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I know that many of you, over the years, have told me how sad you are that your children and grandchildren do not come to church. It is hard, because you wonder what you have done that has led them away, or not to stay.  It is hard, because you struggle. You want them to have what you have. But I want to say to you: you have not failed. You have been faithful. (Read more...)

This last week I read an article about a tribe called the San tribe in southern Africa. They are believed to be the oldest continuous culture of human beings in the history of humanity, some 40,000 to 50,000 years old as a tribe. What is fascinating about this tribe is that it has no kings, no armies, no crowns, not even an official leadership in any way. (Read more...)

I was talking with a colleague this week, and she said, “God, where has the year gone? It is Easter already, has Lent already passed?” I said, yeah, it has. I sympathize. Lent seemed to go faster than any forty days recently. We never seem to ever get a chance to slow down. Read More  

They had carried a grudge so long that they had forgotten. It had become like furniture in their house. It was just part of their lives.  One leaned into the other and said, "You know, I am sorry. I was wrong." And the other calmly said, "Yeah, I know. And so was I."  What struck me was not the precision of the words. It was what happened afterwards. The light in their faces. Their faces changed, both of them, simultaneously. Read More

One of the great gifts we have as priests is to visit people in their homes and in their areas of vulnerability, in their hospital beds, in their convalescent homes. And when we get there, yes, we bring oils, often bring communion, and we bring prayers. But what we receive is often something quite spectacular.  We see relatives, loved ones, not doing anything spectacular or heroic, but they are present. They are simply present to their loved one, holding their hand, taking care of simple deeds. Sometimes conversations,  sometimes not, but there is a sharing of love.

And in this worst place of human suffering, he came to a profound realization. Who was it among them that survived? It was not the strongest. It was not the smartest. It was the one who had meaning in their life. And the meaning had to be greater than the suffering. Read More

I have a friend taking one of those GLP-1 drugs for the last year, and he just looks fantastic. He has shed pounds he has carried for 10, 20, 30 years. He is now walking, running, he has started to do weights. It has transformed his life completely. 

Whether it is because we know what young people are like, or what old people are like, or because of the color of their skin, or their accent, or their community. LGBTQ, married, divorced, immigrant, you name the list. We put people into categories, and we prejudge them.  Now, in one sense, we are not bad people. We are just a little blind when we do that. We do not do it intentionally, but our brains work that way. Read More →

We are the only human species that has survived hundreds of thousands of years. There were many human species, but only we remain. The reason, according to him, is not muscle strength, not our tools, and  not even our brains, but because of our ability to tell a story. Storytelling. It is literally wired inside of us. It is what enables us as human beings to gather…

See, it is our choice. And when we choose to remember the hurts, the slights, we choose what will damage us and damage the relationships. It does not change that they said something silly or something hurtful. Why has that happened? Because they did say something hurtful. But instead of letting it go, we hold on to it and we dredge up that memory and shine it like gold, like some treasure. What a dreadful mistake to make, and yet here we do it time and time again. Here is my homily for the Second Sunday of Lent. I hope you can enjoy it. Finally, I want to let you all know that we have been doing some refreshing and updating of my homilies and my website. You will begin to see this beginning this week with my website when you select the Listen button below. And later in the month you will see an updated look to my homily emails as well.

If you think about an ordinary social interaction, that you might have at a party or some sort of scene, where you are meeting people for the first time. What is typically the first question after you have greeted? What do you do? And I am always reluctant to answer because they are so disappointed! They are like, "Oh, okay," and then the conversation comes to an end. (Read more…) Here is my homily for the First Sunday of Lent. I hope you can enjoy it. And many blessings for a holy lenten journey.

What amazed me about Cirque du Soleil was how they threw each other with such grace, they seemed to swoop in and pick them up each time, at the right place and the right time. It was just magnificent. Now, if you know anything about human dynamics, a lot of strength is required to throw somebody and catch somebody of your own weight or anybody’s weight. And it requires the ability to adjust. (Read more..) Here is a bonus homily from a Renewal of Marriage Vows that took place on February 14, 2026. I hope you can enjoy it.

There is a great story told of a little fish in the ocean swimming around trying to figure out where the ocean is. He comes up to this older, wiser fish and says, “Where is the ocean?” The old fish says to him, “You are swimming in it.” The little fish is confused. He says, “But that is just water,” (Read more…) Here is my homily for the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time. I hope you can enjoy it.

When I was growing up in Ireland, my father had an expression, just one simple phrase that summed up a person, and it was a compliment. He would see somebody that he thought well of, somebody that he thought was authentic. He would say, "Ah, that man is a salt of the earth man." It was a definitive statement. (Read more…) Here is my homily for the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time. I hope you can enjoy it.

The foundational component, what they called a pillar of humility. To be humble before God and know that they are a child of God. Happiness comes from that. We are no better than anybody else. No one else is any better than us. And because of that foundational principle, everything else is built and flows from there. (Read more…) Here is my homily for the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time. I hope you can enjoy it.