The earliest record we have of the observance of Advent comes from the 5th century. Just as the season of Lent was the preparation for the Easter Feast, so the season of Advent was the preparation time for the Feast of Christmas. In both Old Testament times and in the history of the Church, more […]
Fr. Steve’s Reflections
Reflection from Father Steve – November 26, 2023
Next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. Advent is that yearly opportunity to prepare for the remembrance of the birth of the Savior. The birth of the Child of Nazareth, the Son of David, and Son of God, stands at the very center of human history. It is this Jesus who makes visible the […]
Reflection from Father Steve – November 19, 2023
Thursday is Thanksgiving Day. This a “civic holy day” in which we remember with gratitude all that we have received. Nothing is so ennobling in a person as a life of gratitude, the ability to say and think “thank you”. Cicero, the Roman philosopher-politician, declared gratitude as the parent of all virtues. He used examples […]
Reflection from Father Steve – November 12, 2023
The Psalms are the prayer book both for Jews and Christians. Praying with the psalms has been a part of my daily life for more than sixty years. Some psalms are prayers for forgiveness, some are praise of God, some are the lament of one in trouble or conflict. As I pray some of those […]
Reflection from Father Steve – November 5, 2023
There is no such thing as a good war. War, by its very nature, is a testimony to human failure to resolve differences. More often than not innocent people, what we call non-combatants, are who pay the price of war —displacement, separation of families, torture, hunger, etc. To date, more than 1,500 Israeli and over […]
Reflection from Father Steve – October 29, 2023
The current Roman Synod strives to enshrine and apply the classical medieval principle: what affects everyone must be discussed and approved by everyone. This principle demands a process and an open and civil atmosphere. The process is a reciprocal listening in which everyone has something to learn. Each one listening to others and all listening […]
Reflection from Father Steve – October 22, 2023
Advancing the call of the Second Vatican Council to “reform” the Church, Pope Francis has made clear that “Christ calls the pilgrim church to perennial reform”. The Church always needs to be renewed because its members are all sinners and in need of conversion; and any permanent reform of the Church calls for the conversion […]
Reflection from Father Steve – October 15, 2023
The synod that has convened in Rome is undertaken by Pope Francis to address the unfinished work of the Second Vatican Council. He is proposing a renewed model of Church—a Church that listens – a listening that is more than simply hearing. In this model, listening characterizes the entire way of interacting and connecting that […]
Reflection from Father Steve – October 8, 2023
Wednesday of this week, October 11th is the 61st anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. I was a seminary student at the time, a college junior. I had just arrived at the Saint Paul Seminary in September of that year. I was just getting acclimated to a new campus and new classmates […]
Reflection from Father Steve – October 1, 2023
Within a few days Pope Francis will convene the Synod on Synodality in Rome. A Synod is a gathering in which reflection and discussion takes place concerning issues of immediate concern to the life of the Church. In the aftermath of Vatican II, the practice of the pope calling a synod on a regular basis […]
Reflection from Father Steve – September 24, 2023
Today, Sunday, September 24, is the holiest day of the year for our Jewish neighbors. The time of repentance, begun on September 15 culminates today, the Feast of Yom Kippur, beginning at sundown on Sunday evening. On the day before Yom Kippur, a special and bountiful meal is enjoyed with candle lighting at the end […]
Reflection from Father Steve – September 17, 2023
We are immersed in a culture that is individualistic and happiness is seen as immediate self-gratification. Often the current philosophy is: “In this culture there is no such thing as justice or equality; there is no God-reality, the earth is there for me to use and enjoy as I wish. There is only the present […]
Reflection from Father Steve – September 10, 2023
We stand on the threshold of a new school year. As a priest, each year of my life’s work has been an involvement in Sundown on Friday, September 15 is a Great Sabbath for our Jewish neighbors and friends; September 15 is not only the Sabbath, it is also Rosh Hashanah (literality “the head of […]
Reflection from Father Steve – September 3, 2023
We stand on the threshold of a new school year. As a priest, each year of my life’s work has been an involvement in Tomorrow, September 4th is Labor Day – the last day of the State Fair, the beginning of meteorological Fall, the last day of summer vacation for tomorrow it is back to […]
Reflection from Father Steve – August 27, 2023
We stand on the threshold of a new school year. As a priest, each year of my life’s work has been an involvement in school. Schools are, among other things, academies for citizen development. In a free society, that depends on the involvement of the citizenry, an educated, a schooled people are essential. Both private […]
Reflection from Father Steve – August 20, 2023
During the summer months I have written about the spirituality of aging. Some have asked for suggestions of further reading and/or the books I have used in reflecting on “growing older”. On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity and Getting Old, Parker J. Palmer The Word as it Should Be, Gregory F. A. Pierce [I […]
Reflection from Father Steve – August 13, 2023
Aging is an invitation to go deeper into life. It is the shift from doing to being. Often our adult life was so busy. We ran here and there just to make sure that everything got done, all the bases were covered, and nothing was left out. Success was finishing it all on time. Today […]
Reflection from Father Steve – August 6, 2023
SUNDAY MASS IN CHEROKEE PARK Next Sunday, August 13, the annual Saint Matthew Sunday Mass in Cherokee Park takes place. This event is long standing, and has come to be seen as an important part of parish life. The gathering is informal; bring a blanket to sit on the grass or a summer folding chair. […]
Reflection from Father Steve – July 30, 2023
Regret is the ghost of aging. It prods me to look back and to question everything I have done. It awakens the “life of should” – I should have… Regret nibbles around the edges of the mind and we feel weary, listless and with no desire to do anything. It is not only the past […]
Reflection from Father Steve – July 23, 2023
BEING AN ELDER We are a youth obsessed people. Elders don’t count for much, rarely thought of as a resource. In the East and in the Southern hemisphere, there is a role for the elder; there is recognition that the elder has much to offer. We do recognize what it is to mentor, and in […]
Reflection from Father Steve – July 16, 2023
TIME marks every aspect of life: “Too much time”, “Not enough time”, “How much time will it take?”, “Who’s got the time?”, “I want to see how much time I can spend working this raspberry patch.” The events of our lives give focus and shape to activities. They do not define them. As I grow […]
Reflection from Father Steve – July 9, 2023
GRATITUDE becomes the starting point for spiritual awareness. It is with and through gratitude that I am allowed to wonder at the riches of life. Once again Thomas Merton tells me: “Gratitude takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awaking to the new wonder and to the praise of the goodness of God.” […]
Reflection from Father Steve – July 2, 2023
What we wrestle with is that final stage of life; and what I am invited to do with it. Growing older can be a spiritual exercise –a window onto God’s love and mercy. All spirituality is a process, a process by which we identify ourselves within God’s plan for creation and the human family; it […]
Reflection from Father Steve – June 25, 2023
In April of 2012 I turned 70 years old and retired from “active ministry” – major responsibility for a church institution. I was not sure what retirement was all about. The diocese had provided seminars on financial planning relating to retirement; they also offered assistance regarding Social Security and Medicare. All of this was very […]
Reflection from Father Steve – June 18, 2023
This Monday, June 19th, we observe the newest national holiday – Juneteenth. This federal holiday commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. It commemorates the anniversary of the order on June 19, 1854 proclaiming freedom for the slaves of Texas. This holiday is an important step in the education of our citizenry. So much has […]
Reflection from Father Steve – June 11, 2023
An Open Letter to Graduates Congratulations! You have arrived at a change moment in your life—whether you are graduating from high school, trade school or college. In ancient times, students were pictured as camels. These civilizations saw education as a time to provide what the student needs to be a good worker, a dedicated citizen […]
Reflection from Father Steve – June 4, 2023
Today I offer for your reflection the four and fifth priority submitted by the Church of North America – the Catholic Church of the United States and Canada – to the agenda of the Roman Synod of October 2023. Priority Four: Addressing the unity and communion of the Church in the midst of various kinds […]
Reflection from Father Steve – May 28, 2023
The North American Catholic Church – Catholics from the United States and Canada – offer five priorities to be discussed at the October Roman Synod. Last week I wrote about the first of the five. The second priority: The Church has the challenge of welcoming those who feel excluded from participation in the life of […]
Reflection from Father Steve – May 21 2023
Beginning in 2021, Pope Francis called the universal church to prepare for a Synod, a month long meeting in Rome during October 2023. Synods have been gatherings of selected bishops, representing the whole church, coming together, and with the Pope, undertaking a reflection on current issues facing the Church; and discerning what the response to […]
Reflection from Father Steve – May 14, 2023
For many centuries in the West, Christianity has to a large extent determined and shaped culture and society. Culture is the way a person inhabits his/her world. Culture structures all the components and dimensions of human existence. All people live on this earth, but they do not inhabit the earth in the same way. Thus, […]
Reflection from Father Steve – May 7, 2023
In the face of a culture of secularism, consumerism, economic inequality, diminishment of the value of human beings – especially those who are different from me – and the list goes on, the stance of the Church must not be preaching about or idealizing a bygone past – the golden age of a Church of […]
Reflection from Father Steve – April 30, 2023
May 1st is International Labor Day. Throughout the world people celebrate the gift and value of work. In light of that, on May 1st the Church celebrates the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. Since 1881, and Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical letter, On the Condition of Human Labor, the Church has celebrated the worker and […]
Reflection from Father Steve – April 23, 2023
During the Easter Season, the 50 days between Easter Sunday and Pentecost, the Gospel according to John and the Acts of the Apostles are the scripture readings at Mass. The Acts of the Apostles is the second volume of a two-volume work, the first of which is the Gospel according to Luke. In the Gospel […]
Reflection from Father Steve – April 16, 2023
Sixty years ago, Holy Thursday, 1963, Pope John XXIII issued his final teaching to the world. The letter he wrote is called Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth. On establishing universal peace in truth, justice, charity and liberty). John knew he had an inoperable cancer and had no more than three months to live. In […]
Reflection from Father Steve – April 9, 2023
I have so many memories from childhood of the events surrounding the Feast of Easter. In those days the Lenten fast and abstinence from meat was observed each day. Before Ash Wednesday dad would go to the Pioneer Sausage Company on Rice Street and buy an 18-inch long hard salami. He would hang it from […]
