HOME THOUGHTS FROM ‘HOME’ 6 THE END OF THE ROAD             Sabbatical time is winding down; I’ll be “back in the saddle” Wednesday morning after Labor Day.  The break has been beneficial both in terms of additional flexibility in prayer time, in writing, and in...

HOME THOUGHT FROM ‘HOME’ 4 IS THERE ROOM…? I remember sitting in an outdoor series of benches in Jerusalem, in front of what is called the “Garden Tomb” or “Gordon’s Tomb.”  It is just outside the Damascus Gate, and it was a 19th century attempt to shift attention...

HOME THOUGHTS FROM ‘HOME’ 3             I have arrived at the rectory of Most Holy Redeemer in Evergreen Park.  The journey here from the seminary in Mundelein was interesting and perhaps 45 minutes longer than it might have been, but I chose the way to arrive....

THE SCAPEGOAT AND THE LAMB OF GOD Being a goat may not always be a bad thing, in spite of the press it has received thanks to the famous parable of the sheep and goats at the end of Matthew 25.  Yes, goats represent those who fail to live according to the Corporal...

HOME THOUGHTS FROM “HOME” 2             If a sabbatical is supposed to be about renewal, and if renewal can take many forms, for me it means a time for praying, reading, writing, thinking, and a bit of golf.  Sometimes these can be structured and organized; sometimes,...

Bob Dylan’s classic song asks nine questions.  I want to focus on the last of them:  “How many deaths will it take til [we know] that too many people have died?” First and foremost, please read the entirety of Fr Bryan Massingale’s essay on racism and white...

Listen carefully to the Gospel:  the Holy Spirit is conveyed from Jesus to the Apostles (yes, they are formally “Apostles” now because Jesus has sent them) when the Lord breathes on them.  Imagine the terror you would have if today I said I wanted to breathe...

This is the final cry of John Henry Newman in his An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, his intellectual justification for becoming a Roman Catholic.  The essay is long (like eternity!)—well over 400 pages in the paperback edition I have.  It is...

          How many of you are ready to return to Our Savior for Mass??!!  No—don’t put up your hands.  I think I can guess!  I wish it were just that simple.  After long deliberation, it’s the judgment...

Every year on Mother’s Day weekend I offer the special invocation from our Book of Blessings for Mothers.  The three petitions include for our Mothers alive, for those who have buried a child, and for those who have died and gone before us.  In this time of...