Fr. Jim's Blog

I am getting ready to leave for the Sacred Heart Radio station to do a taping of Sound Insight. Today is our monthly Book Club and our book is Jesus of Nazareth — The Infancy Narratives   by Pope Benedict XVI. This is the last of his three books on the life of Jesus Christ. It is the shortest and probably easiest to read book in the series. I really enjoyed it and was particularly impressed with some new ways of looking at the outstanding character of Mary and Joseph. The program will air at  8AM on Monday morning. It will be archived on Dr. Tom Curran's website which is here . Have a great weekend! I am doing most of my Christmas shopping tomorrow.

I was cleaning out my desk the other day and stumbled across this video which we made after my 2nd year at St. Brendan parish.

Someone gave me a copy of a great new book by Sherry A. Weddell. It's called "Forming Intentional Disciples — The Path to Knowing And Following Jesus". I highly recommend this book. It gives you a lot to think about and how we need to get back on track with the mission of the Church. Here's a quote from Pope Benedict XVI which is in the book: Faith is above all a personal, intimate encounter with Jesus, and to experience his closeness, his friendship, his love; only in this ways does one learn to know him ever more, and to love and follow him ever more. May this happen to each one of us. 

I have been listening to Channel 64 "Praise Gospel" a lot while driving in my car. I tagged a song by Destiny Praise called "His Will". Shazam is sure a neat app to have on your SmartPhone. Here is the video for the song: We have our Advent Concert in a little while. I am only singing with a group for 2 songs so I should be able to enjoy the rest of the music without having to worry about my part. We're supposed to get quite a storm tonight. I have my flashlights and radio ready to go.

I have posted the homily from today's 10AM Mass. You can listen to it by clicking here.

A Fiery Apostle

I am not sure what kind of virus I picked up last week, but it sure knocked me for a loop. It didn't cause any cold-like symptoms such as a runny noise, cough, or chest pain. I know it wasn't the flu because the doctor tested me for that. It is on the way out, but I still feel tired and drained and will probably sleep a lot tomorrow after daily Mass. I was drifting through the television stations tonight and found someone singing a song called "Where No One Stands Alone." I wasted no time in downloading it from Itunes. It has great lyrics about wanting to be in that place where no one stands alone. I found a YouTube video of the Gaither Vocal Band performing it. There were all kinds of other artists (including Elvis Presley) who have performed it, but I liked the Gaither version the best.  Have a great week. The video is below.