From the bulletin for The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 January 18) Parish School of Prayer, Pt 22: Praying for Peace “Whenever I want to know what is going on in the world, I just pick up a copy of the Book of Revelation.” I’ve shared that quote from Leon Bloy before. I share it again because its insight is timely: any day of the year, the Book of Revelation illuminates what is ever transpiring on this earth better than any periodical.  Which is not at all to say that

From the bulletin for The Baptism of the Lord (2026 January 11) Jan 12 - Baptism of the Lord With a foot in both the season of Christmas and Ordinary Time, the Solemnity of the Baptism of Our Lord marks the public inauguration of His saving mission. On the one hand, it’s a revelation-event, of something that has been true from all eternity: the Father acknowledges Jesus as His well-beloved Son, the apple of His eye, as it were. On the other, there is something new here: in Hi

From the bulletin for The Feast of The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (2025 December 28) Dec 28 - Holy Family The Feast of the Holy Family is a special one for me and my vocational story. It was on this day in 2011 that I had a fateful session of spiritual direction at the St. Mark’s rectory. I came armed with what I thought were very good arguments to defeat any suggestion of the priesthood for me (which I intuited the then-pastor was going to make… it was our second

From the First Sunday in Advent (2025 November 30) Nov 30 - Advent 1 In today’s First Reading Isaiah envisions “all the nations” streaming towards God’s temple on Zion: “In days to come … many peoples shall come and say: ‘Come, let us climb the LORD's mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths" (Is 2:2-3). In the past weeks, we have had occasion to recall now that “those days” have come, the Lord’s mountain is

From the bulletin for The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (2025 November 23) Nov 23 - Christ the King Some speak of “separation of church and state.” The Bible, in contrast, speaks of an intermingling of “wheat and tares” both within the Church (see 1 Jn 2:19) and in the world (see Acts 18:10). There, the relevant separation is between those who gather with Christ and those who scatter (Mt 12:30); those who are “of the truth” (Jn 18:37) and those who

From the bulletin for Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (2025 November 16) Nov 15 - 33rd Sunday The end is nigh.  Mirroring the maple trees on Wilder Street, the liturgical year now blossoms with an apocalyptic flourish as we approach the cycle’s end. Having started it with our Advent expectations and Yuletide rejoicings, then marching through our Lenten campaign of Christian soldiering and solemn Paschal celebrations, and now completing our admiration of Our Lord’s active

From the bulletin for The Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome (2025 November 09) Nov 9: Dedication of SJL In the Office of Readings of the day on which I write (Thursday the 6th), the Psalms contains two passages that echo one another:  Remember, Lord, the shortness of my life and how frail you have made the sons of men. What man can live and never see death? Who can save himself from the grasp of the grave?  (Ps 89:48-49) Our life is over like a sigh. Our

From the bulletin for The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (2025 November 02) Nov 2: All Souls The landscape of American English and its cultural expressions are littered with stark disjunctives. “Liberty or death!” (Patrick Henry). “California or bust!” (1849 gold rushers). “God or nothing!” (2015 book by Cardinal Sarah). “Ride or die!” (1950s motorcyclists and early-2000s gangsta rappers).  Yet we Christians live our lives in the shadow of an even starker either/o

From the bulletin for The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2025 October 26) Parish School of Prayer, Pt 21: On the Rosary Again (and Again) My little nieces and nephews are finally getting comfortable around their Uncle David. I know this because during some recent family gatherings, they were demanding that I read to them some of their favorite storybooks. It's fascinating that, though they know these books by heart, they delight to hear them read again and again. They rej

From the bulletin for The Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2025 October 19) Oct 19: 29th Sunday Next Sunday we arrive at the fourth and final action item of our annual stewardship exercises. After recommitting to prayer, to small groups, and to ministry involvement, we turn to consider our financial giving to the parish.  Money is certainly not the most important ingredient in our parish mission, but it is a necessary one. Take away the money and we soon lose our worship

From the bulletin for The Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2025 October 12) Oct 12: 28th Sunday OT From healing to gratitude, and from gratitude to worship. That’s the pattern in both First Reading and Gospel today. Naaman the Syrian is healed by washing in the Jordan. In gratitude not just for his baby-fresh skin, but his new lease on life, he offers Elisha the prophet a gift worthy of a king: “ten silver talents, six thousand gold pieces, and ten festal garments” (2 K

From the bulletin for The Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (2025 October 05) Oct 5: The Lord’s Day: Deeper Dive In the interest of...

From the bulletin for The Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2025 September 28) Parish School of Prayer, Pt 20: Time for Prayer How...

From the bulletin for The Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2025 September 21) September 21st: 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time...

From the bulletin for The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (2025 September 14) September 14th: Feast of the Holy Cross OK, back...

From the bulletin for The Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (2025 September 07) The Eschatological Adventure, Part 18: “The Lawless...

From the bulletin for The Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time (2025 Aug 31) The Eschatological Adventure, Part 15: “And the Dragon Stood...

From the bulletin for The Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2025 Aug 17) The Eschatological Adventure, Part 14: “He will exalt himself...

From the bulletin for The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2025 Aug 10) The Eschatological Adventure, Part 13: “If anyone is to go...

From the bulletin for The Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2025 Aug 03) The Eschatological Adventure, Part 12: “What You Have Seen,...