#10 New Year Reflections: The Name of Christian 1-3-2026
“Different men have different names, which they owe to their paretns or to themselves, that is, to their own pursuits and achievements. But our great pursuit, the great name we wanted, was to be Christians, to be called Christians.” (St. Gregory Nazianzen) As adoptive children, daughters and sons, we strive to choose to the holiness and love of our God and Father, to walk with Jesus in the pursuit of living the life of a Christian. Spiritual Renewal in the Holy Spirit. Amen
#9 New Year Reflections Spiritual Renewal 1-2-2025
On the memorial of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nazianzus we are reminded of the need for continual Spiritual Renewal in Jesus Christ. We thank God for the gift we are give as we strive to make space for Jesus and take time with him in remaining in his love. As this calendar year begins, let us make a resolution for a path of renewal for both our own soul and the heart of our family.
#8 New Year Reflections Mary our Mother 1-1-2026
As we begin this New Year we are asked to look closely at our relationship with Mary, Mother of God and as our Mother too. We place our trust in Mary to walk with us and help us to ponder the Word of God in our lives as she leads us ever closer to the Triune God. As we begin our New Year we ask her to help us find a path of peace and joy in knowing we are sons and daughters of the true and living God.
#7 Christmas Reflections Proclaiming the Good News Memorial of St. Sylvester I 12-31-2025
As Pope St. Sylvester I lived in challenging times and exciting times, we too are called in our own challenging times and exciting times, to remain faithful. The old year has concluded, the New Year will begin and we are called once more to renew our resolution to make Jesus Christ the center of our lives each and every day. Let us proclaim Jesus in praise and Thanksgiving.
#6 Christmas Reflection: Choosing and Praising 12-30-2025
How do we recognize God in our daily lives? Do we give praise to God for the blessings surrounding us? Do I seek a conversation with God in a constant and prophetic way? A lot of questions to be asked as we come to the end of a year. As we make our new year’s resolutions don’t forget that prayer and spiritual growth should be at the center of all our resolutions in life.
#5 Christmas Reflection: Denial of Hate 12-29-2025 Memorial of St. Thomas Beckett
How do we move from hatred to peace? We can only do so in the love of Jesus Christ. St. John reminds us that hatred leads us into darkness where we cannot see the good in others and in God’s creation that surrounds us. Jesus tells us, He is the light that will lead us from darkness (hatred) into the light (peace and love) where we become the saint he has made us to be.
#4 Christmas Reflection: to Move 12-28-2025
In the messiness and the joys and sadness of life we are called to move in perserverance of faith in bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to the poor and abandoned. This es especially true in the family as we pass on our faith in loving and honoring our spouse and children….and everyone. God delights in being present and walking with us as we share our story with him. Happy 4th day of Christmas.
#3 Christmas Reflections: Fellowship with God
God come into the world not to be distant but to be with us. We are called in prayer and in the works of life; charity, mercy and daily interactions to be with God. We are invited to share the good news of Jesus’ presence in our lives and lead others closer to the Gospel message of life.
#25 Advent Reflection 12-24-25 Remembering and Looking Forward
Zechariah sang out with great joy at the birth of his son in remembering the promise God made to Israel and to him. It is a song of joy that is found in the reality of the difficulties of daily life and in the promise of future peace in and through the Messiah. Today let us remember with gratitude and look forward in the peace and love of Jesus Christ.
As Zachariah was made mute, he continued the work of serving the Lord. As he returned home and his wife Elizabeth becomes pregnant, Zachariah, who is mute, continues to do the work of seeking understanding and wisdom in God’s plan. When his son, John, is born he continues to do the work of proclaiming God’s plan of life and freedom. May we continue to do the good work God has invited us to share.
#23 Advent Reflections 12-22-2025 Radical and Remembering
Both our Blessed Mother and Hannah share a trust in the Lord where giving to God, Hannah in her son Samuel and Mary her very self, are examples of our Advent journey into joy. The radical remembering of the living Word of God and how this calls forth a conversion of heart and a sense of great gratitude toward God. Let us continue to pray for gratitude to be our first and foremost call to action in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
#22 Advent Reflection 12-21-2025 Interruptions and welcoming
Joseph is called to adjust his plans and welcome God’s plan more fully into his life. As we near the Christmas season are we ready to welcome a change of plans in our life and celebration. God’s call to holiness and peace is the struggle of forgiveness and reconciliation to our brothers and sisters. May God’s peace be with you all as we end our Advent time this week.
We encounter Mary as she encounters God through the Angel Gabriel. Her yes, is a real yes that changes her life (for the better) with all the challenges and struggles of a life lived in the generosity of love. It is a time to remember, as we get closer to Christmas, within the trials of life we discover the greatest blessings; the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts.
#20 Advent Reflection 12-19-2025 How to respond
The mystery of new life is beyond understanding. God’s plan of life is a call to be open to this great mystery. We don’t know where God will lead us but we do know our response is to be one of hope and joy with a determination to be before God in the intentional gift of sharing our lives with Him and the holy people are invited to be part of this day.
#18 Advent Reflection 12-17-2025 Connected to the great story.
We are connected to the great story of salvation. Our story is an important part of the story of salvation as our life and the lives of all people are important and filled with the reality of holiness (sainthood). Let us pray for all those who have fallen away from the Church. My we all be reunited in Christ.
#17 Advent Reflection 12-16-2025 Today is the Day 17 Advent Reflection Today is the day!
Jesus reminds us that to do the will of God is a process of continual conversion. It is not what we say but what we do.and hopefully they match to the glory of God. What did I say “no” to when God called me to action…today make that “no” a “yes” and live your life fully in God.
#16 Advent Reflection Yes and No
Today we are confronted with the truth and the Yes and No about living the truth and denying the lies of the world. We discover the truth in the Commandments and Beatitudes and within the teaching of the Church. The culture wishes us to make it about our ego and about me…and God invites into the bigger picture of love of neighbor. How do I live this today? 10 days until Christmas. amen
Today on the 3rd Sunday in Advent we hear the word of God call us to wait and work patiently. Like a Farmer we are invited into a relationship of growing in faith. Planting and then waiting for the harvest only to begin again. This is how our faith expands…to prepare, harvest then begin again. To know God with deeper love.
#14 Advent Reflection St Lucy 12 13 2025 Toughness and gentleness in life. Knowing who we are as we live our life with the toughness of truth and the gentleness of love. https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=75 Being prepared for what will happen and entrusting her life to God she shows us finding of our mission. As the patroness of the blind we pray for her intercession for those with trouble with their eyes.
Saint Lawrence the Martyr Catholic Parish and School St. Lawrence Dual Language Catholic School Saint Lucy Parish
#13 Advent Reflection Our Lady of Guadalupe 12 12 2025 Our Lady of the Americas How we are called to respond to God’s invitation.
“Enduring” How do we experience God’s enduring love, and beauty. In Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe we experience the enduring beauty of the Tilma, the enduring beauty of being joined in the Body of Christ with Mary our Mother, and the enduring beauty of the sacrificial love.
#12 Advent Reflection 11 December 2025 A generous heart. How do we deal with our anger and especially our anger with God. The prophet Isaiah reminds us in 41:13 “I am the Lord your God, who grasp your right hand; It is I who says to you, “Fear not, I will help you.” Do we allow God to hold our hand? It is hard to argue when you choose to hold the hand of the other. The sacraments bring us into an intimate touching of God in our lives. A life of trust and compassion
#10 Advent Reflection 9 December 2025 Lost and Found On the memorial of San Juan Diego we are reminded of how an encounter with God can completely change our direction. Our Lady of Guadalupe show San Juan Diego a new path, he then is found in God with the miracle of the Tilma and helps to bring the faith to millions opening the hearts of the lost that they now may be found.
#9 Advent Reflection 8 December 2025 Mary: Full of Grace Today we remember the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary…how do we say “yes” to God’s will in our life? Remembering: we are chosen by God
#8 Advent Reflections #8 2nd Sunday of Advent 12/7/2025Repent and Believe The joyful gift of forgiveness and mercy in knowing we are chosen by God to be his sons and daughters. How do we discover the joy and blessing in the sacramental grace of the Church. Do I run and jump for joy into the arms of the Father?
He too should be a many-sided man — I say many-sided, not unreal, nor yet fawning and hypocritical, but full of much freedom and assurance, and knowing how to adapt himself profitably, where the circumstances of the case require it, and to be both kind and severe, for it is not possible to treat all those under one’s charge on one plan, since neither is it well for physicians to apply one course of treatment to all their sick“ (St. John Chrysostom)
In the quote above St. John Chrysostom in sharing the wisdom written by the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 9:19-23), we are to be aware of serving all people in all circumstances at all times in an authentic love of Christ. The priesthood is a daring proposition and when embraced is full of many blessings. Daring, for me, is not the jumping off of buildings, it is not doing and saying silly things because you wish to seem courageous and witty, it is not risking stupidly, nor is it putting others at risk. This is foolishness. What is daring? It is choosing to look outward toward hope and peace. It is choosing to see possibilities with others. It is listening with an open heart. It is embracing the Cross of Jesus Christ. When you dare to trust in the Cross of Jesus you then begin to see the Church not as a lot of things to do but as a people/family to walk with. Venerable Fulton Sheen reminded priests, “You must remember to love people and use things, rather than to love things and use people.” To many times in all walks of life we can begin to see people as static, as objects meant to be used. The truth is we are for a purpose, but the purposes is to know and be in relationship. “The shepherd must smell like his flock.” (Pope Francis)
The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus. When you see a priest, think of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (St. John Vianney) In daring to dream and act, the great patron of parish priest, reminds us by both his example of priesthood and by his prayerful words to dream in hope and love a life in care of God’s sons and daughters within community. His prayerful discernment, his acts of reaching out and his steadfastness in opposition of evil gave us the blessing of who we, as priests, are called to be in true vocation. As ordained minister and in the kingdom priesthood of the baptized we are called to live in daring service that shows forth constantly in ministry and as Church. When we begin to loose the looking outward, looking towards the cross of Jesus Christ we stagnate and fall away from the zeal of life. We see this in work, play and relationships every day. In priests as with religious, married couples and in singles…the loss of hope is choosing to risk less and less and see only the limited possibilities and not the reality of the greater love that comes only from a daring relationship of life with Christ Jesus.
Daring to act and to dream is always an act of humble service where, as the quote below from the United States Bishops reminds us, we submit ourselves to the will of the Father in proclaiming the Good News. The priest cannot consider himself “lord” of the word, but rather its servant. He is not the word, but rather, as John the Baptist proclaimed, (precisely today we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist), he is the “voice” of the Word: “A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths'” (Mark 1:3).
Gracious and loving God, we thank your for the gift of our priests. Through them, we experience your presence in the sacraments. Help our priests to be strong in their vocation. Set their souls on fire with love for your people. Grant them the wisdom, understanding, and strength they need to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Inspire them with the vision of your Kingdom. Give them the words they need to spread the Gospel. Allow them to experience joy in their ministry. Help them to become instruments of your divine grace. We ask this through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns as our Eternal Priest. Amen. God Bless Fr. Mark
Advent Reflection #7 6 December 2025 Memorial of St. Nicholas Finding the point of light in following God’s invitation to serve. God call us by name. Do we know the voice of God?
Advent Reflection #6 5 December 2025 Hope in Mission: God does not walk away: He renews, He instructs, He waits in patiently St. Lawrence Dual Language Catholic School Saint Lawrence the Martyr Catholic Parish and School
Advent Reflections 4 December 2025 #5 Memorial of St. John Damascene and St. Barbara: Silence is such and important part of the Spiritual life. Do we know the person of Jesus Christ…To slow down to see, know and experience the person of Jesus is difficult in our fast paced world, to find Jesus in the beauty of the world.
Advent Reflections 3 December 2025 Memorial of St. Francis Xavier SJ, When is enough–enough. We are asked to bring more than we have? In other words…we are asked to bring others to Christ…to bring others to an encounter with Him….We are asked to share who we are and how Jesus brings new life…
Advent Reflections: 2 December 2025 #3 Seeing with Eyes of Wonder
In baptism we become a new creation. Seeing with eyes of wonder God reveals the joy, the trust and love. To experience the little moments with child-like wonder again and again.
Advent Reflection #2 Monday Week 1 in Advent 1 December 2025
Advent Reflection #1 First Sunday in Advent 30 November 2025
One of the great invitations of God is that of unity. In the Most Holy Trinity we see the perfect model of the unity of love in which all people are called to participate. This unity is especially important to the Church in our call to discipleship. A call that isn’t a unity of sameness or uniformity, but rather where our differences and uniqueness are joined together to serve the greater good in the God given gifts and talents we have received and are called to nurture. Pope St. John XXIII wrote in the Encyclical Ad Petri Cathedram On Truth, Unity and Peace in a Spirit of Charity: “All men, then, should turn their attention away from those things that divide and separate us, and should consider how they may be joined in mutual and just regard for one another’s opinions and possessions.” (#29) St. John XXIII did not write this document for priests specifically, but as part of the body, that serves the Church in a very specific way we can see the unity of life and love expressed as a call within a call. Jesus prays for us in this way, “That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21) Unity in the Church, the family and within the priesthood are desired by God. This is the reality of humbleness in the sacrificial love and service of one to another. We can often find ourselves demanding “what is ours” in conversation, actions or insidious thought destroying unity, love and peace. As a priest the constant temptation to compare, to be better than or to degrade the blessing of brothers is a reality to be battled in seeking out priestly fraternity. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”(Mark 14:38) As priests, we promise to pray the Prayer of the Church in The Liturgy of the Hours each day for the glory of God. It is a act of humble obedience and the greatest gift at the same time. The promise is to be in unity with Christ and His Church, the reality is the exposing of our heart daily to God, where the Psalms and Canticles of Sacred Scripture (the majority of the prayers) become the daily breath we take and bring to the Eucharistic celebration. Once more St. John XXIII writes, “Let us embrace that humility of soul which elevates us to great heights, that charity which unites us with God; let us have a genuine faith in revealed mysteries. (#82) Unity is found in common prayer and common purpose. In families it is modeled as husband and wife are, in sacramental marriage, promise as one to serve and share the life now bound together through as shared understanding of each other…not as perfect but…as graced filled vessels to be blessed by and given in love.
“Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to sift all of you” like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32) We are all sinners where unity seems impossible with so many people whose we disagree with on religious, political and moral matters. The unity in charity, seeing the best in one another is vital. Jesus reminds St. Peter, Satan will try to divide and conquer, but we are called to the embrace of love. To seek the best in one another and to not to avoid, but to hear the brokenness and hurt in those turn away from. St. John XXIII desire for unity comes in the love of neighbor, even the one with the barking dog, is seeking to join in a common desire: he in the companionship of the pet and you is the peace and quiet. Knowing the compromise and the decisions will be made in good will in not in setting up ever higher fences but in building a bridge of understanding. “Avoid division, shun discord, . . . encourage charity toward one another. Heed the words of Christ: ‘By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’”(#83) Living and loving within our home, the Word of God, the Church , in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, is strange only when we do not know who laid the foundation, who has constructed the frame and who continues to prepare a place for us. Unity is a daily conversation of love, prayer and serve of spouse who knows us better than we know ourselves. The spouse who made us, formed us and called us to life. “When We fondly call you to the unity of the Church, please observe that We are not inviting you to a strange home, but to your own, to the abode of your forefathers. Permit Us, then, to long for you all “in the heart of Christ Jesus,”[35] and to exhort you all to be mindful of your forefathers who “preached God’s word to you; contemplate the happy issue of the life they lived, and imitate their faith.””(#84)
“First, prayer; then, atonement; in the third place, very much ‘in the third place’, action.” (St. Josemaría Escrivá) The great tragedy of a school shooting has once more entered our lives. This time it feels a little closer to home as it took place at a Catholic School and almost unbelievably as the students, faculty and community had gathered for the celebration of the Mass. As brothers and sisters in Christ we are called to pray for the families and community that has suffered so great a loss that is unimaginable to so many of us. But we do pray to God and ask the bigger questions. I emphasize “prayer” because so many times after any tragedy, but especially one of senseless violence, we are told prayer is not enough. And that is true. But as I have written before, it must be where we begin. I was actually going to write about prayer in a different context before this event because of a conversation I had with several young people about prayer. I was going to write about how our prayer often feels empty and as one of the students commented during the conversation, “I think I’m praying wrong.” So while much of the context may be changing in the post, the “praying wrong” or the how we look at prayer will fill both buckets.
When I asked the teen why they thought they were praying wrong and asked them to describe their prayers, they shared a very anodyne description of prayer. In our continued discussion their anger and hurt became apparent and finally “I’m so angry with God!” blurted out of their mouth. As we continued to talk and pray together, we talked about how we share our feeling with family, friends, teachers and others…so why don’t we share our ugly feelings, like anger, with God. I reminded them that throughout Sacred Scripture many people get angry with God. Just look at Moses in the exodus or the Prophet Jeremiah or the story of Job. You can hear the frustration and anger in St. Paul’s letters. And most importantly, we look to our Lord to see his life of prayer informed by his human emotions. It is okay to share even our difficult emotions with God…but then as we heal in the wounds of Jesus, we must listen and act, to live out our faith in hope and love. When I read about the shooting, there was great sadness in my heart. When I began to understand and see how it had occurred there was frustration and anger. When I talked about it with coworkers and others at the parish there was confusion, hurt and sorrow. The same hard emotions that I had talked about just a few days earlier with this group of teens I was now called to share with God in prayer. “Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at this disposition, and listening to his voice in the depths of our hearts.” (St. Mother Theresa) I had asked them just a few days earlier this questions, “In caring for the poorest of the poor, do you think Mother Theresa of Calcutta never turned to God in hurt and anger? Do you think she never look to God and screamed in prayer “Why?” Like all saints, and as God asks of us, she gave her whole life, she gave everything to God, including her doubts, fears and anger. She gave her life not to recieve rewards and “fixes” from God, she gave her life to God to love those those who are hurt, sick, and those who would die in her arms. She chose this life of prayer because she knew how God shares his whole self, in Jesus Christ, we are invited to do the same.
If we don’t have this understanding and do not practice it, then it becomes understandable when people scream at us and demand that “prayer is not enough.” We know that prayer is the beginning. A life of prayer helps us to move forward to seek a more just and peaceful world in and through Jesus Christ. Even as I write this short note, the emotions and tears flow through me as I think of the families in Minnesota and the families at our parish. It allows me to be with and to be for those who come with the hurts of life, both large and small, and listen knowing that I am not the solutions but God’s instrument to be used in love. So, let us pray and may our prayer become our life and may our life become God’s presence in each and every moment of the day. “’We should to keep our hearts open to the sufferings and wretchedness of other people, and pray continually that God may grant us that spirit of compassion which is truly the spirit of God.” (St. Vincent de Paul)
The courage of Moses and the Chosen People in the Desert.
Courage has been on my mind a lot lately. I don’t know why, but there it is. A few weeks ago on Wednesday at daily Mass, (19th week in Ordinary time Deuteronomy 34:1-12) we ended the story of Moses with his death and the preparation for the people of Israel to enter into the Promised Land…it is promised in the reality that it was give to Abraham and his decedents forever (Gen 12:1-3). We remember how Moses and the first generation who in the exodus from slavery in Egypt has been forbidden to enter the promised land (Num 20:8-12) for there lack of trust in God’s power and in many other passages in the Book of Numbers we hear of the other offenses denying this generation entry into the land. (there is a link below that will explain this in much more detail) We know Moses had great courage in confronting Pharaoh, and leading the people out of Egypt, through the Red Sea and to the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments. That would take tremendous courage. But I believe the greater courage happened during the next forty years in the desert. Especially once he heard the news that he could not complete the journey. I can only imagine how hard that would have been…you have been given the heavy task of leading the people but you would need to hand it off to bring it to fruition.
Even more difficult would be slowly watching the generation die; you sister, your brother, and friends, his generation slipping into history. Added to all of this, think about the many struggles, the betrayals, the people wanting to take the easier roads, people turning away from God and the painful path of forgiveness and reconciliation and finally you know you are near, and yet the last step will never be taken. I think of the courage, the faithful courage not just of Moses but of the entire generation as they knew their fate and yet with trust, even in their failings, passed on and prepared the next generation for the work of faith, the hope of faith, the joy of faith. The strength and the courage to live their faith in the midst of temptation and sin of the surrounding peoples. Preparing their sons and daughters for the failure of sin and living the example of God’s mercy and forgiveness. This is often the journey of every generation. We know our homeland and destination, but unlike Moses, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we have been granted entry. But like the Israelite’s on their desert journey we are challenged to follow the commandments of our God and pass them on to the next generation. We can often despair for the next generation receiving the faith and living it to its fullness, but like the faithful courage of Moses, we shouldn’t falter but live and teach over and over again, even when we fail. Returning to the desert road to the promise of the true kingdom of Jesus Christ. I know by faith that our Father has placed in the spirit of love this word of courage in my heart. I may not know the answer today, but in faith I am called to walk my desert road in the love and mercy of God. God bless Fr. Mark
