Living Monstrance

Pope John Paul II’s autobiography is called Witness to Hope. What does that phrase mean, “witness to hope”?
Some friends of mine evangelize out in public. They have some big signs, even a speaker and a mike, and they set up in a spot in downtown Boston or Cambridge and hand out “tracts” and [...]

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I used to date a wonderful woman who I loved. At Christmas we would get each other gifts, and so one year she was surprised when I put one giant box wrapped in Christmas paper under her parents’ Christmas tree. That’s it: nothing else but a giant box. The days before Christmas, [...]

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Last spring I was doing small projects at my parents’ house. I had put in a new window well around one of the basement windows, and when I started to look at that whole side of the house, I thought, I might as well re-do the whole trim around the perimeter. It was [...]

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The group photo from the consecration at St. Clement Eucharistic Shrine on August 14, the memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe and the Vigil of the Assumption.

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I have never run a marathon in my life.  One year I began my “training” for the Boston Marathon in July.  I had new sneakers and a new dream.   Well, my training ended in November when it got much too cold for me.  So much for that.
Some of you may have run a marathon, and [...]

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As a Minister of Holy Communion in the hospital, I had the privilege to visit many people who came from all types of backgrounds and were in all types of situations.  I would see joy, sorrow, pain, relief, the whole gamut of emotions it seems.  But the greatest sadness I ever saw was from a [...]

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I had the privilege of volunteering as a Minister of Holy Communion in a Boston hospital for several years.  The hospital is a place where many people experience great darkness in life.  It is also a place where the Lord does some of the greatest things.
One day, before making visits, I decided to go to [...]

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I was recently visiting friends who have two children.  It is beautiful and amazing to see children grow into their own personalities.
After we all had dinner together, we went into the living room and their little daughter Maura began to show us all how she can now write.  She took her seat in the little [...]

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April Fool’s Day is a good day to hear about fools.  Let me tell you about two.
The first fool entered a Subway shop with his friends one day.  He proceeded to gather all of his friends, his fellow customers, and all the employees into one giant circle in the middle of the sub shop and [...]

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For a few months as a Franciscan, I lived in Lawrence, the poorest city in Massachusetts.  It’s a perfect place to be with the Lord.
One little 5-yr-old girl in the neighborhood, Darlene, had come to look up to me as a friar.  Whenever the friars had functions for the neighborhood children, she always stayed close [...]

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