His Banner Over Me is Love*

The light poles along our town’s main street are decorated with banners honoring many of the city’s veterans. One of them happens to be our next-door neighbor, a police officer who was greatly influenced to expand his service to the…

A Prayer to drive-out Worry

A friend texted me, asking me and my family to pray for his wife who was diagnosed with a form of cancer. I texted back the only thing I could think of to give him comfort. “Of course we will.”…

From Amber Alert to Golden Opportunity

If you’ve ever received an AMBER alert on your smart phone (from America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response network), the missing person it was about probably wasn’t anyone you knew—that you know of. That’s true with most people, which means the…

Be cool in the end zone.

Some of history’s greatest pro football coaches were credited for promoting this philosophy: “When you get into the end zone, act like you’ve been there before.” In non-philosophical terms, spiking a football and dancing in the end zone is just…

“Put up or shut up!”

Gamblers have made that phrase as popular as “Put your money where your mouth is.” It’s biblical too, and the theme of this Sunday’s liturgy. Christ’s disciple James uses a far more poetic version in the second reading (Jas 2:14-18):…

Resurrecting faith from bitter soil

People with and without faith see shame as a Catholic thing. They say it’s an instrument church authorities use to control the faithful. Tragically, our church’s sex scandals have earned several of those authorities a place of dishonor in the…

Recognize and resist your drive’s malware

Millennials and their younger brothers and sisters might appreciate this Sunday’s Mass readings. Our kids tend to be tech savvy and they realize their intelligent devices come preloaded with software.  What they may not realize is that by using these…