What prompts you to make the decisions you make? When confronted with a decision, whether one that is more trivial and mundane or one that is more significant and profound, we rely on guidance. That guidance can be the result of impulse and passion or the fruit of the interior voice of conscience.

Decisions made on impulse and passion can be misguided and erroneous. Decisions based on conscience, or the moral voice within, will reflect the depth and maturity of our soul work. A more contemplative soul will make more contemplative decisions. A less developed conscience will make decisions based on the individual’s level of development.

If I work for five hours, I expect to get paid for five hours. If I work for two, I expect to get paid for two. What if we worked for a company that paid everyone the same amount regardless of how long they worked? How would we feel going home with the same pay for working eight hours as my co-worker did for working only two hours? Secular wisdom would have a huge problem with this and a visit to the Labor Board would quickly pursue. But this is God’s wisdom and God’s ways.

As pandemic guidelines continue to change, St. John Paul the Great Parish is adjusting accordingly. We publish changes in the bulletin, on our website and on Facebook as they happen. Please check back each week.

Our doors are open for the public celebration of weekday and weekend Masses, baptisms, wedding Masses and funeral Masses using social distance guidelines. Those who wish to attend Mass and are able to, following current guidelines, are welcome and encouraged to do so. If you are over the age of 65, or have health issues, please consider staying home. Attendees must bring and wear masks for the duration of Mass and follow posted guidelines.

What right do we have to limit the amount and degree of forgiveness we show to others when we are so desperately in need of it ourselves? In not wanting someone who hurt us to downplay or forget the gravity of their wrong, we cling to anger, resentment, and wrath as a way of maintaining control. It is a way to acknowledge and express our deep hurt. We fail to realize that in doing so we hold ourselves hostage to these destructive feelings and actually become mired in the bondage of sin. All we gain is further alienation from ourselves, others, and especially God. We are no longer free but tethered to all of this unresolved negativity. Don’t we really want to let it go? The fact is that we need to.

It’s all about reconciliation and conversion, not punishment. Relationships are not static adventures but wonderful gifts that continue to develop, grow, change, and mature. We are meant to be social beings, so isolating ourselves from others is rarely helpful. But, because human beings are on the one hand tremendously gifted, talented, and blessed creations, they are on the other also flawed, broken, and sinful. We all need to humbly admit that we are works in progress and not only capable of enriching each other’s lives but causing deep hurts and wounds as well. Hence, we always need to be reconciled. We are always growing, changing, and expanding our knowledge of who we are and how we are meant to share life together.

As pandemic guidelines continue to change, St. John Paul the Great Parish is adjusting accordingly. We publish changes in the bulletin, on our website and on Facebook as they happen. Please check back each week.

Our doors are open for the public celebration of weekday and weekend Masses, baptisms, wedding Masses and funeral Masses using social distance guidelines. Those who wish to attend Mass and are able to, following current guidelines, are welcome and encouraged to do so. If you are over the age of 65, or have health issues, please consider staying home.