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?
Palm Sunday
This week we are invited to walk with Jesus through the last days of His life on this earth – through his celebration of the Last Supper, his suffering and death, and finally his Resurrection! “Holy” means “different” and “set apart”. How will you make this week “different” and “set apart” from every other week of your life? How will you make this, for you, a truly “Holy” Week?
5th Sunday of Lent
This weekend I helped with a High School Discipleship Retreat – we have some incredible young men and women in northern Wisconsin who love Jesus Christ and want to know our Lord more and more! It’s truly inspiring to be a part of these retreats! Both our first reading and Gospel speak of situations where some people are trapping and others are being trapped: in both readings God sets His people free. God has the power to free us from whatever situations are weighing us down, even if they seem impossible to get out of or be gotten rid of. Our God is a God Who saves and sets free! How has God set you free in life? How does God want to free you more right now?
4th Sunday of Lent
“Pain’s there for a reason. It lets your body know something’s wrong and it needs to be fixed.” These words are true of our body, but they are also true of our emotions, heart, soul, and spirituality. Pain is there for a reason – it lets us know that something is wrong and needs to be fixed – as both of the brothers in our Gospel this weekend experience, and as we have and continue to experience in our own lives. Pain is often coupled with an invitation from God to come home, to come to the fullness and wholeness that our Father wants to give us!
Thank you for your prayers last weekend as I brought not 10 but 11 young men on a college seminary visit to Winona. It was a great opportunity for these young men to see the life of a seminarian and be inspired by how these seminarians are listening for God’s call in very intentional ways. We were able to join in prayer, sports, classes and fun. Our high school men walked away with a deeper desire to follow Jesus Christ in whatever path HE might lead them. Thanks again for your prayers and support, and please continue to pray that all of our youth might hunger to know Jesus Christ more deeply in their lives each day. And my homily for this weekend:
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
“But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” Strong words from Jesus in our Gospel today – very strong words. Repentance is turning toward God and admitting our sins…and it’s not easy for us as humans. We’re sinners. That’s not meant to be depressing, but freeing. We are sinners, we’ve messed up, and Jesus came to free us from our sins, to take that weight off of our shoulders so that we can get on living. Jesus tells us today that this path to freedom, however, starts with repentance – turning toward God, admitting our mistakes, and allowing His forgiveness to enter our lives and lift us up.