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?

I was pretty sad this past week over the Bears’ loss. I imagine most of Chicago was too. So, I asked the school children to give me some words to cheer me up.

Dear Parishioners, Someone recently shared with me an article on obituaries based on a study posted in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers from Michigan State University, Boston College, and Arizona State University inserted into an AI processor 38 million obituaries published between 1998 and 2024. There were several observations from the data. I won’t note all of them, just one: world events influenced obituaries. For example, after September 1

Jesus asks his cousin John the Baptist to do something that doesn’t make sense in John’s eyes: baptize Jesus. Baptism was a sign of someone acknowledging their need for repentance, and repentance implies sin and imperfection. Jesus, of course, was perfect with no sin, hence he had no need to repent and no need to be baptized. John resists at first. “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” he says. Jesus responds: “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for

Saint Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, our second reading today on this Feast of the Epiphany, says this: “The mystery was made known to me by revelation” (Ephesians 3:3).

I love the fact that Saint Matthew includes in his Gospel this scene of John the Baptist doubting whether Jesus was indeed the Messiah.

A couple weeks ago I gave a homily, “Church History Part III: The Church in America.” I’d like to repeat some of that here, for the Catholic Church in America embodies the line from Isaiah in our first reading this weekend: “a shoot shall sprout from the stump.” Catholicism in America was a shoot that has become a blossom.