As the patroness of contemplative life, converts, glove makers, hair dressers, penitent sinners, people ridiculed for their piety, perfumeries, pharmacists, sexual temptation, tanners, and women, St. Mary Magdalene stands as one of the notable saints and an example of God’s mercy and grace. The Gospels agree that Mary Magdalene was a great sinner caught up in the culture and the world of the Gentiles. Upon meeting Jesus, He cast seven demons out of her, freeing her from her sinful lifestyle. She began following Christ very soon after and was a prominent character during His life, death, and resurrection.

Hello St. Mary Magdalene,

I pray that the joy of this Easter season and the Resurrection of our Lord abides deep in your heart!

I write today as a bit of a follow-up to my February 2, 2024, State of the Parish address (you can find that video here: youtu.be/4DFV41k4gm4). In that video I gave a brief overview of our financial status and how we are doing as a parish. As a result of that video, I had two families approach me wanting to help our parish by pledging to match financial gifts. The first family has pledged to match gifts up to $15,000 to help our parish’s general fund.

Dear parishioners and visitors of St. Mary Magdalene,

Happy Easter everyone! We give thanks this day as Christ frees us from the captivity of death. It is truly a time to rejoice, especially after our long Lenten journey. I pray that this season is a blessed one full of joy and new life in Christ for you and your families. In his Easter homily in 2012 Pope Benedict wrote these words which powerfully summarizes the great joy of this blessed day, “Easter is the feast of the new creation. Jesus is risen and dies no more. He has opened the door to a new life, one that no longer knows illness and death. He has taken mankind up into God himself.”

In my daily prayer I meditate on the words of Zachariah… “He has raised for us a mighty Savior, born of the house of his servant David.” We welcomed our Lord just a little more than a month ago. The Word made flesh is God coming to dwell in this world, undoing the effects of sin and turning it into what it was meant to be. From his fullness we have received grace and truth from our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Recently I had a skin rash, and it was awful. (Please don’t tell anyone.) I am embarrassed to admit that I didn’t handle it well. Complaining, whining, begging for sympathy, and crying were my responses to the merciless itching and burning. In the aftermath, a silver lining emerged. I feel a new heartfelt sympathy for all those vexed with chronic skin problems. If you’ve ever had a seemingly unending skin problem, you know how that sympathy flows up from deep inside.

We start telling lies around the age of three, the experts tell us. It’s understandable. Lying is a god-like power. Whatever I want, I need only say it, and the world rearranges itself accordingly. It’s amazing at first. But soon reality snaps back and I’m faced with a dilemma. If I remain committed to my lie I start to fracture into pieces. My words and reality drift apart, and I find myself lost in a lonely world of further falsehoods and fear of being found out.

As a priest, I’m amazed how happily married couples remember the tiniest details of their earliest encounters. They effortlessly report things like: “he wore a blue shirt,” “we ordered brussels sprouts,” “her hair was up in a bun,” and “he spilled shrimp cocktail sauce at my family’s open front door when it was ten degrees below zero,” (that one’s courtesy of my mom). We delight in remembering and speaking of when our new life of love began. The little details are glorious reminders that it’s all real.

A stranger in a foreign land, I was exhausted and homesick as my summer Spanish immersion ended in Guatemala. The rusty minivan arriving outside my small residence filled me with joyful hope. I was flying home to the U.S. and would be, at long last, completely happy. Or so I thought. After about half an hour of being home, I thought to myself, “This place is boring. I want to go somewhere.” So, I hopped in my car and left to see my friends. As I drove, I wistfully wondered, “Where am I truly at home?”