God is Simple and so was the First Christmas
Dear Brothers and Sisters: At daybreak one Saturday in early December in 1531, Juan Diego was on his way to pray. When he came near a hill called Tepeyac dawn had already come, and he heard someone calling him, ‘Juanito, Juan Dieguito.” He saw a woman of great grandeur whose clothing was a bright as…
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Be Watchful at all Times in Advent
Dear Brothers and Sisters, I was happy to hear that some stores closed for Black Friday and even one store had its shopping cart closed, which did not stop others from buying $2.7 billion of goods that day. During the same time Pope Francis was visiting one of the largest slums outside of Nairobi, Kenya…
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Advent Weekday Email – Monday, November 30, 2015
Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle Andrew was the brother of Peter (prince of the apostles, first pope) who announced the Gospel in Greece and was crucified on an X shaped cross. He and Peter were the first called to be followers of Jesus Christ. The Letter to the Romans (10: 15-17) says, ‘How beautiful are…
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You Will be Like Stars that Shine Forever
Brothers and Sisters: Saint Frances Cabrini was the tenth of eleven children and was born two months premature in 1850 in a small town outside of Milan. Only four of the children survived. Her parents were good Catholics and her father read to her the stories of the missionaries in China and for this reason…
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Hold Fast to the Saints
Dear Brothers and Sisters, We had the great fortune last week to celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints on a Sunday and so it gave us time to reflect on where we are going in life. The tomb of St. Peter can be seen today in Rome several stories beneath the altar of St. Peter’s…
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Can You Drink of the Cup I Will Drink?
Dear Brothers and Sisters: Sister Marianne Cope was born in Germany in 1838 and immigrated to the Syracuse, NY area with her family the next year. At the age of twenty-four she entered the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis at Syracuse, New York. Later on as Superior General of her congregation, Mother Marianne willingly…
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How to Enter the Kingdom of Heaven
Dear Brothers and Sisters, God appeared to Solomon in a dream shortly after he was anointed King of Israel just before his father David died. God said, ‘Ask what you would like me to give you.’ Solomon replied, ‘Give me a heart to understand how to govern your people, and how to discern good from…
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Marriage and Family Life is a Calling
Dear Brothers and Sisters: Recovering from the trip of Pope Francis we have a chance to reflect a bit more on some of the things he said about the family, especially since it relates so much to our readings this week which are about the Great Sacrament of Marriage. The Pope said at the Family…
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These Are Prophetic Times
Dear Brothers and Sisters: Surely we have seen a prophet in our midst with Pope Francis last week. How blessed we are to have prophetic figures leading our Church over the last fifty years or more: Pope Benedict, Saint John Paul II, Blessed Paul VI and Saint John XXIII. It has not always been this…
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Can That Kind of Faith Save Him?
Dear Brothers and Sisters: My father was diagnosed with cancer in 1993 on the 4th of July weekend and by the end of October he was dead. It was a beautiful death in many ways, surrounded by his wife and five sons; it was a supernatural moment for all of us. During this time I remember…
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