Pilgrim Priest

Ordinary Time, 13th Sunday (A) God sees us and he rewards hospitality. A woman of influence feeds and houses Elisha. He wants to reward her, so he promises her a son. God sees the desire of her heart even though she refuses to acknowledge it. He gives her the gift she doesn't even dare to dream about. Then he takes the boy away from her; then he gives him back to her. Is God being cruel? God knows...

Ordinary Time, 12th Sunday (A) You spend a couple hours playing in the basement building the world's most amazing marble track. Then along comes your brother... and maliciously smashes everything! How do you respond? You might yell, cry, call him names, go smash something of his... or you might go tell Mom everything. This Mom has the time to listen and she really understands. And she assures you...

Ordinary Time, 11th Sunday (A) The Israelites leave Egypt, cross the Red Sea, and spend a year and a half at the foot of Mt. Sinai. It is here that God gives them the Law and they become "The Chosen People." Christians believe that we, too, are the chosen people. But we also believe that we have been given authority and a mission to bring the love and truth of Jesus Christ to all peoples. Every Ch...

Trinity Sunday (A) God is one divine nature but three separate persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father IS self-giving love and when he gives himself away, that gift is the Son. The Son gives himself back to the Father, and their mutual love is the Holy Spirit. The Church believes that every human child is a gift from God. The proper response to the presence of a child is to receive, cher...

Pentecost Sunday (A) God is a community of love. We were made by love and for love; we were created to live in God's community. God's one desire is to draw us into communion with himself. Our sins have made us both unworthy and unable to participate in God's community. So Jesus comes to reconnect us with God. He does this first "in the flesh" by being God and Man. He offers himself as the perfect...

Easter, 6th Sunday (A) The Sunday Lectionary is designed around the idea of promise and fulfillment. In the Gospel, Jesus promises the Holy Spirit. The Acts of the Apostles shows what happens when the Holy Spirit comes in power. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, "the Paraclete" which means "one who is called alongside of you." The Spirit helps Christians in our needs.  One day at Faith Formation we pla...

Easter, 5th Sunday (A) How can every vocation be special? Each rock that makes up St. Hyacinth Church is a unique shape, size, and color. The whole church is built of unique, unrepeatable stones. Every stone is special! In a similar way, each and every person has a special vocation. These vocations all have something in common. Every Christian shares in the Priesthood of Jesus Christ, which means...

Easter, 4th Sunday (A) Happy Good Shepherd Sunday, which could have also been called "Sheep Gate Sunday." Today is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. I think we often associate the word "vocation" with recruiting people to be priests and nuns. But the first vocation, the first "call" we receive, is the call of Baptism. I was recently listening to a podcast on the idea that Judaism is abou...

Easter, 3rd Sunday • The Road to Emmaus is one of my favorite stories. It's possible that a married couple, Cleopas and his wife, are walking together. They are feeling discouraged and have been walking away from the church. Seeing Jesus in the Eucharist causes them to come back to the church. Do you want to see the risen Jesus? Then follow these three steps from today's Gospel: Be really honest w...

Easter, 2nd Sunday (Divine Mercy) This weekend the Diocese of Green Bay made public the new priest assignments. Today I read a letter from the Diocese informing the people of our parishes that our current assistant, Fr. Kamal Gopu, will be leaving us on May 4th. Our new assistant, Fr. Michael Thiel, will be starting on July 1, 2026. The Diocese does not usually tell the story behind the decisions,...

Easter Sunday, the Resurrection of the Lord • If Easter Sunday were just a one-day celebration, our current wintry weather would really dampen the celebration. But we began preparing for this celebration 40 days ago with the start of Lent. And Easter Sunday itself is the final day of a three-day journey, beginning with Holy Thursday and continuing on Good Friday. The Shroud of Turin testifies to t...

Good Friday • We experience many different forms of suffering: illness, tragedy, the death of loved ones. But the worst kind of suffering is to have no sense of our purpose. Each one of us is a gift, hand-made by God and given to the world. But the world often does not receive us as a gift. On Good Friday, Jesus is completely and totally rejected. Even though the world rejects him, he knows that h...

Holy Thursday • The Paschal Lamb was a sacrifice and a sacred meal. It's blood saved the Israelites from the Angel of Death. It died for them, so that they could live. Then the people then consumed the sacrifice with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. We give people we love mementos of our love. Jesus reminds us of his love by giving us his very self. Before you consume this meal, ask yourself: "A...

Palm Sunday (A) Today, Jesus looks like a king. He fulfills the prophecy of Zachariah 9:9. Following Jesus, and accepting his kingdom, gives us freedom from all the kingdoms of this world. Even donkeys are marked with a cross! It's easy to follow Jesus when everyone is cheering for him. But will you keep following Jesus when things get hard? If we follow Jesus and accept his kingship, then our liv...

Lent, 5th Sunday (A) It is never too early to plan your funeral! At least write a few things down: what church, what cemetery, what funeral home, what do you want to wear at your funeral? Jesus totally disappoints his friends. They tell him that their brother, his friend, is sick. He totally ghosts them. Jesus doesn't show up until after the funeral is over. When he finally turns up, his friends s...

Lent, 3rd Sunday (A) Our annual parish Lenten retreat talked about discipleship, stewardship, and evangelization. Let's watch Jesus as he shows us how to evangelize.  Jews and Samaritans don't get along, so Jesus starts with something they have in common. Jesus knows that she is thirsty. All this time as she has been searching and thirsting, Jesus has been the one she has been looking for.  The Sa...

Lent, 2nd Sunday (A) Lent does not exist for itself. It exists to prepare us for Easter and new life in Christ. On the way into the desert, the nation of Israel stops for a mountain-top experience. The Israelites have been brought out of Egypt but they still have Egypt in their hearts. Are we the sort of people that have to wander in the desert because we don't trust God, or are we the new generat...

Lent, 1st Sunday (A) Adam is given the job to "keep" the garden (the Hebrew word is shamar ). Adam fails to guard both the garden and his wife. Jesus feels abandoned by God. He falls back on the lessons God taught the Israelites in their 40 years in the desert. Jesus is guarding and protecting his true identity, and God's true identity as his loving Father. We do not conquer sin and death by figur...

Ash Wednesday • Would you want a boyfriend or girlfriend who loved you half-heartedly? How many of you would want to play on a team with half-hearted teammates? Do you want to live in a family who loves each other half-heartedly? Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta were half-hearted Catholics. Then an angel appeared to them to prepare them for Mary's visit. That following spring, on May 13, 1917, Mary a...

Ordinary Time, 6th Sunday (A) Campus ministry is thriving at UW-Oshkosh thanks to your donations to the Bishop's Appeal and the Raising Vocations collection. Missionaries are reaching college students with the love of Jesus, and those students are themselves becoming missionaries on college campuses around the U.S.. You might have heard this sermon: "You're not holy enough; try harder!" That's not...

Ordinary Time, 3rd Sunday (A) Jesus is the light. By the light of his love, we can see our own lives more clearly. We know that we were made by love and for love. Love moves us into communion and community. From the very beginning of creation, Adam and Eve were able to receive one another as a gift. But after sin happens, they fall into the trap of using and being used. This leads to rivalries, je...

Ordinary Time, 2nd Sunday (A) Last Sunday we celebrated the feast of our Lord's Baptism. This week, the readings speak to us of the Holy Spirit. Confirmation is the sacrament most closely connected to the Holy Spirit. When Jesus was Baptized by John in the River Jordan, me came out of the water and the Holy Spirit landed on him like a dove. The Holy Spirit remained with him. The Catechism of the C...

Baptism of the Lord (A) We naturally love that which is good. Therefore, you should love yourself . Rightly-ordered self-love is the fruit of seeing your own goodness and loving that which is good. You should desire your own continued existence and your own flourishing. You are not the source of your own goodness. We love our Creator as the source of our goodness. And when we look around at others...

The Epiphany of the Lord • Marco Polo claims to have seen the incorrupt bodies of the three magi. God is directing a great drama and each of us has a special role. Everyone else is fighting to be the star of the show. But we recognize that the true star is Jesus, with Mary as Best Supporting Actress. Herod needs to be the star, and he will eliminate any competition. The Wise Men show us who is the...

Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God (The Octave Day of the Nativity of the Lord) • God is three Divine Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus is one person with two natures - human and divine. So can we call Mary the Mother of God? Yes, because she is the mother of a person, not a nature. God sets a father in honor over his children;     a mother's authority he confirms over her sons....