I want to start off by commending you for coming to Mass this morning.  It’s a miserable day, hot, humid, muggy, rainy, a good day to just stay home and read a good book, watch television or troll the internet for a sale; not a good day to go anywhere – but you’re here; good for you.  So, why did you come here this morning?  It’s because you’re the seed that’s fallen on rich soil.  You have heard God’s word and understood that it is important to you.  You recognize […]

It is every parent’s dream.  It goes like this.  Your child is a guest at someone’s home for dinner; maybe it’s a friend or a relative.  When the meal is over, your child is the one who, without being asked, rises from the table, grabs some plates, takes them into the kitchen and puts them either in the sink or in the dishwasher.  What parent doesn’t live with the secret hope that your ten thousand nudges to your kids “pick that up” and “put that in the trash” and “did […]

How many of you were captivated by the search of the submersible Titan this week?  As a scuba diver and one who loves the deep blue sea, it certainly caught my attention.  The dangerous drama of those five adventurous men inside this tiny, 22-foot-long experimental vessel traveling 13,000 feet into the darkness of the deep to catch a momentary glimpse of the Titanic that has been resting on the ocean floor for over a hundred years was riveting and the fear of their loss from either hypothermia or lack of […]