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!

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.

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)

1st Sunday of Lent

In this first Sunday of Lent I unpack the second mark of a disciple of Jesus Christ: being Joyfully Sacramental!

Ash Wednesday

Here is my homily from Ash Wednesday, introducing our Lenten themes of Fasting and the Four Marks of a Disciple!

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I recently went on an 8-day silent retreat.  Many have been asking, “Father, how was the retreat?!”  So I’d like to share with you a bit about silent retreats in general as well as some of what happened and what God was up to on my retreat!

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Listen to a real, down-to-earth story of barstool evangelization!  When we are sharing with others, what we're meant to share is not primarily information, but our own experience of God, faith, prayer, and why it's important to us.  People don't primarily want to hear theological reasons or arguments (even though they might say they do, or start the conversation that way), what people really need is to be inspired by the real example and experiences that others have of God - and that's something that any person of faith can share, no matter how much or little they think they know about the faith!

Merry Christmas!

God rest ye merry gentlemen

Let nothing you dismay

Remember Christ our Savior

Was born on Christmas Day

To save us all from Satan's pow'r

When we were gone astray

O tidings of comfort and joy

Comfort and joy

O tidings of comfort and joy

4th Sunday of Advent

In this Advent Homily Series we are journeying through the greatest story ever told, the story that has changed and will continue to change the world (if we let it): our story – the creation, the capture, the rescue, and our response!  Listen this week as Deacon Brian focuses in on what our response can be to the God Who has done such incredible things for us!

3rd Sunday of Advent

In this Advent Homily Series we are journeying through the greatest story ever told, the story that has changed and will continue to change the world (if we let it): our story – the creation, the capture, the rescue, and our response!  Listen this week as Fr. David focuses in on what it means to be rescued by Jesus.

2nd Sunday of Advent

In this Advent Homily Series we are journeying through the greatest story ever told, the story that has changed and will continue to change the world (if we let it): our story – the creation, the capture, the rescue, and our response!  Listen this week as Deacon Dave focuses in on what it means to be captured.

1st Sunday of Advent

This Advent Homily Series we are journeying through the greatest story ever told, the story that has changed and will continue to change the world (if we let it): our story - the creation, the capture, the rescue, and our response!  Listen this week as Fr. David zooms in on what it means to be created.

Solemnity of Christ the King

On this great Solemnity, Deacon Brian prepares us for our Advent journey by outlining the great story we will be sharing over the homilies of Advent, the story that has changed and will continue to change the world (if we let it): our story - the creation, the capture, the rescue, and our response.

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the midst of very important, but ultimately short-sighted, concerns of this world and concerns of politics, I believe that we are losing our way.  And when we don’t keep our eyes on the world to come, our outlook on this world, on our country and on others begins to degrade - it loses the light of Christ, and it festers into hatred and unnecessary division.  To put priorities in order, I think it's worth stating:The worst thing that can happen in this world, is that a person ends up living a life apart from God for all eternity; the best thing that can happen in this world, is that a person ends up living life with God for all eternity!  Everything else, no matter how important, is secondary to that long distance vision. 

Want to know what would actually change the world more than the solving of any moral issue, political issue or cultural practice?  If every Catholic for the last 2,000 years had reached out and brought 3-5 people to Christ during their lifetime, if that's what each Catholic expected of their role in God's plan of salvation (for WE are the Body of Christ on this earth here and now)...our whole world would be transformed by now!  So let's get going!

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

In our familiar Gospel story of Zacchaeus, Jesus does something that might entirely change how you see Jesus' life, and what that means about how you are called here and now to live as disciples of Jesus!  In our Gospel today, we hear that Jesus came to Jericho and "intended to pass through the town"...Jesus intended to pass through the town, but when he sees Zacchaeus he changes his mind and decides to stay.  For Jesus, following his Father's will didn't look like having a checklist in his head of every single pre-planned-from-all-eternity thing that had to happen on that particular day to achieve our salvation...Jesus changed his mind and his plans during his days with the nudges of the Holy Spirit (and in this case the Holy Spirit moved him to change his plans and have dinner with Zacchaeus - and this interaction changed Zacchaeus' life). 

God's plan to change the world is not primarily through heady knowledge of theology, nor is it primarily through large-scale events that normal folk like us are unable to bring about.  God's plan to change the world is to change it primarily through normal, personal interactions, when we as individuals (as the hands and feet of Christ here and now), inspired by the Spirit, reach out and touch the lives of particular people that God has us come in contact with.  Personal interaction, personal invitation - that's how Jesus lived and that's how we are called to live, too! 

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Why is it that so many people (including many of your children whom you raised in the Church and brought to the sacraments and taught to be generous and to care for others) have fallen and continue to fall away from our incredible Catholic Faith and belief in Jesus Christ?  The Church has three jobs: to evangelize, to celebrate the sacraments, and to care for the poor.  These are three legs of a stool; if any one of them is missing or lacking, the stool will tip and fall.  I would propose that we as a Church, in the midst of a total culture change from a Christendom time/culture to an Apostolic time/culture, have unintentionally lost the "evangelization" footing of our identity as a Church.  What we see now is people naturally falling away from the faith because they (even unconsciously) sense that something is lacking in the current lived practice of the Catholic faith in America...and something would be lacking: our essential call as followers of Jesus Christ to personally witness to Him - to evangelize, to speak about the good news.  How did that happen and what are we called to do about it now? Listen to hear my thoughts and to be invited on board for where our parishes will be focusing our efforts into the future!

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today's Gospel we hear of the rich man and Lazarus both before then after their deaths;  after death, Lazarus find himself in the bosom of Abraham (i.e. heaven) while the rich man is in the netherworld (i.e. hell).  What sin did the rich man commit?  There are two kinds of sin in Scripture, and in our culture we tend to consider one kind of sin much more than the other: sins of commission and sins of omission.  Sins are choices that we make - in our thoughts, words and/or actions - where we put distance between us and God.  Those can be choices of commission (where we actively do something that puts distance between us and God), or choices of omission (where we choose NOT to do things that will maintain our relationship with God and draw us closer to Him).  God is alive and at work in this world! God is on the move!  If we put our relationship with God on hold, standing statically in one place, we don't pick up right where we left off; since God is on the move, when we pick up again it means that we've allowed distance to grow between us and the God who is always moving and yet always beckoning to us, "Come, follow me!"  The rich man is not cited for sins of commission, today, but sins of omission - complacency - all those choices that he made NOT to make God the priority in his life.  As disciples of Jesus Christ, where are areas that we have become complacent?  How can we recommit to continual growth in a life lived with the Lord?

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

This weekend I officially took over the sacramental and administrative duties for three more parishes in our area after the retirement of Fr. Greg Hopefl, a long-time and honored priest of our diocese.  This was my first weekend preaching at St. Philip in Stone Lake, St. Francis Solanus on the Lac Courte Oreilles Reserve, and St. Ignatius in New Post.  These three parishes, along with St. Joseph in Hayward and St. Ann in Cable make up the new five parish Hayward cluster, of which I am the pastor and Fr. Karun from India is my associate.  Please pray for us - priests, people and communities - during this time of transition.  I am excited to see what God has in store for us in the future!

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 practiced prayer and generosity to the point of death; let's act more like Christ in this life, so as to become more of who we are called to be in the next!  

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

As disciples, we are called to be salt of the earth people.  Not too salty (we've all had bad experiences of that), but also not non-salty...because that's just not being true to who we are as Christians.  We're called to be healthily salty, normally salty.  Disciples of Jesus Christ ought to be ordinary, fun, prayerful, genuine, striving, faithful, real people - normal human people.  That is what I envision when I imagine a disciple of Jesus Christ: someone that others are slightly intrigued by, for whatever the reasons, someone that others want to spend a little time with!

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our response during this Apostolic Time starts with something we already know very well: relationships.  We have been rescued by Jesus and sent to bring others to relationship with Him so that He can rescue them, too!  The whole reason the Catholic Church exists is to bring people to Jesus.  "Bringing people to Jesus" doesn't mean shouting on the street corner or annoyingly and oppressively forcing the topic of faith into every conversation you have.  "Bringing people to Jesus" means that there are 3-5 people in your life right now, people that you already know and have some sort of relationship with, whom Jesus is sending you to to simply start a conversation with.  Witnessing to Jesus isn’t rocket science or deep theology, it’s simply relationship and natural conversation (and if you think it’s more complicated than that, then you’ve got the wrong idea).  

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Part II: a taste of where we're headed in the upcoming weeks and months!

Corpus Christi

You ever wonder why you brought your kids up going to Church and educated them in Catholic schools…and yet most of them don’t go to Church anymore?  You ever worry about why, even though you tell your kids and grandkids that they should go to church and pray, and even though you tell them that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist, they still don’t come and don’t believe? I mean, that’s how you were raised, and you’re here, right?  So that’s how you raised your kids…so why aren’t they here?!  Christendom times vs. Apostolic times - that's the reason!  We have gone from Christendom times to Apostolic times, but we're still trying the tactics that used to work but don't anymore.  The good news: the Catholic Church thrives in Apostolic times - we just need to remember anew how to live in them!

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Last summer I challenged everyone to Meet 6, to meet six people from church.  This summer I'm asking you to take the next step.  Christian community isn't simply meeting or knowing people or getting together; that's a first step...but Christian community involves Jesus Christ!  Christian community is about Christ-informed relationships, faith-filled friendships and interactions.  The next step in the process, whether it's someone you know well or someone you don't know at all, is to ask a very simple, yet a very powerful, question once you've met them: “Is there something I can pray for you for?” “How can I pray for you?”

This summer, Ask 6!  Step out of your comfort zone to ask six people, “Is there something I can pray for you for?” Then bring that intention to prayer before God on that person's behalf.  We all know our world needs the light of Christ, and you, O Christian, have the power to bring that light into our world with an extremely simple and inviting question: “Is there something I can pray for you for?” “How can I pray for you?”  Then pray!