31st Week in Ordinary Time 2025 - Friday - Cunning Missionary Disciples

Early on in the pontificate of Pope Francis, God rest his soul, the pontiff began to focus his teaching on a particular aspect of our faith—that all Christians are called to be missionary disciples. We find the phrase already in one of his first apostolic exhortations back in 2013—Evangelium Gaudium—“On the Proclamation of the Gospel in the World Today”. 

The entire people of God are called to proclaim the Gospel. Evangelization is the task of the Church—she is an agent of evangelization. “In all the baptized, from first to last,” he wrote, “the sanctifying power of the Spirit is at work, impelling us to evangelization… In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples.” And we live out that identity of being missionary disciples in our faithfulness to Jesus in whatever part of the world or society we find ourselves. 

In the first reading today, St. Paul talks about his particular calling to be an Apostle to the Gentiles. Paul describes how God has called him to bring the Gospel to places where it has never been brought before. 

And there is an important dimension of missionary discipleship as well. Each one of us is called to bring the Gospel to places where it has not currently taken root. And where might that be?

We must certainly ensure that we are bringing the Gospel to our own minds and hearts. We are to be faithful to Jesus in every dimension of our lives. Christ is to be the center of our professional life, our leisure time, how we use our minds, how we use our words, how we use our bodies. We are to develop skills to be used in God’s service. 

But also in our relationships—with family, friends, and strangers. Recognize where the Gospel could be stronger in those relationships—where the peace of Jesus, the kindness of Jesus, the charity, and self-sacrifice of Jesus is to be imitated and lived out. 

In the Gospel, the Lord tells a parable about cleverness. The worldly are often very clever in pursuing their ends and their goals. Well, Christians need to be clever too in working for God. We are to exercise ingenuity, creativity, and cunning in our missionary discipleship. 

We need to be more clever in organizing charitable activity than head coaches in organizing victory for their franchises. We need to be more diligent in disciplining our minds and hearts than professional athletes in training their bodies. We need to be more clever than Wall Street bankers, in storing up treasure, not on earth, but in heaven. We need to be more dedicated to the Gospel, than world-class musicians and artists are in developing and pursuing their art.

We aren’t to just give God our leftovers, but our very best. Just as God made each of us unique, there are places and people to whom God is calling us uniquely to bear the Gospel. And we are to do so with courage and fortitude and patience and wisdom like that which St. Paul and so many of the saints show us for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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That all Christians may endeavor to put their time, talent, treasure, creativity and energy into serving the mission of the Church. Let us pray to the Lord.

That our young people may be blessed to be raised in faith filled homes, that they may be protected from the evils of our culture, and be granted a firm knowledge of their vocation to holiness. Let us pray to the Lord.

That Christ the Good Shepherd will draw close to all who suffer, the sick, the needy, victims of injustice, and the dying.

We pray in a special way during this month of November for all the faithful departed, all deceased members and benefactors of our parish, our deceased family members and friends, deceased clergy and religious, those who fought and died for our freedom and for X. for whom this mass is offered.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

31st Week in Ordinary Time 2025 - Wednesday (school mass) - "Love God"

 

Yesterday, I was able to visit a number of the classrooms, and I spoke about one of my favorite subjects and activities: prayer—different types of prayer, different ways to pray, when we should pray, why we pray, and we even talked about the five-finger method of prayer, how our fingers can remind us for whom to pray.

We talked about the sort of prayer that asks God for help—help for those closest to us, help for our teachers, help for those in charge, our leaders, prayer for the week, the suffering and the sick, and prayer for ourselves.

We talked about the sort of prayer which asks God for mercy when we’ve sin. “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.”

We talked about the importance of offering prayers of thanksgiving: thanking God for the gift of life, thanking God for the shelter, food, and health, thanking God for the beauty of creation, thanking God for Jesus dying on the cross for us and the gift of our salvation, and the church, and the sacraments.

Lastly, we talked about the sort of prayer that most of us probably don’t do enough—the sort of prayer that simply tells God, “I love you.” “I love you, Lord”.

The more we love God, and express our love for God in our words and actions, the happier we will be. The saints show us this over and over. Their joy is great because their love for God is great.

Some people do not love God at all—they love money, and fame, and pleasure, and power, but they do not love God—and deep down, they are miserable for it. Some people love God only a little, and that’s a start—they know about him a little, but God makes little difference in their life—and they go from pursuit to pursuit, relationship to relationship, chasing happiness, but never really finding it, because they don’t believe God is the source of happiness. But Christians are taught by Jesus to love God with our whole heart mind soul and strength. Love for God is to be the driving force of our lives, the motive behind all our actions.

It is the reason I became a priest, it’s the reason I am here right now.

And daily, many times a day, we need to reconnect with the love of God, to call it to mind, to remind ourselves that love is to be the reason for my decisions, my choice of words, how I treat people, what I do with my time and my body.

As Jesus makes himself present at Mass today under the appearance of bread and wine, express your love for Him. “Jesus, I love you. Lead me and guide me.” For the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

November 2 2025 - All Souls' Day - Grief and Hope

 A number of years ago, during my first parish assignment at St. Columbkille, in Parma, All Souls Day fell on the first Friday of November. On first Fridays we had the practice of bringing Holy Communion to our homebound parishioners, as some of our Eucharistic ministers do here. And so my first communion call that day was to a woman named Josephine, and elderly woman with a thick polish accent to whom I had been bringing Communion for several years.  

Prior to administering Holy Communion I asked her a question I didn’t always ask during my communion calls. I asked her if she had any particular intentions that she would like to voice as she received Holy Communion that day. And she replied that since today is the Feast of All Souls she would like to pray and offer her Communion for her father who was arrested and killed in the Concentration Camp at Auschwitz during World War II.  After we prayed, and she received Holy Communion, she asked if I would like to see a picture of her father.  I said I would.

She went into the bedroom and brought out a rectangular photograph of very thin man, dressed in a prison outfit, in three poses: a profile looking to the right, one where he was looking up and to the left, and the middle one, he was looking directly at the camera with a haunted expression on his face. I thought of the horrors he witnessed in that Concentration Camp—they seemed reflected in his eyes--and I had to sit down.  

Josephine then said, Father, I try to think of good memories, but so often I am overwhelmed with sadness.  Why do we always remember the hurtful things?

After a moment, I said, I think it’s important not to forget our loved ones, as hurtful as their memories are, so that we can pray for them, and to pray that terrible things like war and genocide never happen again.

She said, “All Souls Day is always a very sad day for me, but it is also the anniversary of our coming to this country and escaping those horrors.”  How providential, I thought! Because that’s what All Souls is all about. On All Souls’ Day we pray that our loved ones arrive at their heavenly homeland. 

Today can be a sad day; to remember the faithful departed whom we loved in this life can evoke strong emotions.  And  sometimes we think of those we’ve encounter on life’s path—and those memories are not always sweet. So, today don’t only pray for those who were good to us in this life, but also those who may have hurt us—they need our prayers too. No matter who they were in life, how they acted, who they loved or hurt, we pray for all of the souls in purgatory today, that they may be open to all of the purification they need in order to enter eternal life with God.

Today is also a day of hope. All Souls Day reminds us to pray, but also it is a reminder that we hope to be reunited with our loved ones in the new and eternal life of the resurrection. That word hope was mentioned in the opening prayer: “Listen kindly to our prayers, O Lord, and, as our faith in your Son, raised from the dead, is deepened, so may our hope of resurrection for your departed servants also find new strength.” The preface for the Eucharistic prayer will also speak of the hope of resurrection.  In the face of sadness, it is so vital for us to renew our hope in the promises of Christ—that those who die with Him as Lord shall be raised with Him in the resurrection to come.

We also acknowledge today the power of our prayers.  Our prayers are powerful and effective in helping those in purgatory make their way to God and to prepare for the resurrection. When are overwhelmed with grief for our loved ones the best thing to do is to turn to God in prayer for their souls and to renew our hope in the resurrection. As Saint Thomas Aquinas said that the greatest act of love we can perform on behalf of the dead is to pray for them.  

May perpetual light shine upon our departed loved ones. And as we continue the celebration of the Mass for the repose of the faithful departed, we do so, not as a mere remembrance, but as a powerfully effective way of loving them and helping them, a duty that all Christians share, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

November 1 2025 - All Saints (PSR Mass) - The saint God made us to be

 

Dear ones. Happy Feast of All Saints. In school or by a family member, you may have been asked, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” If I asked every individual here, I bet I’d hear a whole host of answers. Some of you might say that when you grow up, you want to be a professional athlete or a teacher, a doctor or nurse or veterinarian, an actor or musician or artist, perhaps a soldier or police officer or fire fighter. At different times in my life I too considered different professions: there was a time I wanted to be an archaeologist and uncover ancient cities, later I wanted to be a mathematician. It wasn’t until I was a little older, in college, that I discerned that God was calling me to be a priest.

Well, no matter the profession, I bet every single one of us could answer that question, “when I grow up, I want to be happy. I want to do something that makes me happy.” No one wants to grow up to be unhappy or bored.

Well, what if I told you that being happy in life, being fulfilled, is not simply the result of your job or profession. Being happy isn’t based on the amount of money you make, the amount of power or responsibility you have, it’s not based on how popular or famous you become.

The key to happiness is to discover and pursue the reason God made you. Why are you here. Why do you exist? Why were you born, not 700 years ago, not 200 years ago, but now?

And the answer to those questions is partially hidden—it takes a while to figure out what we should be doing with our time, with our abilities. But the answer is also partially known. As Christians, we know what we should be doing with our time. We should be trying to become like the people we celebrate today. The saints. Because we, like them, are made by God, to become as holy as we possibly can.

If you want to be happy, if you want to be fulfilled, you should do everything you can to be a saint. That doesn’t mean you can’t be a musician or a doctor or a construction worker. St. Cecilia was a musician. Saints Cosmos and Damien were doctors. St. Francis of Assisi was a builder, he built a chapel for God, St. Luke was an artist. St. Sebastian was an athlete. St. John Bosco was a juggler and magician. St. Catherine was a philosopher. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was a teacher. There were Saints who were simply moms and dad who loved their kids. And saints who were politicians, even kings and queens of nations.

But choosing to be a saint is more important than choosing your profession. It’s more important than where you live, what language you speak, where you go to school. There have been saints that have done very well in school, and saints that had a very difficult time with their studies.  But what was most important is that they aimed at being saints, no matter what they did. Whether they were plowing their fields like st. Isidore, or engaging in priestly duties like St. John Vianney, or a missionary like St. Paul, a website designer like St. Carlo Acutis.

Seeking to become a saint is the most important thing we can do in this life. For in the Gospel today, did Jesus say blessed are you when you win trophies for your athletic accomplishments? No. Did he say, blessed are you when you are well-known in your professional field? No. Did he say, blessed are you if you have more friends, more money than other people? No.

What did he say? Blessed are you when you are merciful, blessed are you when you are pure of heart. Blessed are you when you seek to be righteous so much that you hunger and thirst for it.

One of the great tragedies of our time is that there are many people who do not consider their call to be a saint. There are a great number of people who have turned their backs on God and will fail to become the person God made them to be. And because they have turned their backs on God they are miserable and causing great problems in the world, for their family and countries.

Don’t be like them. Don’t get so swept up by the world that you begin to forget about God, about why God made you.

We celebrate the saints because they are our heroes in the faith, but they also show us what all humans are capable of when they trust in God, when they say yes to God with every ounce of their being. God made us not to be selfish, lazy, or fearful. He made us to have generous hearts, active hearts, courageous hearts in knowing, loving, and serving Him in this life, so that we can be happy with Him for eternity.

The Saints challenges us to aim higher—to aim higher than spiritual mediocrity, and the idiotic examples of celebrities.

God made us to be saints. And today, we ask the saints of heaven to help us become like them, to love Jesus more than anyone or anything. We look to their example, and seek their prayers, that we may become the saints that God made us to be for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

30th Week in Ordinary Time 2025 - Friday - Jesus nourishes, heals, satisfies

All four Gospels contain accounts of the Lord eating and dining. All four Gospel record the Lord dining with his apostles on the night before he died at the Last Supper. Some stories of Jesus’ meals are shared between Gospels, some are unique. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record the Lord dining in the house of the tax collector Levi, while St. John is the only to record the Lord’s attendance at the wedding feast at Cana.

St. Luke is the only evangelist to record the meal in today’s passage in which the Lord heals the man with dropsy in the house of a pharisee on the sabbath.

It is not the only story in which the Lord heals someone on the sabbath, but it is the first time he heals someone at a meal—combining the two actions of healing and eating. It’s also interesting who he heals; he heals a man with dropsy. What is dropsy? Dropsy is a medical condition involving the build-up of fluid in a person’s tissues. Consequently, because of this imbalance of fluid, the person with dropsy is always thirsty—they are perpetually thirsty. And so in this story the Lord combines healing and eating and satisfying unending thirst.

What does that makes you think of? I don’t know about you, but this certainly makes me think of what we’re doing right now. In the celebration of Mass, the Lord feeds, the Lord quenches thirst, and the Lord heals.

In the Eucharist, the Lord feeds us with his body and blood, giving us spiritual nourishment for the work of the Gospel and the pilgrimage to heaven. In the Eucharist, the Lord heals us of sinfulness, pride, grief, loneliness, division, and estrangement from God. And in the Eucharist the Lord quenches our thirst for the infinite God—like a dry weary desert, our souls’ thirst for Him, and here that thirst is quenched.

Commenting particularly on the healing properties of the Eucharist, Pope Francis, said a few years ago, that the Eucharist is “powerful medicine for the weak”. We have many weaknesses: fear in preaching the Gospel, timidity in doing the work of the Lord, weaknesses of the flesh, the lack of willingness to suffer for Christ, temptations to sin, concupiscence. And the Eucharist is medicine for these weaknesses. Those who deprive themselves of the Eucharist, refusing to go to mass, deprive themselves of real medicine the Lord wishes to apply to their souls.

The Eucharist is also medicine for the greatest of our weaknesses: mortality.

Writing soon before his own death, St. Ignatius of Antioch, writing to the Ephesians said that the Eucharist is the “medicine of immortality… the antidote which wards off death.” It “yields continuous life in union with Jesus Christ.”

Today and whenever we come to Mass, we do well to consider: what is the work for which the Lord wants to nourish us, what are the weaknesses the Lord wants to strengthen, what are the wounds he wants to heal?

May our souls be well disposed to the grace of the food from heaven, the food that strengthens, the food that heals, the food that quenches for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

We have gathered here dear brethren to celebrate the mysteries of our redemption; let us therefore ask almighty God that the whole world may be watered from these springs of all blessing and life.

 

For those who are deprived of the Eucharist, for lapsed Catholics, for the unbelieving, for those who doubt the Lord’s real presence, for those who have hardened their hearts toward God, and for a deeper appreciation of the great gift of the Eucharist among all God’s people. Let us pray to the Lord.

That young people will be blessed with good Christian example from their parents and fellow Christians, and that the word of God might be cherished, studied, and practiced in every Christian home.

During and following this month of October, dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary, Catholics may take up this devotion with renewed vigor and trust in Our Lady’s never-failing intercession.

For the healing of all those afflicted with physical, mental, emotional illness, for those in hospitals, nursing homes, hospice care, those struggling with addictions, for those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for deceased clergy and religious, for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

 

May your mercy, we beseech you, O Lord, be with your people who cry to you, so that what they seek at your prompting they may obtain by your ready generosity.

30th Week in Ordinary Time 2025 - Wednesday - How many will be saved? (school mass)

 

Last week, I was able to visit the kindergarten, first grade, third grade, fifth grade, and seventh grade, and I was able to share a bit about my priestly calling—how I discerned and came to know that God was calling to me to be a priest.

In the first reading today, St. Paul talks about our calling—how each one of us are called to particular purpose. Each one of us, every single one of us here, every person ever born has purpose—a God-given purpose.

On one hand, we all have the same purpose—God gave us life—so that we might become holy and live with him for ever. Why did God make you? “God made you to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.” Next time I visit the classrooms, I might ask, you to repeat that answer: “Why did God make you? “God made you to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.”

In the Gospel, Jesus is asked a question, that very much relates to the purpose for which we are made. Jesus is asked, “how many people will be saved?” “How many people will fulfill that purpose for which they were made? How many people will choose to seek to know God, love God, and serve God, and come to that place prepared for them, so that they can be happy forever?” What’s the number? Of all the humans from the beginning of time to the end of time will fulfill the purpose for which they were made?

And notice, Jesus did not give a number. He didn’t say, oh, about half, or 99% or 1%. How did he answer? “Strive to enter the narrow gate. For many won’t make it, so make sure you do”

Many will be lost. Many will fail to fulfill their purpose. Many will fail to get to heaven. Why? Because they choose not to strive to get there.

So, make sure you do. Make sure you seek to know God, love God, and serve God as well as you possibly can.

Again this is why we have a Catholic school, this is why we have Catholic parishes, so that souls like you and me can come to discover how God is calling each of us to be holy. May we make good use of the time we have been given, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2025 - Priesthood Sunday - Humble Trust & Risks for God

 

A few years ago, for my new year’s resolution, I attempted to learn how to play the violin. I grew up playing a little bit of piano and trumpet and sang in the choir in high school and in seminary; so, I was pretty familiar with reading music, and figured, how hard could the violin really be? So, I got a hold of a violin, and realized pretty quickly that if I was going to progress in this instrument, I was going to need to take some lessons: I didn’t even know if I was holding the thing correctly.

And I have to admit, those first few violin lessons, were very humbling. I admitted to my violin teacher that I was a bit uncomfortable and embarrassed: a grown adult, a priest, several college degrees, and I could barely get through “Mary Had a Little Lamb” without the violin sounding like I was torturing some poor animal.

After several months there was some progression and I decided that I had fulfilled my new year’s resolution. But, I really have to admit: those first few weeks, were very humbling, and very uncomfortable. The violin didn’t care about my degrees, about the time I spent visiting the sick, or teaching in the classroom. And to sit with this professional violin player was kind of embarrassing. I felt like a little child.

But, I’m so glad I risked a little embarrassment, because now I can pick up the violin every now and then—one of my favorite musical instruments—and enjoy playing it a bit.

You may have had a similar experience: learning a new skill always involves that initial moment when you feel a bit like a child. But that’s not a bad thing: children are often much more courageous than adults. They don’t worry about what people think of them, they just engage. They’ll try new things because they look fun. They play without self-regard. They quickly make new friends—they are able to do things that many adults would be humiliated over doing—but that’s the key to their joy isn’t it…not fearing humiliation.

Would we honor Saint Francis of Assisi, if he had allowed his fears of what others thought of him to control his life? If he worried about being considered “overly religious”? Or St. Paul, what if he had allowed his fear of leaving his home country keep him from his missionary journeys. Or Saint Clare? What if she let social pressures keep her from leaving behind her family wealth to pursue radical holiness. So many of the great Saints risk humiliation, they risk failure, they risk mockery, in order to pursue true greatness.

Many of our young people do not consider entering the religious life or going to the seminary because of social and even family pressure “What will they think of me if I joined the monastery.” But, in the Christian life, each one of us absolutely needs to ask ourselves: do I want to be great in the eyes of the world, or in the eyes of God?

I pray that fear—fear of being considered “overly religious”—is not keeping anyone here from becoming more active in the life of holiness and the life of the parish. The parish needs your creativity; the Church needs you to take risks for God.

When I first started considering my priestly vocation and I visited the seminary for the first time as a freshman in college—what deeply impressed me most of all—was that here were men my age—and I was just 18 years old at the time—men my age willing to take a risk for God—not for themselves, but for Christ and His Church. And these were talented, smart, athletic young men who could go on to be very successful businessmen and find beautiful wives and have happy families if they wanted. None of them HAD to go to seminary. But I tell you, for myself, and for many of those men who are now priests, the risk has paid off. Because it’s not really a risk when the one you are trusting is God. God is the great “Guaranteer”. It’s guaranteed that what you give to God will be blessed and multiplied. And I hope that you believe that. That you will be blessed in this life and in the next, when you entrust your time, talent, treasure, and life to God for the good of the mission of the Church.

Since 2003, in the United States, the last Sunday of October has been designated Priesthood Sunday, an opportunity for us to pray for vocations to the priesthood and to consider the role of the priesthood.

But, where do priestly vocations come from? From family members pushing their sons to consider seminary? Maybe. Family support is helpful. But I think on a deeper level vocations come from humble trust—trust, that when we put God first, we are blessed. It comes from asking personally, “God how are you calling me, personally to serve the mission of the Church” That’s what needs to be cultivated in families. Openness to serving in whatever way God calls you to.

That’s a major reason why I left my pastorate of St. Ignatius of Antioch to come here. I was happy there. It was challenging, but I like challenges: a country boy in the inner city surrounded by homelessness, drug problems, crime, gang violence, prostitution, poverty. But when the Bishop asked me to come here—and he did ask, he didn’t command—when he asked, I believe God speaks through the bishop to his priests, to all of us. And amidst the challenges of these last four months, I’ve had to call that to mind once or twice—to recall that with the challenges of the two parishes—the needs of the parishes in 2025, I have to trust God.

Where is God calling you to humbly trust Him—with your time, energy, ability—in your prayer life, your civic life, your family life, your leisure time, your involvement in the parish?

“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” Don’t you want to be exalted by God? Then follow where he calls. Humbly trust, that what you have to offer IS what the Father desires to be entrusted back to Him.

May God bless our priests, on this priesthood Sunday. And may he guide and strengthen all of us in His service, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.