Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
3 Levels of the Heart
God wants to give us peace at the deepest level, a peace which endures all things.
1st Sunday of Advent
During this Advent season we will be doing a 4-part homily series as we Journey to the Manger together to welcome the Christ-child at Christmas. Our story starts with God’s incredible creation - of the universe, and of each of us - and the hope that it promises.
As Fr. Riccardo says: “God created and runs this immense universe, and nothing is more important to him than you and me…He thinks you’re worth the trouble.” That’s what it means to be created!
So on this Journey, when you are feeling “drowsy” from “the anxieties of daily life”, I encourage you to take a moment and look at the world with fresh eyes. Allow God to reinvigorate you with hope. Pause and be filled with wonder each day.
“O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder,
Consider all, the worlds thy hands have made.”
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:
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!)
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus asks Bartimaeus today, "What do you want me to do for you?" Bartimaeus's request is granted, he receives his sight, and he follows Jesus on the way. Being a disciple of Jesus is being in a relationship with Jesus, and a relationship is a two-way street. When Jesus asks us that question, we are called to respond from the depths of our heart with what we really, really want Jesus to do for us. But as now-country artist Jelly Roll sings: do we only talk to God when we need a favor? Are we sometimes one sided or overly self-focused in our interactions with God? As disciples of Jesus, in a relationship with Him that is a two-way street, do we also ask the question often and frequently, "God, what do You want me to do for You?"
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Life in a fallen world brings us all plenty of suffering, and our readings today take up that theme of suffering. Our sufferings - wether mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, or some combination thereof - have varying levels, but the key to all of it is that I have a choice in the midst of my suffering, I can choose to respond in one of two ways: one way is the common response to suffering, the other way was modeled by Jesus in His suffering. Which one will we choose to confront our sufferings today?
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
The famous architect Antoni Gaudi designed the incredible basilica of Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, which has been under construction for 128 years. A genius of architecture, he built a model of the church with strings...UPSIDE DOWN...to find and test balance and proportion, because each change in balance would immediately change all of the arches and balance throughout the entire upside down structure. He turned it UPSIDE DOWN to learn how to do it in the best possible way RIGHT SIDE UP. Jesus turns so many of our human perceptions, assumptions, and ways of thought UPSIDE DOWN in order to teach us how to live RIGHT SIDE UP...which is especially helpful (and a challenge to us all, I believe) in this time of the election cycle. Are you willing to see and live things seemingly UPSIDE DOWN from what the world and the media tells you in order to actually live RIGHT SIDE UP?!
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
The people in our first reading today, the Israelites, are at a decision point — they need to decide whom they will follow. This ancient Biblical situation is wildly applicable for us today. November 5th is the upcoming presidential election. Everyone is getting so worked up over politics, and we are all guilty of becoming more and more demonizing to anybody who disagrees with what we think. I'd invite you to ask yourself: “Whose side am I on? Whom do I support?” I think you'll be surprised by what ought to be the real answer to that question, O Christian!
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
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 is our model of prayer and generosity; let's act more like Christ in this life, so as to become more of who we are called to be in the next!
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
God works so powerfully in and around us at different times in our lives...but like the Israelites in our first reading, it's so easy to forget the good things God has done in our lives. When we remember what God has done for us and consciously give Him thanks for those blessings, we begin to enter more fully into the celebration of the Eucharist, where we "give thanks" to God for what He has done for us, especially in giving us the greatest gift of all: the gift of His own Body and Blood, "the food that endures to eternal life!"
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
We mistakenly think that comfort will lead to happiness…but the human experience proves that those who do NOT regularly push themselves outside their comfort zones experience a slow but sure atrophy of their spiritual, emotional, physical, and relational health, and thus a slow but sure atrophy of happiness and fulfillment. Those who consistently push themselves outside their comfort zones are healthier, happier, more fulfilled people: spiritually, emotionally, physically, relationally, etc. (Book: The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter)
In today's readings we see Amos and the Twelve pushed way outside their comfort zones to proclaim God's message - they weren't "religious professionals", they were never schooled in this, most of them had blue collar jobs...and yet God chose and sent these individuals to witness to Him. God has chosen and sent you, too, O Christian, as Paul tells us in our second reading. You have been chosen, you have been sent, by the creator of the universe! Will you begin to step outside your comfort zones, push your perceived boundaries, and start experiencing, to a degree you didn't even know was possible, the life God actually has in store for you?!
12th Sunday in Ordinary Time
A question to ask ourselves today: "Am I living for myself, or am I living for God?" And the answer for most of us is probably, "A little bit of both...depending on when you catch me during the day." In our Bishop's Pastoral Letter on Evangelization he gives the image of three circles of what our life can look like and explains them: first, second or third circle. I want third circle Catholicism, and I hope you do, too! (Listen to find out what that means!)
10th Sunday in Ordinary Time
I head a lot of complaining and blaming in this day and age. Jesus had a lot that he could have complained about in his time...a lot...but we don't hear Him complain once in the Gospels about any of the things that we often complain about. Why? Because His mission wasn't first and foremost to fix the world. Rather, Jesus came to save individual people from their sins; Jesus' mission was to save souls, to proclaim that God's day was a t hand...and that's the mission He gave us! So stop complainin' and start proclaimin'!
Holy Trinity
Each time we make the sign of the cross we are proclaiming that our God is a Trinity - God IS a relationship, so united that the Three are actually One, and yet the One remains Three. And we, caught up in this relationship of God through baptism, are called by Jesus today to, “Go and make disciples.”
Luckily, it’s not as complicated or scary as it might sound - it's all about relationship! God is a relationship. We are connected to God through our relationship with Him. We are connected with others through our relationships with them, and the goal is that through us they would also come to experience God and a life of faith and hope and fulfillment and that they would be inspired to enter into relationship with God themselves!
So making disciples is like MAKING TRIANGLES!
Pentecost
The Holy Spirit comes on this Pentecost day to strengthen us in 3 ways:
Every day this week, pray, "Come, Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit." When you feel your relationship with the Lord is not what it could be, when the Church is being looked down on, when someone needs to hear the encouragement of a life lived in faith, it is the Holy Spirit who will give you His strength and His words to speak into that situation! Come, Holy Spirit!
6th Sunday of Easter
“It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you.”
“In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us.”
“As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.”
4th Sunday of Easter
Two thoughts for you this Sunday...
4th Sunday of Lent
We were created in love by God (white), then we fell into and were captured by sin (black), but "even when we were dead in our transgressions" "God, who is rich in mercy...brought us to life with Christ...raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus" (white). And now, all throughout each day, in so many ways, we are making choices — about what we say, what we do, what we think about, what we listen to, what we watch, what we read. We are either choosing black or choosing white; choosing to let a little more darkness into our life and world, or choosing to let a little more light into our life and world.
Black and white. Black and white. There will be a final day, when we stand before the Lord, and for the final verdict “gray” is not an option, it will be black or white.
2nd Sunday of Lent
The Birkie is an incredible yearly event! So many people, come from all over the country (and the world) to make this experience possible — whether it’s the skiers, the many volunteers, the family members, the friends, the staff, all our business owners — everyone comes together, preps, and plays their part to make this week happen. Could the Birkie be a lens, a window, an analogy, into how God wants us to live the entirety of our lives?!
5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
In our Gospel today we see Jesus healing those who are sick or possessed by demons, restoring some people physically and some people spiritually. Jesus' wholeness heals others. While His apostles aren't yet healing others at this point in their lives, we know that one day they will. While the saints aren't yet healing others when this Gospel passage happened, we know that one day they will. And all of it comes from closeness with the Father, often exemplified through prayer-Jesus in our Gospel goes off early in the morning to pray to His Father. Their wholeness/holiness came from deep union with God, often in prayer, and it spilled over into those around them, bringing restoration and healing...and God will do the same through us when we spend time growing in deep union with the Father, too!
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
The spiritual life, I believe, is actually very simple; it’s not easy, but it’s simple. It’s following the impulses that come from deep within, the calls that arise from the depths of our soul and heart, from the place within us where God already dwells. God is so much closer to us than we realize. God molded our inmost being, He created us, He placed a spark of eternity in each of us, He gave each of us the breath of His Spirit to give us life; God already dwells deep, deep within each of us. “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”
Merry Christmas!
Hark! The herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled.”
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!
2nd Sunday of Advent
Christ comes to bring a peace that every heart and soul longs for but which nothing in the world is able to provide.What we need is more of God, more holiness, more of God's light shining in and through us. And as we experience God's light shining out through us, both we and others experience the peace that this world cannot give!