He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Jesus’ resurrection from the dead transforms everything, and fills all creation with a new light and grace. It is as if a new dimension were opened up in time and space. As Christians, we are called to...

St. John the Evangelist introduces his account of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection with the statement, “[Jesus], having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (Jn. 13:1). That statement sums up what this most holy of weeks is all about: the manifestation of how far God is willing to go to save us because...

Last Sunday, the disciples asked Jesus who it was that sinned that caused the blind man to be born that way. They held the false notion that someone born with a handicap of some sort was suffering the punishment of sin, whether their own or their parents’. Jesus responded, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.” This Sunday, a similar dynamic emerges: In their distress, Mary and Martha turn to Jesus for help becau

God saves us through covenants. A covenant is a relationship. It is a relationship in which persons belong fully to one another. It is a relationship of mutual love and freedom. Covenants have conditions in order to maintain the unity of the relationship. Covenants have consequences if the relationship is betrayed. God used covenants to...

In this Sunday’s first reading, the people that Moses has led out of Egypt complain of their condition, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt?” This same grievance flares up on various occasions throughout the Exodus. In their frustration, they...

The first readings on Sundays in Lent cover the great covenants God has made with his people throughout history. This Sunday’s first reading recounts the covenant that God made with Abraham. God promised to give him a land, to make of him a great nation, and to make his name a blessing. On that theme...

I must admit, I haven’t watched much of the Winter Olympics. I’m more of a World Cup fan, myself— coming to the U.S. this summer! One of the things that does impress me, though, about Olympians is their training regimen. I can’t imagine the...

I remember a friend of mine in the seminary showing me his list of things that he was going to try to tackle in Lent. It was long and demanding. I remember being impressed but also somewhat dubious. Usually to make one change in our life is hard enough, but...

Jesus calls his disciples in this Sunday’s gospel to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Salt was used as a preservative in the time of Jesus, since refrigeration didn’t exist. It kept food from rotting. So Christians are to preserve society to keep it from the corruption that is the result of sin. Jesus warns his disciples, though...

I hope that everyone is coming out on the other side of this snow/ice storm without any major issues. Now it’s the frigid cold we deal with, hoping that we don’t have another storm on top of it this weekend! This weekend, we begin the promotion of the Annual Archdiocesan Appeal. Once a year, our Archbishop reaches out to his flock to ask for their financial support for the educational and charitable works of our local church. As a Catholic parish, we know...

In this Sunday’s second reading, St. Paul calls the Church in Corinth to unity: “that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.” He saw the encroaching danger of division and factionalism. Indeed, the word “devil” means divider. Satan’s desire is to sow division in marriages, families and in society at all levels. How quickly when an event happens on a cultural level that we retreat to our ideological camps for safety! On the other hand, the...

In this Sunday’s second reading St. Paul writes, “to the church of God that is in Corinth, to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy . . .” He reminds the faithful of Corinth that they are called to be holy, but what does that mean? In Scriptural terms, to be holy means to be set apart for a sacred function. An altar, a chalice, priestly vestments, the tabernacle are all holy because they are set aside for the worship of God. They aren’t to be used f

Happy Feast of the Baptism of the Lord! A couple months after I was ordained a priest, my mom called me and with excitement in her voice asked, “Dave do you remember the day of your baptism?” “Of course not,” I responded. “I was a baby!” “Well,” my mom said, “you were baptized on June 19 , 1983!” My parents kept a Bible that had a section in it where you could record the sacraments of your children. As she was filling in my priesthood ordination date—June 19 , 2010—she notic

Happy New Year and Happy Feast of the Epiphany! It is appropriate that we celebrate the Epiphany as we enter into 2026. Flipping the calendar year marks a fresh beginning. Just as the Magi set off on a journey, so we commence our spiritual pilgrimage of 2026 led by...

Merry Christmas and Happy Feast of the Holy Family! Today’s Feast celebrates the sacredness of marriage and family life. For many of us, though, our families feel lightyears away from the holiness that Mary, Joseph and Jesus experienced in the home in Nazareth. The point of this Sunday’s feast isn’t to discourage us because of...

One of the questions that priests often get from children is, “Who created God?” We answer somewhere along the lines of, “Nobody created God. God exists from all eternity.” Usually the children respond with an amusing blank stare. It is a struggle for us not to think of God as somewhat like his creation. We tend to think of him as the greatest being in the universe, but that doesn’t get it right. God is infinitely transcendent to his creation...

Patience is a key Advent virtue, and one for which our culture is especially ill-suited. Christmas music fills the air waves since before Thanksgiving. You may well attend a Christmas party by this weekend. Relatedly, technology has diminished our ability to be patient. Texts are more efficient than calls, and who in the world sits down to write a letter to a friend or...

Advent blessings! When I meet with couples for marriage preparation, I will sometimes ask them when it was that they began to prepare for marriage. They will likely respond by referring to the date they got engaged or when they first discussed marriage while dating. The answer is surprising, though: they first began preparing for marriage when they were little kids. It started with seeing how their parents...

The Solemnity of Christ the King, which is the closing Sunday of the Church’s liturgical year, points back to the beginning of creation. Adam and Eve were created with royal dignity. God tells them in Gen 1:28, “have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” In other words...

Praise God for the beautiful weather we had last Saturday that allowed over 200 of us to make the walking pilgrimage in this Jubilee Year of Hope to St. John Neumann Parish. It was awesome to process down Montgomery Village Ave. praying the rosary as passengers in cars waved in recognition. On Sunday we celebrated our...