This past summer we were at the beach celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary with all of our family… 10 kids, spouses, and 38 grandchildren…. 59 total. It was a wonderful week. One day I was up early enough to see the sun rise. It was a beautiful and magnificent dawn. I love the passage from Luke 1:78-79 … Continue reading The Dawn From On High →

There was a popular TV sitcom back in the late  ‘80’s called “Cheers” It was about the lives of some characters who frequented a bar in Boston. Every week the show began with a catchy theme song with the refrain  “Sometimes you want to go… where everybody knows your name…”.  That little tune captured something. … Continue reading Someone Knows My Name →

Have you ever been really surprised, I mean really shocked…in a pleasant way? Remember when Eli Manning hit David Tyree with that impossible pass in the final two minutes of Superbowl XLII…. against the Patriots.  I jumped so high, I almost hit my head on the ceiling. We were screaming with joy. I’ve had a … Continue reading Easter Sunday – What A Surprise! →

I recently saw that Mel Gibson is making a sequel to the Passion of the Christ movie, titled “The Resurrection”. In an interview Gibson mentioned the movie will explore, among many things, “when Jesus descended into hell”. I’ve often pondered what that was like…the time between Jesus’s death on the cross until his resurrection. Not … Continue reading Holy Saturday – A Lot Going On →

Holy Thursday is great! There is almost too much to fit into a single day. When all the kids were home, at around 5:00pm we would begin with the seder meal, (unleavened bread, haroseth, lamb, bitter herbs, wine)  symbolizing the Jews’ exodus from Egypt. The youngest child would always ask, “why do we celebrate this … Continue reading Holy Thursday – What A Day →

Some of you may remember the movie “Scarlet and the Black” in which Msgr. Hugh O’Flaherty of the Vatican battles the SS officer Herbert Kappler during the Nazi occupation of Rome. Kappler was a brutal murderer. At the end of the war Kappler was sentenced to life imprisonment as a war criminal. He was visited … Continue reading What About Judas? →

A good friend of mine played the role of Thomas Moore in a rendition of “Man For All Seasons”. He did a very good job, but I knew he wasn’t Thomas More. He was playing Thomas Moore. Too often I can find that the words of the Passion seem too familiar. I’ve heard them many … Continue reading Drama Of The Universe →

Gratitude can be a puzzling thing at times. Sometimes, I know I should be grateful for something or someone but it’s mainly in my head, not in my heart. I may say thank you and actually mean it, but I’m not doing any “backflips”. A few years ago I was in the ICU for 5 … Continue reading Why Should I Say “Thanks”? →

Here we are at Palm Sunday. We’ve  never experienced a Lent like this current one. Holy Week begins tomorrow. It is one week until Easter. While my heart is trying to focus on Lent and Holy Week, my mind is still swirling around with “normalcy having left town”.  So, what should we do… how should … Continue reading Palm Sunday, A Mirage? →

I recently read that “laughter strengthens your immune system, boosts mood, diminishes pain, and protects you from the damaging effects of stress.” If that’s true then this is really a good time to laugh. I still remember coming home from classes at St. Louis U. with a lot of stress from carrying 20 semester hours … Continue reading Did Jesus Ever Laugh? →