Brian Mullins is a permanent deacon in the Rockford Diocese who has been assigned by his Bishop to Saint Catherine of Genoa Parish in Genoa, Illinois.
Do you know who you are? I mean do you really know it? Sometimes we walk around defeated. We allow anxiety to fill our lives with dread and a sense of hopelessness. Why me? What is all of this for? In the Gospel it talks about a time of tribulations,Continue Reading
We often think of the Pilgrims and the Indians and a big turkey when we think of Thanksgiving. That event happened in the 1600s. But there was an earlier one, an earlier thanksgiving, that doesn’t get as much attention. In 1565, 50 years before the Plymouth Rock feast, there wasContinue Reading
I love puns and wordplay. Poetry and prose. The way skillful writers can take words and make them dance and become pregnant with meaning. Today’s first reading is full of them. One of them begins with a saying we know pretty well. When we see that clearly, something terrible isContinue Reading
In this morning’s Gospel, we see an abrupt change, a swift shift in the moment’s mood. Just a moment before this scene, we have the people shouting praise, singing songs, and lauding Jesus as the King of Kings. They remind us that we will be celebrating the end of ourContinue Reading
Today we celebrate the memorial of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary. It is very apropos that the Gospel is this parable about talents. Saint Elizabeth put this into action. Though she grew up wealthy, she continually spent her life serving the poor. She had four children with her husband before hisContinue Reading
On today’s date in 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Armistice Day to be celebrated annually. It was a reminder that World War I was over. Later, it was changed to Veterans Day as a day to honor all veterans for their service. So, to any veterans out there, thank youContinue Reading
In this morning’s Gospel, we find ten lepers who had been ostracized from the community. They were in pain and diseased. Their family and friends weren’t allowed to come close to them. We here in the pandemic know of many situations like this. Siblings, friends, parents, and so forth haveContinue Reading