Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church

09/06/2026

From Fr. Louis Sklar, Thoughts Among The Pines,” September 6, 2026:

“It's not personal Sonny. It's strictly business". IYKYK

Jesus is offering us what we should do to admonish the person who wrongs us. It involves dealing with sin and a sinner as well as something that we rarely hear from Jesus. What to do when there is no resolution. It falls to us to be able to move on. It is not ours to carry.

But we oh so love to carry what is not necessarily ours.

We can carry the burden of telling others what they think and how they feel while disregarding the maxim of life that no one can tell us what to think or feel. We can also carry that burden of telling them while we would absolutely refuse to be told by someone else what we think or feel. Then our homes are decorated with One Way street signs.

Aside from our over involvement in the lives of others we also have our under involvement. We watch suffering and strife while knowing we could easily help with very little effort, yet we'll roam the sidelines wondering why the world is falling apart and no one wants to help somebody or some situation. By the way, if we are questioned about why we didn't do something, we would explode on someone.

We also live in a time where there will be no advice, help or anything and we don't want anyone else doing it either. We would prefer a total implosion of everything before we went or anyone else went to prevent it. We prefer the void of nothingness to happiness and holiness.

There will be no constructive criticism, fraternal correction or self evaluations. Even Jesus can't reach us.

This sounds like a harsh life. It also has some whisps of something that I see often. What a mess. And while this over the top examples are rare, we all know they occur. It doesn't have to be this way.

The Gentile or the tax collectors were to experience a social ex-communication. To be shunned by others and alone in society or faith. To be left alone. This was a very harsh step, a last effort to reel them back in to human contact while hoping they would cease the hurting of others. But it can go with no resolution.

What then? The same thing that happens the entire time. All of this has been in prayer. Or should have been. We actually think that our 'efforts' are the big deal but sometimes we find out that it has always been prayer that is the number one option. With the two or three who were there to hear the story and help the offended person, there is prayer for the intention. Our efforts are the least we can do, the greatest is to pray.

We are not going to fix everyone. They are not always open to us or God but we don't have to carry that burden in this life, it is one that we carry to prayer. I know many, if not most, holy candles burn for things that seem out of our control. When we have gone to light one of those, we are in the right place to fully understand all that is being brought to us and what this teaching means. And God is with us. FrLS

09/06/2026

Please access the link to listen to the homily.

1st Reading – Ezekiel 33:7-9 2nd Reading – Romans 13:8-10 Gospel – Matthew 18:15-20

09/06/2026

Please access the link to listen to the homily.

1st Reading – Jeremiah 20:7-9 2nd Reading – Romans 12:1-2 Gospel – Matthew 16:21-27

08/31/2026

From Fr. Louis Sklar, “Thoughts Among The Pines,” August 29, 2026:

It is hard for us to take a rebuke or a correction. Sometimes it is hard to take constructive criticism. If we have a 'work' or something that we have built up, created or accomplished, we are often protective of it and our feelings about it are fairly tender. We don't want anything from our 'work of art' to be torn down or altered. We have the vision and nothing can make it any better. This is the 'we've always done it this way' motto that became the end of many businesses and operations. No changes. Keep everything comfortable. Trust me. I know more than ANYONE else.

This is a fragile and short lived path.

This is the model that Peter wants. A nice even keel of no disruptions or issues arising. A false gospel of a smooth calm. For his sake. Everyone is happy.

He doesn't want Jesus to go anywhere and he loves the attention and the special treatment. He wants to be in charge and have no ripples causing disruption. And he wants Jesus to stay alive.

Jesus has come with a different mission and Peter will follow along or get behind Him to continue to be 'just' a follower. What He has come for is to conquer all that is wrong in the world, for all time, not just the time they are living in.

The mention of The Cross is one that is common to understand today for all of us. We know what it is and what it means and in this particular passage we fully understand what Jesus is talking about but those following Him don't. Why would that instrument of capital punishment be what He came for? None of this is really making sense, but Jesus will use it to complete His mission.

Then the challenge that we must all pick up our Cross if we want to be His followers. This is so normal and quoted today and when He uttered these words they were alien and strange to everyone who heard Him. They had a meaning of harsh death, and this was not what anyone wanted to pick up. In a few short years, it would all be part of worship, devotion and understanding of Faith. Not so in this moment.

Often we are engaging our prayers in the direction of a problem that is current to us, but there is so much more to our lives than what is existing or happening in the right now. There is all that has come before and the direction of where we are heading. Our prayers are much bigger than our current worries or thanksgivings, they transcend time and space. Our prayers and our following Christ are moments of great responsibility and understanding of what we desire from them and what is truly needed. Our reactions are more than our desire for the moment. Peter didn't understand. How often have we not understood the full ramifications of what we have been asked?

Jesus knows and understands. Our actions and our prayers are brought through Him along with our constant hearing and meditation of what He is asking. We are more than our simple thoughts and wishes. We are the created who are constantly growing and learning to grow closer to Him and His desire for us. This will involve not taking ourselves too seriously and being prepared to let go of all that we thought was great. Jesus is leading us always and we are moving along with Him toward the completion of His mission in our life. FrLS

08/31/2026

Please access the link to listen to the homily.

1st Reading – Isaiah 22:19-23 2nd Reading – Romans 11:33-36 Gospel – Matthew 16:13-20

08/27/2026

From Fr. Louis Sklar, “Thoughts Among The Pines,” August 22, 2026:

Jesus will ask us: "Who do you say that I Am"?

It's a question. Every day of our life. Our answer cannot necessarily be the answer of others. Our answer is our life, here today and to come. The words and comments of others will never be measured, only our life as a fulfillment of who Jesus is.

Peter answers with inspiration that was never taught or told to him. Jesus acknowledges this and Peter is set apart from the others. He, Simon, will now be called Petras, or Rock. Peter in our English translation. It's a big moment for him, for the other Apostles and for the Church today. His successor in this role is Pope Leo XVI.

But this did not set Peter on a path of perfection. He struggled. Now, there are people on the struggle bus and there are those who are the driver, the mechanic and the guy who has to wash the bus. That was Peter. Go pick up this passage in your Bible and read further. Peter gets scolded. That's next Sunday if you don't read it before then. He was given a great responsibility but he was not given perfection. He is the Rock in a fallen world and he is a part of it. He will make the wrong comment and learn about it the hard way.

Our answer may change. But THE answer never changes. It is only our realization of it.

There is no doubt many would not answer that question with the sum total of how they live their lives. There would be silence or a pithy comment but no real attempt at the answer. But we know that when we can say Jesus is the Christ, and we live our lives in accordance, we know what this bring us to. Not perfection but a path that leads us to Him forever. And along the way we have a little better go of it. Our lives change, our days have a peace that cannot be purchased and no cup of coffee will ever bring. Just ask a regular daily Mass attendee. There is a reason they attend regularly. They step into this conversation at Mass every day.

When we can say and know who Jesus is for us, and see those He has appointed to help us on this path of life towards life, then we know not only that peace of the moment, most importantly we know Christ. Not as an acquaintance, but as our Lord, the Son of The Living God who is our Creator and the giver of our lives. I want to know them more than I want to know so much going on around me because they will never cease to be. FrLS

08/27/2026

08/27/2026

Please access the link to listen to the homily.

1st Reading – Isaiah 56:1, 6-7 2nd Reading – Romans 11:13-15, 29-32 Gospel – Matthew 15:21-28

08/16/2026

This morning we welcomed approximately 150 Altar Servers to St. Francis Xavier Cathedral for our annual Mass honoring Altar Servers and expressing our gratitude for their dedicated service. Thank you to Deacon Jason Lavergne and all who organized the Mass and reception again this year, to the priests who came to concelebrate, and to the faithful parents who support and encourage their sons and daughters in this ministry. Reflecting on the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a servant of God and a model of charity made the Mass especially meaningful.