I was asked the other day how I was doing. I told my therapist, “All is want is peace.” Then, I began to cry. It isn’t easy being a pastor today. It certainly isn’t made an easier by the concerns over the lasting impact of COVID and returning to whatever normal used to be after … Read more
I’m sitting here in my apartment in Assisi reading the Scriptures for this coming Sunday. As I read James explaining that all our jealousies and selfish ambitions and conflicts and wars come from our out-of-order passions. We all know that’s true. And election season makes it abundantly clear. Crazed unruly passions seem to dominate. It’s … Read more
Uh oh. In today’s gospel, Jesus says his followers must “Take up their cross.” These words always make me nervous—not because they are challenging but because of how often they have been misused to guide people into ways of thinking and acting that have nothing to do with the message of Jesus. Telling someone their cancer is … Read more
Now there’s a word. It’s the Greek word Jesus uses in Mark’s gospel when healing the deaf man. It means be opened! Jesus heals the deaf man. He liberates him from his impediment so that he can hear clearly and so act according to what he hears. In doing so, Jesus shows what God desires for … Read more
So, what are the “things that come out from within you”? That’s what Jesus asks this week in Mark’s gospel. As the religious leaders challenge Jesus and his followers for not following the rules, Jesus challenges the self-proclaimed “religious” folk to look within. Following the rules can be ok, Jesus teaches, but it can also … Read more
If we take Eternity to mean not Infinite Temporal Duration but timelessness, then Eternal Life belongs to those who live in the Present.” Ludwig Wittgenstein Ah, to live in the Present! It seems we’re always running around doing lots of things, but never really present in the moment. We get things done, mark them off our list, and … Read more
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Over the last few Sundays, our lectionary has taken us on a leisurely journey through John’s Gospel with passages of scripture that are filled with possibility and fraught with danger. The journey started with the famous feeding of the 5000, … Read more
“The celebration of the Eucharist is incomplete so long as there is hunger in our world.” So said the holy and prophetic Pedro Arrupe, SJ way back in 1976 at the Eucharistic Congress held right here in Philadelphia. His words still stand as a powerful reminder of the social dimension of the Gospel. “We cannot … Read more
Ok, I’m dating myself with lyrics to a song from the Seventies, but that Five Man Electrical Band hit always comes to mind when I talk about John’s Gospel. You see, John is often referred to as the Gospel of Signs. Instead of using the word “miracle,” John speaks of “signs” that Jesus performed. These … Read more
In light of the attempted assassination of former President Trump, I felt that I would heed President Biden’s National Oval Office Address and ask that we all take a step back, reevaluate what is really important, think carefully about what we believe and who we are willing to lose from our lives over someone who, … Read more
We lost a friend to Saint Miriam last week. Donna Conway lost her battle to pancreatic cancer. I married Donna and her husband Dan just a couple years ago. You might have met them when they attended Mass at the parish often. She was a beautiful soul and warm woman and a lady in every … Read more
I was cleaning out some old desk drawers last week, in a not completely successful attempt to feel more organized. But the project ended up being a blessing: amid papers and notes and holy cards and lots of other stuff, I discovered an old, tattered booklet that had been gifted to me way back in … Read more
With this Sunday finding Mark’s Gospel bringing us the famous lesson on storms and the fact that President Biden offered a way for immigrants to stay together in our country, and it also being a week of remembering freedom with Juneteenth, I decided to go deep into the water to remind us that, as Catholic Christians, … Read more
Are you a patient person? Are you patient with yourself, with others, with the world? Or do you like things done—and done perfectly—lickety-split? Do you like immediate results? And only the best results? I admit I can be impatient—with myself, with others, ok, let me just admit it: with the whole world, and, yes, even with … Read more
People imagine their god intervening in the world to different degrees. Once, God is like a Watchmaker, Occasionally, God is a tinkerer for some but not for all. Constantly, well we are mere Marionettes! The whole idea of a tinkering God suggests that God might have created one thing, later decided to change it, or … Read more
It’s one of my favorite memories from my days at Mother of Mercy House: We were celebrating Thanksgiving Day Mass in our tiny chapel. An elderly man peeked in our window, saw us praying and decided to come in and join us. It was obvious that he wasn’t Catholic as he didn’t know the responses but … Read more
This Sunday is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, or Trinity Sunday! We priests often joke that a new seminarian is often appointed to preach on this day by the Pastor because no one can explain the Holy Trinity! I know that many will suggest that the Trinity is an obscure doctrine that we’re … Read more
Dear Friends, Blessed and Joyful Pentecost: the outpouring of the Holy Spirit—given to ALL who were present for that great and mysterious event! There is so much I could say about this pivotal moment. But you know me: never one to say too much… For now, I just want to share with you a quote from … Read more
Ah May: traditionally, for Catholics, the month of Mary. But which Mary: Mary, inviolate? Mary undefiled? Mary Immaculately Conceived? Mary every docile and obedient to God? Mary dressed in blue? These are all ok, I guess. A tad simplistic for me. And the stress on her virginal purity always smells like patriarchal control to me. … Read more
In our Gospel this Sunday we hear, “Jesus said to his disciples:‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit,and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.You are already pruned because of the word that I … Read more