Jesus asks, “Do you realize what I have done for you?” As we begin these holiest days of the year, it would be good for us to do just that: to realize what Jesus has done for us at the Last Supper. The opening lines of the gospel set the scene. First, Jesus knew that his hour had come, and second, he loved his own to the end. He knew his hour had come, and he loved his own to the end. In his darkest hour he did...
Today is Laetare Sunday, which is why we are wearing rose today. We are over halfway through Lent, and the entrance antiphon to today’s liturgy begins, “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her.” Laetare is the Latin word for “rejoice.” Today is meant to be a little more festive than a typical Lenten Sunday, and is there anything more festive than the birth of a child? So it’s very appropriate that on this celebratory Sunday we get to witness a birth. We get to witness the birth of...
Here we are in the third week of Lent. How are your Lenten resolutions going? Mine aren’t going so great, to be honest. Last Friday, I made myself a turkey sandwich for lunch, forgetting it was Friday. I think I was just going through the motions of the day, not really paying attention. Sometimes life is like that, a series of unconscious, or nearly unconscious, actions that add up to a day. The Samaritan woman in today’s gospel is going through the motions of her daily life when...
If you’ve ever looked at the hands of your grandmother or grandfather, Or at the hands of an elderly friend, Then you’ve had a glimpse of their life story. Each pair of hands has a story to tell, And the older we get, the more our hands have to say. Some hands are scarred or spotted. Others are twisted and gnarled with arthritis. A hand can have callouses or be as smooth as lotion. The fingers, too, tell a tale about our lives. Some of us have long...
Today’s readings come straight at us. Isaiah might just as well have said: “You are my servant, people of St. Peter Parish, through whom I show my glory….I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” Paul speaks to the Corinthians, but also to us: “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the church of God that is at St. Peter’s, to you who have been sanctified in Christ...
We are at the end of Advent season and as we make our final preparations for Christmas we may wonder how we should spend these last three days preparing our hearts. A few minutes ago we sung together the antiphon from today’s responsorial psalm: “Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.” What better way to make our final preparations for Christmas, then by meditating on that antiphon? If we take some time over the next few days to repeat it to ourselves and reflect on...
Today marks the beginning of another liturgical year. It’s Advent, that time of joyful preparation. But so often, rather than marking a period of peaceful preparation, Advent marks the beginning of the season of stress and worry. Will I survive Black Friday? Will the gift arrive in time? Where do we spend Christmas? Will the flight be delayed? Will the pass be snowed in? Will I get what I want? What do I wear to the Christmas party? At the very time of year we are invited to...
The days are getting shorter and shorter. The leaves are abandoning the trees, winter is on the horizon. The liturgical year, our Church year, is coming to an end. And always at the end of the Church year, the readings are chosen to remind us that just as the year ends, so there will be an end of all days. It’s not that the Church is morbid and wants us to think about our death and the end of the world. We already think about it, as humans...
“When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” That is the haunting question that Jesus poses to his disciples at the end of today’s parable, and it’s the haunting question that Luke posed to an early Church that was struggling with persecution and conflict. That early Church is featured in Quo Vadis?, the novel the eighth graders and I are currently studying. Quo Vadis? is the story of a young Roman military tribune and the Christian woman he falls in love with. It takes...
The power of a parable lies in its ability to shock us, or to suddenly flip things upside down. Parables make us sit up and pay attention because they challenge our view of the world. For example, the Parable of the Sower puzzles us because the farmer throws seeds everywhere, on the path, on rocky ground, among thorns. The Parable of the Good Samaritan shocks us because the Samaritan passer-by takes care of the Jew who’s been robbed. But today’s Parable of the Dishonest Steward may be the...
Here we are on the brink of another school year. What an exciting time! So many new things to celebrate. Jefferson Elementary has a brand new building, the Ferris campus is looking fantastic, and Gonzaga Prep students are getting their new iPads ready. Here at All Saints we’ve got some new teachers, some new families, and I’m excited to meet my new eighth graders. When I was in college to learning how to be a teacher, we were taught that on the first day of school students want...
Twenty-five years ago this weekend was one of the blackest days in the history of one our our national treasures. On Saturday, August 20, 1988, 150,000 acres of forest land burned in Yellowstone National Park. They called it Black Saturday. Wildfires had been raging in the park all summer. 9,000 firefighters and 4,000 military personnel worked tirelessly to keep the fires from destroying visitor centers and other valuable property. The wildfires continued to rage for the rest of the summer, and by the end of the fire season...
Classics Club #32: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevesky
January 20, 2020
Classics Club #21: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
December 28, 2018
Classics Club #20: She by H. Rider Haggard
May 17, 2018
Notes from the Upside Down by Guy Adams
April 4, 2018
Cries from the Earth by Terry C. Johnston
March 20, 2018
Books and Reading / Chapter-a-Day Read-Along
Announcing the 2019 Chapter-a-Day Read-Along
December 26, 2018
