Reflections of a Simple Priest

There's something about food that's simply universal. It's something that all of us need to survive, yet it's about so much more than survival. When we gather to eat, there has always been something special about a family meal. It's a celebration. Think of all the various important moments we have that surround meals. A couple goes on a date and begins with dinner. Two friends meet up for lunch. A family sits down at the dinner-table to spend time together. Friends gather around a bonfire to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. When we have a party, we always think of having a dinner. At a Wedding, a Funeral, a Baptism, we always have a luncheon or a reception with food. At holiday time, for every family, the holiday meal is always a special moment for the family to gather together. Nearly every society has a special holiday that focuses specifically on food. In America, we call that holiday thanksgiving…. the whole history of the day is centered around th...

Sorry Folks!  No Homilies at Church this week, Our Parish Festival is this weekend...so it's our tradition not to give a homily.  If you're in range of Johnstown, please stop out to St. Benedict's this weekend for a good 'ol fashioned parish reunion. If you still want one, here's a homily for this weekend from the Archives...(2009 to be exact)

One of the biggest complaints we always hear about teenagers is that they never listen to their elders. Even if perhaps I'm not so certain the stereotype is all that correct, we all assume that teens will listen to whatever their peers have to say long before they listen to anyone else. As we grow into adulthood though, isn't is amazing how our focus shifts. Now, we believe things whenever we are told by an expert. Aren't we always perfectly ready to accept things as they are….just because that's what we heard on TV. Then, when we hear the story from an actual person, especially someone we know, especially a peer…all too often, we're far more ready to believe the expert, than we ever are to believe someone we know. Just simply ask yourself, what mother hasn't purchased the famous book, "What to expect when you're expecting" and then ask yourself...when things conflict, do you listen to your own mother and friends who have been through it….or ...

Two hundred and thirty nine years ago today, there were a group 56 of men who stood around a desk, about 200 miles east of here in Philadelphia. Together, they recognized the injustices that were being done to those around them. Those men could have set back and given in. Many of them were wealthy. Many were born into privilege, and if they has simply struck a deal, most of them could have led very comfortable lives. Yet, they believed in something that was much more important than comfort. They believed in principles of freedom, principles that they would use to build a nation. Those men really didn't amount to much. Compared to the British of the time, they were hardly a blip on the radar, a nasty pest. They had no real chance of defeating the British army. There was a real possibility that each of them would lose everything, end up in prison or worse. Yet, even so, they decided to sign the document that was sitting in front of them. They decided to sign that Declarat...

Well folks, it's been a long time.  After a year, here at St. Benedict's, I'm finally starting to get back into some sort of normalcy. (whatever that looks like for a diocesan priest)  With that in mind, I'm going to try to get this up and running again. It's a good thing, and there's been so much going on in the world in the last year or so, that I'd like to add my voice.  I'd like to think I try to listen to others, to be caring, yet firm.  I'll admit that I still have much to learn, though I'd be a bit suspicion of anyone who didn't think they had a good deal yet to learn. In my doings, I finally broke down to buy a domain.  They're cheap now, and it makes for an easy place to post things that won't move around quite so much.  While I might change the content here, at least the page will remain.  For now it's http://homilies.frbaum.com As I post here, I don't hope to have all the answers, but I hope that by adding a voi...

About 50 years ago, when the Church met in the great event we now know as the Second Vatican Council.  They began a reform of the liturgy.  One of those reforms made some serious changes to our readings at mass.  While in the past there was only a single year's cycle of readings.  The council decided it was important to look at how much of the scripture we read at mass.  They radically expanded the amount of the bible covered at mass.  Rather than a single year of readings, they decided on a 3 year cycle of Sunday readings.  Yet, with all of those changes.  The readings we use for Lent were so ancient, and put together so specifically, that they made up an exception.  We use these readings every time we are in year A, and we use them every year at masses for catechumens, those preparing to enter the Church.  That's significant, and so we should pay close attention to how these readings really fit together. This Sunday, as we b...

We live in a world that demands perfection.  We must be absolutely perfect.  If we show even a moment of weakness, we're looked down upon.  If we have any doubt of that, all we need to do is to look at our world of politics.  If someone makes a statement that doesn't get the response they were looking for, immediately you begin to hear, "but that wasn't what I really meant."  Then they begin to change what they really said and try to make it what they should have said.  Or sometimes the opposite happens, how often do we hear that a politician has changed his position, has flip-flopped, and we look at it as something awful.  At the same time though,  Honestly, what would we think of a person who looked at all the evidence, and seeing that he was wrong, decided that he was going to be stubborn and still wouldn't change?  When we put it that way, we'd certainly call him an idiot.  Either way, we can reject the one that listens an...