Around the middle of Lent I did the Stations of the Cross with our religious education program. It was a “teaching Stations,” where I explained each Station in our church and pointed out some of the features of the paintings. We have beautiful Stations and there are many interesting little symbols discretely portrayed in each of the paintings. One of the symbols throughout the corpus has to do with sight and seeing.

A question I am frequently asked this time of year is, “Father, is your bracket busted?” Yes, yes, my bracket is busted. Every year. And in more ways than one.

I have been reading recently the poetry of Father Abram Ryan, an American who was ordained in 1860 and was known as “the poet priest.” His poetry has beautiful imagery and a melancholic tone (fitting for Lent, I think). It is deep too. For instance, look at this stanza from his poem, Sea Dreamings (1883): Life, only life, can understand a life; Depth, only depth, can understand the deep. The dew-drop glistening on the lily’s face Can never learn the story of the sea

Our Gospel this Sunday is the healing of the man born blind from John chapter 9. The scene is a dramatic one involving a rather eventful trial with parents being called in as witnesses and the defendant arguing with the plaintiffs (the Pharisees). The Pharisees ultimately did not care about the defendant and the truth. They were merely trying to discredit Jesus.

Dear Parishioners, In praying these past several days about the Samaritan woman at the well (our Gospel for this third Sunday of Lent), I’ve had the image of a rose in my mind. Well, actually, it’s two roses I’ve had in mind. I’ve included here a painting by Edouard Manet from 1882 to illustrate what I mean. I picture our Lord and the Samaritan woman as these roses. There is a love being exchanged there, and what greater symbol of love is there than a rose? But these aren’t

Are you a temptation person or transfiguration person? (The temptation was last week, the transfiguration this week in our Lenten readings.)

Jesus experiencing temptations in the desert would appear to be a theological conundrum. How could Jesus Christ, the sinless, incarnate Word of God, experience a temptation–something evil?

“Everybody plays the fool” is a song from 1972 by the band The Main Ingredient. Aaron Neville remade the song in 1991 (I prefer Aaron Neville’s version). It’s a beautiful tune, but an even more interesting and beautiful way to talk about love, especially having your heart broken. Perchance a fitting reflection for Valentine’s Day weekend? The readings also strike somewhat at this theme: not calling your friend or lover ‘fool’ or raqa, trying to reconcile, staying faithful to

“Share your bread with the hungry,” Isaiah says. “Then your light shall break forth like the dawn and your wound shall be quickly healed.”

Those of you faithful readers of this weekly letter are familiar with me asking “what’s your favorite this or that?” (and then inviting you to let me know what it is). My creativity is waning these days, so I’ll ask another question in the same vein: what is your favorite and least favorite Beatitude?