Oct. 23, 2022: 30th Sunday C Have you ever made an irreverent, angry, desperate prayer from your heart? Do you think that God hears such a prayer? We heard from the Book of Sirach, “The Lord is not deaf to the wail of the orphan. The LORD is a God of justice, who knows no favorites. Though not unduly partial toward the weak, yet he hears the cry of the oppressed.”  One day a father of a four-year-old son was banging on the windows of a hospital waiting room as his son was going into surgery for a ruptured appendix; the boy’s condition was critical. The father was angry with God, an ..read more

Sept. 25, 2022: 26th Sunday C Mother Teresa once said, “I never forget a little child who taught me a very beautiful lesson. Some school children in Calcutta heard that Mother Teresa has no sugar for her poor children; and a four years old Hindu boy went home and he told his parents: ‘I will not eat sugar for three days; I will give my sugar to Mother Teresa.’ How much a little child can give. He loved with great love; he loved until it hurt. “ Charlie was a four-year old boy in England when he saw on TV news the devastation left by the 2004 tsunami in Sumatra, Indonesia. “It just struck me ..read more

Sept. 11, 2022: 24th Sunday C - The Return of the Prodigal Son “Please come home.” How many times have we heard this phrase from our mom and dad, our spouse and our children? One spiritual writer wrote, “This is what life is about. It is being sent on a trip by a loving God, who is waiting at home for our return and is eager to see the photos we took and hear about the wonderful friends we made. When we travel with the eyes and ears of the God who sent us, we will see wonderful sights, meet wonderful people.. and be happy to return home.”  Early this week, I went to visit a man who longs ..read more

Sept. 4, 2022: 23rd Sunday C The heart of a spiritual life is to love God and then to love everything else for the sake of God; nothing should take precedence or first place over God. This is what Jesus meant when he shocked us by saying that we must “hate” all people including father, mother, siblings, spouse, children, and even myself in order to be his disciples. No doubt, among the large crowd following him, some  must have said to themselves, “Did he say what I think he said, ‘hate’ my mother and father? What kind of teaching is this?” Like other times Jesus probably knew what they ..read more

Aug. 28, 2022: 22nd Sunday C Someone said that life is a long lesson on humility. What exactly is humility? Our Lord told St. Catherine of Siena, “You will find humility in the knowledge of yourself when you see that even your own existence comes not from yourself but from me [Jesus], for I loved you before you came into being.” Humility is knowing myself as God sees me, and that precious wisdom is gained over a lifetime. During this life we slowly grow to know who I am for God and who God is for me. In other words, humility is knowing our place–the purpose of why God placed us here on earth ..read more

 Mary as the New Rachel from “The Jewish Roots of Mary” (by Dr. Brant Pitre) and from “Mary the Perfect Contemplative: Carmelite Insights on the Interior Life of Our Lady” (by Barbara Hughes, OCDS) According to Scripture scholar Brant Pitre, the link between Mary and Rachel in the Old Testament is often overlooked, though similarities abound. As the mother of Joseph, who was sold and taken into Egypt, Rachel is considered the mother of Israel. Her firstborn son saved the Israelites from famine. Mary, whose firstborn son saved the world from death, is known as the mother of the new Israel ..read more

 Aug. 14, 2022: 20th Sunday C Love can change people. “We become what we love, and who we love shapes what we become. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing,” St. Clare of Assisi said. There is a kind of love that helps integrate us, helps us discover who we are, and helps transform us into the person we are meant to become. Jesus used the image of fire in the Gospel today. Fire burns up, destroys, but also purifies, refines, and transforms. Jesus comes to set the earth on fire. The fire Jesus yearns to ignite is that of the Father’s love in the heart ..read more

 Aug. 7, 2022: 19th Sunday C God is full of surprises; He uses small things to accomplish his big plans. One song’s lyrics reflect this mystery, “In the garden of our Savior, His kindness rains like water on every humble seed. No simple act of mercy escapes His watchful eye… (and) At the table of our Savior, no mouth will go unfed; His children in the shadows stream in and raise their heads. Oh give us ears to hear them and give us eyes that see–for there is One who loves them: I am His hands and feet.”  A young priest answered a simple call from God 30 years ago, to be God’s hands ..read more

Nicholas was sitting in a Greyhound bus station with a one-way bus ticket to Akron, Ohio with a grand total of $5 in his pocket (and no credit cards). Once in Akron, for the next 12-14 days, Nicholas was to beg for food, shelter, and transportation in order to return to the original Greyhound station of his departure city. This is what the Jesuits call, “The Pilgrimage Experiment” for their novices. St. Ignatius of Loyola desired men joining the Society of Jesus (The Jesuits) “to make a pilgrimage without money, begging from door to door at times, for the love of God our Lord, in order to gro ..read more

 July 24, 2022: 17th Sunday C “Have you called your mom lately?” In my previous parish, a parishioner reminded me every week to call my mom. I think she herself experienced what it was like to miss her son’s call; a mother knows another mother’s heart. She was right. My mom missed hearing my voice; she wanted to know whether her son was doing well, if anything troubled him, or whether he was happy. Perhaps there are moms here who will be reminding their sons or daughters to call home as they go off to college or move out of town. I really can’t pinpoint why I resist calling her. I can co ..read more