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The Solemnity of St. Joseph falls the day before Palm Sunday this year. The juxtaposition of St. Joseph whom we know only in the context of Jesus’ childhood with the passion and death of Jesus makes me wonder what role Joseph may have played during the passion of Jesus? Did memories of Joseph cross Jesus’…

Walking outside during a recent wet snow somehow had me reflecting on the parable of the Sower and the Seed in the context of a March snowfall in Ohio. It went something like this: Once there was a sky full of snow clouds from which small snowflakes fell lightly. Some fell on the lake. Others…

An unknown author wrote “Without faith, we are as stained glass windows in the dark.” A priest wanted to show the stained glass windows depicting the nativity of Jesus at all the Christmas Masses, but nearly every Mass was celebrated in darkness. He created an elaborate plan for a huge spotlight strung outside to illuminate…

Someone said, “The more I read my Bible, the more I see myself within its pages.” I wonder which pages. Wouldn’t that make a day of reflection—finding yourself on one page of the Bible? Where would we begin to look? The Psalms that encompass almost every human emotion? The Gospels wherein the words and actions…

Franz Joseph Haydn wrote: “When I think of God, my heart is so full of joy that the notes leap and dance as they leave my pen: and since God has given me a cheerful heart, I serve him with a cheerful spirit.” Apparently the thought of God created spontaneous symphonies for Haydn. What does…

In Isaiah 55 we read “For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song.” Long before The Sound of Music, Isaiah knew “the hills are alive with the sound of music.” Going for a long walk in Oak Openings, I…

Mahatma Gandhi stated, “We must become the change we want to see in the world.” Lent and New Year’s Day are the traditional times to consider change. It’s easy to see that our world must change. We can’t continue polluting the air and water, we can’t keep killing one another, we can’t keep letting the…

The catechumens are now approaching the third phase that begins with the Rite of Election on the First Sunday of Lent (February 13-14). After their names are enrolled during this ceremony, they will be called the Elect, and they have every right of the Catholic Church, such as a Catholic funeral. Perhaps you will be…

As we begin Lent and look for ways to improve, the first place to look is with our family. George Bernard Shaw wrote, “A happy family is but an earlier heaven.” How true! Is there some tension in the family? Is there an elephant in the living room that no one wants to address? Even…

St. Francis de Sales wrote: “Lent is the autumn of the spiritual life when we pick the fruit and gather it for the whole year.” Really?  Autumn? Isn’t Lent the springtime of the Church Year? (This year’s early Ash Wednesday even makes Lent more like mid-winter.)  Well, let’s humor St. Francis by going along with…