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      On Easter Sunday – more than 1,500 years ago – St. Augustine greeted the people of his diocese with the words: “We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.       If we are to be an Easter people, if “Alleluia” truly is our song, then we must share with others our joy in the resurrection of Jesus.  Our belief in the saving presence of the Risen Lord among us here and now should not be a secret which we keep to ourselves.  It is an abundant gift of God to His people which […]

In one of our gospels, Jesus is quoted as saying, “On this rock I will build my Church, and the jaws of death shall not prevail against it.” When Jesus made that statement the Church was just       beginning.  It was very small and seemingly insignificant.  But now it reaches around the world and plays a vital role in the lives of millions of people.  Enemies have tried and still try to stop it, but they have failed.  Despite opposition from without and weaknesses from within, the Church has lived and flourished across the centuries. The words of Jesus have come […]

For all of us, life can be and should be an exciting experience.  It does not have to be dull, drab, or boring.  When I say this I am, of course, not speaking in absolutes.  None of us would expect, or even want, continuous excitement. Nevertheless, all of us, saint or sinner alike, do live for those times and places when life is exciting.  And we more or less endure that which lies in between.  In this, we are all the same.  The difference between us is found in the ways and means by which we seek our excitement. In […]

                Can you think of a generation of any age with our loneliness and our fears?  In the midst of a revolutionary communications technology there are more lonely people around now than at any other age:  we are filling our nursing homes and senior citizen apartments with millions of lonely people – we leave them with their TVs and their cats to fend for themselves; as if TVs and pets can fill the gaping void of the human heart.  More people commit suicide now than at any other age; more people are mentally […]

   On this third Sunday of Lent, I would like to ask the question:  What does it mean to   love God? For the most part, many people are inclined to think of love as a feeling of warmth and affection.  We sing about it; we read about it in novels; we watch it in movies and on soap operas.  Love is a deep feeling that one person has for another.  And quite clearly, not even God can demand that.  How, therefore, can we command the human heart to feel a certain way?  So, if we are going to try to […]