The Smoking Priest

Cicero, the famous Roman senator and orator once wrote, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”  The virtue of gratitude is the ability to express our thankful appreciation in word or deed, to the person whose words or actions have benefited us in some way.  The truly humble…

This week the Centers for Disease Control revealed some alarming statistics regarding the problem of depression here in the United States.  The use of antidepressant drugs has soared nearly 400% since 1988. Antidepressant medication is the most commonly used form of medication for people between the ages of 18 – 44.  One in twenty-five teens…

You know the drill.  When some new gadget does not work, you just hit the reset button.  Even if the gadget does not have a reset button, there is some way to accomplish the same task.  When my Blackberry gets stuck, I just open up the back cover, take out the battery and then I…

I enjoy a fine cigar after a long day of work.  For me, cigar smoking is very relaxing.  My most favorite brands are the Joya de Nicaragua Antano 1970, the Kristoff Corojo Limitada, the Padron Classics and the Partagas Black.  For those of you who know anything about great cigars, you can tell that I…

“Distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune: He felt anxiety about the possible loss of his job.”  This is how the dictionary defines the word anxiety.   Worry, fretfulness, apprehension and disquiet are all synonyms of this word that has become so common in our daily vocabulary.   Without a…

Normally I wake up every morning in a great mood, always filled with enthusiasm to do what I can to fulfill my daily mission as a Catholic priest.  However, this morning, I awoke with a horrible feeling.  I kept pushing myself all morning.  Yes, I got my work done, but I could not shake this…

Thomas  Edison was a prolific inventor.  He invented over 1,000 things, but he is best known for inventing the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, the microphone, the storage battery and talking movies. It was December 1914, and he had already been working for ten years on the storage battery.  This adventure had greatly strained his…

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am going to play a few songs for you.  I hope that you like my music.” These were the words the poor Mexican guitar player spoke as he suddenly jumped aboard an old bus as it travelled up the Mexican Pacific Coast.  The poor Mexican guitar player stood in the middle…

I thoroughly enjoyed Steven Spielberg’s version of “War of the Worlds.”  The special effects that Spielberg uses to show the aliens coming out of the ground are really cool. Heresies (yes, I did use that word) are like the aliens that come out of the ground. Harlan Ogilvy in Spielberg’s movie says it well when…

Email, Facebook, Twitter, cell phones, text messages…we do live in a different world. I will not deny the good that new technologies can do for all of us. I do a lot of work with the Internet and my Internet ministry has helped a lot of people. However, technology must not be a substitute for…

Father James Farfaglia
about

Father James Farfaglia

Father James Farfaglia is the founding pastor of Saint Helena of the True Cross of Jesus Catholic Church. He is presently the new pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church. Both parishes are located in Corpus Christi, Texas. You can learn more about Father James, read his homilies and purchase his books by visiting him on the web at www.fatherjames.org.

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