Did God Do This?

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Uncategorized

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!

Holy, Wholly, Different

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Uncategorized

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.

Disfiguring Anger, Transforming Son

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Lent

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!

COVID-19: Mud and Healing

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Lent

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.

It Starts With a Thought

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Lent

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?

The Old Adam and The New

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Lent

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?

The Divine Physician

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Ordinary Time

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

God our Father is the Divine Physician, the greatest doctor of both body and spirit in this entire universe.  In Jesus Christ the Divine Surgeon has expertly removed the cancer of our sin, through the Scriptures the Divine Physical Therapist gives us our necessary exercises, and in the Holy Spirit, prayer and the Eucharist the Divine Nutritionist gives us the sustenance necessary to be strengthened for the task.  God’s love and mercy is that He provides all of this to us for free (who by no means deserve it and have no means of paying Him back).  But God’s love and mercy can’t do it for us – we have to work with these gifts to reap the healing benefits that are freely offered.  And in this treatment plan, we all, when we’re totally honest with ourselves, know what our next step is.  This week, let’ start with our own personal next step of that treatment plan.

Purified to Maturity

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Feasts, Ordinary Time

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Our first reading today foretells the coming of the Lord to the Temple, fulfilled in our Gospel when Mary and Joseph bring the baby Jesus to the Temple, according to Jewish custom, to present him to the Lord.  But this Lord, says our first reading, comes to purify, like a refiner’s insanely hot fire or a fuller’s chemically harsh lye…and in both examples we are the thing that is being purified.  God, like a good parent, wants to raise His children to be strong, mature, able, loving adults.  The process is not magic, nor is it easy, nor can our Parent do it for us – it involves our own growth and maturation through the process of accepting the challenges and purification our Father offers.  This week, instead of running from that purification or making excuses like, “It’s just the way I am,” how will we lean into God’s purification and mature into the adult He knows we can be?

Zebulun & Naphtali

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Ordinary Time

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Do you remember as a kid walking around outside in the dark, seeing something move in the shadows and then freezing in horror – you tried hard to focus on it, sometimes you were convinced it was moving, sometimes you were convinced it couldn’t be – your imagination running wild…then other shadows and objects seem to start moving…only to come back the next morning, in the full light of day, to find that it was something as harmless as a pine tree or as simple as a fencepost?

In the darkness many things become confusing and uncertain – we think we see or understand something, we draw conclusions that seem to make sense in the darkness, only to realize in the light of day that the truth is quite different.  In the readings today Jesus fulfills an age-old prophecy from Isaiah and enters the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali, historically dark and gloomy (from the perspective of faith in God), in order to bring the light.  As Christians, we are called to follow Christ and bring the light to places of darkness and confusion in our culture.  Those in the darkness become pretty convinced that they are correct in their deductions, but it is our call as Christians to bring the bright the light of day, the truth, to seemingly difficult and controversial contemporary issues.  Christ came to bring the light, and we are Christ-ians – let’s live up to our name at least one more time than usual this week!

Following Stars

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Uncategorized

Epiphany

Today three wise men/three kings/three magi arrive at the place where Jesus was born after following the sign of a star.  The presence of these three non-Jewish kings shows that God is calling not only the Jewish people but ALL people of the world to believe in and follow His Son Jesus.  God’s sign was a star; everyone can see the stars.  So why is it only these three wise men who followed that star?  Was everyone else just too busy?  Were they so caught up in life that they didn’t even notice the sign?  We encounter three different kinds of people in the Gospel today: those who don’t notice the sign, those who notice the sign but don’t follow it, and those who notice the sign AND follow it.  This week: What are the signs God is placing in your life (what are the stars)? And when you see a sign, do you follow it?