Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection for - Sunday, September 21, 2025

In this week’s Gospel, Jesus is quite clear that we “cannot serve both God and mammon (wealth).” He does NOT say that we cannot love God and have wealth. They can certainly co-exist, but we will fail if we not try to serve them equally.

To illustrate His point, Jesus tells the story of the dishonest (or perhaps simply incompetent) steward who has been “mismanaging” the owner’s affairs and is losing his job as a result. Initially, the steward is accused of “squandering” the master’s property, not stealing it. When his incompetence leads to losing his job, the steward decides to lie to and steal from his master. The lying occurs when he signs fraudulent promissory notes supporting reduced amounts payable to the master. The stealing occurs when the debtors follow the advice of the steward and cheat the master out of what they properly owe to him. Interestingly, when the master discovers the scheme, the master commends him! What point could Jesus possibly be making?

The master recognizes that the while the steward is certainly dishonest, he is also clever. The master appreciates his cleverness. The parable illustrates that this world is a free-for-all when it comes to business ethics. Both the master and the steward are “children of this world” who are experts at double-dealing each other. Because there is “honor among thieves,” the master had to recognize a clever strategy when he saw one. If the dishonest “children of this world” can work together for earthly goals, it is vital that “children of light” be “trustworthy” in their pursuit of the heavenly kingdom.

Both the steward and the master are completely absorbed in having or losing temporal wealth. However, as we heard several weeks ago, all things of this world are “vanity” that will go to others when we die. Therefore, they are ultimately unimportant. Jesus is trying to teach His disciples (and all of us) to be as focused on preserving eternal wealth as the steward and master are with regard to earthly wealth. It’s time to set our sights and hearts on the higher gifts.

Are we trustworthy in our desire to serve God and to push aside earthly “masters” or distractions? Are we trustworthy in our desire and our efforts to achieve the “true wealth” of the Kingdom of God?

Fr. Mike

Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection for - Sunday, September 14, 2025

This weekend we celebrate The Feast of The Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This Feast was established in the 7th Century to commemorate the discovery of the True Cross in 326 by St. Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine. More recently, this Feast is an opportunity to celebrate the victory of the Cross over the sin and darkness of the world. Today portions of the True Cross may be found in various churches, particularly at St. Peter’s Basilica and the Basilica Church of The Holy Cross in Rome.

In the 1st Century, crosses were used to cruelly punish the worst criminals. Imagine if we “exalted” other methods that we have used and continue to use to punish criminals or even put them to death. Yet, the Cross of Jesus Christ is today the universal image of Christian belief and of the love of Jesus, “Who, though in the form of God, emptied himself, taking the form of a slave. This is the glory of the Cross of Jesus!” (Pope Francis).

The Priests are often asked, “Father, can you bless this cross?” as people pull a cross from around their necks or from their purse or pocket. Often, the cross is attached to a chain or a rosary. Among Catholics, most of the “crosses” are actually “crucifixes” because they bear the crucified image of our Lord Jesus Christ. Artists and jewelry designers have turned the cross into a thing of both beauty and great value. Crosses, both large and small, are made of gold and decorated with precious gems. However, for the first Christians, crosses had no beauty. They stood outside many city walls, decorated only with decaying corpses, as a threat to anyone who defied Rome’s authority by following Christ.

As we celebrate this Feast, our primary focus is God’s infinite love and boundless mercy shown to us through the perfect Sacrifice of His Son on the Cross. From Good Friday to Easter Sunday, God transformed the greatest act of cruelty ever known into the greatest act of mercy ever bestowed upon the world. The fact that the Cross is now the symbol of God’s perfect love magnifies His love, showcases His infinite power, and reminds us that “for those who love God all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28). Lift high the Cross!

Fr. Mike

Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection for - Sunday, September 7, 2025

WOW!! Talk about a great party! Last Saturday evening over 800 people attended our 75th Anniversary, “Faith+Family+Food” celebration. Thank you for supporting the event. It truly was a festive and joyful evening.

Events like this don’t just happen. We had nearly 100 volunteers and at least 10 staff members who made the event a reality. While I can’t name all of them, there are several who went above and beyond the call of duty in the days leading up to the event and throughout the evening.

Our volunteers were exceptional! The Knights of Columbus cooked burgers and hot dogs, ran the “pub,” created and prepared pulled pork sandwiches, and generally filled in when and where needed. Guillermo Ibarra, Jake Knutte, and Gif Himmelright cooked and prepared nearly 100 pounds of pork butt and a huge quantity of coleslaw. Dozens of members of the San Felipe de Jesus community worked together to prepare elote (Mexican street corn) and fruit. A special shout out to Jeanette Galasso and Galasso Bakery which generously supplied nearly all the rolls that we needed for the event. Mickie and Dave Schinderle along with Gerry Holbert provided invaluable assistance in mixing 90 pounds of ground beef into meatballs, making sauce, and assembling and serving the meatball sandwiches.

On the staff side, Lupe Ojeda, Gloria Turnbull, and Pauline Tran worked for weeks to advertise the event, track registration, make signs, organize volunteers, design and order Stedwear. Suzanne Edwards, Diana Wehbe and a host of young volunteers took on the responsibility of making the event fun for children. Johnny Oskam and his band, YAGO, entertained all of us with terrific music. Our maintenance team, Ruben Mayorga, Efren Oviedo, Victor Fernandez, and Israel Ruiz, worked tirelessly to set up the hall and the plaza, to break it all down, and provided continuous clean-up throughout the evening. Finally, Tom Leeman pulled double duty overseeing the event as both Business Manager and KofC Deputy Grand Knight.

In this weekend’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about how we should be intentional in planning our relationship with God which must be our most important priority - more important than our relationships with fathers, mothers, material possessions, etc. After we have placed God firmly at the center of our lives, we can more joyfully celebrate with one another as we did last Saturday.

Fr. Mike