Pastoral Messages
Rights and Responsibilities
As we continue our journey of learning about Catholic Social Teaching, this month our focus is on the principle of Rights and Responsibilities.
This principle teaches us that, because every person, created in the image and likeness of God, possesses inherent dignity, they have fundamental rights that must be respected and protected.
These include the right to life, food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, education, meaningful work, and religious freedom. These rights are not earned or granted by society; they flow directly from our God-given worth.
At the same time, rights cannot be separated from responsibilities. Catholic Social Teaching reminds us that we are not isolated individuals, but members of families, communities, and a global human family. Therefore, we have responsibilities to respect the rights of others, care for the vulnerable, contribute to the common good, and act with justice and charity in our daily lives. Our responsibilities extend to our families, our workplaces, our parish, our nation, and the wider world.
Living out this principle calls us to both advocate for just structures that protect human rights and to examine our own choices and attitudes. As disciples of Christ, we are invited to promote a society where everyone’s dignity is honored and where love of neighbor guides both our rights and our responsibilities.
For more information, visit the USCCB site here.
Blessings this week,
~Deacon Jim
Scripture
An Introduction to Sunday's Scripture Readings - February 22, 2026
“The Lord, Your God, Shall You Worship And Him Alone Shall You Serve”
Lent is a time to prepare our hearts for the Easter Triduum. It is a time to remind ourselves of all that Jesus endured and accomplished to bring us the grace of salvation. For the next six Sundays during Lent, our Gospel readings will help orient us to the Passion of Christ and His Resurrection. The Old Testament readings will help us explore salvation history and our Epistle readings will support the theme of the Gospel.
In this first Sunday of Lent, the Church asks us unite with Jesus in His 40 days in the desert by offering prayer, fasting, and giving alms. In so doing, we focus our attention on renewing our relationship with God.
In our first reading (Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7), we hear of the creation story of Adam and Eve and then their great fall to Original Sin, giving in to the temptations of Satan by failing to trust God completely. They chose, instead, “to be like gods who know what is good and what is evil." They desired the pleasure of eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, possessing its beauty and the pride of gaining the wisdom of God.
In our Epistle reading (Romans 5:12-19), St. Paul explains how the effects of Adam and Eve's original sin were undone by the righteous act of Jesus in rejecting the Devil's empty promises and trusting completely in the Father. “For if, by the transgression of the one, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.”
In our Gospel reading (Matthew 4:1-11) we hear how Jesus was tempted three times by Satan in the desert and each time, Satan was rejected and overpowered by Jesus. We see a very human Jesus, weak and hungry from fasting in the desert. But these temptations are, in a sense, a "do-over" of the first temptations of Adam and Eve, with a completely different result. Jesus, the “new Adam”, has accomplished what the “first Adam” did not—complete trust in God and rejection of sin.
Our readings today remind us of what a slippery slope one sin can put us on and how the only response is trust in God completely and choose God.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022226.cfm
Upcoming Events
- Women Enjoying Rediscovering Our Catholicism - Tuesdays at 9:00 am in Room 1
- Companions in Grief - Thursday, February 19 at 6:30 pm
- Sensory Friendly Mass - Saturday, February 21 at 5 pm
- Women's Faith Sharing - Thursday, February 26 at 7 pm
- Saintly Suppers and Saintly Inspiration - Tuesdays in Lent, starting at 6 pm
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