How to Forgive

When someone does something that offends you, how do you react? Do you give in to gossiping and complaining about that person, or do you go directly to him and try to work through the problem. In today’s Gospel, our Lord tells us that if someone sins against us we should give to him and […]

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Fulfilling Our State in Life

In the first reading today, St. Paul talks about the importance of fulfilling our state in life. He writes, “Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” This term, “state in life,” refers first to our vocations as married, single, or religious and then also to the […]

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Childlike Humility

What does it mean to become childlike? Traditionally, we have juxtaposed the virtue of being childlike with the vice of childishness. Childishness is when we give a greater priority to what is less important, when we stubbornly insist on having our own way, and when we refuse to put others’ good before our own. This […]

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Familiarity and Indifference

There is an old saying that goes, “familiarity breeds contempt.” As human beings with limited attention spans we tend to grow tired of the things we have and desire the new and improved. New ideas are more interesting than traditional wisdom, new toys are better than old ones, and a new acquaintance seems more interesting […]

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Witness and Mediocrity

Our Lord’s public ministry is about to come a crucial turning point. There is a “large crowd” following Him because they have seen the miraculous signs he has performed in curing the sick and casting out demons, but many people in the crowd still see Him as a miracle worker, an extraordinary man who has […]

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Suffering Persecution with Love: A response to the Supreme Court decision on “same-sex marriage”

Homily for the XIV Sunday Through the YEar 5 July 2015 Parish Church of St. John the Baptist, New Haven “I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” Thus St. Paul speaks to us in today’s epistle. Persecutions. (PAUSE) […]

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Corpus Christi

Sermon for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (My First Mass of Thanksgiving) 6 June 2015 St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, Fort Wayne A priest of our diocese tells a story about a trip he made to China. He was visiting Beijing and he and some others had hired a local man to show them around. […]

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