I go to Mass to worship God and to accept the gift of salvation. In Holy Communion, I find that which gives my soul all that it needs. Nevertheless, for much of my life, I did not follow the way of the Christian. I did not comprehend the mystery of the Real Presence when I came to Mass during my adolescent years. I grew up in a religious family and I observed the requirements of my faith. Altogether I was not living an authentically Christian life. What I am about to say is very hard for me to admit. I bring it forward not to aggrandize myself but to give honor to the amazing healing power of ..read more

The wisest among us have long taught the rest of us that the way to solve problems and overcome controversies is to ask important questions, seek answers, and follow the facts. That approach, of course, takes curiosity which many people lack, and diligence, which they have no interest in developing. Those people are content to cling to the notions they find satisfying, to demand that others accept those notions, and to attack them if they don’t. Meanwhile, the problems increase, the controversies deepen, the conditions worsen, and everyone becomes more frustrated. Consider, for example, these ..read more

If greed and material extravagance was the vice of the 19th century that of the 20th century was lust and sexual perversion. English novelist Aldous Huxley let the proverbial cat out of the bag in 1938 when he revealed that the real reason intellectuals of his generation embraced modernism was because of the unrestricted sexual freedom that it guaranteed them. Most biographers of great modernists, such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Margaret Mead, or Sigmund Freud have all but ignored their sexual proclivities.   Since the time of Luther and Descartes, the West has accepted ..read more

Almost every day the news media bring into our living rooms immediate images of harrowing pain, hardships, and death from our country and from other parts of the world. We love Jesus too much to be able to turn away from those horrible scenes unfazed, unaffected. The most painful aspect of our empathy for these unfortunate people must be our powerlessness to do something tangible and concrete to alleviate their suffering besides our thoughts and prayers, and the occasional donation. Our readings for the Third Sunday of Easter underscore a very comforting truth: God notices and appreciates ..read more

Friendship is a vital part in the spiritual journey as the heart of the whole. It was not easy for me make friends growing up. I did not fit in easily and was precocious, sensitive, and timid as a kid. My first real friends helped me to grow as a person. I remember my friend Alfredo De La Cruz. We met when we were both in Catholic Grade School. He introduced me to his family and they accepted me as one of their own. He taught me so much about friendship and life. With his friendship I could begin to open myself in trust. I see now how this helped me to grow in love and trust towards others. I ..read more

For many years now, the Blessed Mother has played an important role in my life and ministry. It will be a great joy, in this upcoming month of May, to honor her. How blessed are we that we have the love of the Blessed Mother! We have a spiritual mother who intercedes for us with her Son, just as she did at the wedding feast in Cana. John’s Gospel speaks of the special relationship we have with Mary when he recounts one of Jesus’ last actions as He was dying on the cross.  “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, ‘Woman behold your son ..read more

For more than 30 years, I’ve served as a an adjunct lecturer in economics at a local university. During Covid, I remember the department chair asking if anyone would be willing to teach in person, to which I gladly replied— “YES.” Now if you remember, during the midst of the pandemic, few cars were on the road. At the university, the same was true when my students and I seemed to be the only cars in the parking lot. Each week, upon our arrival, with masks on, we’d walk to the academic building that was always locked. At which point, I would call Public Safety and an officer would soon arrive w ..read more

Once there was a woman named Diane who went to her pastor and told him a true story about something that had happened when she was a girl. Some would say it was a sad or even tragic story, but Diane was convinced it had happy ending. When she was eight years old, she lived on a farm with her parents and her nine-year-old brother Larry. The two children had a highly unusual relationship for a brother and sister of that age: they liked each other and enjoyed one another’s company; when they weren’t busy helping their parents or taking care of the farm animals, the two children chased each other ..read more

I published “Death by a Thousand Slurs” on January 10th, 2018. It focused on Trump’s performance during his first year in office and the media’s response. Now, over five years later, I am revisiting that essay because doing so underscores how the media’s hate-driven delusion has contributed to America’s dramatic social decline. Here is that essay: [Death by a Thousand Slurs] has been the mainstream media’s intention from the Republican primary, through the presidential campaign, and throughout Donald Trump’s first year in office. First there were the characterizations of him as a rude, in ..read more

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19) The first thing that might strike us as relevant in this passage from our gospel passage for the Second Sunday of Easter could be that the doors of the Upper Room were locked. Yet also in this environment of defeatism, fear and failure, the Risen Lord says: “Peace be with you.” It is a greeting repeated more than once and, thus, becoming almost an order given to convince us to chang ..read more