The focus on John the Baptist this Advent has renewed some reflections in me on prophets. Most especially, let’s talk about the prophet Jonah. What is “the sign of Jonah” to which our Lord refers in the Gospels? On the one hand it appears that Jesus himself explains this “sign.” He says that “just as …
Author Archives: Rev. Timothy Naples
Fr. Tim among the Turkey Trotters, 2025
Mary Tarrinelli owns the Our Lady of Ephesus House of Prayer in Jamaica, VT. She gave the nickname to the groups that she has lead to Ephesus Turkey as “Turkey Trotters.” Wed Oct. 8 was the travel day to Turkey. I offered Mass at 9am in “Bishop Marshal Chapel,” at the House of Prayer in …
It’s me, the unrighteous steward (repeat post)
Here we are, the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time on cycle C of the Lectionary. Luke 16:1-13 is the Gospel. You know, the one about the “dishonest steward” who was getting fired for squandering his master’s goods. Here is my old take on this marvelous parable. The dishonest steward – right before his was “canned” …
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An abbreviated tour of the Book of Psalms
I used this text as follows to do a very short introduction and tour of the 150 Psalms in a parish presentation. A more readable PDF version was posted HERE on the St. John Vianney Parish website. Psalms copied from World English Bible with Deuterocanon( https://ebible.org/eng-web/)All in the public domain.All symbols visible within the text indicate …
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Friendships, Love, and Partnerships
The Catholic Church has an extensive set of teachings about love, and marriage, and sexuality. These teachings are quite articulate. But again, they are vast because they are “extensive.” So, the summaries and impressions often shared about these teachings can easily go astray from what are our religious beliefs, or moral principles, really are in …
Rice Service Trip to Peru, 2025
Greetings! This post is for the sake of pictures. Having just returned from the Mission trip to Lima Peru with Bishop Rice Memorial High School, I am merely putting down a few highlights, and then posting pictures without much comment. To really get the sense of the pilgrimage, the service, and the adventure of this …
Three Short Homilies on the Priesthood
Bishop McDermott asked priests to preach about priestly vocations this weekend. Here are three short homilies on the priesthood in Holy Orders. Homily A Bishop John McDermott has invited all priests this month to speak about the call to the priesthood within holy orders. It is my delight to do this. But first I want …
The Presentation
Today we celebrate the feast of the Presentation. Our celebration of Christmas Day was 40 days ago. Christian history places today, February 2nd, as the day that Jesus was brought to the temple by Mary and Joseph, as we just heard in our Gospel. There are many themes that are worth noting. There are hints …
Marian Faith in the Acts of the Apostles
–+ These summary reflections were written for a 5 week Bible Study +– Acts Chapters 1-4. In this our first session we are reading the first four chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. The summary headings for each of the events, taken from our New American Bible edition (NAB), name the following events: -The …
The Bread of Life Discourse and Marriage in Ephesians Ch. 5
This is a transcript, slightly touched up but rather unpolished, of my Sunday Homily on August 18th. The livestream replay can be viewed here. + + + Let me jump into the bread of life discourse. First of all, just to affirm in a very straightforward theological way, the Church takes the words of Jesus …
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Ubi Petrus VT 