Jesus, Our Lord and Savior, is also our Teacher.  Throughout His public ministry, through His example, He taught us much about the need for prayer.  Jesus often prayed for others, including His Apostles.  Following the example of Jesus, Pope Francis has also focused on the need for prayer.  He has often spoken about the power of prayer.  Some of his comments about prayer made during his homilies and reflections have been summarized in the publication “Pope Francis Quotes About Prayer.” (Read more…)

An old Monk once told me that the spiritual life is like an oil lamp.  The flame is prayer.  The oil that keeps the flame going is spiritual reading.  If the oil runs out, so does the flame.

Often, a priest is asked: “Father, why is my prayer life such a drought?  I feel like I’m just reciting empty words.  What am I doing wrong?”  The first questions I would ask are: “What do you feed your life of prayer?  (Read more…)

Mary!  A name so lofty, in the regal majesty of its sound and meaning – Mary, Maria, Miriam!  It is a name as familiar to us as the name of our Mother, as the bells of the church, as the peaks of the mountains which send their friendly greetings to the valleys below.  Mary!  A thousand times we have prayed, sung, wept this name, in good and evil days. Millions of women are called by that name and it weaves a golden thread around even the plainest woman.  (Read more…)

This Friday, September 6th and every first Friday of the month, our St. Catherine of Siena Parish, with unrestrained joy, celebrates the Real Presence of Jesus Christ during the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.  We begin at 3pm and end with Benediction at 7pm.

A great part of our parish’s vitality is the adoration of our Eucharistic Lord. How many graces have come from that Adoration! Of course what makes it possible are the people who commit to spending one hour a month with our Lord. (Read more…)

The drunken oath of a king with a shallow sense of honor, a seductive dance and the hateful heart of a queen combined to bring about the martyrdom of John the Baptist.  The greatest of prophets suffered the fate of so many Old Testament prophets before him: rejection and martyrdom. The “voice crying in the desert” did not hesitate to accuse the guilty, did not hesitate to speak the truth.  But why?  What possesses a man that he would give up his very life? (Read more…)

Pope Pius XII established this feast in 1954.  But Mary’s queenship has roots in Scripture.  At the Annunciation, Gabriel announced that Mary’s Son would receive the throne of David and rule forever.  At the Visitation, Elizabeth calls Mary “mother of my Lord.”  As in all the mysteries of Mary’s life, she is closely associated with Jesus: Her queenship is a share in Jesus’ kingship.  We can also recall that in the Old Testament the mother of the king has great influence in court. (Read more…)