by Fr. Jim Chern
A few years ago our campus ministry did something unforgettable. Not just another speaker or retreat. We witnessed a single actor - Philip Corso, an alumnus of ours from Montclair State University- bring the entire…
“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died...” That line is said twice. First by Martha and then Mary over the death of their brother Lazarus to Jesus... to the one…
A few years ago, I made a rule for myself: no more than about twenty minutes of news a day. It was during a time when every headline seemed more dramatic than the last—pandemic, politics,…
There’s a line in today’s first reading from Exodus that’s just heartbreaking: “Is the Lord in our midst or not?” Just let that hang in the air for a minute. This is coming from people…
Of the over 500 words we just heard proclaimed from the scriptures, there’s one, single, five letter word that has the power to derail everything I might want to preach today. A simple adjective that…
You’ve probably heard the warning “Don’t dance with the devil.” But the problem starts long before the dance. It starts when you agree to the conversation. The devil usually doesn’t kick in the door, he…
Ash Wednesday is probably one of the most well-known Catholic days of the year. And yet, it always feels a little strange—especially walking around here on campus. There’s nothing subtle about a dirty ashen cross…
If you were to take a look at my school transcripts you would pretty quickly see that I was not the greatest of students. Nothing dramatic that screamed “what is up with that?” In a…
A week ago at Sunday Mass, we started into what many scholars call “the greatest sermon ever given”—the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus opens with some of the most recognizable lines from scripture, the Beatitudes:…
Today’s Gospel is one of those passages we almost know too well. “Blessed are the poor in spirit…”—we hear it and instantly recognize the script. It’s like the Jeopardy clue everyone gets right: “What are…