12/29/2021 – St. Thomas Becket

There is a romantic legend that the mother of Thomas Becket was a Saracen princess who followed his father, a pilgrim or crusader, back from the Holy Land, and wandered about Europe repeating the only English words she knew, “London” and “Becket,” until she found him. There is no foundation for the story. According to […]

Fr. Rick’s Two Minute Homily Wednesday, 12-29-2021

Wednesday in the Octave of Christmas Luke 2:22-35 – https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122921.cfm  THE ORDINARY IS THE BEST   Sports Center on ESPN has two segments that I always like watching. One feature is “Come on Man,” which portrays the silliest and far-fetched plays in sports. Another segment is called the “Top 10 Plays.” This segment starts at number 10 and […]

12/28/2021 – Holy Innocents

Herod “the Great,” king of Judea, was unpopular with his people because of his connections with the Romans and his religious indifference. Hence he was insecure and fearful of any threat to his throne. He was a master politician and a tyrant capable of extreme brutality. He killed his wife, his brother, and his sister’s […]

Fr. Rick’S One Minute Homily Tuesday 12-28-2021

Feast of The Holy Innocents  Matthew 2:13-18 – https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122821.cfm THE CHILD’S VULNERABILITY NEEDS PROTECTION. We can hardly turn on the news without hearing the murder of an innocent person or people. How can someone come to the point in their life when they will shoot into a house of a family with small children and not […]

12/27/2021 – St. John the Evangelist

Saint John the Divine as the son of Zebedee, and his mother’s name was Salome [Matthew 4:21, 27:56; Mark 15:40, 16:1]. They lived on the shores of the sea of Galilee. The brother of Saint John, probably considerably older, was Saint James. The mention of the “hired men” [Mark 1:20], and of Saint John’s “home” […]

Fr. Rick’s One Minute Homily Monday 12-27-2021

Feast of St. John, Apostle, and Evangelist   John 20:1a and 2-8 – https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122721.cfm OUR PURPOSE IN LIFE. Bay News 9 features a young athlete every week who sets the standard for other athletes. They are driven by a passion that affects everything they do. We may know people like that who challenge us to be our […]

12/26/2021 – St. Stephen

Saint Stephen was one of the first ordained deacons of the Church. He was also the first Christian martyr. The Greek word from which we derive the English word martyr literally means witness. In that sense, every Christian is called to bear witness to Jesus Christ, in both their words and their actions. Not all […]

Fr. Rick’s One Minute Homily Sunday 12-26-2021Feast of the Holy Family Luke 2:41-52 – https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122621.cfm WHERE IS JESUS? We often hear on the local news that a child has been abducted or is lost. It strikes a chord of panic in us, even if we don’t know the family. I stop what I am doing and […]

12/25/2021 – Christmas, the Birthday of Jesus Christ

The announcement of the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord from the Roman Martyrology draws upon Sacred Scripture to declare in a formal way the birth of Christ. It begins with creation and relates the birth of the Lord to the major events and personages of sacred and secular history. The particular events contained […]

Fr. Rick’s One Minute Homily Saturday 12-25-2021

Fr. Rick’s One Minute Homily Saturday 12-25-2021 Christmas day  John 1:1-18 – https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122521-day.cfm    ACCEPT HIM Think of someone close to you, your spouse, your best friend. Capture the moment you bore your heart to them. Did you feel accepted? Spend a moment or two experiencing that feeling. How important it is to know someone loves you at […]