Not my greatest effort, I don’t think. I’m not sure how this week got away from me, but it sort of did, and I didn’t prepare this as well as I think I could have. Oh well…

Yinz all better being staying safe in the snow n’at. Here’s today’s Mass.

The deacons preached this weekend, so I had a little bit of a break, which is nice… but I still came up with a little something to say. Meant to post this right after Mass, but I got called to one of the hospitals, and that comes first. I don’t think it’s any worse for the wear being a few hours late. I mean, at least I got something posted this week, right?

Readings for this week can be found here.

I’m awfully apologetic for the author’s audacity to use an alliterative title.

Ok, ok, I’ll stop, I promise.

Anyway, some time back, I was asked to return to Ss. Martha & Mary Parish and give a talk as part of their Upper Room program. The program is their way of doing faith formation for 7th and 8th grade students to help prepare them for Confirmation, but also to help transition them from a traditional classroom model of faith formation into more of a youth group model. The idea behind it is that it gets them ready and engaged to be part of the youth group when the time comes, and if we can keep them active in youth group, we keep them active in the church, and we form them as better Catholics.

The topic I was given was: The Psalms: Who, What, Why, When & Where? I may or may not have actually answered all of those questions, but I certainly did talk long enough. I’ll leave it here for you to enjoy.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about my move has been that my day off has changed. it only moved from Wednesday to Thursday, but that’s enough to throw off my weekly routine. Now that I see that in writing, that seems to be a fairly ridiculous statement. But it has disrupted my routine, and what’s suffering lately is my homily preparation. I feel like I’m rushing it and I’ve not been pleased with the results lately (not that I ever am, of course.) This weekend was no exception. I had an idea worked out, more or less, in my head, and ran with it on Saturday night. It was ok, I suppose; no one walked out and no one complained about it after, but it just didn’t feel right. I tried again with it at the early Mass Sunday morning; that was even worse. (I was also in a terrible mood Sunday morning, so that could have something to do with it.) I retreated to my office between Masses, made a cup of coffee, and decided to throw out what I had and start over. And I think it went…better. If I had more time to work with this one, it could have been something. Anyway, the Gospel starts somewhere around the 12 minute mark, I think. Enjoy.

I’m hoping to get back to posting more than just my Sunday Masses here. In fact, I have a couple ideas rattling around in my head. But for now…this is what you get.

For once, I’m going to be pro-active and get something up ahead of time. Don’t get used to this.

As you know, I was recently named pastor of Christ the Divine Shepherd Parish. While I started on October 15th, I have not yet been formally installed by the bishop. You don’t need to be formally installed to assume the office; the decree of the bishop is enough. That said, the formality of the installation can serve as a teaching moment for the parish, and hopefully as a means of building up both unity and mission. If you’re in the area, feel free to join us! And if you’re not in the area, watch us on the diocesan YouTube stream:

As usual, I didn’t much like this homily, but a lot of other people did, so here it is.