I am preparing for a 20 year seminary reunion at St. John's in Camarillo, CA. The celebrations begin tomorrow afternoon/evening, but I will be leaving after my Masses in the parish and won't get in until quite late. I haven't seen a lot of the guys since we were ordained 20 years ago. It will be fun to see how things have been and how gracefully (or not so gracefully) we have all aged in the past 20 years. 😀 I will spend a fun day by myself at Universal Studios on Wednesday and then will head to the Sera Retreat House for a couple of days of prayer and reflection. I am working on a reflection on the priesthood and will hopefully have that posted pretty soon. Unfortunately, I will have to miss the Episcopal Ordination of Bishop-Elect Daniel Mueggenborg on Wednesday. I made my plane reservations about three days before the announcement of his appointment. I'm sure that will be an amazing day for him. The reality of my upcoming transition to my new a...
The reflection in today's Magnificat was from the Jesuit priest, Fr. Alfred Delp. I have used some of his writings for retreats and he is a powerful witness for Christ who was exterminated by the Nazis. Like Pope Benedict XVI his style is very "German". For the most part, I have found the Germans to be painfully blunt which is very refreshing. I believe what he shares in the reflection below is EXACTLY what is happening in our country and world today. False systems of power and security based on human doing and understanding are being crafted with the DELIBERATE attempt to shut God out. Our world is on the sifting sand Fr. Delp so powerfully describes. The collapse is IMMINENT and as predicted by the Lord it will catch the vast majority of people off guard. Life without God is HELL. Here is the reflection: For present-day humanity is sick and incapable of handling its affairs-it can no longer cope with life. So a new approach is necessary, a more intensive method....
Pastor’s Corner Week of November 9, 2014 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I am currently residing in a dormitory and cannot use the usual video or spoken format for The Pastor’s Corner. Still, I wanted to make a post with something for you to think about during this upcoming week. One of the things I was taught at an early age was to read with a critical eye. Not everything in print can be taken at face value and while we expect modern day journalists to hold some form of integrity and desire to be objective, the truth is our modern day press is incredibly biased, and in the case of American media, entertainment driven. Have you ever thought about who decides what is newsworthy? There can be thousands of people dying at the hands of evil tyrants, wars, starvation, etc. and our headlines are all about the latest tirade of Miley Cyrus or some other entertainer. Quite frankly I find this incredibly embarrassing and don’t believe it at all reflects the valu...