Sunday, January 30, 2011

Mount of Beatitudes


Today we hear from Matthew 5:1-12 the Beatitudes. I remember visiting the mount of beatitudes, it was a wonderful time and a time that really deepened my spiritual life. While there I grew in deeper appreciation for chapters 5-7 of Matthew, and I still often go back and read over these chapters. I would encourage all of you also to open up the Bible and read these chapters from Matthew, I guarantee you that it will inspire you to look at your life, and make some changes.
Below is my homily for today. As I mentioned before, sometimes with homilies you wish you could go back and change some things, but this is the final product. I hope that it helps you out in some way.




Friday, January 21, 2011

Pray for Life

         Tomorrow, as many of you know, is the 38th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade. The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis will have a prayer service at 10:30 and then have a march for life from the Cathedral to the Capitol tomorrow. If you can make it down there, that would be great and here is a link with more information.
 Also, this day should be observed in all the dioceses of the United States as a particular day of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right of life, and penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion. Please make sure to pray for the respect of all life, and offer up some sort of penance, either through giving up something for the day, or offering up more prayers, like a rosary or divine mercy chaplet.
Saint Gianna Beretta Molla:
Pray for us.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Here I Am Lord





Below is  my homily, which uses the song Here I am Lord as a reference. Have a great Sunday.



 The homily starts around the 20 second mark.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Vocation Awareness

It’s the end of National Vocation Awareness week, and I hope that everyone this week has looked at their own life, and seen where they believe God is calling them. Also, I hope that you have encouraged others to think about their vocation. I know that I started to think about the priesthood when I was in second grade and always had it in the back of my mind. However, if I did not have people encouraging me throughout the years, I’m not sure that I would have had the courage or strength to actually go and check out the seminary. Some of the people that helped out were family members and friends, but there were many other people, that would just ask if I had thought about the priesthood, including someone famous.

When I was in high school, I worked at United Hospital in St. Paul at the reception desk for the medicine care center. I had the habit of asking any priest that I saw what their name was and also what parish they served. One Saturday afternoon someone came up to me wearing clerics asking where a certain patient’s room was. So, once I gave him the information, I asked the man who I assumed was a priest, what his name was and where he served. He responded that he was Archbishop Harry Flynn and that he was the Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Now, of course I should have known this, seeing as he was the one who confirmed me and I even knew what he looked like, but I just did not expect to see him at the hospital. After being thoroughly embarrassed I told him that it was great to see him and to have a nice day and away he went. However, after he was done visiting the patient he walked by again and asked me what my name was and what parish I was at. I told him my name and that my family belonged to St. Joseph’s in West St. Paul. Archbishop Flynn responded that he was glad to meet me, and then he just asked me, point-blank, if I had thought about the priesthood. I told him that I had, and he said that was good and then assured me of his prayers. Now, this was not the only time someone had asked me about the priesthood, but it sure made me think about it a little more.

So, what’s the main point behind this? If you think that someone is called to the priesthood or to become a sister, don’t be afraid to ask them if they have thought about it. It’s never hard to tell someone that they would make a good mother or a father, but for some reason we have a hard time saying this when it comes to other vocations. Don’t hold back, you never know, it may help that person explore their vocation even more, which we are all called to do. Also, here is a link to the Archdiocesan vocation page, please check it out.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Baptism of the Lord

Sorry for the delay in posting. You could say that I have been fairly busy this week with funerals and other things that keep a priest busy. However, I also have been busy trying to figure out how to post my homilies on this blog, without any success. So, it is my plan (and we all know that plans can change), to post my Sunday homily on this blog every week, starting with the homily that I gave today for the Baptism of the Lord. As all homilies go, there are always certain things that you wish you could have added, or in some cases taken out, but this is what was preached to the people, and I always pray that it can influence at least one person, and hopefully also influence you.
St John Vianney:
Pray For Us.


The Homily starts around the 17 Second Mark.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year


Bellow is part of an article I wrote for the Knights of Columbus newsletter, I hope you enjoy it.
Now that we are in the beginning of the year I’m sure that a few of us have started our New Year resolutions, like losing a little weight or quitting a vice. This is good to do, but as we know the most challenging part of this resolution is that it is not something that can happen overnight, rather it is a thing that takes progress, sometimes even years, and this can be hard to deal with. So, what usually happens is that people have a great resolution and then slip up one day, and never get back to working on their resolution.
Of course the main resolution that we should make is to be more like Christ in everything we do. However, we know that we are going to fail at this many times in our life. So, what I would encourage you to do is to make this resolution every morning when you wake up; to be like Christ in everything you do that day. What being a Christian entails is not only that we believe in Christ, but that we follow Him and try to be like Him. Every day we have to recommit to being a Christian, and make it our goal to be like Christ. May this New Year be full of many blessings and may you truly grow closer to Christ.