5/14/2008 9:27:51 PM	Update
*I know that it appears that I have been remiss in blogging the last few days. It’s not because I didn’t want to or didn’t plan to, but things have been outrageously busy. I guess that is to be expected as May involves so many important events—like graduations and weddings. *Last Monday, I began trying to edit the audio and video footage from the Ignatian workshop last Saturday, but unfortunately, the audio did not come out. I will have to re-videotape the talks before I can prepare them for the website. I probably will not get around to doing it until after school is out. On another note—I am excited about having a seminarian here at CTK for the summer. Robert Cigainero is from St. Edward Catholic Church in Texarkana, AR. It will be great to have him around our parish for a few months. Please keep him and all of our seminarians in your daily prayers.
5/11/2008 10:48:32 AM	Pentecost Sunday
*Happy Pentecost! It was great to see so many of the CTK parishioners dressed in red this weekend in celebration of Pentecost. As we celebrate the birthday of the Church through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are filled with gratitude for the many gifts that God has given us. This gratitude is intimately linked with the earliest roots of the feast of Pentecost, as I preached about in my homily this weekend. A copy of the homily can be found on the “teachings” page. Have a blessed Sunday!
5/10/2008 3:30:21 PM	Retreat
*I want to thank Shawn Kispert and Beth Roberts for helping with the retreat this weekend. They took care of a lot of the important details, like the handouts and food! I also want to thank Theresa and Richard Piechocki, who spent four and a half hours Friday night setting up the multi-media equipment for the presentations! I am grateful for all of the people who attended. Your generosity in giving a part of your weekend to the Lord and your openness in sharing your experiences and thoughts was inspiring. May God bless all of you! Have a great Pentecost weekend!
5/8/2008 7:11:33 AM	Living Sanctuaries
*At the end of Psalm 68 we read, “Awesome in his sanctuary is God, the God of Israel.” Where is this sanctuary? According to the New Covenant, it is within us! Saint Paul explained this when he wrote, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). This beautiful reality-that God chooses to dwell in us as His sanctuary-is captured in a great way in the song, “Sanctuary,” which simply states—“Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true. With thanksgiving, I’ll be a living sanctuary for You.” May God bless us today with a deeper awareness of how we are living sanctuaries for Him.
5/6/2008 3:49:56 PM	Determination and Bicycling
*As I read Saint Paul’s speech to the priests in Ephesus, found in the Acts of the Apostles 20:17-27, I was struck by how similar it is to Jesus’ farewell speech in the Gospel of John, chapters 14-17. Both St. Paul and Jesus were headed for Jerusalem and did not know fully what they were going to encounter, but they knew it would be difficult. They both willingly went, however, because they knew it was the will of the Father. Their determination is a beautiful witness and encouragement to each of us. *On another note, I posted a short video of Fr. Dave’s unfortunate bicycle spill. As soon as I realized he was not seriously injured, I laughed until I cried! What made the minor spill funny was the fact that he BEGGED me to video tape it because he was so proud of his riding skills! Obviously, neither he nor I have any riding skills worth boasting about!!!
5/5/2008 8:43:45 PM	New Music
*Today, I spent most of my day off working on music. My voice instructor came down from Fayetteville to work on writing harmony parts and recording. We got a LOT done. In fact, one of the songs is ready to go to Omega Sound for the finishing touches. I will be spending a lot of my upcoming days off trying to finish this final CD. My hope is to have it done by Christmas (which might seem like a long way away, but it will be here before we know it)! I will look forward to posting some short clips of the new songs as I get them finished. Have a great evening!
5/4/2008 5:57:14 PM	Sermon and Podcast
*I just finished posting the homily from this weekend, “If We Turn Things Upside Down.” To find a link to the video we showed at the end of the homily, go to the text version of the homily and see the link in the footnotes on page two. *Also, to listen to Lisa Hendey’s podcast interview of me from last week, go to www.CatholicMoments.com She was unbelievably easy to talk to and made the interview a very enjoyable experience. Also visit her other website, www.CatholicMom.com Have a great week!
5/3/2008 4:36:00 PM	Love and Life
*May is a busy time of the year for many people—there are weddings, graduations, and baseball, just to name a few of the many activities. While it’s a busy time of year, it is also a beautiful time of year. Creation is coming into full bloom as the warm weather settles in and the cold reluctantly leaves. Love is truly in the air as God reminds us over and over, with each blooming flower and lush green tree, that He created us for LIFE. May we not forget to pause and gratefully enjoy the beauty of spring in the midst of the busyness of May!
4/30/2008 8:32:33 AM	Searching for God
*What if God created the whole universe in such a way that His greatest creation, humanity, would be inspired to search for Him? This is precisely what Saint Paul suggested to the people of Athens when he told them, “The God who made the world and all that is in it… made from one the whole human race to dwell on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions, so that people might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from any one of us” (Acts 17:24-27). What person, situation, or created beauty has inspired us today “grope for [God] and find him”?
4/29/2008 9:19:08 AM	Saint Catherine of Siena
*Today is the memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena. She was born in 1347 A.D. and died at the age of 33. Despite her young age, the Church considers St. Catherine to be one of the greatest spiritual writers in salvation history. She was named a “doctor” of the Church by Pope Paul VI in 1970 for her extraordinary spiritual insights, many of which were written in her spiritual testament, “The Dialogue.” Through that testament, Saint Catherine continues to encourage Christians who are undergoing difficulties in life, writing, “For there is no one in this life, no matter how perfect, who cannot grow to greater perfection… And so that your fruit may grow and be perfect, [God prunes] you by means of trials: disgrace, insults, mockery, abuse, and reproach, with hunger and thirst, by words and actions, as it pleases [His] goodness to grant to each of you as you are able to endure. For trial is a sign that shows whether the soul’s charity is perfect or imperfect. How is God pruning each of us today? Are we open to having our charity tested?
4/27/2008 3:00:56 PM	Confirmation and Vacation
*The celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation last night was wonderful! The generous faith of our young men and women gave the whole parish an opportunity to reflect on the gift of the Holy Spirit and how much we need the Spirit’s help each and every day. I’m sure their faith and service will continue to inspire and encourage us in the days and years ahead. I will post my homily from this weekend on the website in about an hour. I have an old friend from seminary coming into town this week for a visit, so I’ll be taking the next few days off (except for some evening Masses and meetings). Have a great week!
4/26/2008 3:54:08 PM	Silent Retreat & Confirmation
*I have been blessed with the opportunity to be on a team of directors leading a silent retreat for a dozen men and women at St. Scholastica’s this weekend. The retreat began Thursday and will end Sunday. Please keep these people in your prayers as they come to the end of their retreat. It has been such a blessing to be a part of their spiritual journey, even for just a few days! Hopefully, there will be more opportunities in the future for people in our Diocese to go on a silent retreat. While most people can’t imagine being quiet for very long, most finish a silent retreat wishing that it could be longer! *When I haven’t been at the retreat, I have been preparing for Confirmation, which we will celebrate in just a little while. This might very well be the last time I get to preside at Confirmation, since next year the bishop will be here. I am looking forward to celebrating this special Sacrament with the nearly 50 young men and women in our parish who have been preparing for two years. Please pray for them and congratulate them.
4/24/2008 8:17:12 AM	Saint Fidelis
*Very few Christians have heard of Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen. He was a sixteenth century German lawyer who gave up his practice and all of his possessions in order to become a priest. Known as “the poor man’s lawyer,” Fidelis (whose birth name was Mark Rey), took up the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Eventually, however, he became so disgruntled with the legal system that he left his practice and pursued a life as a Franciscan friar. He was a zealous friar and was noted for his preaching and defense of Catholicism. He was martyred for his faith in 1622 A.D. The beauty of St. Fidelis’ faith and zeal can be seen in the prayer that he constantly offered, “Woe to me if I should prove myself but a halfhearted soldier in the service of my thorn-crowned Captain.” Let us pray, through the intercession of St. Fidelis, that Christ will increase our zeal for spreading the Good News and protect us from lukewarmness and apathy.
4/23/2008 4:23:46 PM	Old Habits
*Old habits are hard to break. I remembered this important fact while reading the Acts of the Apostles this morning. In chapter fifteen, the disciples are discussing whether or not the new Gentile Christians need to first convert to Judaism through circumcision and adherence to the Mosaic Law before they can be considered full-fledged followers of Christ. There were some Christians present, who were from the party of the Pharisees, who were adamant that the Gentiles needed to submit to the weight of the Law in order to become Christians. In verse five we read, “Some from the party of the Pharisees who had become believers stood up and said, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Mosaic Law’” (Acts 15:5). Saint Peter disagreed with them, saying, “Why, then, are you now putting God to the test by placing on the shoulders of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?” (Acts 15:10). His words sound very similar to the words that Jesus used to describe the sinfulness of the Pharisees in the Gospel of Matthew, “They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people's shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them” (Matthew 23:4). Old habits are hard to break! Despite the fact that the Pharisees in the Book of Acts had been baptized and had received the Holy Spirit, they were still struggling with their old habit of placing the burden of the Law on other people’s shoulders. What old habit are you and I still struggling with? Just as the Pharisees took to heart Saint Peter’s challenge to eliminate the burden of the Law, are we willing to let the Church help us with our old habits?
4/22/2008 10:03:11 AM	Mark Mallet Concert
*THANK YOU MARK AND LEA MALLETT!!! The concert was AWESOME last night. For those of you who were not able to make it—you missed a great encounter with Christ! Mark began the concert with a few songs and then shared some Scripture and quotes from Saint Faustina’s Diary about God’s mercy and love. Then, we exposed the Blessed Sacrament and were invited to gather around the altar in adoration. Mark led us in some worship as we knelt in front of the Word made Flesh! It was a powerful and heart-touching experience. Please continue to keep Mark, Lea and their family in your prayers as they continue their tour.
4/20/2008 4:29:12 PM	The Holy Father's Visit
*What a blessing to have the Pope in the United States for a while! Unfortunately, I did not get to watch much of the festivities on television, but I enjoyed reading about his visits and homilies. I did watch a little of the Mass at Yankee Stadium this afternoon while I was visit a parishioner’s house. It looked like a very blessed event! Let us keep the Holy Father in our prayers as he returns home. May God bless him with rest and relaxation!
4/16/2008 4:22:27 PM	Evangelization
*The past week has given us wonderful opportunities to be mindful of the importance of evangelization. Faith might be very personal, but it is never individual! Our faith must be shared with other people. Sometimes, those people might be right next to us; sometimes they might be in another state or country. During the past week, we have been given the example of bishop-elect, Anthony Taylor, who generously responded to God’s call to share the Gospel with the good people of the Diocese of Little Rock. Our Pope, Benedict XVI, is another great example. He is not content with keeping the Good News to himself, but rather, he has traveled across the ocean in order to share it with all of us in the United States of America. May God give each of us the grace to share our faith with anyone and everyone!
4/15/2008 6:43:43 PM	The Light of the World
*Jesus is the Light of the World. In the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 22, we read that Jesus was in the portico of Solomon teaching during the feast of the Dedication. This feast is a very significant feast for the Jews. It is also known as Hanukkah or the Feast of Lights. The feast commemorates the victory of the Jews over the Syrians around 164 B.C. In their victory, they were able to recapture the Temple and rededicate it to Yahweh. Having cleaned the Temple of all of the pagan sacrileges that had taken place there during the previous three years, the Jews relit the sanctuary lamp, bringing God’s light back to His dwelling. It is on the feast of the Dedication that we hear Jesus, the Light of the World, preaching a message about God’s care in chapter ten of the Gospel of John. Let us continue to pray that God’s Light will penetrate the darkness of our world and reveal how much God cares for humanity!
4/13/2008 3:37:26 PM	Discernment
*Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd and we are His sheep. We know His voice and we follow Him. I’ve posted my homily about discerning the Good Shepherd’s voice. Discernment is a fascinating topic and is essential to our Christian journey. There will be a one day mini-retreat on Saturday May 10th to study Saint Ignatius of Loyola’s “Guidelines for the Discernment of Spirits.” I’m looking forward to it! Have a great day and please continue to keep our Confirmation students in your thoughts and prayers.
4/11/2008 4:03:38 PM	New Bishop
*God takes care of His people. Here in the Diocese of Little Rock, we received news yesterday that God cares for us. The Holy Spirit, working through Pope Benedict XVI, has found us a new bishop, Fr. Anthony Taylor! For almost two years now we have been praying for a bishop and God has answered our prayers. I’m sure that no one has been praying as hard as Monsignor Hebert, who has been the Administrator since Bishop Sartain was reassigned to Joliet, IL. Monsignor Hebert has done a marvelous job the past two years. I’m sure it hasn’t been easy, but he is a wonderful man of faith and has a lot of wisdom. Please keep our Diocese in your prayers as we prepare for the installation of bishop-elect Anthony.
4/9/2008 8:47:34 AM	From Pain to Gain
*Isn’t it cool how God can bring great things from horrible situations! I was noticing the difficult situation the early Christians faced in Acts 8:1. It says that, “there broke out a severe persecution of the church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria…” In verse 4 of that same chapter we read the rest of the story—“Those who had been scattered went about preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). Here was a horrible situation—the persecution of the Christians. In fact, Stephen had just been martyred by the Jews for his belief in Christ. Things had gotten very bad. Yet, from that persecution, the prophetic words of Christ to His disciples recorded in Acts chapter 1, verse 8 were fulfilled—“You will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). God was able to use even the horrible persecution the early Christians were enduring as a catalyst for spreading the Good News of the Gospel. What is one particular hardship that you are enduring right now in your life? How is God using it to bring forth something beautiful and holy?
4/7/2008 8:15:43 AM	Praise God for Teachers
*Today is the memorial of St. John Baptist de la Salle, who founded the Christian Brothers to establish education for the poor. Saint John is the patron saint of schoolteachers. Teachers have chosen a very important, and often difficult, vocation. In the words of St. John Chrysostom, “What is nobler than to mold the character of the young? I consider that he who knows how to form the youthful mind is truly greater than all painters, sculptors and all others of that sort.” Today, let’s be mindful of the teachers who helped to positively shape our lives and let’s pray that God will bless them for blessing us.
4/6/2008 1:40:24 PM	The Pope of Hope
*In just a couple of weeks, Pope Benedict the XVI will visit the United States. He will undoubtedly bring words of challenge and hope to all of us the in America. My homily this weekend deals with the Pope’s message of hope. We are definitely in need of Christ’s message of hope spoken through Sacred Scripture and our Church leaders. I hope you enjoy the homily. *On another note, the Trinity Junior High golf tournament is tomorrow (Monday). Please pray for good weather and a wonderful turnout. It is sure to be a great day of golf and fellowship. I am particularly looking forward to the trick shot professional who will be doing a demonstration! Have a blessed and hope-filled Sunday!
4/2/2008 4:33:26 PM	Like Jesus
*As Christians, we know that we are supposed to become more and more like Christ. Often, it’s hard for us to see that happening in our lives. It can kind of be like gaining weight, other people usually notice more quickly than we ourselves notice! *During the Easter Season, we have blessed opportunity to hear how the Apostles became more and more like Christ. The early chapters of the Acts of the Apostles give numerous parallels between the life of Christ and the life of the Apostles. For example, in chapter five of Acts, we read how the Apostles—got into trouble with the Sanhedrin, got arrested, boldly preached in the temple, performed signs and wonders, healed people, and caused the high priests to fear (Acts 5:1-26). These are all things that Jesus experienced! The Apostles had gone from being fearful and faithless at Jesus’ death to being unique and particular images of Jesus Christ! Each of us is called to be the same. In what way today did you experience something similar to what Jesus experienced during His time on earth?
4/1/2008 9:43:44 PM	At the Feet of Jesus
*One of the best parts of the Easter Season is that we get to hear Scripture readings that tell us about the life of the early Church! In the first reading from Mass today, we heard how the early Christian community was of “one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common” (Acts 4:32). The reading goes on to say that “there was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need” (Acts 4:34-35). What a beautiful image! The people laid their possessions at the feet of the Apostles. In reality, they were laying their gifts at the feet of Christ. *This Scripture passage reminds us that discipleship requires stewardship. A steward is someone who recognizes that he or she has been put IN CHARGE of gifts. They are not OWNERS of gifts. Only a steward can find the freedom necessary to lay a gift at the feet of the Master. What gifts have you and I struggled to lay at the feet of Christ?