Homilies

Four weeks ago we celebrated the great Feast Day of Christmas, when through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary conceived and gave birth to Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God.  It is universally accepted in all of Christianity that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ.  It is […]

I am so happy to be old enough to appreciate the game of basketball when the Chicago Bulls made their run of championships in the late 90s. It was awe inspiring to watch the play of Michael Jordan along with teammates like Scottie Pippin, Tony Kukoc, Dennis Rodman and others. Of course, Michael was a

Msgr. James Reuf was an important part of my journey to the priesthood. When I was a college student at Ohio State, he was the pastor of my parish, Holy Name. Msgr. Reuf was definitely a curmudgeon and had a pretty gruff exterior, but over time, beneath this facade I found a priestly heart filled

When I was a seminarian, I got to know a lot of “seminarian groupies.” These are people who just love seminarians–they come to all the public events at the seminary, they know all the seminarians’ names, they host parties for them at their houses and get them gifts at Christmas. I really enjoyed the seminarian

St. John Paul II is a hero of mine. He was the face of the Catholic Church as pope for decades and had a profound impact on the modern history of the world. As we gather to celebrate this great feast of Jesus’ birth, a poignant and powerful moment in St. John Paul II’s life

Many of you may not know that my middle name is ‘Lion’–L-I-O-N. My Dad gave me this unique middle name because he is a family history buff and knew that the first Gardner in America was named Lion Gardiner (with an “i” in the middle, but that’s another story), so in honor of him, my

Recently I was hearing Confessions for a men’s retreat. I was posted at a spot outside with a propane space heater nearby to keep me warm in the midst of the cold December evening. As I sat there and stared into the undulating heat of the space heater and its glowing grill, my mind went

On this Second Sunday of Advent, we are introduced to John the Baptist.  Of all the people mentioned in the New Testament, John the Baptist has to be, at least to me, one of the most intriguing and fascinating of all.  His appearance at the beginning of Christian history is different than any other prophet,

A crazy picture came into my mind when I was praying with the Lord’s words about watchfulness in today’s Gospel. It is a snapshot of a moment from a baseball game several years ago between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Atlanta Braves. During the game a baseball bat went flying into the stands directly toward the

As we celebrate the great Solemnity of Christ the King, I have two very different Saints on my mind–St. Elizabeth of Hungary and St. Jose Sanchez del Rio. They couldn’t be more different in many ways. Their lives are separated by centuries–St. Elizabeth of Hungary was born in 1207 and St. Jose Sanchez del Rio