From the Pastor's Desk | May 18, 2025

Pope Leo XIV 

Habemus papam!  Who would have thought an American would be elected as the successor of Peter?!  I did not think I would live to see it.  I don’t have a lot to say about Cardinal Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, as I do not know much about him.  I am, however, eager to learn more!  I will beg your prayers for him as he now shepherds the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church!  

Lord, source of eternal life and truth, give to your shepherd a spirit of courage and right judgment, a spirit of knowledge and love. By governing with fidelity those entrusted to his care, may he, as successor to the Apostle Peter and Vicar of Christ, build your Church into a sacrament of unity, love and peace for all the world. Amen.

As always, an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be for the intentions of the Holy Father are encouraged. 

Congratulations Dcn. Ryan Ferrigan

Congratulations are in order to Ryan Ferrigan upon his ordination to the ministry of deacon.  The ministry of a deacon encompasses three aspects: Word, liturgy, and charity.  The deacon serves as a minister of the Word by proclaiming the Gospel and, from time to time, preaching homilies.  The deacon assists the bishop and priests liturgically by assisting at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and presiding over the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Matrimony.  The deacon is also called to serve through acts of charity and pastoral care.  

Once ordained a deacon, one is always a deacon.  In fact, I myself, am a deacon as is Bishop Boyea and Fr. Mike.  The vestment proper to a deacon is called the dalmatic.  It looks much like a chasuble that a priest wears during Mass but has sleeves and is open on the sides.  Absent the dalmatic a deacon wears the stole across his left shoulder so that his right hand is free for liturgical service.  

Please continue to pray for Dcn. Ferrigan as he exercises his diaconal ministry and continues to prepare for service as a priest.  

8th Graders

Please pray for our eighth graders who are wrapping up their time here at St. Martha School!  I will be traveling with them and some of their parents to Mackinac Island to celebrate their time here and to relax before they take the summer break.  I am extremely proud of them and am certain they will each be successful in their future endeavors.  They are an amazing group of kids!  

Gospel Reflection

The three transcendentals (goodness, truth, and beauty) are eternal attributes of being that point to God.  Goodness is understood as the perfection of being.  A thing is good to the degree it fulfills its purpose (telos, or end).  The transcendentals are objective and universal attributes.  As creatures (as human beings) we participate in the good, the true, and the beautiful to the degree that we can.  God, however, is goodness, truth, and beauty themselves.  

I bring up the three transcendentals in light of the Gospel this weekend.  In the Gospel reading Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment: love one another.  As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.  This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).  If you recall, a couple of weeks ago I wrote and preached that in the English language the word love gets us in a bit of trouble because we have one word to explain or describe various meanings.  In contrast, Greek has four words to describe or explain four very different realities: 

• Storge - familial love

• Philia - friendship 

• Eros - erotic/sexual love

• Agape - self-sacrificial love.

St. Thomas Aquinas, in his great work the Summa Theologiae, defines love as, “to will the good of the other.”  Pope St. John Paul II affirmed St. Thomas Aquinas’ definition of love in his book Love and Responsibility.  He writes that, “the true essence of love is directed toward a genuine good in the true way, or in other words, the way appropriate to the nature of that good.”  On the other hand, “A false love is one that is directed toward a specious good, or, most often, to a genuine good in a way which does not correspond to but is contrary to its nature.”  He calls this an evil good.  Love is directed toward the good and the good is always in accord with the nature of the thing or being.  

This is important for us as Catholics, and more specifically as moral agents, to understand because we live in a culture that reduces love to mere emotion or sentiment and teaches us that the loving thing to do is to affirm everyone’s choices, behaviors, or feelings.  That’s not the case.  Firstly, Love is more than a feeling or sentiment.  Love is a choice.  To will the good of the other requires us to choose the good of the other.  Secondly, if one’s choices, behaviors, or feelings are not directed toward the good or, rather, are not in accord with their nature it is the opposite of love to affirm those same choices, behaviors, or feelings.  Rather, the loving thing to do would be to help the beloved see that their choices, behaviors, or feelings are not good or are not in accord with their nature.

Jesus, in saying, “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” isn’t telling us to affirm everyone.  Jesus never left anyone complicit in sin.  Rather, he told the woman caught up in adultery to, “Go and sin no more.”  At the pool of Bethesda, Jesus cured a man who laid there for thirty-eight years.  Upon curing him Jesus said to the man, “Look, you are well; do not sin any more…” (John 5:14).  Jesus challenged the tax collectors and those making a mockery of the temple by price gouging and selling animals unacceptable for sacrifice.  Jesus challenged people because He truly loved them and willed their good.  And so must we…    

As we pray today and throughout the week, let’s reflect on the word love.  Are we truly choosing the good of the other?  Or, are we leaving the ones we profess to love complicit in sin and self destruction?  These questions put a little more teeth in the theological virtue of love.  And, as we know, living those theological virtues (faith, hope, and love) are not easy which is why we must deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus daily. 

Know of my prayers for you all! 

Fr. Ryan