Father Jeffrey Kirby
How to Nurture Hospitality
Father Jeffrey Kirby Comments Off on How to Nurture Hospitality
Hospitality is one of the oldest virtues of the Jewish and Christian faiths. While the Jewish and Christian beliefs in one God rattled the ancient world, the commitment of Jewish people and Christians to care for others and to show kindness to those around them — even those beyond their own people and to those Read More
Envy
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Years ago, I had a conversation with a bishop that I worked with on a pastoral project. In a candid moment, as he was talking about the hardworking priests of his diocese, he told me that he had to watch out how and when he honored them. He wasn’t as worried about the individual priest’s Read More
Speaking Well of God’s People
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A few years ago, I visited one of the monasteries of our country. While there, the abbot gave a talk on confession. In the talk, he recounted how, in his earlier days as a priest and monk, he taught at the university attached to the monastery. At the university, there was a faculty member there Read More
Priestly Renewal and the Call of Lent
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As priests, we sometimes hear from (or about) spouses who are so busy with work, family and children that they begin to forget themselves and their nuptial union. In trying to serve their families, they begin to lose their marriage. The hustle and bustle of important and pressing duties, responsibilities, commitments and expectations have overwhelmed Read More
Christian Discipleship and the Brown Scapular
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We live in a secular age. As believers, we are bombarded with messages and influences that tell us that God is not real, or — if real — that he is of no consequence to life. As such, we need as much help as we can get to persevere in faith and thrive in the Read More
Living and Breathing as Spirit-Filled Priests
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This month the Church throughout the world celebrates the solemnity of Pentecost, the sending of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary. As we observe this high holy day, it’s worth asking ourselves whether we are living a life according to the Spirit. In our ministries, are we spirit-driven priests? Of Read More
‘Mount Tabor’ Experiences
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This month, as we liturgically celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration, we are reminded of the very first Mount Tabor experience. As Peter, James and John saw and felt the glory of the Lord Jesus, so each of us in our own ways has undergone such moments in our own walk with the Lord. Such Read More
‘Lord, teach us to pray’
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The Lord’s Prayer, popularly called the Our Father, was given to us by Jesus Christ himself. In response to the petition of the apostles, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Lk 11:1), the Lord endowed his Church with his short but powerful prayer. As such, it is the oldest prayer of the Christian faith, and — Read More