Author: Deacon Gary

Our family regularly gets together throughout the course of the year.  With our five kids and their spouses, and our 7 grandchildren from 2 months to 13 years of age, these events are the way we  celebrated family events – and sometimes just celebrate nothing other than that we are family.  Because these “FamJams” are woven into […]

Today is the feast of Saint Joseph the worker.   One of the beauties of our Catholic Tradition is the value it places on work and particularly on the rights of workers – there is a rich library of Church documents and  encyclicals on this most important element of social justice.  Our bishops are outspoken in their defense […]

Well, it must be Deacon week in scripture!   In today’s readings we hear about Philip … one of the seven chosen in Acts 6 and known for his preaching and evangelization.   So, expanding the theme from earlier this week that we are all called to diakonia – to minister – what insights can we draw from reflecting on […]

Today is the feast day of Saint Catherine of Sienna, a Doctor of the Church. When still a teenager she joined a group of Dominican laywomen who lived in their homes while dedicating their lives to prayer and active works of charity.   Catherine’s first years as a Dominican were spent in seclusion in her family […]

Today’s Mass readings from the Acts of the Apostles continue to tell us about Saint Stephen – one of the first ordained  Deacons of the church.  And its first Martyr.  As I approach the 30th Anniversary of my own Ordination as a Permanent Deacon, I must admit to having a special place in my heart for Stephen.  […]

There is a profound wisdom in creating down time in our week. To incorporate a sabbath into the cycle And so today, I am following that wisdom – and taking a day off. I know you will understand!

I thought over the course of the decades (ok, centuries) I have been around that I had seen many seemingly uncommon words.  But then I read a reflection by Richard Rohr OFM on Liminality, and said “Wow.  What a powerful, insightful word!”  I had never hear it before.  I suspect for many of you it is a new word […]

Saturdays during this pandemic have typically been for me a pondering day.  Tasks around the home are completed, and if it is nice enough outside, then a walk in the fresh air is the only agenda item.  The clean cool air seems to awaken the senses, and rather than listen to upbeat music to inspire a doctor-prescribed […]

As many of you know, the key focus of the Permanent Diaconate is pastoral ministry.  Most of you will see Deacons in our liturgical ministry (assisting at Mass, preaching, baptisms, weddings funerals). You are unlikely to see us in our pastoral ministry –  which is often with those on the fringes of our community, on the streets, […]

When Thomas said “my Lord and my God”, he was acknowledging both the imminent and the transcendent presence of the Creator.  At least, I think I have that right.  I will defer to the theologians as I am but a simple man.  For me, rightly or wrongly, I see two images in that phrase of Thomas’s. The […]

There isn’t anyone I know who, being honest, could say that they don’t at times struggle with faith and doubt, sometimes toggling between the two from month to month, day to day, and even hour to hour. And isn’t it so very human of us to want physical proof of God’s presence in our lives, like […]

Poor Thomas!  He made one remark and has been branded as “Doubting Thomas” ever since.  I am sure that in our lives we have said or done things that weren’t necessarily the most admirable.  What a tragedy if that one event overtook our whole lives, and we became known as “Angry Gary” or “Snarky Sue” !!   You […]

Perhaps before we look into the life of Thomas for inspiration, it might be worth pondering for a moment his encounter with Jesus, where he touches the wounds on Jesus’ body.  Reflecting on these wounds, Fr. Richard Rohr says, “The place of the wound is the place of the healing. The place of the break is […]

Our Gospel this Sunday (John 20.19-31) is all about Thomas, who was not present when Jesus appeared to the disciples, and who we remember for saying “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I […]

I love that phrase in the poem!  Christopher Mann reminds me that while it is good to pray, to take time in my day for God, if I see those times in my day as the only time I am close to God, it – in his words – “presumes, I think, too much of […]

Scripture is meant not only to read, but to be experienced. Poetry, like in yesterday’s pandemering, reframes and enriches our experience of the words. But sometimes it is helpful to explore the richness of scripture with our other senses as well. The following Lectio Divina incorporates art and music as well as scripture to enter […]

Emmaus comes to us, when least expected. We are going through a hiatus not of our chosing.  But because this time has broken forth into our lives, it has caused us to stop the noise, the distraction, the compulsion to perform, the fear of rejection, that makes up so much of our lives. It means we can […]

It’s not the friendliest of villages, Emmaus, the people parochial, as desert people are, bound up in the herding and bartering of beasts, the vines on its terraces encumbered with thorns, the children in the market roasting a sparrow, hardly the place to expect revelation, if revelation’s the word – I leave that to you. […]

As Catholic Christians, our next major feast is Pentecost – the celebration of Gods self-revelation in the person of the Holy Spirit.  It comes 50 days after Easter and this year falls on Sunday May 31st.  I think if we are honest with ourselves, we are hoping that by that time we will be able to […]