Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, The apostles come to Jesus with a beautiful request: “Increase our faith.” We might hear in these words an echo of the prayer of the man whose son, possessed by a demon, was brought to Jesus in Mark’s Gospel: “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24). There is a nobility and a humility in this request that must be acknowledged. Noble, for the apostles are becoming more aware of the human desire to know and love God, and the time they spend with Jesus is opening their hearts to understand that knowledge and love of…read more

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Lazarus the beggar is presented to us in Luke’s Gospel in a state of abject poverty. Not only materially poor, but also physically unhealthy, he is dressed in rags and covered in sores which are tended only by the tongues of dogs, while he remains starving on the street. The rich man who ignores his plight goes unnamed in Jesus’ story, though he is often referred to as “Dives”, Latin for “rich.” This evocative parable draws us into a situation we can easily relate to: how many times have we seen someone homeless and…read more

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, St. Joseph of Cupertino (that's Cupertino in Italy, not Cupertino, CA the default time zone on your Apple device) was born in 1603. As a child, he was given to wandering around outside, seemingly in awe of everything around him. He was a slow learner, clumsy with his hands, and because of a bad temper, not particularly well-liked by his peers. At the same time, he was very pious and prayerful, and was even privileged by God with special graces and spiritual consolations. St. Joseph is a good reminder that even someone with a…read more

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Recent headlines in our area about a public school administrator in Greenwich discussing discriminatory hiring practices struck a chord with many of us, for his apparent comments specifically targeted Catholics and persons over the age of 30. His words about Catholics were offensive because they were lazy and superficial: come on, buddy…if you want to insult us, come up with something original and don’t rely on tired stereotypes and hackneyed tropes. His claim that he refuses to hire Catholics is offensive because it is profoundly discriminatory and illegal. The Greenwich Public School system has…read more

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, This weekend we hear from one of the shortest books of the Bible, the letter of St. Paul to Philemon. At just over 300 words, this short epistle is easily overlooked, especially since it makes an appearance liturgically on Sundays only once every three years, and on weekdays only once every other year. In spite of its brevity and its rare usage in the liturgy, this letter of Paul is very important. It is one of the four letters he wrote during his imprisonment in Rome (along with the letters to the Colossians, the…read more