Welcome to Deacon DSM!

NEWS!

I have created Stations of the Cross videos, a traditional Lenten version and an Easter Resurrection version, for those who are unable to attend them in person. Click here to view them.

The latest edition of the Pro-Life Newsletters for May 2020 is now available. Click here for the Pro-Life newsletter page.

The video of my appearance on The Journey Home on EWTN is available on YouTube. Click here to view it.

Jesus Knows You Are a Dog

Posted on March 15, 2020 by deacondsm

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on March 15, 2020 at 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

“On the intranet, nobody knows you are a dog.” Or a cat. Or a monkey. Or a potato. It’s an old quote that has been around almost as long as the intranet. It describes the truth that when you are online, you can remain anonymous, create a new persona, become whoever you want to be, essentially reinvent yourself. If you are shy and reserved in person, online you can be bold and opinionated. If you want to meet someone, you can post a picture of some good looking and athletic model to attract others. If you want to appear to be an expert, you can attach an MD or PhD to your name.

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Categories: Homilies | Tags: David Miller, Deacon DSM

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Presenting Ourselves to the Lord

Posted on February 2, 2020 by deacondsm

HOMILY

Preached at St. Kilian Parish on February 2, 2020 at 8:00am and 10:00am Masses

February 2 is the midpoint of winter, 40 days after Christmas, and over a month into the new year. So, it’s a good time to reflect on the resolutions that we may have made this year for ourselves. Many of you decided to exercise this year and you have kept your resolution because I am still waiting in line for a treadmill at the gym. Some of you might have decided to exercise, diet, quit smoking (or vaping), become more organized, clean out your garage, spend more time with your family, or even work on your spiritual life by attending Mass more or praying the Rosary more. But whatever resolutions we make, they usually involve making something more present in our life (like exercise and other good habits) or making something less present in our life (like cigarettes and other bad habits). We make resolutions to present a better version of ourselves (to be fitter, healthier, more organized) or to be more present to God and to others. So, today’s feast of The Presentation of the Lord is a good time to reflect on our resolutions and the other ways we try to improve ourselves.

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Categories: Homilies, Word | Tags: 3rd Sunday in Lent Cycle A, be yourself, Christianity, faith, fried in Jesus, homily, Jesus, religion, Woman at the Well

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Searching for the Faint Star of Bethlehem

Posted on January 5, 2020 by deacondsm

HOMILY

Preached at St. Kilian Parish on January 5, 2019 at the 8:00am and 10:00am Masses

The Butler Hospital in Butler, PA has always had a special place in my heart. For one thing I was born there. The hospital was also the first place I lived growing up. We lived in a large yellow apartment building in downtown Butler, which was the original Butler General Hospital. My mom found it creepy living in a former hospital that was right next to a cemetery, so we soon moved to our home on Third Street, one block away from the current Butler Memorial Hospital. I spent a lot of time at the hospital: playing football in the lower parking lot using the painted lines as yard markers and sled riding the hospital hill using the elevator from the lower lot to the upper lot as a ski lift. So, I spent some time getting repaired at the hospital as well. Back in the day before HIPAA privacy laws, the Butler Eagle newspaper would publish the list of people that were admitted to the hospital each day, so my family would often visit people in the hospital because we lived so close. I even met my first high school girlfriend at the hospital, she was a volunteer who sat at the front desk to tell you in which room your neighbor or loved was staying.

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Categories: Homilies, Word | Tags: 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle C, Birth of Jesus, Christianity, epiphany, faith, homily, Jesus, journey, journey of faith, Magi, newborn king, religion, Star of Bethlehem, three kings, wise men

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Clothed in Joy

Posted on December 15, 2019 by deacondsm

HOMILY

Preached at St. Kilian Parish on December 14, 2019 at the 4:00pm and 5:30pm Masses

Today is the Third Sunday of Advent and we celebrate by lighting the pink candle of the Advent wreath, although the color is officially called rose. An easy way to remember this is to remember that Jesus rose from the dead, he did not pink from the dead! It’s one of my favorite Catholic jokes and I only get to use it twice a year. We have the option to wear rose colored vestments on this day, and they have them at Holy Sepulcher, but we don’t have them here at St. Kilian’s, so we wear the more traditional purple. Just to give you an idea of what it would look like, underneath my vestments I am wearing a pink, or rose, colored shirt.

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Categories: Homilies, Word | Tags: 3rd Sunday of Advent Cycle A, Christianity, faith, Gaudete Sunday, homily, Jesus, Joy, Pink, religion

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Sacraments

Here's where I post about the wonderful sacraments I've had the honor of presiding over!

Date	Event	Details
November 29, 2019	BAPTISM	Holy Sepulcher November 29, 2019 4:00PM I baptized Blaise Daniel, son of Daniel and Kathleen, at Holy Sepulcher Parish. May the almighty God bless you and your parents now and forever. Amen!
November 16, 2019	BAPTISM	Holy Sepulcher November 16, 2019 2:00PM I baptized Theodore Paul, son of Kori and Benjamin, at Holy Sepulcher Parish. This was my first three-peat baptism! I baptized Theodore’s sister Zoey Grace back in January 19, 2014 and his brother Tyson on April 16, 2016. May the almighty God bless you and your parents now and forever. Amen!
August 3, 2019	WEDDING	Holy Sepulcher Parish August 3, 2019 1:30PM I witnessed the wedding vows of DeDe and Kevin Ozimek at their nuptial Mass led by Father Ken Marlovits at Holy Sepulcher Parish. May the almighty God bless you and your parents now and forever. Amen!
August 11, 2019	HOMILY	Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on August 11, 2019 at the 8:00am and 10:30am Masses Our Faith Journey Takes the Scenic Route Joe was hiking alone at the top of a high canyon... Continue reading→
October 14, 2018	BAPTISM	Holy Sepulcher October 14, 2018 11:45AM Baptism Holy Sepulcher I baptized Chase Carter, son of Holly and Kenneth, at Holy Sepulcher Parish. May the almighty God bless you and your parents now and forever. Amen!

Homilies & reflections

Our Lives Are Not Hallmark Movies

Posted on November 17, 2019 by deacondsm

HOMILY

Preached at St. Kilian Parish on November 17, 2019 at the Noon and 5:00pm Masses

Did anyone have any trouble getting home on Tuesday? What a disaster that snowstorm was! Cranberry was complete gridlock! When I get stuck in traffic, I take it as a sign that God wants me to pray. Well, apparently, he really wanted to have a long chat with me! That snow was like the end of the world had come!

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Categories: Homilies, Word | Tags: 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle C, Christianity, faith, finding God in the ordinary, Hallmark movies, homily, Jesus, journey, ordinary life, religion

Our Faith Journey Takes the Scenic Route

Posted on August 11, 2019 by deacondsm

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on August 11, 2019 at the 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

Joe was hiking alone at the top of a high canyon. He stopped to take a selfie of himself, but he got too close to the edge and fell. On the way down he was able to grab a branch, which kept him from plunging to his death, but he was now stuck a thousand feet above the canyon floor with no way to climb up the steep wall of the canyon to safety. So he began yelling “HELP! HELP! IS THERE ANYONE UP THERE THAT CAN HELP ME?”

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Categories: Homilies, Word | Tags: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle C, Abraham, Christianity, faith, faith journey, father of faith, homily, Jesus, religion

Faith: Taking Off the Training Wheels

Posted on July 7, 2019 by deacondsm

HOMILY

Preached at St. Kilian Parish on July 6, 2019 at the 4:00pm and 5:30pm Masses

When I was eight years old, I received a beautiful bright orange bike for my birthday. It had streamers on the end of the handlebars, and the handlebars were adjustable so that it could be a normal bike, or a chopper, or an Evel Knievel stunt bike. It had a big white banana seat on it, the bike equivalent of the three-row seating in SUVs today. I could ride the bike with both my sisters as passengers.

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Categories: Homilies, Word | Tags: 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle C, bike, Christianity, disciples, evangelization, faith, homily, Jesus, leaving everything behind, training wheels, trusting in God

The Holy Spirit: Our Spiritual Fitbit

Posted on June 9, 2019 by deacondsm

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on June 8, 2019 at the 4:00pm Mass and June 9, 2019 at the 8:00am and 10:30am Masses

I bought this Fitbit recently for a fitness challenge we’re having at work, and I was surprised to find that it does way more than count my steps and heartbeat. It knows a lot about me. It knows where I am. It knows what I am doing (whether walking, running, exercising, sitting, or lying down). When I sleep, it knows how deeply and how long I am dreaming. It knows how well I’m doing (whether I’m in shape or tired). It even suggests on how I can improve myself, to have better eating habits and to exercise in my target cardio zone. It will even complain if I have been sitting around too long without doing anything. It’s actually like having a wife or mother attached to your wrist! Although to be honest, unlike a wife or a mother, the Fitbit can be fooled. I’ve noticed that if I eat desserts really quickly, it actually believes that I’m exercising!

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Categories: Homilies, Word | Tags: Christianity, Fitbit, Holy Spirit, homily, Jesus, Pentecost, Pentecost Cycle C, spirit

Climbing the Mountain of God

Posted on March 17, 2019 by deacondsm

HOMILY

Preached at Holy Sepulcher Parish on March 16, 2019 at the 4:00pm Mass and St. Kilian Parish on March 17, 2019 at the 8:00am Mass

A young man was having trouble driving through a bad snow storm, until he remembered what his father told him, that if he ever had trouble driving in snow, he should just pull off and wait for a snow plow and then follow it, so he pulled off the road and waited. In a short while a snow plow drove by and so the young man pulled out and followed it. After an hour of driving around, the snow plow driver was fed up and got out of his truck to ask why he was being followed. The young man explained what his father had told him about what to do if he had trouble driving in snow. “OK,” replied the snow plow driver, “I’m done with the Walmart parking lot now, but if you want you can follow me to Target.” “Sure,” the young man replied, “but after that, could you swing by the Hallmark store? It’s Valentine’s Day and I need to pick up a card for my wife.”

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Categories: Homilies, Word | Tags: 2nd Sunday of Lent Cycle C, Christianity, homily, Jesus, journey, Lent, life is a journey, mountain, mountain climbing, relationship with God, relationships, religion, transfiguration, trips

Following Jesus to the Ultimate Catch

Posted on February 10, 2019 by deacondsm

HOMILY

Preached at St. Kilian Parish on February 10, 2019 at the 12:00pm and 5:00pm Masses

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Categories: Homilies, Word | Tags: 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle c, Christianity, fishing, follower, heaven, holy, holy makerel, homily, Jesus, religion

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