Lenten Resolutions

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Lent, Ordinary Time

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

We are about to enter into the Lenten season.  Lent is an opportunity to encounter God in a new way, to pause the distractions in life and focus on those things that matter most.  As you consider what your Lenten resolutions will be, I have a few suggestions: ADD something to your days for the Lord, do something POSITIVE that will provide you with opportunities to encounter Jesus, give God the space, time and attentiveness He needs in your life to speak to you.  Don’t just give up chocolate this Lent.  DO something that will bring you closer to Jesus; GIVE God the time to transform you!

How to Share Your Faith

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Ordinary Time

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Paul felt an obligation to preach the Gospel…but he can’t be the only one.  Every Christian, as a follower of Jesus, is called to be a light in the world, to share with others what God has done for them.  So how?  How do we share our faith in a way that is attractive but not pushy, engaging but not offensive?  I have a few ideas, and I’ll share them in this homily.  Today’s young adults and students are a different generation who require a different way of hearing and experiencing the Gospel – let’s be willing to speak a language they will understand!

Daydreams

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Ordinary Time

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

God speaks to us every day.  Yet, if we’re not careful, we can miss the Lord’s voice or mistake it for someone or something else.  The Mass is a particular hour each week when God speaks directly to us – do we know what His voice sounds like?  Or are our minds sometimes distracted by all the other things going on in our lives?  Samuel is being called by God in our first reading…but he mistakes the voice of God for the voice of another person.  It’s not until the fourth time God calls his name that Samuel finally says, “Speak, Lord, you servant is listening.”  It might take us a few tries, too, but let’s start making Mass a time when we spend our energies not on daydreams, but focusing on what God has to say to us that week: “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”

I Saw The Sign

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Christmas Season, Feasts

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 reveals that God is not only calling the Jewish people but ALL people of the world to believe in and follow His Son Jesus.  God’s sign was a star; presumably everyone could see it.  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?

How to Live as a Family

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Christmas Season, Feasts

Feast of the Holy Family

In today’s readings we get some very practical advice about how to live as Christians: put the wants and needs of others before your own…as Christ did.  Paul gives us a very concrete example of how this looks in one of the most fundamental sets of relationships we find ourselves in: the family.  Before getting up-in-arms about how Paul could write, “Wives, be subordinate to your husbands,” let’s look at the reading in context and see how Paul is challenging everyone to stretch their hearts and love others the way Christ loved us.

Presents of Presence

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Advent

4th Sunday of Advent

God made a promise to King David, that He would establish a house and kingdom for him that would last forever, and that an heir of his would rule in this kingdom.  1,000 years later, that promise came true in a little baby born on Christmas – Jesus.  God gave us, in Jesus, the greatest present of all: a savior to be present with us always, so that we would never be separated from God.  This Christmas our Father wants a special present from us (in fact, the only thing He ever wants from us) – our presence with Him!

Christ is Coming!

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Advent

3rd Sunday of Advent

Christ is Coming!  Amidst all the preparations for Christmas – food, shopping, cleaning, gifts, cards, travel plans – it’s all because Christ is coming!  The most important preparations we make, then, aren’t the externals of the beautifully cleaned and decorated house or the delicious food we’ve prepared, but the internals of how we’ve cleaned and made room in our heart for Jesus, how we’ve prepared a meal for Him in our souls – through prayers and actions – when He comes at Christmas.  All the preparations are necessary, but the most necessary ones are the preparations that no one else can see but God.

No Homily for 2 Weeks

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Uncategorized

I will not be preaching at the parish this weekend, and next weekend I get to be at a camp serving high schoolers from around our diocese.  The theme of the weekend will be: “Restless: Made for Union with God”.  Please keep me and these high schoolers in your prayers in a particular way next week and weekend.  God bless and have a great couple weeks!