This Homily was written for Pentecost Sunday, 2020. Fire. Think of the sheer power of fire. Fire burns, it destroys. I grew up in the mountains of the Gold Country, and we were perpetually afraid every summer. I remember as a child driving through areas that had been burned, it looked as if the very…
My pastor, though he often seems wise, on occasion does a foolish thing. Like giving me the homily for Pentecost. To make matters worse, it will of course be recorded as we are all staying at home, so my normal slips of the tongue will be saved for all posterity. I’m pretty sure I’m going…
I can’t help but feel the world has changed overnight. One day, I was going to work, praying with our community, laughing with friends, and living what I felt was a good and happy life. Suddenly, everything is different than before, I can’t see people’s smiles through their masks, I sense the frustrations of the…
Almost a year ago, I wrote a post about how it’s “American New Years”, promising to write more. That was the last post I wrote. Well, at least I had good intentions. A few days ago, I got a note from a reader letting me know I should write again, especially in this time of…
The end of summer. In some ways it is a breath of fresh air, in others, it’s a sad ending. I’m not sure what it’s like in the rest of the world, but in America, especially for families, this time of year is “the real” start of the new year. Sure, we might get fireworks…
I had several requests to post my recent homily on the Good Samaritan, so here it is! Blessings! While I had been thinking about it all week, I have to admit I procrastinated writing this homily until Friday (last) night. I was out of time, so in a fit of genius, I decided to instead…
So last weekend, I took it upon myself to read out the annual regulations for Lent that my bishop sent out. They were printed in the bulletin too, so it wasn’t like I was trying to over step my bounds or anything. Plus, they are the same regulations as last year, and the year before…
It has been a wild and crazy couple of months. The non-stop events of the season of Advent, followed by the sigh of relief that Christmas brings always turns my life into a madhouse. This year brought that to new heights. Visiting family, a daughter home from college, the normal events of the season at…
In my last post, I shared a few arguments outlining why we, as Catholics, may want to jump in and outwardly celebrate Christmas with society even though it is officially early. I came up with two main points, it is nice to celebrate with all the people in our life, even beyond our immediate family,…
Here we stand in the last few moments of the Church year, and already Christmas seems well under way all around us. While I do lament us starting too early, as in right after Halloween, here after Thanksgiving as Advent is about to turn upon us, is this too early too? Well, if I had…