Pedro Calungsod, born in Cebu, Philippines, in 1654, was a sacristan and a missionary catechist. He was also a martyr who stood along Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores in missionary work in Guam in 1672.

An image of Blessed Teresa of Kolkata is seen on a candle on her tomb marking her 102nd birth anniversary in Kolkata, India.

In 1912, a year before the town of Sylvan Lake was incorporated, a tiny mission church was built on the hillside at what is now 5033-47A Ave. It was the first home of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish, which is now marking 100 years of existence.

About 2,500 years ago, Ezekiel issued a prophecy of woe to those leaders who used their positions to their own material advantage. "Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you cover yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the sheep" (34.2-3).

FR. RON ROLHEISER, omi

The rich are getting richer, and we are almost beyond surprise at how rich that is. Every day, our newspapers, our televisions and the Internet, report financial compensations that, even just a generation ago, were unimaginable: Corporate executives receiving a hundred million dollar bonuses, an athlete signing a contract for a hundred million dollars, entertainers signing contracts for tens of millions, people in information technology earning billions and ordinary folks everywhere joining the millionaire club.

RALPH HIMSL

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 9, 2011

In addition to a touching demonstration of the mystery of the healing power of Jesus, (more about that later), the Gospel for today has several mysteries.

Between Pope John XXIII's announcement of an ecumenical council in January 1959 and the opening of the Second Vatican Council in October 1962 was a period approaching four years.

LASHA MORNINGSTAR

No matter how many years pass, Sept. 11 pushes our thoughts back to that savage infamy that changed our world – physically and spiritually.

SR. LOUISE ZDUNICH, NDC

We are all to be God's co-creators; yet it is clear that some creative efforts are so much better paid than others. There are creative people who are starving in many parts of the world. How can we see the work of providence in this?

The major archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church said he hopes to follow up a Polish-Russian joint message by pursuing a similar reconciliation process with Russian Orthodox leaders.