Anchored In The Lord

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...

Happy Easter!

4th Sunday of Lent Do you ever get distracted in prayer?   It's normal, it's human; sometimes focus is within our control, sometimes it is not.   There are, however, better and worse ways to respond to distraction, better and worse ways to enter back into prayer and time with our God.   Want to know what some are?   Then listen to this weekend's homily!

8th Sunday in Ordinary Time This Lent I don't want you to give up chocolate, I don't want you to give up sweets (we'll focus on the topic of fasting next year).  This Lent I want all of us, as the parish family of St. Joseph and St. Ann, to focus on prayer!  I'd like us all to focus on growing in our relationship with Jesus Christ through daily prayer.  One percent of our day is 14 minutes and 24...

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time As Christians we are proclaiming ourselves to be in a relationship with Jesus Christ, followers of Christ.  Our Christian life is built on this relationship with the Lord out of which everything else flows.  Daily talking with God is not an achievement in the Christian life, it's the foundation and the minimum, the beginning of the Christian life!  Christians pray every...

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time We will be starting a journey as the parishes of St. Joseph and St. Ann beginning this Lent, starting a journey in the direction God is truly calling us as His disciples!  Some things, like the Israelites in our first reading, we will discover to be different than we were originally told or taught, even by those in the Church.  We are going to be hitting the "reset" but...

Feast of the Holy Family Jesus not only came as a baby at Christmas, He also entered into a human family - with all the joys and frustrations that go with it.  We are challenged in all relationships, but especially in the family, to put the wants and needs of others before our own, to stretch our hearts, to learn how to love more, to sacrifice for each other.  Our readings today all challenge us t...

Merry Christmas! What child is this, who, laid to rest, On Mary's lap is sleeping? Whom angels greet with anthems sweet, While shepherds watch are keeping?

3rd Sunday of Advent The story of Advent is that the Eternal Son of the Father, God Himself, became human to save us from our sin and show that He IS with us.   God is always with me - every moment of the day.   I'll be honest, though: that's really hard to see sometimes.   But it's the reality!   When I go through my day not consciously experiencing the presence of God with me, that's living in a...

1st Sunday of Advent As we begin this new Church Year we are reminded by Paul "to be blameless in holiness".   What does holiness really mean?   What does holiness really look like?   Holiness is not something far out there or high up beyond our reach; I would argue that holiness is something close to us…too close…uncomfortably close.   Holiness is doing all of the normal things we do with and for...

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Rules are for children who don't yet fully understand; as we mature we begin to grasp the deeper reasons behind the rules, along with their nuances and qualifications.  In the Gospel today Jesus heals Bartimaeus the blind man, who then follows Jesus on 'the way'; Bartimaeus isn't leaving to follow a set of rules and regulations, He's leaving to follow a person - Jesus...

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time Freedom is a word very often used in society today...but what does it actually mean?  Are there different kinds of freedom?  What kind of freedom leads to happiness and fulfillment?  What kind of freedom does Jesus offer to us if we follow Him?

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time First, I will share a story with you of an inheritance.  Then, moving to our Gospel, Jesus speaks very forthrightly about a place of unquenchable fire called Gehenna and that sin is what leads us there.  Do we believe Jesus' words?  Do we believe in hell and that sin leads people to it?  Or have we learned now, as opposed to that antiquated time that the Son of God wal...

24th Sunday In   Ordinary Time Peter is often the first of the Apostles to step up and, while he is also very quick to fall, in today's Gospel he confidently proclaims that Jesus is the Christ.   I have been proud in these past months when, after a homily, you have responded by acting and living out the challenges — going out of your comfort zone to come to confession, meet new people at Church, o...

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time This week we celebrated the Feast of St. Monica, patron of praying wives and mothers desiring the conversion of their husbands and children.  The day after we celebrated the Feast of St. Augustine, Patron Saint of our Diocese of Superior...Monica's once wayward son become an incredibly influential figure in the history of the Church.  So many Catholics these days have...

Solemnity of the Assumption In heaven, Scripture says, we shall be like God, for we shall see Him as He is (1 Jn 3:2).  Today we celebrate the Assumption of Mary, that she was assumed/taken up soul and body into heaven by a singular grace of God.  Mary, by God's grace and her free will, radically followed and trusted God - she already looked like God in this life!  Our call as "Christians" is to b...

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time We as Catholics have a set of beliefs that stem from a particular, fundamental platform out of which all of our beliefs make sense.  Other Christian denominations and their beliefs stem from a particular, fundamental platform out of which their beliefs make sense.  The problem is, we often use the same words or do the same actions and rituals, but we actually understan...

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Part 1: The current practice of the Anointing of the Sick. Part 2: In today's Gospel Jesus sends out his Apostles two by two to preach repentance and drive out demons.  He doesn't send them out alone, not one by one, but two by two...together...because we're always stronger together, and we're made to walk this path of faith together with other believers, especially Ca...

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time The parting words of Jesus to his followers before He ascended into heaven (His 'final words', if you will) were: "Go and make disciples of all nations." Jesus called all of his followers to go on mission and bring others back to the Father.  Too often, however, we have forgotten that mission, as a Church and as individuals, and we find ourselves simply going through t...

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time When we look at everything around us, we see that God has a way of taking something small and making it BIG!  Whether the shoot from the tree in our first reading, or the mustard seed in our Gospel, God often takes small things and slowly grows them until they are BIG!  He does that in our lives in so many ways, but I believe that the Lord is calling our parishes of St...

Pentecost Unlike so many other religions, Christianity makes the incredibly bold claim that the God who created all things desires a personal relationship with each one of us.  Our God is anything but impersonal; our God, as revealed through Scripture and especially in the Person of Jesus Christ, is incredibly personal!  But it's easier for us as humans to be impersonal in all kinds of different m...

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 som...

Easter Sunday Our faith is not primarily a set of rules and obligations, nor is it a moral code.  Our faith is not a collection of beliefs for a good life or that help us merit heaven.  Our faith is in a person - Jesus Christ! - and the relationship He offers to us!  Without that relationship, all we're left with is a bunch of rules and obligations that don't seem to connect or make sense.  In lig...

4th Sunday of Lent The words 'Passover' and 'Paschal' are often heard in the prayers of Mass...but what on earth do they mean?  As we approach Holy Week, and Holy Thursday - when Jesus celebrated the Last Supper, which was His celebration of the Jewish Passover meal with his Jewish disciples and became the outline for the Eucharist that we celebrate each weekend as Catholics - I think it very appr...