 Samuel 3:3b-10, 19Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10 (8a and 9a)1 Corinthians 6:13c-15a, 17-20John 1:35-42January 17, 2021 Jesus asked the two disciples of John the Baptist, “What are you looking for?” Jesus asks…
Read MoreOn November 29th, we began a new year in the church with the First Sunday of Advent. In my homily that day, I spoke of people making new year’s resolutions for the secular new year on January 1st and how…
Read MoreWith fewer and fewer people coming to church even before the Coronavirus, one asks the question, “Why don’t more people come to Jesus?” Jesus offers us something wonderful. Do people understand what Jesus offers us, namely, salvation? I just finished…
Read MoreThe first reading in yesterday’s (28th Sunday in Ordinary Time) Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours led me to think about where we are at as a Church with regards to the number of people who practice…
Read MoreI started my new series of webinars, Uncovering the Treasures of the Mass, last night. You are view the recording of the webinar on my website at www.renewaloffaith.org/masspart1. Peace, Fr. Jeff
Read MoreI remember back in my school days hearing about utopian societies. Such groups are the attempts of the members to form a perfect society. In my limited knowledge of them, they were small, insular societies. To me, the world didn’t…
Read MoreOne of the topics I have covered a few times during the Coronavirus is prayer (see https://blog.renewaloffaith.org/?cat=12 for those articles & homilies). Today I would like to cover a particular form of prayer required of clergy and religious but an…
Read MoreAt Baptism, we are asked six questions as our “baptismal promises.” (When we are baptized as infants, our parents answer for us.) At Confirmation we renew our baptismal promises ourselves. Each year at Easter time, we renew them. We respond,…
Read MoreHow Well Do You Know God? What does it even mean to know God? Is it a matter of how much we know about God? We need to learn about God but knowing God is not just a matter of…
Read MoreIt’s hard to know but it seems like I have heard of increasing numbers of acts of violence (mainly shootings). I currently serve in a parish about thirty minutes outside of Rochester, NY. Last weekend, Rochester had three separate shootings…
Read MoreThe question for this article is how do we experience Church? As we explore this question, please note that I capitalized the word “Church”. This is because, ultimately, it is a transcendent “Church” that we are called to belong to.…
Read MoreDoes God change? God is eternal, without beginning or end. Does He ever change? I ask the question because recently I was asked about God’s vengeance. There is some tendency to see God in the Old Testament as a punishing…
Read MoreThe Coronavirus shutdown our Masses for three months. It continues to impact attendance as people stay home to protect themselves. For those who do come in person, attendance hovers about 30-40% of normal. There are others who continue to watch…
Read MoreOne of the things I like to write about here on my blog is current events in the news. I also desire to incorporate current events into my homilies. I think this is important because we need to show our…
Read MoreHello, Today I recorded a new 18 minute video on church vestments and liturgical colors. You can see the video at https://www.renewaloffaith.org/video—vestments.html. I hope it aids you in the riches of our liturgy. I am looking forward to a series…
Read MoreAs a church, as the people of God, we face difficult times. Right now, we are dealing with the Coronavirus. We are celebrating public Masses (with face masks and social distancing), albeit with smaller numbers as people stay home to…
Read MoreWe live in the world, meaning this physical world, but we are not of this world. What does this mean? We have physical bodies in this world. We are dependent on things of this world for our physical existence. We…
Read MoreHave you ever pondered the question, “what will Heaven be like?” I don’t expect to end up there anytime soon but it is a question we might ask. After all, we expect to spend eternity there. The question comes to…
Read More17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A1 Kings 3:5, 7-12Psalm 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130 (97a)Romans 8:28-30Matthew 13:44-52July 26, 2020 God said to Solomon, “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.” If God said this to…
Read MoreIn the bulletin for this weekend, July 26th, I wrote a column about my passion for faith formation beyond children. I include some of my plans for this Fall. Here is the column: The three things where I most find…
Read MoreLast week I wrote a blog article called, “We Need Heroes.” In that article I wrote about our need for role models. As Christians, Jesus is the ultimate role model. We also have the saints as role models. Today I…
Read More15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year AIsaiah 55:10-11Psalm 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14 (Luke 8:8)Romans 8:18-23Matthew 13:1-23July 12, 2020 Word of what Jesus is doing and saying had spread such that large crowds were coming to him. So, He got into…
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