The first time I stood inside St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, its majesty overwhelmed me. The sheer beauty of Michelangelo’s dome seemed to lift my soul right out of my body.

Later, I joined the Scavi tour that winds below the basilica, down into the ancient pagan cemetery where Peter was buried. There, in the dim light and narrow passageways, I found myself looking at the bones of a murdered Jewish fisherman, his feet cut off so his crucified body could be taken down more easily.

This summer, let us: “Stay prayed up!” With this welcomed season of summer vacations, we need to remind ourselves, as we break from our work schedules and routines, that, although, it is a time for rest and relaxation, it is not a time for us to take a vacation - a break - from attending Mass and receiving the Eucharist, nor putting off our daily prayers, especially, the Rosary.

As a young, newly ordained priest, I admired a senior priest who was gifted, beloved, and had changed countless lives. But soon I learned that he had fallen in catastrophic and destructive ways. The painful juxtaposition of good and evil was complex to process. How could someone so seemingly good also be so broken and deceptive? It forced me to confront a sobering truth: leadership in the Church is no guarantee against weakness or sin.

According to the first century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, Solomon was only 14 years old when he became the king of Israel. In today’s First Reading, Solomon assents to this fact calling himself “a mere youth.” He admitted that he did not know at all how to act. He humbly acknowledged his inefficiency and inexperience repeating what the great leaders of Israel like Moses (cf. Numbers 27:17) and David (cf. 1 Samuel 5:2) did.

Matthew 13:24-43
A man recently told me he was losing patience with the Church. “It’s supposed to be God’s Kingdom on earth,” he said, “but it’s full of contradictions and hypocrisy. Why can’t the Church just be better?” That last word landed with a judgmental thud. It hurt. Because at times the Church can look painfully ordinary, even disappointing.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Greetings of joy and peace to you and your families,

In today’s Gospel, Jesus invites us: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Meet Michael, a parishioner of Our Lady of the Assumption in Turlock, credits his home parish's strong community with helping him encounter our Risen Lord more deeply.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Every Sunday and Solemnity, after listening to the Word of God, we stand and profess our faith together: I believe in one God, the Father almighty … I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God … I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life.

“The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few.”

This excerpt from Matthew’s Gospel has become a catchphrase in the modern Church. We give ourselves vertigo with the amount of head-shaking we do over the much-lamented “decline in numbers.”

This weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ-Corpus Christi, as it was once known.

From the gospel of John, which we hear this weekend, Jesus tells us: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven...Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day."