From the Pastor - 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

July 10, 2026

Today’s readings call us to tackle the challenging issues of fear and trust — two concepts that must be confronted and dealt with by all of us who wish to live the stewardship way of life.

The Lord knows that facing down our fears and choosing to trust Him with all areas of our lives is an ongoing challenge for us. He is generous with reassurances to us throughout the Scriptures. Today’s Gospel passage from Matthew is a case in point. In the span of eight verses, Jesus addresses the topic of fear four times.

•   “Fear no one.”
•   “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.”
•   “Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body.”
•   “So do not be afraid.”

And the reassurance continues. “Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted.” Notice that Jesus says, “your Father” in describing God’s intimate knowledge and tender care for each one of us. He is truly “Abba,” our Dad, Who knows us inside and out.

With that, let us all breathe a huge sigh of relief. All is well. Our Father knows us through and through, sent His Son to save us, and will always take care of us.

Let’s stop wasting any more time with fear. Instead, let’s put all our energy, all our time, our talents, and our treasure into trusting this great and loving God, using all that we are and all that He has given us to bring Him glory. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2026.


Pastoral Pondering

In a discussion that I was having with some friends recently, the question arose why intercessory prayer was important because God knows everything. In other words, why bother if we can’t really change His mind. It was a good discussion, and I hope the following is a help if you have had that question as well.

The question assumes a kind of tension: if God already knows what He will do, why ask? But this frames prayer as if it were a negotiation with a reluctant bureaucrat. That misunderstands both God and prayer entirely. Hence, first point to be made is that the end on intercessory prayer is not to change God – it is to change us and to participate in Him.

1. God Works Through Secondary Causes — Including Your Prayer

God is the First Cause of all things, but He has chosen to govern the world through secondary causes — human acts, natural processes, and yes, prayer. The question is not why we pray if God is sovereign, but precisely because He is sovereign — and because He works out His sovereign will frequently through secondary causation.

In other words, your prayer is not competing with God's will. In many cases, it is part of God's will — the very instrument through which He has chosen to dispense certain graces.


St. Thomas Aquinas puts it plainly in the Summa Theologica: "God bestows many things on us out of His liberality, even without our asking for them: but that He wishes to bestow certain things on us at our asking, is for the sake of our good, namely, that we may acquire confidence in having recourse to God."

So some graces are reserved — held by God, waiting for the asking. It is a graced moment from God to be asked to pray for another — a sign of His love that He wants us to participate in His immense work of redemption, making some part of His plan dependent on our prayers.


2. Intercessory Prayer Is an Act of Love — a Spiritual Work of Mercy

There are many ways to love one's neighbor, but intercessory prayer — praying on behalf of other people — is one of the most powerful. Praying for the living and the dead is one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy.


Through intercessory prayer, we bring someone else's needs before God, trusting God to take care of others, whether they are loved ones, friends, enemies, or total strangers. This is love made active — a concrete participation in the life of the Body of Christ.


3. Prayer Invites Grace Without Violating Freedom

Prayer invites God's grace into a situation, which can influence hearts without compelling them. For example, praying for someone's conversion, as St. Monica did for St. Augustine, may lead to a change of heart over time. St. Monica prayed for decades, and her son — who became one of the greatest Doctors of the Church — was the fruit. God never violated Augustine's will. He opened doors. Grace moved. Augustine chose.


4. Scripture Shows God Responds to Intercession

The New Testament makes this viscerally concrete: we see the effectiveness of intercessory prayer in Acts, when King Herod had the Apostle James killed, then ordered Peter arrested under heavy guard — but "prayer by the church was fervently being made to God on his behalf," and God sent an angel to release Peter and lead him out of prison. The early Church prayed. Peter walked free.


5. The Deepest End: Union with God Himself

The Church teaches that prayer is not just a request for favors but a means of growing closer to God. Intercessory prayer, at its summit, is not primarily about outcomes. It is about conforming the soul to the heart of Christ, who is Himself the eternal Intercessor (cf. Hebrews 7:25). When one intercedes, one enters into the very priestly act of Jesus — standing before the Father on behalf of others.

Prayer becomes a way to participate in God's work, not to dictate it.


In Summary:

The end of intercessory prayer is not to bend God's arm — it is to:

  • Participate in the providential plan God has lovingly prepared
  • Exercise the spiritual authority granted to us as sons and daughters of God
  • Love our neighbor concretely through the most potent force available
  • Grow in humility and dependence on God as the Author of every good
  • Unite ourselves to Christ the eternal High Priest



The God who knows all things from eternity also knew — and willed — that your prayer would be part of the story. That is not a limitation of His omnipotence. It is a staggering expression of His love.


St. Monica prayed for seventeen years before her son knelt at the baptismal font. What if she had stopped at year sixteen — reasoning that God's will was already settled?

From the Pastor

From the Pastor - 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By John Putnam • August 14, 2026
Today's Gospel from Matthew reminds us to trust the Lord even when it seems He is not answering our prayers. God desires to lead us to the joy of heaven and eternal life with Him. To prepare us for that day, He calls us to grow in faith and to live each day as a grateful response to His goodness. In other words, He is forming us into saints. This is what the stewardship way of life is meant to accomplish. At times that process is difficult. Often, it stretches us beyond our comfort. Jesus certainly challenged the Canaanite woman in today's Gospel. She cried out to Him on behalf of her daughter, who was tormented by a demon. How did Jesus respond to this desperate mother's plea? At first, He "did not say a word in answer to her." Undeterred, she continued to seek Him, and He continued to test her faith. She responded with such remarkable trust that Jesus proclaimed, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." Imagine hearing those words spoken to us by our Lord. There could be no greater affirmation of a life lived in faithful discipleship. The stewardship way of life will test our trust in God at times. But those are often the moments when He is doing His greatest work within us. Let us persevere in faith, trusting that His plan is always leading us toward the joy He has prepared for us. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2026. Pastoral Pondering As the school year begins and we move into the post-summer routine, I wanted to give you an update on a few things which may be of interest to you. Building projects The rectory build is going well. Grainda Builders are projecting the project to finish by November (I am hoping for earlier!). We do plan to have an open house so that folks can see the new rectory upon its completion. The preliminary work for the second phase of our building projects is occurring with the installation of the water lines that will feed the new buildings. This will hopefully be done by Labor Day. We should be able to hold a groundbreaking shortly after the first of the year. Everything depends on when the present rectory sells and where we are with funding. The Diocese requires 60% of the project to be in cash, 30% to be in pledges and 30% allowable for Diocesan loan. We will keep you posted. Obviously, as we move forward, there will be growing pains that cannot be avoided due to the disruption of some parking. We are working with the general contractor to keep disruptions to a minimum, but we cannot avoid all of them. Thank you for your patience. Church Maintenance  As many of you know, we have been battling issues with the church roof for some time. There have been numerous leaks over the years that have been patched and patched again. We have been battling the insurance company for over a year, and it is clear that, after a minimal payment to repair water damage, they are not going to approve a claim for roof replacement. Kudos to the Pastoral Council and Scott Bruno for making a significant investment of time and energy to try to do the groundwork to provide justification for the claim. With that being said, we have already replaced a portion of the roof that was causing significant problems (the lower roof closest to the driveway). Nonetheless, the whole roof really does need to be replaced. Estimates for replacement are in the neighborhood of $250K. At present with the other projects going on, we do not have this in reserves or the operating account to cover this expense. Should you wish to assist, donations can be made on the website. We will continue to monitor and do what we can to manage the problem until we are able to fully address it. The second significant issue that has arisen is the foundation of the Kerin Center. Over the last several years, due to water and drainage issues, we have had to address foundation instability. Reinforcements were added a couple of years back to the school-side of the building, but we have been seeing some issues on the church-side of the building over the past year. We are watching it very carefully and trying to ascertain the root cause of the problems. We are appreciative of those parishioners with engineering expertise who have assisted in this effort. There is also a link on the parish donation website for Kerin Center repairs.

From the Pastor - 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By John Putnam • August 7, 2026
Stewardship spirituality invites us to surrender control of our lives to God in grateful recognition that everything we have is a gift from Him. Today's readings remind us that God is always in control of His creation and His people. They also reveal what can happen when we fully entrust our lives to Him — in other words, when we embrace the stewardship way of life. When we take our eyes off God, we lose sight of the fact that all is gift. We begin to rely on ourselves instead of trusting in Him, and we fail to make our lives a grateful response to His generosity. Peter experiences this in today's Gospel from Matthew. Jesus sends the disciples ahead of Him by boat. Later that evening, Jesus comes to them, walking on the water, and invites Peter to join Him. Peter steps out of the boat and begins walking toward the Lord. But when he notices the strong wind around him, instead of keeping his eyes on Christ, he begins to sink. Imagine if Peter had never looked away from Jesus. What an extraordinary adventure he would have experienced walking on the water with his Lord. The same is true for us. When we take our eyes off Christ, His countless blessings, and His faithful love for us, we begin to sink as well. But when we embrace the stewardship way of life, loosening our grip on our time, talents, and treasure and placing our trust in God, life becomes a great adventure rooted firmly in the One who never fails us. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2026. Pastoral Pondering First of all I want to thank all who participated in our meal packing effort last Friday and Saturday. What a gift it is to be able to come together as a community and unite for the sake of our brothers and sisters in need. These events cannot happen without the efforts of numerous people. To each of you who made it possible, THANK YOU! As we move into August and our lives begin reorienting from lazier summer months towards fall, it is an opportunity to reflect on the blessings that we were afforded to rest, refresh, and renew during these past weeks. Hopefully, family were able to spend some quality time with each other without the demands of school, work and the day to day demands that impact many of us.  For me, I was privileged once again to participate in the Te Deum Peace Pilgrimage to Fatima. This year we were able to invite and sponsor nine (9) seminarians from various dioceses including Charlotte, NC; Charleston, SC; Cleveland, OH; and Youngstown, OH. They along with a wonderful group of non-seminarian pilgrims were able to grow in our love for the Lord and Our Lady. It was a true blessing, and I was so impressed with the seminarians who were a part of our pilgrimage family for our time in Portugal and Spain. Along the same lines, please pray for parishioner Mark Pressley who is entering St. Joseph College Seminary. Mark’s family has been a part of the parish for many years. Keep him and the other nine (9) young men who are beginning their formation this fall.