October 2023 archive of Messages From Father Steve
The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time October 29, 2023
Posted by Nancy Carrizales on 10/27/23
In our secularized culture, we all struggle with belief in God, at least to some degree. An atheist man named Robert Bridges once wrote to his friend, the Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, asking how he could possibly learn to believe in God. Hopkins pithilyresponded: “Give alms.” Would that ... Read More »
The Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time October 22, 2023
Posted by Nancy Carrizales on 10/20/23
With little more than a year until the United States’ national elections, I find myself feeling, like many Catholics, both dread and energized. Dread, because our democratic republic can be a messy endeavor and campaigns a long, nasty, and unedifying slog; energized, because hope for positive societal change can ... Read More »
The Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time October 15, 2023
Posted by Nancy Carrizales on 10/14/23
I confess that I have a soft spot for the scary things Jesus says because they are usually ignored. But there’s gold in them thar hills, if we have courage to look. This week Jesus gives us a terrifying warning in his parable about the king who gives a ... Read More »
The Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time October 8, 2023
Posted by Nancy Carrizales on 10/07/23
Jesus’ parables are much stranger than most people realize. This week is an attention-getting example. He tells the religious leaders a parable about a completely absurd situation. Blood-thirsty and insane tenants violently abuse and kill the servants of their landlord. Inexplicably, the owner keeps sending them more victims of ... Read More »