My pilgrimage to the Holy Land was such a pre-Lenten retreat. It really was a very memorable moment for a deeper reflection and meditation on the Bible, particularly the Gospels texts on the life of Jesus in the New Testament. Visiting the Holy Land, Rome and the pilgrimage sites of Mary are my three favorite places to visit anytime I am able for one reason: The pilgrimage to the Holy Land draws you closer to Jesus, while visiting Rome makes you love the Church more. Also, my devotion and love to Mother Mary becomes stronger anytime I visit a Marian apparition site. Click title for full column.

There will be five weeks of Sunday Adoration at OLR during Lent.  March 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29 will have one hour of Adoration between the 9:00 am and 11:30 am Masses. 

WWPR 2020 Fish Fry season starts this Friday!!!!! Click title for full schedule.

Wednesday, February 26 8:30 am: Our Lady of the Rosary, Mass 12:10 pm: St. Matthias, Mass 3:30 pm: OLR, Ash Distribution Service 7:00 pm: St. James of the Valley, Mass 7:00 pm: St. Matthias, Spanish Mass

One of the most important yet most difficult lessons I have had to learn time and again in my life is that God always wants more for me than I want for myself. I try to convince myself that I’m much more complex than this, but often when I reflect on choices I have made or disappointments in my life, I am ultimately just a child who takes greater pleasure in the box a gift comes in rather than the gift itself. I remember reading a humorous pitch for a reality show a few years ago where you watch a toddler choose between a check for $10,000 and five dollars’ worth of plastic toys while the kid’s parents watch from a soundproof booth. I found it simultaneously hilarious and a profound reflection on how little we are willing to settle for. Click title for full column.

Tomorrow at 6:30 PM – 11 PM St. James of the Valley Catholic Church 411 Springfield Pike, Wyoming, Ohio 45215 Tickets · $30 www.eventbrite.com Click title for more information.

While still in college I delved deeper into the beautiful but somewhat flaky Catholic tendency to run and hide behind patron saints. Don’t get me wrong, I am as big a supporter as anyone of asking the saints to intercede, especially in particular situations that are related to their lives or ministries on earth. I rarely lose something without sending up a quick prayer to St. Anthony, and I began many a baseball game by asking for St. Sebastian to watch out for me. Even more frequent in my life now, in addition to calling upon the Holy Spirit, is asking for the intercession of St. John Chrysostom and St. Luke before preaching. But one common type of devotion that always amused me was having certain saints to call upon when it was time to take a test. The last refuge of the struggling student, it seems, is prayer. Click title for full column.

One of the fascinating things about languages is how the meaning of words can change and shift radically over a relatively short span of time. There are even some words that bizarrely shift from one meaning to its literal opposite over the course of a century or so. For example, the word “peruse” can mean either to skim through something haphazardly, or to read it thoroughly. Frankly, these kind of shenanigans can be maddening, because language is meant to communicate truth, not obscure it further. Click title for full column.