Christmas Homily
Christmas Homily this Sunday in the bayou. Music credit to Sufjan Stevens' "Lo! How a Rose E'er Blooming."
Why Catholic Men are Bored in Church
Although Colorado’s Supermax is the federal prison that is featured on all the TLC shows, Colorado’s death row for our homegrown felons is actually on the Eastern Plains. For my second assignment as a priest, I was sent to a parish containing within her bounds that very Correctional Facility. Upon arrival, I had a plan to reach not just the Catholics, but all the semi-professed Christians at the prison. I would hold a Bible Study called “What the First Christians Believed,” but not write “By Padre Peregrino” on the flyer. It was an immediate success. Many people from all denominations arrived. Great discussion ensued for the first two weeks. However, one non-dom felon with too much time on his hands (imagine that in America’s prisons) had learned…Hebrew. By week three, he jumped on my smallest inference to the Catholic faith, [...]
Rorate Coeli Sunday
What is the difference between humility and meekness and timidity on one hand, and boldness and arrogance on the other?
Ignatian Meditation: You meeting the Christ Child
This is the second half of an Advent mission that I gave tonight in Louisiana before the exposed Blessed Sacrament. It is a led meditation of discursive mental prayer that I gave improv, but it is given according to the style of St. Ignatius and St. Teresa of Avila. This recording is one of my only podcasts that I would suggest doing in a quiet place for the sake of the prayer required. It is the type of prayer that changed the life of St. Francis Xavier when he was led in this personal way by St. Ignatius of Loyola, over 500 years ago.
Gaudete Sunday Homily
Gaudete Sunday is a rest during the pilgrimage of longing.
Immaculate Conception Homily
How did God make Mary's soul? How did God make Mary's body? Both happened at the moment of her Immaculate Conception.
The Four Cardinals and the Dubia
This is a talk I gave tonight on the Cardinals confrontation of Amoris Laetitia.
Were the Apostles Buffoons before Pentecost?
I must admit that there is something attractive and even accurate to the thesis that the Apostles were buffoons before they had the full transformation that happened at Pentecost. First, Mother Angelica points out that they never seemed to catch anything on their own even as fishermen! "Jesus chose a bunch of stinky fishermen" she reminds us as to why God chose someone like her to be a cloistered-evangelist to the nations in founding EWTN. We have Christ's disciples' obvious sins, like Peter's threefold denial of Jesus. And yet, after the Resurrection, Jesus does not say "Peter, about denying me three nights ago...You can still remain my disciple, but I'm going to have to pass-along this whole first-Pope thing." No. After the threefold denial, Jesus gives Peter on that Sunday beach of the resurrection a full three attempts to move from simply liking [...]
1st Sunday of Advent: Tithing
Advent is a mini-Lent, and part of this is fasting, prayer and almsgiving. We will see how St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that tithing needs to be reached before almsgiving is assessed by the Christian.