Water. For the past several weeks the daily scriptural readings have mentioned water. It seems pretty basic, hardly profound, and yet it is being mentioned over and over again. Water, as we know, is essential to sustain life. Our own human bodies are made up of over 50% water and our planet is 97% water. If we lose even as little as 10% of the water within our bodies, we begin to experience immediate health problems such as low blood pressure, increased heart rate, fever, unconsciousness, all of which can and will prompt serious medical decline. When our earth becomes parched and various areas experience drought the foliage begins to…

I ran across a quote today that really moved me. It seemed to speak to me on many levels. The quote comes from my child’s catechism book and it goes like this “No greater gift can a person give than his own life for someone else.” Now of course, in the context of this religious text, the author is describing the sacrificial offering of Jesus on the cross. While we are moving into the 5th week of Lent, it made for a very special lesson for myself and my children. While the sacrifice of Jesus was profound, and did more for us than we will ever truly be able to…

The readings for this 4th weekend of Lent are about seeing. In the first reading from Samuel (1 SM 16: 1B, 6-7, 10-13 A) we read the account of the Lord asking Samuel to travel to Jesse in Bethlehem where God’s chosen king will be revealed to him. When he arrives he looks over Jesse’s sons and is surprised that God desires none of those he sees, rather God choose the absent son, David, who was away tending sheep at the time. God tells Samuel “Not as man sees does God see.” The second reading from Ephesians (EPH 5: 8-14) Paul reminds us that as God’s children we are lightbearers,…

Stop. Stop what you are doing and listen. For just a moment, be still and listen. What do you hear? If you’re like most of the country and you and your family have self-quarantined, then your house is probably noisy. Children carrying on, the sound of televisions, maybe radios or tablets playing music. Continue being still. Focus on what you can hear above the noise surrounding you. If you are trained in this practice, you may have heard a call to action, a mission for the day. You might have heard some encouraging words or some challenging ones. In both instances you were able to listen by first using your…

If we could rewind time back to the days of early Christendom it might surprise us to see how these early disciples worshiped the Lord. Not long after the resurrection, the zeal of the faithful was palpable. They were ever eager to share the message of God with everyone and to increase the number of believers. The miracles Jesus worked, coupled with his teachings, his rising from the dead, and the sacred law gave way to a communal practice of honoring and praising God together, with friends and family. A family gathering became the usual way of honoring the law of keeping holy the sabbath. Being in the early advent…

“Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’, and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Mt 17:20. If we but have the smallest amount of faith, Jesus tells us, we will be able to move mountains. What are mountains? They are those overwhelming obstacles we all face that weigh us down and challenge us (addictions, illness, financial struggles, relationship problems, etc.). It is during these experiences of life, that we are invited to take up our cross and follow Jesus. His faith in the Father allowed him to walk…

Today, we celebrate the feast day of St. Patrick, missionary, teacher, Bishop of Ireland. He was filled with zeal for the Lord at a young age. He often spent hours upon hours in prayer while going about his daily duties. Born in Britannia, he was captured by Irish pirates and made to tend sheep as a slave in Ireland. He escaped some six years later and returned home. it was back home that he heard the calling of the Lord and dedicated himself to missionary work as a priest. he felt called to return to Ireland to convert the Druid people to Christianity. Legend tells us it is here in…

Faith, hope, and charity. All are innately given to us by God. These theological virtues, when cultivated, enable us to encounter God more fully in our everyday ordinary lives. Furthermore, they give us the ability to continue on in the journey of life through good times and bad. The virtue of hope is one that can often be disregarded as folly or wishful thinking, but it in itself stems from Divine origin as Jesus so beautifully illustrated in His resurrection. It is hope in the resurrected Lord that allows us to hope for our own resurrection and share in the Heavenly Kingdom.What are you hoping for this Lenten season? A…

It is amazing how our world has changed literally overnight. More and more businesses are shutting down, schools are closing for several weeks, and we are being encouraged just about every where we look to hunker down and stay at home….for the next few weeks! Can this be real?Several churches around the world are giving dispensations for folks to stay home and worship God as best you can within the communities of your families rather than the usual communal gathering. You may be wondering how to do this? There are several masses being televised across the globe. EWTN will be broadcasting as will several Youtube channels. You can find the readings…

Preppers. Men and women who feel the need to prepare themselves and their families for an impending danger of cataclysmic proportions. These individuals are hard at work collecting, building, re-purposing, and even engineering ways to uphold a standard of living, basic as it may be , when life as we know it ceases to exist. Whether by means of a natural disaster, world war, economic crash, or ‘zombie’ apocalypse, they men to have what it takes to survive and thrive. Over the past 10 years or so, it seems that every year brings a new calamity and with it the certain annihilation of the general populous. From H1N1 and swine flu,…