From the Pastor - First Sunday of Lent

February 19, 2021

Today's readings remind us why we partake in this 40-day Lenten journey — to prepare our hearts for the resurrection of Christ on Easter.


St. Peter reminds us in our Second Reading of the blessings we receive from Christ’s passion, death and resurrection — “Christ suffered for sins once… that he might lead you to God.” And again, “[Baptism] is… an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”


In order to more readily receive the blessings from Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, we too are called endure 40 days “in the desert.” In our Gospel, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert where He was tempted by Satan. Jesus was called to face trials and to confront evil. During this time, He committed to intense prayer and fasting. It was not necessary for Jesus to go into the desert so that He might be purified, but rather, to endure temptations of man for our sake. He was fully man, and experience temptations just like us, yet responded to them perfectly, never falling into sin.


We should strive to fully participate in this Lenten season by mirroring Jesus, the model steward by Whom we are called to imitate. Through our time in the desert, we will confront evil by weeding out the roots of sin in our lives through fasting. And we will be sustained and nourished in the desert by prayer.


Let us strive to purify our hearts so that we might be ready to receive the glorious gift of Christ and partake in the riches that pour forth from this Gift. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2021


Pastoral Pondering – With Lent we begin our annual journey with Jesus into the desert of our interior life where we are alone with God. The season provides an opportunity to reflect on where we are in our relationship with God and where we want to become Easter. The three pillars of the season are prayer – penance and – almsgiving. The giving up that we associate with the season falls into the penance category, but we should not neglect the other two pillars either. The three are necessary to form a strong foundation for our Lenten journey.


Spiritual Obstacles continued – The initiation ceremonies of freemasonry are clearly ritualistic. And while holding a position connected with the Enlightenment has its own pitfalls, it is something else to participate in rituals that incorporate pagan gods and/or the names of demons. Additionally, the initiation ceremony involves that taking of oaths that bestow rights and privileges along with duties and obligations. Along with these is the promise of curses for those who do not observe the oaths taken.


The curses that arise out of these ceremonies, can be passed down generationally, typically through the fourth or fifth generation through the parental authority structure. The spirits commonly associated with these curses include divination, infirmity, death, addiction, abuse, pride, fear, and control. The goal of freemasonry is greater enlightenment. Even though each lodge is to have some religious connection with God, who is identified as the Great Architect or the Grand Master, as one moves through the various degrees, it becomes clearer and clearer that the Great Architect is indeed Lucifer himself.


While the problems inherent in freemasonry are many, two that come into conflict with traditional Christianity are absolute secrecy and strict obedience to the masters of the order. The “religion” of freemasonry is actually Naturalism which promotes reason alone, anti-authority, the notion that all religions are equal, and exaggerating the power of human nature by denying the existence of Original sin.

From this naturalistic view also arises an attack on marriage and family. Naturalism would identify marriage as simply a social construct which can, therefore, be broken and changed. Moreover, children, according to this view, should not be taught religion – they should have the freedom to choose on their own


As the German bishops pointed out in their conclusions, “the masons promote a freedom from dogmatic adherence to any one set of revealed truths. Such a relativism is in direct conflict with the revealed truths of Christianity…The masons deny the possibility of an objective truth, placing every truth instead in a relative context.” In terms of the Masonic notions of God and religion, “the masonic teaching holds a relative of notion of religions…[and] a deistic notion of God which excludes any personal knowledge of the deity…the deistic notion of God precludes the possibility of God’s self-revelation to humankind.”


Another problem with the masonic worldview is their view of toleration. This particular view, sadly, has become commonplace in society today and leads many to abandon faith and the truths of Divine revelation. As the bishops point out: “The Masons promote a principle of toleration regarding ideas. That is, their relativism teaches them to be tolerant of ideas divergent or contrary to their own. Such a principle not only threatens the Catholic position of objective truth, but it also threatens the respect due to the Church’s teaching office.



Finally, the rituals of the first three Masonic grades have a clear sacramental character about them, indicating that an actual transformation occurs in the participant. The end of the rituals is the perfection of mankind through masonry itself; thus, the work of Christ becomes non-essential or even necessary, and the Masonic order makes a total claim on the life of the member which would undermine true adherence to the Christian faith which demands placing God before all.


When spiritual problems arise and it is discovered that there has been a history of freemasonic association in the family, the person having the difficulties is taken through the process of renunciation in which the oaths, promises and curses associated with the various levels of initiation are renounced and broken.


From the Pastor

From the Pastor - Seventh Sunday of Easter

By John Putnam • May 30, 2025
On this Feast of the Ascension, we celebrate Christ’s triumphant return to the Father after perfectly accomplishing His mission on earth. But we also can also view this Feast as a celebration of the “launch day” of our commissioning as Christ’s disciples. Today’s Gospel draws our attention to the clear instructions that Jesus gave His disciples (and to us) just before ascending to the Father: “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things." Embracing a stewardship way of life, with its emphasis on the use of time, talent and treasure, helps us to live in such a way that our very lives speak as a witness of the Good News of the Gospel. While we take time to reflect and renew our commitments in these three areas annually as a parish family, it is of great benefit to take some time individually throughout the year to take stock of the commitments we have made — looking at both our strengths and our need for continued growth in each area. On this Feast of our "launch day," take some time to celebrate your victories as Christ’s disciples and renew your commitment to remain faithful to Him and the unique mission He has entrusted to you! © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2025 Pastoral Pondering In Matthew 28:20 Jesus reminds the apostles, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” I have always taken great strength and consolation from these words. They are foreshadowed in the Old Testament in Isaiah 41:20: “Fear not for I am with you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous hand.” These are words from a God who loves us and who desires our good. A God who desires to make His dwelling with us and to inspire us to live lives worthy of Himself. They are words that help us prepare ourselves to celebrate Pentecost and to be open to the work of the Holy Spirit in us and among us.  Next Saturday evening, we will celebrate the Rite of Confirmation and Reception into Full Communion with our candidates who have been participating in the OCIA process. Please keep them in your prayers and help them find their place within our parish community. In the morning next Saturday, we are privileged to host the diaconate ordination for seven of our diocesan seminarians. As noted previously, one of them, Michael Lugo, will be with us for the summer. This parish is phenomenal in helping these young men find their “ministerial feet” so to speak. And we always welcome the opportunity to be blessed with their enthusiasm and energy. Finally, the Diocese has approved our moving into the construction phase for the rectory project. The prep work has already been done, and the actual building phase should begin in the next few weeks. This weekend, we are making a final push to reach our campaign goal. If you have not done so, we need your help and participation. The goal is doable and, together we can accomplish much. Assuming our fundraising keeps apace our hope is to begin the main-campus project next summer. Between now and then we will be doing some evaluations and, where necessary, value engineering to help us stay on track with the plan.

From the Pastor - Sixth Sunday of Easter

By John Putnam • May 30, 2025
The concept of hospitality is fundamental to a stewardship way of life. When we envision hospitality, we naturally think of offering a sincere and warm welcome — to those new to our parish, for instance. We picture inviting them in and making them feel at home and at ease in our presence, communicating to them that they are highly valued. Today’s Gospel reading from John invites us to think of hospitality in a slightly different way. In it, we hear Jesus speaking this to his disciples: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” Jesus is asking that we permit the Blessed Trinity to come and dwell within us. This is a stunning request. It tells us that our first and most privileged form of hospitality should be directed towards God Himself. How does one show hospitality to God? How do we make God “at home and at ease” within us? How can we communicate to God that He is “highly valued” by us? Jesus tells us how: we are to keep His word, to follow HIs teachings. To keep His word, we must know His word. This takes discipline and effort on our part. We must make the study of Scripture and Church teaching a priority in our daily lives. If we want our parish to be a place of genuine Christian hospitality, we must be sure that our own hearts are hospitable dwelling places for the Blessed Trinity. Then our smiles and words, our greetings and ministries will radiate with the warmth of God’s love. And our parish family will become at least a little bit like Heaven on earth. This is the simplicity and glory of a stewardship way of life . © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2025
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