4th Sunday of Lent (03/15/26): Entering into the Mass, Part 3

In this third installment of our Lenten homily series, we continue reflecting on the Mass and how to enter into it more intentionally. At every Mass, God speaks personally to each one of us—into the reality of our lives, our needs, our burdens, and the graces He wants to offer for the week ahead. But if our minds and hearts are elsewhere, we can miss what our Good Father is saying.

This homily begins with the image of David being anointed: “from that day on, the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David.” We, too, have been anointed in Baptism, and the Holy Spirit desires to fill us and move within us. The invitation is to become more open and attentive to that grace.

The opening rites of the Mass help prepare us for this encounter. Through holy water and the Sign of the Cross, we remember who we are: people chosen by God, marked by the saving Cross of Christ, and called to live in communion with Him. We acknowledge our sins, ask for mercy, rejoice in God’s forgiveness, and gather our prayers together before the Father. In this way, our hearts are placed in the right posture for worship.

From there, we move into the Liturgy of the Word, where God speaks through Sacred Scripture. In the readings, Psalm, and Gospel, the Lord addresses both the whole community and each of us personally. The homily reminds us that Scripture is our family story—revealing who we are, where we have been, and where God is calling us to go. A simple and powerful practice is to ask God, before the readings begin, to open our hearts and ears to hear what He wants to say.

The homily then turns to the Liturgy of the Eucharist, especially the Preparation of the Gifts. This moment is presented as a deeply intentional act: placing our whole week on the altar—the good, the bad, the heavy, the hopeful, the people we are praying for, and even our struggles and weaknesses. Just as bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, we ask God to transform everything we offer Him, including ourselves.

The gifts are brought forward from the community because they symbolize not only bread and wine, but the lives and intentions of the people. When the priest says, “Pray, brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable…,” we are reminded that we are not spectators at Mass. We join our sacrifices, prayers, and lives to Christ’s perfect offering to the Father.

Finally, the homily lifts our eyes to the heavenly reality of the Mass. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass unites earth to heaven, joining us to the praise of angels and saints and to the eternal worship of God. In the Preface and the “Holy, Holy, Holy,” we begin even now to participate in the heavenly liturgy.

This week’s reflection ends by inviting us to notice what stood out most, what we want to enter into more fully, and what we want to carry into next Sunday. The Mass is not something we simply attend—it is something we are called to enter, with intention, prayer, and love.

Home: www.anchoredinthelord.com 

https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/order-of-mass

The structure of the Catholic Mass helps guide us step-by-step into deeper participation in Christ’s sacrifice.

Solemnity of Christ the King

Together, during this Advent season, all 5 of our parishes (along with Christians throughout the world) prepare to welcome Jesus into our hearts and homes in new and deeper ways, and as we are practicing hospitality in opening our hearts and homes to God, let us also practice hospitality by inviting others in our lives to join us.

On this Feast of Christ the King, Christ is a King Who doesn’t force His way into hearts, He doesn’t strong-arm His way into our lives, Christ is a King who came first as a baby, silently, quietly, yet in the full power of God to destroy the darkness of sin and to bring the joy and peace that only God can. The Journey to the Manger is both the triumph of Christ the King and the Triumph of Christ the Babe, Who wants a warm place of welcome in the manger of your heart, and who wants us to invite others to join us as we Journey to the Manger, so that He can have a warm welcome in their hearts as well!

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

I want to talk about 2 things today:

1. How do we as Catholics respond to an election?
2. What will actually change our country for the better?

This weekend I preached in my hometown of Hudson, Wisconsin, at the parish of St. Patrick where I grew up.  It was a blessing to be home!  (One disclaimer is that the answer to the homiletic answer to first question above I begged, borrowed, and stole from an excellent homily of my own Deacon Dave DiSera of Hayward which he gave the weekend before the election. I thought that his words were so pertinent they bore repeating. So thank you, Deacon Dave!)

4th Sunday of Advent

Mary is hailed today as full of grace, full of God’s blessings.  Our lives, too, are filled with God’s blessings…but it’s so easy to forget and miss those blessings (and our sins lead us to forget God’s blessings as well).  As we enter into this Christmas season, let us, like Mary, recognize our blessings and remind ourselves and others of the good things God has done!

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

No matter how many talents we believe the Master has given us, no matter if we have used them wisely up until this point or not, we all still have at least one talent (and an important one) – faith!  And our Master expects us to use whatever we have right now, engage with it, “trade” with it, and intentionally multiply that talent. Our Master hasn’t yet come back to settle accounts with us, so we still have time to engage others and the world with that talent and make a good return on what He has given to us!

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

As we realize the state of the world around us (perhaps recently we have been awakened to the ever-present realities of atrocities and evils throughout our world by the media coverage of the war in Israel), but as we realize the state of the world around us, we can respond to what’s happening in three ways: by being discouraged from our task, by being distracted from our task, or by being encouraged in our task.   What is our task?  It’s the same it’s always been!  (And perhaps now we are waking up anew to the reality of just how needed it is!)

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the midst of very important, but ultimately short-sighted, concerns of this world and concerns of politics, I believe that we are losing our way.   And when we don’t keep our eyes on the world to come, our outlook on this world, on our country and on others begins to degrade – it loses the light of Christ, and it festers into hatred and unnecessary division.  To put priorities in order, I think it’s worth stating:The worst thing that can happen in this world, is that a person ends up living a life apart from God for all eternity; the best thing that can happen in this world, is that a person ends up living life with God for all eternity!  Everything else, no matter how important, is secondary to that long distance vision.

Want to know what would actually change the world more than the solving of any moral issue, political issue or cultural practice?  If every Catholic for the last 2,000 years had reached out and brought 3-5 people to Christ during their lifetime, if that’s what each Catholic expected of their role in God’s plan of salvation (for WE are the Body of Christ on this earth here and now)…our whole world would be transformed by now!  So let’s get going!

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

This week we celebrated the Feast of St. Monica, patron of praying wives and mothers desiring the conversion of their husbands and children.  The day after we celebrated the Feast of St. Augustine, Patron Saint of our Diocese of Superior…Monica’s once wayward son become an incredibly influential figure in the history of the Church.  So many Catholics these days have kids, grandkids, siblings that we wish would come to Church…but sadly they don’t; and often it seems like they never will.  So what do we do with that?  What do we do with our deep desire to see them encounter God and experience true conversion, along with the heaviness and discouragement of seeing so many of our words and invites fall on deaf ears, closed minds and hard hearts?  Well I have an answer, I have a dream – simple, practical, powerful and real – that would change hearts and lives…and it involves YOU!

Solemnity of the Assumption

In heaven, Scripture says, we shall be like God, for we shall see Him as He is (1 Jn 3:2).  Today we celebrate the Assumption of Mary, that she was assumed/taken up soul and body into heaven by a singular grace of God.  Mary, by God’s grace and her free will, radically followed and trusted God – she already looked like God in this life!  Our call as “Christians” is to be “followers of Christ”, “other Christs” – to look like Christ; we start looking more like Christ when we start acting more like Christ!

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 practiced prayer and generosity to the point of death; let’s act more like Christ in this life, so as to become more of who we are called to be in the next!