Fr. Sean's Weekly Column

Dear friends in Christ,
We encounter some strong language from Jesus in today’s Gospel: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” And then a little later: “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.” Ouch! That hits a little too close to home for me, and maybe you, too. But it is good to get such a wake-up call from the Lord. We need to take a sober look at how we treat one another and respond always in a spirit of love and charity.

Dear friends in Christ,
Our Gospel on this 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time is the beatitudes, but not the ones we are most accustomed to hearing. The “famous” ones come from Matthew’s Gospel, but today instead we hear from Luke’s version. You’ll notice some similarities between the two, but St. Luke only has four as opposed to the eight in St. Matthew. Most striking, however, is how Luke balances his four with four “woe” statements. You know whenever you read a “woe” in the Scriptures that we should brace ourselves. It’s not going to end well! They are meant as a warning sign to not grow too comfortable or complacent in this life. Remember, beatitudes are meant to turn our world upside down. Pay attention, humble yourself, and stay hungry for the kingdom of God. Then we will truly know what it is to be blessed.

Dear friends in Christ,
On this 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time we hear one of my favorite phrases of Jesus: “Duc in altum.” That’s the Latin translation for the words “Put out into deep water,” which He says to Simon (Peter). I just love how that sounds – ”Duc in altum.” It’s a powerful invitation to Simon and the other fishermen to go not only physically deeper into the water for a better catch, but for all of us to go deeper into our relationship with Christ. When we stay at the surface level, we don’t experience the richness of the depths of Christ. Sure, it’s safer and easier to stay in the shallow water, but the Lord invites us to trust in Him and go deeper. “Do not be afraid,” Jesus says to Simon. He’s saying it to us as well. Do not be afraid to follow Him, to trust in Him, to go deeper with Him. You, too, will be amazed at what you’ll catch.

Dear friends in Christ,
I have written this bulletin letter well in advance of its publication due to being out of the office this past week when it went to print, so my apologies. As I mentioned in last week’s bulletin, on Thursday, Jan. 31 of this past week, the list of names of credibly accused priests was released by the dioceses of Texas, including our own Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. It is my intention to address the matter at Mass this weekend and in the coming weeks, but since I’m writing this before the fact and haven’t seen the list, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on it specifically. But permit me to share a few general points.

Dear friends in Christ,
On this 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time I invite you to listen closely to our second reading from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. The great apostle clearly defines how the many are one. “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,” he says. Baptism unites us in Christ, and from there we are each gifted with unique charisms. Some have the gifts of healing, or assistance, or administration, or a variety of tongues, he says. They are different in each of us, but each is important to the whole. We are called to use our individual gifts to the service of the one Body of Christ. That’s Stewardship in a nutshell, my friends. In your prayer, ask God to reveal your gifts more clearly to you and then, through holy wisdom and courage, use your gifts to serve God and neighbor.