6th Sunday of Easter
Have you ever heard one Christian teach one thing about Jesus, and then heard shortly thereafter another Christian teaching the opposite? Who’s right? How do we find out the truth? In our first reading we see where the first followers of Jesus turned to find the truth in the midst of disagreements and controversies over what they should believe…and where they turned then is still where we as Catholics turn now!
5th Sunday of Easter
The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead turned everything we thought we knew completely upside down! God showed that He has the power to bring good out of anything…even evil, and even the difficult and painful moments of our lives. This weekend I celebrated my final weekend of Masses in the Superior area. I have been asked to assist in covering the Masses in the Hayward and Cable Catholic Churches effective immediately. Thank you for welcoming me so warmly into your hearts and lives. Though this time of change and transition will be difficult, I know that God has the power to bring good out of all things. Please welcome whatever priest comes to this area next with the same warmth and love as you did me, and he will be one lucky priest!
4th Sunday of Easter
Jesus says today in our Gospel, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.” What does God’s voice sound like in your life? What happens when you follow it? What do we and others miss out on when we don’t? Often God’s voice/invitation doesn’t give us the whole story or plan He has, just the next step in the process…so we can easily dismiss those thoughts, that voice, because it might not seem, from our perspective, to make sense in that moment. But I challenge you this week: listen for that voice, and the next time you hear it (even if it doesn’t seem to make sense or takes you out of your comfort zone), follow it! God has something special in store!
3rd Sunday of Easter
Our Gospel story today is one of the passages we as Catholics point to in the Scriptures where Jesus sets Peter apart from the other Apostles, in which we read the beginnings of the papacy and the pope! God gave us a great gift in our pope, a leader and figurehead meant to keep Jesus’ Church united as ONE body. Jesus’ great prayer was that all of his followers might be one, as He is in the Father and the Father is in Him, that we would all be ONE…at present there are over 40,000 different Christian denominations. Thanks be to God for our ONE Catholic Church, united throughout the whole world, for the gift of the pope to keep us united (even in the midst of struggles and difficulties and disagreements – kind of like the head of a family), and for the gift of the Eucharist where we become what we are: ONE in the Body of Christ!
2nd Sunday of Easter
Is it wrong to question God? Is wanting to know how or why something happened considered a weakness or lack of faith, or even a sin? In the Gospel today Jesus appears to His apostles, but Thomas isn’t there. When Thomas comes back and all of the others are claiming that Jesus is risen, he refuses to believe unless he sees it himself. Is that wrong of him? I think not!
Easter Sunday
Happy Easter to all of you and your families!
One question this Easter: What does God want to do for you?
Pentecost
The coming of the Holy Spirit CHANGED the first followers of Jesus. We received the Holy Spirit in baptism, we were sealed by the Holy Spirit in Confirmation, we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus at every Mass…but how much are we CHANGED by these experiences? Do you ever feel like you’re in a spiritual rut? Do you ever long for more in your faith but just not know why you aren’t getting it? If that’s ever been you, listen to this homily, and most importantly – remember to breathe (spiritually)!
Ascension Sunday
Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers! 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 a one-and-done event, though. We are the Body of Christ still present on this earth, so His ascension is still happening in us. As we follow Jesus, as we run faster and jump higher, as we overcome the obstacles of life and refuse to give up in our pursuit of a more meaningful relationship with God, we also ascend!
6th Sunday of Easter
Love requires both intention AND action: a good action without good intention is not love; the best intention without action is not love. Our readings today challenge us to love if we are to remain in God. But how can we remain in love all day long in the midst of our many different obligations and mundane duties? The good news is that every daily, ordinary action we do can be transformed into an act of love when we attach it to a good intention by offering it up with a short prayer! In our faith life, too, love is intention AND action. Intending to love God isn’t enough: we actually have to act on it!
5th Sunday of Easter
All day, every day, we are making decisions. Ultimately, what we do and don’t do, how we respond or don’t respond to different people and situations, is our decision. I believe everyone WANTS to be a good person: a good mother or father, husband or wife, family member, friend, worker and coworker…but it’s our daily decisions (regardless of what we say we want to be) that determine whether we actually ARE any of those things. In the Gospel today Jesus challenges us to remain in Him always. God never stops being with us, but we often, on account of our many obligations and pressures and duties, choose not to remain in Him. But those things are only excuses, because our decisions are entirely ours. What will I decide to do this week to remain in God just a little bit longer each day?