Shortly after the end of the Second World War, two trains pulled into a station in northern Italy. One train was from Germany, the other from France. As passengers from the two trains disembarked, the noisy station fell silent. Tension filled the air. Fresh wounds were reopened, lost loved ones recalled, old hatreds rekindled. Although …
Month: May 2020
The Ascension of the Lord
When I woke up this morning, I had an important question on my mind. The question had to do with today’s feast: The Feast of the Ascension. But I didn’t know how to answer the question, or even how to begin answering it. And so, I got down on my knees, bowed my head, folded …
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Matthew Murdock was both a lawyer and a superhero. Losing his sight in a childhood accident left him with a heightened, and even superhuman, sense of hearing. And losing his father in a violent crime when he was just a boy left him with a thirst for justice. Murdock was raised Roman Catholic and remained …
Fifth Sunday of Easter
As many of you know by now, I often begin my homilies with some sort of amusing comment or story. You may think, then, that since it’s Mother’s Day, I’d begin with a few jokes about mothers. But I know that I’d be risking my life if I did. If the mothers of this parish …
Fourth Sunday of Easter
When I visited classrooms this past year, some of the most common questions from our school kids were about heaven: What was heaven going to be like? What we were going to do there? And, most importantly: Which pets, if any, went there when they died? I always dreaded the “Do dogs go to heaven?” …
Isaiah Forty-Three 