Happy Solemnity of the Holy Family! May you experience the care and protection of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in the New Year!

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Look who i found in Texas! My parents! Yeehaw! 🎵On the fifth day of Christmas God’s love gave to me: my mom-meeeb and my dad-deeeee🎵 #WinterTexans #parents

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Missionary tip: once a year take all your excess clothes and donate to the poor. For me, if I can’t fit everything I own in a suite case or a few loads of laundry I’ve got too much. Also it is good to buy new underwear, undershirts, and socks both for hygiene and if you’ve changed sizes. Thank you to all who helped me purchased my new clothes. A rich young man went to St Mother Teresa of Calcutta and said that he wanted to learn how to pray. She replied, “Get rid of your things. You own too much.” He said, “Maybe you didn’t hear me, I didn’t ask you about lifestyle but about how to pray.” She said, “I heard you. You have to many things. When you go to pray, they weigh you down. Get rid of all your stuff and then your heart will be lighter and easier liftvup to Heaven.”

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On the third day of Christmas, God’s love have to me, a really awesome breakfast!!!!

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You love Christmas, but hate family tension? Yep, it’s great to see each other again, especially on a such joyful occasion, however these times also may be accompanied by family arguments, truculent teens, grouchy grandmas, upset uncles, or entangling in-laws. At such a time as Christmas I like to see these moments as just an invitation to remember what it’s really about - love. You can think of these tense moments like a shovel to dig deeper into the roots of Charity. Sometimes it’s just staggering how much love is required. Are you being forced to be patient, to forgive, to be gentle, show compassion? The only place patience comes from, the source and font of strength to look past a person’s weird woibles is Charity. You’re just being asked to love. You might not resolve an argument, get closure, or find reconciliation with certain family members and that’s ok as long as you can love them. We are only allowed a certain level of reconciliation with person as that relationship allows, but you MUST love them. You MUST forgive. If you don’t your heart will be poisoned, your attitude infected, and your vision clouded from what it’s all really about. Helpful hints: -Pray, ask God for a big old dose of his love to flood you -Vitamin D, distance, is sometimes the only way you might be able to get along with certain people# -Pray, ask Our Lady for help. She faced lots of family tension with a Messiah Son. She knows. -Do something constructive that allows you to bond without having to talk about unresolved/unresolvable issues like a game or movie or something humorous. -Pray -Say the things they really need to here, things that will actually and truly help them. -Pray -Recognize but don’t react to toxic behavior, wave the bull fighting flag to change the tone to one of concord from conceit, humility from huff, peace from perplexity. -Choose joy. Choose peace. Choose Charity

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When someone from my community has a red eye flight, I love celebrating stupid-o’clock-early Mass for them. Waking up before the world does has a certain silent sacredness. God’s voice seems to be heard a little louder at this time. May the Word Incarnate speak his words of life, merciful kindness, and holy joy to your soul+

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Merry Christmas! Today is the third day of Christmas. Soak in the joy and peace of the Savior born for us.

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I am an official Texan: steel toed cowboy work boots, probably most comfortable fit I’ve ever had.

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Lost loved ones, broken hearts, disappointments, traumatic losses, pains that just plague the heart - these are the things which are a cause for making Christmas, a time normally of great joy, a time of tears and sorrow for those who have known great pain. “Be kind, for everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about” is to be taken a lot more seriously in this time. Shiny lights at dusk, sugar cookies, beautiful decorations, flowers, songs of joy and celebration, movies and stories of peace on earth and good will toward men - these all become occasions of acute bitterness and piercing pangs of woe for those who know that this time is supposed to bring joy, hope, love, and peace, to taste only bitterness, feel only loneliness, experience more emptiness than normal. All year we busy ourselves with projects, goals for school, plans for work, and constant movement. Then Christmas comes and all is still. There is time to stop and listen. If you listen with your heart, you can see on the faces on many a kind of dread, a map of their loss. These are the people for whom is reserved God’s special graces and mercies. In some privileged years at Christmas I have found myself in prisons, orphanages, hospices, and homes where these hurting people are trying to rejoice, but their celebrations are marked with profound awareness that all is not merry and fine. Today I am celebrating Christmas in a rehabilitation hospital. Here in a particular way, the prophecy of Isaiah is proclaimed, “that the lame may walk.” In prisons they hear, “that captives may be set free,” in homeless shelters, “that the poor have the Gospel of God proclaimed to them.” Yet most of the people right next to you are not so obvious. They struggle and put on a good face, but in their hearts they aching to hear once again the good news, GOD IS WITH US, he has not forgotten your sorrow, he heals the broken hearted. So as you open presents, sing songs, make merry, remember that Mary and Joseph also endured at this time great rejection, cold, and didn’t really understand why the Savior was to be born in a cave. Each person has a cave, a hole in their hearts, longing to be filled with God’s love.

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The face of the Newborn Christ Infant Have you ever seen a newborn infant? - Their face so small, skin so soft, fingers so tiny, little eyes seeking, mouth so hungry, their fragile body so vulnerable and poor? This is God. He became poor to make us rich. He became weak that we might be strong. He chose to show us the real face of love. Love is poor. It does not put on heirs. It has no vanity nor decoration nor masks. It cannot manipulate nor hide. Love is needy, demanding, dependent. Love is delicate. It can be lost if not cared for, it can be dropped if not held just right, yet it is not afraid to be vulnerable or accessible. It is said that at the moment of Christ’s birth there was a blast of searing light. The Creator, God from God, Light from Light, the Most Holy One, was visiting us, born in the dark of midnight, yet he chose to be clothed in the frailty of our human visage, almighty power teetering in terrible tenderness. Have you ever held a newborn? Hold Jesus. Mary invites you. “Would you like to hold my baby?” Hold him! Care for him! Do not take his grace for granted, nor presume you that the life of divine grace will just hang around without your constant attention, reverence, and devotion. Feed the presence of God in your life. Remember to pray. Stop. Listen. Be careful not to lose it, to drop it, to forget to care for the life of God within you. Nourish it with meditating on the Word of Life of the Scriptures and feeding on the Bread of Life, the Most Holy Eucharist. Rejoice that God is born to you today and always. GOD IS WITH US, a Savior is born for us, just remember to take care not only today, but every day, that His life may grow and come to full stature within you.

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Happy 31st Sacerdotal Anniversary Fr James Farfaglia! Tu es Sacerdos In Æternum!

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What? #spritualganster #priestswag #youtalkintome

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As soon as my interior voice gets crabby or uncharitable I “press the clutch,” i.e. disengage or don’t react to my feelings, ignore myself, or Jesus said, “deny my very self” Mt 16:24. Then I ask God for the courage to humble myself beneath these thoughts and they wash away. If they remain I’m pretty sure I need to humble myself deeper. I might have to pray through them until my heart has the humility to remember these thoughts are NOT truth. They are only a fruit of sinfulness and pride. Then I wait for Charity, for benevolence to show up in my mind again. When it does, that is when I can move, speak, work, or relate to others in a way that will actually help them. I suppose this is true for any kind of sinful thought: pride, undue judgment, irrational anger, lust, pusillanimous greed, schmall mindedness, etc. May God deliver us and make us holy. Come Lord Jesus and do not delay. Make straight his paths!

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And the Woman of Tepeyac said,”¿No estoy aquí yo, que soy tu Madre? ¿No estás bajo mi sombra y resguardo? ¿No soy yo la fuente de tu alegría? ¿No estás en el hueco de mi manto, en donde se cruzan mis brazos? ¿Tienes necesidad de alguna otra cosa?”

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It Snowed Last Night.. 8:00 am: I made a snowman. 8:10 - A feminist passed by and asked me why I didn't make a snow woman. 8:15 - So, I made a snow woman. 8:17 - My feminist neighbor complained about the snow woman's chest saying it objectified snow women everywhere. 8:20 - The gay couple living nearby threw a hissy fit and moaned it could have been two snow men instead. 8:22 - The transgender man..women...person asked why I didn't just make one snow person with detachable parts. 8:25 - The vegans at the end of the lane complained about the carrot nose, as veggies are food and not to decorate snow figures with. 8:28 - I was being called a racist because the snow couple is white. 8:30 - I used food coloring to make one of the snow couple a different color and be more racially inclusive. 8:37 - Accused of using black face on the snowman...snowpersons. 8:39 - The middle eastern gent across the road demanded the snow woman be covered up . 8:40 - The police arrived saying someone had been offended. 8:42 - The feminist neighbor complained again that the broomstick of the snow woman needed to be removed because it depicted women in a domestic role. 8:43 - The council equality officer arrived and threatened me with eviction. 8:45 - TV news crew from ABC showed up. I was asked if I know the difference between snowmen and snow-women? I replied "Snowballs" and am now called a sexist. 9:00 - I was on the news as a suspected terrorist, racist, homophobe, and sensibility offender, bent on stirring up trouble during difficult weather. 9:10 - I was asked if I have any accomplices. My children were taken by social services. 9:29 - Far left protesters offended by everything marched down the street demanding for me to be arrested. 9:45 - The boss called and fired me because of the negative association with work that had been all over social media. 10:00 - I cry into my drink because all I wanted to do was build a snowman... Moral: There is no moral to this story. It is what this world has become because of a bunch of snowflakes....

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Today I heard confessions of women in county jail. There was one lady who was the spitting image of a person I know from the same city. This person was valedictorian of her high school class, has a masters degree from a prominent university, and is very morally upright, exceptional you might say. When I first saw her I was astonished. She had the same tone of voice, similar expressions, and almost exactly the same face. In disbelief i asked her name. Although it was an entirely different person, I couldn’t help thinking that this could easily be another version of the same person, who wasn’t given the same gifts of a supportive family, loving friendships, and an excellent education, or maybe she was given a similar kind of upbringing, but just made very bad choices. Nonetheless, there is no reason why that could not be any woman. We are all sinners, and we could have each easily ended up in a similar situation. As St Augustine said, “there but for the grace of God go I.” So thank God greatly for your life, your freedom, and the capacity to choose what is right. Repent, beg his forgiveness for your sins, seeking reconciliation and full accountability before him. For the more we take ownership of our actions, the freer we become even if we would be locked in a jail. Please pray with me now for all inmates, and pray for ministers to share the gospel of liberty with them. “I was in prison, and you visited me.” Mt 25:36

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There was a sixteen year old girl who was a passenger in the SUV that ran over a 70 year old woman trying to cross a high-speed freeway. She immediately ran over to the lady thinking she could do CPR because she is certified but saw that she would not be able to. Shortly after another stranger stopped, a mother of teens herself, and ran to her for help while the other 16 year old who was driving called 911. The teen said to the lady “do you pray? I want to pray for this woman. Will you pray with me” And the lady said “no I don’t pray but I will pray with with you” so Hannah began saying a Hail Mary, Memorare and Our Father. The lady held her hand though she only knew the words to the our father. It is amazing how each of these people acted in the face of this accident. The girl prayed, the boy called 911, the lady comforted the old woman like a mother and even called the parents of the teen to tell them what happened until the police arrived. Words can not express how proud am of this young woman. I’ve known her since she was 6, was there when she learned about her faith and how to pray, and have accompanied her family over the years. These are the defining moments of life, when amidst the trauma and accidents arise, heroism is born and the goodness of being fully human shines forth. Please pray for the repose of the soul of the woman and for the teens. They need strength to face surviving this horrible event, which will certainly effect them the rest of their lives but they can be peaceful and forever grateful about how they reacted in this moment.

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Deacon Dad and Father Son

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