FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK
My Dear Parishioners
One of my greatest fears—one that returns to me often, sometimes daily—is not failure, suffering, or even persecution. It is something much subtler and far more dangerous. My fear is that I will say, quietly and confidently, “I’m good.”
I have been Catholic my entire life. I have studied Scripture, prayed with it, taught it, and been entrusted with it. At my ordination as a deacon, the bishop placed the Book of the Gospels into my hands and said, “Believe what you read. Teach what you believe. Practice what you teach.” Those words haunt me—in the best possible way. Because the more I read the Gospel honestly, the more I realize how often Jesus unsettles the comfortable and warns the convinced.
Jesus speaks again and again about judgment, about the narrow gate, about the possibility that those who think they know Him may discover they never truly did. That possibility should sober us. Not terrify us into despair—but awaken us from complacency.
There is a tension we must hold. On the one hand, it would be cruel to assure someone of salvation if they are living in a way that contradicts the Gospel. On the other hand, it would be equally cruel to burden faithful disciples with constant fear. But Scripture leaves no room for casual confidence. Jesus’ words are unmistakable: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father.”
What is striking is who Jesus is addressing. Not atheists. Not enemies of religion. But people who prayed, who worshiped, who ate and drank with Him, who heard Him preach. People who assumed proximity was enough. People who assumed sincerity was sufficient. People who said, “I believe in God. I’m a good person.”
And Jesus says, “Depart from me. I never knew you.”
That should stop us in our tracks.
We live in a culture that desperately reassurance without repentance, mercy without conversion, love without truth. We repeat mantras like, “God doesn’t judge,” forgetting that the same God who is infinite mercy is also perfect justice. Scripture does not allow us to erase judgment simply because it makes us uncomfortable. From Genesis to Revelation, God consistently reveals Himself as One who takes our choices seriously—so seriously, in fact, that they echo into eternity.
The greatest deception is not open rebellion against God, but quiet self-satisfaction. The belief that being “basically good” is enough. Even worse, we pass this belief on to our children, teaching them explicitly or implicitly-that faith is optional, sacrifice excessive, and holiness extreme.
But Jesus never called anyone to comfort. He called them to follow.
One image helps clarify this: imagine your life as a rope stretching endlessly in both directions. Now imagine a small section-just a few inches-colored red. That red portion is your life on earth. Everything else is eternity. What’s astonishing is how much time, energy, and emotion we pour into that tiny red section, as if it were all that existed.
We plan, spend, worry, and obsess over things that will not last-while neglecting the one decision that shapes everything that follows. How we live this brief moment determines how we will live forever.
Jesus invites us to something radically different. He asks us to keep His commandments many of which we hear in the Gospel today—not as a burden, but as a path to freedom. He reminds us that no sacrifice compares to what God has prepared for those who love Him: “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard…what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
The Christian life is not about securing a dream house, dream job, or dream retirement. Those dreams fade quickly. Even the best of them disappoints. But holiness does not disappoint. Eternal life does not expire.
If we come to the Eucharist merely for comfort, we miss its purpose. We come to be strengthened-for sacrifice, endurance, and fidelity. We come to place our entire lives into God’s hands, holding nothing back.
My hope is that one day we will be able to pray honestly: “Lord, I don’t care what I drive. I don’t care what I wear. I don’t care what I lose-if I can have You.” And Jesus, who never allows Himself to be outdone in generosity, will respond as He promised: “There is no one who has left everything for my sake and for the Gospel who will not receive a hundredfold now…and in the age to come, eternal life.”
And when that day comes, may we hear the only words that truly matter: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Peace,
Fr. Monteleone
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