Anchored In The Lord

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...

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...

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 every...

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 t...

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 wa...

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...

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...

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....

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 ot...

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 pari...

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 your...

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 - norma...

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 ann...

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,...

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 a...