Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I remember a few years ago receiving a note from some friends describing their child’s bedtime prayer routine. My friends told me about how he listed the people he wanted to pray for and the occasional surprise entries in that category. After a visit to their home, their son had added me to his list. I was touched to know that I was on the receiving end of nightly prayers! In a way, I was amazed, as I had no reason to think he would ever have it in mind to pray for me.…read more

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, This year, the sixth Sunday of Easter coincides with May 26, a day on which we normally would celebrate the feast of St. Philip Neri. He is known as the second apostle of Rome (St. Peter, of course, being the first!), for his many years of teaching the Catholic faith and encouraging the people of that city to lives of prayer, worship, and virtue. Philip was known for his service to the sick and poor, his ministry to outcasts and prostitutes, and for his ability to meet people as they went about their daily…read more

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, As we close the spring celebrations of the sacraments of First Holy Communion and Confirmation, I have been deeply moved by the devotion and reverence of our young people, especially those children who received the Eucharist for the first time. Before each First Communion Mass, I spoke with the children who, naturally, shared a mix of feelings: excitement, nervousness, curiosity, and more. Watching the care with which they received Holy Communion was a real blessing and a reminder to me, personally, of the gift of the Eucharist in our lives. Do you remember the…read more

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I’d like to share another lesson called to mind by a recent exchange with a child in our parish. In the course of giving a tour of the church to our First Communion students, I asked if any had visited other Catholic churches in the area. One girl was excited to say that she had been to St. Thomas Aquinas. I asked her what was different between the two church buildings. “They have a big painting of Jesus on the wall,” she said, referring to the mosaic of the Sacred Heart in the sanctuary…read more

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I’d like to use this space for the next few weeks to share with you some valuable lessons I have learned in recent days, particularly, lessons I have learned from children in the parish. The first concerns language and the capacity human beings have to learn. On Easter, I was approached at the door of the church by a six-year-old boy who showed me a booklet he had about the Mass. He said, “Fr. Sam, this book is old school. The Gloria is the old translation, so that’s how I know it’s old. The…read more