“Rejoice in the Lord always.  I shall say it again: rejoice!” These opening lines from today’s second reading capture the spirit of this, the third Sunday in Advent.  This first sentence is the origin of our calling this Gaudete Sunday, after the Latin word, “Gaudete,” which means “Rejoice.” Now with three candles lit in our wreath and we priests wearing rose-colored vestments, we hear lessons that dance with delight, celebrating this joyous good news that the Lord is near.  Paul is writing this letter to the Christians living in Philippi […]

As Americans, we don’t often think about kings and queens and royalty.  You may have recently read with mild interest about Queen Elizabeth, the 95-year-old beloved queen of England as she experiences some health issues. Other than that, who hears about kings or queens.  It may surprise you to learn that there are currently 44 countries worldwide that have a king or queen, countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, Spain and New Zealand.

Of course, there aren’t really many true kings in the world today.  After the […]

“Are we there yet?”  What parent hasn’t heard that question from the back seat of your car?  And, how do you answer the question?  Of course, the real question being asked is not, “Are we there?” but “When will we get there?”  And, how do you answer?  You could look at your GPS and give the exact mileage and estimated time of arrival, but that’s of little help to a young child who doesn’t have any concept of distance or time.  These little pieces of adult information have no meaning […]

There is a lot of talk about love in today’s readings.  In the first reading, we hear Moses tell God’s people to “love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”  The responsorial psalm repeats, “I love you, Lord, my strength.”  The second reading reminds us that Jesus gave himself as the perfect sacrifice for all of us – the ultimate sign of his love for us.  And in the Gospel, we hear Jesus repeat Moses’ command and add the command […]

Today we join with parishes around the world in celebrating World Mission Sunday.  As we wait with baited breath and earnest prayer to hear what will happen to the missionaries who are being held hostage in Haiti, we are reminded of the courage that missionaries have displayed down through the ages as they go to the ends of the earth to proclaim Jesus’ message of salvation to all people.  It is a good opportunity for us to reflect on the special call we have all received at our baptism – […]

TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

It has been a really hard time, these past 18 months, hasn’t it!?!  We’ve all experienced hardships and heartaches.  I’ve lost a priesthood classmate and dear friend to COVID-19, along with several other friends and some parishioners.  Like every other parish around the world, we’ve struggled to stay open and keep our ministries and parish activities going, trying to keep our parish community together while striving to ensure that everyone stays safe and healthy.  We’ve all wondered, “What is God trying to teach us?  What do […]

The late Comedienne Joan Rivers once said: “People say that money isn’t the key to happiness, but I always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made.”  I suspect a lot of people would agree with her.

We all seek happiness.  We try to find it in a variety of ways.  For some, it’s having lots of possessions.  That’s why so many people today spend so much time and energy on earning money and then buying clothing or cars or jewelry or antiques or home furnishings.  King […]

I don’t know about you but I find it hard to believe that we’re already in the last days of September; where has the year gone!?!  The ongoing pandemic has caused a real time warp and now the days are getting shorter, the nights are getting longer – real signs that the year is coming to a close.  And, our liturgical year is coming to an end, as well; Advent begins in just eight weeks.  Once again, our Scripture readings begin to point us toward the end times, and the […]

Where were you on that awful day?  Looking around here in church, I see some of you were not even born yet or too young to realize what was happening but most of us will always remember exactly where we were.  It was a beautiful fall day 20 years ago yesterday, just like this morning.  I was about to go to church to celebrate the 9:00am Mass at the parish where I was stationed at that time when a friend called me to let me know that a plane had […]