{I was on deck a couple of years ago to fill in as the speaker at a Masonic Interfaith breakfast, and although the speaker didn’t show, they called off the sermon and invocation altogether. This unused passage is compiled from the notes intended for use that day.} I’d like to share with you a puzzle. […]
A central belief in Christianity is the incarnation of deity as a human being. This is more than “God within us”, which is easy to accept. It is easy because anything we don’t like we can say is not part of that, and what we do like we claim to “recognize” as God, God-nature, or […]
{Written for 10th Anniversary of 9-11} It is no random chance that people in all cultures have memorials. It is the human condition that what we remember what we cherish, and what we cherish, we remember. It is those memories that become the foundation of a society we give to our children. The strength of […]
Praise you Lord, for in the midst of woe you have not forgotten me. To each you give a burden they can carry, and share the yolk invisibly next to us. Of broken heart, I see the sky is blue, the breeze gentle. Anguished and pensive, you find work for my hands and thoughts. A […]
{This year (2004), we were unable to go to our church for a blessing on our Easter baskets — a Polish tradition called that is spreading throughout the Catholic Church. After researching it online, I wrote and used the following blessing as an approximation of the traditional Polish blessing, of which I could not could […]
{Given by me at McKinley's Banquet Facility for my BNI group members and their spouses. My nickname in the group is “Rev” for reverend, although I don't care for the title. :rolleyes: } Moment of Silence We all stand upon the shoulders of the previous generation –Our parents and family, teachers and mentors. Let us […]
{Used at daughter’s school mass in May of 2000} Prayers of the Faithful The response will be “Lord, hear our prayer.” For Father Art, Bishop Mansell, John Paul our pope, and all the clergy and religious … we pray to the Lord. For the leaders of our city, the nation, and the world, that they […]
{written for Confirmation Mass for my students at SS. Peter & Paul RCC (Depew, NY) in April of 1998 and used again in 1999 and 2000} PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL Our response will be “Come Holy Spirit; guide us through life” (1) That we may receive the strength to survive through the hard times, and […]
{Confirmation class, Collaborative prayer by students, Feb.1998} Lord: Help me to get through the hard times and give me the strength to survive. Give me the light to help me see others as they are and help us to understand them as we would like to be understood. Amen. {collaborative prayer of Confirmation Class in […]
{The woman whose funerary service I wrote this for was my wife’s aunt – someone I was proud and blessed to call family. She was someone I could hug, and I miss her today. Playing this special role for her family meant a lot to me, and I had never done such a thing before, […]