My mother used to have problems with some of my homilies, and she used to say so, "You are a bit light on judgment and a bit heavy on love." I would say, "God has more love than judgment." She would go, "Yeah." Then she would always end the argument, "Yeah, but that one who gets in at the end of time, who kind of just shows up with a conversion at the last moment, I think that is just a bit unfair!"

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I remember 9-11, twenty-five years ago. I was in the rectory at St. Lawrence Parish, as that second plane crashed into the tower, and then watching the two towers burning. It is seared into my memory. Then the following hours of confusion and anger, and then eventually watching both buildings collapse. I remember every moment of it. It is as if it happened yesterday. I remember in particular the next day, those hours after, the sky was silent. It was eerie. There were no commercial airplanes flying anywhere for days. There was a deep sense of eeriness, and of shock and anger. In the days that followed, I remember how the anger rose up in the nation and demanded revenge.

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When I was growing up in Ireland,  you would turn on the tap and have water,  just like you guys do, right?  The difference is, in Ireland, there is no bill.  Water is free.
 Never charged for it.

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Human behavior scientists maintain that in order to change one’s behavior, the person who actually wants to change needs to desire to change. That sounds so obvious, right? If you want to change something, you have to actually want to change it.

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I had the wonderful opportunity to visit my close friend and mentor, Monsignor Lloyd Torgerson. Lloyd is a towering figure in the American church, especially in Los Angeles. He is eighty-six years old, still pastor,
and he has been pastor over thirty years. He is still as sharp as a tack.

He has this wonderful way. He is so hospitable. He is such a generous human being. He meets me, and it is always the first thing he says: “Brendan, you are so wonderful. I love you.”

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This last week we had a great opportunity as a parish and school staff to go away on a day of retreat. It was wonderful just to be away and to spend a day in prayer,
holding up the whole year ahead. I introduced the theme for the year: Flourish: Cultivating Dignity Through Presence.

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 I just got back from vacation. I had been in Florence for a conference on artificial intelligence for the first nine days, where I gave four presentations over those days. Then I had the great opportunity to go to Sicily and visit with a friend of mine, with another friend, and we spent two weeks there. It was great to catch up and see my friends, but I must confess, one of the struggles with vacation is that you get out of your routines, right? You do not have as much control of the environment, and that was certainly my case.

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Last year, when we were on pilgrimage  to Turkey and Greece, in the footsteps of St. Paul,  we had nearly 50 parishioners.  When you have a group of people like that,  something always goes wrong!  So the first day, somebody cut their foot on something  as we were walking somewhere.  I turned around and I asked,  “Rachel, we need a large bandage.”  Rachel opens up her bag  and out comes this huge bandage.

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During the year, at our Men’s Group,  we have been reading a book called  “The Power of Purpose” by Richard Leider,  and in it he tries to articulate
 what it is that gives us meaning and purpose in our life.  In this book in particular, he says  that once we find this purpose,  in relation to the world’s needs,  and that it is a dynamic process.  I think that insight is very powerful.  It is a process that we come to,  and we know when we get there.  We have this aha moment.

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I bring you this homily today from Florence, Italy. I am here with a group of Jesuits from throughout the whole world, those working in formation, bringing them all together to learn a little bit more about artificial intelligence and how to integrate that into their ministry.

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