Living Monstrance

For a while I had the privilege of teaching mathematics in a small high school in Boston. It was my first time teaching and, needless to say, it was a challenge.
Well anyway, after the first round of testing, the results came in. The results were pretty much what I expected: some very good, [...]

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A priest friend of mine invited me the other day to go kayaking on the Charles River in Boston. “Sure,” I said. Even though I pretty much have lived in Boston all my life, I have never kayaked down the Charles. It was a new trip through familiar territory. So, we [...]

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Recently I saw some video tributes to Pope John Paul II on uTube. The thought that I had was, how is it, that this one little man, the leader of the smallest and weakest country in the whole world, is so huge? I mean, everyone in the world knew him and he had [...]

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When I first turned back to the Lord, a certain priest I had sought help from had done much for me, and so one Christmas I planned to get him a gift.  I didn’t want to get money - that’s cheesy, I thought.  I’ll get him something meaningful.
So I asked some of his confreres about [...]

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For a while I volunteered at an assisted living facility in Boston and I had the privilege of taking one of the residents, Jack, for a walk. Now, Jack was blind, so I had a big responsibility. He would wait for me, and I would meet him in the lobby and guide him out the door [...]

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When Jesus sends out his apostles to preach, He sends them out as “sheep in the midst of wolves“.  (Mt 10:16)  Now, sheep cannot defend themselves, and wolves love to feast on sheep.  This looks like a definite suicide mission.  What’s the deal here?
Let me tell a story.  I’ve weighed about 160 pounds since I [...]

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My mother has a giant Divine Mercy image in her room right now.  She is so happy that it’s there, and since it first arrived, she has been very excited about it.
On one of the first days that it was there, she said to me, “You know, that picture is life-size.  If you walk up [...]

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Before I left for Maryland last August to begin with the Franciscans, I had a large image of the Divine Mercy that I wanted to give away.  I had it framed and given to my local parish.  When I came back in February, I looked around the church and didn’t notice it so I asked the [...]

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Right now, my mother has been at home struggling with cancer.  There have been ups and downs, good and bad, but we are all making it, and the Lord is doing great things in our midst.
One of the problems we face is her eating.  Her appetite hasn’t been good, so we have to be creative [...]

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Isn’t it true that everyone wants to be someone, but no one wants to be a no one?  We sort of think that way, that we must be a “one” and not a “zero”, not a nothing.  We are supposed to be all that we can be, a fulfilled, satisfied “someone”.
Aren’t we?
I think that when [...]

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