Living Monstrance

The Franciscan community I lived with for a while did not have any money or means of transportation.  So, for long distances, we used different ways of getting around.  One of them was hitchhiking.
That might sound risky at first, but when you are serving the Lord, He provides.  We saw only great goodness and generosity [...]

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I am living at my parents’ house right now.  The neighborhood is pretty good, a lot of families.  I guess you would call it middle-class, or working class.  But there is something that stands out - sort of.  The next-door neighbor has an early 80’s Buick Regal that has been planted in the same spot [...]

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I taught high school mathematics and chemistry for a brief time.  Now, before the school year began, there was an orientation that lasted a few days for new students.  So, this was my real beginning with the students.  “Nice,” I thought.  “We’ll ramp up slowly.”
At that first day, a mother of one of the new [...]

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Recently, my mother told me a story about my brother and me when we were little kids.  He was about 4 and I was about 2, and it was Advent.  She had just put together an artificial Christmas tree.  Remember those things?  Shiny and silver and gaudy?  You assemble it branch by branch.  It’s actually painstaking [...]

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As a Franciscan postulant, I got to tag along with another postulant on a parish mission that the priests and brothers were giving.  We postulants got the easy part - spending the day in the parish school.  Well, torture for some people, but for me a gift.
In one class of seventh-graders, my brother postulant was leading an interactive discussion [...]

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When I played basketball in high school, our team didn’t win much.  In my last year, we won only twice in the twenty games we played.  But there was one thing we were good at.  It’s called “taking the charge.”
What is “taking the charge”?  Well, let’s say that the other team has a very good [...]

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For over 10 years I tutored high school students in my local town in math and physics.  It is a privilege to help out young people who are struggling with their studies.  I would go to their home and help them with their latest homework.  I met some wonderful families, and some were friends already.
One [...]

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It was Friday, last period, study hall.  My friend Brian and I were ninth-graders waiting for the end of the school year, and now seemed a good time to put together a prank.  You know how 15-year-olds are.  Some restless idle time together and rebellious plots are hatched.
We decided that it would be funny if [...]

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When I was about 5 years old, my parents took the family one day to the beach. Now, I don’t remember much about being five years old, but I do know that my family couldn’t often get to the beach, so this was a special day.
So anyways, I decided, of course like any normal little [...]

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Picture 40 little second graders running around outside at recess in a schoolyard.  Picture a basketball hoop.  Picture a basketball on the ground.  Who wants to take bets on whether any of the little ones can get that basketball through the hoop?  Good luck!
Now, picture a 36-yr-old former high-school basketball player and coach, now postulant [...]

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