February is Heart season

It’s heart season. Go into Walgreens and there are hearts everywhere. You’ll see paper hearts, chocolate hearts, candy hearts and more. We’re approaching Valentine’s Day, February 14. For many this is a day of love or a night of romance. Meet your sweetheart for dinner or dessert? For others, it is a day of heartbreak— recalling a broken relationship and or love that was not returned.  

What does the heart mean? What does love mean? The image of the heart is all over our culture. We text it in emojis, see it on coffee mugs [I ❤️ NY], and write it on greeting cards [“Luv you!”]. The heart can be affectionate, warm, and playful.

In the Scriptures we see the true meaning of love, found in ‘the heart.’ In psalm 139, we read, “Lord, You have searched me and you know me...Search me, God, know my heart; try me, know my thoughts.” The psalm is a prayer of offering– wherein I desire to share my ‘whole heart’ with the Lord.

Through the prophet Ezekiel, God promises, “I will give you a new heart, a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh [36:26].” Here God promises to renew us from within. Our hearts are wounded, tired, and broken; worse, some are of these wounds are ‘self inflicted’ through my own sins. God made my heart and desires to reshape my heart through His love and grace.

Finally, in Jesus, God has a beating, living heart. “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart” [Matthew 11:29]. How can we encounter the Heart of Jesus? In a busy world, how can we hear God speaking in the quiet of our hearts? 

Join us for a weekend retreat at Sacred Heart in Sedalia CO! Jesus invites us: “Come away with me to a quiet place and rest!” [see Mark 6:31]. We’re only a few weeks into the new year of 2026. We’re days away from Valentine’s Day– and Ash Wednesday is February 18! Perhaps your heart is saying, “I need a retreat!” I just finished my own retreat at a Jesuit retreat center in a nearby state. I need this time away each year, this time in quiet, this time of renewal in the Heart of Jesus. I know I’m starting the new year right by making time for a retreat; I hope you’ll do the same.

We’re offering several retreats during Lent and the Easter seasons. Sign up today!

https://www.sacredheartretreat.org/weekend-retreats-near-denver 

The Sacred Heart is calling to us. Pope Leo XIV put this image on his papal crest. The US bishops will consecrate our nation to the Sacred Heart in June. Pope Francis wrote his final encyclical on the Sacred Heart. For Pope Francis, the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius are a true “training of the heart, for in them we sense and savor with the heart a Gospel message…. Anyone who follows the Exercises can readily see that they involve a dialogue, heart to heart” with Jesus (Dilexit Nos 46, 144).

At the start of this new year, let’s offer our hearts to the Heart of Jesus. Let us make time to go away with Christ on retreat. Let’s trust that He will renew and strengthen our hearts in 2026.

https://popesprayerusa.net/heart-of-jesus/ by Jose Maria Ibarraran Y Ponce, used with permission

Do the opposite this Advent?

Dec 2025, written for Denver Archdiocese magazine

https://www.denvercatholic.org/this-advent-do-the-opposite

On a famous episode of the TV comedy Seinfeld, George Costanza follows this advice: “Do the opposite.” His life decisions have turned out disastrously in work, romance, finance and more. He has always trusted his instincts, but he has been wrong every time. Now, he will “Do the opposite.” If every instinct he has is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right, right? He introduces himself to a beautiful woman, saying, “My name is George. I’m unemployed and I live with my parents.” She is impressed and agrees to go out with him.

This Advent, what if we give it a try? “Do the opposite…”



my father's funeral

A time of sorrow, mourning the loss of my dad who was father, grandfather, uncle, brother, friend to many.

me and dad, my 1st Mass, June 2011, Florissant MO

After being treated for kidney cancer for almost 8 years, he died in hospice care at home— with my mom and aunt by his side.

During Lent, priests wear a purple stole. I think ‘the scarf’ is what my niece used to call it when she was little. A long narrow strip, worn over the neck. There's a tradition in the priesthood that your very first confession, your first confession that you hear as a priest, you wear a purple stole and then hand that to your father as a keepsake. And then also that goes with dad to the cemetery– for fans of Monopoly this is kind of your “get out of jail free” card. “Hey, Boss, my kid– he's a priest; so don't forget that.” Whether he'll need to redeem those points, we'll trust in God's mercy and goodness. 

Of course mom gets something special, too; at ordination the priest's hands, our hands, are anointed with oil. And then they give us a little cloth to put between our hands so then that cloth is handed to mom. She’s healthy and active, so I’m grateful to spend time with her, and she is a loving grandma, too. And then I invented one for grandma. Obviously Grandma needs something special; so the stole I wore at my First Mass at the big German church up on the hill right here at Sacred Heart– so she got the stole from that. These rich traditions, that maybe some folks are familiar with, but worth mentioning— the beauty of our faith that we share.





mourning the death of a Jesuit pope; celebrating the start of an American pope

Love & prayers for Pope Francis as we mourn his passing.

An honor and a joy to meet him in January in Rome at a meeting with leaders of the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network.

He was like a Spiritual Grandpa— warm, welcoming, loving

I saw him just before he went to the hospital. Clearly he was in pain, but I could still see his energy and joy

He gave me a rosary. I treasure it.

Grateful for his words and witness, prayers & actions. He led us in prayer

Now, we pray that he may rejoice with the Risen Lord & His Mother in the eternal kingdom.

And, we welcome Pope Leo XIV! Our first Chicago pope!

I live in Milwaukee, 90 miles north of Chicago. I go to the big city to visit Jesuit friends, enjoy a pizza and more. It is a joy to imagine him, as Bobby and later as Fr Bob, walking the same streets, seeing the lake and the skyscrapers, eating the same pizza. Viva El Papa! Go Sox, Go!

Jesuit final vows!

I made my final vows as a Jesuit, May 3 in St Louis

Many graces

I professed vows to my Jesuit provincial as he held the Eucharist

There I kneel before God, Mother Mary, the Saints, and the Church—asking for grace and help, both human and divine.

I was especially struck by St Ignatius’ insistence that we [I] not forget the ‘instruction of children.’ I have 2 nieces and a nephew in middle school. I have celebrated special Masses for family and at their school. Jesuits lead many universities; others are in administration in parishes or other institutions. Amidst the meetings and planning— we should never forget ‘the little ones,’ so dear to the Heart of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

Vow formula—

“I, Joseph William John Therese Laramie, make my profession, and I promise to Almighty God, in the presence of his Virgin Mother, the whole heavenly court, and all those here present, and to you, Reverend Father Tom Greene SJ, representing the Superior General of the Society of Jesus and his successors and holding the place of God, perpetual poverty, chastity and obedience;

 and, in conformity with it, special care for the instruction of children,

according to the manner of living contained

 in the apostolic letters of the Society of Jesus and its Constitutions.”


The Father, the Son and the Hay Maze

Fall is hay-maze season in America.

My Cub Scout troop went to the St. Louis County fall festival. I was 7. We carved pumpkins, rode in a wagon pulled by a tractor and ate our weight in caramel apples. As the sun was setting, my friend Jason and I still hadn’t gone through the hay maze.

Read more here.

Body and Blood, Heart and Soul: the Eucharist and the Sacred Heart

[written for USCCB National Eucharistic Revival, feast of Corpus Christi]

Imagine this scene: You are in a terrible accident and an ambulance rushes you to the hospital. Wheeled inside, you are in pain, confused, with bright lights shining in your face. And you hear this conversation above you:

- It’s bad, Doctor, very bad.

     - What does she need?

- She’s lost a lot of blood. She’ll need a pint, maybe two at least.

     - With my blood type, I’m a universal donor. I can donate.

- Doctor, that’s generous. But is this wise? Also, she sustained violent trauma to her heart.

     - Ok. I’m a trained heart surgeon. I can do the surgery. 

- Are you sure?

     - It can be hard to see with the wounds, but this is my daughter.

- Doctor, it’s very serious. She may need a heart transplant.

     - I know. I’ll give her my heart.

full text here: https://www.eucharisticrevival.org/post/body-and-blood-heart-and-soul?fbclid=IwAR3v3vFiSxmx3yuZ5u5Ooc9bOzy6FDcIw-FfuaQ_optdXtqMW0Ol21McFd8

My heart, with His Heart, for all hearts

For centuries, Christians have honored the Sacred Heart of Jesus; Jesus Himself has a beating, human heart.. The eternal Son of God was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary; He grew as a boy and into a young man; He preached, taught, suffered and died on the Cross; He rose to new life in His Resurrected Body. The risen Jesus has a human heart that is beating with love for you and me, right now.

full text here: https://focusequip.org/uniting-my-heart-with-the-sacred-heart-for-the-salvation-of-all-hearts/