Good morning, Digital Neighbors! Happy Monday to all you fine souls across the internet! I had a wonderful weekend celebrating Mass with my parish family up the hill at St. Anthony’s and visiting with some friends from my last assignment. I am tremendously blessed. While I don’t know the name of every parishioner at Sunday Mass, I do know the 50 to 60 who come to weekday Mass and about one-third to one-half of those who come on Sunday. Names are so much better than “the person in pew 14” or “the guy with a mole on the left of his forehead.” Know what I mean?
At the heart of my ministry is the person of Jesus Christ. Knowing His name, calling upon His name, and being grounded in His name compels me as much as possible to know the names of my flock. My inspiration was Fr. Charlie Burgoon, my last pastor as an associate priest. While I was only with him for three years before becoming a pastor myself, his pastoral care inspired me to be more personal in my ministry—without creating expectations or lingering over injuries real or imagined.
Knowing names and remembering others’ experiences or stories gave Charlie a gift for reaching souls and leading them to God. His was a personal and genuine ministry that was truly inspiring to me. He passed a few years ago, and I was blessed to preach at his funeral. Well, enough reminiscing about Charlie. I love him and miss him. Off to some quotes for your Monday morning. I hope you have people who inspire or have inspired you to become the person you are today. I am so thankful to God for the people He places on my path. Peace, Padre
But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold. — Oliver Wendell Holmes
You can always tell a real friend: when you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job. — Laurence J. Peter
The language of friendship is not words but meanings. — Henry David Thoreau
There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship. — St. Thomas Aquinas
Tom & Charlie - 2002 On one of our walks around the local park. Charlie is on the right., your truly still in clerical garb and with my favorite hat.
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
All welcome - none expected - enjoy your day either way!
Padre - Tom Miller invites you to a Coffee Talk, Speakeasies, Schmoozes, Tea Times, Afterhours and other gatherings.
https://teams.live.com/meet/93792382189049?p=DiBHsYfuECPgDrG7vO
2026 Coffee Talk with the ADD Irregulars
Thursday, January 1, 2026
6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (CST)
Occurs every day starting 1/1 until 12/31/2027
Coffee Talk - Daily beginning at 6:00 AM Central Time Zone - USA
White Pilled Wednesday - A break from the heaviness of news and current events to focus upon things more personal & positive for the first hour of Coffee Talk.
Afternoon Chats - Most Tuesday, Friday & Sundays 2:00 PM Central
Other chats as posted in the community.
The Beautiful
Said the Disciple to the Lover, “Sir, before I left the world I heard certain men who were held in high esteem and thought to know the will of the Beloved say that those who loved the Beautiful did not love the Beloved but loved idols, yet in the Garden of the Beloved we are ever striving to create beauty for the pleasure of the Beloved. Were they then speaking the truth?”
The Lover answered, “Those who said this had never glimpsed the form of the Beloved nor ever truly sought Him, for all beauty is but the reflection of the beauty of the Beloved, although seen very dimly as in a dark and faulty mirror, even as all goodness is a dim reflection of the goodness of the Beloved. So it is that those who love beauty and goodness recognize dimly in them the form of the Beloved and though often in ignorance those who are seeking the Beautiful and the Good are seeking after the Beloved.”
