Ireland
Mary: Our Hope and Our Comfort
For today the Virgin Mother of God was assumed into heaven as the beginning and image of your Church’s coming to perfection and a sign of sure hope and comfort to your pilgrim people. (Preface for the Assumption, Roman Missal, Third Edition) Mary is our hope and our comfort! As we celebrate the Solemnity of…
Sunday Reflection: Harden Not Your Hearts
In today’s First Reading we are presented with this question: “For what profit comes to a man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun?” Qooheleth, the protagonist of the book, Ecclesiastes, has had the thought many of us have had. What is the point to life?…
Beyond Conception: Building Bridges
This July has been an incredible experience of fun, leadership, service, and prayer. I was accepted as one of four counselors for the Ulster Project in McPherson, KS. The Ulster Project began in 1975 in the country of Northern Ireland as a peacemaking effort to help heal the religious, cultural, and political tensions known as…
Beyond Conception: A Pilgrimage Close to Home
Like all other seminarians at Conception Seminary College, I am “home” for the summer. And by home, I mean in the Diocese of Davenport, IA. I am currently not at my real home, but sitting on this Sunday afternoon in a former convent turned retreat house in West Point, Iowa waiting for the rest of…
Beyond Conception: Prayer and Action
Prayer and Action was created in the summer of 2006 to provide a “backyard mission experience” for the youth of the Diocese of Salina. Each week, a group of roughly 40-60 high school students show up and actively live out their faith by serving those in need around the community. While the bulk of our…
Avoiding Book Answers
Jesus has a knack for avoiding “book” answers. When the scholar of the law in today’s Gospel asks Jesus about gaining eternal life, Jesus responds with a question: “What is written in the law?” The scholar gives a good answer, a “book” answer, but Jesus sees that the man doesn’t hold the law in his…
Sunday Reflection: Holy Joy
Take a moment to think of something that brings you joy. Maybe it’s a family member or a friend whose constant presence in your life makes you happy. Maybe it’s a recent advancement in work or school. Maybe it’s a simple, pleasant conversation you had today. In each of our lives, I’m sure that if…
Beyond Conception: Cruz at Camp Tekakwitha
This summer I was assigned to Camp Tekakwitha in Williamsburg, KS. It is operated by the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and run by Deacon Dana Nearmyer and his wife Debbie Nearmyer. Deacon Nearmyer and his wife bring an intense energy to the camp that I once described as “it’s so crazy, it just…
Companion Camp – An Important Experience
A Benedictine monastery and a seminary college is an important place for high school boys to visit. A positive experience at such an impressionable age, even if only for the weekend, lends the opportunity to strengthen a young person’s faith and help cultivate and sustain their relationship with God. I know this because I have…