Anchored In The Lord

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time In our Gospel this weekend the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray.  After giving a short version of the Our Father, Jesus tells a semi-humorous story (in my opinion) highlighting the importance of persistence - in the context of this passage of persistent prayer.  In our first reading  we see a model of this kind of persistence in the conversation Abraham ha...

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time After Moses gave the 10 Commandments to God's chosen people, he said something very interesting: that these commands were already written in their hearts.  If, as Paul says in our second reading, all things are created in Christ, then it makes sense that the Maker would leave His mark deep within each of us, guiding us to what is best.  God has given each of us a consc...

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time In our readings today, we hear a number of call stories: God calling others to follow Him in a particular way.  Whenever one of these calls happens in Scripture...that person is almost always busy!  They have other plans; something else is on the agenda for the day; other big things are already going on in life.  Sound familiar?!  When God calls it's never convenient -...

Corpus Christi We believe that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  But what do we mean by that?  Is it really possible that bread and wine literally become Jesus' flesh and blood? Do we chew on Jesus' flesh and touch our lips to His blood at every Mass?  Let me share a couple stories with you...

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity 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 hom...

Pentecost Sunday The coming of the Holy Spirit CHANGED the first followers of Jesus.  We received the Holy Spirit in baptism, we were sealed by the Holy Spirit in Confirmation, we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus at every Mass...but how much are we CHANGED by these experiences?  Do you ever long for more in your faith but just don't know why you aren't getting it?  If that's ever been you, list...

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...

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...

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 Ha...

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,...

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,...

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?

Palm Sunday This week we are invited to walk with Jesus through the last days of His life on this earth - through his celebration of the Last Supper, his suffering and death, and finally his Resurrection!  "Holy" means "different" and "set apart".  How will you make this week "different" and "set apart" from every other week of your life?  How will you make this, for you, a truly "Holy" Week?

5th Sunday of Lent This weekend I helped with a High School Discipleship Retreat - we have some incredible young men and women in northern Wisconsin who love Jesus Christ and want to know our Lord more and more!  It's truly inspiring to be a part of these retreats!  Both our first reading and Gospel speak of situations where some people are trapping and others are being trapped: in both readings G...

4th Sunday of Lent "Pain's there for a reason.  It lets your body know something's wrong and it needs to be fixed."  These words are true of our body, but they are also true of our emotions, heart, soul, and spirituality.  Pain is there for a reason - it lets us know that something is wrong and needs to be fixed - as both of the brothers in our Gospel this weekend experience, and as we have and co...

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time "But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!"  Strong words from Jesus in our Gospel today - very strong words.  Repentance is turning toward God and admitting our sins...and it's not easy for us as humans.  We're sinners.  That's not meant to be depressing, but freeing.  We are sinners, we've messed up, and Jesus came to free us from our sins...

This weekend I will be taking 10 high school men from our diocese on a seminary visit to Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona, Minnesota.  Please keep us in your prayers, both for safe travels and that these young men might be open to discovering God's will for their lives.  Because of this seminary visit, I will not be preaching this weekend.  Lucky for you, however, I have a Throwback Hom...

1st Sunday of Lent Lent is a great opportunity for us - an excuse to slow down a bit, a time to shake us out of our daily routine (through fasting and no-meat Fridays, with our personal resolutions: giving something up or adding healthy spiritual practices). Lent provides us more chances to LOOK UP to our God and ask for His help in our lives.  The Israelites were led by Moses out of Egypt, they w...

Ash Wednesday The day you're a little more self-conscious (if you went to Church in the morning).  The day people look at you funny, wondering why your forehead is dirty but probably not willing to say anything to you about it.  The day you find out which of your co-workers are Catholic.  The ashes placed on the foreheads of millions of Christians throughout the world this day proclaim three thing...

8th Sunday in Ordinary Time In our Gospel today Jesus challenges us, before pointing the finger at someone else, to point it first right into the mirror.  "How do I look (spiritually)?  How could I look better (spiritually)?"  This week, this Lent, take a long, hard look in the mirror...give some serious thought to what you'd like to do to make this your best Lent ever! Once again I encourage ever...

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time This weekend Jesus tells us, "Stop judging and you will not be judged."  Seems straightforward...but it also seems to put us as followers of Jesus in a crossfire.  On the one hand, God shows us the path to a fulfilled life in this world and the next, asks us to follow it, and invites us to challenge others to do the same.  On the other hand, when we challenge others to...

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time Lent is just around the corner (2 1/2 weeks away) and I am excited to announce an incredible opportunity for all of my parishioners, as well as anyone from afar who stays connected with us through my website, podcast or recorded homilies.  FORMED is a top-quality online resource that gives you access to all the best Catholic content, all in one place, and it has been pr...

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time God's calls to us often come as thoughts, just simple thoughts.  It's easy to miss them if we're not paying attention, or (if you're like me) you reason yourself out of them.  But God calls us every day, in little moments, to reach out to others, to pray for others, to share our experiences of the Lord.  Like Isaiah and Peter in our readings today, we might not feel lik...

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Walls are necessary for security, to protect the life that is fostered within those walls. Just before our first reading begins, the Jewish people have finally been allowed to go home to Jerusalem after being conquered and sent away years ago.  The first thing they do is rebuild the walls to ensure their security.  Then our reading picks up with the great stories of the...