100 Thanks 2025
1. Turning 50, but still feeling like a kid
2. The undeserved gift of God’s unconditional love and mercy
3. The Sacrament of Reconciliation
4. That feeling after receiving absolution
5. Sitting in silence in a newly restored church
6. Getting to celebrate Mass at our altar after a long five months
7. Seeing all the babies and children at Mass, and that my parishioners (for the most part) love that we have such a young parish
8. When couples you marry call or come to Mass to tell you they’re expecting their first child
9. Baptizing that first child
10. Godchildren and the joys they bring
11. A newly gold painted dome
12. The Holy Spirit hovering above
13. Seeing that Holy Spirit mosaic when I consecrate at Mass
14. Welcoming new faithful into the Church
15. The life of Pope Francis and his simple, charitable gestures that spoke more eloquently than any homily
16. Getting to experience a Conclave with school children
17. That baby seagull next to the chimney before white smoke emerged
18. Being in a classroom of overly excited 1st graders gazing at that seagull on the screen when the chimney started billowing white smoke
19. The gift of Pope Leo XIV: from Chicago through Peru
20. His gentle, peaceful smile
21. His tears when he walked out onto the loggia
22. That I got to concelebrate Mass with him last month
23. Going to Rome outside of summer and enjoying cool weather
24. Going to Assisi and experiencing 37 degree weather in the mountains
25. That first taste of gelato when you arrive in Italy
26. That first plate of REAL Spaghetti Carbonara when you’re in Rome
27. Celebrating Mass at the main altar of the Baslica of St. Augustine near the tomb of St. Monica
28. Just sitting in a Roman square watching the world go by
29. Holy doors and the emotional pilgrimages walking towards them
30. Seeing Rome through the eyes of our Carmelite Sisters who were seeing it for the first time
31. The overwhelming emotion in their eyes when they saw St. Peter’s Basilica and the Pope
32. Lots and lots and lots of nuns filling St. Peter’s Square for a Papal Audience and Mass (and don’t mess with a nun!)
33. That one Mass with the Carmelites at sunset in Assisi with the setting sun in the valley behind me
34. Mass in San Damiano (the most peaceful place on earth)
35. Seeing St. Carlo Acutis
36. That private tour of the Sistine Chapel and the silence of not having a soul around us for a solid 10 minutes where you can actually pray in that chapel (now if I only got around to praying instead of being in awe of that chapel)
37. The persistence of an elderly nun wanting to walk into the Room of Tears
38. Being the joyful recipient of said persistence and actually seeing the Room of Tears
39. Finally walking through the Vatican Gardens and not being kicked out with my Hibachi
40. Finding statues of St. Therese and Our Lady of Charity in the Vatican Gardens
41. In vino veritas
42. My goddaughter giving peeps to the Pope and the Pope accepting them!
43. Direct flights with no layovers
44. Montana and Glacier National Park
45. Being in the mountains with old friends
46. Seeing all my former kids gathered in one place for a wedding and realizing that ten of them were pregnant and pretty much the rest of them were worrying about their own kids they left at home
47. My 8th graders and their Thanksgiving lists that continue to wow me and inspire me year after year
48. This one line from a 13-year-old that floored me: “For every person God removed in my life or friend group because he heard the conversations that I couldn’t hear.”
49. Coaching flag football again
50. The look on their faces when I’m on one knee in the huddle and I look up and see them paying attention to me as if I’m Don Shula and the upcoming 4th down play would win us a Super Bowl
51. Welcoming alumni back to the school
52. The seniors who come to “do the walk” across the [redacted]
53. The Aladdin genie and the 11 minute “Friend Like Me”
54. Seeing shy kids transform into the best version of themselves on the stage in a musical
55. Karaoke nights (and more specifically “blind” karaoke nights when other people pick the songs for you)
56. When former students start teaching you life lessons (especially those who have overcome the greatest of adversities)
57. Parish Fair weekends and seeing everyone come home
58. Perfect weather days for golf
59. That dock in the Florida Keys that my father and I fish off of every summer where serenity and conquest meet
60. The million pictures my mother and I take of every single sunset
61. “These are my Thanksgiving pants.”
62. “As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”
63. “Well over three and half centuries ago, strengthened by faith and bound by a common desire for liberty, a small band of pilgrims sought out a place in the New World where they could worship according to their own beliefs - and solve crimes.”
64. “I couldn’t be happier”
65. “There are bridges you cross you didn't know you crossed until you've crossed.”
66. “Because I knew you…”
67. The crazy combination of people who watched that movie with me
68. The sorta, kinda, maybe Catholic themes in Stranger Things (and binging all the episodes last night!!)
69. The annual viewing of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
70. The unconditional love the people of God have for their priests
71. Deadlines that are met
72. The look on people’s faces when the church reopened
73. The anticipated look on their faces when they hear the pipe organ next Easter
74. The organist who will play those first notes of that epic Easter Vigil Gloria
75. That perfect School Centennial Mass
76. That we are stewards of a 100-year legacy
77. “Holiness consists simply in doing God’s will and being just what God wants us to be.” –St. Therese of Lisieux
78. “Act as if everything depended on you; trust as if everything depended on God.” ― St. Ignatius of Loyola
79. “Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” ― St. Francis of Assisi
80. “I am happy to die because I have lived my life without wasting a minute on those things which do not please God.” – St. Carlos Acutis
81. “God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy.” – Pope Francis
82. “Brothers and sisters, Christ’s resurrection teaches us that no history is so marked by disappointment or sin that it cannot be visited by hope. No fall is definitive, no night is eternal, no wound is destined to remain open forever. However distant, lost or unworthy we may feel, there is no distance that can extinguish the unfailing power of God’s love.”– Pope Leo XIV
83. When the well runs dry, but God takes over and does his works through my exhaustion
84. Seeing God’s merciful hand at work in souls who return to Him after long absences
85. The parishioners who challenge me, frustrate me, and the ones who complain about everything…they keep me grounded and help me sees things differently
86. Cousin reunions and the conversations that were started in that the last reunion pick right back up again
87. That despite distance and time apart, family is always family, friends are always friends, and we are always there for each other in times of need.
88. The close friends that don’t allow me to be complacent and who challenge me on a daily basis to be a better priest, a better pastor, and a better Christian
89. A Chief of Staff
90. Inner circles. Full stop.
91. Deep conversations in backyards with a glass of wine (or two)
92. Spiritual direction at Duffy’s
93. My oldest nephew being almost exactly like his father
94. My middle nephew on the verge of graduating high school
95. My youngest nephew being smarter than all of us
96. My brother-in-law loving my sister and knowing how t
97. My sister being a superhero at every second of every day while juggling a million different things and still finding the time to talk to me on the phone whenever I need her
98. My father still taking me out to fish, still golfing with me, still imparting wisdom and still making Thanksgiving happen for all of us.
99. My mother still praying night and day for me and for my people and for all the (possibly thousands) of people on her prayer list
100. That I get to celebrate the Holy Eucharist every day which allows me to simply feed my sheep. What else could I ask for?
