Don

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth. That’s the first of the many readings tonight at the vigil service. I thought of the similarity between this reading and the John 1;1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Tonight’s readings begin … Read more

“For this I was born and for this I came into the world,to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” Taken from St. John’s Gospel in today’s liturgy this passage gripped me. “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my … Read more

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall stand at the head of your calendar; you shall reckon it the first month of the year… It is the Passover of the Lord. Taken from the first reading tonight, these phrases signal for me the holiest time of the … Read more

My heart swells with pride and tears rim my eyes as I watch Cardinal McCarrick address a crowd of 200,000 in Washington, D.C. I am not bilingual and I cannot understand what he is saying, but the ear of my heart tells me that he is speaking with passion and he is being well received … Read more

“Judas, you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” I can betray the Son of Man with what I kiss. What am I kissing today that betrays the Son of Man? As I listened to yesterday’s Gospel it became apparent that not just Judas was complicit in his death. We all were. Yesterday, we … Read more

I began my day driving to Mt. Irenaeus. It was a beautiful day, blue and cloudless sky, which is quite unusual in western New York state, much of the time. When I got to the Franciscan Retreat Center I climbed the hill to the chapel. I noticed as I got closer that the assembled congregation … Read more

Paula has a nice post this morning that is taken from today’s gospel. I think we all have alabaster jars that we can give to the Lord. We just don’t recognize the alabaster in our lives. More Light: Just before the Passions Last night I read this same passage of scripture and again this morning … Read more

I just read a very disturbing piece that was written by Seymour Hersh in which he describes in detail plans that are being drawn up at this moment for a nuclear attack on Iran. This pre-emptive strike is being planned by the Bush Administration to negate the growing threat of an Iranian nuclear presence. Naturally … Read more

“The only way to get rid of misconceptions about contemplation is to experience it. One who does not actually know, in his own life, the nature of this breakthrough and this awakening to a new level of reality cannot help being misled by most of the things that are said about it. For contemplation cannot … Read more

Thursday night I gathered with two friars, three secular franciscans and two St. Bonaventure University students to present and evening that was entitled, “Prayer, fasting and almsgiving in a Modern World.” The group of us are part of an outreach to local parishes from the Mount Irenaeus Franciscan Retreat. The total group including us was … Read more