When I teach my students at Xavier, we talk about the parables of Jesus and I always tell them that their potency is often lost on us because they were stories told to a culture that we no longer experience. We aren’t fishers or farmers in first century Palestine. We don’t have the same social mores. We don’t understand how the parables defied expectation and provoked thought.  Here is my attempt at a modern day parable that occurred to me as I was driving to work on this lovely spring day. There was a homeowner …

Paul tells us in First Corinthians that we must run so as to win the race, but Paul must not have been talking about the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon!  I ran my first one this year as part of Run For The Call, an initiative that promotes Vocational Awareness for all God’s people.  I knew I would love being part of the initiative, but I had never suspected how much I would love being part of the marathon itself.  Mile after mile, the streets were lined with cheering crowds, encouraging us towards our goal.  We …

A couple years ago, a Franciscan friar in my community, Fr. Carl, built and mounted a number of bird houses on the property of our St. Anthony Shrine. The birdhouses are nicely constructed of cedar and are the exact type suited for bluebirds. Because there were no bluebirds around the shrine property, we friars joked that the birdhouses were built on the “if-you-build-it-they-will-come principle.” We have lots of birds around St. Anthony Shrine. Cardinals, robins, woodpeckers and finches of every color are abundant. There are a few boisterous mockingbirds. And, yes, we have bluejays, warblers, …

Pentecost Sunday: May 19, 2013 Gospel: John 20:19-23 OR John 14:15-16, 23B-26 John 20:19-23 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he …

“My child, if you aspire to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for an ordeal.  Be sincere of heart, be steadfast, and do not be alarmed when disaster comes.” Sirach 1:1,2 The Boston Marathon blast that killed three and maimed scores whose lives were changed forever.  The young man at LaSalle H.S. who shot himself.  The three young women who were abducted and held prisoner for ten years in Cleveland.  Sandy Hook, and all those bright-eyed, beautiful kids whose lives were brutally taken.  A baby discarded in a dumpster; countless others aborted. Atrocities in Syria, Nigeria, …

I recently attended a lecture that discussed just how healthy the practice of natural family planning is for a couple.  The speakers showed the strong correlation between the use of natural birth regulation methods and divorce-proof marriages.  They discussed the benefits of improved communication, improved understanding of a wife’s psychology as it relates to her body, the deepening sense of respect men develop for their wives, and the value of mutually delayed gratification.  All in all, I thought it was a pretty compelling case. I almost fell out of my chair later that day when …

“Life is difficult,” the opening sentence of the bestseller The Road Less Travelled by Scot Peck, has been a guiding statement for me ever since reading the book. It is a reminder of the challenges that all of us face as we live the life we’re given. I’ve discovered that my ranting and raving about life being unfair doesn’t seem to change reality much, so somehow I need to deal with what is as it is. A second reflection I’ve come across over the years is the thought that what life presents is a challenge …

I was babysitting our kids outside the other day. I’m a better parent than I am babysitter. In the midst of the chaos happening about the yard, I noticed a white pickup come to screeching halt in front of our house. The bed of the truck was filled with an odd cooler attachment bearing the logo of a distant steak company, one of those distant warehouses that will overnight steaks to your front door.  Immediately three men got out of the cab – let’s pause there. Any time three grown men get out of those …

Recently I had the opportunity to meet a courageous and good woman and mom.  A single parent of 4 children, she desires to raise her children to be adults with good morals, with an education to be productive citizens and independent, and she asks the Church to help her.  I shared with her the statics that show “faith is good for kids.”  Studies show that families, who pray together in the home, attend Church services together and have relationships with other members of their Church community usually become adults with faith.  These adults with faith …

Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord: May 12, 2013 Gospel: Luke 24:46-53 Jesus said to his disciples: “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Then he led them out as …