When I was young, I watched a really awesome wildlife program on television. It was all about, of all things, the tsetse fly. The bloodsucking tsetse fly, if I remember correctly, was a real nuisance in Africa. It caused diseases in both livestock and humans, including African sleeping
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Roses in the Rough
If then any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. –2 Corinthians 5:17– I picked up the bud vase from Mary’s kitchen table and inspected the beautiful artificial roses it contained. “Can you guess what those roses are made of?” Mary asked. “Silk?” “No.”
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Spousal Silence: Intimate Prayer
And people brought to him [i.e. Jesus] a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked
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Let Perpetual Light Shine upon Them—But Gradually!
One of my more vivid childhood memories has to do with my father on winter, weekday mornings. While it was still dark, Dad would come into the room where my brother John and I slept and would turn on the overhead lights. “Get up, Boys!” he would announce. “Time
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Sharp Corners and Rough Edges
A Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent, Year C And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three
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Ripples
A Homily for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C I am continually amazed at how the effects of sin are so very far reaching. The results of sin, regardless of whether the original sin has been forgiven, endure from one generation to another. Sin, like a rock
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Prayer: Heading in the Right Direction
A Homily for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B And rising long before daybreak, he went out and departed into a desert place, and there he prayed. –Mark 1:35– Ladies and gentlemen, I hold in my hand a box that contains something so important, that, if it
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Period. Said. Done.
Sometimes when the bell rings to signal the end of class, I say to my students: “I hate to see you go.” On other occasions, when I am feeling a little playful, I might say: “I hate to see you. Go!” Obviously words are not everything. Punctuation is key.
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My Soul Magnifies the Lord
Do you wish to know the most intimate perfections of Jesus and the most hidden attractions of His love? Then seek them in the heart of Mary! –Saint Peter Eymard– Being a legally blind priest does indeed have its challenges. For one thing, I cannot read most printed material
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Lent: Living in the Fast Lane
“But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they will fast” –Matthew 9:15– Lent, as we all know, is a time of special fasting and abstinence. There are, of course, a number of physical benefits of fasting and abstinence. We might
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