Fr Mike's Notes

  In a desert area like I am currently experiencing, palm trees are everywhere.  Since this Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week, I thought I would reflect a little on the terrain and the goodness of palms. First things first -- Palm Sunday is truly one of my favorite liturgies of the year as many of you would know.  Just getting to think in a more focused time about that fateful time Jesus endured, knowing that He was heading to Jerusalem to meet His demise.  Throughout the gospel stories, Jesus hints to the Apostles what His Way was leading to.  He even made it very plain to them at one point, to which He admonished St. Peter for trying to divert their path. As I said, palm trees are everywhere as you would anticipate from any desert climate.  There are lots of succulent plants around here, of course, but nothing by comparison to the amount of palms.  Something I noticed when I arrived down here was that palms that had fallen from their trees not onl...

Last night I went to the Fleet Science Center to see a basic display of color and sound journeying through space, It was filled with positive subliminal messaging designed to be a stimulus for the soul to release negative thoughts and help every person understand that they have purpose in life.  Now I know that sounds very odd.  It was only for about 45 minutes.  The show was in one of those domed theaters like we would find at the planetarium.  The show was called Astronomica.  It was created and narrated by James Hood.  I need to do more research on this person to find out what his education and college degree might be.  Regardless, I think if I saw it again, it could be more helpful.  There were times when the movement through space, passing planets and moons, was kind of freaky because the animation brought some of those planets right at you.  I got a little queasy at first but it was ok.  Like the curator of the Center said, if you ...

It was a nice weekend.  I was able to finish my two assignments for my class and even begin to work ahead for this week.  We are not going to be diving into any other religions for the rest of the semester.  Instead we will be focusing on other various influences surrounding death, dying, and the afterlife.  There will be topics like disease, suicide, legalities, medical issues, and more. The lecture for this week, which I watched over the weekend, started with "Death and Disease," and while disease is quite a broad topic, the professor focused most of his talk on AIDS and how it impacted society and its norms.  It was painful to listen to because while I don't know anyone personally who died from it, I have friends who are HIV positive, as well as friends who have lost their partners to the disease.  I was in late high school or early college years when AIDS hit the news feeds.  What we saw with COVID was still on a larger scale, but AIDS news seemed ...

I know that is a very strange title to some people.  It IS Friday the 13th; however, the "part 209" is a tribute to the many films in the horror films about Jason Myers, a killing lunatic that dies at the end of each film, but comes back for another round again and again.  I don't even know how many films in the series there were, but that is what the 209 is about.  "209" is also a tribute to one of my dad's closest friends, the dearly beloved Phil Campbell. Let me explain. Phil could talk about ANYTHING and make you think he was completely knowledgeable about the subject.  He was a master.  But you would only realize he was BSing when those three numbers came out of his mouth (and it was not two hundred nine), 2 O 9. It's in the Code of Canon Law number 209. His lifetime batting average was 209. The office was on floor 209 of the White House.   Just the most silly thoughts.  What a great man with an amazing sense of humor.  He also had a hea...

...the Woman at the Well with Jesus gospel and I maintain, it's long. However, I will say this, it's an interesting encounter Jesus has with her.  It's not simply the way He is talking to a "foreigner" or to someone unexpected like a woman (NOT to be sexist, just not a norm in the first place).  This encounter actually sets the stage for Mary Magdalene's role later on.  Jesus for all intents and purposes reveals His true nature to her by telling her about her 7th husband.  She doesn't ask, "how could/would you know that."  Instead, she goes off to tell her people about this man she met, and they went to Him.  Some believed because of her testimony, but those who went to hear Him directly came to believe in Jesus regardless of what she told them. What role does Mary Magdalene play AFTER she encounters the Risen Jesus?  She runs and tells the Apostles who go to see for themselves at her word.  They saw and they believed.  And they waited until ...

We are on the cusp of the Third Sunday of Lent and I must admit that the gospel for this weekend -- the Samaritan Woman at the Well with Jesus -- is not one of my favorite stories, at least at this point in my priesthood.  I don't remember if I ever thought otherwise, but right now, it just seems long.  Plus, I have a feeling the homilies I hear this weekend will be just as long as I have not had one Sunday Mass where the preaching was less than 15 minutes.  Maybe that is what I am dreading.  In other words, this is especially being posted for my laity friends, I feel your pain.  I find my thoughts wandering after about 7 minutes and I know I have preached long than that in the past.  I don't know if I ever went over 15 minutes.  If I ever made it to 15 minutes, it might have been at the Easter Vigil.  I know that service is longer than today's gospel; however, the magnitude of that celebration has a lot of weight.  A homily on that extra spe...

 The story of the Transfiguration as we hear this weekend in the gospel is all too familiar to most of us.  We've heard it over and over our lifetime.  The figures of Moses and Elijah represent Israel's history of being guided by the law and the prophets.  That shouldn't be any surprise to anyone.  Jesus is not negating the law and the prophets but shows himself to be their fulfillment.   Well, the Transfiguration isn't the big news of the weekend. On Saturday, February 28, 2026, our great country went to war.  Mind you that this is not a large scale world war - yet.  However, this is just the next step in taking our country further and further from her guiding principles. The State of the Union address this past week gave every hint this was coming.  It shouldn't come as a shock to anyone that the US, along with Israel, made air strikes in broad daylight in Iran thanks to controversially true claims that Iran was simply becoming a threa...