News - August 2012 RSS Feed

During the summer months, I have given a great deal of thought to what I would like to accomplish during the time that I am your pastor. What is most important? What is most necessary? While there are many different things that could be done, I have decided to focus my ministry this coming year around the theme of faith and evangelization. Click title to read more.

Thanks to the good offices of our business manager, Mr. William Heiden, we have been able to carry out several maintenance projects this summer: (1) The pavement of the parking lot around the Parish Office Center, (2) The pointing of the church’s bell tower and work on the slate roof, (3) and repairs to the air-conditioning system. And soon we will be working on repairing the side-walks on the church grounds. While these projects are expensive, doing the work now is less expensive than deferring the maintenance of our plant. It is your generosity that makes this possible. Thank you.

For the past several weeks I have been considering Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as the perfect measure of the Christian life. I noted that in the early church, most Christians simply assumed that the sermon was intended for everyone who followed Christ, and not for the few who sought the way of perfection. Click title to read more.

The Law requires us to love our neighbor, but Jesus challenges us love even our enemy. In this week’s column, I turn to another aspect of Jesus’ teaching about the moral life as found in Matthew 6: the need to be singled-minded in our devotion to God. Click the title to read more.

In last week’s column on the Sermon on the Mount I explained the significance of the beatitudes, which announce the blessings of the kingdom for the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, etc. God will bestow upon such people the kingdom of God. Such people will see God and receive mercy. In this week’s column I draw your attention to what Jesus teaches in Matt 5:17-48. Click the title to read more.

In last week’s column, I indicated that Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is the way in which his disciples should live for the sake of the gospel. I noted that in the early church most Christians viewed this sermon as the perfect measure of the Christian life: the rule by which they should live their lives. In this week’s column I am focusing on the beginning of the sermon, what we commonly call the eight beatitudes. Click the title to read more.