Had a little bit of time in between Masses, so I figured I’d get this done now.  Didn’t have much time to edit it, though, so there’s that.

Today’s readings can be found here.  Pay special attention to the second reading.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola is one of my favorite saints, and has had a tremendous impact on my spiritual life.  Ignatius, as you probably know, founded the Society of Jesus, or as they are commonly known, the Jesuits.  I would not be a priest today – I would not be the person I am today – without the influence of some truly good and holy Jesuits throughout my life.  So I spent just a few minutes reflecting on him today.

Totally forgot to work today’s scripture readings into this reflection.  Pretty sure I failed to do that at Mass, too.  Oh well.

Just a short take on today’s readings, which contain, on the one hand, some familiar imagery, and on the other hand, some rather bizarre imagery.

I’m back, by popular demand.  There have been calls for me to resume these posts on a daily basis…that might not be very practical, but I’ll see what I can do.  Certainly, I’ll do better than I have been doing.

Today’s readings are found here.

I make a number of references to what St. Thomas Aquinas has to say about wisdom.  (No surprise, really.)  It all comes from the Summa Theologica,  II-IIae, q. 45, a.1, 3, and 6.  If you’re really that interested, you can read it here.

I know, I know, I’ve been negligent in posting this week – again – and I don’t have a very good excuse – again.  But tomorrow’s a new week; maybe I’ll do better.

I’m not going to post tomorrow; but you can watch Mass on the parish YouTube channel.

Mass is live at 10; replay will be available afterwards.

We survived April.

I think.

Anyway, welcome to May, and while May is dedicated in a special way to our Blessed Mother, it starts with a feast in honor of her holy spouse, Saint Joseph.  And since Saint Joseph is the patron of one of my parishes, we’re treating it with the solemnity that is its due.

So you can watch our Mass, and catch my homily, live at 8:15 AM on our YouTube channel.  It will be available for replay shortly after the Mass ends.

Today’s first reading tells the story of the martyrdom of the deacon Saint Stephen, the first martyr of the Church.  I’m a big fan of his, so that’s what I ramble about today.  Enjoy.

Pictured:  the tomb of Saints Stephen and Lawrence, Basilica of Saint Lawrence-Outside-the-Walls, Rome

Better get this done before the day gets any further away from me.  Today’s responsorial psalm comes from psalm 119, so I just kind of blather on about it and sort of try to relate it to the first reading.  Today’s readings can be found here, if they help make sense of this at all.

So why is it a big deal that we celebrate the anniversary of the dedication of churches?  I try to answer that question here.

As a bonus, enjoy some photos of Holy Trinity Church, which was dedicated today in 1970.

So this is a rare one…not only do you get a Saturday post, but you’re going to get two of them.

Today the church is celebrating the feast of Saint Mark, evangelist, but I’m not…I’m celebrating a very specific, higher rank of feast.  But that’s for part two.

This part tries to explain the differences between different liturgical celebrations.  If you were ever wondering what the difference was between things like solemnities, feasts, and memorials, my hope is this will help answer those questions.

I’ll be back later with more on what I’m up to today.