The Guard Slipped

Last night I was trimming my eyebrow hair. The rotating dial on my clippers fell off. The guard slipped to the shortest position.

The result: part of my left eyebrow is now significantly - and comically - shorter than the rest.

Sometimes we have to trim. That's not the problem. The problem is when we don't look carefully at what we're trimming - and we over-trim.

This Friday marks five years since my ordination to the diaconate.

And after we finish hosting Totus Tuus this week, I'm going to take a few weeks of sabbatical from active ministry in the parish - on the suggestion of our Director of the Diaconate and with my pastor's encouragement.

This is wisdom, not crisis. From time to time, we need to step away and create intentional space to pray and discern what the future looks like. I'll be spending these weeks in thanksgiving for the past five years - and in prayer about what God is calling my diaconate to look like for the next five.

Part of what I'll be discerning is the shape of my writing. I've begun work on a new novel - a fable about a parish, a burned-out pastor, and a half-asleep father who wake each other up. More on that soon.

Read the full reflection: The Guard Slipped

Pope Leo to Writers

This morning, Pope Leo XIV addressed a gathering of writers in Rome. His words landed like a commission:

"We need you. We need your imagination, your narrative creativity and your lively thinking. We need these to create spaces of freedom and authenticity, within which divine grace can make the promise of consolation and peace resound."

Spaces of freedom and authenticity. Within which divine grace can make the promise of consolation and peace resound.

That's what I want to build with these stories.

Full address: Vatican.va

Totus Tuus This Week

The missionaries are here. The program is underway. Our young people are being formed.

Thank you to everyone who provided housing, meals, and help. Please keep praying for the team, the kids, and our parish.

This Sunday: Father's Day

I preached at all three Masses on Father's Day.

The thread: fathers carry weight - responsibility, example, inherited wounds, fear. Many fear they're not enough. Jesus said three times in the Gospel: Do not be afraid. And St. Paul reminded us: the gift is not like the transgression. Grace overflows.

To every father: you are seen, you are known, you are worth more than many sparrows.

It landed. More response than I usually get - especially on the grace that overflows beyond our failures. If you missed it, I'll have more to share soon.

Five Years This Friday

June 26, 2021, I knelt before Bishop Paprocki and received his prayer and laying on of hands, made promises, and was vested in the stole and presented the Book of the Gospels.

Five years of homilies and baptisms and funerals. Five years of hospital visits and marriage preparation. Five years of standing at the altar, holding the chalice, proclaiming the Gospel.

The deepest privilege of my life.

Thank you, Lord. Now show me what's next.

Two Lamps

This Friday: Issue 07 - Saint Romuald and Saint Aloysius Gonzaga

The infirmary of the Roman Jesuit College, late June 1591. A dying young Jesuit and the founder of the Camaldolese hermits, four centuries apart, meeting at the edge of life.

TwoLamps.org

Lux Perpetua

The Living Thread - Chapter 15 dropped Monday.

The Lost Crown - Chapter 11 is live.

The two tracks are beginning to converge.

LuxPerpetua.net

What I'm Praying This Week

For Totus Tuus - for the missionaries, the kids, the parish.

For five years of grace - and clarity about the next five.

For the sabbatical ahead.

Domus Formation

WeAreDomus.com - Start a free trial. Hearth & Altar for families. Eventide & Altar for the second half of life. Iron & Altar for men. Vessel & Altar for women.

WeAreDomus.com/Daily - The free daily email. Catholic news for families.

Final Word

"We need your imagination, your narrative creativity and your lively thinking. We need these to create spaces of freedom and authenticity, within which divine grace can make the promise of consolation and peace resound."

— Pope Leo XIV, Address to Writers, June 24, 2026