Homilies

Today I want to tell you the tale of two nights. The first night was spent in the rectory at one of my summer assignments as a seminarian. Leading up to that night, I had been watching the show “The Walking Dead” through Netflix. At that time, the main way to watch Netflix was by […]

A few years ago, my Mom and I had the great privilege of seeing my sister Laura take her students to State Orchestra Contest. I will never forget the pride I felt watching Laura up there so poised as she directed her students. They did a phenomenal job and we cheered loudly along with many

Let me tell you a story about Alessandro Serenelli. Alessandro grew up in a poor family in Italy. By the time he was a young man, his mother and one of his brothers had already died in mental asylums. His father, an alcoholic, was hard-pressed to provide for his family working as a sharecropper. Alessandro’s

Those of you who know me pretty well know that I’m not a fan of personal conflict.  I try to avoid it as much as possible.  I tend to let certain issues run their course, and many times, they work themselves out.  But every so often, there’s no choice but to intervene and offer some

I want to tell you the stories of two different actors, one you’ve probably heard of and one you probably haven’t heard of. If you were alive and watching movies in the 80’s and 90’s, you’ve probably heard of Rick Moranis. He starred in such popular movies as “Ghostbusters,” “Spaceballs,” and “Honey, I Shrunk the

Some movies have certain scenes that are iconic without even needing any dialogue. There is the T Rex foot slamming down into the mud in “Jurassic Park,” Rocky training for his fight on the steps of the Philadelphia museum of art, Charlton Heston as Moses parting the waters of the Red Sea, and so many

Are we able to bargain with God?  Can we make a deal with Jesus?  Well, a quick reading of today’s Gospel passage might make us think that maybe we can.  The Canaanite woman seems to persist in working on Jesus until he changes his mind and grants her what she wants.  And let’s be honest—how

The past week and a half I was blessed to be the chaplain on a men’s retreat called Wilderness Outreach in the mountains of northern California. It was a great week of prayer, good brotherly discussions about faith, and daily Mass at an altar we created out in the woods. Our last night in the

Once there was a father who had a young son. The son got really into LEGOs, much to the delight of his father, who was also a LEGO lover. One day his son came to him beaming with pride, showing him a car that he had made. There was one small problem: the wheels were

Between 1940 and 1949, Pope St. Pius XII authorized crews to undertake excavations underneath St. Peter’s basilica. Renovation work on the lower level of the basilica had uncovered the remains of an ancient Roman necropolis on which the original basilica was made during the time of Constantine. Tradition held that this was the site where