Lent invites us to conversion, and the call to conversation can be painful. Worse, it can be embarrassing, especially when it comes from an unlikely source. I’ve recently experienced this myself, regarding a vice I barely even knew I had,...
It is well known that Pope Benedict XVI loved music, and that Mozart was his favorite composer. He was also an accomplished pianist and there is no doubt that he was familiar with Mozart’s piano sonatas. There is a saying...
A state funeral is a most impressive ceremony. We saw this recently with the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. A nation faces its own mortality in the death of a leader. The fragility of life is enfolded in the power...
There are, in every parish, those who can be relied upon to be always late for Mass. They are sometimes referred to as the “Gloria crowd.” My deacon in one parish was a retired military man, whose adulation for the...
Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. (Isaiah 1:18) There is a legendary story,...
Always lost for words, I never knew what to say to God as I tried to focus my attention on him at Sunday Mass. I admit that I did not always find Mass interesting. I attended every week mostly out...
A reflection on the readings for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 11, 2022. “Filled with compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.” The parables of mercy, three of which we hear today, are meant...
In her autobiography, St. Teresa of Avila describes a challenge she was not able to meet. It was around 1542, and Teresa was having experiences that caused her serious concern. I arranged that the priest I said was such a...
A reflection on the readings for April 3, 2022, the Fifth Sunday of Lent (Gospel: John 8:1-11) In an October 26, 1946, radio message to participants in the National Catechetical Congress of the United States in Boston, Pope Pius XII...
A reflection on the Sunday readings for April 18, 2021 — The Third Sunday of Easter It is rare for all three Sunday liturgy readings to have a common theme. Today is one of those rare Sundays. Sin, repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation—we...
“I am a sinner, but I trust in the infinite mercy and patience of our Lord Jesus Christ.” These were the first words spoken by Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio when asked by the cardinal dean if he accepted his canonical...
God’s continuous act of separation occurs in the so-called first creation account of Genesis (Gen 1:1–2:3): light from darkness, water from water, water from land. This act of separation provides form to the formless, and as creation proceeds so too...
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