Homilies

There is a scene from the movie “The Wizard of Oz” where Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion finally arrive at the end of the Yellow Brick Road in Emerald City and were about to meet the Wizard.  They all came with a request that they thought only the great and […]

I’m guessing that most of you have heard of the Iditarod, the annual sled race in Alaska where teams of sled dogs compete to cover the almost 1,000 miles between Anchorage and Nome. It has been run yearly since 1973. Let me tell you the story of the event that inspired the race. It was

I’m a big fan of the original Star Wars trilogy. I grew up watching the first movie on a VHS tape. This was from back in the day where movies would occasionally air on network TV. So when Star Wars came on TV, my mom and dad popped in the tape and hit record. I

Let me tell you a story about Bob and Tony. They were brothers who decided to order a kit car and build it together. They both were car enthusiasts and thought it would be a great way to bond with each other. So they put in the order and waited. Initially, the company they ordered

Several times during the course of the Mass, we are presented with something, and then we are asked to respond.  To start the Mass, the priest greets the people saying, “The Lord be with you,” to which we reply, “And with your Spirit.”  During the first part of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Word,

Over the last several weeks of school I read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to our 6th and 7th graders. If you haven’t read that book, you are missing out, big time. Pick up a copy today and read it!  C.S. Lewis is one of the finest Christian fiction writers of the 20th

When I was a Boy Scout, I came to understand firemaking pretty well. In fact, for a brief time at Camp Falling Rock one summer, I worked at the station where the campers were challenged to build a fire with just a single match or even just a flint and steel. Fire is something that

One of my favorite movie musicals is “The Sound of Music.” It is the perfect combination of a great story, great characters and great music. Ever since I first saw it as a kid, I couldn’t help but get wrapped up in the story of the Von Trapp children as they came to know and

When I was a child, my friends and I always loved the playground at Montrose Elementary, where we all went to school. We would climb trees, swing on the swings, play tag, do the monkey bars, slide down the slides. It was a great place to have fun. But one day that place didn’t seem

Over the years, many people have asked me who my dog, Benny, is named after. Some may think I named him after Pope Benedict XVI, but I didn’t. As much as I love Papa Benny, my Benny is named after someone else. He isn’t named after the song by Elton John, as catchy as it