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  Wednesday – Feast of the Annunciation Gospel – Luke 1:26-38 YES! Confirmation 2026 I was back in Chicago this week and, while there were a number of tasks I was there to take care of, one stood out as the most important – deaconing the Confirmation Mass for 37 8 th graders at St. Robert Bellarmine Church, many of them I have known since they were 4 th graders whom I trained and mentored as altar servers.   What made this Rite of Confirmation so very special was that 2 of them asked me to be their sponsor.   What an honor!   What a blessing!   Standing there with my hand on their right shoulder, presenting them to Bishop Sullivan, watching them be anointed with chrism and sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit!   It made me so proud not just that they were saying ‘YES’ to this Sacrament of Confirmation, but that they knew and understood the meaning of their ‘YES’. They weren’t just going through the motions; they weren’t just following a family ...
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  Tuesday – 5th Week in Lent   - 3/24/26     revisited Gospel – John 8:21-30 The Worst Day Altar over the site of the Crucifixion One of the absolute worst days of my life was the day my dad died.   It was sudden, unexpected, heartbreaking!   It felt like the world had suddenly stopped turning!   And I can only imagine how much worse it was for my Mom to lose her best friend, her spouse of so many years, to feel so completely alone and lost You know that day, that absolute worst day of your life, when everything fell apart, when you felt completely alone and abandoned?   Remember that day when you ‘knew’ all hope was lost and things would never be the same again?   Remember that day you ‘knew’ would be your last, that day that you were convinced you would never survive?   And yet, here you are!   Got through it, didn’t you?   Made it to the next day, didn’t you?   How the heck did that happen?   Did it all hap...
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  Monday – 5th Week in Lent   3/23/26   revisited Gospel - John 8:1-11 Expecting the worst Garden of Gethsemane Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?   Where exactly were the Pharisees hiding in order to catch the woman in the act of adultery?   How long were they hiding? How long had they been planning this?    Why would they put so much time and energy into expecting someone to sin, much less catch them at it? Jesus was spending some time in the Garden of Gethsemane praying and was then confronted by this situation.   The difference between Him and the Pharisees is stark.   The Pharisees seem to view people at their worst and expect nothing less, nothing more.   They pre-judge others based on their past and don’t even allow the possibility that they could change.   Jesus sees the woman, forgives her sins (her past) and challenges her to do better. Where are we?   Do we judge others based on something they did in the past? ...
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