Fr. Gerald E. Murray

  “Gratitude is the attitude” said the spinning instructor to her class full of intrepid and somewhat exhausted riders. I was one of them. I liked the rhyme as I pedaled away; I liked the message even more. I remember being with a friend who observed about someone he was having... Read More →

  Saint Teresa of Calcutta is cited by Pope Leo XIV in his just published apostolic exhortation Dilexit te (“I have loved you”): Foundress of the Missionaries of Charity, she dedicated her life to the dying abandoned on the streets of India. She gathered the rejected, washed... Read More →

  In a recent address to French Catholic political leaders gathered in Rome for the Holy Year, Pope Leo spoke of the weighty challenges they face in our often hostile world: I am well aware that the openly Christian commitment of a public official is not easy, especially in... Read More →

  Robert Cardinal Sarah wrote a wonderful book, The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise, in which he reminds us that we need to escape from the tyranny of endless distractions produced by constant sound. We must learn how to place ourselves silently before... Read More →

  “Summertime, and the livin’ is easy . . .” So goes the opening aria in George Gershwin’s 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. Summer is upon us now and easy it is—or is supposed to be! School is out; vacation time beckons. It is the season to put aside, as much as possible,... Read More →

  “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised.” (Lk 24:5-6) The holy women who went to anoint the body of Jesus on the third day after his death found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. Jesus’ body was not there. Two men in... Read More →

  Ash Wednesday is nearly upon us, the beginning of Lent. The imposition of ashes of burnt palm branches on our foreheads calls to mind the entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. In his honor, the people laid out palm branches along the road that took Jesus, riding on a... Read More →

  Someone once remarked that life is a series of interruptions. That certainly is the case for the pastor of a parish in the city that never sleeps! Yet this description of day-to-day life really applies to just about everyone. We all have tasks to accomplish each day. We... Read More →

    The 50th Anniversary Dinner of the Human Life Review was held on November 13th at the Union League Club in New York City. I was privileged to be present. It was a wonderful gathering of friends who all agree that there is nothing more important in life than to do... Read More →

    One of the nicest surprises I received as a young priest came from a parishioner I had visited in the hospital. A few days after she returned home, she and her husband stopped by the rectory with a gift for me—a brand-new piece of luggage. I was very touched by her... Read More →