On this last Monday evening, I attended a Mass at the Newman Center at ASU, celebrated by Bishop Olmsted. This Mass, other than being special because a bishop was there, was special because of the reason that he was there: the blessing and dedication of the church’s new pipe organ.

Dear Friends,

Learning from the early Christian Community lets us hear Peter announcing the core kerygma, or the essential truths of our faith.

According to Peter, Jesus was a man commanded by God, with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs. Jesus was delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God. He was crucified and rose again, and God has made him both Lord and Messiah. This is the stark truth of the Resurrection. And the people ask Peter and the other Apostles, "What are we to do, my brothers?" and Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:22-23, 36, 38)

Why is Easter on a different Sunday each year? It is the most important day in the Church’s calendar (more important than Christmas), yet the day we commemorate our Lord’s Resurrection is not fixed to a particular date like our Lord’s Birth is. Well, Easter follows a lunar, rather than a solar, calendar and is celebrated on the Sunday that follows the first full moon after March 21, the vernal (spring) equinox. Therefore, Easter cannot fall earlier than March 22 or later than April 25.

Dear Friends,

The title of this reflection is inspired by the Gospel of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–35). In that familiar and beautiful story, the disciples encounter a stranger along the way—only to discover, in the end, that it is the Risen Lord himself.

As they journey, weighed down by confusion and disappointment, Jesus himself draws near and walks with them. Yet they do not recognize him. Instead, they recount to this “stranger” all that has happened concerning Jesus of Nazareth—their dashed hopes, their sorrow, their uncertainty. And then something remarkable happens.

Let all Pious men and all lovers of God rejoice in the splendor of this feast; let the wise servants blissfully enter into the joy of their Lord; let those who have borne the burden of Lent now receive their pay, and those who have toiled since the first hour, let them now receive their due reward. Let any who came after the third hour be grateful to join in the feast, and those who may have come after the sixth, let them not be afraid of being too late.

Dear Friends,

We live in a world increasingly shaped by a “tit-for-tat” mentality—a world where mercy is rarely celebrated, and strength is often measured by raw power rather than compassion. One need only look at the tragic conflicts unfolding across the globe to see the consequences of this mindset. At the root of so much violence lies humanity’s struggle to forgive and a persistent refusal to show mercy for past wrongs.

Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh, and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh, and hell trembles with fear.

Dear Friends,

What a week this has been! Holy Week—the most sacred stretch of time in human history—is always a week marked by gross contradictions and naked betrayals. These painful moments were not carried out by strangers, but by those purported to be the "soul friends" of our Lord; a people He loved, served, and sacrificed everything for.

“It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, at all times to acclaim you, O Lord, but on this night above all to laud you yet more gloriously, when Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. For he is the true lamb who has taken away the sins of the world; by dying he has destroyed our death, and by rising, restored our life.”

Dear Friends,

Palm Sunday inaugurates Holy Week by placing the Church before a paradox that unsettles every shallow understanding of power, success, and faith: salvation comes through obedient self-emptying, not through domination or resistance. We are not invited liturgically to a sentimental admiration of Jesus’ suffering but required to have a theological clarity and personal decision. The question posed is not whether Christ suffered, but whether we are willing to follow the path by which suffering becomes redemptive.

“Behold!” It's a word that we hear at each Mass, but it takes on an even deeper meaning during the Sacred Triduum, as there is indeed a great amount to behold during its most holy liturgies.

Dear Friends,

As we continue our Lenten journey and approach this 5th Sunday of Lent, the Church invites us to continue looking more deeply into our hearts. Lent is often the time when we try to “fix” ourselves—we give something up, we pray more, we try to improve. But sometimes, without realizing it, we spend more time looking at the sins of others than examining our own.

In the course of just 3 days, the most important, most symbolically rich, most dramatically beautiful liturgies of the entire year take place, with those three days having their own special season of the Liturgical Year: The Holy Triduum. The Triduum encompasses Maundy (Holy) Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday’s Easter Vigil. These three liturgies together act almost like one continuous Mass, with there being no dismissal such as “go forth, the Mass is ended” given the end of the Easter Vigil, and no greeting of “In the name of the Father…” given on Good Friday.

Dear Friends,

As a young boy, I used to think eyeglasses looked "cool." Now that I have to wear them always, and my vision continues to change, I often wish I didn’t need them at all. Moreover, I tend to misplace them often. We usually assume that everyone wants to see perfectly, but as a colleague recently pointed out to me when I was sharing my situation, there is a strange "middle ground" where your vision is just good enough to get by, but bad enough that you have to carry your glasses everywhere. Life is actually simpler when we admit we need help to see clearly. This is what the gospel reading today reminds us of.

While on my last trip to Italy, I visited a place I had been wanting to see for quite some time, called the Capuchin Crypt in Rome. This crypt is located under the Holy Mary of the Conception of the Capuchins church, which was constructed by the Franciscan Capuchin Friars in the year 1626. In 1631, Cardinal Antonio Barberini, OFMCap, ordered the remains of thousands of Capuchins to be exhumed and transferred to the crypt below the church.

Dear Friends,

Two weeks ago, following the whirlwind of "Name Tag Weekend," I was finally settling down into the quiet of my evening. That peace, however, was suddenly interrupted by a single phone call from the daughter of a former parishioner at St. Andrew the Apostle. Her message was brief but urgent: "Father Robert, your friend collapsed in church and is being rushed to the emergency room at Banner Thunderbird Medical Center in Glendale."