This is in support of our brethren in the Holy Land and the numerous pastoral, charitable, educational and social institutions and projects sponsored by the Church there. 

In view of the enormous expenses, the Holy See is appealing for a more generous support from us. 

My dear brothers and sisters, today's readings remind us that Heaven awaits us as a party, not a chore. Everybody has to prepare for the party if they don't want to miss out on the fun.

In today's First Reading Isaiah describes our future as the ultimate party where shadows and tears are banished, and there's only room for celebration. Everyone, "all peoples," are invited to this celebration. No expense is spared on the food and the wine.

In today's Second Reading St. Paul reminds us that moments of famine help us appreciate even more the moments of feast. If you want just one list of all the ups and downs of St. Paul's missions, just read 2 Corinthians 11:21–33: prisons, beatings, shipwrecks, "in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure."

In today's Gospel, the wedding feast reminds us of Heaven, but also that although everyone is invited to the party, some, in the end, will not be found worthy to participate in it, and some won't want to participate in it at all.

Some had already been invited to the feast, and now servants were sent to tell them it was ready. Obviously, these invitees had a closer relationship with the king: they were invited to come and didn't feel obliged to come.

The invitees ask to be excused, but just gave excuses not to come: they'd known when the great dinner would be held and had made other plans. Some didn't even make excuses and just killed the messengers.

Abandoned by his friends, the king invited other members of his kingdom, but not on the basis of friendship, just by a benevolence a king owes his people.

If this parable speaks to us of Heaven, it's also a reminder that God is merciful and good, but in the end, we have to do our part, even a little, if we want to be saved. Salvation is not automatic.

The man with no wedding garment had no answer for the king's question: there was no excuse he could offer, and if the king was displeased, it means something was expected of that man that he didn't do.

That wedding garment symbolizes having done something to partake and appreciate the marriage feast. This poor man shows no signs of celebration whatsoever. Maybe he represents that Christian who goes through the motions all their life but never actually seeks to help himself or others to get to Heaven.

We have to give Our Lord something to work with. The man with no wedding garment managed to get to the banquet hall, but he didn't go far enough to stay. 

Motivation is the key to carrying out any worthy enterprise. They know what they want and they have a clear plan before their eyes. CEO's in successful companies know what they want, have goals, deadlines, and concrete steps to attain those goals. Professional athletes have a determined determination to win. They study their opponents' weak points, capitalize on their own strengths and play for victory. Therefore, to attain to any goal there must be a clear plan and strong motivations.

Spiritual Goals and Objectives

Even more important for the human person created in the image and likeness of God should be the goal and the motivation to attain that goal. Our goal is very clear—to get to heaven. One of the most efficacious means to attain eternal salvation with God in heaven is through prayer. Prayer is the key to salvation. What oxygen is to our lungs so is prayer to the life of our soul. For that reason, Saint Augustine asserted: "He who prays well lives well; he who lives well dies well; and he who dies well, all is well."

Still there is a powerful means and intercessor before the throne of God who can help us to get to heaven and to help us in our prayer life and motivate us to focus our energies on God and God alone—the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Way Pray Rosary

Saying the Hail Mary's is like background music to the meditation. Everybody always knows that a beautiful scene is always better and more beautiful when there is music. It is certainly possible to meditate without praying vocal prayers. However, in the Rosary we are asking Our Lady to teach us about Jesus. This is why many popes have called the Rosary the school of Mary. Praying the vocal prayer of the Hail Mary while meditating on the mysteries of the rosary is comparable to listening to the Psalms of the Old Testament while taking a walk and contemplating the beauty of nature.

Even saints struggled with praying the rosary. Yet, it is important to remember that those who love Jesus and Mary never give up! Even though some saints struggled with praying the rosary, none of them ever gave up. For example, St. Thérèse of Lisieux often mentioned how difficult it was for her to pray the rosary and meditate on the mysteries, but she also noted that she gave it her best effort and knew that since Mary was her spiritual mother Our Lady knew Thérèse's heart and accepted whatever she gave her.

Personally, I think everyone gets distracted and experiences their mind wandering during the rosary. We are not angels or robots, and do not have the ability to ponder one thing for long periods of time without other thoughts coming to our mind. No one should panic over this or give up praying the rosary because of it. To help with this, we have the blessing today of having beautiful little pamphlets that have images for each mystery on them. Many people have found that if they gaze upon a visual image of each mystery, they get less distracted and are able to meditate easier.

Pray Rosary in the Family

How to instill a deeper prayer life at home. But what are some tips or strategies to make it fruitful, especially for families with small children?

The family rosary is very powerful and there have been many popes and saints who have promoted it. However, popes and saints also know that young children can become rambunctious during a twenty-minute prayer commitment. This is why many holy people have recommended that a good method to follow when young children are involved is to pray a decade as a family every evening, but save the praying the entire rosary (one set of mysteries) for Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.

I would also suggest that in order to instill in young children an understanding of what they are doing when they pray the rosary, it can help to describe each mystery to them and then have them draw the mystery and color it in with crayons. This is a creative way of helping young children understand the rosary in a deeper and more childlike way.

Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.

God is reminding us today that all good things in life have come from him. Many people often get angry at God and ask why he allows bad things to happen.

Fewer people are humble and honest enough to ask themselves a much more important question: Why do good things happen, why is there any good in the world at all, where did it come from? We should think more about the answers to those questions.

Today's Readings paint the picture of a vineyard, or a garden. Gardens are environments carefully created by gardeners in order to enable plants to be healthy and reach maturity, bearing abundant fruit.

God sees our souls as gardens of virtue. Just as God supplied the vineyard with air, sunlight, water, soil, the wall to protect it, and the tower to guard it, so he supplies each one of us with life, talents, opportunities, family, sacraments, faith, knowledge, conscience, and the guidance of the Church. There is no good thing we can think of that doesn't owe its origin and existence to God.

One of the very best things that God gives us is his mercy, his patience.

Today's Readings show how many chances God gives his tenants to do the right thing, to fulfill their duties, to do what they were put there to do.

When they don't do what's right, God sends three different messengers, including his own son. In justice, however, he didn't have to send any.

He could have evicted those selfish stewards right away. But God is patient with our sin and selfishness. He keeps giving us more and more chances, many more than we deserve. He never gives up on us, even though sometimes we give up on ourselves.

God's boundless mercy is the best evidence of his immense goodness. 

Understanding the rosary as a spiritual weapon is vital to understanding why it is so powerful and the reasons for why heaven gave it to us. St Paul says that the Word of God is a spiritual weapon. Well, almost the entire prayers of the Rosary come right out of the New Testament. Therefore, the Rosary is a spiritual weapon. What is a weapon used for but to fight against an enemy. The enemy of our souls is Satan, sin, and the spirit of the world. With the Rosary, using it daily, we can defeat the devil, the world, and our sinful selves. Many, many saints and popes have referred to the Rosary as a weapon. St Padre Pio, St Josemaria Escriva, St John Paul II, and Pope Benedict XVI are some of the recent people who have used this terminology.

The rosary came into existence in the year 1208, when Our Lady appeared to St. Dominic and instructed him to use it as a weapon against falsehoods. The Church has given her consent for the faithful to pray the Rosary from its very beginning It is a prayer that combines vocal prayer and mental prayer (meditation). Saints, popes, and many holy mystics have promoted it. It is the most recognized Marian prayer in the entire Catholic world. Pope Leo XIII wrote 11 encyclicals on the Rosary.

The 13th century was a time of knights, battles, swords, and chivalry. By using a set of prayer beads containing the sacred mysteries of Jesus as the foundation of his preaching, St. Dominic wielded it as a spiritual sword against falsehoods and theological errors. I love the fact that during his lifetime Catholics wore the rosary on the left side of their belt to signify the side from which a knight withdrew his sword from its sheath.

While it is true that a set of prayer beads doesn't look like a weapon, what gives the rosary its power is what can't be seen with the human eye. What God and the angels (both holy and fallen) see that we can't is that the rosary encapsulates and enshrines the saving mysteries of the God-Man. It is those mysteries that set us free from the bondage of Satan. This is why Satan hates the rosary and fears it so much. The rosary is a dragon slayer!

Three reasons Why we pray the Rosary:

1) Love your mother. You love your mother, right? Sure, you do. Then, give her roses. In addition to being a spiritual weapon, it is also a crown of spiritual roses. When we pray it we give Mary, our spiritual mother, a wreath of spiritual roses.

2) Jesus is pleased by it. Jesus is not offended if someone prays the words of the New Testament while meditating on the mysteries of our salvation. Praying the Rosary shows that we are grateful for what Jesus has done for us, and we never want to forget it. By thinking of all that our Savior did for us on a daily basis, we are showing Jesus that we love him very much.

3) Be a saint! You are never going to become holy without praying. Spontaneous prayers are good, but if you don't have a consistent structured prayer routine in your day, you will not advance in virtue and build spiritual muscles. By praying the Rosary, you will begin to avoid anything that displeased God and Our Lady. Your life will change when you pray the Rosary.

Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm. 

You can support it by purchasing some Raffle Tickets from our volunteers or the Parish Office. 

Each ticket only costs $20, and if we all just buy a few of them, many will be helped. 

My dear brothers and sisters, in today's Gospel, Jesus tell us a story about a father who has two sons. Jesus speaks this parable towards the very end of his life. He is in Jerusalem the week before his crucifixion.

He spends his nights outside the city with his disciples and his days inside the Temple, debating with the Jewish scholars and leaders who are trying to discredit and humiliate him.

He tells this parable for them, in order to break through their blindness.

These leaders, the ones who are against Jesus and who will soon arrange his death, are Palestine's experts in religion. They are the ones who serve in the Temple, study the sacred Scriptures, preach to the crowds, and rule and govern God's Chosen people.

They claim to be God's close collaborators, the ones who are following God's commandments better than anyone else. And yet, these are the very ones who fail to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

Sinners and social outcasts on the other hand, like tax collectors and prostitutes, do recognize Jesus; they believe in him, and they repent from their sin.

Why are the chief priests and elders unable to see the truth?

Why do they, like the second son in the parable, say that they are God's followers, but then refuse to obey the Messiah of God?

This is an important question for us. We are among the small percentage of Catholics who come to Sunday Mass - we are the ones who appear to be following the Lord. And so, we too are in danger of falling into this same blindness, of thinking that we are doing God's will in our lives, but actually not doing it.

The cause of their spiritual blindness can also become the cause of our spiritual blindness. What is this cause? Hypocrisy. Keeping up the appearances of a good Catholic, but compromising the substance.

The surest way to banish hypocrisy from our lives is to adopt as our personal motto the phrase that Jesus taught us in the Our Father: "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done."

God's will is dependable and truthful, and when we make it our highest priority, we too become dependable and truthful.

And unlike followers of some other religions, as Christians we have an objective standard for God's will that protects us from doing evil and calling it "the will of God." 

Christianity is the religion of the person, Jesus Christ, the Word of God, to whom the words in the church's book (the Bible) bear witness. The Bible, the book that was both created the church and was created by the church, is a privileged witness to God's dealing with the people of God in both the Old and the New Testaments.

The Catholic approach to the Bible may be characterized as a both/and, rather than an either/or. This became more obvious after the Second Vatican Council. The Council published a great and moving document called "Dei Verbum," "The Word of God." It is a magisterial overview of how the church looks at the Bible. Over thirty years later, in 1993, the Pontifical Biblical Commission produced a similarly helpful document entitled "The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church."

Let me point out just three highlights of these two important documents.

First of all, "Dei Verbum" looks at the Bible as an instance of God's personal self-revelation to us. That's important: God communicates himself, or Godself, not only through what we call "salvation history" as recorded in the Bible (that is, the way that God relates to humanity) but in the Bible itself.

Second, both documents look carefully at the relationship between Scripture and tradition, which is long been a source of unfortunate controversy between Catholics and Protestants. In the Catholic Church we consider tradition to be guided by the Holy Spirit, and so Vatican II emphasized the close relationship between Scripture and tradition, describing them beautifully as both "flowing from the same divine wellspring."

What may surprise a lot of people is the third highlight: the church recommends the use of the methods and approaches of professional biblical studies. The Pontificial Biblical Commission's document commends what is usually called the "historical-critical method" as "the indispensable method for scientific study of the meaning of ancient texts," and also encourages our attempts to understand the different literary methods that are used in the texts.

Back to the both/and rather than the either/or. The Catholic approach to Scripture insists on both the divine origin of the Bible and the necessary contribution of the people composed the books of the Bible at a certain time, in a certain place and for certain community. It urges us, in a word, to understand the Bible better as, to use one of the phrases are run through the 1993 document, "the word of God in human language."

The Bible is one of the primary ways that I encounter God. We focus mainly on Jesus, the person to whom We've dedicated our life. Through reflection on and study of the Bible we try to better understand who Jesus was, or rather, since we believe him to be risen, is. Also, we try to understand the history of his people, the Jews. But mainly we look to the Bible to meditate on what Jesus said and did during his ministry. How he lived. How he cared for people. And what we are meant to do as his disciples.

None of this is meant in any way to diminish the importance of the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures or the Torah, depending on your preferred nomenclature. God's Covenant with the Jewish people is still, obviously, in effect. As the Second Vatican Council reminded us over and over again.

But for us, as a Christian, we view the Bible primarily as a way of getting to know Jesus and his people the Jews, in both the Old and New Testaments.

Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm. 

Today Jesus gives us a warning. "The last will be first, and the first will be last."

Christ tells this parable right after Peter asked him what the twelve Apostles will get in return for having given up everything to follow Jesus.

The parable itself most obviously applies to the Jewish nation in general. The Jews were God's Chosen People, the first nation on earth to receive God's revelation.

They are the workers who were hired at daylight. But when the eternal Kingdom appears in all its fullness at the end of history, the Jews may find others honored by God more than themselves, just as the first workers found that the latecomers were treated with extra generosity - the last will be first.

The parable is also a warning to the Apostles. They too were given a special role in the history of salvation. They were chosen to be the visible foundation of the Church, but in the end, others will achieve greatness in Christ's name as well - the first will be last.

God has plans that we do not always understand. As the First Reading put it, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways."

Why does Jesus issue this warning? Because he wants us to have interior peace. Nothing disturbs our minds more than the thirst for recognition and esteem.

When we are always comparing ourselves to others, we are filled with worries, envy, stress, anger, and uncertainty. And this can occur even within our own Christian communities!

But if we simply try to give our best in life for Christ, thinking more of the glory of God than of self, and recognizing the abundant generosity of God's love, then our trust in him will grow, those selfish motives will shrink, and we will begin to experience the unshakable peace and security that only Christ can give.

Love is complex, meaning that love involves many things. Classically speaking, our human faculties are made up of the mind, the will, and the affections. Using these, then, love is rooted in knowledge; love is exercised in willful decision; and love is experienced in the affections. To love someone involves all of this. To love someone means that you also love the things about someone. This is most true of our love for God. We love Him, and that leads us to love everything about Him. One of those things is His Word. To love God is to love his Word. As Psalm 119 says, "Oh how I love your law!" (v. 97). Because the Word is the means that God uses to speak to us, we need to love it and use it.

I am to love God by loving His Word. Therefore, it is my duty to read it. Just as we give presents because we love someone, and they open it in reciprocal love and gratitude, so too has God shown His love for His people by giving us the gift of His Word. Show him you love him by reading his Word. Scripture explains that we do this in three ways.

Publicly

We love God by loving His Word read publicly. This was done in the ancient Jewish synagogue, as evidenced by Jesus' entering the synagogue and performing the appointed reading from the prophet Isaiah (Luke 4:16–24). This was done in the ancient Christian church, as evidenced by Paul's words (1 Thess. 5:27; Col. 4:16). This continued in the ancient church. For example, Saint Justin Martyr said, "And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits" (First Apology, ch. 67). And Tertullian said, "We assemble to read our sacred writings … with the sacred words we nourish our faith, we animate our hope, we make our confidence more steadfast" (Apology, ch. 39).

As a Family

We love God by loving His Word read as a family, if the Lord provides us with a family. Moses exhorted Israel, saying, "And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise" (Deut. 6:6–7). This practice of the covenant people was experienced by Timothy: "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings" (2 Tim. 3:14–15). Family Bible reading is necessary to propagate the Christian religion in our children. Is it any wonder when parents, especially fathers, are not taking the time to read the Word with their children? Ignorance of Scripture leads to ignorance of Christ.

Privately

We love God by loving His Word read privately. Psalm 1 speaks of the singular "man" (v. 1) who is blessed because "his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night" (v. 2). To read the Word and meditate upon the Word as a believer causes one to be like a well-watered and fruitful tree (v. 3). Psalm 119 is also the meditation of an individual believer: "Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day" (v. 97, emphasis mine). Meditating on the Word makes one wise (v. 98), makes one godly (v. 101), and gives us a spiritual delight as the Word is "sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (v. 103).

I am to love God by loving His Word. Therefore, it is my delight to receive it. Ten times in the great Psalm 119 we read of the psalmist praising the Lord for receiving the Lord's Word, saying he "delights" in the Word (Ps. 119:14, 16, 24, 35, 47, 70, 77, 92, 143, 174). Why? Because the Word is the living Word of the Lord to us, His people. The psalmist also describes his delight in the Word in comparison to other delightful things. He compares the Word to gold and silver, saying in verse 72, "The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces" (cf. v. 127). He compares the Word to honey, saying in verse 103, "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"

If you love God, it is your duty to read the Word and your delight to receive it as the very Word of the true and living God.

Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.

My dear brothers and sisters, in today's Gospel we listen to a conversation between Peter and Jesus. Peter asks Jesus how often he must forgive others. This conversation is really a commentary on the fifth beatitude, which Jesus stated way back in Chapter 5 of St. Matthew's Gospel: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."

Mercy goes against our fallen human nature. Automatically, we tend to play favorites, hold grudges, resent insults, demand our "rights," and care much more about our own hopes, plans, and problems than about others'.

When we do take an interest in other people, it's usually because we like them, and not because we view them as so valued by God that he sent his Son to die on the cross for them.

When we operate on this merely natural level, we always run into a limit in our ability to forgive those who offend or harm us. But Jesus is teaching us today that a Christian is called to be limitless in forgiveness: to be merciful as God is merciful.

We are glad that God is gentle and patient with us, always willing to forgive us, always showering us with his blessings, always there when we need him, always ready to understand us, always ready to sympathize with us before judging us… in short, we are glad that God is merciful with us, although we know we don't really deserve it.

And yet, we are often reluctant to be like that with others, just like the man in the parable.

If we don't let God help us overcome that reluctance, our hearts will become so closed that eventually Christ's mercy simply won't be able to get in.

If we do overcome it, they will open wider and wider, allowing the full flood of God's love to inundate them, making them an oasis for others who suffer, and a magnet for their kindness and generosity.

Blessed indeed are the merciful, for showing mercy is the only way to attract it. 

Catholic Bibles are known to have more books than Protestant Bibles. The New Testament of the Bible is exactly the same between Catholics and Protestants. They both consist of exactly twenty-seven (27) books. What differs between Catholic Bibles and Protestant Bibles is the Old Testament. Catholics have forty-six (46) books in the Old Testament, while Protestants have only thirty-nine (39). Protestants also have shorter versions of the books of Daniel and Esther. The seven books in question are Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1st Maccabees, 2nd Maccabee.

Why do Catholic Bibles have a longer Old Testament than Protestant Bibles? Protestants have shorter Old Testaments because the leaders of the Protestant Reformation removed books from the Old Testament. Catholic Church never "added any books" to the Bible. The Protestant Reformers took them out.

When Martin Luther began the reformation and began to translate the bible into German, he wanted to go back to the original source. For the Old Testament, he assumed at the time that the oldest version would be in Hebrew, and that he should find it from the version used by the Jews. He discovered that the Jewish Torah has only 39 books and not the 46 books of the Catholic Church. The "extra" seven books were considered to be not trustworthy by the Jews. As a result, he omitted those seven books.

What he didn't know, and couldn't know at the time, was that at Jesus' time, there were actually several versions of the Torah, most written in Hebrew, but especially one written in Greek, the so-called Septuagint translation, or LXX. The most widely used version at Jesus' time was actually the LXX, which contains all 46 books. During the second century, when the Christian Church became more and more prominent and increasingly under persecution, the Jews and the Christians had a number of fallouts. The Jewish leaders decided to definitively separate themselves from any mis-identification with the Christians. And one of the things they did was to consolidate the use of the Torah to only one version, one that was most different from the Christian Old Testament. Since seven of the books did not have Hebrew versions, they decided to drop them. For the longest time, it was widely believed that those books were written in Greek and did not have Hebrew versions.

But since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Qumran, this is proven to be false. Among the Qumran scrolls were found fragments of Tobit, Wisdom and other parts of these seven books, all written in Hebrew. Given the puritanical nature of the Qumran community, this is sufficient evidence to prove that those seven books were accepted as authentic by the Jews since before Jesus' time.

This proves that the Jews in the second century has made a mistake in dropping those seven books. And Martin Luther as a result has also made a mistake in trusting in the Jewish version, albeit inadvertently. Those seven books are authentic, inspired books that properly belong to the Old Testament.

Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm. 

My dear brothers and sisters, there is something everyone talks about but few people think about. For example, FREEDOM.

Today, the Lord wants us to think about freedom. There are three types of freedom.

First, freedom from physical restraint.

Nazi concentration camps during World War II violated this type of freedom. People were unfairly forced to leave their homes and work to the death at forced labor.

The second type of freedom is freedom from psychological pressure.

If someone threatens to burn down your house unless you give him $10,000, he is doing psychological violence to you, forcing you to harm yourself in one way in order to avoid being harmed in a worse way. In healthy societies, both of these freedoms are protected by the rule of law.

But there is a third type of freedom, not a freedom from, but a freedom for.

This is called moral or spiritual freedom. This is an ability built into every human heart. If used well, it helps us become excellent human beings, wise and honorable. If we misuse it, we become self-centered, frustrated, and even destructive human beings.

This freedom matters most to Jesus. He wants us to use it well, to become what he created us to be. Christ's life, death, and resurrection were all designed to help us do that, by showing us the way and giving us grace to overcome our selfish tendencies and follow it.

The Church, like the watchmen in today's First Reading and the disciples in today's Gospel, continues his mission: patiently and tirelessly warning us against seductive dead-end roads, and inviting us to forge ahead on Christ's path of self-forgetful love.

The choices we make every day, in little things and big things, matter. Every one of them can bring us closer to God and our true purpose, or further away. That's the essence of spiritual freedom. 

St. Jerome famously said, "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." That thought alone should send us all rushing for our Bibles! So, why should Catholics make regular Scripture reading and study part of their daily lives?

1. The Bible is the living Word of God. There are many ancient texts in the history of the world. They are all worthy of study, but what sets the Bible apart? It is the living Word of God. It has no equal, and it is as relevant today. Further, the Word of God is Christ: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. (Jn. 1:1 ) Thus, every encounter with Scripture is an encounter with Christ.

2. Sunday isn't enough. Indeed, the Mass is full of Scripture. We hear the Word proclaimed from the Old and New Testaments, the Psalms, and the Gospel. We hear the Word sung in our hymns. The prayers at Mass are full of Scriptural quotes and references. And yet … it's not enough. It's easy to miss parts of the Word as it's proclaimed as Mass: we get distracted, the Word is not proclaimed well, we don't quite hear it. In order to prepare well for Mass, we should "read ahead:" find the readings for Mass and read them prior to Mass. How are they connected? What is God's message for His people today?

3. God's Word keeps us grounded. It is very easy, in the midst of our busy, stress-filled days, to lose touch with who we are: God's children. Taking time to read Scripture every day keeps us grounded, reminds us of who we are. Reading Scripture helps us to recall, every day, that Christ is with us – even in the busy-ness, the stress.

4. Scripture reminds us of God's covenant. God made a promise to our forefathers in faith. He told them, "I will be your God, and you will be my people." Even though we did many things that should have destroyed that covenant, God's promise is eternal. A covenant is unbreakable, because it is God's truth. Then, with the coming of Christ, we received a new covenant: "This is My Body and this is My Blood. Whoever eats and drinks of it shall have eternal life." The Bible, from start to finish, is the story of God's unbreakable promise to us.

5. Reading Scripture helps us to pray better. Every one of us needs to pray better. Prayer is our lifeline to God. Scripture can help us to pray better. We see ourselves reflected in the sorrow, pain and faithfulness of Job. We understand Jonah's reluctance to do the job God has set before him. We rejoice, laugh, cry and challenge God with the psalmist. We understand the shame of the woman about to be stoned. We tremble with fear, abandoning Christ, just as most of the Apostles did when He most needed them.

To enter into God's word helps us to see, hear, feel and understand basic human responses and then do better. We rise above our fears, our sorrows, our shame, because we know God is with us. Always. He never abandons us. Scripture is the story of God's eternal love and faithfulness.

St. Jerome knew all this. He understood that Scripture is the living word of God, as relevant to us as it was to the Jews in their many triumphs and struggles, as it was to the earliest Christians during St. Jerome's life, and now, in a world where we have so much information at our fingertips. Do not be ignorant of this word, lest you be ignorant of Christ.

Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.

In today's Gospel Peter balks at the thought that Christ must deny himself and take up his cross. Last week Our Lord was praising Peter's faith; this week he is condemning his worldly outlook.

In the Gospel, Jesus teaches us that the cross is a part of our life whether we want it or not, and what matters is how we face it and why we face it. He also encourages us to practice self-detachment and to remember that everything we have comes from God.

No matter how often we try to accumulate things and ensure comfort, something prevents it from happening. Some people are wealthy, or healthy, or in charge of their lives, yet they feel something is missing.

All things that God has created only serve us to the degree that they help us and others draw closer to God. Sometimes we lose sight of that: we want a life that does not involve self-denial and the Cross, a life where we own everything we could want, not just everything we need.

We seek financial security, comfort, and control, and we convince ourselves that we'll be satisfied with having more money, more comfort, more control.

The things of this world are fleeting, and we've all experienced that after one bill comes another, that we can't always enjoy the health or comfort we crave, no matter how hard we try, and that there are many things that will always be beyond our control.

When we get obsessed about achieving the impossible in this world–unlimited wealth (the latest and greatest and a big nest egg), complete comfort (no aches and pains, nothing unpleasant), and total control (everything arranged to our satisfaction) –those things that God created for our good become obstacles to drawing closer to him, and throw up obstacles for others as well.

Our Lord reminds us today that we can have the whole world, but not possess what is truly important: an enduring and fulfilled life. That enduring and fulfilled life doesn't exist in this world, yet this world is the path to it. It depends on how we live in this world.

Our Lord teaches us today that the only way to achieve what we truly desire is to take up our cross for the sake of a higher cause: his cause.

Our Lord was ravaged on the cross, but not defeated, and from that Tree of Life an enduring and fulfilling life is made possible if we take up his cause and imitate him.

The alternative is a ravaged world: the more we seek fleeting things, the more we flee from our crosses, the more we'll suffer lasting misery, because if we put our stock only in the things of this world, they will, sooner or later, pass away.

Let's ask Our Lord today to help us see our crosses not as burdens, but as opportunities to help construct a better world in his name. Through our crosses, in his service, we can achieve a better life for ourselves and others.

Let's take up our cross and take up the cause of Christ. 

Many protestants think that Catholics do not read the bible. They often think that the Catholic Church even discourages reading the bible. In more extreme cases, some people think that the Church tries to hide biblical truths from lay Catholics.

Catholics Read the Bible at Mass

Did you know that the Catholic Church reads the entire Bible to her congregation over the span of three years? The Bible is read during the first part of the Catholic Mass: 3 readings on Sundays and 2 readings Monday through Saturday, also known as daily Mass. At each weekend Mass Catholics hear an Old Testament reading, a New Testament reading, and a Gospel reading, all relating to a central theme. Then the priest gives a homily typically on that theme or sometimes directly regarding one or more of the Scripture readings. At daily Masses is typically one Old Testament reading and a Gospel reading. Catholics also sing the Scriptures during the Responsorial Psalm which takes place between the first and second readings, and Scripture is also sung throughout the hymns which are primarily based on the Bible.

Catholics Read the Bible at Home

While it is true that many, many Catholics never really read the bible on their own, that is not the case for all Catholics. It is also not true that the Church discourages it! In fact, Saint Jerome said "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." That was back in the 5th century!

Catholics are certainly encouraged to read the Bible for personal devotion and study outside of Mass. Additionally, there are many excellent Bible studies held at parishes around the world.

Not only do Catholics read the Bible, they experience the Bible like no other Christians in the Mass. Sprinkled throughout the Mass, in the prayers the priest prays or the responses from the congregation, are rituals and quotes directly from the Bible. You see, the Catholic Church celebrates, lives, and teaches everything through the Scriptures. The Catholic Church is the most biblical church in all of Christianity.

Why the Misunderstanding?

So why is it, then, that so many protestants think that Catholics don't read the bible? It's probably because many of them have met Catholics who don't know much about the bible. This is a sad, but true reality. All people, including Catholics, should read the bible more, we can all agree on that!

Fr. Antonius David Tristianto, O.Carm.

The most memorable words from today's Gospel passage are "rock" and "keys." "Rock" refers to the unshakable foundation he has given to his Church: the papacy.

"Keys" refer to the divinely guaranteed guidance and authority that the papacy will steadily provide about what we should believe and how we should live - faith and morals.

As St Augustine said: "Ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia", where Peter [the papacy] is, there the Church is. This is why we call the pope Christ's Vicar on earth, the visible head of the Church.

This is also why it is hypocritical for Catholics to criticize, contradict, and disobey the pope and his official teaching. A "Pro-Choice Catholic," for example, is a contradiction in terms.

It's a Catholic who doesn't believe that God is guiding the Church through the popes and the bishops in communion with them, who have taught consistently and clearly that abortion is the killing of an innocent human life and can never be a legitimate choice.

Throughout history, some popes have been corrupt, weak, and sinful, but Jesus kept his promise. Those bad popes never dismantled the pure teaching of the Gospel, nor did they interrupt the flow of grace that the Holy Spirit continues to send through the sacraments.

But there is also a third memorable image in today's Gospel. After talking about the rock and the keys, Jesus says that "the gates of the netherworld" will not prevail against his Church.

The rock and the keys tell us how the Church is structured, but this phrase tells us what the Church does: it overthrows the kingdom of the devil, breaking down the gates of evil that closed upon the world after original sin.

The Church is no passive organization, no religious or social club; it has a mission. Being Catholic means being part of a spiritual army called and equipped by God to fight and conquer sin and evil.