In The Two Popes, Benedict XVI and Francis watch a World Cup soccer match between their home countries, Germany and Argentina. That is fiction. In reality, however, Francis was a big fan. In his homily one World Youth Day he proclaimed, “Jesus offers us something bigger than the World Cup! He offers us the possibility […]
Just as our church has annual holy days to honor noble saints so does our nation have annual holidays to honor noble citizens. As we approach Martin Luther King Day (January 19), we’ll be reminded that it is not supposed to be a day off but a day on; some think of it not as […]
As we reach the twelfth day of Christmas, it is with a little sadness. Traditionally, it marks the time to turn off holiday lights and pack away decorations giving way to a new year and a return to ordinary life. The Bible’s final Christmas story is of the Magi, the three wise men who come […]
Each year, Catholics commemorate aspects of the early life of Jesus on various feasts during the Twelve Days of Christmas. Included therein is the Gospel story of His family’s flight into Egypt as immigrants who sought asylum from terror in their home country. In modern America, as well as many places around the globe, we […]
Wanda Bencke wrote the poem, “My First Christmas in Heaven,” after her child died on Christmas Day, 1997. It has helped millions of people who have lost loved ones during the holiday season to deal with sadness and emptiness that overtakes them while the world celebrates. Here are her words: I see the countless Christmas […]
When growing up, I had lots of cousins. There were about fifty of us on my father’s side of the family. Jimmy was five or six years older than me; I was close with his sister, Jeanne, who was more my age. He had three older brothers and, like them, was well rounded, handsome, and […]
Advent is a time to believe in impossible things. Prophetic writers foretell of a virgin birth, and scriptural passages that dominate our liturgical gatherings this month offer scenes in which wolf and lamb, lion and goat, leopard and calf coexist in peace. Though it is not impossible to conceive of a world where predator and […]
Advent means the Coming or Arrival. Each year Christians join in a four-week, end of calendar, spiritual journey. But it is a little difficult for us to comprehend exactly what is coming, whether it comes now, or only at the journey’s end. I’ll start with the coming of light that dispels the darkness of suffering […]
This thanksgiving weekend marked a milestone in the life of Saint Therese Little Flower Parish in Kansas City: our one hundredth anniversary. The rock band, Five for Fighting, in their turn-of-the-century hit song, 100 Years, sang “I’m ninety-nine for a moment and dying for just one more moment, but I’m moving on and counting the […]
In Bob Dylan’s pensive ballad, “Not Dark Yet,” he reflects upon a once great relationship that is not quite over and, at the same time, muses about the end of life or our relationship with human existence. He suggests that, even at the tail end or waning moments, we can do things to save ourselves […]
UPON THIS ROCK 