From the Pastor – 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 16, 2018

From the Pastor – 15 th Sunday of Ordinary Time

“He instructed them to take nothing for the journey.” When Jesus sent his Apostles out, He sent them “two by two,” and He basically commanded them to take nothing on the journey: “no food, no sack, no money in their belts.” The point of the Lord is that all they needed was to trust in God. Jesus more or less says the same thing to us.

As long as we trust in God, our needs will be met. That is easily said, but it is a bit daunting to actually do it. Yet, people have been doing that since Jesus’ time. It is one of the reasons that the Church has thrived for such a long time.

There is a secondary reason for Jesus’ instructions though, one with which we may not be familiar. At that time there was a ruled that you could not enter a temple area with shoes or a moneybag, because you were there to serve the Lord, nothing else and no one else. The Apostles understood that preaching the Gospel and healing in God’s name was holy work. Jesus did not want them to exemplify any other motive either.

One of the foundational elements of stewardship is trusting God. What enables us to be good stewards and to think of giving to God first, of ourselves and what we have, is that we truly believe that God will take care of us. God has a plan for each of us, and it is better than our own plan may be.

Pastoral Pondering

St. Paul tells us that we are to be leaven in the world (Cf. My. 13:33). I have become more and more convinced that this particular Gospel is perhaps more relevant today than even when it was spoken by our Blessed Lord. We have arrived at a point in our nation’s history where there is an incapacity to have respectful debate and discourse. If you disagree with someone, they are vilified as some type of “phobe”. When some people hear things they disagree with, they need a “safe” space to protect themselves. And Christians by and large who try to live the Christian message in daily life are labeled as bigots. There is plenty of name-calling on every side of every issue, or so it seems.

Part of our task as followers of Jesus Christ, is to recognize the inherent dignity of each human being. This includes those we disagree with. This does not mean that we should ignore our strongly held beliefs, but it does mean that we should be able to agree to disagree without making attacks on the other party. It is simply not Christian. If we lose our capacity to have constructive and respectful dialogue, then, to some degree, we lose our humanity, and we lose our Christianity. A good secular example of this was the relationship that developed between two Supreme Court Justices, Antonio Scalia and Ruth Bader-Ginsburg. They were clearly on opposite sides of the ideological aisle, but they were great friends and had mutual respect for each other.

We need to pray for our country. We need to pray for our elected officials. We need to pray for all those who have the ability to influence society. That all involved might return to a deep held respect for each person as beloved children of God — even those that don’t believe they are. As Christians, we should be the promoters of civil discourse. We should fearlessly exercise our religious freedom and be free to voice our opinions. But, we must never lose sight of the fact that we are called first and foremost to make Christ present in our words and actions. We are, in other words, to be a leaven in society and a light to the nations, especially our own.

From the Pastor

From the Pastor - Fourth Sunday of Advent

By John Putnam • December 19, 2025
As our Advent preparations draw to a close and Christmas fast approaches, it is fitting that today’s readings demonstrate the intensity of the Father’s perfect and passionate love for each of us, culminating in the gift of His own Son, Jesus Christ, on Christmas Day. As we reflect on the enormity of this gift, let us ask ourselves what we can offer in return. In our first reading, from Isaiah, the Lord invites King Ahaz to “ask for a sign from the Lord, your God.” And not just any sign. The Lord says, “let it be deep as the nether-world, or high as the sky!” Ahaz, though, cannot arouse himself from his bleak and limited outlook, and actually refuses this invitation. Undeterred by his negativity, the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah, that he himself will provide the sign: “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son” and his name will be Emmanuel which means, “God with us.” What great love and patience our heavenly Father has shown his people throughout all ages! In the second reading, from Paul’s letter to the Romans, St. Paul sends a blessing of “Grace…and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This — grace and peace — is precisely the gift we celebrate on Christmas Day. Through his incarnation, Jesus brings the intimate love of God right into our midst; and through His death and resurrection, He saves us from our sins and restores us to right relationship with the Father. This is the peace that the world cannot offer. In response to such an overwhelming gift, what can we do except offer our lives as a gift in return, embracing a stewardship way of life with all the love and strength we have to give? In our Gospel passage from Matthew, we find an unparalleled example of one who embraced this way of life in St. Joseph, as he responds to God’s call to him through the message of an angel. St. Joseph immediately and humbly obeys the instruction from the angel: “Do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Open to this extraordinary role, he did as the angel commanded and “takes Mary into his home.” We never hear St. Joseph speak, but the Scriptures tell us he was always listening, attentive to the leading of the Holy Spirit for his family. It was Joseph who found the stable where the baby Jesus would be born. No doubt it was Joseph who cleaned it up and prepared it for Mary and Jesus since we know that Mary was about to give birth. Joseph protected the family, guarded them, and tended to their safety, their comfort, and their well-being at the expense of his own plans and preferences. Though we do not hear any words from St. Joseph his actions clearly show that he offered himself, his whole life, as a gift to his family through his strong guidance, protection, and service. Let us imitate St. Joseph, then, as good stewards, giving our very lives to those around us in love and gratitude to God who has given us everything we have, especially His own Son, Jesus Christ. We will no doubt find that the more we give ourselves away, the more our generous Father will fill us with His grace and peace — these are truly the best Christmas gifts we could receive. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2025 Pastoral Pondering Christmas is upon us and as we enter into these last days before the celebration of the Lord’s birth, I wanted to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude for the myriad ways each one of you makes St. Mark a wonderful place to pray, to worship and find a parish home. As I speak to people who visit us from other parts of the country or parishioners who, due to trips away, visit other parishes, it is nice to hear that St. Mark has something special about it. That “something special” has a great deal to do with the people who call St. Mark home. Christmas is a time to share the love of Christ, and over the past several weeks, you have done just that in our various charitable efforts, most recently our Christmas Giving Tree. Lives have been impacted for the better because of your generous response, and I know that God will bless you because He is never outdone in generosity.  Finally, please know that Fathers Angermeyer, Martinez, Huber and I wish each and everyone of you a very merry and blessing-filled Christmas!

From the Pastor - Third Sunday of Advent

By John Putnam • December 12, 2025
Good news, Christian stewards — we are gaining ground on our Advent mountain climb and it is time to take a moment to rejoice in the Good News that our Savior will come again in triumph one day. Today’s readings on this Gaudete (“Rejoice”) Sunday are filled with reminders of God’s final victory over suffering and injustice, and encouragement to remain steadfast in our mission to live as faith-filled disciples. Such a day almost seems too good to be true, especially when we look around at the dire circumstances we face in our world at present. But by faith, we know this day is coming. Lest we grow weary as we await the glorious day of Christ’s return, St. James, in our second reading, offers wise counsel. “Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord.” “Make your hearts firm… Do not complain, brothers and sisters, about one another, that you may not be judged.” This is excellent advice for us Christian stewards as we face the challenges of everyday life in our broken world, especially in the hectic days that precede Christmas when stress can make us and those around us less than our best selves. St. James reminds us that we can choose our response to both the great strains and the minor annoyances of life. In other words, we can be good stewards of our attitude, “making our hearts firm” by practicing patience with others and refusing to give in to the temptation to complain. We can choose to see and rejoice in God’s presence with us, no matter the circumstances surrounding us. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2025 Pastoral Pondering Prior to the Hamas attack in Israel of October 7, 2023, I was planning to lead a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with our seminarians. The events of that day put that pilgrimage on hold even though we had already raised funds for the pilgrimage. Now that relative peace has been restored, we will be embarking on the pilgrimage on December 26 th . I wanted to thank all of you who supported the effort and wanted to let you know that we are finally preparing to go. Pilgrimages to the Holy Land are very special opportunities for everyone, but such a pilgrimage is especially significant for a man preparing for priesthood because it provides a completely different perspective on the Scriptures and is able to inform his preaching and teaching. Christopher Cross is organizing this for us, and I would recommend one of his trips to anyone who would like to go. Chris brings a unique blend of humor and deep faith that makes the experience come alive in a wonderful way. I have been on a number of pilgrimages, and those with Chris have been the most impactful by far.  Please keep all of us in your prayers as we prepare for the pilgrimage and certainly know that you all will be in ours as we spend the Christmas Octave in the Holy Land.