Speak Lord is intended to be an offering of reflections on Christian Holy Scripture. Specifically a daily reflection on the Scripture that is used in Catholic masses for that day.

There are many ways to pray. Reading holy scripture is only one of them. It is my favorite way of listening to God. Listening is the primary way I think of prayer. So what I write here will be an attempt to share what I am hearing. While I served as a Pastoral Associate, the pastor of the parish where I worked was generous enough to let me give the homily at some of the prayer services we held on days a priest could not lead a mass. People were very complimentary about those homilies. Now that I am retired I thought it would be worthwhile to see if what I hear in prayer has some value for others. So although there are other websites that offer ways of entering prayer, I want to see if my voice has something useful to add in the effort to hear what God is trying to say us today.

The title Speak Lord is taken from the call of Samuel to be prophet to Israel. God has called to Samuel, still a boy in service to Eli, three times, while he was asleep and each time Samuel thinks Eli is calling him. After the third time Eli tells Samuel if he is called again to answer, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.” Today, everyday, each of us needs to recognize God’s call and listen.

After 20 years in publishing and marketing I went back to school so I would be qualified to work professionally in a Catholic parish. My undergraduate degree is in theology and my Masters degree is in theological studies. Both are from Marquette University. Then my wife and I spend a year volunteering with the Christian Appalachian Project in eastern Kentucky. Since then I have worked both as a Director of Religious Education and later as a Pastoral Associate in Catholic parishes in Massachusetts. Finally, I was an Associate Director of the Office for Pastoral Ministries at the Archdiocese of Boston also serving as the Director of the Archdiocesan Institute for Ministry, a certificate program of formation for lay leadership.