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...

If you are reading this on Saturday morning, I invite you to join us on our parish pilgrimage in this Jubilee Year of Hope today at 12:00pm. We will meet by the CVS at Montgomery Village Center located at 19201 Centerway Rd. in Montgomery Village. From there we walk two miles to St. John Neumann Parish to pass through the holy doors and gain...

St. Therese of Lisieux said before her death, “I want to spend my heaven doing good on earth.” She had a great desire to see the salvation of all people, as do all the saints. As we celebrate All Saints Day on Saturday and All Souls Day on Sunday, we give thanks for the saints in heaven and the souls in purgatory for offering their...

If you have any feedback on the Ministry Fair, please contact me at FangmeyerJ@adw.org or at (301)990-3203 x 207. I saw and heard that the Pantry, Choirs, Legion of Mary, Sacristans, and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion all received new volunteers. I heard from Sembrando Para Cristo, Virtus, the Catholic Women’s Association, and Programa San Juan Diego that the Fair was a positive opportunity to...

As I was doing some research on Marian apparitions this past week, I was struck by the descriptions of various visionaries on seeing the Blessed Mother. All of them were awestruck by her beauty. They give effusive descriptions of her clothing, her facial expressions, her movements, and...

I recently heard a great analogy that highlights the importance of confession. Often when you visit a website, a little box appears on the screen asking if you’ll accept the “cookies” associated with your activity on the site. Because you’re in a hurry, you often just click “Accept,” and move on. The buildup of all these cookies hampers our internet browsing over the course of time. It is recommended...

“Increase our faith”. Have you prayed these words? The apostles prayed to Jesus in these words, as recorded in today’s Gospel. Did you think of their conversation with Jesus as a prayer? I want you to pray so that you “surpass the merits and desires” of your heart because God will “give what prayer does not dare to ask” (as the Collect Prayer to begin this Sunday’s Mass). Jesus meant this when he said...