24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sept. 13 (Year A) Sirach 27:30-28:7; Psalm 103; Romans 14:7-9; Matthew 18:21-35

In a sense, we all create our own Heaven and hell. It is a fundamental spiritual law that we reap what we sow in one form or another. No one “gets away” with anything — we should not think that the apparent delay of justice is God’s failure or proof of an amoral universe.

VATICAN CITY - Jesus doesn't hurl stones at sinners but instead shows them that his forgiveness always opens a path forward to a joyful future, Pope Francis said.

Forgiveness is one of the highest human capacities, something which might help explain why it is so difficult to forgive.

There were tears, there was pain and there was forgiveness as 30-year-old truck driver Jaskirat Singh Sidhu faced the families of the people killed and maimed in the Humboldt Broncos’ bus crash.

Third Sunday of Easter, April 15 (Year B) Acts 3:13-15, 17-19; Psalm 4; 1 John 2:1-5; Luke 24:35-48

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sept. 10 (Year A) Ezekiel 33:7-9; Psalm 95; Romans 13:8-10; Matthew 18:15-20

Sin ultimately affects an entire community. There is no such thing as a private sin. Sooner or later, misdeeds make an impact on the physical, psychological and spiritual environment.

VANCOUVER – A famous photograph of a naked child running, screaming and covered with napalm burns captured the horror of the Vietnam War 45 years ago.

One of the dangers inherent in trying to live out a life of Christian fidelity is that we are prone to become embittered moralizers, older brothers of the prodigal son, angry and jealous at God’s over-generous mercy, bitter because persons who wander and stray can so easily access the heavenly banquet table.

NEW YORK – Protecting Christianity and religious pluralism in the Middle East and respecting the rights of all would open the path to peace in the region, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said at a dinner in New York Oct. 12.

I believe the heart of our faith is forgiveness. Even when receiving the Eucharist we are reminded that on the cross, in His great agony, Jesus forgave.

When Pope Francis said this week that the church should ask forgiveness from gay people for the way it has treated them, he sparked yet another round of global headlines about how his unpredictable papacy is changing Catholicism.

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM ARMENIA – Catholics and other Christians not only must apologize to the gay community, they must ask forgiveness of God for ways they have discriminated against homosexual persons or fostered hostility toward them, Pope Francis said.

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) June 12 (2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13; Psalm 32; Galatians 2:16, 19-21; Luke 7:36-8:3)

We usually think of a “flash of recognition” in positive terms — a form of enlightenment. But David’s experience of this recognition was disturbing and even devastating. His climb to the top of the heap as king of Israel had been successful but not pretty. It had involved a lot of questionable decisions and actions, but he seemed disinclined to quibble — after all, it had worked. He had almost unlimited power and wealth — what more could one want?