Dear sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, Thank you for all of your gifts, cards, and kind words as I celebrate 10 years as a priest of Jesus Christ. It has been a whirlwind ride, but a source of great joy and fulfilment all the same. I have been blessed to be part of your families’ celebrations and sorrows. Together we have celebrated the Eucharist and Adored our Lord for countless hours. We have blessed your homes and your families, and in these moments, you have been great blessings to me. I have physically felt the support of your prayers, and I know that the graces you have begged of God for my sake and for the sake of our parishes have borne great fruit in our communities. I am g
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, Our belief in the real, true, substantial Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is central to our faith, and especially to our celebration of the Holy Mass. We take Jesus at his word when He says, “This is My Body…This is the Chalice of My Blood.” Our celebration of the Eucharist is, in the words of St. Paul, “a participation in the body of Christ.” We re-present ourselves to the one Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We enter into the eternal moment of the Last Supper and the outpouring of Jesus’ Blood on the Cross. Similarly, we enter into the eternal now of heaven and receive the foretaste and promise of the divine banquet feast. Words cannot c
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, God has revealed Himself to us as a Trinity of Persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. In many ways, God defies our understanding, and our human language is insufficient to properly describe God. We default, therefore, to the way in which Jesus taught us to think of the three Persons of the Trinity, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God as Father was already a well-known reference from Old Testament times. Jesus frequently refers to the Father, most notably in the “Lord’s Prayer” that we Catholics call the Our Father. Jesus identifies Himself as the Son Who was sent by the Father. Even though we know the Father and Son to be equally God, Jesus volunta
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, “They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.”’ How many of us can pronounce the names of these various tribes and cities, let alone speak the languages they spoke? The diversity of the Pentecost crowd is
