We celebrate lots of weddings here at Sacred Heart. It is a young vibrant parish with young professionals forming about 1/4 of the households. Add to that a beautiful church and you will have lots of weddings!
I help prepare a good number of couples for marriage and one of the things I look forward to hearing is “How did you meet?” The stories are varied and many – and all interesting. Some knew each other from college or work. Some were introduced by friends. A couple of classic blind dates are in the mix, too. And of course, in a nod to modern, busy and complicated lives, a good many met via social media. Continue reading
Why do we fast? Because somewhere in the stack of hungers and desires of our life we have a hunger for God. The hunger for God is the most intrinsic – hardwired as it were. It is the deepest hunger. The question is where in the stack is it? There are quotidian hungers – the ordinary ones of everyday. There are episodic hungers. There are the ones that are baseline – safety, security, companionship, knowing why we are here. And there is the hunger for God, the deepest bedrock hunger of existence. 
Ash Wednesday, the first day of the penitential season of Lent in the Catholic Church, is always 46 days before Easter Sunday. It is a “movable” feast that is assigned a date in the calendar only after the date of Easter Sunday is calculated. How is it calculated? I’m glad you asked.
There was a married couple that upon reaching retirement age, the wife announced that they were going to make some changes in their life. They were going to lose weight, get in shape, and start living right so that they could enjoy their well-earned rest with a new quality of life. In no uncertain terms she announced that her husband’s standard diet of bacon, bratwursts, and beer would be replaced by diet based on bran! He was to discover the plethora of recipes based on bran. But, besides becoming quite regular, he was making a new life. In the ensuring months and years, they lost a lot of weight, became more active in life and in the parish, and had a great quality of life. 
Our gospel highlights the three spiritual practices of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. The readings all warn of not being gloomy about it all, not being ostentatious so that you’re sure to be noticed, and not to announce your generosity so that all might acknowledge your faithful giving. It calls into question not the tradition of the Lenten practices, but the meaning, intention, and purpose you assign to your practice. 
The playwright Oscar Wilde once wrote, “I can resist anything except temptation.” The humor of the remark is mixed with a sad recognition that we fail so often to resist the temptations that come our way each day and from every direction. Of course, there are temptations and then there are temptations writ large. What are people’s greatest temptations? Why? What are their “favorite” sins – indicated by frequency and repetition? Why do we so often find ourselves in the same position as St. Paul? “What I do, I do
Word gets around. Visitors or parishioners will sometimes stop me on the sidewalk in front of church and remark, “I heard you were in the Navy…” This is, of course, a prelude to reminisce, tell sea stories, recount homeports and ports-of-call, and all manner of things true and…. well, sea stories. Back in the day I was conversant in all the acronyms of naval service. If someone asked if I ever did a loop through AUTEC, I knew what they were talking about. If someone said, “Bravo Zulu,” I understood. “COMNAVSEASYSCOM” – got it… but this century has a whole lot of new acronyms that just evade my comprehension. 
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