Solemnity of Christ the King, Cycle C - November 23, 2025

Solemnity of Christ the King – C 

November 23, 2025            5pm 

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton

 

Christ the King

 

In the year 1925, exactly 100 years ago, there were 30 sovereign states or countries in our world ruled by kings.

 

In that same year, our Church created the feast that we celebrate today – the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. At that time, the world was still trying to recover from the devastation of World War I.

 

In that context, the Pope, Pius XI, wanted to lift up to everyone, kings and other civil rulers and everyone, he wanted to lift up who is our real king and ruler. The Holy Father wanted us to remember that Jesus Christ is to govern our lives and how we live and what we do.  

 

The Church placed this celebration on the last Sunday of the liturgical year. So, we have journeyed through Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time and have now come to the end of the liturgical year.

 

And here, at this point, we celebrate that Jesus Christ and he alone is the ultimate ruler of our lives. Now, calling Jesus “King of the Universe” can feel distant and maybe even unreal to us. 

 

Earthly kings and rulers govern with armies, wealth, and force. But the kingship of Jesus is different. 

 

He is the King whose throne is the Cross and whose crown is made of thorns. In today’s Gospel, Jesus rules not from a palace but from Calvary. 

 

He is not into domination. Instead, the kingship of Christ is about service, sacrifice, and self-giving. 

 

The Image of the Invisible God 

 

Saint Paul in our second reading expresses why Christ is our King.

 

He describes Jesus as the “image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” So, Jesus is God with us.

 

If we see and know him, we see and know God. As the Son of God, he is the first or “firstborn” and exists before all else that is.

 

And Paul then adds, “In him all things hold together.” So, if Christ as our loving God and King holds the universe together, he can also hold our lives together, no matter how stressed or strained we may feel.

 

Our Response to Christ the King

 

Recognizing Christ as our King is not just a theological statement or a belief in our heads. 

 

It is to be a daily decision. It means allowing Jesus to rule in the places of our lives where we might prefer to rule ourselves. 

 

So, I am asking us to do one thing today and this week. Allow Jesus, Christ the King to shape our choices, our relationships, and even our attitudes. 

 

For example, allow him to help us when we want revenge and retribution. Remember that after Peter cut off the ear of one of the soldiers, Jesus forbade any more violence and he healed that man’s ear.

 

Allow Jesus to shape our choice of internet or social media sites. Jesus chose to enjoy things that were life-giving to himself and others, like the wedding at Cana or dinners with all kinds of people.

 

And allow Jesus to shape our attitudes to the strangers in our midst, yes, even the immigrants. He is the one who said that when we do something good for a stranger, you do it for me and that will be a criterion for our judgment before God. 

 

Conclusion 

So, I ask you to work at that today and this week – allow Jesus, Christ our King to shape our choices, our relationships, and even our attitudes.

 

If we do this, we can be in the position of one of the persons who was being crucified with Jesus. He said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

 

And Jesus, dying on the cross, makes that magnificent response, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” We can live with inner peace and with trust in that promise.       

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C - November 16, 2025

33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – C 

November 16, 2025           8:30

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket

 

Some years ago, I came across a short story titled Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket – Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket.

 

In the story, a man named Tom has started putting together a proposal for the supermarket chain he works for. He has put an outline of his proposal and some data on a yellow sheet of paper.

 

Tom thinks that the proposal could lead to a big promotion. Well, one evening, his wife Clara goes out to a movie.

 

Tom doesn’t go because he wants to work on his proposal. Suddenly, a breeze blows the yellow piece of paper off of the desk and out the window of the apartment. 

 

The paper becomes lodged on the brick ledge just below Tom’s reach – eleven stories up. Tom convinces himself that he can retrieve the paper.

 

So, he carefully makes his way out of the apartment window and onto the ledge. He moves slowly and then manages to stoop down, grab the yellow paper, and stuff it into his pocket.

 

Tom carefully shuffles back to the window, but it has slipped closed and he can’t pry it open. He is trapped on the narrow brick ledge, eleven stories above Lexington Avenue in New York. 

 

Tom’s calls for help are not heard, and Clara won’t be home for several hours. He starts thinking about dying and feels afraid and angry.

 

Tom realizes that they will find just one thing in his pocket – the yellow sheet of paper. His notes will make no sense to anyone else.

 

Tom thinks of the hours and days he has spent away from his wife. He thinks of his ambition and career and his lack of attention to other things – things that now seem so much more important.

 

He feels afraid and angry. He judges that he has wasted his life.  

 

The Gospel and Now

 

Jesus does not want us to waste our lives as Tom, in the story, was afraid he had done.

 

Instead, Jesus wants us to live today, the present, in the best way we can. He wants us to attend to the important things of life right now.

 

That’s his point in this gospel. Jesus speaks of all kinds of frightful signs and events that will come at some unknown time. 

 

But he doesn’t want us to get caught up in forecasting an end-time and living with fear. Instead, he is trying to shake us up and focus on the present. 

 

Tend to the important things of life right now and that will be the way to be ready for that unknown future moment. That is Jesus’ point.    

 

Making Now Special

 

Now, to do this, I want to ask each of us to do three things this week – three things to do sometime this week and I think they will be easy to remember. 

 

First, is there something from the past I need to settle? An apology that I need to make or a sin I need to have forgiven?

 

If there is something, go to the other person involved or to a priest for confession or whatever is appropriate for the matter. Settle one thing from the past and get that weight off of you. 

 

Second, is there some anxiety or worry about the future weighing you down? About health or finances or something else?

 

If there is, entrust that to God with a prayer of trust. Try to let God ease that anxiety or worry and get that weight off of you. 

 

And third, with something from the past and the future dealt with, now really live the present. Do something good for one person in your life – your wife or husband or parent or child or close friend.

 

Maybe it will be a text message or phone call to let them know you are thinking about them and appreciating them. But do one thing to tend someone special and important in your life. 

  

Conclusion

 

So, do these three things and you will not feel that you are wasting your life, as Tom in the short story feared. 

 

And by the way, the story ended with Tom breaking the glass on the window and climbing back into the apartment. And the first thing he did was to forget the yellow paper and go to find his wife Clara at the movies. 

 

  

The Dedication of Saint John Lateran Basilica, Cycle C - November 9, 2025

The Dedication of Saint John Lateran Basilica  

Feast – C 

November 9, 2025

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

A Jewish Legend 

 

In Jewish folklore, there is an inspiring story about the place where the great temple in Jerusalem was built.

 

The legend goes that two brothers had adjoining farms. The older brother was married and had a family; the younger brother lived alone.

 

When the harvest came, the younger brother said to himself: “My brother has a wife and children and many responsibilities. I’ll help him by giving part of my harvest to his family.”

 

So, in the middle of the night, he went over to his brother’s property and poured some grain from his own harvest into his brother’s bins. He did this night after night.

 

Meanwhile, the married brother had a similar thought: “My brother has no wife or children and lives by himself. He has no one to care for him in the winter of his days. I’ll take some of my grain and add it to his harvest so he will never be in need.”

 

And so, during the night, the older brother went over to his brother’s property and poured some grain from his own harvest into his brother’s bins. He did this night after night.

 

For years the brothers wondered why their grain supply never dwindled. Then, one night, they both set out for the other’s house at the same time. 

 

In the dark, they met – each carrying sacks of grain to fill the other’s bin. They realized immediately what each other had been doing all those years. 

 

They dropped their sacks and embraced. And, on the spot where the brothers embraced, God directed that his temple be built. 

 

“Here at last is the place where I will build my temple,” God said. “For where brothers meet in love, there my presence will be.”  

 

A Church Building 

 

That story leads me to one reflection for today – the celebration of a church building in Rome. 

 

Our church here – Our Lady of Grace – is a sign of God’s presence. In fact, we believe that it is more than that – that God, Jesus is present to us in the reading of the Word and in the celebration and reservation of the Eucharist.

 

God, Jesus calls us to have that same kind of love for one another as God wanted in the Jewish legend. This very building assumes that the sense of oneness or community is present within and among us.

 

Saint Paul in today’s second reading calls us, he calls you and me the building and the temple of God. He wants us to know that we are God’s temple, that God is present within us.

 

And it follows that he wants us to see others, everyone else also as God’s temple. He wants us to treat each other accordingly. 

 

Love and Community 

 

So, the expectations made by the Jewish legend and by this church building and by Saint Paul are clear.

 

We are to treat each other with respect, whether or not we like or agree with each other. We are to try to take in and understand the other person’s perspective or background or needs.

 

We are to look out for the good of one another and for the common good of all, much as the brothers in the legend did. We are to be there for one another in times of need.

 

We are even to be there in prayer and maybe in some other ways for persons whom we will never meet or know. This might be people in our cities or our rural areas, or people in other countries like Guatemala or Ukraine or Sudan. 

 

Authenticity  

 

So, our respect, our care, our sense of community makes our presence here authentic.

 

To put it another way, our respect, our care, our sense of community means that we have allowed this church building to form who we are and how we live. That’s the message or calling that I am seeing on this day in honor of the Pope’s cathedral church in Rome. 

 

Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, Cycle C - November 2, 2025

Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed 

All Souls’ Day – C  

November 2, 2025  8:30am

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

Imagine – Around 1875

 

Try to imagine for just a minute that it is the year 1875, exactly 150 years ago.

 

It is rural America, out in the farm country of the Midwest. There are, of course, no cars.

 

People get around on horseback and horse-drawn wagons. In that setting, there lives a little boy named Tom.

 

And, by the way, this is a true story! Both of Tom’s parents die and he is left an orphan.

 

Fortunately, his Aunt Katherine takes him in and raises him. Then, years later, Tom receives a letter from his Aunt Katherine.

 

She has a terminal illness, and, from the tone of the letter, Tom knows that she is afraid of death. So, he writes a letter in response and here it is.

 

Letter from Tom 

 

“Dear Aunt Katherine, thirty-five years ago, when I was six-years-old, I was left alone in the world. You sent me word that you would give me a home and be a mother to me.

 

“I’ve never forgotten the day when I made the long journey of ten miles to your house. I can still recall my disappointment when, instead of coming to me yourself, you sent your hired-hand Joseph to fetch me.

 

“I remember my tears and anxiety as, perched high on the horse and clinging tight to Joseph, I rode off to my new home. Night fell before we finished the journey and, as it grew dark, I became even more afraid. 

 

“‘Do you think she’ll go to bed before I get there?’ I asked Joseph. ‘Oh, no,’ Joseph answered, ‘she’s sure to stay up. When we get out of these woods, you’ll see her light shining in the window.’

 

“We did ride out into the clearing and there was your light. I remember that you were waiting at the door; that you put your arms tight around me; that you lifted me – a tired, frightened, little boy – down from the horse.

 

“You had a fire burning on the hearth, a hot supper waiting on the stove. After supper you took me to my new room.

 

“You heard me say my prayers. Then you sat with me until I fell asleep.

 

“You very probably realize why I am now trying to recall this to your memory. Very soon, God is going to send for you and take you to a new home.

 

“I’m trying to tell you that you needn’t be afraid of the summons or of the strange journey. God can be trusted.

 

“God can be trusted to do as much for you as you did for me so many years ago. At the end of the road, you’ll find love and a welcome waiting for you.

 

“And you’ll be safe in God’s care. I’m going to watch and pray for you until you’re out of sight.  

 

“And I shall wait for the day when I make the same journey myself and find you waiting at the end of the road to greet me.”  

 

Our Faith 

 

Tom’s letter to his Aunt Katherine is very warm and touching.

 

It shows a clear, strong, and trusting faith. It reflects so beautifully Jesus’ words in today’s gospel.

 

Jesus says: “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me.”

 

Aunt Katherine gave her six-year-old nephew a new home and new life. We believe that God does the same thing for us.

 

Adult Tom reassured his aunt of this. God will be there waiting for us at the end of the road, welcoming us and giving us a new home and new life.

 

Action

 

With that in mind, on this All Souls’ Day, I ask us to do one thing. 

 

Let’s remember each person who has been in our lives and has been called home to God. Let’s try to remember them by name today or sometime this week. 

 

And let’s pray for them, as one of the Eucharistic Prayer says, that those who have passed on now see the light of God’s face. Let’s pray with trust in Jesus’ words today: “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me.”  

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C - October 19, 2025

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time – C 

October 19, 2025    5pm

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton

 

“Will he find faith…?” 

 

“When the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth?”  

 

This is the very last sentence in today’s gospel about a widowed woman who is very poor, who has been left with nothing since her husband’s death. She keeps asking an official for some relief or help. 

 

This poor widow is persevering in seeking a just decision. And that is the point here – her perseverance. 

 

That is what Jesus is thinking about when he says: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth?” Jesus sees perseverance as central to faith.  

 

3 Ingredients of Faith 

 

This passage led me to recall a presentation that I heard several years ago.

 

The presenter was a man named Don Bisson. He is a Marist Brother, a religious in our Church for fifty years.

 

In the presentation, Brother Don Bisson says that there are three ingredients needed for becoming a person of real faith. These ingredients can be remembered by the letters I-P-A. 

 

For those of us who enjoy beer, here I-P-A does not mean India Pale Ale. Instead, those letters stand for: 1) Insight, 2) Perseverance, and 3) Action.

 

1.   Insight

 

First, we need Insight.

 

We are to see God as our Creator and ourselves as God’s sons and daughters. We are to see the commandments as the basic map for living, like worshiping God and not coveting our neighbor’s spouse or property. 

 

We are to see the Beatitudes of Jesus as a fulfillment of the commandments, by being merciful and peacemaking. And we are to see the goal of heaven – that someday we will return to God and come to the fullness of life. 

 

So, we need this Insight. And this Insight helps us to feel a certain security and direction. 

 

But, Brother Don Bisson insists, this Insight is not enough. It also needs to be maintained and lived out. 

 

2.   Perseverance

 

So, besides Insight, we need Perseverance.

 

We live in a culture that likes quick fixes. For example, we want our chipped tooth fixed and a crown put on it right away. 

 

So, Perseverance can be difficult for us. But we need this, for example, when we are sick, especially with a serious or prolonged illness. 

 

When this happens, we are invited to identify with Jesus in his emotional, spiritual, and physical suffering. We need to draw upon the grace of God and we will feel strength and hope through this. 

 

So, this Perseverance is an essential ingredient of faith. The woman in today’s gospel is a great example of this.

 

3.   Action

 

And that leads to the final ingredient: Action.

 

The idea is that faith is not just an inner or private thing. We are to live it by what we do. 

 

So, we are to do what we can to assist a family member who is feeling down and out after losing their job. We are to do what we can to help those who are in need and whom we don’t even know, like our parish winter clothing outreach does.

 

And we are at least to pray for those who are on the margins of life – like those who lack access to health care. Actions like these do as much for us as they do for others. 

 

They bring our faith alive. They bring us feelings of satisfaction and authenticity.

 

Conclusion

 

So, I-P-A – not India Pale Ale, but 1) Insight, 2) Perseverance, and 3) Action – these are needed for us to become persons of full faith.

 

I recommend that today or this week, we identify the number one ingredient of faith that needs some focus from us. So, do I need to recall more the Insight that faith brings and allow this to enrich me? 

 

Or do I need to turn to God for more Perseverance in dealing with some suffering? Or do I need to be more intentional about Action that would benefit someone? 

 

What area would lead us to a fuller faith right now? Let’s resolve to look at that as we now offer our Profession of Faith. 

 

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C - October 12, 2025

28^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – C  

October 12, 2025    5pm    

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 

 

Rabbi Harold Kushner

 

I imagine that some or even many of us have heard of the Jewish Rabbi Harold Kushner.

 

Rabbi Kushner was an American, he lived in Massachusetts, and he died two years ago. He wrote fourteen books and his wisdom crossed religious boundaries and touched people of all backgrounds.   

 

One of his books is The Lord is My Shepherd: Healing Wisdom of the Twenty-third Psalm. The twenty-third is one of our most well-known psalms.

 

We often sing it at funerals. Well, in his book The Lord is My Shepherd: Healing Wisdom of the Twenty-third Psalm, Rabbi Kushner reflects on gratitude.     

 

The Lord is My Shepherd 

 

He writes this.

 

“I read of a person who had formed the habit of writing Thank you on the lower left corner of every check he wrote. When he paid his electric bill or his phone bill, he would write Thank you to express his gratitude to the companies that made those services available. 

 

“Even when he paid his taxes, he would write Thank you on the check as a way of reminding himself that his taxes were the price he willingly paid for living in the United States with all of its benefits (even though he didn’t think the Internal Revenue Service would notice it).” 

 

Rabbi Kushner then goes on to write about himself.

. 

“Each night as I prepare for bed, I put drops in my eyes to fend off the threat of glaucoma that would rob me of my sight and take from me the pleasure of reading. Each morning at breakfast, I take a pill to control my blood pressure, and each evening at dinner I take another pill to lower my cholesterol. 

 

“But instead of lamenting the ailments that come with growing older, instead of wishing I were as young and fit as I once was, I take my medicine with a prayer of thanks that modern science has found ways to help me cope with these ailments. 

 

“I think of all my ancestors who didn’t live long enough to develop the complications of old age or did not have pills to take when they did live that long.”

 

Gratitude

 

So, gratitude – that’s the virtue that Rabbi Kushner highlights.

 

Gratitude is not just a polite response for an act of kindness – like saying Thank you to the usher after Mass for handing you a bulletin. Gratitude is that, but it is more than that.

 

It is also a mindset, an attitude, a spirit within us. It is the perspective that we have much to be thankful for, beginning with this day of life.

 

Gratitude is feeling blessed by the good persons who have been or still are in our lives. It is being thankful for things we can easily take for granted – like having heat or air conditioning or a hot shower.

 

Gratitude means that we take time to express our thankfulness – like the one leper in today’s gospel. Notice how transformed this man was by Jesus – at least physically and maybe spiritually also.

 

Our gratitude, our thanking God or another person or both will also transform us. It will make us closer to God and more connected with others. 

 

That’s the transformation that can happen by being grateful. We can grow closer to God and more connected with others.  

 

Action

 

So, I’m asking each of you to do something in the week ahead.

 

Every day this week, each day, name one person or one thing for which you are grateful. Name something different each day and thank God for it.

 

And, if appropriate, thank the other person also. So, think of one person or one thing each day this week and be thankful.

 

Your gratitude will open you to God’s transforming power. You will feel closer to God and more connected with others. 

 

That’s the power of gratitude. That’s the lesson of Rabbi Kushner and of the one leper in today’s gospel.