This past week Pope Francis made a sweeping pronouncement of change in the way the Church is doing things. Instead of “business as usual” and “that’s the way we’ve always done it,” we are being admonished to step back and take a serious look at our church. “I prefer a Church which…

Then he turned to Jesus and said, “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” All of heaven must have come to a hush to hear how Jesus would respond. We see His reply in v.43, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”…

On the contrary, in toil and drudgery, night and day we worked, so as not to burden any of you. Not that we do not have the right. Rather, we wanted to present ourselves as a model for you, so that you might imitate us. There’s an old saying, “if…

It was with true malice that the Saducees approached Jesus with the question that they thought would make the doctrine of the Resurrection appear utterly ridiculous. And it might have, believing the crude manner that they did— that in our resurrection from the grave we would all have the same…

The doorbell rings and as you open the door, there stands a person you know by sight whom you have great respect for and wanted to get to know better…but you weren’t expecting him this morning. You think quickly, ‘I can’t invite him in, the dishes aren’t done, the kids’…

In today’s gospel the Pharisee is boastful and confident of his righteousness. He feels he needs no help from God. Therefore he receives nothing from God. The tax collector, aware of his sinfulness and the error of his ways decides to change his life around. He humbles himself before God…

To do the same thing over and over again and expect different results is absurd. But isn’t that what perseverance is? Or is it? Perhaps it involves more in the way of “fine tuning.” Perhaps it demands learning from our mistakes, and shoring up our weaknesses while honing our strengths. When my…

Imagine yourself as the Samaritan in today’s Gospel. A victim of Hansen’s Disease—leprosy—you are an outcast. Out of concern for public health and ritual purity, you have to live outside the city, away from your family (Numbers 5:2-3). Your face is deformed and left partially paralyzed. Perhaps a couple of fingers or…

…God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather of power and love and self-control… When we look back on our sacramental rites of not-so-long-ago, those of us who have reached “a certain age” remember that our Confirmation included a number of hints about the Christian adventure we…

A young mother writes: As I was starting dinner late one afternoon I listened to my 5 year old daughter, Melissa, playing with her dolls in the next room. Her imagination was creative in that one day her “children” would be on a trip, another day at a tea party…