Saint Matthew's Church A Roman Catholic Community

Saint Matthew's Church
A Roman Catholic Community

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Weekend Mass Schedule
Saturday Vigil at 5:00 PM
Sunday at 8:30 and 10:30 AM
Full Schedule of Services
Weekly Bulletins
Ministry Schedule

Pastor's Weekly Message

Ann Gaffney died recently. Ann was the wife of Deacon Bill Gaffney. They lived in the Pine Hills neighborhood of Albany and raised a remarkable and large family there. I knew both Ann and Bill before I was ordained. They were wonderful supporters of my vocation and remained good friends and challenging fellow believers throughout their lives.

Shortly after I was ordained Bill asked me which of the four Gospels was my favorite. I told him that I have always been partial to the Gospel of Mark. I am constantly amazed by this first Gospel written, its amazing creativity in telling the story of Jesus and its insights into the meaning and purpose of Jesus' life. Bill then asked what my least favorite Gospel was. I told him it was the Gospel of John, the last Gospel written perhaps seventy of eighty years after Jesus died. I often find John hard to understand and especially hard to preach because it is so complex in insight and meaning and has been so often misunderstood and misused. Bill told me that I would come to appreciate John as I got older, that the riches of that Gospel would become clearer as I experienced more of life and especially of its mysteries and its suffering. Bill was right!

This is the liturgical year that we have been reading the Gospel of Mark. But being the shortest Gospel, the church has us read the Gospel of John from the 17th to the 21st Sundays of this year: July 29 - Aug. 26. Last week Jesus fed the five thousand with five barley loaves of bread. This week the people return to be amazed (and fed) again by Jesus who tells them that they have misunderstood both what the sign and his message meant. That is a common theme in John's Gospel, the people have misunderstood. Jesus tells us that he feeds us not so that we will be amazed by a miracle and look for magic and more signs in the world but that we might come to believe in the one (God) sent. Jesus, in John's Gospel, gives us signs so that we will understand more deeply what it means to be a follower, a true believer in Jesus. But too often we get caught up in and blinded by the sign and don't get to the meaning of Jesus life among us. Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. Jesus, help us to believe that you are the source of all that we hunger for in life and that you will provide for all that we need, not just bread alone.

Bill Gaffney was right, John's Gospel has become my favorite Gospel because there is still so much I do not understand and so much more I want to know and experience as a follower of Jesus. Thanks Bill and Ann for your years of faithful friendship and deep wisdom from which I am still learning. May you both rest in peace.

Fr. Chris