St. Paul writes in this Sunday’s second reading, “From now on, let no one make troubles for me; for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body.” These words are mysterious, but they may point to St. Paul being the first stigmatic...

This Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. These two great apostles found their way to Rome, where they were martyred...

After my uncle Msgr. Wells’ death in 2000, I remember watching a video of someone who had interviewed him. In the video he mentioned that he first began going to daily Mass at his Catholic high school when a thought occurred to him as he walked the hallway: “If that really is Jesus in there [in the chapel at Mass], then what am I doing...

Many moons ago, I was a business major at the University of Maryland. One of the concepts we studied was synergy, which is the working together of different components of an organization that produces better results than the individual components working separately. The saying, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” is another way of expressing synergy. As we celebrate Trinity Sunday...

People sometimes ask, “What’s more important, Christmas or Easter?” And the answer is . . . Pentecost! I joke, but in a certain respect Pentecost is the most important feast of the Church’s year. This is because Pentecost is the culminating event of God’s plan of salvation. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and Mary fifty days after Easter, which signifies the birth of Holy Mother Church...

Blessed Feast of the Ascension of our Lord! 40 days after his Resurrection, Christ ascended into heaven in the presence of his amazed disciples. The life of every Christian has an upward tilt to it. Our thoughts should tend towards the highest truths, and our hearts should tend towards...

It is with great sadness, but also with great anticipation, that I announce that Cardinal McElroy has given me a new parish assignment beginning this summer on July 9 . I have been assigned to be the parochial vicar of...

If we forget our origin, our nature and our destiny, we are bound to despair despite the technological progress in which we live. Our ultimate happiness is found only in God. As Pope Leo XIV is a member of the Augustinian order, he would appreciate the words of the great St. Augustine: “You have formed us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you...

May is the month of Mary, our mother and our queen. It isn’t just a pious devotion that causes us to revere Mary as queen of heaven and earth, but a deeply Biblical truth...

 As we continue to mourn over the death of Pope Francis, we also look forward in hope to the election of the next Vicar of Christ, the next Pope. Beginning on Wednesday, May 7 , the College of Cardinals will gather in the Sistine Chapel to vote for the next Pope. The election of the Pope is not a popularity contest or even a question of who the best candidate is, the election of the Pope is a work of the Holy Spirit...

I would like to invite you to our Divine Mercy holy hour this Sunday from 3:00pm-4:00pm in the church. According to Jesus’ message to St. Faustina, this is one of the most powerful moments of the year, when the mercy of God is poured out measurelessly upon sinful humanity. Know that a powerful Divine Mercy indulgence is available...

He is Risen! He is Risen, indeed! In the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, the author laments, “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecc. 1:9). Today is the celebration of the new thing which the Old Testament authors could scarcely imagine...

In Holy Week we touch on the core mysteries of our faith: Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection; sin and suffering, the Cross, the piercings of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary; the Eucharist and priesthood, etc...

I’ve been thinking recently about the phrase, “You have nothing to lose.” We hesitate to take risks or advance in a certain direction...

The fourth Sunday of Lent is known as Laetare Sunday, coming from the Latin word for “rejoice.” The entrance antiphon of the Mass is...

One of those old Catholic words that we can dust off in the Lenten season is compunction. Compunction means...

Dear St. Martin’s Parishioners, Congratulations and blessings to our new Shepherd, Archbishop McElroy! Cardinal McElroy was installed...

Happy Lent! We have all heard of the recent health travails of Pope Francis. Being 88 years old, with one lung and double pneumonia is a...

Dare I say it, Lent is upon us. Don’t let Ash Wednesday catch you flat-footed, but already be thinking about the three pillars of prayer...

This Sunday Jesus confronts us with maybe his most challenging commandment: “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those..