Thanksgiving For All Eternity

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
November 18, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Dn 12:1-3 / Ps 16 / Heb 10:11-14, 18 / Mk 13:24-32
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

According to the Desert Sun, a part of the USA Today network, a record 30.6 million people are flying for Thanksgiving this year. That’s almost four times the total population of Virginia. It tells us that, no matter how busy we are or how far we are from each other geographically, we still find time to have a family reunion on Thanksgiving Day or other times of the year. Now I, for one, always look forward to getting together with my relatives and talking about the good old days. Family reunions for most of us are happy occasions. (more…)

Scoring for God’s Team

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
November 11, 2018 – Year B
Readings: 1 Kgs 17:10-16 / Ps 146 / Heb 9:24-28 / Mk 12:38-44
by Rev. Paul O’Donnell Duggan, Guest Celebrant

A couple of months after I was ordained, I was sent to New Zealand, down to the South Island and Christchurch, over to a wee town on the west coast called Hokitika. When I got there, the west coast of New Zealand had no soccer. So I introduced soccer to the west coast, and the team (I was the coach and the captain of the team) was called the Corinthians. I don’t recall why. There was always a little titter on a Sunday morning, when the lector would get up and say, “A reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians.” (more…)

Purging the Stain of Sin

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
November 4, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Dt 6:2-6 / Ps 18 / Heb 7:23-28 / Mk 12:28B-34
by Rev. Paul O’Donnell Duggan, Guest Celebrant

This month of November is dedicated to the souls in Purgatory, and the Church sets aside the entire month for us to pray for the dead. So the question is, “What actually is Purgatory?” Because it exists in eternity, and the only experience we have is that of time, our knowledge is scanty. We don’t know an awful lot about the mystery of the next life, because we go by time – present, past, future. (more…)

Whatever You Want

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 28, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Jer 31:7-9 / Ps 126 / Heb 5:1-6 / Mk 10:46-52
by Rev. Paul O’Donnell Duggan, Guest Celebrant

Today’s homily is about questions. Let me start by asking you whether you recognize these numbers; 5 28 62 65 70? If you had those numbers last Tuesday, you’d be a rich person. You would be a very rich person actually: 1.537 billion dollars richer. Some questions are very easy to answer, some are more difficult, some are very simple, and some are very profound.

What is the first question God asked in the Bible of Adam? “Where are you?” Not physically or geographically, but Adam of course was hiding; he had sinned. When Jesus says “Where are you, Adam,” it means where are you with Me, what happened that you are hiding? (more…)

Jesus Understands

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 21, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Is 53:10-11 / Ps 33 / Heb 4:14-16 / Mk 10:35-45
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

There is a house on one of the islands of the Pacific, which for many years has been a refuge for mothers who have lost a child. The woman who lives in that modest dwelling is the reason why they go there. She always offers a shoulder to lean on and assurance that someone understands what they are going through, for she herself lost a child when she was already advanced in years and not able to have another baby. Towards the end of the bereaved mother’s visit the woman would tell them to go to the Church and talk to the Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. She reminds them that He is the only one who can completely sympathize with them and who has the power to give them the strength to move on and have a fresh start. (more…)

With God, Wisdom Is Possible

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 14, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Wis 7:7-11 / Ps 90 / Heb 4:12-13 / Mk 10:17-30
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

Last Friday I had the privilege of celebrating a Mass of Christian Burial for a friend who shared with me his wisdom during the last few years of his life here on earth. Many of you know him, or know of him, and some of you were even here for his funeral last Friday. His name is Bobby Poole, and he regularly attended the 8:00 Mass here at Holy Name of Mary with his wife, Ann, and his daughter, Kelly. (more…)

Marriage and the Church

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 7, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Gn 2:18-24 / Ps 128 / Heb 2:9-11 / Mk 10:2-16
by Rev. Mr. Eddie Craig, Permanent Deacon

Today’s talk will be less a homily and more a catechetical teaching. I will be pulling most of the information from “The Catechism of the Catholic Church.” If you don’t have one of these, you need to get one. This is a brilliant piece of work. Any question you have about the Faith is covered in this book. It’s very well written and easy to understand.

As I was trying to think how to condense the Sacrament of Marriage down into the length of a homily, I decided to narrow it down to three different points. These are the three things that you need to understand in order to understand the Church’s teaching on marriage. This is not exhaustive; this is just the tip of the iceberg. (more…)

Moral Scope Creep

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 30, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Nm 11:25-29 / Ps 19 / Jas 5:1-6 / Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
by Rev. Mr. Eddie Craig, Permanent Deacon

Many of you know that I actually earn my living as a mechanical engineer; that’s my nine-to-five job. You may not know that the way I exercise my engineering degree is as a machine designer. I build custom machines. Customers come to the company I work for with a problem; we put together a solution; they give us a purchase order; and then we build a machine to solve their problem.

But invariably, during that design process, we’ll stumble across something that really wasn’t included in the quote. Maybe it’s some little problem that we didn’t foresee when we were preparing the quote, or maybe it was something that the customer didn’t convey fully to us. Quite often, these are just small things, maybe a fifty-dollar sensor and a five-dollar bracket takes care of the problem, and we just do it. (more…)

Showing Our True Colors

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 23, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Wis 2:12, 17-20 / Ps 54 / Jas 3:16-4:3 / Mk 9:30-37
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

At 9:54 last night, we officially began the season of Fall. In just a few days we will begin seeing the beauty of God’s creation here and in the glorious mountain area. The different colors of leaves will remind us that our God is indeed almighty.

We know that leaves don’t change colors during autumn. Because of the change in temperature, the lack of sunshine, and other environmental factors, the leaves are no longer able to produce chlorophyll, which gives them their green color. Because of this seeming deficiency, the leaves will be showing their true colors, as the Lord God created them to be, and they are beautiful. (more…)

You Will Know Him

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 16, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Is 50:5-9A / Ps 116 / Jas 2:14-18 / Mk 8:27-35
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

The song, “If You Don’t Know Me by Now,” which was first released in the early seventies, has sold millions of records and CDs worldwide and been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times on iTunes and Google Play. Even Carrie Underwood sang this song when she joined America’s Got Talent.

But scripture scholars would attest that the Lord Jesus would never have said or implied the words of the refrain: “If you don’t know me by now, then you will never, never know me.” (more…)