Fr Tom Gardner

Deacon Doug and I are big fans of movie soundtracks. The orchestral music that plays during movies is usually very evocative, and some soundtracks are so recognizable that you know the movie right away. I especially love the music from The Lord of the Rings. There is a song called ‘Concerning Hobbits’ that we initially […]

Being a priest in my mid 30’s, one of the fun things in this season of my life is getting to enjoy the ‘uncle life.’ Besides my brother’s toddler and kindergartener, two of my sisters currently have babies just a few months old, so I have had a good amount of time around assorted little

We are still a long way from Christmas, but the parable that Jesus tells us in the Gospel today has me thinking of my favorite Christmas movie of all time, It’s a Wonderful Life. The movie follows the life of a man named George Bailey, who finds himself in a desperate financial situation and thinks

Let’s invite the Holy Spirit to work in us: + Come, Holy Spirit. + One particular scene has always stuck with me from the fantastic made-for-TV movie, Karol: A Man Who Became Pope. As you may have guessed from its title, the movie focuses on the life of Karol Wojtyla, from his time as a

Mother Teresa once said, “Take the time to do humble works, to wash and clean, to show your love for Jesus in real, loving action.” Her sisters, the Missionaries of Charity, do this every day in their work with the poorest of the poor all over the world. One time, some of the sisters went

Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts today. + Come, Holy Spirit. + Let me tell you a story about Bob and Burt. Bob and Burt were buddies and loved spending time out on the ocean together. Bob had a large, sturdy yacht and loved having Burt join him for long voyages.

If you weren’t here last weekend, I began my homily with a prayer to the Holy Spirit and invited everybody to join me in that prayer. This will be a regular thing with homilies going forward. So let’s all pray together, inviting the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts through my preaching this weekend.

When we were in Dallas for the Divine Renovation Conference just a few weeks ago, we heard a lot about the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit is kind of the forgotten person of the Trinity, especially in Catholic circles. They referred to a survey in which a lot of Catholics were asked, “Do

I am so blessed to have become an uncle twice over in April and May. You may remember me talking a bit about my nephew, Inti, who was born to my sister Amy and her husband, Rommy, in April. My sister Julie gave birth to little Maggie Jane in May. I got to hold her

In a recent discussion with my mom and Dad, we were remarking how great YouTube is as a tool for learning. This came up because I had looked to YouTube for tips on how to better manage a dog pulling on its leash. There are so many useful how-to videos on that platform. You can