Happy New Year

Posted by St. Joseph

I look at this New Year, 2019.  When I was a mere pup, the talk of future possibilities lay beyond the horizon.  Space flight and journeys to the moon seemed the fashionable talk back then.  Little did anyone believe that the technologies of today were even believable, let alone, ... Read More »

Merry Christmas

Posted by St. Joseph

I was thinking back on my childhood.  (It must be a product of getting older.)  I asked myself if Christmas was as “exciting” for me now, as it was when I was young?  Perhaps, as the responsibilities of preparing for Christmas seem to outweigh the celebration itself, I am ... Read More »

Half Way and Almost There

Posted by St. Joseph

Now don’t panic!  Christmas is right around the corner and we are over half way through Advent to the great day of the Incarnation, when God became Man.  It’s easy to let the “busy-ness” of the season cause a misdirection for us.  We get so wrapped up in the ... Read More »

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Posted by St. Joseph

On December 12 we celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe.  She is the Patroness of the Americas, and is entrusted to us for our protection and safety.  It always amazes me the number of ways we name Mary, celebrating her influence on and over us through the ages.  Mary is ... Read More »

Advent: Holy Anticipation

Posted by St. Joseph

I was mentioning recently how nice it would be if winter would go as fast as summer seems to go.  However, Advent and the Christmas season can help dispel the dark of night and the cold of winter through the lights we put up, the trees we trim and ... Read More »

Eucharistic Adoration--A Holy Hour with Christ

Posted by St. Joseph

Like the Magi (The Three Kings) of old, who said, “We have come to do Him homage,” this is the essence of Eucharistic Adoration.  Our Lord is placed in a monstrance so that we can adore and see Our Lord in a public way in Eucharistic form.  Catholics believe ... Read More »

Happy Thanksgiving

Posted by St. Joseph

I was driving in Rockford last week to visit another priest, when in the neighborhood I was going through, to my left, was a large group of wild turkeys.  I don’t usually see that in the city, but, it did make my mouth water as I had a vision ... Read More »

The U. S. Bishops and the Church’s Scandal

Posted by St. Joseph

It has been a long 3 1/2 months (and more to come) since the most recent scandal of cover-up by Bishops exploded upon the scene.  Not much has been accomplished or resolved, much to my and many other’s frustration and disgust.  If C Y A letters from bishops (written ... Read More »

All Saints and All Souls

Posted by St. Joseph

Two beautiful celebrations are coming this week.  All Saints Day (Thursday, Nov.1, with Masses at 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. because it is a Holy Day of Obligation), and All Souls Day is Friday, Nov. 2, with the Mass for the Poor Souls at 8:00 a.m. that day.

These ... Read More »

Is it O.K. to celebrate Halloween?

Posted by St. Joseph

The true meaning of Halloween is “All Hallows Eve”.  A reference to All Saints and All Souls, which is the Christian celebration of Halloween.  The pagans believed that the dead souls roamed the earth on this night to play tricks on the living—even to the point of scaring the ... Read More »