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Let Us Pray
This afternoon I got a voice mail from the local paper asking for my comment on the Pope’s statement that has angered Muslims. I’m so not going there. I liked what Cafeteria Catholic said to do. So let us pray… Prayer for Pope Benedict XVI Lord, source of eternal life and truth, give to Your…
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24th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings One of the things I have always enjoyed is reading a good mystery novel. My mother was a big fan of mysteries, especially Agatha Christie, and she passed the love for that on to me as I was growing up. I still love to read mysteries today, and when I’m not reading them,…
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Saints Cornelius and Cyprian
Today's readings I remember building sand castles as a kid. There was always a price to pay for laying the foundation of it too near the water. It might go well for a while, but one good wave, and all my hard work would be washed away. The same is true for our spiritual lives,…
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Our Lady of Sorrows
Today’s Feast | Today’s Readings In the very early morning hours of September 15th last year, I got a page on my fire department pager. I looked at the page, which told me that they were responding to a vehicle accident, but they were asking for fire-medics and not a chaplain. So I deleted the…
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The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Today’s feast | Today’s readings Theologian Bob Barron tells about an interreligious dialogue between Catholics and Buddhists. At one point, one of the Buddhists said to him, “Why is that obscene image on every wall in your buildings?” He was, of course, referring to the Cross. The Buddhist explained that it would be considered a…
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St. John Chrysostom
Today's Readings John Chrysostom was a desert monk, living a harshly ascetical life, but a life that was fulfilling for him. After twelve years of service as a priest in Syria, he was brought to Constantinople in an imperial ruse to make him bishop. Even though the beginnings of his episcopal service were thus clouded…
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Anniversary of 9/11 Memorial Mass
Readings: James 4:1-10 | Psalm 23 | Matthew 5:2-24 Tragedy has a way of freezing time for us, of creating a kind of horrible snapshot that we’ll never forget, no matter how hard we try. Growing up, people always used to say that they’d always remember where they were when John F. Kennedy was shot.…
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23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time: Ephatha!
Today’s readings A shortened homily today because of a witness talk being given by our teens, on behalf of those preparing for Confirmation. To those of us with good hearing and the ability to speak clearly, today’s Gospel seems like just a nice story. Jesus takes the deaf man who had a speech impediment, and…
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The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today’s readings [Mass for the school children:] In a town called Nazareth in Galilee, a long time ago, Mary lived with her parents, Joachim and Ann. Mary was only a young girl, maybe 14 years old. She came from a quiet little area of the world, and just looking at them, you’d have to say…
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Thursday of the 22nd Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings Wisdom is a relative thing when it comes to our relationship with God. Just when we think we have God figured out, we realize that God is out of our grasp. Wisdom, when it comes to our relationship with God, is to realize that we will never understand. In fact, St. Augustine said,…
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