Dear Parishioners and Friends,

Jesus asks to cut off the sources of sin and used a strong analogy: “If your hand is the cause of sin, cut it off, if your eye is the cause of sin, pluck it out and throw it away.” (Mt. 5: 29-30). We know well that He does not mean to do physical injury to ourselves, but to prevent us from sinning by “cutting” off the situation or environment in which our fidelity and chastity would have no chance of survival. We can notice a worrying trend in contemporary morality. If something is difficult, people are changing the moral category of such behavior and no longer take any effort to improve. Since there are more and more people taking marijuana and they enjoy it, we notice that more and more states legalize marijuana. It starts from medicinal purposes. Purity and fidelity are difficult moral tasks, so some stopped to call impurity and infidelity a sin and give them the category of normal behavior. What used to be called perversion is legal today, normal, and fashionable.
Do we realize that God, in His wisdom allows us to go freely and according to our free will or chose our way? But when we make different choices, do we follow only the law or are we guided by the spirit of His commandments? Do we thank God for the gifts we received from Him? If we truly believe that He created us and gave free will and all the time He is taking care of us, then we are obliged to show Him our gratitude. We are committed to be good stewards of the goods and to share them with others.
The gifts we make to the Annual Catholic Appeal are used for grants and scholarships for poor students,  for children and young people in poor communities, for religious education and formation of lay people and deacons, for education of priests, for support of Catholic schools in poor communities, for humanitarian aid in poor countries, for the religious education of children requiring special care, and for defending the dignity of life from conception to natural death.
Next weekend at all Masses, His Eminence, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich in his recorded homily will ask all those who have not yet joined in the action, for submitting financial obligations to these beautiful and noble goals.
I ask all of you to be acquainted with information about the Annual Catholic Appeal, which is published in today’s bulletin. During your prayer make a reflection: how much you can give throughout the year for all these objectives? If  you did not make the decision yet, you can do it next weekend at all Masses.
Remember that every day is a gift from God. What we do with it, will be our gift to God!
God bless!