The Scriptural Deacon

On this, the occasion of my forty-first birthday, I thank God for the years that he has blessed me with. I thank him for the awesome gift of his only begotten Son. I thank him for the gift of his Church and the Scriptures that I love so much. I thank him for his Kingdom that is present around us at all times. I thank him for the gift of his divine and life-giving Love. I thank him for my wife, who is my companion and helpmate in this journey. The one who by the Holy Spirit’s power, found the key and unlocked my heart. I thank him for the gift of our five children, who continue to form me into the person I am today and hope to become tomorrow. I thank him for the gift of family and the many learning challenges that comes from it. I thank him for the gift of my mother, who has shown me by example, love, compassion, and hard work all my days. I thank him for the gift of brothers, who have always been present when needed most. I thank him for the gift of in-laws, who have welcomed me into...

Like most parents, my wife and I get the kids in bed first, then we have sometime before our bed time to catch our breath, read, and rest for a bit. But, what always seems to happen during this time? We hear those familiar footsteps. Then those familiar words, “Papa, my tummy hurts.” Or, “Mama, my back hurts.” What is it about bedtime that makes children’s ailments come to the surface so clearly? The entire day they have been fine, but all of the sudden, their world is collapsing all around them and the pain is unbearable.   Elizabeth (8) our oldest is the worst for this. Almost every night, around 10-20 minutes after everyone has gone to bed, something is wrong with her. Fever, itchy, or bits, something is never right! One part of this is just delaying her bedtime and that she is a worrier at times. But, another side is that kids seem to think that we as parents can fix any problem or sickness at a moment’s notice. Not matter what it is, or how long the issue has been go...

So after a much to long absence, I hope to be back with regular blog posts. This is the down side to my life in the swimming pool business. From April to about the middle of July my daily life is pretty much just chaos. Early mornings and late nights. Thankfully things get a bit more normal after July 4th. More on all of this in a later post. Here is my homily that I gave this weekend at the Roman Catholic Church here in Rocky Mount.   2018 Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Jer 23:1-6, Eph 2:13-18, Mk 6:30-34 The Bible is full of agricultural symbolism. We hear much about vines, vineyards, vinedresser, wheat, flocks, sheep, soils, trees, and many others like these. The main reason is that people saw these things every day and most people could easily understand the connection the scripture is making. Today Jesus himself uses one of these images and probable on of the most famous, that of a shepherd and his sheep. We are told in our Gospel, “As Jesus landed he saw a ...