Know - Grow - Go

Think about some aspect of your life, or that of someone you are close to, that you would like Jesus - who intimately understands pain and suffering - to bring His light love to. It was His suffering and dying on the cross, and, ultimately, His resurrection, that transforms our experiences from being meaningless to being redemptive. And that's why, every year, we celebrate this particular Friday a...

We all have parts of our life, of our personality, maybe even of our physical body, that reek, that we don’t like, that embarrass us, shame us, that we shield with anger or pride or defensiveness or other strategies. What the Lord shows to Peter - and to each of us, too - is that we don’t have to hide these things from Him. He didn’t come for the perfect; He works with who we are. And if we accept...

As part of our daily prayer this Holy Week (and beyond!), let's pray that we can imitate Jesus and be the kind of filter that filters out the negativity and brings only kindness, thoughtfulness, compassion, graciousness, and forgiveness. Let's pray that the Holy Spirit will do that work within us, so that we, the whole community of us, can go out and change this world one encounter at a time - the...

What do we do with our loved ones whose lives are out of step with the Church? We love them; listen to them; accompany them. Share with them our own struggles and convictions. We keep them connected to Jesus through our love and prayers so that His grace can work in their lives. We can support those we love without celebrating every choice they make. As difficult and uncomfortable as it might be,...

Fr. Dave reads a contemporary version of the Prodigal Son parable and has the choir lead a response with the song "Hosea." The Prayers of the Faithful provide the application of Fr. Dave's core point: that God never gives up on us.   "Hosea". Text and music, Gregory Norbet, OSB, © 1972, The Benedictine Foundation of the State of Vermont, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Permission t...

Just as the gardener encourages patience and careful cultivation for the unproductive fig tree, God is patient and always willing to meet us where we're at - warts, defects, imperfections, and all. He needs only for us to open our hearts to His tender care.

The ultimate truth of our faith is this: when we die, Jesus alone will remain. Lent is about keeping that perspective front and center. Think about the Lenten practices you're committing to and use those as a way of remembering that He will be with you as you walk through every day of your life and into eternity, because Jesus alone remains.

Jesus gave us the gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation because he knew that we would need help at times to correct our course and regain our closeness with Him. When we've moved away from God, we need to go back - and Reconciliation is the way to do it.

Lent reminds us that we cannot build our lives on our own; we need God in our lives and are absolutely dependent on Him. On our own, we are powerless; with God, we have everything that we need.

The way we speak to others is so important - our words can either bless others or curse others. Fr. Dave challenges us to be mindful and intentional with our words this Lent, speaking words that encourage and build apart instead of words that accuse and tear down.  Fr. Dave quotes the following passage from Pope Francis' encyclical Fratelli tutti (On fraternity and social friendship): Approaching,...

We celebrated our Confirmation Mass this weekend, with 72 youth and adults receiving the sacrament on Saturday morning. Fr. Dave invited Chris Storm, our Director of Religious Education, to talk about confirmation and what it means for each of us. Chris answers the question he poses - if you had to choose, Christ or Chicken Wings? - with the point that it isn't either/or; we don't have to make a c...

Our world is beset with serious problems, as are our personal lives at one time or another. But those problems don't have the last word. Every once in a while, turn off the screeching - the cable and talk radio and social media - and find a way to laugh, to play, to be delighted. This is still God's world, we are still His beloved children, and our Father's plan hasn't been derailed.

We are all called to be like Peter and rely exclusively on the Lord; to go out of our comfort zones and into deep, unfamiliar waters with the Lord commanding our boat. Think about a time when God showed up in your boat unannounced, and think of how you responded. Jesus has a plan for each of us, and the more we respond with trust in Him the deeper Jesus can take us into himself. Jesus told Peter,...

Words and actions without love are only clanging cymbals. We live in a time where there are a lot of strong opinions and convictions that are often expressed in a very noisy way that's more like cymbals than it is like love. St. Paul defines that "love" as patient, kind, not jealous, not rude, not quick-tempered. It's relatively easy to have those qualities in our conversations with those who agre...

God has given each one of us gifts to be used for each other and in service to Him (and the rest of His family). No matter how old or young you are, there are times when you may feel you don't have any value or use. The truth is, God loves, values, and treasures each of us. Even if you do not know what your gifts are right now, that does not mean God wants to get along without you or that you're n...

The attitude with which we approach all that life dishes out makes a huge difference. Inviting Jesus into our lives is key to maintaining a positive attitude, and He is constantly whispering to each of us, "Let me in." 

"You are my beloved child; with you I am well pleased." This is the truest, most fundamental thing about us. Claim that identity, let God in, and watch how your life begins to change.

The message of Christmas is that God is with us. Have confidence and trust in that, and when you sense that God has provided you a star to follow, follow it!

It can be difficult to recognize the people around you as being children of God when they live or believe differently than you. When you find yourself caught in difficult conversations or feeling irked, offer the following prayer: "Lord, expand my heart." The more we live our faith, the more He does expand our hearts to accept that we are God's beloved children, with all of our brokenness, and so...

As Fr. Dave and Fr. Tony think back on memories of Christmases past, they remind us that God is eager to be with us in everything. Sometimes we forget to ask, but He will always come when we invite him in. He is eager to be with us, and when He's with us, life is a lot less scary and a lot more joyful.

How do we find God so we can connect with him? God frequently goes out, through the efforts of his creatures, his people, to others with whom he wants to connect. God often makes us his messengers without our even knowing it. God made us to be with him, so it shouldn’t be that hard to find him – but since his ways aren’t our ways, finding and connecting with him has to be our top priority, even wh...

Is unquenchable joy possible? Not entirely, but we can get glimpses of it here on earth by getting off of ourselves and giving thanks to God for the work He is doing in the ordinary circumstances of our lives. God is active in each one of our lives, and oftentimes we miss that. God works through even the hardest experiences in our lives specifically to help us grow, to help us be better people and...

We are constantly bombarded with messages of fear, outrage, anxiety, and division. It’s easy to turn away and shrink in on ourselves. But God is calling us to be His light in the world. To do that, start practicing gratitude daily, intentionally, faithfully - opening your heart to God so His light can shine forth even brighter.

The season of Advent is an opportunity for us to train ourselves to be spiritually stronger. Do something every day this Advent to focus on the Lord, even if it's just a minute or two, to help redirect you from the traps in our everyday lives.

Everything we have is a gift from God. The best response we can make to that is to live in a spirit of gratitude: to live our lives with sufficient depth that we ponder the blessings of each day and give thanks to God for those blessings — to not let them bounce off the surface of our thoughts and take them for granted.