Ascension Sunday
This weekend we celebrate Jesus’ Ascension into heaven – that after rising from the dead and appearing to His disciples for a number of days, Jesus ascends to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. The ascension is not just a one-and-done event of history, though: creation is called to follow where its Master has gone before. The ascension is still happening – heaven is waiting for it to be complete in three distinct ways! Can you name them?
5th Sunday of Easter
Every Christian, by their baptism, is anointed priest, prophet and king. Peter challenges us this weekend to that first anointing: “be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.” There is the ordained priesthood by which priests in the Church offer to God the sacrifice of Christ and offer to God’s people the sacraments, but there is also the priesthood of the baptized by which every Christian, in Jesus, is called to offer spiritual sacrifices to God. Every day we can offer these spiritual sacrifices, and at Mass we have the opportunity to collect them all from that past week – our thoughts, words, prayers, actions, and intentions…even our anxieties, worries, concerns, hopes, and dreams – and place them on that altar as our sacrifice to God in the power of our baptismal priesthood! And like He does with the bread and the wine, He can take what we offer to Him and transform those sacrifices into something even greater.
Note: At the beginning of the COVID-19 response when public Masses were cancelled I was recording and posting the homilies of my Deacons on this podcast as well to help everyone stay connected with the weekend homily. Now that we are live streaming weekend Masses and you can both hear and see our deacons preach right on our website (www.stjoseph-hayward.org), I will no longer be posting the audio of my Deacons’ homilies on this podcast.
3rd Sunday of Easter
On the road to Emmaus Jesus walks up alongside two of his disciples, though He’s not recognized for who He is but thought to be a stranger. This Stranger begins to unpack for them the Scriptures and how they foretell and prefigure the Christ. The hearts of these two disciples are set on fire as Jesus teaches them, though they don’t fully realize it in the moment. It’s only at the end of the day, in the breaking of the bread, that they recognize Who was with them, and then Jesus vanishes from their sight. Take a walk on the road to Emmaus, let Jesus draw close, even if you don’t recognize Him at first, let Him teach you about the Scriptures and Himself, let Him set your heart on fire!
2nd Sunday of Easter/Divine Mercy Sunday
On this Divine Mercy Sunday, Deacon Brian reflects on the immensity of God’s mercy. He lays out two common traps (both springing from pride) that we as Christians can fall into and which limit our reception of God’s mercy. Like children at Christmas or Easter who freely and joyfully receive gifts, he encourages us to remember the mercy of God as an undeserved gift, but a gift that God desires to give to us. Let us open our arms, hearts and minds to accept (with the joy and enthusiasm of a child) the incredible gift of mercy that our Savior desires to share with each of us!
I live streamed Mass on Saturday at 4:00 pm from St. Ann’s in Cable. Please visit the St. Joseph website www.stjoseph-hayward.org or our Facebook Page St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Hayward WI to view live or watch the recording.
I plan to live stream Mass from St. Joseph next Saturday, April 25 at 4:00 pm , and to continue live streaming and recording Masses on the weekend for the duration of COVID-19. View live or watch the recording through the links above!
Happy Easter!
During this time of COVID-19 I’ve heard people say both how unfortunate and difficult of a time this is, and how many blessings are hidden within it. While I agree with both (and I most certainly see God’s hand at work in my life, in our Church, and in our world in the midst of the difficulties) there is an easy mistake to fall into while trying to make sense of it all. The mistake is to look at the blessings and the good coming out of it and say, “God did this so that…(list your blessing or good thing).” The problem is that if we say that God did this in order to bring about good things, then we also have to say that it’s His fault that bad things and struggles are happening in so many lives – we inadvertently, but very quickly, turn God into a monster.
The appalling message of Easter, of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, is that God can bring good out of ANY situation. Not that He wants bad things to happen, not that He wanted His son to be rejected, tortured, and murdered, but out of anything – whether good, neutral, bad, or downright horrific – God is able to bring good. God’s goodness is unstoppable! Not even death can slow Him down! Christ is Risen! Alleluia, alleluia!
I will be Live Streaming Easter Mass this morning at 9:00am, go to the St. Joseph website (www.stjoseph-hayward.org) or our Facebook Page (St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Hayward WI) to watch the Live Stream. The video will then be available as a recording on both platforms afterwards. May our Lord Jesus Christ bless you all on this Easter Day!
Palm Sunday
“Holy” literally means “different.” As we enter into this year’s Holy Week we are certainly experiencing a very “different” time in our country and world. I would propose, however, that this time of COVID-19 can actually assist us in entering more deeply into this Holy Week, more deeply into the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, than we ever have before!
Note: I will be live streaming Easter morning Mass from St. Joseph at 9:00am on Sunday, April 12! Please visit the parish website www.stjoseph-hayward.org to view live or watch the recording.
5th Sunday of Lent
This weekend one of my deacons, Deacon Brian McCaffrey, preaches the homily. During this unique time of COVID-19, I will be recording and uploading my deacons’ homilies onto my website and podcast as well. While nobody is able to see us preach in person, I pray that being able to at least hear the homily will help us feel connected in these very unique times of “Safer at Home” which Wisconsin has instituted.
This weekend Deacon Brian considers the sin of anger, how it often goes unnoticed as sinful, how it takes root in our lives, how we give into and feed it, and how it prevents us from being the person God is calling us to be. Like Lazarus in the Gospel who, after coming out of the tomb, Jesus orders to be unbound from his burial cloths, God desires to untie us from the sin of anger in the ways that it still binds us. When we give unrepented anger over to the Lord, the power of the Son can transform us into something spiritually new and incredible!
4th Sunday of Lent
We are certainly in a unique and unprecedented time in our country (and world) with this response to COVID-19. In the Gospel today Jesus opens the eyes of a man born blind. He smears a muddy mixture of saliva and dirt on the man’s eyes – not a clean or comfortable experience – then asks the man to go wash in the Pool of Siloam. The man does…and is healed! This time of COVID-19 and our nation’s response is an experience of a muddy mixture being smeared in our eyes and into our lives – it’s neither pleasant nor comfortable. But Jesus invites us in this time, like He did the blind man, to go wash in the Pool of Siloam – trying new and different ways of prayer and service and learning to unite to God in this unique time. If we don’t, this will all just be a muddy experience. But if we do, this mud might also become an opportunity for incredible spiritual power in our lives!
For some great resources (whether that’s daily Mass, daily rosary, Stations of the Cross, or other prayer or learning opportunities) please visit our St. Joseph Church Website Resources Page. For the most up-to-date information in these constantly changing times concerning schedule, events or changes at St. Joseph, Hayward or St. Ann, Cable, please visit our website. Finally, my Letter to Parishioners (which all parishioners should be receiving in the mail early this week) is also available on our website.
2nd Sunday of Lent
Temptations come from 3 main sources: the world, the flesh, and the devil. Movements of God within us start with a thought, and temptations also start with a thought. As these various thoughts and reasonings fill our mind, we eventually come to a fork in the road – we have to decide which thoughts to hold onto, and which thoughts to set aside…it’s not as easy as it sounds. Those thoughts of temptation are so subtle, and so mischievous, they’ll do whatever they can to draw us away from the one thing God is calling us to in that moment. They’ll even tempt us with good things, actions and thoughts that are noble and virtuous, so long as those actions and thoughts are NOT what God is asking of us in that moment. God calls us, His children, to an incredible glory, prefigured in Jesus’ transfiguration that we hear of in today’s Gospel. This week: how will we resist the temptations that come from the world, the flesh and the devil, and resolutely follow the impulses of God within our hearts? One path leads to glory, the other to fleeting pleasure followed by lasting emptiness. Which thoughts will we decide to hold onto this week, and which ones will we decide to throw away?
1st Sunday of Lent
Our readings today present us the with tale of 2 men: The 1st man – Adam – and the New Adam – Jesus Christ. Both are tempted by the serpent. The Old Adam falls and turns away from the Father; the New Adam stands strong in faithfulness to His Father. This Lent is a journey into the desert with Jesus. It will be a time of testing and temptation for us just as it was for Him. In the face of the temptations to come, will we be like the Old Adam, or the New Adam?