“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Mt. 16:16-19) For most of my time living in Rome, I led pilgrims on a tour through the excavations under St. Peter’s Basilica. Known as the “Scavi,” the Italian name for excavations, the site contains a cemetery with tombs dating from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd centuries. Although many of the tombs are pagan, as the visit gets closer to the area under the main altar of St. Peter’s, we begin to see many signs of Christian burials. The highlight of the tour is the area immediately under … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2014
From the Pastor – August 21, 2014
“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Mt. 16:16-19) For most of my time living in Rome, I lead pilgrims on a tour through the excavations under St. Peter’s Basilica. Known as the “Scavi,” the Italian name for excavations, the site contains a cemetery with tombs dating from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd centuries. Although many of the tombs are pagan, as the visit gets closer to the area under the main altar of St. Peter’s, we begin to see many signs of Christian burials. The highlight of the tour is the area immediately under … [Read more...]
From the Pastor – August 17, 2014
Jesus said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” (Mt. 15:26-27) For the first 36 years of my life, I spent a lot of time listening to homilies at Mass, rather than giving them. Of course, I’ve heard some really amazing homilies. But I’ve also heard some that didn’t say a lot to me. One of my biggest pet peeves was when there was a line in the Gospel that begged to be explained and the homilist ignored it like nobody heard it. I think that the above quote from this Sunday’s Gospel is just that sort of quote. Think about it, did Jesus just call that woman a “dog”? That’s pretty strong language here! And she just took … [Read more...]
From the Pastor – August 3, 2014
When it was evening, the disciples approached Jesus and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” Then he said, “Bring them here to me,” and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. (Mt. 14:15-17) The miracle of the loaves and the fishes is the only miracle that occurs in each of the four Gospels. It points back to the Old Testament when the Israelites were fed in the desert with Manna from Heaven; and it points forward to the Eucharist when we are fed by Jesus with the Bread of Life. But we can’t deny the implications … [Read more...]