Rejoice and be glad, the Lord in near! This theme of the Lord’s nearness saturates every fiber of our liturgy on this Third Sunday of Advent, also known as Gaudete (Latin: rejoice) Sunday.

Advent is the time of fulfilling God’s plan of peace. Last Sunday Isaiah spoke of hostile foreign nations disarming themselves by beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. This week he speaks of wolves lying with lambs and babies playing with deadly snakes without harm.

Happy Advent! Did you know the word Advent (Latin: adventus) simply refers to the "coming" of Christ? In his Advent reflection booklet, Timothy Cardinal Dolan talks about the three "comings" of Christ: Christ's coming in history, mystery, and majesty.

This weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe. This is the last week of Ordinary Time before we enter the Advent season next weekend.

At each Mass we pray for the Second Coming of Christ. Do we really mean it? We know that when Christ comes again, He "comes to rule the earth with justice" as our Psalm response declares.

As we near the end of the liturgical year, the readings become more 'apocalyptic'. Apocalyptic means unveiling of the eternal plan of God, or how things will be in the 'coming age'.

Did you know that it is our littleness that the Lord finds most attractive about us? We don't impress him by our strengths and accomplishments as much as we do by becoming small like a child to let His grace flow through us.

The saints throughout the centuries teach us that prayer is a dialogue and a union with God. When we pray, we enter into a dialogue with the Lord and seek to unite the movements of our heart (thoughts, feelings, and desires) to the movements of God's own Sacred Heart.

I love ordering from Amazon, and the parish staff knows it! As you can see from the image here, the staff live in dread that one day an Amazon freight container in my name will show up at our doorstep (parish brewhouse, anyone?). Now as much as I'd love to order something of that scale, I know a freight container would never fit through our doors! What would Jesus say is the solution to this dilemma? Stop purchasing stuff? Scale down my orders? Of course not! :) Obviously, the solution is to build bigger doors!

Please prayerfully remember Fr. Tom Gilles, Pastor Emeritus of St. Mary Chardon, who passed away on Thursday, September 29, the Feast of the Archangels. Fr. Gilles faithfully served as Pastor at St. Mary's from 1992-2011.

In today’s Gospel, the Apostles ask the Lord: “Increase our faith.” We can never tire of asking for an increase in the gift of our faith.

Everything we have is a gift! The Father entrusts His gifts to us in the measure we are capable of receiving them.

This weekend we hear the story of the Prodigal Son, which may be Jesus' most profound parable.

I'm excited to share that a date has been set for my Pastor Installation!

I would like to offer in light of comments I've received in general, at our Listening Sessions, and in view of the National Eucharistic Revival.

St. Paul reminds us that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.

The mission of this Eucharistic Revival is to renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

This is a monumental week for the Diocese of Cleveland as Bishop-Elect Michael Woost is ordained to the episcopacy…

I am pleased to announce that we have hired a new Facilities Manager and Communications Director!

When being in relationship with God is the number one priority of our life, everything else snaps into place.