Over the past year, I have heard a lot of people–most of whom are fellow Catholics–lamenting the difficulty of discerning the truth about current events. What really happened, and how can we know? Some people are genuinely confused about how...
A reflection on the Sunday readings for February 21, 2021 — the First Sunday in Lent Yesterday, I celebrated the funeral of the woman who gave me my favorite Lent story. She was a very pious woman and had a great...
Lent is a time that many Catholics choose to give up social media, but for those of us who stay active, Lent is a good time to rethink our online behavior. In the spirit of Pope Francis’s encyclical Fratelli Tutti,...
In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus challenges us to go “and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’” (9:13). Here Jesus quotes from Hosea Chapter 6, which begins with a call to return to the Lord who will...
Lent is a transition, a journey of return and repentance. But it is not the final destination. Traditionally, as the ashes are placed on our heads, we are told, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”...
Dad had always wished to be buried in his ancestral grave. His great-grandparents and his parents are buried there. When he passed away in January 2019, he was buried in the parish cemetery for many reasons. The graves at the...
A reflection on the Sunday readings for February 14, 2021 — the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Since the beginning of this year, I have had to self-quarantine twice for seven days. And then, in order to leave the quarantine, I...
In December, in an apostolic letter entitled Patris Corde (With a Father’s Heart), Pope Francis proclaimed a year of devotion to St. Joseph. We don’t know much about Joseph. His wife and adopted son, rightfully so, get most of the...
A reflection on the Sunday readings for February 7, 2021 — the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time If there ever is a time when I want to reflect on the book of Job, this isn’t that week. Job experiences make him...
Meeting Pope Francis was an unforgettable experience. In the winter of 2017, my wife and I planned a “babymoon” trip to Italy and France. We planned to spend the beginning of our trip in Rome around Christmastime. Through our parish,...
A reflection on the Sunday readings for January 31, 2021 — the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Once, at a Mass for our school students, the reading was about the kingdom of heaven. I began my homily by asking the students...
A reflection on the Sunday readings for January 24, 2021 — the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time In normal circumstances, writing a homily or reflection based on the call of Jonah or the call of Andrew, Simon, James, and John would...
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