On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we pause and reflect. For on the surface, it sounds a little bit like an ironic name for a feast. The cross was an instrument of torture, of public humiliation and shame, and of death. These are...
We all know that the colors of our liturgies have profound significance. After about six weeks of purple vestments, we would expect green vestments because palms are green. But on Palm Sunday the vestments are red. They are red like the blood that...
I cannot remember how old I was when I learned to bless myself with the Sign of the Cross. My mother might have taught me or perhaps it was my first grade teacher, Sister Ellen Marie. It is startling to me over 65 years later that the Sign of the...
The Gospel for the Third Sunday of Lent puts Jesus’ knowledge of our human nature so clearly: He really knew what was going on in men’s hearts. He knew what they thought. He saw what they did to the Temple. The Temple was a place of...
Once there was a young woman who, upon leaving home, ignored her religious upbringing and lived a wild and immoral life—until she was diagnosed with a fatal disease. Far from home, with no one else to turn to, she spent her last few weeks in a...
We find the origins of the Feast of the Exultation of the Cross back in the year 335 A.D. when, on September 14th of that year, a basilica built by the Emperor Constantine was consecrated. The site was that of Calvary and the Holy Sepulcher...
For five years I lived in one of the most beautiful places in our country, believe it or not, in New Jersey. I attended Don Bosco Seminary in Sussex County, the Northwest corner of New Jersey. This is an area of green rolling hills and the most...
