Pilgrim Priest

Christmas, Holy Family (C) The Feast of the Holy Family reminds us that Jesus comes not only to restore us as as individuals, but also to heal our family. The four fundamental identities help to reveal God's original plan for the family. These identities have three characteristics: Relational. Each identity requires another; none are just my sense of me in isolation. Foundational. They build on ea...

Christmas Eve • There was a time when your ancestors did not celebrate Christmas. Then one day, missionaries came to bring the good news of Jesus Christ. This was their message, "Your Father loves you and he wants you to come home." Remember how God made our first parents and put them in a beautiful garden? There were two trees in the middle of the garden, a good tree and a bad tree. They ate from...

Advent, 4th Sunday (C) Imagine for a moment that you attended a school Christmas program but no one was listening to the director. Everyone was singing their own songs and trying to do their own thing. There would be chaos, frustration, hurt feelings, and a lot of giving up. Bishop Barron calls this the "Ego-drama." Each of us is trying to be a star in our own show that is written, produced, and d...

Advent, 3rd Sunday (C) The monastery cloister teaches us to keep part of our hearts closed to the world and open to heaven. The ancient and medieval world was familiar with the example of the wheel of fortune: One minute you're on top of the world, the next minute you are on the bottom. We need to move from the chaos of the outside to the peace at the center. Peace comes from being with Christ in...

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception • St. Augustine first taught about original sin. He said that our first parents passed the infection of sin on to all their children. Humans have been all been born with this original sin. Except Mary, whom the Archangel Gabriel calls, "kekaritomene", or "the one who is fully blessed or gracious". She is completely free from the infection of sin even from the...

Advent, 1st Sunday (C) A felt sense of safety and security is necessary for us to find peace. When peace is missing, there are many ways we might try to manufacture it. Perhaps you surround yourself only with like-minded people. Try to control everything, get angry, or run and hide. Maybe you numb yourself or pretend that it doesn't matter. God desires to make his people safe and secure. We receiv...

Solemnity of Christ the King (B) There are three key figures in Old Testament society. The priest heals and sacrifices. The prophet teaches and preaches repentance. The king protects society from invasion and rightly orders life within the city. We often think of Jesus as priest or as prophet. Today we focus on Jesus as King. Jesus tells Pontius Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world." How is Je...

Ordinary Time, 33rd Sunday (B) Ancient people couldn't depend on much. Plagues, wars, earthquakes, death, and decay all dogged their lives. The heavens above appeared incredibly stable and predictable.  When Jesus says, "The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken," what he means is that th...

Ordinary Time, 32nd Sunday (B ) Jesus is impressed not with the size of the donation; he is impressed with a generous heart. A poor widow holds nothing back; she gives God her whole livelihood. God has blessed me with gifts, perhaps less than I had hoped. The temptation is to hoard the little I have and use it for myself. God's invitation is to be generous with what we have and trust that he will...

Ordinary Time, 31st Sunday (B) The first level of vocation is the Universal Call to Holiness. This means that we were made in the image and likeness of God, and God is love. We are called to allow the love of God to transform every aspect of our lives. Holiness is nothing other than living love in every aspect of our lives. The second level is the call to love in a specific and permanent state of...

All Saints Day • Why have so many people left the Catholic Church? I think they have left because being Catholic made them less happy. It gets in the way of getting their way and having all the things and pleasures they want.  Getting what we want only makes us happy when we have learned to want that which is actually good for us. The happiness based on having things or fun experiences is the most...

Ordinary Time, 30th Sunday (B) Jericho often symbolizes the kingdom of this world. Bartimaeus can see with the eyes of faith that Jesus is the one he has been waiting for. He keeps calling Jesus until Jesus calls him, then he leaves everything to follow Jesus. Jesus is leading home to the heavenly kingdom all who have heard his call and followed him. We gather at Sunday Mass to experience ongoing...

Ordinary Time, 29th Sunday (B) Stewardship is a great way of understanding the Gospel in our practical, everyday life. Christians are called to be like God. We can't possibly succeed, so the Holy Spirit gives us the power to love as God has loved us. Consumers we are rarely grateful, because we have been trained to see the lack in our lives and to think that one more product will fix our problem....

Ordinary Time, 27th Sunday (B) This weekend we kickoff our annual parish Stewardship Renewal. We ask every parishioner of the Antigo Area Catholic Churches to make at least one commitment each in the areas of Time, Talent, and Treasure. It's always good to re-evaluate our commitments.  What can our scripture readings teach us about stewardship? Adam names the animals. He is practicing on creation...

Ordinary Time, 26th Sunday (B) Many Catholics have no sense of the incredible gift they have received, nor the responsibilities that come with that gift. How would your life be different if you were able to live from your true identity as a child of God, temple of the Holy Spirit, and a part of the Body of Christ? Traffickers deceive their victims into thinking they are loved. Then they manipulate...

Ordinary Time, 25th Sunday (B) The Bible and our Catholic faith teach that life begins at conception and that every child is a gift from God. Every one of us is wanted, every one of us is willed, and we each reveal something special about God. " Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me. " Many parents nowadays...

Ordinary Time, 24th Sunday (B) Which world religion is the true religion? You don't have to look at every religion, you just have to answer this question: Is Jesus who he says he is ? Every other founder of a major religion has claimed to have a special insight or revelation from God. Only Jesus claimed to BE GOD. Most people accept that Jesus was at least a good and holy man. But that is the one...

Ordinary Time, 23rd Sunday (B) After an attempt at rolling my kayak, my ears had to be opened in order for me to hear clearly. Just because we can hear doesn't mean that we are really listening. What would happen if God actually spoke to you during your prayer time? Some of us might feel he was interrupting our prayers. When working with foreign priests, I have learned that just because he says, "...

Ordinary Time, 22nd Sunday (B) Is Jesus opposed to rituals and traditions? I see that Jesus has three objections to the behavior of the Scribes and Pharisees. Using external rituals to say, "I'm better than you." We can and should judge right and wrong behavior. But we cannot judge hearts. And we must not use external rituals to compare ourselves to others. The rituals and traditions must not beco...

Ordinary Time, 21st Sunday (B) Why have so many people left the Catholic faith? Some left because they didn't experience the Catholic church to be a loving, healthy family. Others have left because they don't believe that we teach the truth. But the vast majority of people have left for one simple reason: they want to be happy. We all know that I'll be happy if I get my way, getting to have the th...

Ordinary Time, 19th Sunday (B) The Eucharist looks like bread and it tastes like bread but it's really Jesus. Catholics have started to lose a sense of God's presence in the Eucharist. But first we lost a sense of the sacramentality of the whole world. Creation speaks to us about the Creator. Humans reveal who God is, and the nature of God reveals what we were made to be. As we began to uncover th...

Ordinary Time, 18th Sunday (B) The Israelites were well-fed slaves! We modern Americans think we are free because we can have whatever we want. The problem is, the more we want, the less satisfied we feel. I become enslaved by my desires. Only Jesus can satisfy the deep hungers in the human heart. This is why Jesus gives himself to us in the Eucharist. He invites us to move away from being glutton...

Ordinary Time, 17th Sunday (B) I notice three lessons from the multiplication of the five loaves and the two fish: First, we are hungry. Humans have many deep needs. We need to feel valuable, to know that we are good, to feel that we matter, to be seen and known by others, to live with security and a sense of justice, to have a life of meaning and purpose, to find peace and contentment, and to liv...

Ordinary Time, 16th Sunday (B) Bad leaders confuse and scatter. Good leadership leads to clarity, unity, and peace. The clarity comes from a respect for truth. The unity comes from the love for the sheep. Being led according to truth and love leads to peace. The Apostles are being good shepherds by bringing people to the Good Shepherd. Have you seen the news about the National Eucharistic Congress...

Ordinary Time, 15th Sunday (B) The whole human race has a long love affair with self-reliance. We are convinced that a good, happy, and successful human life will be the fruit of our hard work and intelligence. Repent! When Jesus sends his missionaries out two-by-two, he precisely prevents them from relying on themselves. They can only carry what they need for the day and they have to trust God fo...