During my twenty-four-year stay in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, I came to know a woman named Anne who, in many ways, was like a second mother to me. Anne was full of maternal wisdom. About her own children, she’d say, “You can give birth to ‘m, but you can’t explain ‘m.” She
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When I was growing up, my older sister Elizabeth used to tease me with the first three lines of this list of negatives. Later in life, when I became a teacher, I added lines four through eight and used the result liberally with my high school sophomores. In a
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And he [i.e. Jesus] said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.” But he strictly charged them and commanded them not to tell this to anyone, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected by
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Recently, a friend took me and another friend to one of my favorite local eateries, namely The Hummus House on 15th and Chew, right here in Allentown. It was late in the afternoon, and the three of us were the only customers in the five-table establishment. As my friends
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Turning round, Peter saw following them the disciple whom Jesus loved, the one who, at the supper, had leaned back upon his breast and said, “Lord, who is it that will betray thee?” Peter therefore, seeing him, said to Jesus, “Lord, and what of this man?” Jesus said to him,
Read moreWith what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you, and more shall be given to you. —Mark 4:24— When my friend Mike attends a baseball game, he will, depending on where he is seated, bring a mitt with him. He wants to be ready to catch a
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A Homily Preached for the Opening of Catholic Schools Week Cathedral of St. Catharine of Siena, Allentown, Pennsylvania 25 January 2015 Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,” when the people of Nineveh
Read moreAmen I say to you, as long as you did it for one of these, the least, of my brethren, you did it for me. –Matthew 25:40– I have a confession to make. I am an unashamed and unabashed reader and lover of fairy tales. That’s right. But I
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Without me you can do nothing. –John 15:5– Some years ago, my friend Father Frans Berkhout and I were in an airport on our way home from a vacation. We were in a long line of passengers waiting to have our luggage scanned before boarding our plane. Passengers were
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And a leper came to him, entreating him, and kneeling down he said, “If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” –Mark 1:40– Once, when I was about eight or nine years old, I said to my sister Marybeth, “Hey, Marybeth! Wouldn’t it be neat if we couldn’t feel
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