Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive?  As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” (Mt. 18:21-22) When I was younger, my sisters and brother and I had a lot of little “family” jokes and expressions.  Sometimes when we’re together again, we use them to get a laugh.  In our teenage years those “inside jokes” tended to revolve around quotes from television shows or movies that we found funny.  Most of us can do imitations of Eddie Murphy’s more memorable gags or lines uttered by Bill Murray in “Caddyshack” or “Stripes.”  But one of the older expressions I remember when I was very young was “seventy-eleven.”  Of course, it’s not an actual number, but it was used by us as … [Read more...]

“Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.  For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Mt. 18:19-20) Most priests tend to pray a lot.  I’m one of them.  At my ordination to the diaconate, I promised to pray the “prayer of the Church” called the Liturgy of the Hours.  It’s made up of Morning Prayer, Daytime Prayer, Evening Prayer, the Office of Reading and Night Prayer.  Of course, I also celebrate at least one Mass daily.  I also try daily to make a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament, recite the Rosary, do some spiritual reading and pray other devotional prayers according to the season. But I try not to “isolate” my prayer … [Read more...]

“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.  Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Mt. 16:16-19) When I lived in Rome, I was a guide to the excavations (the “Scavi”) under St. Peter’s Basilica.  The excavations contain a cemetery with tombs dating from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd centuries.  Although many of the tombs are pagan, as the visit gets closer to the area under the main altar of St. Peter’s, we begin to see many signs of Christian burials.  The highlight of the tour is the area immediately under the altar where the Pope celebrates Mass on most Sundays in Rome.  … [Read more...]

Jesus said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” (Mt. 15:26-27) For the first 36 years of my life, I spent a lot of time listening to homilies at Mass, rather than giving them.  Of course, I’ve heard some really amazing homilies.  But I’ve also heard some that didn’t say a lot to me.  One of my biggest pet peeves was when there was a line in the Gospel that begged to be explained and the homilist ignored it like nobody heard it. I think that the above quote from this Sunday’s Gospel is just that sort of quote.  Think about it, did Jesus just call that woman a “dog”?  That’s pretty strong language here!  And she just took … [Read more...]

Peter said to him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus.  But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Mt. 14:28-31) There are three things about the above encounter between Jesus and Peter from today’s Gospel that should make us think.  First, there is the command of Jesus; second, there is the fear of Peter; and third, there is the reaction of Jesus to Peter’s lack of faith. First, we have to recognize that Jesus “commands” Peter to go across the water.  If Jesus gives us a … [Read more...]