A Step in Prayer

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Ordinary Time

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This week, no matter where you’re at, I am challenging you to take one real step in prayer.  I don’t care where you think you’re at now – whether you only come to church when you’re visiting Grandma and Grandpa, or whether you have a daily hours long prayer regimen that you have followed for years – no matter where you are I want all of us to intentionally take one step in prayer this week.  Disciples are Quick to Pray.  Disciples are Committed to Growth.  Let’s get a two for one this week and take one step toward growth in prayer!

Sent Disciples

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Ordinary Time

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Rabbi” means “teacher”.  “Disciple” means “student”.  In Israel, 2,000 years ago, there were a couple formulaic statements that a rabbi would use to call a disciple and then invite that disciple to take on the rabbi’s worldview and become like him (one statement we find in today’s Gospel!).  Then at the end of this period of formation, the disciple is sent out to teach others what he learned from his rabbi.  We are disciples of the Great Rabbi, and Jesus has sent us to witness to what we have seen, heard, learned and experienced!

un-Lazy River

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Feasts

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

A Lazy River with a bunch of kids is never “lazy” — it’s always moving, surprising, dynamic, alive!  Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.  And what we profess every single time we make the sign of the Cross — “In the name of the F, and of the S, and of the HS” — is that our God isn’t a boring, one dimensional, existence.  What we’re saying is that our God, in Godself, is three persons, living in so close and dynamic a relationship that they are actually united as One God.  God’s very life is not isolated or lonely; God’s very life is moving, surprising, dynamic, alive — like an eternal un-Lazy River…and that’s the kind of life He invites us to join Him in!

Memorial Day Weekend

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Easter Season, Feasts

Pentecost Sunday

On this Memorial Day Weekend we remember our United States Military personnel who have died while serving in the US Armed Forces: we honor them, express our gratitude, pray for them…and even pray to them.  We believe in the Communion of Saints, that we are one body in Christ, and that we help one another on this journey towards fullness of life in God, both during this earthly life and after – not even death can separate us who are united in Jesus Christ!

Mary — Mother and Model

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Easter Season

6th Sunday of Easter

As we celebrate Mother’s Day weekend, as we honor mothers who hold their children dear and close in their hearts and minds, we look to Mary as the model of not only earthly motherhood, but also as the model of a disciple who invites the Spirit of God into her life, who ponders and intentionally holds in her mind the experiences that God has given her, and who, as a result, brings the presence of Jesus into the world around her!

A Path to be Walked

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Easter Season

3rd Sunday of Easter

Acts 2:42 describes what the very first followers of Jesus did: “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.”  Those sure sound like the 4 Marks of a Disciple…because they are!  Christianity isn’t a belief, or a set of beliefs, it’s a way of life, it’s a path to be walked.  And that path looks like followers of Jesus being Quick to Pray, Joyfully Sacramental, Intentional in Relationships, and Committed to Growth. Let’s live this way of life we call Christianity!  Let’s keep walking this path together!

A Day in My Ideal World

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Easter Season

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter!  Imagine…imagine that you go to bed one night, and when you wake up in the morning the world has been transformed overnight.  Everything that you envision for a better world, all of the change you’d like to see — in societies, situations, individuals, countries — it all happened, magically, overnight.

Now…when you wake up that morning and as you start going about your day…what do you notice first?  What do you actually experience as changed?  

This is what I did…except for our parishes: so what did I see when I woke up and everything I envisioned for an ideal life of Catholic followers of Jesus here in the greater Hayward area changed overnight?  What did I experience?  Listen to find out!

It’s Personal

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Lent

Palm Sunday

Everything Jesus did, He did for individual people; everything He did was personal.  His life, his preaching, his healings, his interactions, his suffering, his death, his resurrection – Jesus did all of this for individual people; it was personal.  He didn’t do it to “do right” or to “be good”; he didn’t do it for a moral code; Jesus wasn’t an impersonal “do-gooder”.  Jesus did everything we celebrate this Holy Week for us: it was personal.   And everything Jesus still does in our world and in our lives is personal.

Four Marks: Intentional in Relationship

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Lent

4th Sunday of Lent

This weekend I am speaking on the Third Mark of a Disciple – what it means to be Intentional in Relationship!

Last weekend Deacon Brian gave a great homily on the First Mark: Quick to Pray.   That can be found on our Hayward Catholic website in text format (https://haywardcatholic.org/recent-homilies) or, as he sings a couple verses from country songs, you may want to listen to him preach: click into the live stream section, select the 3/11 recording, and fast forward to his homily! (https://haywardcatholic.org/ecatholic-live)