Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 19, 2026

Brothers and sisters, one of our professors bought in a little package of mustard seeds just to show us how tiny they actually are and then pictures of how big the bush can get. And actually, as I was preparing for this homily it made me think, you know, when people keep trying to go back to what Christ planted on Calvary, when he set the Church out that little mustard seed had grown. It's almost like they're trying to deny what naturally happens when you plant, water, and grow the seed. And that's what we have as this Church now.

However, the focus did become clear in Jesus' parable of the weed, and the wheat address the problem of sinners in the Church today. Now, I heard somebody give a response, someone was complaining, “You Catholics have sinners in your Church; therefore, you can't be the true church.” And this person, a little quicker than I, said, “If you look at the members of your church and see only wheat, only the saints, then you are in the wrong place.” We hear the Gospel today that Christ’s church is going to have both weed and wheat in it until the end of time. The other thing is that if everybody's one hundred per cent correct than somebody's lying. But that's another homily.

I would like to talk about two views in the Church that have emerged from this passage. One is being exclusive, and the other is being inclusive. Over time these views have led some astray into two fundamental errors. First, trying to purge those who are deemed unworthy and second, confirming people in their sins. The exclusive viewpoint holds that the Church is meant only for good people, and the presence of sinners in the Church is always a cause for scandal. Therefore, like the Pharisees attempted, these sinners should be ruthlessly rooted out, weeded out, importantly, for those adhering to an exclusive viewpoint, a saint in their eyes is anyone who looks and acts like they do. Here one is trying to make people in the image and likeness of oneself. Yes, a very bad idea.

As a reminder, Christ did not come to call the virtuous but the sinners, he sought them out, befriended them to bring them to repentance. Our Lord called them to a new way of life, and many responded by changing their lives. Paul, Peter, Mary, the apostles. You and me? Whereas an exclusive viewpoint holds that the Church must be open and accommodating to all. This view tends to deny hard truths to make Christianity more palpable for sinners. “If we were just nicer, people would come back.” Or “You are good, I am good, we are good as we are.” Or how about this one? “God made us this way. There is no need to change. And God loves you for who you are.” Or if my brother says, ‘you knew you, boo’ thereby ignoring the need for repentance and conversion of hearts. Yet Jesus' first words of public ministry were, “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.”

Repent means to turn back towards God and belief is more than just mere acknowledgment. If we could just acknowledge that Jesus Christ's is the Savior and be done with it, or the demons would be okay then, they were acknowledging it.

Now, also, we hear Christ say to many people after healing them, “Go, and sin no more.” So, the Catholic viewpoint is this that the Church is open to all sinners. However, all are called to repent. All are called to turn away from our sins and turn back towards God, to stop sinning. And it's going to take a lifetime, and his grace is to do that. Christ meets us where we're at and brings us to where he's at. And that's a journey and a conversion.

Now, up to the last judgment, Holy Mother Church will be a mixed bag consisting of saints as well as sinners. Moreover, the Church is meant, the Church is the means through which sinners become saints. We are weeds who through God's graces are converted to wheat. The Church in the world is a Sacrament of Salvation, the sign and the instrument of communion with God and man. And in his patience, our Lord allowed both weeds and wheat to grow up together, both saints and sinners so that they have time to respond to his invitation, his invitation to repentance, and to accept his saving help. You saw my hands, brother and sisters. Each of us is like that field in the parable. We each have wheat and weed growing side by side in our hearts.

Now, I read a story about a man who spent years in his life in Stalin's labor camp, and he had this to say: “I learned one great lesson from many years in prison camp. I learned how a person becomes evil, and how he becomes good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either – but right through every human heart – and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of hearts, there remains … an un-uprooted small corner of evil.”

While we are on this side of the beatific vision, we are being perfected. We are not perfect that requires us to ask God to show us what needs to be healed and ask for his help to do it.

Jesus also knew that people could change. The person might commit a grave sin and by responding to God’s graces the same person comes to repent and be redeemed. St. Paul is a good example of this. At one stage, he was a leader in the persecution of the early Church, present at the stoning of the first martyr, Stephen. And he was converted and went on to become one of the greatest champions of the Christian faith.

The best thing we can do is with God's grace, the help of the Holy Spirit, to take a look into the fields of our own heart. When we find some weeds, there is no doubt we will, we bring them to Jesus in a Sacrament of Confession. Apologize for them, ask for graces to become reconciled with his Church. Also, in prayer, we ask Christ to transform our weeds or purge them from the soil of our soul. Some sins are disordered good and can be reordered with our Lord's help. Whereas other sins are intrinsically evil, they are always evil and cannot be transformed. These sins need to be removed.

The main point of the parable is that up to the last judgment, the kingdom of God on earth, the Church, will be a mixed bag, consisting of saints and sinners. Just a reminder, every saint had a past. Every sinner has a future. Our future is in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who out of great love for us, meets us where we are at, calls us to repentance, and with his help transform us into the wheat of his father.



Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time July 12, 2026

Dear brothers and sisters, the scriptures are so rich. There are many things that we can preach on. For instance, it might be a little confusing as it sounds like Jesus is saying that he is closing the ears and the eyes so they don't hear and see, and then they won't be converted. Which begs the question, then why is he here, right? However, we know that is not true, because Christ came to give us the Holy Spirit. And without the Holy Spirit, we do not have eyes to see the Word and ears to hear it. We just have human understanding.

Jesus compared his word, the Word of God, to a seed and it is a beautiful image that both have the potential to grow and enrich. Like all words, they take root and can go in our hearts. And when finally, one is to consider the type of soil, and what they're trying to grow, so they can see if it works with the seeds they are planting. There are some grounds that are conducive to growing certain seeds and others fight against those. Thus, it is important for us to be careful about what or whom we listen to. We are to pay attention to the words we are allowed to take root in our hearts. The soil we have here, a worldly soil, a fallen away soil which is not conducive to the word of God. The soil that is conducive to the Word of God is not conducive to the world.

Now, today, Christ is talking specifically about his Word and the ground in which his present seed is sown, which is a humble, contrite heart. Humility. Humility, recognizing who we are in relationship to God, humble being to him and humble service to our fellow men. And contrition which is more than just sorrow about doing wrong.

Within the human heart there are some who are conducive to growing the word of God, others fight against it. Importantly, in our fallen and human nature, we are not one way or the other. We are not perfect. We are being perfected, which means we are on a journey towards growing closer to God with each step. With each day, in heaven, we will be perfect, cured.

We have some soil in our heart that is resisting God's mind. Now, the Gospel illustrates types of soil that are resistant to God. Soil that is unfruitful comes from three main sources: the devil and his followers, the flesh and the world. Whereas a fruitful source comes from one source - God who is the source of all good.  And it's found to those who are open and responsive to his Word.

The devil represented by the bird eats the seed along the path. But it's only our human understanding alone “Do you not understand what God is trying to say when he's speaking to our heart”, when he catches away, he will not waste an opportunity to immediately comes out to a God Christ to give us. We see this in the Scripture with Peter. “You are in the rock, and upon you of in our church”, and then two sentences, three sentences later. “Get behind me Satan.” Peter did not understand he was speaking through a hardened heart.

The devil is real, brothers and sisters, and many in our culture try to deny it. What a trick he has played on us in our world– to deny evil - because if we don't see it, we don't see a need to prepare ourselves. We need to train to grow in holiness. We ought to see a need to fight. By the way, the Church, the part of Christ that is on Earth, is called The Church Militant.  Our enemy is Satan. Satan influenced our first parents - Adam and Eve. He successfully intentioned them to disobey God's commandment thereby breaking off their friendship to God. Satan wants to do the same to us. He wants to do the same thing. He's trying to influence our mind. He separated us from the love of God to get us ultimately to break the First Commandment. The First Commandment is “To love our Father with all our heart, with all our mind, and with all our strength and all our being.” He wants us separated from God. Communion means union with but if we are not in communion, we are not in union. He doesn't have to get us to worship false gods; he just has to get us to stop worshiping the true God. And he's very cunning.

He tries to influence our mind. You say little things, like, “God won't mind if you have a little fun now. Sow your oats, have your wild time. He wants you to be happy, doesn't he? He made us; this is good. You don't really need the Sacraments. You can just go to God directly, all by yourself. You don't need this church. You don't need to go to Mass today. You have guests over.” Or you are on vacation, “Just relax and enjoy yourself. God wants you to be happy. You are tired. But God's doesn’t want you to be all exhausted.”  How about this one? “The Church just needs to be with the time.” Satan tries many ways to get us away.

The devil uses subtle deceptions to uproot our friendship, he tries to get us to choose his self-centered life over a Christian center of life, or a sacrificial life, humble beings, humble servants. Bishop Sheen observed that before the sin, each time, before the sin, Satan assures us that it is a no consequence. After the sin, he persuades us that the sin is unforgivable.  Look at Adam and Eve. “Surely you won't die. He just doesn't want you to be like him. You'll be as smart as he is.” And after this in, they hide from God. And they ran from God because of the sin and the rebellion. This is what Satan does.

Before the sin, Satan represents himself as a friend of man urging him on to the goal. “Well, the Church is behind the time – it doesn’t want you to be happy. It is stuck. It is a false belief that deliverance is possible. But after what you did, you can't be forgiven” Guess what? We now have a hard time going back to the confession - like I'm going to the principal's office to get our spiritual spanking. Look at the Cross - God paid the place for our sin, and it draws us closer to God. The sacrament of Confession cannot be a punishment. God is our reward.

Bishop Sheen continues and he notes that to doubt forgiveness is the beginning of hell. To doubt God’s love and mercy is to stay separated from him which is the beginning of hell.

The second influence is what Paul calls the flesh. We each have a particular part that draws away from God due to our fallen human nature. We are not one and done. These are the rocks in our soil. They can be tiled out. Our tendency to commit sins are the rocks of our soil in our heart. They are removed with God’s help in the sacrament life in the Church: Baptism, Confession, through prayer, fasting, and alms giving. With these, and with God’s graces, we remove the rocks from our soul. By the way, we put them back when we commit sin. It is not a one and done. Confession is not a one and done. It is a journey across hell.

Now, the third influence is the world. The culture around us, which is a product of human, fallen human nature, is represented by a thorn. This fallen world promises perfect happiness, and money, and cheapness, popularity, or passing pleasures, in all things except God. “You can get there on your own, by yourself, without him.” These are false promises because God, who is the source of all happiness, joy, and love, he alone satisfies the human heart. St. Augustine says, ‘” Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

Significantly, we hear about the heart which is conducive to the Word of God and produces much fruit. It is a humble, contrite heart. Humility is recognizing who we are in relationship to God, and that we need his help to mend our life. We cannot do it on our own. How many times we say, “I've tried to stop this vice.” I tried to do this. “I, I, I.” You are right, we cannot. He needs his graces to open our eyes and ears, and we may see and hear him working through his Church. During Christ’s ministry they did not have the Holy Spirit in them; thus, they could not hear God's word. That doesn't mean they didn't have the opportunity to respond to the Gospel. Obviously, the apostles did. The disciples did.

Brothers and sisters, importantly, there's a difference between contrition and remorse. Remorse is a feeling of regret or sadness for doing something wrong for sinning. “Whereas contrition is regret for sin, but it is a real that leads to repentance, turning back to God. To you alone have I sinned.” We can see a contrast between remorse and contrition. King Saul, remorseful at the loss of his kingdom that he lost in a disobedience to God, didn't say, “I’m sorry, I regret it.” Ahab did some pretty, bad evil things. He did rent his garments and have an act of contrition. And David, who murdered someone and covered it up, he had a humble and contrite heart. How about the difference between Judas who lost his apostleship and Peter who ran to Christ on the water?

There's a difference between remorse and contrition. Contrition is a desire to never sin again. Now, we know we have a fallen human nature. It's not, “I can go to confessions, so I can sin again.” By the way, the grace of confession is not so we can receive Holy Communion. Holy Communion is the effect. The grace of confession is final repentance, and we turn back completely to God, and to virtue which means we have to do it multiple times.

This soil of a humble contrite heart receives the Word, keeps it and acts on it and this person can bear much fruit. Our Lord desires that he sees that his fruit - love, and mercy - take root, and grow in every heart, family, community, staring with our own heart, and our own parish family. Our Lord wants the soul of our hearts to be perfect and so out of love for us, the Father has provided for us his help in these Sacraments of the Church. Again, in Baptism, through which we receive the Holy Spirit and His grace. It is in the Holy Spirit that we have eyes to see and ears to hear and understanding in our heart that we may be converted in Christ, heal us. And through the Sacrament of Confession, we are reunited to the divine life as proposed after original sin, which separates us from the love of God and through worthy and frequent reception of the Holy Communion we are nourished by the body, blood, soul, and divinity, of God himself, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Today, we ask out for this grace, that we may continue to amend our lives, that we may constantly have the eyes and ears of our hearts, and minds open to Christ’s understanding. And in Jesus, may he continue to take root in our hearts, growing and producing much fruit – thirty-fold or more. 



Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 5, 2026

Brothers and sisters, today in the First Reading the prophet Zechariah, announces the joyful news that the Messianic King is coming. He is a coming not as a proud warrior, but as a humble and gentle leader, riding on a donkey and Jesus fulfilled this prophecy when he rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Moreover, today we hear Christ say to his disciples, “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. You will find rest for your souls.” Humility and gentleness are two beautiful virtues, but they don't seem to make much sense in today's competitive world.

In our culture, there is a belief that to get ahead in life, one must be forward, callus, overbearing, and asserting their will. “I got to do it my way.” Frank Sinatra has a theme song about that. You get to Heaven by doing it his way. You go the other place by going the other way. There's a warning. I am not saying Frank is in hell, just so we're clear. [laughter]

There's a belief that we have to be hard to get ahead. The perception is that if you are gentle or humble, people will walk all over you. Thus, gentleness and humility can be equated with timid, passive, and weak people. However, gentleness and humility are not forms of weakness, but rather they are virtues. They are gentleness; they are strength. They are not vices; they are virtues. Vices are our weakness. Vices make us slaves. Virtues set us free, and virtues come from the source. Virtues are excellent and they come from Christ himself for he was gentle and humble of heart.

But starting with gentleness, we see in Scripture that Jesus was gentle, especially towards the weak and the wounded. Those who cannot care for themselves, he was protecting. Orphans, widows, those who couldn't speak up. Now let's make no mistake, brothers and sisters, this Christ was not weak. He was very strong, and when the occasion demanded it, our Lord could be very assertive as when he drove out the money changers in the temple, when he stood up to the Pharisees. I was actually thinking about this homily again this morning, and I was reminded of the country song, Daddy's Hands. Dad’s hands were soft and gentle; there was always love in Daddy’s hands.

Nothing is so strong as gentleness, and nothing is so gentle as real strength. It takes a strong, self-confident person to be gentle. And a gentle person knows that growth results from not from forcing, but from nurturing, from advising, from educating. If you love, you are gentle and there are certain tasks that only gentleness can accomplish. To illustrate this, I would like to share a few stories of conversion brought about two gentlemen. The first one is a conversion story involving the Mission of Charity nuns ministering in San Francisco. These are Mother Theresa of Calcutta's nuns. And they would go out two by two and they would talk and minister to the indigenous, to the lonely, the people living on the streets. One time they were about to ask this person who looked like a lady, “Would you like us to pray over you?” As they were ready to start, they felt a tap on their shoulders. “Sister, come here!” Another person had called them over. “Come here, sister. That's not really a lady. That’s a man trying to be a lady.” And you know what they did? They went back. “Do you want us to pray over you? “They asked as he had heard the whole conversation. And the person said ‘Yes.” And they prayed over him. The sisters went out night after night, week after week, and when they found him, they prayed over him along with the other people. Well, eventually, he came back into the church. He stopped identifying as a woman, he stopped working the the streets, he got help, got recovery, he had a full conversion through their prayers, and their kindness to a human being and the power of God. They met him where he was with a gentle, humble heart.

The next one also involves a priest, a monsignor in the Nativity Parish, by St. Patrick's, in Menlo Park. They had perpetual adoration and every once in a while, some of the people would seek out the parish as a place to sit in time with the Lord to pray. But this one is a conversion story involves a gay couple married by the state. They wanted to come back into the Church. They talked to the priest who said, “You're both welcome. This church is open to everybody. But we want to be clear, we don't want to cause scandal. You are welcome here, you are brothers in Christ, but you are not here to cause scandal.” They said, “Well, we just want to pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament.” And the priest noted, “You know, we have time at two and three a.m. because those hours are open right now. Please consider coming then. You can pray, and you won't feel outcast. Nobody will be there to interrupt you.” And they did. The two men came, and after a while, guess what happened? They ended up renouncing their lifestyle, getting civilly divorced and coming into full communion with the Church. A person humble of heart brings great conversion to the downcast. A gentle person treads lightly, listens carefully, looks tenderly, and touches with reverence.

Now, looking at humility, the virtue of humility does not mean that we are to demean ourselves. We're not supposed to run around saying, “Look how bad I am!” For example, if a world class ballerina upon receiving a compliment for her dancing skill, were to say, “I can hardly dance! Oh, please stop.”  That's false humility which is a form of pride. It is like Christians who say, “God can't forgive me because I'm so bad a sinner.” Really? You, a created being, are more powerful than the uncreated creator, the infinite God? You are telling me your sins are so bad, and he can't forgive that? Sorry, that's pride. That's not humility; it is false humility. Rather, humility would be for the ballerina to recognize the gifts that she has been given and acknowledge that she cultivated those gifts with dedication, hard work, and persistence. She would say something like this: “I give thanks to God for giving me the graces to dance. The gift to dance, but also the graces and ability to train and grow in this world because of incorporating what he is doing in my life.”

True humility is recognizing who we are in relationship with God because he is the one who made us, who we are in relationship to God. Now, because of our Baptism we are children of God, the Father most High. In Christ Jesus we can talk to the creator of the universe, 92 billion light years in a distance of material and space and time. We can say “That means Father.” And he wants to have an infinite personal relationship with each and every one because as soon as we are in Christ, it is a gift. It's a blessing.

Let's pause for a moment. None of us know what the world is like without the Holy Spirit in it, right? We were all born into this world right now. The Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost, and filled their world, and filled them. God was so far off and so distant that people did not have a good, accurate understanding of him. He would talk to prophets, and before Christ was John the Baptist. In Christ we have God as Father, that we can talk to you as Father, not ‘Mr. Father,’ not ‘Lord Father.’ But ‘Dad! I'm your son, I'm your daughter.’

In our Baptism, we are adopted children of God and Father Most High who loves us beyond all measure. We're siblings and friends, of God, the Son, the only begotten Son, who redeemed us on the cross. And we really care of God the Holy Spirit, who guides and nurtures us. We have been given a tremendous gift, and we are blessed indeed and it is false humility to deny that. True humility is that God has given us a gift and we need to acknowledge that.

In those who are not baptized, we are made in the image and likeness of God. We hear this in generations. We are sought out by Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, who died on the cross that we may have internal life. We all have dignity. We all have worth, not because of what we do or have done, but because God who made us is working to save each and every one of us. This is where we touch people with gentleness, with reverence, not out of what they have done but who they are in relationship with God. And who we are in relationship with God as his sons and daughters.

Unfortunately, brothers and sisters, we come to identify ourselves by what we do. I'm a mother; I'm a teacher; I'm a doctor; I'm a lawyer; I'm a priest. Notice that I went in descending order. [laughter] Others identify sometimes with their sins, in what we do. I am an adulterer; I am a liar; I am a thief, etc. Pick one of the Ten Commandments or a vice or any other sin - some see themselves only through that lens, and this is important, because how we see ourselves will dictate how we act. It forms our identity, which forms our actions. Do we see ourselves as sons and daughters of God the Father most high who loves you without measure? Or do we see ourselves as fallen human natures in a sin? Or do we see our brothers and sisters in the same lens as we see ourselves through our errors? Importantly, we are not sons of our sins. We are his children, and we are loved beyond all measure because God loves us and paid the price for our transgressions. We are sons and daughters of God the Father most high, first and foremost.

Though we do sin, that is what we do, not who we are. Humility means recognizing our true greatness by acknowledging God who is all greatness. He has given that to us. We have accepted it; we have received it. We're thankful for it.

It is in our Lord who is gentle and humble that we find our true identity. Moreover, humility is the soil which allows all other virtues flourish. To the gentle and humble even Jesus promises peace of soul. We get a whole another homily down this. We see peace as the mere absence of conflict, but recently, he's asleep in the boat in the middle of the sea with an earthquake. That's peace. Another homily. If we were gentler in our dealings with one another, we would have more peace in our home and in the world.

And if we were more humble, we would have more peace within ourselves. Saint Seraphim of Sarov said: "Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved." If you acquire inner peace, and a multitude of people will find salvation near you.

Today, at this Mass we ask God to be gracious and grow in gentleness and humbleness of heart in order to continue to reflect Christ in our lives and find rest in Jesus now and for all eternity. Thank you.

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 28, 2026

I could be wrong, but I think most priests have sort of a positive outlook on humanity. Maybe that's because people are on their best behavior when the priest is around. When the priest walks into the room people start watching their language and stuff like that. So, perhaps priests have rose colored glasses. We don't know what reality is really like. But we also see the confessional. So, things even out a little bit.

The theme of hospitality and welcome is present in today's readings, especially the First Reading and the Gospel. I was thinking about that dynamic because I experienced welcome when I go to different parishes. I felt very welcome here from the very beginning and in all my parishes I served. Sometimes I think is that just because I am a priest, or is the community really this warm and welcoming? And I don't know. I hope so. I hope it is mainly because the community is warm and welcoming. But I do hear from various people in the parishes where I have served, a lot of people say, “You know, I love it here. I felt welcome from day one. People are always, you know, saying hello, and all of that.” I have also spoken to people who have said, “I have not felt welcome.” And thanks be to God; their faith urges them to keep going to Mass. But they do not always feel a strong connection. They don't feel like they have been received with open arms. And I don't know why that is. I don't know why some people and not others are welcomed, but if anything, I guess, it does show us that we can always improve in being more and more welcoming to everyone. Not just to say ‘hello’ to the people who have arrived here, but to go out and to communicate to the people that are out there in the world that they would be welcome here. And then to issue the invitation to let them discover that sense of welcome and belonging to a community.

As I said, a lot of people who do not feel welcome can still come to Mass anyway because they know what's here. They know who is here. But the good Lord knows our human nature, too. He knows that we are much more inclined to participate somewhere where it's pleasant to be there. Where we feel welcome, where we feel loved and wanted and received. Jesus says, “Whoever receives you, receives me, and wherever he receives me, receives the one who sent me.” And he speaks about receiving a prophet because he is a prophet, receiving the righteous man because he is a righteous man. And he's speaking to the apostles about how they are to go out and people receiving them will receive Jesus himself, too.

But it also implies, it is an instruction to us about the receiving of others, welcoming others, exercising hospitality. I think it's interesting that one of the beefs, I guess you could say, that the scribes and Pharisees had with Jesus was that he welcomed sinners. Go to Luke 15. They are complaining, they're crying, “This man welcome sinners and eats with them!”  But Jesus is showing us that is how we ought to be. This whole town ought to say, “Those Catholics - they welcome sinners and eat with them. They welcome everyone. They call everyone to conversion, to change their heart, changing their life, but they welcome everyone.”

So, I encourage you, in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead, to foster a spirit, a culture of invitation, and welcome so that this place, I mean, this place is already sort of bursting at the seams, but the place over there that was built to hold more people, would also be bursting at the seams. Father Darren didn't build that church so that everyone could spread out a little bit more. We ought to fill that Church. And I said it several times before, but I'll say it again - there is only one or one and half percent of the population of Stevens County going to Mass on Sunday. There is a lot of potential for growth. Wouldn't it be great if there was such demand here that you had to talk to the bishop and say, “We need more priests up here.” We already need more priests up here. [laughter] but to say, ‘We need more Masses. We need more Masses because there's so many people that want to come to church and receive Jesus in the Eucharist.’ Part of that is the culture of invitation, the culture of welcome so that anyone who comes here, anyone who meets you out there finds that spirit of welcome that dwells in the heart of Jesus Christ himself.

One of the reasons that we practice welcoming our neighbor is so that we learn how to welcome Jesus himself. And as we have the eyes to see, Jesus is in each person who is waiting to receive our welcome. And that is what this Christian life and ultimately, eternal life is all about - receiving, welcoming God into our life, welcoming Jesus, welcoming the Holy Spirit, allowing God in, into every part. Not just those parts we are proud of, not just the parts that we feel good about, but every part of our heart, every space within us. We want to welcome God there - places of shame, places of guilt, places of struggle - welcome the Lord right in there. He wants us to come in. He wants you to receive him there because he's going to transform you from within. He's not over there waiting for you to get your act together, and then he will come in. It is in his coming in that we will be transformed and we will become a saint. That is what he wants. He wants you to want to receive him and be transformed by him in holiness and goodness.

So, a culture of invitation in our parish leads to the culture of invitation by which we receive the Lord as individuals and as a worshiping community, and in receiving the Lord truly transformed by him. So today, we might just name a little examination of where we are, each one, in our practice of hospitality. How welcoming are we? Not just here, but also out there. How well do we receive the other person - receiving Christ in them, welcoming Christ in them. We can identify some area where we can grow in that. Let us ask God for the grace to grow in that area. To be overwhelmingly welcoming; to be so warm and to be able to receive people with joy. You know, I do believe, and I pray that this place is going to grow, more, more, and more.

But everyone has their part just like the Shunamite woman, the woman of influence who welcomes Elisha. I was thinking that his accommodation sounds a little bit like what I'm going to at the seminary - a little room on the roof furnished with a bed, with a table, chair, and... I'll miss the rectory here. That little stream the backyard. [laughter] Anyway, she did her little part welcoming the man of God. We all do our little part in welcoming the stranger, welcoming the sinner, welcoming the traveler, welcoming the visitor, welcoming our family members, welcoming our coworkers. God works through all of that in extraordinary ways, as he has already been working through you and wants to work through you even more for his glory and for the salvation of souls. 

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today's Gospel, Jesus is speaking directly to the twelve apostles but through them he is also speaking to all of us. The command to go out and speak of him is not just for the bishops, the successors of the apostles. We are all sent into the world with knowledge and for others – to let others come to know the word of Jesus. That's what he desires for the whole world. We can't rely just on the bishops to do that. We need all of faithful to go out into the world, proclaim him by word, by deed, by example in every way. In every way, we are called bring people to Christ.

Jesus knows very well that one of the enemy's favorite tactics in intercepting this missionary work is fear. So, three times in today's Gospel, he tells us, “Don't be afraid.” He says, “Fear no one. Fear no one. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” He says, “Be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” So, if we're going to be afraid of anything, then be afraid, let us be afraid of the loss of our soul, the loss of eternal life. But he doesn't want us to live in fear. He doesn't want us to fall victim to the enemy’s tactics because we have a Father in heaven who provides all that we need.

We have to be realistic, I think, about these fears that keep us from acknowledging the Lord before others. Maybe there's a fear that the other person isn't going to receive what we have to say, that they might be angry. Maybe we have tried to show them our faith, and they got angry and have said, “No, that topic is off limits.”  Well, maybe not. Surely the grace of God can be at work in that situation. Maybe we're afraid that we won’t have the words to say, or that, you know, instead of trying to trust the Lord, we find ourselves without firm ground to stand on. We might be embarrassed in some way. We might fear being labeled as hypocrites because people find out that we are not perfectly whole to the standards we strive for. We are not perfect saints and yet we believe in striving for holiness. There are all kinds of different fears that arise.

\Well, it's important to keep in mind, number one, that fear, that kind of fear is not from God. It is the work of the enemy. And the enemy is the father of lies. So, underneath every fear is some kind of lie. And very often, that lie is simply that your father will not take care of you; that you can't trust him. The erosion of trust in God, the Father, is really the root of evil. I mean, it's the original sin. Eve didn't trust, but the enemy said what God told her about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not true. In any case, there's always some sort of lie. Perhaps the lie is also that we perceive everything we need to perceive about the person we want to share our faith with. We might preconceive, ‘Oh, they're not going to welcome it.’ How would you know that? Even if they rejected us before, how do we know that some change hasn’t come to change their heart. But we go around with this idea that we know, we know the lay of the land, and you don't want to step on a landmine by proclaiming the Lord to this or that person. So, bring the truth into those places. Acknowledge the truth that the Father cares for us. He knows everything we need and God will provide.

The other thing to remember, besides the fact that fear comes from the enemy, and not from God, is that we can overcome fear not simply through our own strength, but from the remembrance and the reality of God with us, most especially in the Holy Eucharist. Jesus said, “Behold, I am with you always.” Not just in the fact that he is everywhere. You know that there is no place without God. But he has left us the gift of himself in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. So, when we come to Mass we come to Adoration and we do that for a number of reasons. But one of reasons is that in both he is with us, and he dwells in us, and that he's strengthening that communion with us. Not just for our own edification, our own growth and holiness, but that he is strengthening us so that we can share about him out in world.

So, Jesus knows how many times we need to hear those words, “Do not be afraid.” I've heard, you have probably heard as well that 365 time in the Bible that phrase “Do not be afraid” is written. I have not counted to be honest with you, so I don't know if that's true or not, but I can say, I need to hear those words every day. I need to hear those words every day “Do not be afraid” to go out and share an acknowledge for the Lord and whose goodness and the truth of the gospel. So don't be afraid.

Let me say in a word to fathers today on Father's Day. I just want to encourage you. Don't be afraid to live your vocation as fathers to the full. Be bold and courageous in your fatherhood. There's a lot out there, you know, there's so much confusion and battles being waged over fatherhood and motherhood, and masculinity, and femininity, so much confusion, so much going on in the world. Be strong and courageous and bold as Christian fathers because we need you. We need the example of strong fatherhood.

I always think of this study, I've heard about it a few years ago. It was a study about the children of Catholic parents, and whether they continued in the practice of their faith. And one of things that the study found was that the children of a couple where the father is practicing, the children are four times more likely to continue practicing their faith than if it is only the mother who practices.

So, no offense, ladies, please do keep on the practice of your faith, but fathers, realize how important your example is in the living of your faith. Be bold, be strong, be courageous. Don’t give into any kind of fears that would come up that would undermine your fatherhood.

So, as we continue our celebration of the Mass let us ask the light of the Holy Spirit to bring to the surface in fears that keep us from speaking about the Lord. In our families, or whatever the context is let the Lord bring those fears to the surface and in the celebration of the Eucharist may be we reminded that God is with us, by our side, empowering us to speak on his behalf, to acknowledge him and to really, invite others into a relationship with them.

Lord, give us the grace to overcome the fears, to trust in you in all things as well, and that the power of your spirit bear good fruit in and through us.

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time June 14, 2026

I am not typically one of those priests who, in the confessional, says, “That's not a sin. That's not a sin. That's not a sin.” But sometimes when someone comes in and confesses that they have been judging, I feel prompted to offer a little bit of clarification, because not all judgment is sinful. The ability to assess and to make judgments is a gift given to us from God. We should be able to tell the difference between right and wrong, for example. Good to make that judgment, right? We're making judgments all the time, all the time, every day. Whether it's ‘Do I have enough time to get through that yellow light?’ Or, you know, ‘Do I have enough gas in the lawnmower to mow the grass today?’ Or if I'm sitting at table, ‘Have I had enough to eat already?’ You know, we make judgments all the time. We can rightfully judge words and actions. I think you could argue that judgment is the basis of maintaining order in society. What would the court system be like if we couldn't make judgments on behavior? And yet, we cannot rightly judge persons.

We cannot judge the heart of another because we don't have the perspective to see the heart. We don't know the interiority of the other person. We don't know what's motivated. We don't know what's going on inside of them. So, we can judge words and actions as right or wrong, but we cannot judge persons. And yet, we do. We do. We might look at someone and ask ourselves the question, “Is that person worth my time? Is that person worth my attention? Is that person worthy of my help?” And sadly, we may answer those questions with a ‘no’ at times making a judgment of the person and not finding them worthy of our care. That's a glimpse into the human heart.

But what about the heart of God? What about the heart of God? We turn to the readings today. This mention of Moses in the first reading - we know that God did not choose Moses for this great task because Moses was particularly qualified. Moses himself knew his faults, his struggles. He didn't see himself as in any way qualified for what God was asking him to do, and yet God chose him. There wasn't someone else that God wanted for that work. It was Moses. God, knowing Moses, chose him and sent him.

Or look at if the Apostles in the Gospel reading. They are all named there. Jesus didn't call them because he had seen their performance and was impressed by them. He knew them. He knew them more than just as casual acquaintances. He knew their hearts. He saw to the depth of their souls. He knew the brokenness and poverty that was there. He knew Judas's character and what Judas would do. And he chose him. He chose him, called him, loved him, sent him. Not to mention all of the weaknesses and problems of all the other eleven. Jesus knew them. The one who can assess and judge all things did not look upon them and say, “Not worth my time. Not worth my help. Not worth my attention.” He loved them. Isn't that how we are called also to love?

St. Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, points out that we might be able to muster up the courage to die for a really good person. A just person. You might die for your spouse. You probably would be willing to give up your life for your kids, or your grandkids in a heartbeat. Would you? What about that jerk across the street? Well, we make judgments of people. We make judgments. But St. Paul says, “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners.” Not good, not just, not virtuous, not righteous. “While we were still sinners. Christ died for us.”  He looked at us in our poverty and brokenness - he looks at us in our poverty, currently, and our brokenness, and our sinfulness. And he says, “I die for you. I would die for you.”  He says, “I did die for you.” And that's the call for us, right? To love like that, not to make the judgment of a person and say, “I don't want anything to do with them.”  But to look at the other and to say, “I would die for you; I would lay down my life for you, not because I find you particularly pleasing or capable or successful. Not because I'm trying to accomplish some gain for myself. But because I want to love like God loves.” There are a lot of saints in heaven who laid down their lives, not just for a spouse, or for children or grandchildren, but for complete strangers. I was thinking about all of our military personnel who have died throughout the years for completely strangers. This is the call - to love as Jesus loves. And in looking at the other, whether it's family, or friend, or a stranger, to see someone who's worth dying for. And you know, when we begin to love like that, amazing things are going to start to happen.

Yes, Jesus said, “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons.” Maybe we're called to do extraordinary things like that, but maybe there are also other extraordinary things that will come about in your life when you love like Jesus loves, when you can look at any person on the face of the earth and say, “I would die for you.” When you approach life in this world with that perspective, with that kind of love, there are going to be miracles that happen. There will be.

So, we ask God for the grace, first of all, to be able to receive from him this kind of love. To realize that when God looks at us, he sees not just what we see in ourselves, and what we know is there, he sees everything. He knows the whole story. He knows the good and the bad, all of it. And he elects us. He calls and chooses freely. We need to hear him when he says “I will die for you. I love you that much.” Then we're also asking God for the grace to love others like that. And it's such good practice for us to look at Jesus. Whether that's at Adoration or the celebration of the Mass or is pondering the mystery of God, reading his word, whatever it is. It's in looking at him that we learn how to look at other people. It's in seeing him looking at us we learn what it means to look at another with love. That kind of love that's really even to die. That's a big grace to ask for. But guess what? Today's our lucky day because Jesus is pouring out everything for us on the altar. He's not holding back any grace today. So, we open our hearts to receive it.

The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus, June 7, 2026

You may have heard some time ago, perhaps around 2019, of the statistics released about Catholics who do not believe in the real presence in the Eucharist. The figures were as high as seventy per cent. I have read those figures and accompanying commentary on what we can do to increase the faith in the Eucharist, the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Today, as you know, is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ and I'm not going to spend my homily here today trying to make an argument for the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist. I take that as a given. That has been the constant and unambiguous teaching of the Church from the beginning.

I will say that if you don't believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, or if you struggle to believe as the Church believes about this Sacrament, there is a wonderful practice that can help you to come more and more in alignment with the Church’s doctrine, her teaching, her belief – and that is Eucharist Adoration. Just spending a little bit of time, or a lot of time sitting with Jesus in the Sacrament, will do wonders. Just tell him you struggle to believe. Tell him you have doubts but keep coming back and I can just about guarantee something will change in your heart, and you will come to believe. Because he, whether you know it or not, is present. And by that he will speak to you, he will speak straight to your heart and help you to believe. Anyway, my question today is not, is Jesus truly present in the Sacrament.

My question is, given that Jesus is truly present in the Sacrament, what are you going to do about it? If he is truly present, truly is here in the Sacrament, speaking to the depths of your heart from his place on the altar, how will you respond? What kind of action is that going to elicit from you? That is the question. In the face of this Divine Reality, this sublime reality, what do we do?

There is a long, long history of the Church in which many, many people had a tremendous, profound love for Jesus in the Eucharist. In the beginning years of the Church we know that in the early 200’s, Christians were accused of being cannibals because of this doctrine of the True Presence when we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament. Early Christians didn't say, ‘well, maybe we should change this so that we fit in a little bit better with the people in the world.’ They held fast because they knew what a great gift this Body and Blood of the Christ, given in this sacrament to be food and nourishment.

You may know the story of St. Tarcisius, a young, a twelve-year-old boy, who served as an acolyte around the year 218. When he was bringing the Eucharist to someone who couldn't come to Mass some of his classmates wanted him to stop and play. But he didn’t because he was on a mission. He had the Sacrament with him, and he was on his way. Well, they somehow learned that he was Christian and that he had the sacred mystery, the Eucharist, in his possession. And they wanted them to hand that over. He refused and that led to his death. A twelve-year-old boy recognizing the truth of this mystery, and loving Jesus in this mystery so much that he was willing to lay down life.

You may know the story of St. Clair of Assisi many centuries later when the Saracens were coming to Assisi. They were actually going near to the convent. She took the sacrament into the monstrance and right into the window. As the story goes, there was such a radiant light that showed from the Sacrament, that the Saracens turned away in fear of this unknown mystery and power.

In more recent years, the middle of the 20th century, there was Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, by the name of Paul Comtois, a very devout Catholic. He asked his archbishop if he could reserve the Blessed Sacrament in his chapel at home, which is an extraordinary request, and perhaps even more extraordinary, it was granted. But the archbishop insisted that Paul, that he take the most careful custody, in absolute sense, he had to take care of the Sacrament reserved in his chapel at home. Anyway, there was one evening when Paul and his wife, their family, and some guests that were staying with them returned home late, and somehow fire broke out in the house, and the family and guests were all able to escape safely. Paul went back to the house, and he went upstairs to the chapel, and retrieved the Blessed Sacrament and as he was going down the stairs, the staircase collapsed and he perished. So, what a great love, what a great love for Jesus in the Eucharist. What great love. And they found under his charred body, the pix containing the host.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen who will soon be beatified was well known for making a daily Eucharist Holy Hour - spending an hour with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. And surely that was the source of the fruitfulness of his ministry. He's known by millions and millions for his preaching and all the good that he did in his ministry.

There's a story about Mother Teresa, how when some of the nuns came to here suggesting that there's so much work to do in serving the poor that perhaps they should shrink the amount of time for adoration, so they have more time to go out and work and reportedly, Mother's response was that they should have an extra hour of adoration in that case!

All of these, as so many other examples, they really stir up in my heart a desire to love Jesus more and more in the Eucharist. And I think for all of us, for all of us, all these examples, and just the truth of our faith in this Sacrament it evokes this desire to make some kind of resolution to grow in this faith, to make Jesus more ad more central in our life. To let the Eucharist occupy the absolute central place in our heart. I mean, we know that Jesus is truly present in the Sacrament. The only logical choice is to draw nearer. Not to be content with sort of a reduced place of Jesus in the Sacrament. How can I grow in this? How can I love Jesus more and more and more? We're never going to max out. There's always room, there's always some way you can give Jesus more of your heart.

So, what might a good resolution be? What kind of resolution will you make today on this great feast day as to how the Eucharist can become more central in your life? Perhaps it has to do with just being more mindful when receiving the Sacrament? Really focusing, being deliberate, and intentional, present, as you receive this Sacrament and realize what you are doing. Perhaps it's going to Confession on a more regular basis so that you can receive the Sacrament with a purer and purer heart that makes the Sacrament all that much more fruitful and attractive in your life. If there's some reason you can't receive Holy Communion, I say this in the most literal sense, for the love of God, do whatever it takes to make it so that you can receive. And if you need help from a priest working out some situation in life, let me know. Happy to sit and talk things through with you. Even the study of scriptures should draw us to the Eucharist. It's all the love story of God for us. It's a desire for us to come into communion with him.

I love the fact that more people are coming to Adoration before Mass and we have 1st Friday adoration. What a great opportunity. Just once a month you come and sit with Jesus in the Eucharist for fifteen, thirty or sixty minutes. It's time well spent because the truth of this Sacrament draws us in. Jesus beckons to us in this Sacrament drawing us closer and closer. Today, we're going to show the Eucharist in a procession after Mass in the neighborhood out here. Another beautiful way to bring our faith out of the world a little bit. Out into this little part of the world.

I encourage you, especially on this feast day, but just in the journey of the Christian life to ask God to show you ‘Lord, show me, what I can  do, what I ought to choose today so that this mystery, this great tremendous gift of Jesus in the Eucharist can become more and more central in my life because in eating of his flesh and the drinking of his blood, there is eternal life.

Holy Trinity Sunday, May 31, 2026

Saint Augustine wrote: “When I speak of Christians in the plural, I understand one in the One Christ. You are therefore many, and you are one; we are many, and we are one.” Pope Leo XIV chose the last few words of that quotation as his motto. In Latin, “In Illo uno unum” “In Him, who is one, we are one.”  And unity has certainly been one of the strong themes of his pontificate thus far. But of course, unity is not a new theme in the Church. The Church has been preaching unity from the beginning. When we think about St. John Paul II’s encyclical on Christian unity or when we go back to the Scriptures. Jesus prayed on the night of the Last Supper that his disciples would be one. St. Paul wrote about the many parts of the one body being united in one living organism, one entity. Or even at the secular level where we are two hundred and fifty a year as a nation, what's that motto that has been there all along? E Pluribus Unum. “Out of One, Many.” So, we have a good sense, I think, of what it means for there to be unity in full complicity, right? There is variety, but there is unity.

This is Trinity Sunday, and I won’t give you a full treatise on the Trinity today but rather remind you that you were created in the image and likeness of the living God. You were created in the image of God, who is three in one. God is a communion of persons. So, if you are created in the image of God, you are created for community. Not isolation. It is for communion. Communion with God and then with neighbor.

So, it first begins with union interiorly. We need to be unified ‘whole’ in ourselves. The reality is that a lot of times we experience war inside of ourselves. We might even say, ‘Well, part of me wants this, but the other part of me doesn’t. Part of me thinks this, part of me thinks the opposite.’ Or there might be some disunity between mind and heart and body even - the different parts of ourselves clash with our sense, our knowledge of who we are in Christ. There can be a war going on. Part of that is just the broken human nature that we have in that we are still inclined to sin. But we are called to the union, called for communion. The Lord wants to heal that brokenness, that division that even exists inside on us. But, of course, that's not the only communion for which we are created. We are created for communion with God, but even, you know, in our marriages, in our family life, the workplace, the neighborhood, everywhere, every level of life we ought to be a people of communion. God didn't make us for isolation and division but for communion, for love and community. Not just tolerating other people but loving them. We won’t agree on everything either. I think I mentioned last Sunday or at some point in the week there's certainly room for dialogue, but we are united though, in truth. I suppose some people can debate anything, but there is truth and there is also need for opinion.

In the readings at Mass this past week we are hearing from the First Letter of Peter and in a couple of those passages, he urged his people to love each other intensely, not just love each other, but love each other intensely. It really stood out to me. It got my attention because we often love politely. We try to get along with other people, because all is well as long as there's not a war between us. But he says, “Love one another intensely”. That is a reflection of Divine Love - the love of God for us. God loves each one of us intensely, infinitely, unconditionally, unwaveringly. We are made for communion because we are made the image of God who is a community of persons.

Today's second reading from Second Corinthians, St. Paul writes to them: “Brothers and sisters, rejoice. Mend your ways, encourage one another. Agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of blood and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.” Well? We are made for communion. It doesn't sound like he is just writing a community where everyone is on their own, minding their own business only. And, of course, there is a place for giving people privacy and I am not saying everyone should know everything about everyone. And yet, we are called to communion. We are made for communion with God and others.

Not only that, but you are also sent. You are sent to be agents of communion in the world. And that touches all the different spheres of our human life. Not just in religion and politics but in any dimension of human life we are sent to the agents of communion. And that includes engaging in peaceful dialogue with other people. It does include sharing our faith - speaking with other people, about matters of substance.

We like to talk about the weather. Isn't that the weirdest thing? That is the first thing that comes up. It's a good introduction, but let's go deeper than that. Let's have some sharing of faith and life. We can be agents of community in the world. Loving others. listening, respecting, seeking truth together, sharing the truth that we discovered that we know. Bringing others into relationship with the Lord. There are very practical things you can do, of course. I think about the parish community. Do we know the names of every person gathered to worship today? Perhaps that is a place to start. Are you willing to introduce yourself to one person that you don’t know?

We need to grow in this communion. Perhaps it is obvious point to make but we refer to the Eucharist as “Holy Communion’ and in receiving that holy Sacrament we grow in communion with God. We are also reminded that we're created for communion with our neighbor, and that we're sent into the world, agents of communion. The grace in the sacraments allow us to be agents of communion. To grow in communion with God we naturally desire to grow in communion with our neighbor.

We ask God for the grace today especially in receiving Holy Communion to remember in whose image and likeness we are made. We are not made for the lone ranger of isolation but for communion with persons. And then we are transformed to be able to go out and make communion in the world around us. 

Pentecost Sunday, May 24, 2026

There was a scene in a well-known Christmas movie from the late 1980s, which will remain anonymous because I don't necessarily want to give it an endorsement. In the scene the main character has been anticipating this big Christmas bonus from his employer, and it doesn't come, and it doesn't come and it doesn’t come. Finally, a messenger arrives at the door with an envelope. And he thinks, sure, that this is the big bonus. It turns out to be a 12-month subscription to the Jelly of the Month Club. He had been planning to put it in a swimming pool with the money from the bonus. So, huge disappointment. But his cousin is there. He's a little bit off, we will say. His comment is, “It’s the gift that keeps on giving.” [laughter].

The Holy Spirit, I think you could say, is in a circumstance the gift that keeps on giving, but not only the gift that keeps on giving, the gift that keeps on being given. Some gifts we receive once, and they continue to bear fruit. Some gifts we can receive once and that is it, the gift is complete. But the gift of the Holy Spirit, it is a gift that keeps on bearing fruit in our life, but also, the Holy Spirit continues to be poured out upon us. It is a gift that God continually gives those who are open to it.

There are many images that are used when referring to the Holy Spirit. One of them, of course, is fire. We think of fire as something very dynamic, right? And fire by its very nature, spreads. Hopefully, we won't see too much of that this summer in our territory here, so we know very well that the nature of fire is to spread wherever there is fuel and oxygen. But it grows by its very nature. And sometimes you want more fire. If you are just trying to start a campfire, you're feeding the fire more oxygen because you want more and more of that flame. You have more of that heat, more of that consuming power.

Or also the image of water is used for the Holy Spirit. Like a fountain that springs up from the earth it just keeps on flowing. And we know what it's like to be very, very thirsty - how good it feels, that thirst. But that's very much like this Spirt, too. We have thirst, we long for God. We are not satisfied with one good drink. You might keep going back to that fountain and drinking more and more of it.

And of course, there is the image for the Holy Spirit of breath or wind  - breathing. And we know very well, as they say, you don't just take one big breath and then you're good for your whole life. You have to keep on breathing and sometimes, sometimes you just want a really good, deep breath. You have more, more of that good, fresh air or perhaps there is a particular scent associated with water.  I have an orchid in the rectory that blooms every once in a while, and interestingly, it's only fragrant at night. Sometimes I'll be in the living room and I can smell it from the other room. So, I'll go over there and take a good, deep whiff of it, you know;  just a good deep breath.

I think one of the reasons that the Holy Spirit is given as a gift, continuously, is that as human beings, we change slowly. If you pour water on a plant whose soil is just dry, dry, dry a lot of that water is going to run off.  So, you don't just dump it in all at once and expect that the plant is going to be watered. Instead you pour the water slowly so that the soil has time to absorb what is being given. And you then really nourish the plant So, it is with us. We're slow to change as human beings, generally. Some people may, you know, make pronounced changes all at once and stick with it, but generally we know that we gradually change. We grow gradually. You don't go from, twenty-one and a half inches long at birth to six feet tall in the course of a month. It takes time to change and grow gradually.

So that is one of the reasons that the Holy Spirit is given over time and in a repeated fashion. But I think one of the other really important reasons that the Holy Spirit is given to us over and over, and we're refreshing that Spirit over the course of a lifetime, is that we want to know we have more. We don't just want to receive this gift of God once a day and say, “Ah, yes, I have received all I need and I'm content now for the rest of my life.” No, the Holy Spirit is actually working us. He's stirring up a deeper desire for God. So, we want more of God! We want more of that fire! We want more of that water! We want more of that deep breath! And each day we live our faith that desire goes stronger and deeper. So, the fact that the Holy Spirit is so dynamic and can be poured out more and more and deeper into our hearts, is God's answer to that desire in us. He doesn't just give the Holy Spirit on our Baptism, and then because we're growing and wanting more and more of divine life, he is not going to say “But I already gave you that gift. So be happy with what you got.” No, he is pouring his love out to our hearts. As St. Paul says, “We receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our heart, we receive the love of God, poured out into our hearts from the Holy Spirit.” (Romans, Chapter 5).

So, we want more of God. We want more of God. And thankfully, he wants more of u, right? He wants us to receive us more and more. God's greatest desire for each one of us is that our life will be totally transformed by this gift of the Holy Spirit. And he does give us one-time gifts – gifts in a certain moment that will bear fruit. For example, going to Confession. In that moment, your sins are forgiven. That's a gift from God. And if you take that grace of this Sacrament and really receive it well and let it be fruitful, it will continue to bear fruit in a life of ongoing conversion.

But you don’t go to Confession just once. I have been hearing First Confessions recently and I tell them that the goal of the First Confession is a second confession. This is just sort of a fun side story, but there was a child in a previous parish who was counting the number of times she had come to Confession. “Father, this is my 7th confession.” I told her that the first time you say, “This is my first confession” but after that, you just say how long it has been since your last confession. Can you imagine saying “Bless me Father, this is my 748^th confession.” [laughter]

But you see how some gifts from God are for in an instant, for that moment and even though it may bear fruit, it's not an ongoing grace. But the Holy Spirit is poured out every time you say, “Come, Holy Spirit” inviting the Spirit of God into our heart anew. Not that he was there and left, and we need him to come in and replace that hole. No, our capacity is expanding. That desire for God that you experience in your heart, that's a capacity for God. And he is the one that is stretching that and deepening that. And he wants to be the one, he is only one who can satisfy that while at the same time stretching us even more.  

So, on Pentecost Sunday, we want to realize what a great gift it is that we receive the Holy Spirit poured out into our hearts. At the moment of our Baptism, we became truly a dwelling place of God, the Holy Spirit. But on this day, we don't want to just relegate that gift of the Holy Spirit, that experience of having received him, to a single instance, so recognize that the Holy Spirit is a gift from God and is dynamic, and ongoing so that as we're growing in our desire for God, he's absolutely ready to satisfy it and increase it.

He continues to work in the Church. He continues to work with the Church in mysterious ways. So, it is not only when you're praying at home, “Come Holy Spirit” from the beginning of each day and for many times throughout the day but also, when the assembly is gathered, the work of this Church as an institution. Just to give you one example, how and I am not reflecting on my own preaching at all. I'm saying that sometimes after that, someone will come up and say, “What you said about such and such in the homily was just what I needed to hear.” And I'm thinking I said that? I'm pretty sure I didn't say that. But there's the Holy Spirit somehow seriously using a faulted preacher to communicate the Word of God. To communicate something of his love and mercy to the person who had come to receive.

So, let us sort of stand in awe of the gift of the Holy Spirit and open our hearts to receive a new outpouring. Even today. Today, and tomorrow. I'm pretty sure Pentecost used to be celebrated with an Octave. So, let us celebrate an Octave of Pentecost.  

Just keep praying for that outpouring of the Holy Spirit – an increase of that desire for God. You want God. We want the goodness of God, the love of God. The peace and the joy of everything that God wants to do. We open our hearts to you and say, “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. Today, tomorrow, and always.”

The Ascension of Our Lord, May 17, 2026 Father David Kruse

Friends, it's good to be back here in Colville. What did you do to your chapel? This is not an improvement! I will have to talk to Fr. Kenny. However, friends, this is a wonderful way of getting everybody to fill in the front rows. Inevitably, in every church I've been to over the last, whatever years, and I sub a lot. I travel. I work at Whitworth University, and I travel. And the parishes I go to inevitably have all the front rows empty. There was a church I helped at about eight months ago or so in Colfax. The church down there is about three times the size of this building. Huge church. Could have probably fit three hundred people in it or so. And there were just maybe about fifty people or less for Mass. And I come in for the first time, and I start Mass, and I look up, and everybody is sitting at the very back. So, mind you, this is three times the depth of this space right here. And I'm like, why is everybody in the parish doing all the way back here? And so, I start Mass, and I come up to the ambo, and I start my homily, and I just simply ask: “Why are you all way in the back of the church?” They said, “Well, the priest that was here before, the pastor that was here before, [who I was filling in for, and he got reassigned, so he wasn't there anymore.] kept asking us questions during the homily. Every Sunday, he would ask us questions, so we all decided to sit in the back.” I was there for about six weeks so the next Sunday, when I started Mass, they were all sitting in the back. During my homily, I stepped to the side which room I don't do, and we really should not as a priest, but exceptional circumstances. I stepped off the ambo and went down the aisle, and I stayed right in front of them and I gave my homily. But it's a very Catholic thing to have front rows empty.

So, on that note, I have a question for you. Two questions to think about for a moment. Number one, who is in Heaven, body, and soul? So, we know Jesus is. That's the day that we commemorate today. This is the Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. He rises bodily into Heaven to be at the right hand of the Father. So, we don't he is there. Second person that most people hopefully will remember is Mary. Mary, in her Dormition, we don't know if she died. Did you know that, actually? We don't know that she died because death is a consequence of original sin. And Mary didn't have original sin, so she wasn't subject to death. The word that is used to describe Mary's death is a Dormition. She fell asleep, but then she was brought to heaven, body, and soul. That's called her Assumption.

But there's a third person in Heaven with his body. He is from the Old Testament. Remember the story about Elijah, the prophet? So, Elijah and his protégé, Elishia, the prophet, who he was teaching how to be a good prophet, were walking along. And Elijah said, “My time has come. I must leave you now.” And Elishia says “No. Elijah, don't leave me, don't go.” Elijah says, “If I don't go, I cannot send you the Holy Spirit.” And then Elishia says, “Well, then go, but then send me and give me a double portion of the Spirit.” And Elijah is taken up in the fiery chariot and gives Elishia a double portion of the Spirit, and Elishia becomes a great prophet.

In that story, friends, is the answer to the third question I have for you. Why did Jesus ascend to Heaven? Why not just stay here? He rose from the dead. He's in a resurrected body. He's overcome death. He saved us from our sins. He's redeemed the world. He can no longer die. Why not just stay with us? He could have done that. And could have just continued doing what he did as an itinerant preacher and teacher, of course, the Savior of the world, but he could be walking around everywhere in the world till the end of time, so that we can go and see him. That didn't happen because if he had stayed here, he would still be subject to the laws of nature, to the laws of this world, which means that he could not in his physical body, as a physical person, could not just simply multiply himself everywhere all at the same time. That's not possible in our physical world. In Heaven, it is, but here on Earth, it isn’t. And so, he ascends to Heaven in order to give us the Holy Spirit. That's the reason why he went to heaven. Because without him being at the right hand of the Father, he is not able to send the Holy Spirit as he promised. And this is why he said, “If I don't go, you will not receive the Holy Spirit. I have to go to my Father to send you the Spirit.” And that's why Jesus ascended into Heaven.

So, what's the big deal about the Holy Spirit? Well, friends, everything. It's through the power of the Holy Spirit that the Lord is able to be present to every single one of us now in a way that he couldn't have been if he had been here in his physical body still on earth. The reason why we can pray to Jesus, we can have a personal, loving, connected relationship with him, with God and that is available to everybody around the world for all time, at the same time is because of the Holy Spirit. You don't wonder about that? How is it that we believe in Jesus? Do you believe it's important to have a relationship? How in the world can that relationship be personal between me and Jesus if it's personal for everybody else with Jesus at the same time? How is that even possible? Does it make any sense at all? Well, of course not.

Unless we factor in the presence of the Holy Spirit who communicates God's life, the presence of Jesus to all of us. And that's why this event is so important. And that's why Sunday next we commemorate the fiftieth day after Easter, which is Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit. So, Jesus ascends to Heaven, all the apostles and the disciples go to the upper room, and they stay there and they pray for nine days. And that nine days of prayer that happened 2,000 years ago in that upper room where the Last Supper was said is the first novena in the Church. And they were praying to decide what to do, and they didn't know what to do. They were afraid. Jesus had left them. And then on that ninth day, the Holy Spirit comes, and the opposite of all hell breaks loose, the opposite of that happens, and all graces are given; the Church is born; Peter goes out and preaches the message of Jesus' resurrection. People are converted, 3,000 people get baptized on that same day, and then they go and spread the Gospel and the good news and the message of our salvation through Jesus to the entire known world. Because of the Holy Spirit.

So, friends, for us, it's really important for us to understand the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. What does the third person of the Trinity, what does he bring us? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, forgiveness, gentleness, self-control - all the gifts, all the fruits of the Holy Spirit are brought to us, and that's what brings healing to our hearts, and that's what gives us life. And that's what allows us to go out of our selves and to love God and to love others they way we are called to and eventually, go to Heaven. It's because... And without the ascension, and without the Ascension there is no Holy Spirit and with no Holy Spirit, there is no salvation.

So, today is a good day to remember these things, these key items in our faith, to brush up on the answers to the questions that I will bring next time I come to visit you. And I'm sure all of you will do very well, as you always do.

And friends as we need this transition every year during the assignment change, transition, which is difficult for everybody. I mean, at the end of the day, I am old now. I don't like change too much. I just want to stay quiet. But we go where the Bishop calls us to go. We sign up to serve. For priests leaving a parish, it's very much like a separation because you grow attachments, and you grow used to the way things are being done, and then a new guy comes in, and you have to start all over again, where things get changed again, or you don't like his personality, or whatever, his dog barks too much, or whatever.

We had a priest who brought his dog in a confessional. Like, he would lay outside the confessional, but he would lay at the at the foot of the at the steps of the altar, too. We asked, is the bishop going to say anything about this? But he was a really good dog. And a very kind priest too, just a gentle, gentle soul.

But change is difficult, but at the end of the day, we're not here for priest or for a particular parish. We're here for the Lord. And we get through this life, which really is a valley of tears and go home to Heaven where we can rest. Finally, like forever.

So, keeping things in perspective is very important and not to be wrapped up in the pettiness sometimes that goes along with parish life, for all of us. We're all imperfect. We're all challenged, but we're all on this journey together, and we're here to help each other as much as possible and make ourselves available to God's life and his grace that really propels us along this incredible adventure. It really is an incredible adventure.

So, please keep that in mind. Please keep all of us in your prayers who are moving. This is the biggest move in assignments that the Bishop has made in ten years. He has to move priests to take care of parishes and priests get sick, and they get injured, they get in trouble, and they got to be moved and all that. He said that this is the biggest one he has made in ten years. He said he was going to go away for a month and not see anybody after he made these changes.

So, you know, pray for all of us. It was really quite a beautiful journey at the end of the day. And it's well worth the effort, well worth the effort. God Bless you.

Sixth Sunday at Easter, May 10, 2026

How many times in our lives have we used the phrase “If only I had known?” That phrase could be pertaining to the stock markets, that phrase could be pertaining to a medical procedure or a friendship or a business venture. Or even a game of chess. Maybe we can use that phrase, “If only I had known” in any number of circumstances and it implies that our course of action would be different if we have access to certain information. That's pretty logical. It makes good sense if we know something that affects the way that we operate, what we choose.

And the same principle is, in kind of a subtle way, present in today's Gospel, where Jesus says, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always. The Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot accept because it neither sees nor knows him.” The principle is, if the world could see or know the Spirit of Truth, the world could accept that Spirit but because the world doesn't know the Spirit of Truth, doesn't see or know the Spirit of Truth, the world cannot accept it. And again, that's very logical. How can the world accept a Spirit It does not know? How could you love a person you don't know, you don't know about?

Now, in the light of this, Jesus doesn't say, “So, sad thing for the world. They don't know the Spirit of Truth? That's really tough.” No, earlier on in the Gospel of John, we hear that “God sends his Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through him.” So, God desires that humanity be saved, God wants every human being to come to eternal life through knowledge of his Son. So, dismiss the world? You don't know the Spirit? Yes, that's just a sad thing. No, here's where you and I come in. He sends us into the world to make the Spirit of Truth known so that the world can accept the Spirit of Truth and believe and have life.

The Easter season, you know, this wonderful, joyful season when we ponder all that God has done for us to bring us to new life. It's the season we celebrate this Sacraments of Initiation. We're looking forward to Pentecost and the renewal of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is a season of bringing hope, new life for us. It can be a little bit abstract in that sense. You know, think about the Resurrection, think about the Holy Spirit. These things can be sort of heady, I guess, or they can remain in the realm of thoughts and ideas and memories and reflection.

But it gets fairly concrete when we ask ourselves the question: Are we making the spirit of truth known in the world out there? Are we bringing the love of God in concrete ways into the places we go, whether that's our workplace, even just our home - is our family life being transformed by the reality of the Holy Spirit, and the Resurrection? By our faith, the gift, the gift of Pentecost? The living of God in our souls. Are our households different because of Easter? Even, you know, this year? Is Easter this year different than last year? Are we deeper in love? Are we living more and more fully by the Holy Spirit? And the reality is, we carry the Holy Spirit in our souls, so we do bring the love of God wherever we go. But that's the easy answer. That can be used as a bit of a cop out. Well, of course we bring the love of God - I'm there, and the Holy Spirit dwells in me. You know, we also have to act out and speak in order to be true instruments of bringing that Spirit of Truth into the places we go. And therefore, we really need the help of God to do that.

These days leading up to Pentecost are certainly a time when we pray for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But let's not limit that kind of prayer to the days leading up to Pentecost. Let's pray every day, every day, for the rebirth and the stirring of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Praying each day:

“Come the Holy Spirit and enkindle in my heart, the fire of your love, stir up in me a zeal, a zeal for proclaiming Christ like they had in the early Church.”

We hear about Philip going down to Samaria proclaiming Christ to them, proclaiming Christ. Boldly! We see the Apostles going out boldly, proclaiming Christ, proclaiming, and announcing the Resurrection of the Lord. They are animated by the Holy Spirit, that same Holy Spirit that is given to us in our Baptism and is renewed in us when we receive any Sacrament, but most especially the Holy Eucharist. So, what a nice, important, powerful gift to ask for when we approach the altar for Holy Communion.

“Jesus, stir up the gift of your Spirit in my heart. Fill me with zeal and boldness for proclaiming you. Wherever I go, in my family, in my social circles, even at work.’

Wherever we go, Let the Lord give us the words. Let the Spirit give us the words or the actions. We only need to be willing. And we can ask the Lord for the grace to be eager to go out and share our faith wherever we go.

We pray today that the world that doesn't accept the Spirit of Truth because it neither sees nor knows him, come to know that Spirit of Truth through us in really concrete ways by the way we share our faith, by the way we proclaim and live the love of God in the world.

Fifth Sunday in Easter, May 3, 2026

We know the importance of works in the spiritual life. We know so many passages in the New Testament speaking of our judgment and it doesn't say that we will simply be judged on faith. It says it will be judged based on how we lived it, basically. And so when the Lord is looking it is not just mere external performance, right? I went to church, I said my rosary, I did this, I did that. All of this external action. The Lord is looking for those good works to arise from the reality of an interior relationship with the Lord.

It's the gift of the Holy Spirit, divine charity, dwelling within us, that very naturally bears the fruit of good works. And so, it is that interior experience that we are chiefly interested in. We don't focus in our Christian life on the doing although the doing is important, very important. We allow the doing to arise from the being. So, we focus first and foremost on being. What is that interior reality of relationship with God? And it seems that the way we come to know our interior reality is in three particular dynamics: thoughts, feelings, and desires.

When we are tempted to thoughts and feelings and desires, we come to understand in a clearer way, what the Lord is doing inside, how the Lord is drawing us, how the Lord is leading us. It's in that very, very, depth of interior life that we ask the really important questions. Not just, you know, what am I having for lunch today or where am I going to drive tomorrow? But why am I here? What is my life about? What can I really put my trust in? What's going to bring me the satisfaction and happiness and peace and joy that I really desire in this life? What am I to believe in? Money? How am I called to make some contribution to the world, to humanity, my family, et cetera. These are the deep questions that reside and arise in our interior experience. And it seems that Jesus, in today's Gospel, addresses that very deep interior experience, and he answers those deep questions.

He says, “I am the Way, and the Truth and the Light. No one comes to the Father except through me.” So, he's talking about the very fundamental meaning of human existence. That God has created us for as I have said many times before, union with himself. It's God, the Father, who's always drawing us to himself through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. That's what we're made for. Nothing else is going to satisfy deeply as union with God the Father, through Christ in the Spirit, will satisfy. Nothing else. Nothing else is going to really fully answer those deep questions of the heart. Those deepest longings of the heart.

Jesus says, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Light.” There is almost an invitation embedded in that statement. ‘Allow me to be at the very core, the very center, the very heart of your life, and you will find what you're looking for. You don't have to go looking at all these other places.’ Which is what we do, isn't it? We don't always want to trust that Jesus' words in the Gospel are true. We go in pursuit of happiness in other things - in created things.

We think that being able to do what we want to do in an unrestricted way will bring us happiness. Or if we have enough resources to purchase all the things that we'd like to have, then we would be happy. Or in a less materialistic frame, if there was just peace in my family, then I would really be happy. Or, if I were just regarded in the community as a person of good character, a ‘do-gooder,’ someone that everyone likes, then I would be happy and I have that peace in my heart. Not all of that is bad, per se, like, to be respected, to have freedom to do the things that we love to do. But at the end of the day, Jesus says, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. You're not going to find deep satisfaction in all that other stuff, even stuff that's really good.” Like peace in the family, like unity of family and faith. All that is beautiful. But Jesus says, “I am the answer to the deepest longings of your heart.”

It's strange that we would resist such a truth, isn't it? Knowing how the Lord loves us, how the Lord cares for us, how the Lord longs for our happiness infinitely more than we do, right? The Lord created us for the fullness of life, the fullness of joy. Why in the world should we resist that? We just get confused sometimes. We fall for the enemy's lies; we fall for the counterfeit offerings. So, it's good sometimes, not rarely, I would say but frequently, to enter into that very deep interior life, and take a look at things - the thoughts, the desires, the feelings.

What am I grasping for? What am I going in pursuit of? How am I falling for the lie? How do I go in search in pursuit of a counterfeit good? Something that's less than the Way, the Truth, and the Light. How did I get distracted from the real path that leads to union with God that I was made for. It is good to ask the Lord to come into that interior place and shine the light of the Holy Spirit so that we can know where these places of resistance are. Not so that we can fix them, of course. It's not like the Lord comes and brings the light of the Holy Spirit to say, “See that, you better take care of that.” Instead, he shines the light on that and he says, “See that? That's something we need to address.” That's something he wants to address. We're not exempt from all responsibility in that. The Lord wants us to play our part, but our part is to surrender those areas of resistance not to keep latching on to them. White knuckled gripping these things that we think are going to be the real fix in our life. Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Light in an absolute sense, not just for some, not just for others, but for all. The invitation is in our subjective experience to let him be the Way and the Truth and Light, so we are looking at those desires, deep longings in our hearts to remember, he's the answer. He's the one who satisfies those longings. He's already at work in the desires drawing us to himself.

And so, we ask for the grace today to enter into that very interior reality, not just to think of our faith of doing this and doing that, even though the doing is important. But to invite the Lord in to help us examine those thoughts and feelings and desires, to see what is of him and what is not of him; to embrace all that is of him and to set aside and surrender all that is not of him. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Light. He wants to lead us to the Father. He wants to lead us into that marvelous dwelling place. He will come back again and take us to himself. Because his desire is that where he is, we also may be. 

Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 26, 2026

Happy Easter!

Jesus uses various images to communicate to us who he is and to teach us something about who God is - the identity and the nature of God. Especially in the Gospel of John, he makes several “I am” statements as they have come to be known over the centuries. For example, “I am the bread of life.” “I am the resurrection and the life.” “I am the way, the truth and the life.” “I am the true vine.”  And his use of simple words, “I am” are an echo of God’s self-revelation to Moses so many, many, many, many centuries prior to this, prior to Jesus' life. Where Moses asked, “When I go to Pharaoh, who should I say is that is sending me?” And God reveals himself as “I am.”

So when Jesus says, “I am the bread of life”, or “I am the Good Shepherd”, or “I am the gate” his deliberate choice of words there are not lost  on the people listening to it, nor is it lost on the readers of the Gospel of John in the early Church and all the way down to today. We see Jesus claiming divine identity. He is saying, “I am,” “I am the living God.”  In today's Gospel, the beginning of the tenth Chapter of John and Jesus comes again and uses this phraseology “I am.” He says, “I am the gate for the sheep.”  And in the passage immediately following today's Gospel, he says, “I am the Good Shepherd.” Obviously, two very closely related images. But he communicates different concepts, different truths by his use of these different images. Clearly, in the first part he is not saying he is the shepherd because he's saying he's the gate, and the shepherd enters through the gate. So, if he were saying he was both the shepherd and the gate, it wouldn’t make much sense. So, in this first part, the first ten verses of John Chapter 10, he's revealing something actually of the nature of the Trinity, and how the Trinity is at work for the salvation of humanity, the salvation of the Church.

He describes the shepherd entering through the gate. He says, “I am the gate.” He says, “The gate keeper opens the gate for the shepherd.” There are three persons: the Father is the shepherd, Jesus says that he, the Son, is the gate, and the gatekeeper, then, would be the Holy Spirit, by whose power the relation of the Father and the Son to humanity is opened up. It is because we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit that we have a relationship with the Father through the Son. So, Jesus, the gate, is the mediator between us and the Father. He is the gatekeeper. He is the go between as it were. He bridges the gap between humanity and God. So, there is something of a Trinitarian revelation in this very simple image of the shepherd coming through the gate, which is opened by the gatekeeper, to take care of his flock.

Jesus goes on then to say, “I am the Good Shepherd.” We don't hear that in today's Gospel, but it's the very next verses, starting with verse 11. “I am the good shepherd,” he says. He's not saying he is the Father. Right? According to the first part of this image, he's still the gate. But he does say, “I am the good shepherd” not to describe his role in the Blessed Trinity, but to point to the community of the persons in the Trinity. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father, the Father is not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not the Father. The Son is not the Spirit; Holy Spirit is not the Son. But the Father, and Son and the Holy Spirit, are one. Jesus in another place also said this, “Whoever has seen me has seen the father.”  So, when he says, “I am the good shepherd,” he is pointing to the unity of the Trinity, and that the whole godhead, the Trinity, acts as shepherd to the people of God. We are the flock. So, when we hear in psalm, the Lord is My Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want, you might think naturally of Jesus, but the Lord is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So, God is our Shepherd.

Bringing this to a more practical or pragmatic level what does it mean for us if we relate to God in that way, and that God relates to us in that way? Well, first we might think that our shepherd has the responsibility of protecting and safeguarding his flock. The shepherd protects his beloved sheep from harm. He protects them from predators and the enemy. So, recognizing that we are the flock, and we have this good shepherd, we have this sense, the security each day, of knowing we have this good shepherd who doesn't always, you know, make the way for us smooth and without bumps. But he provides for us. He protects us from sin and death; he saves us. The good shepherd provides for the flock. He makes sure that they have food and water. And, well, when I was a shepherd as a kid, we gave shelter also to the sheep. The good shepherd always provides for the sheep.

So, there is a sense in which in recognizing the Lord as our shepherd and that we are his flock, we can simply rest in that place where we know we are well cared for. We are secure, we are confident in the Lord.  But even though Jesus says, “that whoever will enter through me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture,” he also says, “the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” Being part of the flock is not just about sitting on the ground and enjoying having a good shepherd. Jesus says, “When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice.” The shepherd drives the sheep out. Our shepherd drives us out into the world. He doesn't just keep us at home insulated from the world, minding our own business having nothing to do with the rest of the world.

He drives us out! He has good news to announce and proclaim. And we look certainly at the example of the earlier Church. We see the apostles going out only proclaiming the Resurrection of Christ. The Lordship of Jesus Christ. The divinity of Christ. They go out. They are not timid. They don't seem to be overly shy. They go out with boldness, announcing the Resurrection, and that Jesus is Lord. And although we don't live in those Apostolic times, the argument is actually being made today that we live in Apostolic times again, that the age of Christendom is over, that we can't just expect that we go out and everyone is welcoming to the Christian message. I think that we know that's not the case. We live in our own Apostolic era. So, there's a need to go out and proclaim the Gospel.

I know I told you this story before, but I can't get over it. I remember years ago a parishioner said a coworker approached him around Easter and said, “What's all this Easter business about?” The coworker had never heard of the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead! Never heard of it! Sorry, it still boggles my mind. We can't assume that everyone out there has heard the Gospel proclaimed. So, part of being in the flock of the good shepherd is that he drives us out. He leads us out into the world to share the good news, to spread Easter Joy especially in this age.

So, in the passage, Jesus reveals something of the nature of the Trinity, how the Trinity is at work for our salvation, but he also reveals how as a unified godhead, God shepherds us and takes care of us, feeds us, knows us, protects us from harm, but also drives us out into the world.

So, we might just ask God for the grace this day, to be faithful, to be faithful recognizing that we are his beloved flock, that he is our Good  Shepherd, and that he has a call for each one of us to share our faith, to live our faith publicly, to acknowledge our faith publicly, even to engage others out there in conversation about matters of faith, about God, about the Lord Jesus, and even invite to others to come and join the flock, and see how glorious it is to have such, such, a big Shepherd.



Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026

Dear brothers and sisters, Happy Easter. The Church tells that in this season, above all, Alleluia, to be our song. So, Alleluia, Alleluia. The Church throughout the whole world with one united voice raises up, this exultant cup: “Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.”  All throughout the world today, it's on the lips of believers, “Jesus Christ, our Lord, is completely risen from the dead.” And what is good news. Though good, I think, it is an understatement. It is the good news. It is the Gospel. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. This is the very heart, the very core of our Christian faith. We announce that faith to the whole world, and we live each day by that truth, that Jesus Christ, our Lord, is truly risen from the dead.

I hate to mention Indiana Jones in a solemn Easter Mass, but if you've seen the movie Indiana Jones, and the Last Crusade, you may remember the scene towards the end, where he is getting close to entering the chamber where the grail is. There's a point where he comes to this precipice and he's going along, and suddenly there's this huge chasm before him. And at the other side of the chasm, he sees a wall, and there's a door, a doorway, in the wall. But it appears as if there's no possible way for him to get from where he is to the other side. And that is a very apt description of the rupture that was introduced in the relationship between God and humanity through sin. There is a chasm, an abyss. And if we think that we could just muscle ourselves over that chasm to be united with God, or we just try, try, try harder on our own strength, to get there, we are deluded because it's not going to happen. We cannot bring ourselves from one side of that chasm to the other, to enter into eternal life. But Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, and his Cross, by his Cross, he has become the bridge that spans that chasm. So that now, it's still not by own efforts, by our own trying harder, trying harder, not by our own resources, not by that, but now, we have the possibility, dear brothers and sisters, by his grand invitation to cross that bridge, in Christ, into the heart of God. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.

He has made it possible for us, new life, and I say it all the time I guess, but when we talk about new life, we're not just talking about life in heaven, which will be glorious. I don't need to downplay that. Look can look forward to heaven. Strive to be faithful, try to get there with God's grace. But it's not only for then, it's also for today, today, Christ is our savior today, not just on the day that he died. New life is offered to us today.

And the Church in these holy days, especially with the Easter Vigil but even with the Easter season, the Church focuses on all that God has done. All that God has done to reveal his desire to bring us to himself. From the very first moment of creation, the creation of the world around us and all that is in it, his lavish gifts upon mankind, the crowning glory of his creation. Through all the prophets where he revealed to us, all these very, these view our lives in obedience and humility and grow in trust of him. God has shown us he wants to have even a spousal relationship with his people and even though we are unfaithful so many times, he keeps pouring out his mercy more and more, restoring us, parenting us, drawing us back. He does not turn his back on us. He does not forsake us. He will never abandon us. He just keeps drawing and drawing. God has shown through all of history, how he provides for our needs. Sometimes not in the ways we expect or desire, but he always provides. He gives us so many good gifts – he gives us wisdom, prudence, understanding all things that can help us to orient our lives to him, and order our lives so we enter into deeper and growing friendship within each day. It's for now, brothers and sisters. This is what God desires for us.

And then in the New Testament readings, we see that what God created us for is actually union. Union with him. Isn't that an astounding fact? That the great God of the universe, so far beyond our grasp, far beyond our understanding, He wants us not just to be his creatures, his servants; He is drawing us into union with him. Union of mind and heart. And it is through the Cross of Jesus Christ, and his resurrection that we share in that life, even now. In the waters of Baptism, we were cleansed of our sins, given new life, filled with new hope, given new joy. And as we walk the path of faith each day of our life, the Lord just keeps on drawing us. Why? Because he wants us. He desires each and every one of us and his desire cannot decrease, cannot be changed. It is his one desire to draw each and every one of us to himself, to capture our hearts, conquer our hearts, claim us.

You know, since the beginning of the Paschal Tridium, the evening of Holy Thursday, we've been hearing about the Lord's desire for us. Holy Thursday we commemorated the Lord's suffering where Jesus said to his disciples, “I earnestly desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” He earnestly desires to share the banquet of his body and blood with us. He wants to draw all of humanity to him at the sacred table where he gives us, truly, his body and blood, to be our food and drink. On Good Friday, we have heard the words of Jesus from the Cross. “I thirst. I thirst.” He wasn't speaking about a thirst for water or just something to drink. His longing in that is for us. He wants our heart. He wants your heart.

And even in today's Gospel, Jesus is looking forward to being reunited with his disciples in Galilee, at a place where he first called them, where their hearts were first set on fire. He gives instruction for them to go there. He's calling them. He wants them to come and see his risen body and for Thomas to put his finger in the nail mark of his hand into his side and to believe. The Lord wants us very, very, very much. We can't even fathom.

So, the question is simply how will we respond to that desire of God? What do we do when we are confronted with that kind of desire for us? Certainly, we don't just sit and enjoy it. That kind of is our showing us so clearly to us by the Lord evokes a response of love. And not partial, nothing being held back, nothing restricted. It calls forth from us the gift of our whole heart. That's what he wants more than anything. Your whole heart. And sometimes we might, in that situation say, “I just don't know that I can give my whole heart. There's so much in the way. It just seems like an impossibility. “No! No! There's always a path. There's always a path to union. No one is disqualified. There may be some, some things to work through on that journey but there's always the possibility of pursuing and obtaining that union that God so desires for us. The heart of Jesus, our Savior, pierced on the Cross, opened for us, allows us entry. His heart was opened to us that we might go in and open our hearts to him and receive him.

So, on this Easter Sunday and all through the Eastern season, fifty days, we lift up our voices in exultation, proclaiming that our Lord Jesus Christ is truly risen from the dead and receive his gift as an expression of God's unfathomable desire for us. And we recognize he's inviting a response. So, let’s give him today our “Yes” more than we've ever given our “Yes” before. And maybe, an Alleluia!



Palm Sunday, March 29, 2026

I read an editorial recently that made a simple, but profound statement. “The only adequate response to the suffering of another is to co-suffer in love.” In Holy Week, we turn our attention to the Passion of the Lord, the suffering of the Lord. And co-suffering is simply, you could say, an English translation of the Latin word “compassio” or “compassion” - suffering with. The Church invites us to enter into the Passion of the Lord and to be with him all through the course of this week. Even afterwards, to be one that lingers with. Just a simple word “with.” Let it return to us all throughout the week. “Am I with the Lord? Am I present to the Lord in commemorating all that he suffered, all that he did for our salvation?”

Interestingly, the first few times that Peter is accused, if you will, of being a friend of Jesus, they accuse him them of being “with” Jesus. “You too were with Jesus the Galilean.” “This man was with Jesus in Nazarene.” So that word has some importance. It is good for us to ponder this week especially. Are we with the Lord, co-suffering with the Lord?

“With the Lord.” The word ‘with’ is a two-directional word. If I am with someone, that someone is also with me. So be mindful of being with the Lord in his suffering and Cross. We are also mindful that he is with us in our times of trial and suffering and that he gives you meaning to that experience.

So let us enter this holiest of weeks with the express intention of being remaining with the Lord because that is what Jesus asked of his disciples. “Remain here and keep watch with me.” Let us stay with the Lord, and he with us.

Fifth Sunday in Lent, March 22, 2026

The Church places this account of the raising of Lazarus in today's liturgy certainly as a foreshadowing and anticipation of the Resurrection of Jesus, which we will celebrate in just two weeks' time. But it's not only a foreshadowing, because it really also points to the fact that we can participate in the Resurrection of Jesus. Lazarus is raised from the dead, so it shows that humanity has the opportunity to participate in Jesus' Resurrection from the dead. And furthermore, not just at the end of time, when Jesus returns in the world, we're not just pointing toward the Resurrection at the very end, the glorious, the glorious Resurrection at Jesus' last coming. The Church is teaching us that even now, we can experience this same grace of Resurrection. Just as Martha says, “I know he'll rise on the last day.” Jesus corrects her a little bit, but he points to the reality team of our participation in Resurrection and new life even today.

So, then the first question is, what constitutes death, or what is the tomb in our life? Or maybe another way of phrasing my question would be, what is there in our life that keeps us from really fully driving, really, fully living in the life of Christ, the joy of Christ, in friendship with God? What is there in our life that constitutes death? For some, it may be a daily battle with shame or guilt over some past sin. Maybe it's a past abortion or some other grave matter, something that a person has said to himself, ‘I will never forgive myself for that.” Maybe it's a failed marriage or a failed relationship. Or even chronic pain, or for others, it might even be the daily battle with fear, anxiety, and worry. For others, maybe it's discouragement; discouragement about our own weaknesses, our own imperfections and sinfulness. Or for others, perhaps, it is a lack of a sense of freedom to just be who they are; that they don't accept themselves as they are, so they try to be someone else thinking they have little different in order to be lovable. For others it might be grief, the heavy burden of grief. For others it may be anger. Just a daily boiling anger at what's going on in their whole life, or in the world around. All of these, all of these constitute a sort of death in our life, a tomb. Something that keeps us from really fully being alive in Christ. So that's the first question. What constitutes a death or the tomb in your own life?

The second question, then, is, where does this Resurrection come from? If there is Resurrection, there's new life that I can experience even from this tomb that is mine, where does it come from? The answer? That's an easy question. Jesus says, “I am the Resurrection. I am the Resurrection and the life.”  We need Jesus. We need Jesus to come to our tomb and call us out. He is the Resurrection and the light; he is our hope, even now, even now, not just at the end of my when we die, but even now even today. Why not today?

So, we know the problem. We know the answer. How do we receive Jesus the Resurrection and the life? How do we get him to come to our tomb and call our name and beckon us back into life? Well, for Lazarus it was the word that Jesus spoke. It wasn’t until Lazarus from the tomb, heard Jesus' words: “Lazarus come out!” that he came back to life, and it was that the was the power of the divine Word, spoken to Lazarus that brought him Resurrection. So, listen to the word of Jesus, listening to the word of God is a way of receiving him as the Resurrection and the light. Of course, we also have Sacramental grace. We have the great gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation by which we receive the Jesus himself. He comes to us to forgive us and not only to forgive us, but to strengthen us so that we can turn away from sin more and more. We also, of course, have the ability to receive Jesus in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood in the Eucharist. We receive the Resurrection and the life. Are we conscious of that when we receive Holy Communion, that we are receiving the Resurrection and the life? You are receiving newness, healing.

You know, we can really receive Jesus just about everywhere because he's constantly coming to us. Every day. He comes to us in the family members who live in our homes; he comes to us in our coworkers; he comes to us in the people we encounter out in public. He encounters us, we encounter him in the faces of the poor and those in need. In all those places, we can receive Jesus. The Resurrection and the light.

Some may say, “Well, I do all those things. I listen to the Word of God, I study the Bible, I go to the confession, I go to the communion, I try to see Jesus out there wherever I go, and I still feel kind of dead inside. I still have this reality. I don't live fully.” Well, the Gospel also certainly shows us that things happen in God's time. There's that very difficult line where it says, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, so when he heard he was ill he remained for two days in the place where he was.” Well, that's kind of a head scratcher. You'd think if he really loved them, he would go immediately and raise Lazarus. But he had a bigger plan. And what he said is true. “This illness is not to end in death. It led to through death. It led through death to Resurrection, and the same is true, for our own tomb, our own death. We are about to end in death, but we go through death into Resurrection. So, God's timing is God's timing. We have to allow for that.

But we also recognize that sometimes there's something in us that constitutes an obstacle to this flowing of God's grace in us. I remember this one time I was trying to cut something, and it dawned on me eventually that I was holding the knife with the sharp side up. Or if you try to drive your car with the emergency brake on, you don't get very far. It’s not that the car didn't work. It's not that this knife didn't work. “User error, user error.” I've gotten that a lot.

So, Lent is a good time for us to work on removing those obstacles, setting aside the different things that get in the way of our receiving of this new life from Christ. It's a time not only of getting rid of the obstacles but also fostering a better and better disposition in our own hearts. Opening our hearts more and more to God. Increasing the love of God in our hearts. Resurrection is, for all of us not only the end, but even today.

So, what is the tomb you find yourself in? Who is there to bring Resurrection? Jesus is there. How can we receive him as the Resurrection and the light? Through his Word, through his Sacraments, through his coming to you each and every day. We ask then for the grace to receive Jesus, to receive the Resurrection, and new life. 

Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 15, 2026

Is a life of faith a walk in light or a walk in darkness? You can make a strong argument that the life of faith is a walk in light. Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” He said to his disciples, “You are the light of the world,” right? We talk about the journey of conversion from unbelief to belief as a journey from darkness into light. People who come from not believing into life of faith, they even say, “I saw a light,” right? Saint Paul says to the Ephesians: “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. For light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.”

So, I think you could fairly make a strong argument that the life of faith is walking the light - walking the light of the Christ and the truth of the Gospel. I think you could also make a strong case that the life of faith is a walk in darkness. Not that darkness as an evil, the darkness of sin but in darkness of not knowing. The darkness of not seeing, not always understanding. Saint John of the Cross, as we know, wrote about the dark night of the soul, the dark night of the senses. He wrote about these very specific experiences of darkness, but he also described the life of faith as darkness. We don't always know, we don't always understand what God is asking us, or where God is leading us. It's not like at the beginning of our Christian life, the Lord just rolled it all out before us and said, “Here is the story of your whole life. Just do this and then do this and then this.” You're lucky if He gives you the next step. He asks us to step in darkness and put our feet where we are not sure that there is solid ground.

We want to know. We don't like walking in darkness. We grapple with hard questions; we want to understand the logic of God. People say, you know, “Why did my marriage fall apart? Why did this child or that child die? Why do I keep struggling with the same thing over and over? How is there any good coming of all this?” We are grappling. We are trying to figure out all these things. How does it all make sense?

We see that in the readings today very much. In the first reading, in a simple way here is Jesse bringing out all his sons. According to his logic, Eliab should be the one, right? The tallest and most handsome. Why wouldn’t he be the king? No, the Lord has rejected him. I don't know what that was all about or what that entails. But he was not the one. Maybe it is another one. He looked at son after son after son. None of them were the ones the Lord had chosen to be king. “Well, I am pretty sure I am in the right house. Is there another? Oh, yes, there is the youngest.” It never even crossed their mind that David could be a candidate. Their logic – they are trying to understand the logic of God. They don’t get it. So, David marches in and he’s the one.

Or the Gospel. Jesus and his disciples come across this man who is blind from birth and their first question is ‘Why? Who sinned?” They are trying to grasp this situation and say, “Well, something's clearly wrong, someone must be to blame. Is it the guy or his parents?” Jesus says, “Neither he nor his parents sinned. It's really glory in God.” The glory of God.

We also see in the Gospel those who are convinced that they know the truth, that they have it all figured out. Like the Pharisees who hear this man’s testimony and say “Well, this man can’t be from God because he did this on the Sabbath. If he was from God, he would never would have done this on the Sabbath; breaking the Law.”  They can stand on solid ground, right? The Law was revealed by God. So, a violation of the law would never be done by someone from God. But there's a higher logic. God has a higher logic than we have. It's not contrary per se is just higher. But here we are always grasping, grasping, trying to know, because we think if we know and understand something, then we have it and we're in control. But God did not make human beings to be in control. He made human beings to trust in him.

So, we should strive to understand our faith. Right, I'm not saying, ‘Throw your Catechism’s  out, forget your Bible studies, just live your Christian life without trying to understand anything.’ No. But the thing we are saying is if all of that is building up of your own knowledge so that you can rely on yourself and your own understanding, then it is misguided. The pursuit of truth, the pursuit of understanding is the pursuit of knowledge of a person - the Lord Jesus.

Is the life of faith, a walk in the light or a walk in darkness? It is both. It is a walk in the light of Christ, the truth of Christ. The Lord wants us to understand more and more about him. He wants us to know him. But the more we know him, the more we realize how little we can rely on our own understanding.

It reminds me of the Missionary of Charity Sisters who every year, conduct a Novena in preparation for the feast day of Blessed Theresa of Calcutta at the end of August, beginning of September. And the Fifth day of the Novena has the theme, “Trust Jesus blindly.” Trust Jesus blindly? No, no, no. I don’t want to be a blind sheep going through life. Trust Jesus blindly? And it's curious, isn't it at the end of Gospel Jesus says, I came into this world for judgment. so that those who do not see might see. “I want to bring people from darkness into life, from unbelief into faith, from not understanding into the knowledge of truth” but he goes on, “and those who do see might become blind.” That's a tough question.

 I'm not sure this is the original interpretation of this passage, but I think it's an interesting one. You go from darkness of unknowing and unbelief into the light of faith, the light of Christ. But as you grow in that light, you get less attached to your own understanding and you're willing to follow blindly because you know the person.

So, you don't know where Jesus is going to have you step next. You don't see if that it is solid ground or if it is into a pit of suffering or what it is, but you know Jesus. So, you can step. You don’t have to see. You can be blind and trust Jesus blindly. As the quotation from the Novena says, “Believe in him, trust in him, with blind and absolute confidence because he is Jesus.”

So, we go in a sense from not seeing, to seeing, to not seeing. and being okay with trusting, blindly, because we know the Lord. So today is a good day for us to ask for grace. Wherever we are on that continuum we can keep seeking for a deeper understanding of who Jesus is. We want to always pursue deeper knowledge of Him - personal, intimate knowledge of him. And then realize that by God’s grace, as we mature in our faith he brings us to have a place of not seeing, walking blindly trusting in his goodness.

Third Sunday in Lent March 8, 2026

When we observe or perceive something we typically find more meaning in that thing if we can make a personal connection to it. So, for example, if you're an athlete, you're watching the Olympics, and you're a skier, and you're watching those skiers, then you can really substantially appreciate what they are doing. You can see what techniques they might use or how they do this or that aspect of the sport really, really well. If you're an ice skater, I don't know if there's any ice skaters out there, not a lot of skating rinks around here. But you can appreciate, you know, the twists and the landings and all of that. You can appreciate that a lot more than someone like me. I can look at that and say, wow, that clearly takes a lot of skill to do all of that. But I don't understand the techniques of skiing or ice skating. I don't do the luge, you know? I don't understand what it takes to do those things. So, watching those sports has less meaning for me than it would for someone who knows the sport.

But if I'm watching a concert pianist give a recital, then I'm there. I'm watching, I can see, like, I can appreciate the technique, and, wow, look at the octaves, you know, just so relaxed or I can appreciate the skill that that person employed in doing what they're doing. And so, I enjoy watching this more than I would enjoy watching something else that I don't know about a personal connection to. And if you are a cook, someone's cooking something in your kitchen, you're probably there watching. Or if someone's building something in your shop, you're probably there, interested in what they're doing, how they're doing it.

Well, the same is true with the Scriptures, isn't it? When something is presented to us in the Word of God we are meant to find some sort of a personal connection with it. Not just to observe Jesus, saying what He's saying, doing what He's doing, and say, wow, He did that really masterfully. The way He handled that conversation with the woman in well, wow, as if, there's just some sort of intellectual exercise or that we’re looking at it with disinterested, I mean, with no connection to it. No, we need to find ourselves in the Word of God in order to have a deeper connection to it and therefore to derive more meaning from it. And certainly, today's Gospel has many, many beings that can be drawn from it, that we can really connect with.

Many of Fathers of the Church have commented on this passage, this encounter of Jesus with the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman. St. Augustine, for example, saw in the woman a representation of all of humanity thirsting for God. Thirsting for the truth. Thirsting for unconditional love. He saw the well as a symbol of that longing for truth. He saw the water Jesus offers as the response that is divine praise, that it is the Holy Spirit. Augustine saw the five husbands of the woman as the five senses. Sight, taste, hearing, touch, smell because, so often, it's our senses that we pursue or we employ in the pursuit of satisfaction of that longing of the heart. And we find that those senses fail to satisfy in the long run. There might be some fleeting pleasure that's offered there. But there's no way that the senses can satisfy our deepest longing for God. So that's what he sees in all of this, the longing of humanity for God, and the way we pursue happiness in other places, besides God.

Saint John Chrysostom focused instead on the transformation that happens in the woman, going from being not even a believer, to really being an evangelist. She goes out and shares with the people of this town, how she has experienced love, how she has experienced the divine in this person of Jesus. She becomes a believer and she shares the good news. She has a transformation that goes on. We can see ourselves in that, too. She leaves the bucket behind, and St. John Christendom points out that as a symbol that she's leaving her former life behind and embracing a new life of faith in Jesus.

Origin took more of an allegorical approach to this passage. He said the well symbolizes the Old Testament scriptures. And that drawing water from the well symbolizes the study of the Law and the prophets, but then Christ comes along and gives the deeper insight, right? Christ is the fullness of revelation. He is representing all the New Testament and all the truth that is presenting in Him.

And there are lots of other themes, as I said, that can be drawn from this passage, ways that we can connect. Maybe you see something of ourselves in the shame that the woman has. Maybe there's something in our life we don't really want to bring to the Lord, or we don't really want to go into a vulnerability even with God. But He pierces though that and calls it out. He wants to bring healing. Maybe we see ourselves in the disciples who come along, thinking that they're in the ‘in’ crowd and thinking “Why are you talking to her? Why is he associating with her?” Sometimes you say, “What is that person doing in church?” I say, “Praise the Lord and the Church.”

There are different ways to find ourselves, maybe the Samaritans of the town who come to discover Christ. Maybe we have a story of conversion in our own life about how someone proclaimed the good news of Christ to us, and found and discovered, like the Samaritans.

Lent is a good time to look at these themes that Augustine, Saint John Chrysostom, and Origin highlight for us. Take a look at how these are lived in our own life. How do you connect with this passage? Where is our thirst for God, for example? Do we find ourselves everyday longing for God, thirsting for God? Or do we do our own things and sort of try to fit God into the cracks, into the spaces in life? Or are we, in our journey, conversion of the Lord? Are we getting to the point where we actually share with people on a regular basis what the Lord is doing in our life, inviting people to consider walking with Him? Or what about our study of Scripture, are we studying in Scripture? Do we read it? Do we look at it? Do we watch videos that explain Scripture?

Lent is good time to ask for the grace we need. Ask God for the grace to the thirst for Him. Ask God for the grace to believe more fully. Ask God for the grace, to share with others. Ask God for the grace to delve into the scriptures, to love scriptures, studying them, and understand them.

The truth is, we can very much connected with the Word of God with these accounts that are given to us in these Scriptures, we find ourselves there, and we find Jesus inviting us into a deeper encounter. 



Second Sunday of Lent, Sunday, March 1, 2026

We know how intention can change the meaning or the quality or character of an action is, right? For example, if you approach me and smack me in the back of the head, I might assume that you have something against me. But if you then went on to explain you were only trying to save my life from this poisonous spider bite, I would think of your slap in different terms. Although it's still a little bit rude. [laughter] If at a priest gathering, I notice that another priest took my black jacket off of the coat rack and he's wearing it, I may give him the benefit of the doubt and say, ‘He thought it was his jacket’. But then if I found out he took it because he wanted it – he liked my jacket better than his -I would think differently about that action. It would have a different character, a different meaning.

Similarly, the intention behind our Lenten observance matters. It matters. It has an impact on what our Lenten observance means and what kind of fruit it will produce. And there are many kinds of really erroneous ways that we can look at our Lenten observances - increased prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. One of those would be if we think of our Lenten observance as a punishment. If we say to ourselves, ‘Well, Lent is the time of year when I realize just how bad my sins are and that I deserve punishment.” So, I'm going to do something difficult, something painful, I am going to give up some pleasure because I deserve to be punished for my sins.’ That is not what Lent is about. Now, it is not a bad thing to reflect on how we deserve punishment for our sins. But that should not lead us to take matters into our own hands and be the ones to judge ourselves in our own court of law and impose our own sentence. No, reflecting our own sinfulness and our, you know the fact that we deserve punishment for our sins, should lead us to beg God for mercy and to avail ourselves of that mercy, especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. But doing fasting or almsgiving, or any other kind of penance or extra prayer during Lent is not about punishing ourselves for our sins.

Another approach, another malformed intention when it comes to our Lenten observance, would be the idea that we were going to somehow pay Jesus back because He suffered for us so therefore, we need to suffer for Him. It is only fair. It is only just. What he did for us, we should that him.” Now, again, when you read the Passion of the Lord, you come to a deeper realization of how the Lord loves you and what He was willing to suffer out of love for you. And that evokes from you a response that says, ‘Lord, I want to love you with my whole heart and even if that brings me to suffering, I'll embrace that suffering out of love for you.’ That's good. But if you say, ‘Well, Jesus suffered for me, so therefore, I'm going to impose suffering on myself.’ That is not quite ordered thinking. And they say, “Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow Him.” Yes, He does. He does not say, ‘Go and make a cross for yourself. Go and find something that will be a good cross for yourself.’ No, life will give you your cross. Life will give you your cross. And if you haven't figured that out yet, you haven't really lived. Life is going to provide the cross for you to take up, and Jesus says, ‘Yes, take up your cross out of love.’ Out of love. But if we think Jesus is looking at us saying, “I suffered for you, so by golly you better suffer for me” that is not where our Lenten observance it should be about.

A third idea that I mentioned before, is that we go into Lent taking up these, you know, elements of prayer and fasting and almsgiving as a way of proving to God what we can do out of love for Him so that at the end of Lent was can say ‘Lord, look what I did for you. Aren’t I great.” Well, that's precisely against the whole point of Lent. Lent is not about puffing ourselves up in pride to show God what we can do. It is about humbling ourselves and entrusting ourselves completely to His grace so that He can do something good in us. So, it is not about pride.

All three of these mistaken intentions behind our Lenten observance all point into that same ungodly self-reliance that I've been speaking about since the very beginning of Lent ten days ago. Since the beginning of Lent – since Ash Wednesday. They all come back to the ‘self.’ “I'm going to put a penance on myself; I am going to punish myself; I judge myself as deserving penance; I going to do something to pay Jesus’ back; I'm going to show Him my love, or in pride, I'm going to just prove that I can do something for God.” I, I, I, I, I. It's all ungodly, self-reliance. So, the purpose of our Lenten observance is to strike at the very root of that ungodly self-reliance and to help us grow in reliance on God. To trust in God’s grace.

One of the ways that happens is there are Lenten observances that  help pry our fingers off of things - our attachments in life - these things, that we have a tight grip on. We want to control. We want to be in charge. We want to run things our way. Or something that gives us a sense of hunger or confidence. Something that we're relying on instead of God to satisfy the deep longings of the heart. That's what an attachment is, an unhealthy attachment. It is something that we turn to to satisfy that our longing for God. And clearly, that is always going to fail because only God is God. Only God can satisfy that longing, but it is true that the pain of that attachment - that is what the pain and penance of Lent is – it is letting go of attachments and entering into the path of suffering that leads to glory.

In today's Gospel, Jesus is transfigured before Peter, James, and John. He is transfigured in glory; they see his glory. He is radiant in light. Life is coming out of His pores. His skin, His face, His body, is radiant. Even His clothing is radiant with light. Jesus is in glory. But this happens right after He announces to His disciples that He must suffer and die. So, like Peter, we tend to think suffering and death and pain and displeasure over there, glory over here with pleasure and happiness and joy. Jesus says, “These two things are not divorced. They go hand in hand.” And Peter thinks it would be great just to be over here - in the glory. Remember when Jesus announced his suffering, what does Peter say? “God forbid it, Lord that anything like that to happen to you.” To which Jesus says, “Get behind me Satan! You are not thinking as God does but as human beings do.”  

But Peter wants to stay here. Even in today's Gospel, he says, “It's good we are here. Let us build tents here and stay here. Let us not go back down the mountain to that place, you know, dealing with other people, stuff like that. Dealing with pain. Let us just remain here in the glory of the Lord. I just want to bask in your glory for the rest of my life.”

Well, no. The suffering is connected to the glory, most especially in Jesus' case, in His passion and His death and His resurrection are inseparable. And so, for us, our nature is to despise suffering. “I do not want that. I want to take the path that is easier, that's smoother. I want everything to go well in my life.”  How about displeasures? Lent is a time when we recognize that those sufferings are part of the path that leads to glory, not just in the end of life in the glory of Heaven, but even now, in purifying our hearts of these attachments, we come to experience the glory of God at work in us. Today. St. John of Cross says: “If you desire, if you desire the treasure of union with God you have to enter into the thicket of suffering.”

So then, what is the right intention for our Lenten observance? Not pride, not anything that points to the self. Not anything that fosters self-reliance. The intention in our Lenten observance is that by embracing these different sufferings, these self-denials, elements of self-denial, we can advance on the path to glory. And it is in the Lord’s work in these places of self-denial and extra prayer, and almsgiving that His glory comes to be known in us. It is not something we do apart from Him. It is something that He is right in the middle of, and He is leading us to the glory that we desire. So, all throughout the course of Lent be mindful of your intentions because they matter.

First Sunday of Lent, February 22, 2026

One of the greatest advantages we have is that the enemy has already shown his cards. You already know how the enemy operates. You know his strategy. You know his tactics. So, if we can just be aware of how he works and what he is doing we are very well equipped actually to resist those tactics. And we know what the enemy really seeks to do is to drive a wedge between God and us; not because he cares for us, or that he wants us. He knows how God loves us and if he can deprive God of our love and our friendship, he knows how much that would displease God and that is exactly what he wants to do.

He is always trying to drive a wedge. We see that from the beginning, right in the third chapter of Genesis that we heard a moment ago. The enemy is right there trying to drive a wedge between mankind and God. And the main way that he does this is to try to sow the seeds of distrust but also doubt about the nature of the relationship between God and man. This is the way the enemy works. If he can get man to distrust God and have a different kind of notion about the reality of that relationship, then we have got to close the door. It is no coincidence that Jesus' temptation in the desert, follows directly on the experience of Baptism in which we actually heard the voice of God the Father saying, “You are my beloved Son. You are my Son with whom I am well pleased.” And then the spirit drives Jesus out into the desert, and satan strikes right at the root of that relationship. “If you are the son of a God” - he wants to throw that into question and have doubts about the nature of the relationship between the Father and the Son. Ultimately, what the enemy wants to do is to make us think that we are orphans. And he wants us to act in this world as if we are orphans and that we know we don’t have a Father in Heaven who is madly in love with us and provides for all of our needs and forgives our sins when we repent. A God, a Father, who gives us grace for each day. No, the enemy wants us to think that we are orphans and that we can't trust in God to give us what we need.

Dr. Bob Schuttes, in his study of the Fathers of the Church and the seven deadly sins identified by so many of the Fathers of the Church, he came up with seven deadly ‘wounds’ that are connected to the seven deadly sins. He identifies those wounds as rejection, abandonment, powerlessness, confusion, fear, shame, and hopelessness. Now maybe you have experienced one or more or most, or all, of those wounds in human relationships. But I suspect we also experience these wounds in our relationship with God. How many times in our relationship with God have we imagined rejection? Or felt abandonment, or powerlessness, or confusion or fear or shame or hopelessness? If we have experienced these dynamics, we know the fruit of the enemy’s work because those dynamics are not from God. God does not inflict those wounds. This is the enemy trying to convince us that we are orphans. We know that we confess in our faith that we are children of God, but if he can get us to act as if we are orphans and to operate in our minds as if we are orphans, then he will have stolen one of our most precious gifts.  And that's what he wants to do.

These wounds seep into all areas of life and work into a mentality, work in all dimensions of life - marriages, parenting, work, social interactions, even our willingness to share our faith, to evangelize. If we can be in a place where we're not sure we can depend on God to provide what we need, how are we going to recommend to others that they enter into that? If, for all intents and purposes, we are orphans instead of children of God, why in the world would we encourage someone to become Christian?

So, it is important not to sign on to this orphan mentality. It is important to resist that tactic of satan. But unlike Jesus in the Gospel, we should not engage the devil in dialogue. He's very sly, he's very smart, very cunning. He's been at this for a long, long time. So, don't try to win an argument. Don't even start an argument with the enemy. Reject him, reject him. Keep your eyes on God. But Jesus does give us a really good example of what to do when we are faced with these temptations that lead us or will lead us into an orphan mentality. He announces the truth of His relationship with the Father. That's what it is. The enemy comes at you with lies, resist by announcing the truth, not engaging in the dialogue, but simply announcing the truth. “As a beloved child of God, I am not an orphan. I am not rejected by God. I am not abandoned by God. I do not have any shame before God.  I have not been without hope; my hope is in God.” Announce the truth. Cling to the truth, stand on the word of God. His words tell us exactly what the nature of our relationship with Him is. And there's power in that. There is power in that. The orphan mentality will lead us into an ungodly self-reliance. As I mentioned on Ash Wednesday perhaps our whole campaign of Lent can be targeted in a certain way at our inordinate self-love and our failing self-reliance. Our prayer, our fasting, our almsgiving begins to tear down this power of self-love and self-reliance.

Brothers and sisters, you are not orphans, not with a Father in Heaven who loves you unconditionally. Unconditionally, infinitely, without bounds. Stand on that truth, live your life as sons and daughters of a loving Father. 

Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, February 15, 2026

When God gave Moses the Law so that Moses could give the Law to his people, God never intended for the Law to be an end in itself. What was intended was for the Law to be a means to an end. He wanted the Law to be the means by which His people could enter into real relationship with Him and live by His love. This seems to be one of the one of the things that frustrated Jesus about scribes and Pharisees and the scholars of the Law. It seemed that they tended to make the Law an end in itself so that life was all about just following the Law. So, the exact letter, part of the letter, and that was all instead of seeing the Law as a means of being in right relationship with God. But Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the prophets.”  The living of the Law is good. I see a few attorneys out there (laughter) but following the Law is good but the Law is not the end. The Law is a means to an end.

So, if God's purpose in giving the Law was to bring His people into relationship with Him then Jesus is absolutely the fulfillment of the Law. He did not abolish it, but to fulfill it; to bring mankind into the fullest of relationship with God the Father. So, He comes to fulfill the Law and really perhaps to demonstrate very well that the Law is a means and not the end. I think it's all too easy for us to set our eyes on the means and lose sight of the end.

When I was in school, I don't think I really had much of a concept that I was supposed to be growing in knowledge and wisdom. I did the assignments; I did the homework; I took the test and I got the grade. That's what it was about, right? I was, this is just what we were supposed to do as students, right? Pay attention, do the work, get an A. And that's what I did. So, I don't think I exactly had much of a love of learning. The means became the end. I still learned a lot, but I lost real sight of the real goal of education by just focusing on the means of receiving an education.

 Another example would be in the learning of playing the piano, you know, you can learn the scales, you can learn to play every note just right. Don't play the sour note. There is loud, soft, faster, and slower but I didn't realize, until sometime later, that the piano was a means of creating beauty, and expressing oneself. So, to just focus on all the minutia, all the mechanics of it, was losing the big picture.

The means becomes an end, and of course, this can happen very much in our lives of faith as well. For example, our practice of prayer, how often do we get to the end of the day and say, “Oh, I still have to get my prayers in.” Or we think of prayer as an item on our to do this, a task to be accomplished. Well, it's good to have a sense that we should pray. But if it's just a duty then we've lost sight of the fact that God wants to draw us through prayer to Him. The goal is prayer is God and not just the fulfillment of the task and we have lost sight of the big picture there.

Or think about getting involved with activities in the church. It's wonderful to get involved in the life of a parish community, but if it is just activity and we forget that the goal is to know God, then we're off the mark - we made the means an end.

Or we have Lent coming up. Sorry to break the news to you but Lent is coming up. Maybe you are already thinking about what you are going to do for Lent? What are you going to give up for Lent? It's easy to make the means to an end and say, oh, well, I'm giving this up. And then by the end, I've done it. And I get an A. But all of our Lenten services are meant to be means to end to the glory of God. God is the end that we are looking for.

Or even this whole endeavor of trying to reestablish silence in church and quiet, an atmosphere of prayer. It is not just what Father wants to do. We are using this as a means to an end so that this is a place where at any time, someone can pray and be with the Lord.

Maybe we are in a situation of need when we are asking the Lord for something, and our hope is that God will give us the thing we want. Maybe we're looking for a word from God, some sort of guidance, or instruction - “What am I supposed to do in this situation?” Even there, we can be focused on the word we want God to speak, instead of God who speaks the Word. Or if we're asking God for a miracle, a healing, something to change in our life, you can focus on that thing instead of God who gives the gift. We want God to do something. We can focus on the ‘doing of the something’ instead of God who does it. In everything we're looking for God, but we can fall into the temptation to allow the means to become the end.

And in the Gospel today, Jesus, again, speaking about the Law, if we think living our Christian life is a matter of not doing a bunch of things, we hear Him say, “You shall not kill” Ok, got that. “Do not commit adultery.” Great, got that. Go on down the list - I didn't do that; I didn't do that; I didn't do that, so, I must be good. Jesus is saying, it's not just about not doing the something bad. He's revealing here the kind of an interiority that is conducive to friendship with God. So, you can say, “I haven’t killed anyone.” And Jesus says,” Are you angry with your brother? Are you angry with your neighbor?” That's not conducive to a friendship with God. Maybe you haven't committed adultery. Then He says, “Have you looked with anyone with lust?” That’s not the kind of spiritual interior life that has been used to communion with friendship with God.

Jesus is aiming this this whole business of discipleship and Christian life from a real surface level - I'm doing this and not doing that – to a deeper level where it is about the heart. Interiorly, do we have a heart that shows we are seeking God? That's what He is looking for. Not just to be following a set of rules but to be seeking Him with all our heart.

So, when we hear Jesus’ teaching today, it's a good opportunity for us to take a look at our practice, our discipleship, the way that we look at the means and the end. Are there areas in our life where we sometimes make the means into an end in themselves? Are we focused on doing this thing, not doing that thing, and having lost sight of the one we are seeking in doing that thing or not doing that thing.

It's a good opportunity today for us to ask the Lord for the grace to let the means truly be means. We can thank the Lord – He has given us so many different means to reach out to Him, to seek Him, to pursue Him to find Him. We ask for the grace in all of those things, not forget to seek Him and to  see His face.

Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, February 8, 2026

I think I shared before that the opportunity to do my theological studies in Rome for five years was one of the greatest experiences of my life. A huge difference for me! Being so close to St. Peter's Basilica and the Pope right there and seeing him just about every Sunday if I wanted. I loved being close to all these great historic science, beautiful churches and all the rest. I think I've also shared that there came a time when all of that became sort of normal. You know, I can walk across St. Peter's Square without even turning my head to look at the Basilica. I'm not proud of that. But that's how it was. I think it illustrates a tragic flaw, not only in me, but in our human makeup the things that should always astound us, do not always astound us. After repeated exposure to these things sometimes we lose sight of how great they truly are.

And of course, this is not just true for landmarks, historical landmarks, but also for spiritual truths. We say things like, “We are children of God.” We say, “God loves us.” We say, “Jesus calls us his friends, brothers and sisters.” We say things like, “The body and blood of Jesus Christ are truly present at the altar and given to us in Holy Communion.” And I wonder how often we really allow the full weight of these words to rest on us. What if we started each day with thirty seconds just pondering the reality: “I am the son of God; I am a daughter of God?” I think the day would be way different.

Sometimes these beautiful, sublime truths of our faith become just commonplace, mundane. I think the same can be said of Jesus' words in today's Gospel. “You are the light of the world.” Hear Jesus saying those words to you: “You are the light of the world.” No, we're not the sun, this big light shining on the globe of the earth. But you are the light of the world. That's shocking. Astounding. And yet we bandy these words about. They're just sort of ordinary things when they are the most extraordinary things. Extraordinary truths.

There was a letter written in the 2nd century, a letter to Dionetus. A very famous line from that letter says: “What the soul is to the body, Christians are to the world.” What the soul is to the body, Christians are to the world. You are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth. Being a disciple of Jesus is not a hobby like so many others. For example, this person loves to play checkers; this person loves to ride horses; this person loves to play football or watch football; this person makes a mean spaghetti sauce; this person is the disciple Jesus. I don't know, it's not on par with all of those things. “You are the light of the world.” You are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. So, it would do us some good, I think, even just to ponder, and let ourselves get accustomed to these truths and not lose sight of their grandeur if you bring them to prayer and ponder them, and let the whole weight of these truths really sink in.

That's not what Jesus is talking about in today's Gospel! He's not saying, “My words to you are salt and light. So don't let them - don't let the salt of my words become insipid. Don't lose track of how this brilliance of these words that shine.” He is not saying that - even though those things are true. We want to recover that sense of wonder. He's saying, “You are this salt of the earth. You have the potential to lose your taste and just stop being effective in the world.” He's saying, “You are the light of the world. Don't hide that light if there's a possibility that you could.” You are the salt of the earth. You are meant to bring flavor and light to the human existence in this world. As the soul is to the body, so you are to the world. The body, without a soul, is absolutely mindless. You cannot do anything. The world without Christians? Life is dark.

You are light. Now, you may say Father in another place Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” And you are right. He's not saying you are light in yourself. He's saying, “You have my life in you. And you can shine with that li out into the world. You can let truth be known in the world. You can give guidance to the force of human events. You can bring the light of love and mercy into this world that so sorely and desperately needs that love.”

Is the Church in the world light? Are Christians the light of this world? Is the presence of Christians throughout the world bringing the light, bringing flavor by salt? Does the presence of Christians around the enhance human life? Well, maybe that is little bit too broad. Let's talk about it here, in our town, in our place. Are we the light? Are we the salt?

Pope St. John Paul II in one of his addresses to families said, “Families! Be what you are.” Well, there's an interesting exhortation. “Be what you are.” Be, in practice, what you are in reality - your identity as a family, but also as Christians, as men and women, children, young people. “Be” in the practice of your life who God has made you to be. Be the light in practice that He has made you in your identity. Be transparent so that the light of Christ that dwells already in you shines forth like the dawn.

As we get to the end of today's Gospel, we see that's what it's all about. It's all about the glory of God. Jesus says, “… your light must shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”  It's all about giving you God the glory. That's how Christians are light in the world - they shine with the glory of God. The first reading gives us good instruction about how this plays out. “Giving bread to the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless, clothing the naked, and don't turn your back on your own. Then your light shall shine forth like the dawn … Remove from your midst of oppression, false accusation, malicious speech, … satisfying the afflicted.” All of these things, all these things, if we do them from our heart, from the love of God, for the glory of God, our light shines forth.

We can do all of those things without the love of God. Right? You could give some money to the beggar on the street to ease your conscience. You can help your neighbor with a task so that you look good. I know. You can do those things because the love of Christ fills your being. And when you do that, God is light and this divine light shines forward. That is what Jesus is talking about. You are the light of the world. The light of the world is in you, and to shine down.

So, it's a good opportunity for us today to take stock of our own living the Christian life, to make an examination of our own conscience in this regard. Are we salt losing its taste? God, give us the grace not to lose that taste. Renew us in saltiness in the best meaning. Are we a light sometimes hidden under a bushel basket? God, give us the light to shine. Give us the grace to shine forth not to fight it. Let us radiate your goodness and the deeds that we do for love of you and our neighbor.

I conclude with a quotation from my Father Simeon, my favorite commentator, on the Gospel of St. Matthew. He warns us against just looking for the effects of our shining of the light or being the salt. He says: “It would be a great mistake for us to look to avidly for proofs of the effect of our presence in the world. Inevitably, we would lose heart because in the end we lack the means of measuring and judging things as God sees them. Who knows the true meaning and import of what transpires in a human heart- our own or another's? How can we know whether a negative sign, such as sadness and conflict, is not in fact the middle phase of a process that will culminate in much good? Our real business is to allow God to shed his light through us and since the light belongs to him, he will know where to focus it and to what effect. Our endeavor should be to make ourselves transparent so as to not eclipse his brilliance.”

Lord, you made us salt and light. Help us to be what we are. 

Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, February 1, 2026 (Father Kyle Ratuisti, Saturday evening Mass at ICP)

My brother, the sisters, I'm very glad to be here with you to offer this Mass with you, to pray this Mass with you. For those of you who do not know me, my name is Father Kyle Ratuisti.  I am the vocation director for our diocese, and I also live and work based out of Bishop White Seminary in Spokane. So, for me, vocations work and seminary work have really been the center of my attention and ministry for the past number of years. And what a beautiful thing it is to be able to, accompany these young people, these young men, who are considering a call to the priesthood. Now, this is an interesting thing that may surprise you about things I look for a young man who is discerning the priesthood. Some people would think, well, a man who actually knows for sure he will be a great seminary candidate. But really, what I've experienced - I've been a vocation director since 2019 and a seminary formation director since 2022 – and observed is that a man who thinks he knows with absolute clarity that God is calling him to be a priest, he doesn't last.

He shows up to seminary, and he thinks he has everything all right. He thinks he knows the answer. And so, he's not asking for help. He's not asking for guidance. He believes that God told him what to do, so he is just going to go do it. What is lacking? Well in a word, humility. And in our first reading today, we hear about this exhortation from the prophet Zephaniah: “I seek, the Lord, all you humble of the earth who have observed his law; seek justice, seek humility.” He speaks about leaving a remnant in their midst - ‘a people humble and lowly.’ And this virtue of humility, something that is essential for anyone who seeks to discern what is their call and I would also say that the virtue of humility is something that is essential for all of us who need to be disciples of Jesus. Because after all, to say that Jesus is Lord, as you say that: “I am not Lord. You are not Lord in your life. Jesus Christ is Lord.” And for us to say that you must be humble before God. You must recognize in the truth that God is God and we are not. That we have been made good, by God to be in relationship with Him, and He calls us to conversion. He calls us to live a life, and we don't get to plan, and personally, I am grateful that I don't have to plan out in my life. Because God’s plan is so much better than what I could have come up with. For me, when I grew up, I was something with a, you know, an introverted people pleaser who really was not very keen on public speaking, or anything like that. So, God has a sense of humor. He called me to be a priest to speak in front of you, give homilies on a daily or weekly basis and to be out there, and preach things from time to time, that may not please people. He called me out of myself to minister to people who otherwise be strangers to me. Through God's grace, I'm able to recognize those individuals as beloved sons and daughters of the Father. I can only be open to the call by avoiding pride, trying to be humble.

We can understand this humility if we consider what our Lord says in our Gospel today. The famous beatitude, the beginning of the famous Sermon on the Mount from Matthew Chapter 5 and when we think of blessed, blessed is an interesting word.  Because the word blessed, like holiness, can be something that we describe as ‘Church speak’. I mean, it's Church language and it kind of sounds holy and religious and so forth. But what does it actually mean, ‘blessed’? Blessed means that good things will happen.

But another way to understand ‘blessed’ or ‘beatitude’ is happiness. And so, a way for us to interpret this is that they unsettle us. So, they jar us with it.  “Happy are the poor in spirit. Happy, are they who mourn. Happy are the meek.”  And the Lord is giving us the beatitudes, these keys to happiness. A happiness that the world does not give, but a happiness that God gives. And these people, and us, who are more and more weak, who hunger for righteousness and so forth we are able to be happy because the Lord provides for us in that humility, in that lowliness.

These are our promises the Lord's offering to us: to accept a smallness in the world that is marked by competition. We are taught and led to believe that happiness comes from being on top or being the winner, or possessing more, whatever the more is - if it's wealth, or power, or possessions and so forth. But the Lord is pointing out that true happiness does not come from these things. It will not come from the rat race of competition but rather, it comes from that ‘small’. There's a lot to preach on here, but I want to tease out a few things just for our own reflection. “Those who are poor in spirit’, and ‘those hunger and thirst for righteous’. I would like to focus on those two today.  

“The poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Again, this ties into this message, the call to humility because to be poor in spirit is to recognize our spiritual poverty. We are not holy on our own. We don't will ourselves by our own efforts to become saints. We need God's help. But we need to recognize that we need God’s help. Again, think of the seminarian who thinks he knows everything but is unable to receive. If we are disciples of Jesus, or as we say we are disciples of Jesus, but if we think that we know everything already, that we have everything, that Jesus came to save all these other sinners, but, you know, He just kind of holds me up. No. We have to recognize our need for God. Maybe when we think of those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, you think of those out there or ourselves, who look out into the world and see a world that is bereft of righteousness. The world that is torn by war and violence and justice and so forth. And we say, “I hunger for justice and righteousness in the world” but first, let's ask about ourselves. Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness in your own lives?

Because we, as human beings were made to be brought up in the love of God. We are meant to be perfect in love, perfect in charity, to be perfect in this self-gift of ourselves to one another. And for many of us, it takes on certain kinds of predictable as it were recognizable patterns. I am called to this pattern of self-gift which is Holy Orders, to priesthood. Married couples are called, you were called to the pattern of self-gift, that is defined by marriage of spouses who themselves love exclusively and faithfully lifelong to one another and to their children. And all the way to be of different models, in different ways, who are maybe single, or those who are widowed, those who are still seeking out, maybe so young, where God are you calling me?  But what is that we've been calling to give ourselves away in love? And I think we recognize that there's part of us who's instant in our life, which even despite our best efforts, our best intentions, we fall short.

I am a vocation director, I am a seminary formator. I want to love the men that got to put in my life and the way that will best serve them. I want to intercede for them. I want to be gracious to them. I want to be working out for their needs proactively. But how often I recognize  in myself that I may fall short. Maybe I allow myself to get frustrated by someone who doesn't seem to be getting it. Maybe I am tired and I act selfishly. Maybe I, in a moment of weakness, I give a bad example of what it means to be kind and faithful. You can examine yourself in your own context, your own relationships. Perhaps you perceived someone who needed that loving word or that loving embrace and for whatever reason, you held back. And someone was looking forward to your presence, but you just wanted to move and so you just walked away and denied them that experience of love. Maybe we give, we give, and give, and we get so frustrated and fed up that the gift is not received.

We think about our relationship with God. God has given us everything. The God who gives a second chance again and again, even as we fall. The God who died for us. And we may say, with great intention, “Lord, I want to give you everything.” And then you recognize, “Oh, no. I'm not giving God everything. There are ways in which I hold things back, in which there are bad habits which distract me away from God.” My brothers and sisters the Lord knows all that. He has seen all that when He decided to create you and me, the entire human race. And knowing all this, knowing our silliness, and our weakness, and our sinfulness, God has still chosen to create us, to hold us in need, to love us, to cause us to be living.

And that, I'll say, is grounds for happiness, that God is on our side. Even though we are undeserving, even though we are spiritually poor, God still is with us. He still pursues us. And He comes to us powerfully, in Word, in this proclamation of Scripture. He is already in our midst because as Jesus said, “Where two of you are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of you.” By virtue of the Sacrament of Baptism, which I imagine most or all of us have received, we have been incorporated into the body of Christ. And so that when the Church gathers and we all know in a few moments we will celebrate the Institution of the Eucharist, the Eucharistic prayer, in which God will come to us under the disguise of bread and wine, to be present to us in the Eucharist, to nourish us with His very self.

So, my brothers and sisters, we rejoice. We are happy because God has loved us and He's called and we have the opportunity today to be with Him. Praise be Jesus Christ now and forever. 

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 25, 2026

Last Sunday looking at the example of St. John the Baptist about the necessity for all of us, as disciples of Jesus Christ, to give testimony. I said that sharing with others about our experience of God is something that flows naturally from the reality of being a disciple. It's not something reserved to you know, those who have public platforms or who are writing books or have international audiences. Sharing the testimony is part of what it means that the Church is a light to the nations, that we are sent into the world to bring the very light of Christ into every place. Well, I'm happy to say that today's Gospel, reaffirms what I said last Sunday, so, I must have been on the right track.

In this passage from Matthew 4, we see Jesus leaving His hometown of Nazareth to go to the region of Zebulun and Naphtali and to live in Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee. And St. Matthew explicitly states that this is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, which you heard in the 1st reading. “Jesus Christ is the light, which has now arisen to shine on an evil dwelling in the darkness of sin and death.” And St. Matthew goes on to report that the first words of Jesus as He began to preach, were “Repent, for the kingdom of the heaven is at hand.”  

You may have noticed that the Church offers the option of omitting the next part that tells the story of Him calling the first disciples, Simon, Andrew, James, and John. You may have also noticed that when there's an option, I usually take the longer option because I believe that we need more of the Word of God not less. It would be especially ironic on a Sunday designated Word of a God Sunday, which today is, to cut the Gospel short. Anyway.

I also included the second part because it ties into the message of repentance. Repentance and discipleship are closely related. There is no discipleship without repentance. If we are going to turn our hearts more and more to God, we have to turn our hearts more and more away from the sin and all that gets taken away of a stronger relationship with God. Repentance is not just about being sorry or feeling badly about our sins. Repentance also includes the exercising of our will - cooperating with God's grace to leave sin behind and not to take up a new sin to replace the ones we leave behind.

So, today we still need to hear Jesus' call to repentance. And it's uncomfortable. It's not always well received because we don't like anyone telling us that there's something wrong with us or that there's something that we have to change about ourselves. We like to think that we have our act together, that we're just right as we are. But we do need to hear that call, because we all struggle with sin, and we can all give our hearts even more than we have today to Jesus. We need to turn to the Lord more completely and more resolutely, more firmly.

Repentance is part of the story of our experience of God. That story that constitutes the testimony that we share. You remember last time I said the story or the testimony we shared doesn't have to be a story with all the fireworks and, you know, it doesn't have to be an elaborate story. It can simply be stories of ways that we have experienced God, whether that's landing a job that you wanted, or finding your spouse, or getting through a timely struggle. All these different ways we experience a nearness to God. Well, all that is good we should be sharing as part of the testimony, but repentance and conversion are also part of the story. And like I said last time, it doesn't have to be, you know, some big thing necessarily. Also, the same is true for telling about repentance and conversion. You know, there are certainly people out there who have shared tremendous stories of conversion. I remember, years ago, decades ago, reading the story by Father Ken Roberts about his conversion, from a very dissolute life to essentially being reawakened in faith and becoming a priest. Or the story of Father Donald Callowway, another great story of conversion. Or you may have heard of sister Miriam, share about her story of a conversion. Lots of people who are out in the limelight, so to speak, a public stage are sharing stories of profound conversion.

But we don't necessarily have to have some sordid past and some major, major conversion in order to share a story about conversion or repentance how God has been at work in our life. We can simply share, in small ways, that we have experienced new hope and new life and goodness in life because God has been at work in these areas of struggle. You don't even have to share, really, any of the details of the struggle. You could refer to those things in general terms, but to share how God was at work in a place of struggle can really give hope to the person to whom you're speaking, because I guarantee they have a struggle of their own. And they're looking for hope. And they're looking for some reason to really believe that God can help them in that place of struggle. So, your sharing your testimony of how God has helped in this journey of repentance and conversion can really inspire the opening of someone's heart to receive favors and just to receive hope that God, with them in their struggle, can bring about a similar good ending.

Jesus goes walking by the sea of Galilee. He sees Simon and Andrew. He says to them, “Come after me.” But then there's a comma, not a period: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” In other words, follow me, but I'm then going to send you out to make disciples. We know repentance was part of the story of Simon and Andrew, James, and John. Remember the story of the miraculous catch of fish? What does Peter do? He falls down to the feet of Jesus and says, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” He's undergoing a conversion. All of Jesus' disciples undergo conversion. They don’t all have the right character at the time Jesus calls them, or later, for that matter. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that they go out into the world, but I will bet you that you that they shared the story of their own conversion and how the working of God in their lives gave them strength for their struggles and made them better people.

So, as we continue to consider how we might share our testimony, what we might share, we are thinking not just of the experiences of God where we've had some great consolation, or witness a miracle or get lifted up in our hearts by the beauty of nature we are also considering how we might share what God has done in our work in work of overcoming different areas of sin in our life - strengthening us in different struggles. And you might also just today ask God for the grace humbly to share, even when it might be difficult, but humbly to share those stories of His working for conversation in our life and through that sharing we might bring more and more people to Himself.



Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 18, 2026

No transcript available

Baptism of Our Lord, January 11, 2026

I have been present exactly one time for the birth of a child, and that was the day that I was born. [laughter] So, I don't have personal memory, but I believe what happens is that probably as soon as possible after the baby has been born, they put the infant into their mother’s arms and probably if dad is there, he gets a chance to hold that baby pretty soon after that. Even scientists have seen that in studying all of this there is something very important about this, this time of bonding that happens. And also, it has something to do, eventually, anyway, with the child seeing mom and dad looking at him or her. There is something in receiving the parents' gaze, with love that is not just a nice thing that happens, but it is actually really important for the future development of this human being. You doctors out there can confirm or deny that what I'm saying is true. I'm pretty sure it's true.

We need to receive that loving gaze especially from our parents. And think about how in the continuing process of growing up then from newborn into successive stages, how much of the development of our sense of self relies on how we perceive our parents regarding us. How we think they see us. And so, for example, if our parents always seem disappointed in us, we start to take that on as part of our identity. “I am a disappointment. I am always messing things up. I can’t do things right. That's what I perceive from mom or dad.” Or if they are inattentive or they don't seem interested in what I've been doing in my life, I might get the idea that, “You know, I'm not worthy of love” or “I'm just a burden.” Or if parents only seem to love me when I am doing the right thing, when I am being obedient, and then I get the feeling that when I am not doing the right thing, they are repulsed or they might abandon me or something. Well, then I start to think that my worth is actually based on what I do, or how I perform. But as parents, if mom and dad show me how precious I am to them, and there are patient and nurturing as I grow older, stumble, and stumble, do well, do well, and stumble, their patience and love through all of that allows me to come to understand human dignity in a truer light. And I understand that it is not about doing things in order to prove that I am good enough to be loved or that I'm worthy of being loved.

So, it is very important for us to perceive how we are looked at. How we are regarded. We get a sense of identity from that. But it really stems from that relationship. What we are doing is we are learning what this relationship is about. Parent and child. And it is in that context of relationship that we start to understand who we are.

So, here is the news flash: “Parents are human.”  [laughter] They are not going to do a perfect job of communicating absolute unconditional love and acceptance to their children. They will have moments of frustration. They have moments where, you know, when maybe they are angry; maybe they do feel disappointed; maybe they are uninterested at times. Parents are human, and yet it is still true that we get a sense of who we are, even in our relationship God from our relationship with parents. So even when relationships with parents are not the best that they can be, we still have God to turn to and we can still have pain but right notion of who we are and how we are loved by God.

When I was in a retreat in October, this is one of the graces I was asking for from God. I was asking that I might receive more and more from God and the Father the gaze that defines me. I want to know truly and deeply who I am and who God made me to be, who God wants me to be as I continue to unfold in my life. But I want to clear out all that I have come to believe over the years that is not true. And we all need that. It is not just me. We all need to clear out the lies that we have come to believe about who we are. And at the end of that retreat, God did give me a lot of that grace. It is still a work in progress. But I realized at the end of the retreat how important this is for this spiritual life. How crucial it is for our Christian life to have an accurate notion or understanding of how God looks at us. Let me put it this way: think of God’s heart as He looks at us. You have to come to a truer understanding of that because that is where we derive our identity and our sense of who we are in Christ - the way we live. It is the basis of our sense of mission and what we ought to do in life.

In today’s Feast of the Baptism of the Lord really draws us right into that dynamic. The Feast of the Baptism is an event of revelation, and instruction, and exhortation. Of course, it is a continuing moment in this process, this trajectory of revelation of the Christ to the world, starting with the Conception, then His birth, then the shepherds, and then the Magi progressively unveiling the mystery of Christ to the world. And here He is, at His baptism, and His voice is heard by everyone who is there. “This is my beloved son. So, if there was any doubt as to the identity of Jesus Christ at this point, that doubt should be dispelled because God speaks from Heaven saying, “This is my son.” So, Jesus is revealed as the Son of God, as being truly divine, the one with whom the Father is well pleased.

The Baptism is also a revelation of the humility of God. We already saw humility in the Incarnation, the birth of Jesus. But we see it in a very particular way as Jesus actually descends into the waters of Baptism with us. He does not just take on our human nature, which is, you could argue, enough. He actually is with us in the waters of Baptism even though He does not need to be baptized. He does not need the forgiveness of sins. He does not need repentance of any kind. But He is God with us. He is God with us, not just present to us; He is present to me. But He is God with us in the sense that “Are you with me or are you against me?” He is with me. He enters so completely into our human experience that He will even go to the waters of Baptism with us and humbling Himself to receive baptism from John the Baptist who needs to be baptized by Jesus. John has a hard time accepting this. Rightly so. But it is an ultimate Baptism of condescension, humility, for Jesus to do this. And it is also a revelation of the relationship of the Son to the Father and the Father to the Son because the Father's voice is heard: “This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.”  We see the Father delighting in the Son, and we see the Son, Jesus, receiving that gaze of delight from the Father, and that word, defining His identity, “This is my beloved son.” So, the baptism is very much a moment of revelation.

It is also a moment of instruction, right? Because as I said, Jesus didn't need to be baptized, but going into the water, the waters of baptism, He sanctifies the water for our sake, for our baptism, right? And He shows us; He gives us an example of what we have to do. So, you lead by example. If you want to be my disciple, if you want to be my follower, you also should be baptized. And not just for all the beautiful and wonderful things that Baptism accomplishes in our life - forgiving original sin, making us a temple of the Holy Spirit, joining us to the Church and so forth. But then we could actually enter into the same dynamics of the relationship of Jesus to the Father because we are incorporated into Christ; we become part of His body, members of His body. When God looks at us, He sees Christ, His son, the beloved because we are joined together. So, if we can enter into that relationship: “Wow! God looks at me that way?” God looks at you that way. He says, “You are my beloved child – with you I am well pleased.” If we can really enter into that, we realize then that our identity stems from that. Our mission stems from that identity. So, there's instruction in that.

And then, along with that comes the exhortation. The exhortation is for everyone who is baptized, actually linked in those dynamics, right? Live in that relationship. Everyday  realize that God is looking at you in this way. Not with disappointment. God does not regard you as a disappointment or a failure. God is not uninterested in you like, you're not worth his attention; like you are just a burden to burden for him. No, God is not tired of you. God will never be tired of you. And God is not only pleased with you when you are doing the right thing. He delights in you because of who you are. Sure, He does not delight in the sin, true, but He can tell the difference between the action and the person, and He always delights in the person, even if the person is doing an action that is not pleasing to God. God always delights in you. If we could just live in that, how powerful that would be? What a difference it would make. How easy would it be from all the other notions that we take along the courses of life? So, there is an exhortation - live in that relationship, live in the same relationship that Jesus has with God.

I mentioned that I was asking for that grace of the gaze during my retreat. I urge you and invite you also to ask for that same grace. And ask for that grace every day to receive from God the Father the gaze that defines you. You know what your dignity is as a child of God so that everything in life stems from that sense of identity, having your feet firmly planted in it confident of your identity as a beloved child of God.

I tell you, if you ask for that grace, God will give it. I know in my own experience, God will give that grace and your life will never be the same.

Feast of the Epiphany, January 4, 2025

Since the middle of the 20th century, the Church has really seen the explosion of programs for youth, not only Sunday school programs, but specifically programs that are targeted at teenagers and college age Catholics. We see diocesan youth conferences, and we see Search conference, Teens Encounter Christ, more lately, it's been the Steubenville conferences. Actually, I think right now, there is a huge conference of college age Catholics going on in Columbus and Denver and Fort Worth. These SEEK Conferences are being attended by thousands, thousands, and thousands of young people gathered together to learn about their faith and to renew their love of God. And very often, these different programs, whether you are at conferences or retreats, involve some sort of a pinnacle experience.

Maybe it's the Saturday evening adoration or really encouraging the young people to go to Confession, or sometimes there are letters from love ones and families that arrive unexpectedly, and, you know, they read these touching notes and things like that -  to the point that some people look at these different retreats kind of cynically and say, “Well, they're just trying to get these kids to cry, right? Like if you get them to cry, you have achieved your goal.” I think that is overly cynical. I think that is not really a true and authentic way of looking at the situation. True, there are very often tears involved. But it is not that the tears are the goal. Tears are a visible sign that a person who has entered into a place of vulnerability where the Lord can reach them more effectively. The tears somehow signify that some barriers are coming down, some walls that were put up to keep the Lord out or keep Him at a distance have been brought down. Now the Lord is really working in the hearts of these people, these young people.

My own experience was a powerful one. I went on a Search retreat when I was a senior in high school in February 1997 and I didn't at all feel that it was some contrived, emotional experience. It was a very emotional experience, and they were copious tears. And it was a profound experience of the love of God. And I still, to this day, almost thirty years later, I look back to that as the first really major turning point in my life, in my journey with God, in my relationship with the Lord. And there was a level of vulnerability that was reached so God could really more powerfully and effectively work in my heart.

Another word for these experiences is conversion. Conversion. Not necessarily converting from not believing to believing but going from having something of a relationship with God to having a stronger relationship with God. Going from loving God somewhat to loving God more. From belonging to God to some degree to belonging more completing to God and living life for God. It is the experience of the conversion and it is not all at once – a one and done kind of thing. This is actually the dynamic that God wants to be at work in our lives all the time.

I was listening to and re-listening and re-listening to an interview with Father Mathias Thelen. He is one of the founders of Encounter Ministries and he told the story of a priest asking the question, “When did the love of Jesus come alive in you?” That is a good question for all of us. When did the love of Jesus come alive in you? I would say it was on that Search retreat for me when the love of Jesus began to come alive. But again, not just one and done. This is the whole, the heart of conversion, the love of Jesus coming alive in us. And maybe some ask themselves the question and they are not sure that the love of Jesus has come alive in them. Others have an extreme experience or a profound moment, confession, wherever. When did the love of Jesus come alive in you? We can always ask the Lord that the love of Him would come alive in our hearts. He will give you the grace, but it requires some more. We have got to be in a place where we can receive that grace and allow it to start a good fire in our hearts.

What does all of this have to do with the Solemnity of the Epiphany, three kings, etcetera? Well, it seems to me that the same dynamic of conversion is unfolding in the Christmas story. From the moment of the Annunciation, when the child Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary - in this almost invisible way, certainly invisible to the naked eye - from that moment, the life of Christ began to grow. Mary knew, soon Joseph knew. Then the news was brought to Elizabeth and John. Jesus is born in Bethlehem. The news reaches the shepherds. And now the Magi come from the east. And so, the word is getting out as this life of Christ is growing and becoming more and more madness. This started so very, very small. Invisible.

So, it is with the life of conversion. Maybe that gift you were given at Baptism wasn't even felt at all. So, maybe if you were baptized as a baby, you didn't go home from your Baptism, praying in tongues, and singing the praises of the Lord. It is a gift that's given in very, very small form and then it grows, it grows with the grace of Confirmation and Sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist, especially. Just ongoing growth in the life of faith. Keeping Christ in us becomes more manifest, more visible.

I shared this at a recent weekday Mass. A few weeks ago, I had kind of image of it in prayer. It was in Advent where we say, “Come Lord Jesus, Come Lord Jesus.” When we pray that we might think of Jesus as out there somewhere, and we are asking Him to come close - God, afar, coming near. But the image was that the Lord is already at the very, very deepest place of our being. And so, when we're asking Him to come, what we're asking is that His presence in there expand and encompass our whole being. So, we invite the Lord into our memory, our will, our desires. We would invite Our Lord into those places of woundedness, places of self-reliance, places of sin, places of joy, where in every aspect of our life, so in ongoing conversion, we get to the point where there's no part of us that doesn't belong to Him. We are holding nothing back from Him whatsoever. We have invited Him and welcomed Him to every place in our life so that nothing is out of bounds, nothing is off limits for Him. There is no place where we say, “No, Lord, you can't come in there.” This is conversion. This is the love of Jesus coming alive in us.

The whole story of Christmas is characterized by humility and vulnerability. Think of the vulnerability of Mary. And of Joseph. Think of the vulnerability of the Christ child. Even the shepherds coming along. And even the Magi – “When they come into the place where the child and Mary and Joseph are, they prostrated themselves and give him homage.”  Lying prostrate on the floor -there is a position of vulnerability. You can't defend yourself very well when you're laying on the floor, right? Vulnerability. And undoubtedly, even though the Scriptures don't tell us this, there had to have been tears, many tears. All these different places. Not tears of sadness but those tears that come when a person is vulnerable and the Lord comes to visit them.

When did the love of Jesus come alive in you? If we are to go out and share the Gospel with others, we have to be able to share that story of a love of God coming alive in us. We can share about the experiences we have, the infancy of God, His forgiveness, His mercy. His unconditional love for us.

We also need to continue to ask God for the grace to allow the love of Jesus to come alive, more, and more and more especially in the gift of the Eucharist - a Sacrament of humility, a Sacrament of vulnerability. When we approach the Sacrament perhaps our bowed head can be the prostration of our soul. We are not physically prostrating on the floor here when we come for Holy Communion, but in our hearts that can be our posture. Bowing down in worship, in adoration, in vulnerability asking the Lord to come and set our hearts on fire with love for Him so that the love of Jesus that does burn in our hearts becomes more and more manifest in our life.