The only meaning, the true logos, is God. The true logos is what we believe as Christians, the baby Jesus. He is the logos made flesh. That is what we celebrate, that that is the profound meaning. That is a foundation meaning for everything in our lives. God loves us so much that He did not just send a messenger, He sent His very self, His Son. (Read more…) Here is my homily from the Christmas Day Mass. I hope you can enjoy it.

What I would like you to do today and this week is make a little bit of room, take something away. Because like the branches in that story, we had to clear some of the branches and the grass away. We had to take something out. Can we have just a few minutes less television? A few minutes less playing on the computer so that we leave room for Christ. (Read more...)

The challenge for us as modern-day people, is that we have so much coming at us, so many voices. We have a cacophony of voices and messages. We do not know where or how to listen, and we certainly do not expect to listen to God. We do not ave that same sense that God is speaking to us in those direct ways. We have podcasts, we have videos, we have endless amount of internet voices, and that is not even including the television. They are all different stuff. (Read more…)

Here is what is interesting, what I have learned since then and before, through other many situations. Doubt is not the opposite of faith. We often believe that doubt is the opposite of faith. But it is a part of faith. Doubt is not the opposite of or the enemy of joy. It is part of it. Doubt is part of the process of faith development. (Read more…) Here is my homily from the Third Sunday of Advent and as Advent continues, I ask you to join me at St. Simon Parish for the final evening of pray...

The prophets are the people who tell us what we need to hear even if we do not like it. Isaiah today which we hear in the first reading and John the Baptist, who we may as well call “John the Isaiah” because he comes on with just as strong a language. They see where we ought to be or could be but we are not quite there yet. But they see it and they tell us, we have to turn around. They build a vision for us so that we can imagine ourselves on the right trail. (Read more…) Here is my homily fr...

And now comes Advent. Now comes the busiest season of the year, when our regular business goes into high gear. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we add shopping, decorating, parties, concerts, and celebrations to our already overflowing calendars. It seems almost impossible to stay awake and attentive when we are running on empty, exhausted by hurry sickness. (Read more...) Here is my homily from the Fist Sunday of Advent and as Advent begins, I ask you to please join me at St. Simon Parish...

Today, we celebrate the Feast Day of Christ the King and the readings bring us back to the foot of the cross. It seems like an odd place to bring us back as we enter into the end of our liturgy year and now enter into to the Advent season as we prepare for Christmas. Yet, that is where it does brings us, to the foot of the cross. (Read more…) Here is the Homily from The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. I hope you can enjoy it and please feel free to share with others.

In the cultural view, time is a scarcity. It is an asset that is a diminishing, that we are going to lose some day. In this cultural view of time, time is running out. We have this sense of everything must produce something. A view of productivity. You are running out of time, so therefore you need to use your time well, and you need to stop wasting your time. (Read more…) Here is the Homily from the Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time. I hope you can enjoy it and please fe...

We have to be mindful of how we are serving others in our world today. Because we, you and I, are the church. Today we celebrate an unusual Feast day called the Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome. We might say, "Why are we celebrating a dedication of a building?" It is a pretty significant building. First of all, it is the See of the Bishop of Rome, not St. Peter's. St. Peter's is the pope's basilica, if you would. St. John Lateran is the See of the Bishop of Rome. (Read more…) H...

Every one of us will take that final journey home someday. But until then, we are called to live this circle of life well. We are called to live it fully, embracing every moment and savor every moment for what it is, whatever part of the journey or the stage of this circle we are on. To never to embrace the next too soon, nor to resist it too much. But to embrace it knowing that our final destiny, my friends, is eternal life. (Read more…) Here is the Homily from the Commemoration of All the F...

Today we are honoring our 70 year history. This place was a orchard of apricots. And that is why we have honored it with the very apricots we have here as a reminder of our roots. The soil that produced so much fruit for so many years then became the soil for this parish. Now look at what we have done with the seeds of faith of 70 years of believing, 70 years of toil in the soil of this parish. (Read more…) Here is a bonus homily from the our 70th Anniversary as a Parish. I hope you can enjoy...

When Pope Francis was first elected, you might remember, one of the very first interviews he ever conducted, was from an Italian journalist. The journalist asked, "Who is Cardinal Bergoglio? Who is Pope Francis?" The pope bowed his head and said, "I am a sinner." It was really humbling to hear the pope remind himself that he is a sinner. As he had been exalted to the highest office in the church, he brings himself back down to the ground. I cannot help but think that gives us a model of how w...

What is most important for today's celebration, is that Luke was a physician. Dr. Luke, as I always like to call him, had a particular view that is seen in his gospels and we see it even today. That view is an incredibly compassionate way to look at everyone he meets. His gospel and his second volume, the Acts of the Apostles, portray Jesus as the divine physician. (Read more…) Here is the Homily from the Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time. I hope you can enjoy it and please feel free...

My friends, you see, we have to find a way to tune in to God's grace each day. Here is the thing to be very mindful of. Our senses are always at work, whether we am having a good day or a bad day. So we can be grateful to God for those no matter what is going on. (Read more…)

No matter what the secular society says, how wonderful everything is, it is so important that we take the seed of faith that we have been given and that we plant it deep within our soul. And we water it by our faithful attendance like you all are here today. That we keep showing up and that we need to trust, as the Lord reminds us, we need to trust that faith is going to produce much fruit. (Read more…) Here is my homily email from the Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time. Please feel free ...

It is humbling to be reminded that we are trying to learn that we are all equal. That that we are all children of God, whether rich or poor, whether we are Catholic or not Catholic, whether we are straight or gay; nothing matters except we are his children. We are all, in the eyes. (Read more…) Here is my homily email from the Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time. Please feel free to share this email with others.

We have to be wise about what gifts that we have. It is not just about what how much money we have, although that is a gift for sure. But if we can realize that our time is our gift, that we all have only so much time. We are stewards of our our eighty five years that we might get, maybe if we are lucky 90. But for a lot of us, we do not even get that eighty five. (Read more…) Here is my homily email from the Twenty-Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time. I am sending this from our Pilgrimage to Irela...

We do not need to be scarce about God's love to others. Why? Because there is an abundance. We have an ocean of God's love. And when we have this ocean of God's love, we are called to give it away to everyone. Not just our family and our friends, but indeed, maybe most especially, those who are not pleasant. (Read more…) Here is my homily email from the Exaltation of the Cross. Please feel free to share this email with others.

When I say yes to the Lord, I am be promising to become what I already am, the body of Christ. I am committing to “the way” again each and every week. And we see each other to recommmit that same thing again. It is not as much hard work as it is a decision. Once you have made that decision, then we live by that decision. Christ, is the way, the truth, and the life, and the final everything for us. (Read more…) Here is my homily email from the Twenty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time. Please...

We come to this table every week. We come humbly, every one of us equal at this table. Myself, you, all the same. Men and women, boys and girls, children of God, coming to the savior to see the same thing. To receive what we promised to become. The body of Christ. Humble servants. Humble tools in the hand of God. (Read more…) Here is my homily email from the Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time. Please feel free to share this email with others.