The New Year arrived with an entourage of snow, freezing rain, and bone-chilling fog.
Of course it did! What else would you expect after a year that defied an arsenal of adjectives; a year crammed …
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By Mark Saucier
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1/7/21
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“A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes, and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the Outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.” — …
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By Jay Nies
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12/19/20
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Our prayer began with the wafting of a flute playing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”
Listening to the plaintive, brooding notes, I could feel the sorrowful longing of the Israelites in …
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Mark Saucier
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12/17/20
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Punctuation matters! There is a difference between “I’m sorry; I love you,” and “I’m sorry I love you.”
That Advent passage from Isaiah always sounded like …
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By Mark Saucier
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12/9/20
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In the first chapter of Genesis, five times God completed a day’s work of creation and then recognized that it was “good.” Light, land and living creatures were all good.
The …
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By Mark Saucier
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11/25/20
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You wouldn’t know it by the temperatures, but autumn is passing and winter is in its tow.
For those with lawns and gardens, it’s a busy time of raking, cutting, cleaning and …
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By Mark Saucier
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11/25/20
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Holy Mother Church will soon be asking us all to pray with the Church triumphant in heaven on All Saints Day and to pray for the Church suffering on All Souls Day. And so as we continue to fight the …
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By Father Jeremy A. Secrist
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10/29/20
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The sister of some friends had been living with cancer for years. Last week, they separated: the cancer went its way, and she went God’s.
The end was no surprise, and she chose to spend her …
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Mark Saucier
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10/29/20
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My father died 10 years ago on Oct. 4.
We make what we can of a death, and so it seemed fitting that a man who loved the land and animals would take his earthly leave on the feast of St. Francis …
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By Mark Saucier
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10/15/20
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The Bible, like all great literature, has boundless depth. No matter how familiar we are with a Scriptural passage, there is always some new insight that we can find, and often desperately need.
I …
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By Mark Saucier
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10/1/20
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During an historic pandemic, our country faces one of the most contentious presidential election campaigns in recent memory.
Some of our fellow Americans may be wondering if they are living in the …
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By Bishop W. Shawn McKnight
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9/28/20
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This pandemic reminded me of serving Mass.
At the lavabo, when I would pour water over the priest’s hands, he prayed in Latin words from Psalm 26: “I wash my hands in innocence and …
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By Mark Saucier
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9/16/20
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We ventured out to visit a friend and sat on his deck, watching the sunset.
The streams of golden light pierced the cedars and glanced across the still water of the lake.
It was, like most …
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By Mark Saucier
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9/3/20
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She was a Canaanite, an ethnic remnant of people who once occupied the land of Israel. Joshua defeated them, but they were never forgiven for being there first.
She was a woman. She had few …
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By Mark Saucier
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8/19/20
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“For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another.”
— …
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Bishop W. Shawn McKnight
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8/19/20
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August arrived disguised as May, and we ventured on a short hike with some of kids and grandkids.
The children ranged in age from 10 to 1, the exact odds against them all enjoying the same …
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By Mark Saucier
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8/6/20
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I’ve read that in Senegal, when an elder dies, they say, “A library has burned.”
It is appropriate when you think about it. Every person blessed with many years has …
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By Mark Saucier
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7/9/20
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It was the best Father’s Day.
For the first time in many months, we had all the kids and grandkids together. The weather was beautiful, with a gentle sun, a whispering breeze and comfortable …
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By Mark Saucier
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6/25/20
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On June 21, 2020, the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the patroness of the Diocese of Jefferson City, Bishop W. Shawn McKnight preached a homily at the Cathedral of St. Joseph, in which he …
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Bishop W. Shawn McKnight
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6/25/20
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“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
That quote of Martin Luther King Jr. has reappeared in recent days, encouraging a hope that we will get beyond the …
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By Mark Saucier
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6/11/20
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