IF WE WERE CHILDREN before the gathering of the Second Vatican Council, we probably learned in catechism that one of the reasons we need to be baptized is to remove the original sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve. Nowadays, we prefer to teach that baptism initiates the non-baptized into a lifelong relationship with Jesus Christ in the context of the pilgrim community we know as church. Although both of these theologies are correct, there are perhaps even more profound reasons why we need the sacrament of baptism in the church.  More...

I WAS A ROOKIE CHAPLAIN-IN-TRAINING at a huge metropolitan hospital. I stepped gently into the room, with my Roman collar on, to visit an elderly ethnic patient prior to surgery. As soon as she glimpsed the collar, she began to wail, “No, no, Father, I’m not dying! It’s just appendicitis!” That was my conspicuous inauguration into the world of pastoral care of the sick and people’s common perception of “anointing.” If the priest comes, you must be dying. If he anoints you, it’s “the last rites,” extreme unction, the skids are greased.  More...

ONE OF THE MOST remarkable things Saint Paul ever wrote was a single word in the second chapter of his Letter to the Colossians. The Colossian Christians were a little confused about their new faith, and Paul worked hard to explain who Christ was and what he had done. One of the most important things Christ had done, Paul said, was to forgive sins. To explain this, Paul chose his words carefully—particularly the verb describing what Christ did with our sin. He “obliterates” it, the New American Bible translation says (Colossians 2:14). Paul could have used other words with milder meanings—that Christ “cancelled” our sin or “crossed it out” or, simply, “forgave” it. But he very deliberately picked a word that conveys the idea that God erases all traces of our sin from the record. God not only forgives; God forgets, too.  More...

“GOD SAW ALL that he had made, and indeed it was very good.” It is good for us to be here today. We are made in the very image of God. We are made to have close friends, to be in love. So we celebrate today that these two people are entering into the deep and profound human relationship of marriage. They are doing exactly what God intends.  More...

YOU ARE MY BELOVED CHILD. On you my favor rests." That's what God said on the day Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River. God's favor. God's grace. God's love. Those words and the action of the baptism itself inspired Jesus to begin his mission: to go about doing good works and healing all who were in the grip of the devil, and to be a person of compassion, like a shepherd gathering the lambs in his arms.

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He popped the question, and she responded with an enthusiastic yes. And from that moment they know a profound joy, the realization of a longing that has been growing maybe from the first time they met. It grew from a simple attraction into a romance as they dated, and blossomed into a young but real love, deepening until now they realize that the time was right for their love to express itself in a lifetime commitment.  More...

A little girl, about the age of you children gathered here, was asked on the night before receiving her First Communion what was important to know about what she going to do the next day. “To honor and love Jesus in his body and blood,” she said slowly, “and to love one another.”  More...

N. and N. have done a wonderful thing by inviting us to be part of their wedding celebration, because a wedding, a marriage, is a lesson in love for all of us.  More...

People brought little children to Jesus, the gospel tells us. They sensed the presence of God flowing through this man, and they wanted their children to benefit from the holiness and blessing and closeness to God Jesus brought to those near him.  More...

There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee—and Jesus was there. But he was not there as Jesus the teacher or Jesus the wonder-worker or Jesus the troublemaker. He was there as Jesus the son of Mary, Jesus the neighbor, Jesus everyone knew since he was a kid.  More...

What we are about to do is something supremely important for little N.—and for all of us gathered around her. From the beginning Christians have believed that this ceremony of water and words marks a person with Christ and attaches that person to him.  More...