I saw a commercial last night on television for a very large sandwich chain. They have a special going on where you can get a different sandwich every day of the week for a low price, eliminating the possibility of getting stuck in a routine of eating the same sandwich day after day. And that got me thinking: what if we did the same thing with our prayer lives? Read More
On the Inside; On the Outside
One Sunday morning, I was going through the Lost and Found box in the usher’s room at our church to see if I could find someone’s rosary. I didn’t find any rosary, but there was a pair of glasses, a set of keys, one glove, a watch and many other interesting items. And I couldn’t help but to think of that prayer:
“Tony, Tony, turn around. Something’s lost that must be found.”
It’s a prayer to St. Anthony who is the patron saint of lost items. Read More
If you haven’t had a chance to read the America Magazine interview of Pope Francis, I have included the link here. It is a wonderful insight to our Pope. (http://www.americamagazine.org/pope-interview) One of the things that struck me the most was when the reporter asked him: “Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?” The pope answered, “I am a sinner.” Well if the Pope is a sinner, what does that make me? Our Pope has inspired me to come clean…I too am a sinner! Read More
Today is the feast day of St Ignatius of Antioch. He was the bishop of Antioch in Syria and was the second successor of St. Peter. He was a disciple of the apostle St. John, and also met St. Peter, having probably been ordained by him.
During the reign of Emperor Trajan, Ignatius was sentenced to be thrown to the wild beasts. He was transported in chains to his martyrdom in Rome; along the way, he was met by Christians from nearby places. To these friends, he wrote seven letters, six addressed to some Christian communities and one personal letter to Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna. All seven are most beautiful pearls of our early Christian literature.
Prior to his death in the year 110, he wrote a letter to the Ephesians where he highlighted the following four points, which are still relevant to this very day: Read More
There was an article in our local newspaper a couple of weeks ago that stated that the suburbs now have as many poor people as the city of Chicago. The number of poor in the suburbs has nearly doubled in 20 years from about 323,000 in 1990 to 630,000 in 2011, far outpacing overall population growth in the suburbs. It’s a trend researcher’s call “the suburbanization of poverty.” And this is not just here in Chicago; it’s a nationwide trend.
Poverty is defined based on income of less than $11,484 per year for a single person or less than $23,021 for a family of four. That’s living on $443 a week for rent, food, medicine, transportation, utilities, etc. I’m not sure how anyone can live on that amount in this area. Something has to be done! Read More
This reflection is based on today’s reading from the Book of the Prophet Haggai (1:1-8)
We live in a materialistic world today. Enough is never enough. More than enough is never enough! But this is nothing new. This was the state of affairs in Judah 2,500 years ago. It’s not as if the people of Judah didn’t have what they needed. But instead of seeking after the Lord’s house, they were only concerned with their own. Instead of looking to the Lord’s will, they were only concerned with their own. As a result, they were never really satisfied. Read More
When tenor Luciano Pavarotti was a boy, his father, a baker, introduced him to the wonders of song. He urged him to work very hard to develop his voice. Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in Pavarotti’s hometown of Modena, Italy, took him as a pupil. He also enrolled in a teachers’ college. On graduating, Pavarotti asked his father, “Shall I be a teacher or a singer?” “Luciano”, his father replied, “if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.”
Life is full of choices. Every day we are invited to choose. We choose what we are going to eat, what we are going to wear, how we are going to act, what we are going to do, and where we are going to go. Read More
It’s Thursday morning: I’m working from home as I always do. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I’m on the telephone with a very important customer. Suddenly, the lights begin flashing, my computer monitor flickers and goes black, the lights go out, and my telephone disconnects. Yes, we just took another power hit. (This has been a frequent occurrence lately, primarily due to some road construction that is happening at the end of our block.) So I quickly grab my mobile phone and redial the customer. I was saved by technology after technology nearly did me in. And that got me thinking. Read More
With today being the Memorial of The Passion of St. John the Baptist, the line that always comes to mind from him is, “He must increase while I must decrease.” This has got to be my favorite quote because it always reminds me that it’s never about me, but it’s always about God. (And that is also a great way to pray!)
However, St. Paul prays to the Thessalonians (3:7-13), “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all…to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father.” Read More
As we enter the final week of August (which is going to be a hot one in this neck of the woods), I wanted to pass along this posting from a friend of mine, Fr. Tom Zelinski from the St. Anthony Spirituality Center in Marathon, Wisconsin (http://sarcenter.com/). He truly captures the “heated” topic of the Dog Days of Summer.
This time of year is often referred to as “dog days.” I have been thinking about dogs, whatever the weather might be. Dogs have certain qualities about them that are quite appealing, when they are not suffering from particular doggie neuroses and other troubles. Read More
