Reflections of a Simple Priest

There's a great irony, I think, that on one hand, If I ever want a crowd of people to show up for an evening talk, I've learned that all I need to do is say we're going to have a talk on the Devil, demons, exorcisms, and the occult.  While those are important topics, I'm always amazed at the volume of people who are very interested in those things and will show up at the drop of a hat to learn about them.  Yet, I think the truly ironic part…is that for all of those same people, when we stop to talk about sin, hell, repentance, and changing their life….suddenly they're not quite as interested. At the same time, As I listen to the news, as I read articles posted online, as I look at what the world around us seems to be saying, I'm beginning to wonder if one of the realities we're missing in our conversation as a culture, is a word that we sometimes don't like to talk about, a word that's been often abused in the past, and so we try to get ri...

Last Sunday, we celebrated the feast of Candlemas, the presentation of the Lord in the temple,   when Simeon tells Mary and Joseph that their son will be a light to the nations.  So in honor of Simeon, we always hold the blessing of candles on the feast of the presentation. I know we've all had candles at home at some point.  Perhaps it's the citronella candle we light in the summer to keep the bugs away, or maybe some of us still have those candles on the dinner table, or maybe when the power goes out, we have candles in the back somewhere to give us a little bit of light at home.  Now when we do light a candle during the day, sometimes, if we take it out in the bright sunlight, we can hardly even tell if it's lit.  The flame almost seems to disappear in the light.  Yet, it's amazing how at night, once it gets completely dark, just how that one tiny little solitary flame, that seemed light nothing in the bright daylight, can light up an ent...