Pentecost Sunday
On this Memorial Day Weekend we remember our United States Military personnel who have died while serving in the US Armed Forces: we honor them, express our gratitude, pray for them…and even pray to them. We believe in the Communion of Saints, that we are one body in Christ, and that we help one another on this journey towards fullness of life in God, both during this earthly life and after – not even death can separate us who are united in Jesus Christ!
6th Sunday of Easter
As we celebrate Mother’s Day weekend, as we honor mothers who hold their children dear and close in their hearts and minds, we look to Mary as the model of not only earthly motherhood, but also as the model of a disciple who invites the Spirit of God into her life, who ponders and intentionally holds in her mind the experiences that God has given her, and who, as a result, brings the presence of Jesus into the world around her!
3rd Sunday of Easter
Acts 2:42 describes what the very first followers of Jesus did: “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.” Those sure sound like the 4 Marks of a Disciple…because they are! Christianity isn’t a belief, or a set of beliefs, it’s a way of life, it’s a path to be walked. And that path looks like followers of Jesus being Quick to Pray, Joyfully Sacramental, Intentional in Relationships, and Committed to Growth. Let’s live this way of life we call Christianity! Let’s keep walking this path together!
Easter Sunday
Happy Easter! Imagine…imagine that you go to bed one night, and when you wake up in the morning the world has been transformed overnight. Everything that you envision for a better world, all of the change you’d like to see — in societies, situations, individuals, countries — it all happened, magically, overnight.
Now…when you wake up that morning and as you start going about your day…what do you notice first? What do you actually experience as changed?
This is what I did…except for our parishes: so what did I see when I woke up and everything I envisioned for an ideal life of Catholic followers of Jesus here in the greater Hayward area changed overnight? What did I experience? Listen to find out!
Palm Sunday
Everything Jesus did, He did for individual people; everything He did was personal. His life, his preaching, his healings, his interactions, his suffering, his death, his resurrection – Jesus did all of this for individual people; it was personal. He didn’t do it to “do right” or to “be good”; he didn’t do it for a moral code; Jesus wasn’t an impersonal “do-gooder”. Jesus did everything we celebrate this Holy Week for us: it was personal. And everything Jesus still does in our world and in our lives is personal.
4th Sunday of Lent
This weekend I am speaking on the Third Mark of a Disciple – what it means to be Intentional in Relationship!
Last weekend Deacon Brian gave a great homily on the First Mark: Quick to Pray. That can be found on our Hayward Catholic website in text format (https://haywardcatholic.org/recent-homilies) or, as he sings a couple verses from country songs, you may want to listen to him preach: click into the live stream section, select the 3/11 recording, and fast forward to his homily! (https://haywardcatholic.org/ecatholic-live)
1st Sunday of Lent
In this first Sunday of Lent I unpack the second mark of a disciple of Jesus Christ: being Joyfully Sacramental!
Ash Wednesday
Here is my homily from Ash Wednesday, introducing our Lenten themes of Fasting and the Four Marks of a Disciple!
6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
I recently went on an 8-day silent retreat. Many have been asking, “Father, how was the retreat?!” So I’d like to share with you a bit about silent retreats in general as well as some of what happened and what God was up to on my retreat!
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Listen to a real, down-to-earth story of barstool evangelization! When we are sharing with others, what we’re meant to share is not primarily information, but our own experience of God, faith, prayer, and why it’s important to us. People don’t primarily want to hear theological reasons or arguments (even though they might say they do, or start the conversation that way), what people really need is to be inspired by the real example and experiences that others have of God – and that’s something that any person of faith can share, no matter how much or little they think they know about the faith!