Word

Jesus Knows You Are a Dog

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on March 15, 2020 at 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

“On the intranet, nobody knows you are a dog.” Or a cat. Or a monkey. Or a potato. It’s an old quote that has been around almost as long as the intranet. It describes the truth that when you are online, you can remain anonymous, create a new persona, become whoever you want to be, essentially reinvent yourself. If you are shy and reserved in person, online you can be bold and opinionated. If you want to meet someone, you can post a picture of some good looking and athletic model to attract others. If you want to appear to be an expert, you can attach an MD or PhD to your name.

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Presenting Ourselves to the Lord

HOMILY

Preached at St. Kilian Parish on February 2, 2020 at 8:00am and 10:00am Masses

February 2 is the midpoint of winter, 40 days after Christmas, and over a month into the new year. So, it’s a good time to reflect on the resolutions that we may have made this year for ourselves. Many of you decided to exercise this year and you have kept your resolution because I am still waiting in line for a treadmill at the gym. Some of you might have decided to exercise, diet, quit smoking (or vaping), become more organized, clean out your garage, spend more time with your family, or even work on your spiritual life by attending Mass more or praying the Rosary more. But whatever resolutions we make, they usually involve making something more present in our life (like exercise and other good habits) or making something less present in our life (like cigarettes and other bad habits). We make resolutions to present a better version of ourselves (to be fitter, healthier, more organized) or to be more present to God and to others. So, today’s feast of The Presentation of the Lord is a good time to reflect on our resolutions and the other ways we try to improve ourselves.

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Searching for the Faint Star of Bethlehem

HOMILY

Preached at St. Kilian Parish on January 5, 2019 at the 8:00am and 10:00am Masses

The Butler Hospital in Butler, PA has always had a special place in my heart. For one thing I was born there. The hospital was also the first place I lived growing up. We lived in a large yellow apartment building in downtown Butler, which was the original Butler General Hospital. My mom found it creepy living in a former hospital that was right next to a cemetery, so we soon moved to our home on Third Street, one block away from the current Butler Memorial Hospital. I spent a lot of time at the hospital: playing football in the lower parking lot using the painted lines as yard markers and sled riding the hospital hill using the elevator from the lower lot to the upper lot as a ski lift. So, I spent some time getting repaired at the hospital as well. Back in the day before HIPAA privacy laws, the Butler Eagle newspaper would publish the list of people that were admitted to the hospital each day, so my family would often visit people in the hospital because we lived so close. I even met my first high school girlfriend at the hospital, she was a volunteer who sat at the front desk to tell you in which room your neighbor or loved was staying.

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Clothed in Joy

HOMILY

Preached at St. Kilian Parish on December 14, 2019 at the 4:00pm and 5:30pm Masses

Today is the Third Sunday of Advent and we celebrate by lighting the pink can dle of the Advent wreath, although the color is officially called rose. An easy way to remember this is to remember that Jesus rose from the dead, he did not pink from the dead! It’s one of my favorite Catholic jokes and I only get to use it twice a year. We have the option to wear rose colored vestments on this day, and they have them at Holy Sepulcher, but we don’t have them here at St. Kilian’s, so we wear the more traditional purple. Just to give you an idea of what it would look like, underneath my vestments I am wearing a pink, or rose, colored shirt.

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Our Lives Are Not Hallmark Movies

HOMILY

Preached at St. Kilian Parish on November 17, 2019 at the Noon and 5:00pm Masses

Did anyone have any trouble getting home on Tuesday? What a disaster that snowstorm was! Cranberry was complete gridlock! When I get stuck in traffic, I take it as a sign that God wants me to pray. Well, apparently, he really wanted to have a long chat with me! That snow was like the end of the world had come!

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Our Faith Journey Takes the Scenic Route

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on August 11, 2019 at the 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

Joe was hiking alone at the top of a high canyon. He stopped to take a selfie of himself, but he got too close to the edge and fell. On the way down he was able to grab a branch, which kept him from plunging to his death, but he was now stuck a thousand feet above the canyon floor with no way to climb up the steep wall of the canyon to safety. So he began yelling “HELP! HELP! IS THERE ANYONE UP THERE THAT CAN HELP ME?”

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Faith: Taking Off the Training Wheels

HOMILY

Preached at St. Kilian Parish on July 6, 2019 at the 4:00pm and 5:30pm Masses

When I was eight years old, I received a beautiful bright orange bike for my birthday. It had streamers on the end of the handlebars, and the handlebars were adjustable so that it could be a normal bike, or a chopper, or an Evel Knievel stunt bike. It had a big white banana seat on it, the bike equivalent of the three-row seating in SUVs today. I could ride the bike with both my sisters as passengers.
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The Holy Spirit: Our Spiritual Fitbit

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on June 8, 2019 at the 4:00pm Mass and June 9, 2019 at the 8:00am and 10:30 Masses

I bought this Fitbit recently for a fitness challenge we’re having at work, and I was surprised to find that it does way more than count my steps and heartbeat. It knows a lot about me. It knows where I am. It knows what I am doing (whether walking, running, exercising, sitting, or lying down). When I sleep, it knows how deeply and how long I am dreaming. It knows how well I’m doing (whether I’m in shape or tired). It even suggests on how I can improve myself, to have better eating habits and to exercise in my target cardio zone. It will even complain if I have been sitting around too long without doing anything. It’s actually like having a wife or mother attached to your wrist! Although to be honest, unlike a wife or a mother, the Fitbit can be fooled. I’ve noticed that if I eat desserts really quickly, it actually believes that I’m exercising!
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Climbing the Mountain of God

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on March 16, 2019 at the 4:00pm Mass and St. Kilian Parish on March 17, 2019 at the 8:00am Mass

A young man was having trouble driving through a bad snow storm, until he remembered what his father told him, that if he ever had trouble driving in snow, he should just pull off and wait for a snow plow and then follow it, so he pulled off the road and waited. In a short while a snow plow drove by and so the young man pulled out and followed it. After an hour of driving around, the snow plow driver was fed up and got out of his truck to ask why he was being followed. The young man explained what his father had told him about what to do if he had trouble driving in snow. “OK,” replied the snow plow driver, “I’m done with the Walmart parking lot now, but if you want you can follow me to Target.” “Sure,” the young man replied, “but after that, could you swing by the Hallmark store? It’s Valentine’s Day and I need to pick up a card for my wife.”
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Following Jesus to the Ultimate Catch

HOMILY

Preached at St. Kilian Parish on February 10, 2019 at the 12:00pm and 5:00pm Masses

A young man was having trouble driving through a bad snow storm, until he remembered what his father told him, that if he ever had trouble driving in snow, he should just pull off and wait for a snow plow and then follow it, so he pulled off the road and waited. In a short while a snow plow drove by and so the young man pulled out and followed it. After an hour of driving around, the snow plow driver was fed up and got out of his truck to ask why he was being followed. The young man explained what his father had told him about what to do if he had trouble driving in snow. “OK,” replied the snow plow driver, “I’m done with the Walmart parking lot now, but if you want you can follow me to Target.” “Sure,” the young man replied, “but after that, could you swing by the Hallmark store? It’s Valentine’s Day and I need to pick up a card for my wife.”
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True Love Is Sacrificial

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on October 6, 2018 at the 4:00pm Mass and October 7, 2018 at the 8:00AM and 10:30AM Masses

Recently there was a renewal of vows Mass for married couples at St. Catherine of Sweden Parish and they asked me to be the guest speaker at the dinner that followed Mass to talk about marriage. Because most of the couples in attendance have been married longer than I have been and are also probably better at marriage than I am, I was hesitant to do it. But I agreed to do it as my initial contact with the people of at my new parish assignment, which of course we now know I am staying here at Holy Sepulcher. I was supposed to talk for 15 minutes, but I was very busy at work that week and I didn’t have 15 minutes of material ready. So, to fill time I began by having all the married couples stand and then I said, “Couples married less than five years be seated.” Then I said, “Couples married less than 10 years be seated.” This is done sometimes at wedding receptions and it is a great time filler, so I continued up through all the five-year increments, 15, 20, 25, etc. until there was one couple remaining who had been married 65 years. Obviously, this couple should have been giving marriage advice to me and not the other way around, so I went over to them and asked them to share with those in attendance their secret for how they have stayed happily married for 65 years. The husband took the microphone, looked at the crowd, and said, “I keep my mouth shut.”
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Our Elephants Hiding in the Tree

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on September 1, 2018 at 6:00pm Mass and September 2, 2018 at the 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

Why do you not see elephants hiding in trees?  Because they are really good at it.

But seriously, today I am going to talk about the elephant in the room, or the elephant in the Church, I guess you might say.  Not the grand jury report on child sexual abuse in the Church of Pittsburgh and other dioceses of Pennsylvania, although it is part of it.  Today’s subject is sin.

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Our Inner Selves Never Grow Old

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on June 9, 2018 at 6:00pm Mass and June 10, 2018 at the 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

Image may contain: indoorI was driving my car to the store recently and there was a good song on the radio, I don’t really remember what song it was, but I know it was the 80’s channel, the music of my youth.  As I often do when listening to a good song, I had the radio turned up all the way to 11.  Also, because it was a nice day I had the windows down and the roof open.  When I got to the store, I pulled into an open parking space and decided to finish listening to the song.  When the song was over I got out of my car and to my horror I realized with some embarrassment that a young woman had been in the car next to me with her windows down and could not help but hear my loud music.  I may have even been singing along.  Embarrassed, I apologized about all the noise.  “No problem, sir,” she replied.  “I love Oldies music too.”

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How Is It Possible to Love One Another?

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on May 5, 2018 at 6:00pm Mass and March 6, 2018 at the 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

My vanity plate

I wasn’t here last week.  Did I miss anything?  Were there any important announcements or anything?  Just kidding, I realize we had the important On Mission for the Church Alive announcements.  I would have been here for this important day, but I had plans for a long time to race my car last week.  Unfortunately, they only hold race events on weekends, but I thought I was doing it with God’s blessing.  I have a cross on the car, a cross on my helmet, Speed Deacon in large letters across my visor, Team Jesus printed on my shirt, and I have a bible verse as my vanity plate.  Surely God wanted me to do well.  But I finished next to last.  Out of almost 200 cars participating, I only beat one of them.  The car was another Ford Focus like mine, but it was black instead of yellow and it’s number was 666! God wanted me to realize my calling is the Church and not racing and he made it clear, although he didn’t want me to lose to the a friend of Satan!

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Lent: The Journey From Death to Life

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on March 28, 2018 at 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

Image result for year of living biblically

A family had two little boys that were always stealing things.  They stole from their classmates at school, took things from the neighbors’ yards, and shoplifted things when they were at the mall with their mom.  The parents tried everything they could to change their boys’ bad behavior, but nothing worked.  As a last resort they decided to ask their pastor what to do.  (*only in a joke is a priest considered a last resort.*)   The pastor agreed to talk to each boy individually about stealing.

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The Words of God Guide Us Through Lent

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on March 3, 2018 at 4:00pm Mass and March 4, 2018 at 10:30am Mass

Image result for ten commandments

Ben and Hannah were not the most devout or religious Jews, and like the many Catholics that only attend Mass on Christmas or Easter, they only went to the Temple once or twice a year.  As they were leaving the Temple, the Rabbi said, “Ben, it would be nice to see you and your wife Hannah here at the Temple more often!”

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We March for Life as Disciples of the Lord

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on January 19, 2018 at a 6:00am Communion Service before our trip to the March for Life in Washington, D.C.

March for Life

I wrote a beautiful email to the Pope Francis last week.  I knew he was going to be busy in Chile this week and everything, but I had an important question for him that I needed an answer and, so I looked up the pope’s email address and sent my question.  The pope had just announced that anyone who was going to the March for Life in Washington, D. C. and attended Mass that day in a state of grace would receive a plenary indulgence from the Church.  In case you don’t know what a plenary indulgence is, it is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been committed.  In more simpler terms, it is like a get out of purgatory free card.  That is quite a nice thing to have and I wanted one.  So I sent him an email because we are not having Mass today obviously, there is no priest here today, so I wanted to know if he would allow a communion service to count for the indulgence. 

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What Christmas Is All About

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on December 24, 2017 at 8:00pm Mass

That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown!  I say that for two reasons, one because it is true and second because ever since I was a small child I remember standing on the pew after that gospel was proclaimed and there was that dramatic pause at the end before the priest or deacon says, “The gospel of the Lord,” I would say loud and clear for all to hear, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown!”   It always got laughs, but you can imagine my wife’s horror when we attended our first Christmas together and I had still continued that tradition well into my 20’s.  If you have ever seen the commercial where the husband is wearing a light up Raiders sweater to his wife’s family Christmas dinner, and everyone is wearing Kansas City Chiefs jerseys, the reaction of the wife in the commercial was about Karen at our first Midnight Mass together, along with a sharp elbow to the ribs!

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John the Baptist Calls Us Into the Solitude of the Desert

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on December 9, 2017 at the 4:00pm and December 10, 2017 at 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

Do you know John the Baptist, Winnie the Pooh, and Smokey the Bear share two things in common?  They both eat honey and they have the same middle name.

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The Ultimate Status Symbol

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on November 4, 2017 at 4:00pm and November 5, 2017 at 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

I bought a new watch this week, not because I needed a new watch, but because I needed a new watchband, and for whatever reason a watchband costs as much as a new watch, so I got the whole watch.  It even came with a 10-year battery.  All for the unbelievably low price of $17.  I even saved 5% because I used a Target Red Card.  It was a great deal.

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Exercise Your Way to Heaven

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on October 14, 2017 at 6:00pm and October 15, 2017 at 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

A married couple were in their 90’s and had been married for 70 years, but they still had excellent health, because the wife always insisted that they both eat right and exercise.  Unfortunately, as they drove to the beach on vacation, they were in a terrible auto accident and they both died.

When they arrived in heaven they were greeted by St. Peter who said, “Welcome to heaven!  Right this way!  The feast is about to begin!”

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Agree, Pray, and It Is Ours!

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on September 9, 2017 at 6:00PM and September  10, 2017 at 8:00AM and 10:30AM Masses

 

There is a commercial that has been running on TV recently.  A woman is looking carefully at a wall covered with dozens of different paint chip samples.  She is trying to figure out what color would look best in her family room.  As she is trying to make her decision her husband walks in the room and notices what she is doing, his face falls, and he quickly and quietly sneaks out of the room before she notices he is there.  Obviously, he wants nothing to do with choosing a paint color.

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Our Captain Needs No Boat

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on August 12, 2017 at 6:00PM and August 13, 2017 at 8:00AM and 10:30AM Masses

A man was fishing from his boat on a river when a bad storm came up.  The storm was so strong that it blew his boat against the rocks along the shore and the boat sank.  The man was swept down the river in the strong current and he realized that he would soon be swept over a waterfall that was several hundred feet high.  There was no way that he would survive if he went over the waterfall.

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Stop Fidgeting and Just Be

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on June 10, 2017 at 6:00PM and June 11, 2017 at 8:00AM and 10:30AM Masses

A husband and a wife were driving and agreed to stop to eat at the next town along the highway.  When an exit sign finally appeared they could not figure out how to pronounce the very long name of the town.  They were very hungry and it made them irritable, so they began to argue about who was pronouncing the name correctly.

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We Don’t Have to Find God

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on May 20, 2017 at 6:00PM and May 21, 2017 at 8:00AM and 10:30AM Masses

I recently went on retreat with the men of the parish.  Then my wife and I drove to Utah on vacation, really I drove 5,000 miles while my wife slept.  She awoke for the important things, like the incredible scenery, the points of interest, and when I was being introduced to my new friend, a Utah Highway Patrol officer.  Except for that bump in the road, it was good quality time with God.

It’s easy to find God on retreat or vacation.  You see God at work in your life; that he has blessed you with the time and resources to go away for a little while.  It’s quiet, peaceful, and unhurried so you have many opportunities to speak and listen to God in prayer.  You walk and drive with God through the beauty of his creation, whether it’s a beach, a park, the snow-covered Rocky Mountains in Colorado, or the colorful canyons in Utah.  You will even find God in other people.  It’s amazing how friendly everyone is when you share a rocky, steep, uneven, and possibly dangerous trail on the edge of a cliff a couple of thousand feet above a canyon.  Not only do people say “hello,” but they go out of their way to make sure you are OK, ask if you need help, and will even insist, “No, you go first.”

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How Different Is Our Shepherd

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on April 2, 2017 at 7:00PM Penance Service

One day a shepherd was out looking for one of his lost sheep. He found the sheep, but he was sad, because while looking for it, he lost the Bible that he always carried with him. A few weeks later, another sheep walked up to him carrying his beloved Bible in its mouth. The shepherd couldn’t believe his eyes. He took the precious book out of the sheep’s mouth, looked up to heaven and said, “It’s a miracle!”

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Our God Weeps for Us

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on April 1, 2017 at 4:00PM and April 2, 2017 at 8:00am Masses

A young couple was waking up the day after their wedding.  The young man asked his new wife if she could make some coffee.

She replied, “I can’t.”

He responded, “Why?  Don’t you know how?”

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What Makes it Fulfilling?

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on February 11, 2017 at 6:00PM and February 12, 2017 at 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

A young man stopped at a tuxedo shop to order a tuxedo for his upcoming wedding. He was a little nervous about getting married so as the tailor took his measurements, the young man asked him if he was married. “Yes, in a few weeks my wife and I will have been married 50 years,” the older man replied.

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Be-Attitude

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on January 28, 2017 at 4:00PM and January 29 at 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

A man was having another bad day, so he stopped at a restaurant to have dinner and a few glasses of his favorite beverage. As he waited for his dinner and for the waitress to return to refill his already empty glass, he looked at the walls of the restaurant which were covered with old items like road signs, hubcaps, and rusty tools like you would see at

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Give Yourself the Gift of Silence this Christmas

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on December 17, 2016 at 4:00PM and December 18, 2016 at 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

As you make your way over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house this Christmas, or wherever else you might be going, there is so much that will keep you occupied as you travel: a cellphone, a laptop, an iPad, an iPod, a video game, a DVD of your favorite holiday movie, the list goes on and on.  When I was growing up we didn’t have any fancy technology to keep us busy on long trips, we had the Be Quiet Game. The Be Quiet Game is simple: you do not talk or make any noise whatsoever for as long as you possibly can.  Any parent knows how hard this is for a child to do. But my parents convinced my sisters and me that this was one of the most exciting games that you could play and we would try really hard to be quiet longer than anyone else to win whatever the prize might be. Although now as I look back I realize that my parents were the true winners of this game, because for however long the game lasted, they enjoyed peace and quiet.

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My Beloved, Come Down!

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on October 29, 2016 at 6:00PM and October 30, 2016 at 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

There is a lot of preparation that goes into a homily: prayer, Bible study, checking biblical commentaries, and researching the writings of popes and saints. This time I included one unusual step that I never included before. I decided to climb a tree. I used to love to climb trees, but it has been decades since I have actually climbed a tree, and I found that it is not as easy as it used to be. There is a lot of talk about global warming, but I think that people are ignoring a much more serious issue – the ever increasing power of gravity. I used to be able to easily jump and touch a basketball rim, but I had to get out a ladder to climb our oak tree and the branches are much lower than a basketball rim. When I finally did get into the tree, it was difficult to climb very high and if I strayed too far from the trunk, the branches would begin to creak and bend toward the ground.

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Faith Is Not a Verb

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on October 1, 2016 at 6:00PM and October 2, 2016 at 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

There was a woman who was very open about her faith.  In fact she would often stand in the front of her home and shout “Praise the Lord!” to everyone who would pass by.  She lived next door to an atheist who was constantly angry about her constant talk about her faith.   Every time she would shout “Praise the Lord!” to someone, he would shout back, “There is no God!”

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Getting to the Highest Place

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on August 27, 2016 at 6:00PM and August 28, 2016 at 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

NOTE: The story of my trip to Staples was modified for the Sunday Masses as a complaint was received about its content.  Here I include the original version as those who attended both Saturday and Sunday thought the Saturday version was better and they did not think that it was disrespectful.

Obviously wedding receptions were much better in biblical times than they are today. Based on what Jesus says in today’s gospel there was no seating chart. You sat wherever you wanted. Wouldn’t that be nice? Today we have those place cards that let us know where and with whom we will be spending the next half dozen hours of our lives. We don’t have a choice.

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We Hit the Lottery!

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on August 6, 2016 at 6:00PM and August 7, 2016 at 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

I don’t often play the lottery, but when I do I play the same numbers.  Recently reading the newspaper, there I saw all of my numbers listed in the lottery results section of the paper. I had matched every single number perfectly without missing one! I hit the lottery!   Unfortunately you will notice that I said “hit” the lottery and not “win” the lottery because unfortunately the drawing was for the California Super Lotto, which I have never played, and will probably never play in my life. With the odds of winning the lottery so high my numbers will not repeat again for another 25,000 years!

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It Would Take a Prophet to Recognize Our Sin

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on June 11, 2016 at 6:00PM and June 12, 2016 at 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

One day I made the mistake of asking my wife why it takes her so long to get her nails done at the mall, after all you can probably trim and paint your nails yourself in a few minutes at home. What I got out of this conversation was a required trip to the salon to see exactly what goes on when you get a manicure and a pedicure. I had no idea all that was going there. I wondered why my wife took a stack of magazines with her each time, and now I know. It takes forever. The old polish is removed and then the nails on both your hands and feet get trimmed, shaped, scraped, filed, and buffed. But it is more than just the nails. Your hands and feet get washed, scrubbed, and soaked in moisturizer. Any rough skin you have is exfoliated, which I learned means that you scraped with a rough stone until your callouses disappear or you can no longer stand to be tickled any longer, whichever comes first. I know because I couldn’t stop laughing as they did my feet.

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Where is God?

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on April 30, 2016 at 4:00PM and May 1, 2016 at 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

I was walking through the food court at the mall one day behind a mother and her four or five year old daughter. I had not yet decided what I was going to eat, but the mother and daughter had already decided. They couldn’t wait to have a chicken sandwich and waffle fries from Chick-fil-A. Now the way they were describing how delicious and tasty the food was going to be, I couldn’t wait to have some Chick-Fil-A myself. Unfortunately, it was Sunday and as you may know Chick-Fil-A is always closed on Sundays so that their employees can observe a day of rest and spend time with God and their families. The mother and daughter were clearly disappointed when they approached the locked and darkened Chick-Fil-A. “I’m sorry, honey,” the mother said. “They’re closed today.” The little girl got real serious, folded her arms, looked up at her mother, and said, “Mommy, you know it’s the work of the devil.”

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Clearing Away the Junk in Our Interior Castles

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on March 14, 2016 at 7:00PM Penance Service

Happy first day of Lent!  Today actually is the first day of Lent… for Orthodox Christians, who celebrate Easter on a different day than we do, this year May 1.  They do not have Ash Wednesday, they start their Lent with what is known as Clean Monday, and it is a national holiday in Greece.  This first day of Lent, this Clean Monday, is reserved for two things: 1) Clean your home, to clean your castle so to speak.  The idea of spring cleaning can be traced back to this Orthodox tradition of Clean Monday.  2) Go to confession, to clean your interior castle so to speak.  In this way the faithful begin their Lent renewed in Christian love, mercy, and forgiveness.

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Time for a U-Turn

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on February 27 and 28, 2016 on the Third Sunday of Lent (Year C) at the 4:00PM (Vigil), 8:00AM, and 10:30AM Masses

A hiker was resting along a narrow and steep mountain pass when he sees a truck driving backwards up the mountain.  He flags the truck down and asks the men inside, “Why are you guys driving backwards?”  “Because we don’t think there’s a place to make a U-turn at the top of the mountain,” the driver replied.  About an hour later the hiker sees the same truck coming back down the mountain, still driving backwards.  He flags the truck down again and asks the men inside, “Why are you guys still driving backwards?”  And the disgusted driver replied, “Turns out, there was a place to make a U-turn up there.”

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God’s Word is Alive!

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on January 23 and 24, 2016 on the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) at the 4:00PM (Vigil), 8:00AM, and 10:30AM Masses

I found a nice leather bound edition of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table at Barnes and Noble, and after finally making it through the long line to the only open register in the store, the cashier informed me that the leather bound books were buy one, get one 50% off. “No, thanks,” I said. I have the book I want.” “Oh, no,” she said. “I don’t want you to miss out on the savings.” “That’s OK,” I replied. “The line is long and I don’t want to have to wait again,” “Go get another one,” she said. “These nice people will wait for you.” They may have been nice people, but by the looks on their faces they were not going to remain so for long. So I ran back, grabbed the first book I could find, and returned to the register. The woman looked at it as she rang it up. “Oh, how nice!” A beautiful children’s book!” Except that it really isn’t beautiful and really isn’t for children either.

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Superhero Pointing Out Christ

As many of you know I recently had a surgery to repair a hernia. But some complications required that I be admitted to the hospital. I was supposed to be home in time for the Price Is Right, but instead I was stuck in the hospital until I completed a checklist of requirements that would prove I was ready to go home. I wanted out fast so I ate everything they placed before me, I walked the hallway every couple of hours, and when they asked if I wanted pain medication, I replied, “Pain? What pain?” One nurse asked me, “Are you Superman?” and I replied, “I’m not Superman, but I just had a Kevlar mesh installed inside of me and I’m pretty sure that makes me Batman.”

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Pope Francis’ Message to Us (U.S.)

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on September 26 and 27, 2015 at the 6:00pm (vigil), 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

There are so many groups to which we can belong. Now that the Pirates have clinched their third consecutive playoff berth and won again yesterday, the group of people that call themselves Pirates fans is growing. It used to be so much smaller. On Friday nights many of us part of the group of people that have a favorite football team and/or band that we support and root for. Some of us are an alumnus of a college or university. We also might be members of a club, support a charity or cause, and be registered as a Republican or a Democrat. We all have reasons why we chose one group over another and why it is better than another group we could have chosen. Even groups for which we belong and had no choice of whether we are members or not, like our family and our nationality, we have strong feelings about them and why they are so important to us.

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Don’t Give Up, God is at Work!

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on August 9, 2015 at the 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

A magician worked for a cruise line and because each trip the ship made had a completely new audience, the magician did the same tricks over and over. Now the captain had a parrot that watched every magic show and quickly figured out how each trick was done. So during each performance the parrot would shout out how each trick was done. “The rabbit is in a different hat under the table.” “He was hiding the ace of spades up his sleeve.” Needless to say the magician was furious because every show was ruined. But it was the captain’s parrot and so he could do nothing.

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Jesus Our Hero

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on June 27, 2015 at the 6:00pm Mass and on June 28, 2015 and the 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

When I was young I got to see one the greatest events one of my lifetime, you might be thinking the moon landing, but I am of course talking about the day Franco Harris came to Butler. Few people probably remember that day in the early 1970’s at George Kerr’s Appliance Store on North Main Street, but one 7 year old will never forget that day because Franco was (and is) his favorite football player.

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Remain in Jesus

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on May 2 and 3, 2015 at the 6:00PM (Vigil) and 8:00AM and 10:30 AM Masses

Last Friday a friend of mine asked me what I had planned for the weekend and I told him that I was going on retreat with the men from my parish and as best I could I tried to describe what a retreat is to him. When I was done he said, “That sounds absolutely awful! It would be like being in jail. Trapped all weekend in a monastery with nothing to do but sit around, go to Mass, pray, and read; with no place to go and no contact with the outside world; with no computer, television, or Penguin playoff game to watch (which in hindsight was probably one of the blessings of the weekend).

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The Love of Divine Mercy

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on April 12, 2015 at 3:00PM Divine Mercy Service with Adoration

Kids today face some difficult challenges from bullying, but back in the day I, and probably many of you as well, experienced some difficult bullying in school.   I am speaking of wedgies, noogies, and the dreaded Indian burn. If you don’t know what they are I will just say that they are very painful.

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Our Priceless Relationship with Jesus

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on March 24, 2015 at 7:00PM Penance Service

I was at the gas station one day and a man came up to me and gave me a one million dollar bill. It’s not real of course, but it looks real. It even has serial numbers and Grover Cleveland on it. I framed it not only because it looks so real, but so that I can always remember my encounter with the man who gave it to me.

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There Are Many Laws, But One Truth

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on March 8, 2015 at the 8:00AM and 10:30AM Masses

The current federal laws fill 52 leather-bound volumes, and two new volumes have yet to be printed. There are an estimated five thousand different crimes that can be committed if these laws are broken. That doesn’t even include state or local laws. For example, I cannot own chickens because Richland Township requires you to have at least 2 acres of land to have them. There are so many laws, and yet their numbers are growing all the time. A coworker was pulled over by the police this past week because they had only cleared enough ice and snow from their windshield to make just a very small hole, but they did not receive a ticket because there is no law about requiring you to have clean windows to drive. Thankfully a couple of days ago, a bill requiring people to clear off their vehicles of ice and snow before driving them was put together. There are so many laws to make sure that we do the right thing, and so often we are not doing the right thing.

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After the Ashes Are Washed Away

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on February 18, 2015 on Ash Wednesday at the 5:00PM Liturgy of the Word Service

After Mass this morning a woman told me that a girl from the school was in the restroom attempting to make the cross on her forehead as big as the cross her classmate had on her forehead. “Your cross is so nice and big and mine is so little,” the girl said. So she decided that the best thing to do would be to use water to help make the cross bigger, but all she succeeded to do was to wash it off.

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Nothing Is Ordinary When Jesus Is Involved

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on January 17 and 18, 2015 on the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) at the 4:00PM (Vigil), 8:00AM, and 10:30AM Masses

Each year about half of us make New Year’s resolutions to improve our lives and ourselves, whether it’s to lose weight, exercise, quit smoking; or maybe it’s to be more happy and less stressed, or being more patient, loving, and forgiving. Each day I can see many people working on their resolutions. Despite the cold weather when I look out the window at home I can see more people walking and running. As I walk past the gym downtown the windows are all steamed up from all the weight training, treadmill running, and stationary bike work going on inside. But according to a recent news story that I read people are already breaking their resolutions, over half of them will be broken by the end of the month, and less than ten percent of them will succeed.

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