As our students return to school, often with new devices, it is a good time to revisit the lessons stressed through Safe Haven Sunday. Whether it is a laptop, cell phone, gaming device, or something else, it is always helpful to be aware of how to keep our students safe. I don’t share this repetitively to spread fear, but rather to make sure we are aware of the dangers out there looking for our students. It is all about keeping them securely in the light and mercy of Jesus Christ. It is all about supporting parents in love to set up boundaries to protect children. Click title for full column.

One of the small pleasures of a life informed by the liturgical life of the Church is when a number of great saints’ feast days pile up, one after the other. There is the sustained joy of special seasons like Easter or Christmas, but the one-off celebrations of particular saints gives us great opportunities to marvel at and strive for different graces and virtues throughout the year. We are in one such stretch right now, with Pope St. Pius X, St. Bartholomew, the Queenship of the Blessed Mother, and St. Bernard of Clairvaux all cropping up in a five-day span. Click title for full column.

Happy Solemnity of the Assumption of our Blessed Mother, body and soul, into Heaven! Today’s first reading from the Book of Revelation contains a critical reminder and a caution while reading the Bible. While chapters verses, and section headings are super helpful, they are not original to the text. I could not imagine trying to track down specific passages from the Bible if we did not have chapters and verses. However, we must be cautious as they are not part of Divine Inspiration and can impact how we read the Sacred Scriptures. Revelation 11 and 12 are a perfect example of this. By separating these chapters, it is easy to fall into the trap that the author has moved onto a new topic. However, chapter 11 is a building crescendo into chapter 12. Here is the Scripture itself without verses and the chapter break: Click on title for full column.

Friends, I knew, even when I entered seminary, that if I ended up being a priest, I would find myself in a great many situations that overwhelmed me, situations in which I would need total reliance on God. But a theoretical understanding and lived experience are two completely different things. I have had the opportunity to learn deeper trust in God through studies, learning Spanish, working with the bereaved and the suffering, becoming a pastor, and the list goes on. But the looming challenges and opportunities of the Beacons of Light initiative in the Archdiocese seem, at the outset, to be perhaps the biggest test yet, not only in my priesthood, but for a great many of the faithful. With that in mind, I want to reiterate the process of what we will find out, when we will hear it, and what we can do to give input at the proper time. I preached on this last weekend, and I am planning on doing so this weekend as well, but an abundance of communication about this is necessary, especially when going over the nuts and bolts. Click title for full column.