On Minnesota

By Timothy Brunk, January 26, 2026

Catechism of the Catholic Church¹

The Church, following the apostles, teaches that Christ died for all [persons] without exception: “There is not, never has been, and never will be a single human being for whom Christ did not suffer.”

Catechism of the Catholic Church²

In the liturgy of the Church, it is principally his own Paschal mystery that Christ signifies and makes present.

…

The Paschal mystery, of course, concerns the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ.  When in its liturgy the church recalls and celebrates that mystery, the church simultaneously proclaims that there is no one for whom Christ did not suffer.  No one is excluded from the reach of God’s saving love.  If we believe and act otherwise, our participation in the liturgy of the church convicts us.  If we honor the dignity each and every person possesses in God’s sight, then our conduct aligns with our worship.

Let us recall the words of Vatican II.³

In our times a special obligation binds us to make ourselves the neighbor of every person without exception and of actively helping him when he comes across our path, whether he be an old person abandoned by all, a foreign laborer unjustly looked down upon, a refugee, a child born of an unlawful union and wrongly suffering for a sin he did not commit, or a hungry person who disturbs our conscience by recalling the voice of the Lord, “As long as you did it for one of these the least of my brethren, you did it for me” (Matt. 25:40).

Let us pray for peace.

¹ Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church 605.  Text at  http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p122a4p2.htm#605.  The Catechism is quoting the ninth-century Council of Quiercy.

² Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church 1085.  Text at http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/1085.htm

³ Source: Gaudium et spes 27.  Text at https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html .