through him, with him, and in him
I was meeting with one of the Confirmation students and talking about the Sacrament. She asks me, “So, what now?” “What do you mean?” I respond. “Well, until now I’ve been in CCD classes for First Communion prep and then Confirmation prep classes. What now? What happens after I receive the Sacrament?” And I thought […]
A couple of weeks ago the youth of the Parish and I were reflecting on our human condition, and how divided our fallen human nature is. We talked about how sometimes we know exactly what the right thing to do is, but somehow end up doing quite the opposite. It is in these moments that […]
For the last few Sundays we’ve been hearing the Sermon on the Mount.  It starts in a very encouraging way, especially for the oppressed and the suffering: Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the hungry, blessed are the thirsty… Then last week we heard an even more encouraging message when Jesus says to […]
Some weeks ago I paid a visit to the Car Wash. They received my car, gave me a ticket, and invited me to sit down in a small waiting room area. I found a seat in the waiting room, which was empty apart from a man and a woman sitting together; I pulled out my […]
Crack open the history books and you will find that virtually every culture in world history has been fascinated by the stars. Every culture has looked up into the night sky, gazing into the darkness, and studying the movements of the heavenly bodies. There’s something about stars, isn’t there? Perhaps it has happened to you, […]
Today we celebrate a great feast of the Church, the solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. It is the biggest of the Marian feasts, and its mystery is derived from the mystery of the Incarnation, that God willed to become man, and more specifically, as the second reading said, that He willed to be […]
Twice throughout the Liturgical year, we pause in a moment of silence, while reciting the Creed. These are the commemorations of the two occasions when God personally intervened in human history in an exceptional way: the birth of Christ and the death—and resurrection—of Christ. In today’s Gospel we explore the mystery of the Word becoming […]
I’m convinced that the biggest crisis of our times is a crisis of hope. It has been said that we live in an era of fraud. There are many kinds of fraud: Many of us are aware of financial fraud, like the mortgage crisis of 2008 in which the selfishness and ambition of a certain […]
As the liturgical year draws to the end and we prepare ourselves for a new one, the Readings presented to us start to get a little uncomfortable. Both the First Reading and the Gospel we hear are considered apocalyptic writings, writings about the end of time—Apocalypse meaning unveiling, seeing things as they truly are. In […]
Last week we heard the story of Zacchaeus, which occurred as Jesus was making his way to Jerusalem. This week we hear that Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem, where he finds the authorities are plotting against him. They set traps for him with their questioning. First they try to trick him by asking where his […]
A local fitness center was offering $1,000 to anyone that could prove they were stronger than the owner. Here’s how it worked: the muscle man would squeeze a lemon until all the juice ran into a glass, then he would hand the lemon to the next challenger. Anyone who could squeeze out one more drop […]
