Father John Kartje

September 16, 2026

October 4: 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time

One of the things I most love about Christianity is that it is so absurd. When viewed from the perspective of common sense, it proposes a way of life that seems tailor-made for failure and misery.

September 16, 2026

Sept. 27: 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Imagine drawing up a list of all the loves in your life. It’s likely that there would be a range in intensity, length of time and nature of the relationships. Maybe you love your dog, your sibling, your grandmother, your spouse, your child, your colleague and so forth.

September 16, 2026

September 20: 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

One of my favorite church cartoons depicts a man carrying a sign that reads: “Jesus Loves You!” A few paces behind him is Jesus, carrying a sign that reads: “No I Don’t!”

September 02, 2026

September 13: 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I once began a homily during a Mass for seminarians by asking them, “When was the last time you got high?” I then told them that my last time was the previous night.

September 02, 2026

September 6: 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

“That’s not OK.” This seems to be the phrase of choice these days when someone wants to call out bad behavior. I’m struck by how incredibly tame that language is when applied to what are often quite heinous acts. Actions that would once have been considered unconscionable now barely get a mention in the news.

August 19, 2026

August 30: 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

In the years before entering seminary, I volunteered as a minister of care for my parish. I had the privilege of being with people of all ages and walks of life during some of the most difficult days of their lives. I witnessed both the wrenching grief of saying goodbye to loved ones and the ecstatic joy of receiving miraculous good news.

August 19, 2026

August 23: 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time

Before reading any further, please take a moment to look at next Sunday’s Gospel (Mt 16: 21-27) because that passage should be taken together with today’s reading.

August 05, 2026

August 16: 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Of all the characters in the Bible, a few stand out as extraordinary spiritual masters who have the unique gift of accompanying us along the journey toward the heart of God. Among these I would include the Canaanite woman who appears in today’s Gospel.

August 05, 2026

August 9: 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time

If you’ve ever accompanied a loved one through a terminal illness, you know the wild roller coaster of emotions and feelings such a journey engenders. I once had a friend whose life was suddenly upended by a diagnosis of Stage 4 cancer. This was compounded by her longtime struggle with clinical depression.

July 22, 2026

August 2: 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

When I was a kid, one of my favorite stories in my children’s Bible was this Sunday’s Gospel, the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes. What drew me then was not its spiritual profundity, but rather the vivid drawing of Jesus and his disciples sitting in a field, surrounded by what looked like a 20-foot-high pile of loaves of Wonder Bread, accompanied by thousands of fish flopping on the grass.
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