May the Word of God be forever on my mind, on my lips and in my heart! This prayer, said by the priest or deacon right before the proclamation of the Gospel at Mass, is often unspoken, yet it is one of my favorites.  The only indication of the congregation […]

About twenty years ago, three of my good friends decided to go skydiving.  I had no idea what that was.  I shivered as I heard them describe to me that you jump off a plane in tandem with the instructor – who is behind you – from an altitude of […]

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Jesus, Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:8) In a materialistic world that charms us with the promises of instant gratification and comfort, we can fall into the trap of becoming automatons, running in circles, losing our own identities and […]

When I was a child, my father was asked the question, what do you want most for your children? I recall that he answered, “I want them to have an easier life than I had.”  It turns out that this was a typical answer given by working class parents who […]

The most common phrase in the Bible is “Do not be afraid” (or some version thereof).  It is no accident that it appears 365 times—one time for every day of the year.   Part of our human nature is to worry.  We all want to feel like we know where […]

To live a Spiritual Marriage.   How do you live a Spiritual Marriage?  By having God in your relationship and having a relationship of three, where God is in the center of you and your spouse, fortifying the bond between the two of you and providing strength, support, and guidance.  […]

On a typical day, sort of inadvertently, I felt a little mass on my left breast and, less than a week later, I was in an operating room to resect a malignant tumor.  Can this event change a person’s life?  I must say, undoubtedly, yes. When you are diagnosed with […]

My name is Father Andrea.  I am originally from Italy and I have been a priest for two years.   I was almost 8 years old, when my father died of cancer.  Although my father was baptized, he did not grow up going to Church.  In fact, as an adult, he […]

When I was a child, my parents periodically received carton boxes full of supplies for our family business. When empty, I had so much fun building “mansions” out of these carton boxes! As I grew up, I learned that one cannot build anything strong out of flimsy materials such as […]