…from your Pastor’s Desk The Eucharist and SCUBA People have commented that when I raise the Host after Consecration, I hold it up longer than most priests. Well, if I do, I am not doing it for dramatic effect! When I hold up the Eucharist after Consecration, you and I spend a moment in adoration. At that moment I know that you…

…from your Pastor’s Desk Beyond Human Reasoning The Holy Trinity, today’s feast, is quite beyond human reasoning. “Two is company, three is a crowd” is a popular expression. But the New Testament would have it otherwise. There, the figure three symbolizes completeness and perfect symmetry. The figure three appears at all the key moments of the Christ story: Three at the nativity…

…from your Pastor’s Desk HAPPY BIRTHDAY! A few years back, we had a very cool conflation of celebrations. Mother’s Day and Pentecost were on the same day. And, as was brought to my attention just before mass that day, a mother and her daughter were both celebrating their birthdays on that same day! A mother’s birthday has a special appeal. It usually…

…from your Pastor’s Desk Ascension Day Parting messages have their own impact. The last words said by someone moving away or even going away for a long time hold special places in our hearts. I remember numerous deployments I went on in my years of military service and how touching the words were between husband and wife and parent and child. I…

…from your Pastor’s Desk It is safe to say that for many of you who are reading this, both parents are deceased.My father died in 1997 – I was 42. My mother in 2009 – I was 54. Not a child by a long shot, but one of my friends said to me at my mom’s funeral, ‘So, how does it feel…

…from your Pastor’s Desk As I sit down to write this, looking out my office window I see the trellis covered with roses. Dozens and dozens. Also, beautiful Wisteria, one of my personal favorites. It’s May! May has been a favorite time of year for many Catholics. The month of May, which started last Monday, is dedicated to The Blessed Virgin Mary.…

…from your Pastor’s Desk Celebrating First Holy Communion and Confirmation Some of the happiest moments priests have are to see members of their flock receive Sacraments for the first time. Knowing the many, many hours, even years, of classes and preparation it takes and finally coming to that moment, well, there is nothing quite like it. Since I spent a good deal…

…from your Pastor’s Desk On The Road to …Santa Rosa * This is a ‘Work of Fiction’ inspired by a writing of a favorite Jesuit, John Foley. A modern-day allegory based loosely on the Road to Emmaus Scripture Story …today’s Gospel. This ‘story’ takes place March 22, 2020. Two days after the first ‘Lock-Down’ Remember what was happening then. So, you and…

…from your Pastor’s Desk “Thinking Thomas” – No Doubt. There is something to be said for doubt at times. It is a good thing to be able to doubt oneself, provided it doesn’t become an addiction that cripples us; to doubt one’s ideas, one’s principles, one’s work and to doubt much of what we hear. Although religion can provide emotionally unstable people…