We all know that God gave Moses 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai.  These commandments were given to help the ancient Israelites know how to show their respect and love for God and his people.  Unfortunately, they reduced their relationship with God to just following rules.  And, since they thought God liked rules, they made even more rules.  If you go through the Old Testament, you will find 613 of them.  And, the people thought that, if they followed these rules, God owed them a good life.  God then sent his […]

I was riding my bike a few days ago and passed one of our neighbors as he was leading his three kids on their bikes.  Keeping my safe six foot distance, I called out to him and asked him how he was feeling.  “Somewhere between stir and crazy,” he responded, “but hey, I get to spend more time with my kids.”  Every cloud has a silver lining and I was glad he could see the silver lining in the cloud that’s been hanging over all of us these days.  One […]

We’re all familiar with the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.  It’s a wonderful image for us, especially these days as we feel lost and uncertain as to where we – or, in fact, the entire world – is headed.  As we hear in today’s Gospel, Jesus calls each of his sheep by name – just as he did at our baptism – and leads them out to find green pasture and plentiful water for the day.  We are also familiar with the story of Jesus going after the […]

Happy Easter! Yes, I realize that Easter Sunday was last week and I hope you had a wonderful Easter, even under these unusual and stressful circumstances.  But, since the Resurrection of our Lord is such an important event, the Church calls us to celebrate it for an entire octave and today we come to the end of those eight days.  Just as cinematographers slow down the action of a particularly important moment of a movie or television show to give the viewer time to catch every detail of the event, […]

Christ is risen! Halleluiah!  These are the victorious words we shout and sing with gusto on this greatest of all feast days.  Halleluiah is the “h” word I mentioned in my homily last Sunday, when we were focused on another “h” word – Hosanna.  As you will recall from last week, “Hosanna” means “God save us.”  It is a cry for help.  That’s how we started off Holy Week – praying to God to save us, knowing that he, alone, can save us.  But this morning we can shout out […]

“Hallelujah!”  We’ve already sung it several times and now I can say it: Hallelujah!  It was that “h” word I referred to last Sunday when another “h” word – “Hosanna” – was the word of the day.  “Hosanna”, you will recall, is a cry for help; it means “God save us.”  That’s how we started off Holy Week – praying to God to save us, knowing that he, alone can save us.  But this evening we can shout out “Hallelujah!” which means “Praise God!”  We can, indeed, praise God because […]

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to be able to get together around the dinner table with my extended family or friends for a good meal and engaging conversation.  Msgr. Carroll and I get along very well but it’s getting a little lonely in the rectory.  Unfortunately, those family dinners aren’t going to happen soon due to the stay at home order as we continue to work together to overcome the coronavirus pandemic.  But tonight, we gather together virtually around our Lord’s Table to commemorate the first […]

Before this coronavirus took over our lives, how many of you had ever heard of Dr. Anthony Fauci?  I hadn’t, even though he has been a medical advisor to every president beginning with Ronald Reagan.  But now, he is suddenly forced onto the public stage and, although many of us really appreciate and admire his honest, plain talk, presenting the truth as the data demonstrates, there are those who don’t like him because his grim message is upsetting their comfortable lives, closing their businesses and stopping their cash flow, so […]