Praying for immigrants

On Sunday, June 18, we will celebrate our annual Mass in Recognition of All Immigrants at our Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

Renewing the face of the earth

At the dawn of creation, the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the earth’s deep waters.

I was thinking about this image from the Book of Genesis on June 4, as I was praying and preparing to celebrate Pentecost.

The Christian is one who has a vocation

On June 3, I will ordain seven fine men to the priesthood and the following week I will ordain 19 fine men to be permanent deacons.

The rosary is the prayer for our times

Recently, the Wall Street Journal had an interesting article about brain research.

Researchers are finding that people who use a “personal mantra” — mentally repeating over and over a positive word or phrase that reinforces their values — tend to be calmer, feel more in control and are less likely to get stressed out.

Saints in the heart of the secular city

My friends, you are graduating from a great Catholic university in a city that is named for God’s holy angels. That gives you some sense of your identity and mission after you graduate.

Mary’s message of peace and hope

May is a beautiful time here in Southern California — especially this year, when we have been blessed with an abundance of rain and an end to our long drought.

The witness of the ‘new martyrs’

The Church is a Church of martyrs — always and everywhere, in every time and in every place.

As Pope Francis said this past weekend, “the ancient history of martyrdom joins the memory of the new martyrs” being killed today.

‘It is the Lord!’

“It is the Lord!”

This was the cry of St. John when he saw Jesus standing on the shore at the Sea of Tiberius in the days after the Resurrection.

Holy Week and the obedience of faith

We are entering the holiest week of the Christian year.

Beginning with Passion Sunday, we will trace the final steps of our Lord’s journey to the cross. It is a road of sorrow that we know leads to his death. But on this road every sorrow is turned to joy because we know we will stand at his empty tomb of Easter Sunday.

Some Lenten reflections on our Christian vocation

We are halfway down the road in our Lenten journey toward Easter.