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One Thing, Jesus Christ.
SPECIAL EDITION ARTICLE #10 - April 2nd, 2023 by Fr. Ben Daghir
Editor's Note: This article is a special edition that focuses on Palm Sunday. Fr. Daghir reflects on the line, "The Master has need of it." 
Article:
We have a Gospel reading before Mass today for the procession. It’s an interesting difference when compared with other Masses. There is one very powerful line from this entrance Gospel that I would like to share. My reflection is influenced by Bishop Robert Barron when I heard a homily from him several years ago.
In fact, I encourage you to listen to his homily which you can find here:
We hear from the 21st chapter of Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus sends two disciples on a mission that doesn’t appear to have supreme importance. The disciples are sent with this command, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tethered, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them here to me.” 
Jesus then adds, “And if anyone should say anything to you, reply, ‘The master has need of it.’”
Why are you a wife/mother? Why are you a husband/father? Why are you a religious sister? Why are you a permanent deacon? Why are you a single person? Why are you a religious monk? Why am I a priest? 
The Master has need of us. The Master has a mission for us. The Master has a plan. The Master desires for us to participate in His great work. 
Do you know your purpose, your mission? The Master has need of you. 
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Fr. Ben Daghir is a priest for the Diocese of Erie. He is a graduate of Elk County Catholic High School in Saint Marys, Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, and St. Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland. He considers writing one of his favorite hobbies.

The Ukraine war is a very questionable thing. We are sending billions of dollars over there basically to fund their retirement system and are weakening our own defenses to provide them with arms. This is becoming a war of attrition which there seems to be no end. Putin will not back down so when and where will this end? This is not worth American blood or treasure however Biden by demanding Putin step down is dragging us into this war.  

One Thing, Jesus Christ.
Fr. Ben Daghir Will Post Weekly Articles HERE Every Monday!
Article 9 - Second Series - February 13th, 2023 by Fr. Ben Daghir

I’ve heard the phrases “meet people where they are” and “just walk with people” thousands of times. I’m glad that I’ve consistently heard these phrases because I believe that they are grounded in the Gospel. 

I won’t for a second deny how important it is to walk with people in pastoral work or whatever work it may be. I will admit though, I often get confused with individuals who think that “meet people where they are” and “just walk with people” are the ultimate goal. 

Christianity demands that we walk somewhere. We have a destination. 

Jesus throughout the Gospels meets people where they are and He walks with them. There is no doubt about this, it jumps off of every page. Yet, He is always walking somewhere with people. He never encounters someone with no further destination in mind. Jesus always meets people where they are in order to bring them somewhere else. 

For example, Jesus meets the woman at the well exactly where she is, yet there is a destination in mind. As they converse, she refers to Jesus as a Jew, then sir, then prophet, then Messiah. Jesus met the woman at the well exactly where she had been but he left her at a completely different place. She may have never taken a step during the conversation but she journeyed from seeing just an ordinary man to encountering the Lord. That’s the point - Jesus is the destination, He is where humanity and divinity embrace. 

Jesus walks with people but it’s always walking somewhere. Consider the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). Jesus also says to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). Jesus says to the repentant thief, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Jesus demands conversion, transformation, and eyes focused on a destination. 

Again, I’m all for “meet people where they are” and “just walk with people” but it cannot stop there. Christianity demands so much more. It demands a destination, a goal. It demands the mentality of Paul, “Run so as to win the race” (1 Corinthians 9:24). 

It demands that together we seek first the Kingdom of God. We are walking with someone somewhere…toward Heaven. And, to put it clearly, that might mean that we need people in our lives to turn us around because we might be heading in the wrong direction. 
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Fr. Ben Daghir is a priest for the Diocese of Erie. He is a graduate of Elk County Catholic High School in Saint Marys, Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, and St. Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland. He considers writing one of his favorite hobbies.

SPECIAL EDITION ARTICLE #4 - February 10th, 2023 by Fr. Ben Daghir

Editor's Note: This is a homily from Fr. Ben Daghir when he was a student studying for the priesthood at St. Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland. He was a deacon when he delivered this message on the Feast of St. Scholastica, February 10, 2022.
Article:
Today we celebrate the Memorial of St. Scholastica. She was a virgin, celibate, and chaste spouse of Christ. 

The contemporary culture laughs at virginity, celibacy, and chastity - it mocks these virtues, and simply sees them as a weakness. 

God, on the other hand, calls many people to remain virgins for the sake of the Kingdom. Virginity, celibacy, and chastity are grounded not in the culture, but rather in Christ. 

There’s something particularly life-giving and powerful about virginal love. It participates in God’s love for humanity and Christ’s love for the Church. 

While preparing for this Memorial, of the Virgin St. Scholastica, I was reminded of one of the most influential books that I have read while in seminary. The book is written by Cardinal Cantalamessa and is entitled “Virginity.”

Cantalamessa discusses how God created the universe - ex nihilo, out of nothing. Therefore, only one party is involved in the creation of the universe. In fact, all the wild diversity of creation that we see from the stars to vast seas to plants, animals, and humans - all of this comes from God’s virginal love. Although the culture may laugh at virginity, the whole universe exists because of it. Virginal love is life-giving. 

We also see the outpouring of life through the perpetual virginity of the Virgin Mary. Mary gave birth to “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible.” Again, virginal love is life-giving.

Shifting from Creation and the Incarnation, we can turn our gaze to Christ on the Cross who wears the crown of Virginity. There we see the Virgin, the celibate, the chaste man - there we see our vocation, there we see happiness, and there we see life in its fullness.  

So, how do we respond to our contemporary culture that mocks virginity, celibacy and chastity?

G.K. Chesterton once stated, “Each generation is converted by the saint who contradicts the culture the most.” 

The Virgin contradicts the culture to the extreme. Likewise, the celibate radically contradicts the culture. Quite similarly, the chaste person contradicts the culture in a beautiful way. 

May the Virgin St. Scholastica intercede for us that we become evangelists in the most convincing manner…by our witness. 

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Fr. Ben Daghir is a priest for the Diocese of Erie. He is a graduate of Elk County Catholic High School in Saint Marys, Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, and St. Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland. He considers writing one of his favorite hobbies.



 

One Thing, Jesus Christ
Fr. Ben Daghir Will Post Weekly Articles HERE Every Monday!
Article 4 - Second Series - January 9th, 2023 by Fr. Ben Daghir
Editor’s Note:
Fr. Ben Daghir wrote this article in a newspaper a few days after his 30th birthday last September. You will notice the name “Luke Daghir” in the article and that is because Fr. Ben Daghir is an identical twin. Luke is currently studying to be a Roman Catholic priest for the Diocese of Erie.
Article:
Luke Daghir and I turned 30 years old in late September. Unlike recent years, this upcoming birthday of “30 years” has caused me to step back and reflect.

As a result, I have come to realize just how much this past decade unfolded in such a way that I had not anticipated (even if others had seen the priesthood in me long before I could). When I was nineteen years old, I thought that the Lord had allowed me to see the trajectory of my life with the clarity of broad daylight. I remember thinking after high school, “I’m going to get married in a few years, be a dad, have a house in Elk County, be a teacher and a coach, hunt and kayak, etc. This is definitely my life, I know it.” Little did I know that the Lord wanted to hand me lanterns instead of the broad daylight to guide me one step at a time.
Pope Francis has often referred to God’s guidance as more like a lantern than the sun. The pope teaches that God often gives us just enough light to see the next step as opposed to seeing the entire road ahead of us. Of course, we want to see the entire journey and it’s frustrating when we don’t have all the facts detailing every turn in the adventure. Pope Francis explains that this is for a simple reason: if we were to see the entire road ahead, we would shrink back in fear, worry, and disbelief. God knows this and, therefore, often hands us a lantern for each step of the journey.
Interestingly, when we are given just enough light for the next step, we often put one foot in front of the other with anticipation and curiosity. Pope Francis also adds that a lantern can do one thing in particular that the sun cannot. Unlike the sun, a lantern can enter into the darkest corners of the world (crevasses, ravines, and caves) which are never touched by sunlight. God, of course, knows this and often directs our paths to reach others in the midst of darkness, to overcome fears, and to grow in faith.
I remember one lantern that I received: I was in the Saint Vincent College library until close but didn't realize it. I had been reading for hours but had never looked at the clock. Even better, I wasn’t reading for an assignment. I was lost in a book written by Pope John Paul II. I found his voice to be more interesting, more engaging than anyone I had heard before.
Shortly thereafter, I remember another lantern: I had been student teaching at a juvenile delinquent facility in Latrobe, PA for my education certification. The assignment was challenging and life-changing. The amount of brokenness and confusion in many of those students was like a magnet - it began to pull out something that I didn’t know was within me. I would often spend an hour at night in the Saint Vincent College Chapel reflecting on the school day or envisioning the following day’s lessons. Sometimes, I would brainstorm a homily but I quickly set down that lantern. It was always too bright and I wasn’t ready for what path it could lead me.
I remember yet another lantern which seemed to shine more brightly than broad daylight. In fact, it startled me. The reason for this, at least I think, was because of how obvious it had been. Sometimes we see more clearly with a lantern than we do in the broad daylight. I was twenty-two years old at the time, just a few days away from graduation, extremely happy and at ease as a single man. I had not met the love of my life at college even though I had envisioned at nineteen years old that it would happen before college graduation. I asked myself, “Well, why am I happy and at peace despite this dream not becoming a reality?” On one of the last nights of my college career, I walked into the student chapel and asked the master teacher, “Lord, would I actually be happy as a Catholic priest?” I entered seminary a year later at the age of twenty-three.
As I had mentioned, my twenties were not quite how I had envisioned and dreamed them to be. Instead of brainstorming a creative time and place to propose to the love of my life, I had my head down in seminary libraries studying Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, and others. Instead of living in Elk County, I was living in Erie, Omaha, Guatemala, Baltimore, DuBois and a few other places. Instead of seeing Mr. Daghir on a classroom door, I currently see Fr. Daghir on five parishes’ bulletins. Instead of encouraging and forgiving a child of my own, I now encourage and forgive parishioners in the confessional. Instead of coaching a little league team and giving a speech in the dugout, I now spiritually coach from the pulpit. These are just a few examples of how life has unfolded in ways I didn’t expect.
If the Lord would have shown the entire decade to me when I was nineteen, I would have stepped back in fear, worry, and disbelief (consider the Grand Jury Report and Covid-19 for starters). Instead, the Lord handed me a lantern to guide me one step at a time. My anticipation, excitement, and curiosity only grew with each lantern, each step in this adventure. 
In the Gospel of John we read, “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” We can sometimes be tempted into thinking that a little light is not enough, but this is false. At twenty years old, I asked for the broad daylight to see everything mapped out in front of me. Now, my thirty year old self is asking for much less: just a lantern for now, just a little light. Life is much more exciting, adventurous, and open to possibilities with a lantern in one’s hand. We can enter deeper into the darkness, reach people in difficult circumstances, and grow in the great virtue of faith.
What lantern is God handing you? Are you open to the adventure - even if you can only see the next step?
 
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Fr. Ben Daghir is a priest for the Diocese of Erie. He is a graduate of Elk County Catholic High School in Saint Marys, Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, and St. Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland. He considers writing one of his favorite hobbies.

sure I will share the stories once I get them all gathered and put togather. I have heard several stories about ghosts of Interstate 80 along with some about a cemetary in Punxy and other places te DRMC and central catholic stories are interesting I am working on developing more info on those. The one about Luthersburg I am very aware of and have seen. However I wish to be careful with that  because the mother of the girl involved recently died and I know some who knew her are still in the area so I don't want to cause them pain. But once I have everything gathered I will share them here because this is an interesting part of the local history. I have heard some stories about Rumbarger Cemetary and the rail road line west of the city. But I am still researching and gathering data. I think we will find an interesting history from all this.
thanks
Dave

I am not sure which house your talking about  there is a house on the Pike, 322 west of town, going up the hill where in the 60s a man who lived on Ohio St thought his wife was having an affair with the man who lived on the pike. One night he walked up to the house on the Pike knocked on the door and when the man who lived  opened the door shot him in the face with a shot gun then walked home called the state police and waited for them to arrive and arrest him. One of the troopers who was there told me years ago that blood covered the walls and left a huge mess. I knew someone who lived in that house years later and they say the front door  often sticks at night if you try to open it

she was such a nice person she will be missed

here is the best way for Meatloaf
 

here is the best way for Meatloaf
 

she was such a nice person she will be missed

yes this is natural to grieve and feel guilty our pets our such good freinds and companions we will grieve and feel guilty. I still miss and grieve for my dog rusty who passed 15 years ago. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO9YSrhml_Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO9YSrhml_Y