The seminary where I was formed for the priesthood is located in a semi-rural area southeast of Buffalo, NY. On a cloudless night, you can walk out near “the lake” (an overgrown pond) and lay on your back and stare at the sky. There on a clear winter’s night, you can see stars never seen
“With your rod and your staff, you give me courage.” For most of my life I have been “the strong one” – smart, entrepreneurial, willing to risk, and all making it look like I know what I am doing. The fact is that most of the time I am “flying by the seat of my
The ritual associated with Ash Wednesday is simple and clear. It reminds us that we, like everything else on this earth, will die. Today we remind ourselves about the certain cycles of life and death – the beginning and the end. We also remind ourselves who we are and from whom we come – God.Today
Psalm 139 How does God gaze on me?How open am I to receiving this intimacy? It’s interesting how disconcerting it is when people realize that almost nothing they upload to the internet remains private. The old adage scripsit maneat (“What is writeen remains.”) is more true than ever. This gives me pause on praying through Psalm
In our current age, an age of globalization, our understanding of the Feast of the Epiphany takes on more importance than ever. The magi who sought the infant king were not Jewish, but gentile, they are outsiders yet they were led to find and worship God in Christ. Jesus is not simply the messiah for
As we have already noted, through the centuries, Christians have observed a time of waiting and expectation before celebrating the birth of the Savior at Christmas. The Advent season is a time for reflection and preparation; its mood is more joyful than repentant. Our Advent celebrations have been enriched by various traditions (like the ubiquitous
Everyone loves to celebrate Christmas, but Advent often gets short shrift – even in the Church. When Christians began to celebrate the birth of Jesus (sometime in the 500s A.D.), it seemed logical for them to prepare for it with great care. What resulted was a season of preparation that lasted about four weeks before
Most of us know the story. It was the autumn of 1621. In Plymouth, Massachusetts, after a rich harvest, the men, women and children who had survived the first year in the New World gathered for a feast to offer thanks. One of the pilgrims wrote at the time: “By the goodness of God, we
A lot has been said about Halloween of late – questioning its purpose or its religious (or anti-religious) perspective. Here is some information about the holiday – how it started and how it transformed into the only holiday that is a bigger retail bonanza than Christmas! Halloween, celebrated each year on October 31, is a
