St Peter Diocese

Can A Rich Man Be Saved? By Fr. Roni Schamoun           In this Sunday Gospel reading Jesus tells us a story of a rich man who was not saved. Now, if the rich man in this story was not saved because he was rich, then Jesus could have said it with only one sentence but instead he tells a story with many details. In fact, if the rich man was not saved because of his wealth, then even the Prophet Abraham would not be in the paradise and the poor man Lazarus at his side because in [...]

Interior Life By Fr. Daniel Shaba       If you have ever been on a retreat you will notice that the last talk is almost always about not relying on the "spiritual high" that a retreat could give you. What exactly is this spiritual high? When you are on a retreat and surrounded by priests and nuns--something that is foreign to your daily way of living--can be overwhelming. After many talks, activities, and being surrounded by priests and religious people can cause something to feel like they are living in a heavenly euphoria. While this feeling is not intrinsically wrong, it should not be [...]

God Allows Us to Suffer Only to Bring About Some Greater Good By Fr. Ankido Sipo     So often in the gospels, we read of stories of people interacting with our Lord in beautiful ways, yet they go unnamed. The greatest example of this is in the Gospel of John, in which John does not use his own name to refer to himself, but calls himself merely the “Beloved Disciple.” The reasons why the gospel writers leave some people unnamed are complex and vary from person to person, but one thing we can certainly say on a spiritual level is [...]

God's Mercy By Fr. Simon Esshaki   The Parable of the Prodigal Son reveals, more than anything, God’s mercy toward mankind. Jesus, who is the ultimate revelation of God the Father, tells a story about God’s love and mercy for us sinners. We can all see ourselves in the son who ran away from his father, taking the inheritance of what would have belonged to him after he died, and squandering it on loose living. We have all sinned and at one point or another betrayed God. We have ran away from his love and squandered the gifts he has given [...]