Category: Ordinary Time

Apostolic: Being Normal

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Ordinary Time

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

As disciples, we are called to be salt of the earth people.  Not too salty (we’ve all had bad experiences of that), but also not non-salty…because that’s just not being true to who we are as Christians.  We’re called to be healthily salty, normally salty.  Disciples of Jesus Christ ought to be ordinary, fun, prayerful, genuine, striving, faithful, real people – normal human people.  That is what I envision when I imagine a disciple of Jesus Christ: someone that others are slightly intrigued by, for whatever the reasons, someone that others want to spend a little time with!

Apostolic: It Starts with Relationships

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Ordinary Time

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our response during this Apostolic Time starts with something we already know very well: relationships.  We have been rescued by Jesus and sent to bring others to relationship with Him so that He can rescue them, too!  The whole reason the Catholic Church exists is to bring people to Jesus.  “Bringing people to Jesus” doesn’t mean shouting on the street corner or annoyingly and oppressively forcing the topic of faith into every conversation you have.  “Bringing people to Jesus” means that there are 3-5 people in your life right now, people that you already know and have some sort of relationship with, whom Jesus is sending you to to simply start a conversation with.  Witnessing to Jesus isn’t rocket science or deep theology, it’s simply relationship and natural conversation (and if you think it’s more complicated than that, then you’ve got the wrong idea).

Christendom vs. Apostolic Times

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Feasts, Ordinary Time

Corpus Christi

You ever wonder why you brought your kids up going to Church and educated them in Catholic schools…and yet most of them don’t go to Church anymore?  You ever worry about why, even though you tell your kids and grandkids that they should go to church and pray, and even though you tell them that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist, they still don’t come and don’t believe?  I mean, that’s how you were raised, and you’re here, right?  So that’s how you raised your kids…so why aren’t they here?!  Christendom times vs. Apostolic times – that’s the reason!  We have gone from Christendom times to Apostolic times, but we’re still trying the tactics that used to work but don’t anymore.  The good news: the Catholic Church thrives in Apostolic times – we just need to remember anew how to live in them!

Ask 6

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Feasts, Ordinary Time

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Last summer I challenged everyone to Meet 6, to meet six people from church.  This summer I’m asking you to take the next step.  Christian community isn’t simply meeting or knowing people or getting together; that’s a first step…but Christian community involves Jesus Christ!  Christian community is about Christ-informed relationships, faith-filled friendships and interactions.  The next step in the process, whether it’s someone you know well or someone you don’t know at all, is to ask a very simple, yet a very powerful, question once you’ve met them: “Is there something I can pray for you for?” “How can I pray for you?”

This summer, Ask 6!  Step out of your comfort zone to ask six people, “Is there something I can pray for you for?” Then bring that intention to prayer before God on that person’s behalf.  We all know our world needs the light of Christ, and you, O Christian, have the power to bring that light into our world with an extremely simple and inviting question: “Is there something I can pray for you for?” “How can I pray for you?”  Then pray!

Prayer: One% Challenge

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Lent, Ordinary Time

8th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This Lent I don’t want you to give up chocolate, I don’t want you to give up sweets (we’ll focus on the topic of fasting next year).  This Lent I want all of us, as the parish family of St. Joseph and St. Ann, to focus on prayer!  I’d like us all to focus on growing in our relationship with Jesus Christ through daily prayer.  One percent of our day is 14 minutes and 24 seconds – this Lent the challenge is to spend one more percent of your day, each day, in prayer.  If you aren’t praying every day yet, this is the time to start!  If you are praying regularly, then it’s time to add an extra 14 minutes and 24 seconds of intentional prayer with the Lord.  Try any and all prayer resources available and find the ones that help you to row the most in your relationship with the Lord!

Christians Pray Every Day

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Ordinary Time

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

As Christians we are proclaiming ourselves to be in a relationship with Jesus Christ, followers of Christ.  Our Christian life is built on this relationship with the Lord out of which everything else flows.  Daily talking with God is not an achievement in the Christian life, it’s the foundation and the minimum, the beginning of the Christian life!  Christians pray every day.

This Lent, our focus as parishioners of the cluster of St. Joseph and St. Ann parishes will be on prayer – on personally taking one step deeper in our relationship with Jesus Christ, no matter where we are currently at in our life and habits of prayer, taking one step deeper, together.

A New Old Way

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Ordinary Time

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

We will be starting a journey as the parishes of St. Joseph and St. Ann beginning this Lent, starting a journey in the direction God is truly calling us as His disciples!  Some things, like the Israelites in our first reading, we will discover to be different than we were originally told or taught, even by those in the Church.  We are going to be hitting the “reset” button on what Jesus truly calls us to as Christians in this beautiful Catholic faith, which will involve detoxing from misunderstanding and false notions.  Step One (and our focus during Lent this year) will be focusing on growing in prayer and our relationship with God.  Step Two, which grows out of our relationship with God in prayer, is uncovering and living out our specific roles in the Body of Christ, which Paul describes in our second reading this weekend.  I’m excited to lead us on down this path which may seem new to us, but is in fact old, very old – it’s the way Jesus Christ Himself called us to live!

What Has Jesus Done For You?

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Ordinary Time

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Rules are for children who don’t yet fully understand; as we mature we begin to grasp the deeper reasons behind the rules, along with their nuances and qualifications.  In the Gospel today Jesus heals Bartimaeus the blind man, who then follows Jesus on ‘the way’; Bartimaeus isn’t leaving to follow a set of rules and regulations, He’s leaving to follow a person – Jesus Christ.  An immature understanding of our faith sees Catholicism as a bunch of rules, while an adult understanding acknowledges that all of these rules are for the sake of living out a healthy, strong, mature relationship with a person – Jesus Christ!

Like Bartimaeus, God has done great things for each of us as well!  Can we respond maturely and set out on ‘the way’ with Jesus, next to Bartimaeus, not simply following rules but actually growing in a relationship with a person – Jesus Christ?