Today is the anniversary of my native city, Lima the City of Kings.  Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro founded Lima 477 years ago a few miles inland from the Pacific Ocean on the banks of the Rimac River close to an Indian village.  Lima was fully named “Lima the City of Kings” due to the closeness of its founding to the Feast of the Epiphany and also in honor of the Catholic kings of recently unified Spain, Ferdinand of Aragon and... Read more

El sacramento del bautismo es el primer sacramento que recibimos y el más importante.  El Código de Derecho Canónico de la Iglesia Católica nos recuerda que el bautismo es la puerta de los sacramentos, cuya recepción de hecho o al menos de deseo es necesaria para la salvación, por el cual los hombres son liberados de los pecados, reengendrados como hijos de Dios e incorporados a la Iglesia (Canon 849). Jesús habla claramente sobre este sacramento en momentos de su... Read more

Walking down the quiet and beautiful streets of Selma, Alabama, it is very difficult to imagine the events they witnessed on March 7, 1965.  Approximately 600 marchers set out from Brown Chapel AME Church (pictured below) to Montgomery, to protest the hostility towards blacks who wished to register to vote which had led to the death of one young man. Governor Wallace ordered the march stopped.  The streets of peaceful Selma turned into mayhem as state troopers and local sheriff... Read more

Cuando hablamos del evangelio, hablamos primeramente del mensaje predicado por Jesús cuando el habitó la tierra.  Jesús nunca escribió libros ni mando escribir libros, solo predicó.  Su mensaje fue completamente oral y la intención de la Iglesia primitiva era transmitir el evangelio, la buena nueva, a cuantas personas posibles y a futuras generaciones. Imagínese ser uno de aquellos que escucho predicar a San Pedro el día de Pentecostés.  Sabemos por el libro de los Hechos de los Apóstoles que tres... Read more

Last night I came across pictures of my early stomping grounds and want to share them with you.  The picture above is of where I lived for the first nine years of my life, the Lurin River Valley, approximately thirty kilometers south of Lima on the Pan-American highway and on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. This second picture is taken from the same location as the picture above, the ancient ruins of Pachacamac, but facing the Pacific Ocean.  The River... Read more

The prefaces of the new translation of the Roman Missal now mention several choirs of angels which we join in singing God’s praises in the Sanctus.  Several people have asked me about the origin of the ‘nine choirs of angels,’ so I will share a paper I wrote on the topic. I have written an abstract which answers the question in a few paragraphs.  If you’re still interested and brave, read the paper further below. An anonymous sixth century monk... Read more

The invention of the light bulb has spoiled our experience of light. Even though electricity and light bulbs have allowed us to have light on demand, which is a great thing, they have also made us loose our appreciation for the piercing power of light. Most of us modern human beings have forgotten what it’s like for the sun to go down and to be left in complete darkness, trusting the moon and the starts to provide light from above.... Read more

Hoy en esta fiesta de la Epifanía recordamos a los tres reyes magos que llegaron del oriente con obsequios para el Niño Jesús.  Los regalos de los reyes con revelan aspectos del niño recién nacido.  El oro nos enseña que el niño es un rey, ya que desde tiempos antiguos el oro es considerado metal precioso reservado para los reyes. El incienso, humo perfumado que se ofrece solo a Dios, nos demuestra que Jesús es un niño divino, es Dios... Read more

[from the parish bulletin] On this feast of the Epiphany we remember the three men from the east who came bearing gifts to the child Jesus.  The gifts reveal to us who this child is: Gold teaches us He is a king, frankincense reveals He is God, and myrrh tells us one day this child will die.  As a precious metal, gold has been since ancient times a symbol for royalty.  Frankincense, which is incense, is burnt to please God,... Read more

Today the Church commemorates one of her saints, Saint John Neumann, a member of the Redemptorist Order founded by Saint Alphonsus Ligouri.  This morning I visited the shrine of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, another Redemptorist priest, who served as the parochial vicar of Saint John Neumann at Saint Philomena Parish in Pittsburgh for six years. Saint John Neumann would eventually be consecrated bishop of Philadelphia in 1852.  Blessed Francis Xavier would work at various Redemptorist parishes in the United States... Read more