Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Ngon Quá Foodie Blog: Ema & CARVE (19th Anniversary Edition)

We will be traveling quite a bit over the next few months so we decided to focus of food for our 19th wedding anniversary.

My wife decided she wanted Mediterranean food and picked Ema. Ema is located at Domain Northside across from Culinary Dropout. The wait-staff wore white shirts and khakis so I immediately felt like I was on vacation somewhere. The interior decor was a little "busy" for me but it was a pleasant atmosphere nevertheless.

For our meal, we started with the Roasted Walnut Hummus and it was delightful. We both enjoyed the kumquat chutney and thought that it really elevated the hummus. For our meal, we shared the Braised Short Rib Sandwich with fries and the Grilled Oishii Shrimp (pictured below). They were DELICIOUS! For dessert, we had the Vegan Coconut Cremeux and, of course, I had to have drip coffee with my dessert.

Braised Short Rib Sandwich - the meat so do tender and the beef ju went gave it so much flavor.

Grilled Oishii Shrimp was amazing! There was A LOT of red pepper flakes on the shrimps!

We really enjoyed Ema and would definitely come back again. Alternatively, we might check out Abba, which is the "father" restaurant to Ema. Ema means "mother" in Hebrew and Abba  means "father" in Hebrew. Although, our waitress did warn us that Abba is located on South Congress (a.k.a., SoCo) so parking will be a challenge. . . CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

For me, I gluttoned for meat so we went to CARVE American Grille, a part of the Perry's Restaurant group. We have been to Perry's at the downtown Austin and Domain Northside locations for pork chop Fridays. CARVE was a whole other level of delicious meats! Also, we like The Grove area. It is like the Domain but much quieter. Another restaurant that we have eaten at in The Grove is Ling, which is an elevated dim sum restaurant.

As we entered CARVE, we see this. . . mouth-watering cuts of meats on full display for all to admire! It was certainly a sight to behold. 


For our meal, since neither of us ate lunch that day, we went all in with the CARVE Board. This meat-chuterie board included the following cooked to perfection! Look at the masterpiece of meats!

14 oz. CARVE Smoked Sliced NY Strip, 14 oz. Sliced Caramelized Prime Rib, 10 oz. Center-cut Filet Mignon; 4 Hog Heavens, 4 Shrimp Brochettes, and 4 Lobster Corn Dog Balls. Served with au jus and Truffle Merlot sauce and steaks topped with CARVE Steak Butter.

We also added a side of their Sweet Sriracha Brussels Sprouts because, well, we have to eat our vegetables, right?

It was an amazing experience and our waiter was very attentive to our needs. I particularly liked they were cautious about my wife's food allergy because not only did our waitress made sure but the head person in the kitchen also came and talked to us.

We has a memorable foodie celebration of our 19th anniversary! Cheers!
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Homily for Wednesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time (Year A - 5/27/2026)


In today’s Gospel, we heard the sons of Zebedee, James and John, asked Jesus to allow them to “sit one at [his] right and the other at [his] left.” In response, Jesus helped them to understand what they are asking and, more importantly, what is required of them, saying: “The chalice that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared." In other words, to be disciples of Christ and to come and follow Jesus is to suffer with Jesus, but eternal glory is for God the Father to judge and give to “those for whom it has been prepared.”

My sisters and brothers in Christ, what this means is for us to realize that when we pray, when we fast, and when we give alms, we do all these things out of love for God and our neighbors, not for power nor vainglory, in this life and certainly not in eternal life. All the good we do in our lives, we do for God because of who God is to us and what He has done for us. Saint Peter tells us in the first reading: we “realize that [we] were ransomed from [our] futile conduct. . . not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished Lamb. . . so that [our] faith and hope are in God. . . [We] have been born anew [through Baptism], not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and abiding word of God. . . the word of the Lord remains forever.”

This is what it means to be a servant leader, of which our Lord Jesus Christ is the model par excellence, as he tells us, saying: “[The] Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” This is what it means for us to drink the chalice that Jesus drank from and be baptized with the baptism with which Christ was baptized, for us to be a servant of the Suffering Servant, who was born of the lowly servant - the Blessed Virgin Mary. When we become leaders who seek power and our own interests, we cause others to be “indignant” because these types of leaders “lord [their authority] over” others. Rather, Jesus calls us to be servant leaders who unite others in faith, hope, and love, just like Jesus did and continues to do in the world today.

It is as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI once said, "The world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness." That greatness lies in Jesus Christ, the Suffering Servant, the Crucified One, who is the servant leader par excellence, because “did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:6-11).


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Monday, May 18, 2026

Homily for Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter (Year A - 5/18/2026)


Today’s Gospel is a continuation of Jesus’ Last Supper discourse in which he talks about his departure and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Yesterday, on Ascension Sunday, we heard from the conclusion of the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus “was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight” (Acts 1:9). Before he ascended to be at the right hand of the Father, “Jesus approached [the disciples] and said to them, ‘Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.’”

My sisters and brothers in Christ, this promise from our Lord Jesus Christ that he will be with us until the end of the age is through the gift of the Holy Spirit, which we received at Baptism and sealed with at Confirmation. Jesus’ promise to be with us until the end of the age, through his Spirit, should give us the courage to live boldly as disciples of Christ in the midst of the troubles in the world that can rob us of the peace that God desires for us in his Son However, as Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel, he has conquered the world and so we have faith that the troubles in the world, and more specifically, those in our own lives too shall pass.

Throughout Sacred Scripture, the inspired words of God through the Holy Spirit, we find this promise and it gives us hope. From Ecclesiastes (3:1-9), we hear: “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to give birth, and a time to die. . . A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. . . a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. . . A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.” Life is full of ups and downs. Jesus does not promise that life will be easy. What Jesus promises is that he will not leave us “orphans” (John 14:18) but that where he is there we may also be with him (14:3).

Moreover, in his Second Letter to the Corinthians (4:17-18),  Saint Paul tells us: “For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.” And again, in his Letter to the Romans (8:18): “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.” Someone I know lost her son a few months ago and what she shared with me is a testament to her faith. She wrote: “Our Blessed Mother Mary, I leaned on her more than ever during the time I lost my son. I continue to lean on her to this day and I ask her to give me a small portion of the strength she has to carry this pain. God's plan is beyond our understanding” (May 15, 2026).

My sisters and brothers in Christ, let us find courage to persevere in faith. Let us have hope even in the face of all the troubles in the world, knowing in our hearts that God loves us and desires his peace for all of us. More importantly, inspired by the Holy Spirit who the Father and Son send to us, let us live in the peace of Christ and share his peace with all we encounter in our lives.



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Monday, May 11, 2026

Homily for Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter (Year A - 5/11/2026)

In today’s Gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ prepares us to receive the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, and everything that comes with receiving this gift from our Father in heaven. Let us listen to the words of our Lord, who says: “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify. . .” I am reminded of this prayer from the Order of Baptism, during the “Ephaphatha” Rite: “May the Lord Jesus, who made the deaf to hear and the mute to speak, grant that you may soon receive his word with your ears and profess the faith with your lips, to the glory and praise of God the Father.”

Through our Baptism, we are called to listen to the Word of God and speak His Truth in the world. However, Jesus knows that to follow him can be difficult because we will face opposition from those who “have not known either the Father or me” and yet “think he is offering worship to God.” In today’s Gospel, like he does so many times throughout his ministry, our Lord Jesus Christ is upfront with us about the cost to come follow him and be his disciples. It is precisely this reason that Jesus “have told [us] this so that [we] may not fall away,” but be strengthened by the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, who he sends from the Father.

My sisters and brothers in Christ, every time I teach a Baptism class or celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism, I encourage the parents and godparents to live their lives as authentic witnesses of our Lord Jesus Christ, in their words and actions, in such a way that their children and godchildren desire to become disciples of Jesus. What this means for all of us is, we must desire faith, conversion, and transformation in our lives for it to happen because God gives us freewill to come and follow Him through the Holy Spirit that He sends to us. We must cultivate our hearts through faith in God, like Lydia in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostle, who “listened and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying. After she and her household had been baptized.”

This desire for us to listen to the Word of God with open and attentive hearts and be transformed into disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ reminds me of this “Prayer for Vocations” that I will now share with you.

Jesus our Saviour, your sacred Heart felt compassion when you looked upon the crowd and saw that they were like sheep with a shepherd. We know that the harvest of souls is abundant but the laborers few, so we ask you, the master of the harvest, to send our more laborers. [and here is the hinge] Open my hearts and the hearts of my brothers and sisters to your will and raise up abundant faithful servants of the Gospel - devoted and holy priests, sisters and brothers who will spend themselves for your people in the Diocese of Austin. May none of your flock, won at the price of your blood, be without a shepherd to guide them. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.


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Friday, May 8, 2026

Prayer for Mother's Day (5/10/2026)

 My prayer for all mothers. . . 🙏🕊❤️

Lord Jesus Christ, you loved your Mother and you loved her to the end. Help us to love our mothers and all mothers with the same love that you loved your Mother.

Bless the bonds of marriage between mothers and their husbands, strengthen the bonds between mothers and their children, and guide them all in love as they navigate their ever-changing relationships through the years, always filled with joy and love.

Pour forth your blessings upon mothers who all carry much burden for love of their families. In times when the cross of motherhood becomes too heavy of a burden, help them to unite their hearts with the Immaculate Heart of your Mother Mary. In doing so, may they feel your loving presence in their lives to strengthen them in the vocation to which you have called them.

We ask all this through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary as we pray. . .

Hail, Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.

Amen. 🙏🕊❤️



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Monday, May 4, 2026

Homily for Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter (Year A - 5/4/2026)


In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” Jesus’ commandment to us is to love God and to love our neighbor. Jesus continues, saying: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” How does the Father and Son dwell in us? It is through the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit that the Father sends in the name of our Jesus Christ to dwell in our hearts. It is the Spirit that Saint Paul wrote of, saying: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). It is the Spirit that we received at Baptism and are sealed with at Confirmation.

It is the Spirit the Father sends in the name of his Son who “will teach [us] everything and remind [us] of all that [Jesus] told [us].” Pope Francis reflected on this, saying: “Teaching and remembering. This is the role of the Holy Spirit. He teaches us: he teaches us the mystery of faith, he teaches us to enter into the mystery, to understand the mystery a little more. . . the Holy Spirit helps us grow in understanding faith, understanding it more, understanding what faith says. . . He will teach us the things that Jesus has taught us, he will develop in us an understanding of what Jesus has taught us, he will grow the doctrine of the Lord in us, to maturity” (Homily, 11/5/2020). One of the shortest and most powerful prayers we can pray when we are struggling with our faith is, “Come Holy Spirit.”

Moreover, Pope Francis reflected further, saying: “The Holy Spirit is like memory, he wakes us up. . . he keeps us awake, always awake in the Lord's things, and also reminds us of our lives” (id). The Holy Father recalled how “one person prayed before the Lord like this: ‘Lord, I am the same one who, as a child, as a boy, had these dreams. Then, I went along the wrong paths. Now you've called me.’ I am the same: this is the memory of the Holy Spirit in one's life. He brings you to the memory of salvation, to the memory of what Jesus taught, but also to the memory of one's life. . . a beautiful way of praying, looking at the Lord: ‘I am the same. I've walked a lot, I've been wrong, but I'm the same and you love me.’ The memory of life's journey” (id). Again, one of the shortest and most powerful prayers we can pray to help us activate the graces of the Sacraments that we have received, particularly the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, to help remind us of who we are and whose we are is, “Come Holy Spirit.”

When we pray this prayer to the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity will remind us that we are beloved sons and daughters of the Father. That is who we are and whose we are. My sisters and brothers in Christ, Lent prepared our hearts for the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ - for God so loved the world that He sent his Only Begotten Son to die on the Cross for our salvation. Easter prepares us to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit from God and the Risen Lord - “But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). We are three weeks away from Pentecost, let us cultivate our hearts - through prayers and words - to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit from the Father through the Son.



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Thursday, April 30, 2026

Reflecting on Fr. Charlie Garza's Chaplain Report (4/27/2026) (UPDATED 5/21/2026)


In his Chaplain Report, Fr. Charlie invited the Knights to pray the Novena to the Holy Spirit, which starts on Friday, May 15th, and ends the eve of Pentecost, which is on May 24th, in 2026. It is the most ancient of novenas and the only novena that was established by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In the Acts of the Apostle, "[while][ meeting with them, [Jesus] enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for 'the promise of the Father* about which you have heard me speak; for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the holy Spirit.'” (1:4-5). This period of prayerfully waiting is what we experience when we pray any novena. Moreover, the Novena to the Holy Spirit is the only officially recognized novena by the Catholic Church.

UPDATED (5/15/2026): From Deacon Guadalupe (5/12/2021):

In 1897, Pope Leo XIII proclaimed in his Encyclical on the Holy Spirit: “We decree and command that throughout the whole Catholic Church, this year and in every subsequent year, a novena shall take place before Pentecost, in all parish churches.”

“To all who take part in this Novena and duly pray for Our intention, We grant for each day an Indulgence of seven years and seven quarantines. Moreover, a Plenary Indulgence on any one of the days of the Novena, or on Pentecost itself, or on any day during the Octave; provided they shall have received the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist, and devoutly prayed for Our (Pope) intention.”

“We ought to pray and invoke the Holy Spirit, for each of us greatly needs His protection and His help. The more a man is deficient in wisdom, weak in strength, borne down with trouble, prone to sin, so ought he the more fly to Him Who is the never ceasing Fount of Light, Strength, Consolation and Holiness." - Pope Leo XIII

The two Novenas that Fr. Charlie suggested can be found at PrayMoreNovenas.com and also at EWTN. Here is the link to the Novena to the Holy Spirit for the Seven Gifts at the EWTN webpage. As the title would suggest, this novena focuses on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Our Chaplain recommends this particularly Novena to ask God for the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Additionally, here is the link to the Novena to the Holy Spirit at PrayMoreNovenas.com: https://www.praymorenovenas.com/novena-to-the-holy-spirit. As our Chaplain mentioned, this version of the novena focuses on the fruits of the Holy Spirit, Moreover, a few years ago, I recorded this Novena on my Podbean podcast and links to the podcasts are below.

Click on the links below to listen to the podcast of the Novena and pray along.

[In case you are interested, click this link to listen to Dcn. Phúc’s Homily for Pentecost (5/31/2020)]

UPDATED (5/21/2026): Click on the links below to listen to the podcast of the Novena to the Holy Spirit for the Seven Gifts and pray along:

Day 8: 
Day 9: 

UPDATED (5/17/2026): I had the blessed opportunity to serve at the Saturday Anticipatory Mass of the Lord's Ascension yesterday and gave the Precious Blood to 46 children for their First Holy Communion. Fr. Red gave a beautiful homily to the children, talking to them about the Eucharist as food for their journey in life and also encouraging them to go forth and share Jesus with others.

Please pray that the parents of these children will continue to take them to Mass and help nurture their faith. I wanted to share this article in which Pope Leo XIV encouraged young people to persevere in faith: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-05/pope-leo-xiv-diocese-genoa-confirmands-audience.html. Even as adults, we too much ask the Holy Spirit to help us persevere in faith.

Also, I invite you to the Pentecost Sunday - Vigil Mass at Saint Albert the Great Catholic Church on Saturday, May 23rd, at 6:00 P.M.

UPDATED (5/21/2026): I wanted to share with you all my homily that I preached at the 6:30 A.M. Mass this morning at Saint Mary Cathedral.

If you are able, I would encourage you to go to Daily Mass. Initially. I started going to Daily Mass out of necessity for Diaconal Formation but, now, when I cannot go to Daily Mass (whatever the reason may be), I hunger for the Eucharist.

Fr. Doug Jeffers reflected in his homily this morning that, while we are in this world, we are not of this world because how home is eternal life with our Father in heaven. However, as Jesus tells us in today's Gospel: "As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world," we are sent into the world, not to be changed by the world, but to bring others to Jesus and walk the path of salvation with us. This holiness of life is not easy but with the help of the Holy Spirit, all things are possible.
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Here is my Spiritual Director Report that I shared as a supplemental to Fr. Charlie's Chaplain Report:
 
Greetings from State Chaplain Bishop Mulvey and Associate State Chaplain Fr. Tommy Chen.

In his remarks at the State Banquet on Saturday evening and the Memorial Mass on Sunday morning, encouraged brother Knights to participate in Cor to grow in our faith and be the faith leaders for our families and parishes and the Order.

On Scripture, Bishop Mulvey said that the words of Jesus in the Gospel, and all words of Sacred Scriptures, should neither be "mottos" that keep in our heads nor words that reside in our hearts but words that move us to action.

He said that Bible studies and lectio divina (e.g., Men of the Word) are fine; however, he challenged us to practice putting the words of Jesus into action, to live the words of Jesus in our lives.

The example Bishop Mulvey used is John 13:1 - "He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end."

I want to thank our Worthy Chapter Chaplain, Fr. Charlie Garza. When he was pastor at St. Albert the Great, he was instrumental in implementing Cor with and for Council 10333. Fr. Charlie recognized that our brother Knights needed Cor and he is grateful that Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly is pushing the Cor initiative so hard throughout the Order.

Just to give you an idea of how much Fr. Charlie believed in Cor, not only did he help implement Cor, he also taught most of the "Into the Breach" sessions until he had to leave to be the Spiritual Director at Holy Trinity Seminary. By the grace of God, I am doing my best to fill his "big shoes" as I lead my brother Knights in Council 10333, and men from the parish, through the "Men of the Word" series.

Brother Knights, I was appointed by past Diocesan Deputy and Chapter President, Victor Medina, to be the Diocesan Director of Evangelization & Faith Formation (EFF), which if I am not mistaken, our Worthy Diocesan Deputy and Chapter Vice President Mike has asked me to continue in this role during our conversations at the State Convention this past weekend.

Reach out to me about Cor if you do not have the Cor initiative at your parish already. Cor is as simple as prayer, formation, and fraternity.

Finally, I am grateful for the prayer and support of my brother Knights during my two-year term as the Assistant to the State Chaplain, His Excellency, Wm. Michael Mulvey, Bishop Emeritus, Diocese of Corpus Christi. Vivat Jesus!
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Ngon Quá Foodie Blog: Ema & CARVE (19th Anniversary Edition)

We will be traveling quite a bit over the next few months so we decided to focus of food for our 19th wedding anniversary. My wife decided s...