Happy Sunday!

It is good to be back home! Thank you for your prayers while I was traveling. I had the opportunity to stop at Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery in Roswell, NM and offer Mass for the Poor Clare sisters there. I then went to the final vows of a religious sister in Corpus Christi. From there I went to Austin, TX for my 10-year reunion with my seminary classmates from the North American College. We were about 50 of us who were ordained and 30 of us showed up for the reunion. It was a great time to spend together, catch up on the last 10 years, and share what the Lord has been doing in our lives.

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In his song, "Lose Yourself," the artist Eminem raps, "the mood all changed."

We all know that moment when the mood changes, when life turns from lighthearted to deadly serious. That happens in today's Gospel. Jesus has just heard that John the Baptist, his cousin, forerunner, and friend, has been murdered. As Matthew tells us, "When Jesus heard of it, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself." Until now, he had been teaching in parables and healing quietly. But John's death signals a new phase. The shadow of the Cross begins to fall. Evil shows its teeth.

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