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...
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!
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!
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!
Third Sunday of Easter
God wants to do great things in our lives and in our parishes! But we're also short on priests (and, in our diocese, short on American priests) which means that more and more is expected of our current priests. So how will God do great things in us and through us and around us if the priest doesn't have time to do it? It has to happen through you, O Christian! God wants to and will do great things in our world when individuals, when the lay faithful, step up and step into their baptismal calling to use the gifts and talents they've been given to build up God's kingdom here and now! God wants to do great things in our lives and in our parishes...through YOU!
5th Sunday of Easter
Jesus says in our Gospel today, "Remain in me, as I remain in you." Jesus, am I remaining with You throughout my day? Jesus, am I remaining with You throughout Mass?
4th Sunday of Easter
After healing a crippled man in the name of Jesus Christ, Peter says to the leaders and the people in our 1st reading, speaking of Jesus Christ, “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” That's a bold statement! Could it possibly be true?! Because if it is, then it also has some very large repercussions that modern society will not want to hear...
5th Sunday of Easter
Every Christian, by their baptism, is anointed priest, prophet and king. Peter challenges us this weekend to that first anointing: "be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God." There is the ordained priesthood by which priests in the Church offer to God the sacrifice of Christ and offer to God's people the sacraments, but there is also the priesthood of the baptized by which every Christian, in Jesus, is called to offer spiritual sacrifices to God. Every day we can offer these spiritual sacrifices, and at Mass we have the opportunity to collect them all from that past week - our thoughts, words, prayers, actions, and intentions...even our anxieties, worries, concerns, hopes, and dreams - and place them on that altar as our sacrifice to God in the power of our baptismal priesthood! And like He does with the bread and the wine, He can take what we offer to Him and transform those sacrifices into something even greater.
3rd Sunday of Easter
On the road to Emmaus, Jesus walks up alongside two of his disciples, though He's not recognized for who He is but thought to be a stranger. This Stranger begins to unpack for them the Scriptures and how they foretell and prefigure the Christ. The hearts of these two disciples are set on fire as Jesus teaches them, though they don't fully realize it in the moment. It's only at the end of the day, in the breaking of the bread, that they recognize Who was with them, and then Jesus vanishes from their sight. Take a walk on the road to Emmaus, let Jesus draw close, even if you don't recognize Him at first, let Him teach you about the Scriptures and Himself, let Him set your heart on fire!
2nd Sunday of Easter/Divine Mercy Sunday
On this Divine Mercy Sunday, Deacon Brian reflects on the immensity of God's mercy. He lays out two common traps (both springing from pride) that we as Christians can fall into and which limit our reception of God's mercy. Like children at Christmas or Easter who freely and joyfully receive gifts, he encourages us to remember the mercy of God as an undeserved gift, but a gift that God desires to give to us. Let us open our arms, hearts and minds to accept (with the joy and enthusiasm of a child) the incredible gift of mercy that our Savior desires to share with each of us!
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 in this time. 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 stop Him! Christ is Risen! Alleluia, alleluia!
Ascension Sunday
In the new parishes I am serving - St. Joseph in Hayward and St. Ann in Cable - we have three gifted deacons. It is the custom in this cluster that the deacons preach every 1st and 3rd weekend of the month. As a result, I will be preaching less often. Lucky for you, I have homilies from previous years that I will continue to share ; ). This is last year's homily from Ascension Sunday: (Enjoy!)
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?
Ascension Sunday
Happy Mother's Day to all mothers! This weekend we celebrate Jesus' Ascension into heaven - that after rising from the dead and appearing to His disciples for a number of days, Jesus ascends to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. The ascension is not a one-and-done event, though. We are the Body of Christ still present on this earth, so His ascension is still happening in us. As we follow Jesus, as we run faster and jump higher, as we overcome the obstacles of life and refuse to give up in our pursuit of a more meaningful relationship with God, we also ascend!
6th Sunday of Easter
Love requires both intention AND action: a good action without good intention is not love; the best intention without action is not love. Our readings today challenge us to love if we are to remain in God. But how can we remain in love all day long in the midst of our many different obligations and mundane duties? The good news is that every daily, ordinary action we do can be transformed into an act of love when we attach it to a good intention by offering it up with a short prayer! In our faith life, too, love is intention AND action. Intending to love God isn't enough: we actually have to act on it!
5th Sunday of Easter
All day, every day, we are making decisions. Ultimately, what we do and don't do, how we respond or don't respond to different people and situations, is our decision. I believe everyone WANTS to be a good person: a good mother or father, husband or wife, family member, friend, worker and coworker...but it's our daily decisions (regardless of what we say we want to be) that determine whether we actually ARE any of those things. In the Gospel today Jesus challenges us to remain in Him always. God never stops being with us, but we often, on account of our many obligations and pressures and duties, choose not to remain in Him. But those things are only excuses, because our decisions are entirely ours. What will I decide to do this week to remain in God just a little bit longer each day?
4th Sunday of Easter
Peter says in our 1st reading today, speaking about Jesus Christ, "There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved." If salvation is only in Jesus, then who can be saved? Can non-Catholics go to heaven? Can Hindus or Buddhists or Muslims go to heaven? And what part do we have to play in it? Listen and find out!