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...

Thankfully, many of us are aware of the dangers of drugs, alcohol, pornography and other addictive substances and materials. We have seen first-hand their ravages in our lives or those of family and friends. Are we aware of the dangers of wealth...

After 135 years sitting at 10 Desellum Ave., the Fr. Meyer House will be demolished this week. The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur were the first from St. Martin’s to live in the house. Some lifetime residents of Gaithersburg may even remember the Sisters in their black and white habits crossing the road to St. Martin’s School each morning. After the Sisters left in the 1960’s, Fr. Meyer...

A very happy birthday to St. Martin’s Catholic School! The oldest Catholic parochial school in Montgomery County celebrates 100 years of education this year. This Friday, Bishop Roy Campbell celebrated a special all-school Mass with the school community. Then on Saturday, we welcome (or if you’re reading this on Sunday, welcomed) back Bishop Brennan to...

Why would God permit this? Why didn’t he intervene to stop it? We ask these types of questions after terrible tragedies like the one at Annunciation Parish and School in Minneapolis. It’s well and good to say that God didn’t do it and that he didn’t will it. Yet, it happened...

School is in session! What ever happened to the good ol’ days when school began after Labor Day? With our young ones heading off to their first day of kindergarten, middle or high school, or confidently strutting onto a college campus, it’s a good reminder for us...

There is a story told of St. Teresa of Avila that she was travelling to a certain place, and she had an unfortunate accident by falling to the ground from her carriage or from her horse. She instantly complained to the Lord about her misfortune, which occasioned his response, “Do not complain daughter...

As I write this article, I am doing some "simple" maintenance on my car. I follow the right steps and use the right tools, but it's still a slow job. Most of my daily jobs, which I do on a computer, are fast. Once I know what to do, the job is quick and easy. This is an advantage of modern technology. But beyond the digital world, in the real world, most jobs...

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”...

In this Sunday’s first reading Qoheleth laments, “For what profit comes to a man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun? All his days sorrow and grief are his occupation; even at night his mind is not at rest.” The technological revolution of the past century has promised us...

My first memory of prayer is with my mom. I am about three years old. She kneels at my bedside after I am tucked in. Together we pray the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be. After, we ask God to bless Mom and Dad, my brothers and sisters, the rich and the poor, the sick and those who are lonely. In all, it takes maybe three or four minutes. But in that short time, I learn...

The fastest priest in Rome was Fr. Michael Maloney, and he was on our team. We were running a 4x400 relay race at the United States seminary in Rome. After the first two laps, our team was a distant second. I ran the third lap and almost...

Last week I had the great joy of preaching the Mass where Sr. Providencia professed her perpetual vows as a religious Sister of the Dominicans of Fatima. It was a blessing to be with the many sisters who have served at St. Martin’s over the years...

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...