After a long travel schedule this Advent—following a very full and demanding fall—I finally forced myself to do something I haven’t done in a very long time: I took a few days off. If you know me at all, you know this didn’t come easily. I tend to be a bit of a workaholic. And if I’m being honest, stepping …
I am fortunate enough this week to be preparing the liturgy for the ‘Baptism of the Lord’ and it refreshes me for so many reasons… the fact that I said “refreshes” was a pun I had not intended and cracks me up. But when you get down to it, it’s really all about being human… In praying on the readings, …
2010 is closing out and we have made the conscious decision for a better 2011…so “now what??”. Ask yourself a few simple questions like: What are you going to do with all that the past year gave you? What did it bring you to be thankful for? What did it send your way to learn from? What did it remind …
I recently asked a good friend of mine, who is a priest, how he deals with people around him that do not always respect his vocation. His answer was simple, “I have just learned to lower my expectations”. Wouldn’t this sort of acceptance save us a lot of grief from time to time? Now understand, there is a difference between …
Holidays are so good at bringing out the worst in people… that’s right I said it. It is a strange twist that a time that should be most centered on family, community, faith and hope, suddenly becomes a period of stress and aggravation in our lives. We are so consumed with what we have to do or what others are …
Not only is Advent a time of preparation to the people we long to become, but it is also a time to search and find the person inside that we have lost along the way. Throughout our journey, no matter how young or old, each one of us changes from someone that we once enjoyed being into a “seasoned human” …
Senseless tragedy looms everywhere around us, but we only seem to notice it when it hits close to home. On Monday of this week, a gunmen (student) sat in his high school, amongst his classmates, awaiting a bus transfer and in an instant changed a community forever when he opened fire shooting 5 kids, killing 3 of them; My family …
One of my most “favoritest” things in the world to hear is when my kids just stop me for no reason at all, or right before bed time and say, “Hey Daddy, You’re the BEST daddy and I love you.” No matter what is going on, it always just fills me instantly with hope and a pride that they recognize …
Not everyone connects with God in the same way. Whether we are seeking a new relationship, or looking to go deeper in faith, it’s important to try to open up through a prayer form we relate to best. For me, it’s music, but other people might find it in silence, reading Scripture, journaling, and together in community at Mass. While …
There I was, at the gym, getting ready to do another set of exercises, when I noticed a glaring addition to my face. In that moment of rest, I sat on the edge of the bench, staring into the wall-sized mirror in front of me. I squinted and took deep breaths before continuing on, and noticed the multiple wrinkles which …