30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus asks Bartimaeus today, “What do you want me to do for you?”  Bartimaeus’s request is granted, he receives his sight, and he follows Jesus on the way.  Being a disciple of Jesus is being in a relationship with Jesus, and a relationship is a two-way street.  When Jesus asks us that question, we are called to respond from the depths of our heart with what we really, really want Jesus to do for us.  But as now-country artist Jelly Roll sings: do we only talk to God when we need a favor?  Are we sometimes one sided or overly self-focused in our interactions with God?  As disciples of Jesus, in a relationship with Him that is a two-way street, do we also ask the question often and frequently, “God, what do You want me to do for You?”

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Life in a fallen world brings us all plenty of suffering, and our readings today take up that theme of suffering.  Our sufferings – wether mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, or some combination thereof – have varying levels, but the key to all of it is that I have a choice in the midst of my suffering, I can choose to respond in one of two ways: one way is the common response to suffering, the other way was modeled by Jesus in His suffering. Which one will we choose to confront our sufferings today?

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The famous architect Antoni Gaudi designed the incredible basilica of Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, which has been under construction for 128 years.  A genius of architecture, he built a model of the church with strings…UPSIDE DOWN…to find and test balance and proportion, because each change in balance would immediately change all of the arches and balance throughout the entire upside down structure.  He turned it UPSIDE DOWN to learn how to do it in the best possible way RIGHT SIDE UP.  Jesus turns so many of our human perceptions, assumptions, and ways of thought UPSIDE DOWN in order to teach us how to live RIGHT SIDE UP…which is especially helpful (and a challenge to us all, I believe) in this time of the election cycle.  Are you willing to see and live things seemingly UPSIDE DOWN from what the world and the media tells you in order to actually live RIGHT SIDE UP?!

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

The people in our first reading today, the Israelites, are at a decision point — they need to decide whom they will follow.  This ancient Biblical situation is wildly applicable for us today.  November 5th is the upcoming presidential election.  Everyone is getting so worked up over politics, and we are all guilty of becoming more and more demonizing to anybody who disagrees with what we think.  I’d invite you to ask yourself: “Whose side am I on?  Whom do I support?”  I think you’ll be surprised by what ought to be the real answer to that question, O Christian!

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This weekend is the kickoff for our annual diocesan Catholic Services Appeal (CSA).  The CSA provides incredible opportunities to spread the faith of Jesus Christ in northwestern Wisconsin – for our seminarians, for our youth, for our schools, for our parishes – opportunities that I witness and see the fruits of firsthand!  I’m challenging you this year to stretch yourself in prayerful generosity to all of your favorite organizations and non-profits.   I challenge you particularly this week to think what you might be able to sacrifice monetarily to support the CSA for your parish this coming year.  Jesus Christ is our model of prayer and generosity; let’s act more like Christ in this life, so as to become more of who we are called to be in the next!

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

God works so powerfully in and around us at different times in our lives…but like the Israelites in our first reading, it’s so easy to forget the good things God has done in our lives.  When we remember what God has done for us and consciously give Him thanks for those blessings, we begin to enter more fully into the celebration of the Eucharist, where we “give thanks” to God for what He has done for us, especially in giving us the greatest gift of all: the gift of His own Body and Blood, “the food that endures to eternal life!”

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

We mistakenly think that comfort will lead to happiness…but the human experience proves that those who do NOT regularly push themselves outside their comfort zones experience a slow but sure atrophy of their spiritual, emotional, physical, and relational health, and thus a slow but sure atrophy of happiness and fulfillment.  Those who consistently push themselves outside their comfort zones are healthier, happier, more fulfilled people: spiritually, emotionally, physically, relationally, etc.  (Book: The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter)

In today’s readings we see Amos and the Twelve pushed way outside their comfort zones to proclaim God’s message – they weren’t “religious professionals”, they were never schooled in this, most of them had blue collar jobs…and yet God chose and sent these individuals to witness to Him.  God has chosen and sent you, too, O Christian, as Paul tells us in our second reading.  You have been chosen, you have been sent, by the creator of the universe!  Will you begin to step outside your comfort zones, push your perceived boundaries, and start experiencing, to a degree you didn’t even know was possible, the life God actually has in store for you?!

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

A question to ask ourselves today: “Am I living for myself, or am I living for God?”  And the answer for most of us is probably, “A little bit of both…depending on when you catch me during the day.”  In our Bishop’s Pastoral Letter on Evangelization he gives the image of three circles of what our life can look like and explains them: first, second or third circle.  I want third circle Catholicism, and I hope you do, too!  (Listen to find out what that means!)

10th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I head a lot of complaining and blaming in this day and age.  Jesus had a lot that he could have complained about in his time…a lot…but we don’t hear Him complain once in the Gospels about any of the things that we often complain about.  Why?  Because His mission wasn’t first and foremost to fix the world.  Rather, Jesus came to save individual people from their sins; Jesus’ mission was to save souls, to proclaim that God’s day was a t hand…and that’s the mission He gave us!  So stop complainin’ and start proclaimin’!