We were driving home on Sunday from getting haircuts for me, Gabe, and Trevor. I ran my hand over my much lighter head, then rubbed my chin and said, “All I need to do is trim my beard, and I’ll be a new man!”
Jodi looked sideways at me and suggested that she, for one, could use a new man, and that my whiskers weren’t close to the first thing she’d change. We went back and forth a moment: I, lamenting the cruelty of my beloved; she, enumerating my shortcomings…until Gabe interjected: “You shouldn’t do that, Mom.”
“Gabe!” she protested. “You’re sticking up for HIM!?”
“The Ninth Commandment,” he said matter-of-factly. “‘You shall not covet” — he pronounced it “COVE-it” — “thy neighbor’s wife.'”
“Covet,” I corrected, laughing. “And how does that apply in this case, Gabe? I don’t think she wants someone else’s husband; she wants a different me.”
“Lust makes you…” He stopped for a moment, as if choosing his words carefully with the younger kids in the car. “Lust makes you want something different than what you have.”
Jodi and I looked at each other. I raised an eyebrow.
An aspiring priest’s first homily…
Archangel Stomp 
Ah man. Just wait until he gets there and then it's all, nag, nag, nag. 😉
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Our former pastor emailed to say, “You know, there's one thing the priests do whenever they get the chance…and that is to steal another priest's homily.
You can tell Gabe that his first homily made its family impact in the car riding home, and then inspired 123 seminarians plus 6 priests at the college seminary. I'm gonna use it.”
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