Welcome to the XVI Sunday of Ordinary Time. The central themes of today’s readings are the importance of hospitality in Chris- tian life and the necessity of listening to God before acting. The key to the Christian life is setting priorities: Jesus Christ first, then everything else. The only way to really learn that lesson…

There are a number of fairytales about people who helped others and who were greatly rewarded as a result. In the story of Beauty and the Beast, a wicked witch curses a handsome prince and changes him into an ugly monster. He remains that way until a beautiful princess comes along and changes him back…

Let me tell you a story: “A young man was very excited because he just won a ticket to the Super Bowl. His excitement lessened as he realized his seat was in the back of the stadium. As he searched the rows ahead of him for a better seat, he saw an empty one right…

Happy Corpus Christi! The last two precious gifts given to us by Jesus are the Holy Eucharist as our spiritual food on Holy Thursday and Jesus’ mother Mary as our spiritual mother on Good Friday. Corpus Christi reminds us of the abiding presence of our loving God as Emmanuel (God with us), which is celebrated…

There is a very old and much-repeated story about St. Augustine, one of the intellectual giants of the Church. He was walking by the seashore one day, attempting to conceive of an intelligible explanation for the mystery of the Trinity. As he walked along, he saw a small boy on the beach, pouring seawater from…

Pentecost literally means 50th. It is a feast celebrated on the 50th day after the Passover feast by the Jews and a feast celebrated on the 50th day after the feast of the Resurrection of Jesus by Christians. What did really happen on the day of Pentecost: the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and…