What an ancient story, a new Matt Damon film, and my father’s bedtime voice taught me about the journey There are some books we remember because we read them and there are others we remember because someone we loved read them to us. For me, Homer’s Odyssey belongs to the second kind. Christopher Nolan’s new … Read more
Two men born twenty-one days apart in the summer of 1923. Two boys shaped by the Great Depression. Two grandfathers who taught me that a good life is built less by extraordinary moments than by showing up for the ordinary ones. There are certain coincidences in a family that do not seem particularly remarkable when … Read more
There are places that athat are written into your bones. For me, that place is Papillion, Nebraska. It is the place where I was born, and raised. The place where I learned what it meant to belong to a community. Even if I didn’t yet have the words to explain it. And, by the grace … Read more
“The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” — Psalm 16:6 There are places in this world that seem to possess a soul of their own. Not because the soil itself is holy, the trees whisper secrets, or ghosts linger in forgotten corners. Rather, because God often … Read more
Today we laid my great-uncle Eugene “Eug” Svagera to rest. With that simple act, an era quietly came to an end. The four Svagera brothers, Charlie, Joe, George (“Red”), and Eugene (“Eug”)are together once again. As I sat in the Church during Mass today, I could not help but think that perhaps no four brothers ever shared … Read more
This is the third and final reflection in my Independence Day trilogy. The first looked upward to Mount Rushmore and the ideals upon which America was built. The second remembered my Grandpa Svagera, born on July 4, 1923, and the generation that defended those ideals. This final reflection looks closer to home, to the neighborhoods, … Read more
For the first few years of my life, I did not know what the Fourth of July was really about. I did not know about the signing of the Declaration of Independence or the year 1776. The long and complicated story of America, with all its glory and all its wounds, all its promise and … Read more
This is the first of three reflections I hope to offer in honor of this three-day holiday weekend in the United States, and also in honor of the 250th birthday of the United States of America. On July 4, 2026, our country marks 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a milestone … Read more
“My cup runneth over.” — Psalm 23:5 Every Father’s Day, I find myself thinking about all the things my dad did for me over the years. Like most fathers, he worked hard, provided for his family, fixed things that were broken, and perhaps most importantly, he taught lessons that seemed ordinary at the time, but have … Read more
There is something deeply sacred about walking through a cemetery on Memorial Day. Nothing is rushed or distracted.There is no scrolling through headlines, advertisements, or noise. Just rows of stones beneath an open sky. The American flags flutter softly beside military markers. Fresh flowers rest against granite worn smooth by rain, wind, and generations of … Read more
