Welcome to the beginning of Catholic School’s week.  I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that having a Catholic School in our parish is one of God’s gifts to us, and I will get back to this toward the end of my homily, although what I have to say between now and the end, is not unrelated. . . As I was looking at the line-up of Scriptures for these 6 weeks of Ordinary Time before Lent begins, I decided I wanted to take these Sundays to talk about something very central to our fa

One of the blessings of being Catholic, one of the “perks” if-you-will, is that our Church gives us  lots of things.  These things come in all shapes and sizes.  We get crosses and crucifixes and prayer cards, and chalk…!  We get the Communion of Saints to imitate, and we can ask them for prayers.  We get palms and statues, and ashes on a Wednesday that begins the season of Lent, a mere six weeks away. . . We get candles to remind us of the light of Christ, incense to symboli

My name is Melchior, my friends just call me Mel, and I am one of the three you call wisemen who paid the newborn king in Bethlehem a visit. . . bringing him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. I want to tell you a little about that experience. . . And this is how I will begin: Billions and billions of them dance across the night sky, diamonds in the darkness, points of light against a canopy of endless black. They have shone for ages and ages, lending their glow to the ni

A wise old Benedictine priest once told me in spiritual direction years ago: “There will be days in you life as a priest when everything from the pressures of work, to tiredness, to depression, to distractions, to flat-out laziness, will make it difficult for you to pray. But no matter what, always try to pray at least one sincere, focused Our Father every day.” Jesus gives us no more perfect prayer than the Our Father. And the priest was right, there are days when that’s

Pope Leo 13th, not our current Pope but the one before him, in 1892, called for a long celebrated feast of the Holy Family in some dioceses, to be observed throughout the universal Church on the 3rd Sunday after Epiphany.  He saw this feast as a possible antidote to the troubles plaguing the family in an increasing industrialized  world.   Pope Leo worried that capitalistic employers worried about their profits,  might not keep in mind the good of the working man’s soul and h

It had been a long journey,  all those many miles and many cold nights from Nazareth to Bethlehem. . .  All because a Roman emperor wanted to know how many subjects he had control over,  so as to be sure he was getting his share of the taxes due him from this backwater land of Galilee. And to arrive at the city of David, Bethlehem, only to find there was no room in any inn,  anywhere??  Only a stable filled with straw and animals which was somehow to become a fitting place to