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, June 21 2026

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.

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.



Homilies from April 12th and April 19th are not available

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. 

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph December 28, 2025

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph is held out for us today as an example to follow and also reminder to all of us of our call holiness. The Church for a long time now, has been insisting that all people are called to be holy, and the holiness of our families depends on the holiness of each member of the family. And that is true at whatever level the reality of the family is manifest. Even if that is a husband and wife, or a husband and wife and children, grandchildren, or our extended family, or our parish family, or the family of the Church, in our nation, or in the world, or the human family. There are so many different levels at which the reality of family is being manifested.

But it is always true that the holiness of the family depends on the holiness of the members of the family. So, when we desire to have holy families, if we want to respond to God's desire for us to be holy families, then we each have to work on our own holiness. We each need to grow in holiness. How does that happen? How does that happen? We don't make ourselves holy. We don't make ourselves holy. The Catechism teaches us that charity is the soul of holiness. Charity is the soul of holiness. So, it's precisely in growing in charity, growing in divine love, that we grow in holiness. If we are growing in holiness we are growing in charity. If we are growing in charity we are growing in holiness.

How do we measure that? Well, maybe ‘measure’ is the wrong word, but we can certainly each examine our loving, our life in charity. For example, when you think about your relationship with your spouse, or with family members, are all of those relationships characterized by true charity and love? The way we treat people on the street, the way we treat the sick in hospitals, or the homebound. The way we treat people in public places. And so forth. Are all of those relationships characterized by charity? That gives us a good sense of our path of holiness.

But charity itself is a gift from God. Charity is not something that we just sort of generate in our own hearts. Charity is poured out into us, by God himself, beginning with our Baptism, and at our Baptism, we receive the theological virtue of charity, along with faith and hope. And we receive all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And so forth. But charity, divine love, is a gift that God gives to us. So, then in our question about growing in holiness has to do with growing in charity, then at the base level here, the question is, how do we become more receptive to the gift of God's love? Because we do have a part in it. We don't just naturally become more loving or magically become holy. If I just find the halo that fits right on us and slips it right over the head. No, no, no. We have a part in it, but our part is to be receptive.

So, how do we become more receptive of God's love so that we become holier? Well, practices like prayer and penance, reading scripture, doing good works, serving others, all of these, of course, are very good ways of fertilizing the soil of our soul to become more and more receptive to the love of God - preparing a place for God to come in. You know in Advent we were saying, “Come Holy Jesus, Come Holy Jesus.” We weren't trying to convince Him, but what we were actually trying to do was prepare our hearts to receive Him, to become more receptive.

But this morning, I want to focus on just three ways that we can foster a greater spirit of receptivity in our life. The first is perhaps not completely intuitive, but it is certainly spoken to in the first and second readings, especially. And this is ‘order’ - increasing greater reward in our own interior life, but also in our family life. We need to make ourselves more receptive to the love of God. What do I mean by that? God has a design for family life. And in the context of the family each member of the family has their own part to play. The Lord speaks to us about this order. He speaks about the father, the husband, being placed at the head of the household, and it seems that order really stems from the fatherhood of the father. Not just in a household, but in the universe, right? The order of the universe stems from the Fatherhood of God. And the household, the family, the human family, is simply a microcosm of that greater reality. But St. Paul, writing to the Colossians, also to the Ephesians, the Book of Sirach, all of this speaks about the order, the proper order of a family. How a husband loves his wife; how a wife loves her husband; how the children love and honor and obey the parents, both father and mother. I really encourage you to go back and read the first and second readings, especially you who are raising families these days. It speaks just beautifully on the kind of order that God desires to be in our families. And granted, a lot of families are broken, a lot of families have their own forms of trials and brokenness and all of that, so sometimes we're not able actually to follow every single line of these passages but we do what we can to foster that sense of order in our families and doing that helps the family thrive. Also, families thrive because what we are doing is we're, we are saying is, we want our family to be what God designed it to be. And God designed a family for thriving and for joy. So, that is the first way that we foster this spirit of openness and receptivity to the love of God - we embrace the order that God himself has placed in the family. And so, maybe, that entails a little reflection on each of our hearts. If I am a father, if I am a husband, do I lay down my life for my wife, my children. Or children - how well do I do at obeying my mom and dad? And so on and so forth – wives loving their husbands.

The second point is that going to Confession actually fosters receptivity in our hearts to the love of God. I know of a family, they say that when things are kind of ‘off’ inside the home, when people are, for adding each other's throats, or there's just sort of a general sense that, things are not good, the mom and dad march everyone off to Confession, and they all go to Confession. Mom and Daddy included. And it works wonders; it works wonders. Why is that? The Sacrament of Confession helps us to recognize how much we need God. I came to kind of an embarrassing realization a few weeks ago that I fallen into the pattern sort of thinking like, “All right, after I go to confession and I don't need the mercy of God anymore.” Like, “Okay, I got His mercy, so I don't need it until I sin again.”  No! Going to Confession teaches us that we need God's mercy more than ever. We think, you know, if we're growing in holiness, we're getting closer that, you know, there's less of a gap or something like that. We need God more and more and more as life goes on. Not less and less. And going to Confession helps us to grow in humility and gratitude which are two virtues that dispose us to receive the outpouring of God's love and into our heart. And Confession also helps us to recognize, to pinpoint the areas in our lives where we are closed to God so that we can open it, so that we can allow God to open those areas. Making a good Examination of Conscience is a wonderful way of bringing to light those areas where we have closed off our hearts to God. Going to Confession is a wonderful way of beginning - tilling that soil.

The third suggestion, the third area, is receiving Holy Communion. So, if we're trying to figure out how to receive God, better - practice makes perfect, right? The more we practice receiving God with a heart full of love, receiving the body and blood of Jesus with eagerness and with desire the better we get at receiving Him in whatever way He comes to us. So, worthy reception of Holy Communion is good practice for receiving the Lord. It fosters ever greater openness. And just like I was saying with Confession, receiving Holy Communion may to some degree, bring us a sense of satisfaction, but more than that, it should enkindle a greater hunger in us so that we don't go out the doors of the church saying, “Well, I've done that and I am satisfied and know I have enough.”  But we say, “I can't wait to receive Him again with even greater love than I received Him today.” So that each time we receive Holy Communion our love for God is increasing and receiving Him just makes us want to receive Him more. And therefore, it prepares our heart to receive, even receiving Communion orients us toward receiving Him. Does that make sense? Receiving the Lord makes us want to receive Him even more.

So, these three things, trying to establish or maintain order in our interior life, and in our family relationships, going to Confession regularly, receiving Holy Communion worthily on a regular basis, with greater and  greater love, all of these things are good ways to foster receptivity in our hearts and therefore, to be filled more and more with the love of God, and therefore, to grow in holiness and therefore, to have a holy family.

We are coming to the end of this calendar year; we are about to begin a new calendar year. People are starting to consider what resolutions they might make. These are four things to consider: Studying these first and second readings; striving for greater order; resolving to go to Confession on a regular basis; and asking God for the grace, in receiving Holy Communion, to experience an increased desire to receive Him more and more worthily for the transformation of our hearts, our lives, in holiness.



Thursday, Christmas Day, December 25, 2025

Merry Christmas. The Christmas story, which we know very well - the Annunciation of the good news to Mary that she would become the mother of God; the journey to Bethlehem; the birth of Jesus; Jesus being laid in a manger. We know the story of the angel, the shepherds, the star, and the Magi.

The whole story of Christmas is situated in a much broader story, a greater context and it is important for us to know the Christmas story, of course, but it's also important for us to know the greater context in which these events of our salvation unfolded. And it began, not with the Annunciation, the Archangel Gabriel speaking to Mary, it began really with the beginning, the creation of time, the creation of the world, and all that exists in it. And it extends of course, to us today and beyond us, into tomorrow. When I teach, I like to use a timeline. Some of our high school youth group students here know that I have a timeline - it's on the whiteboard in the library. So, if you'll bear with me, like to make sort of an illustration of a timeline. I don't have a big chalk board here to use but just imagine the timeline sort of extending from this side to that side.

So, it begins, as I said, with the creation of time itself. Before the creation of time, there was only God and God created time, and then He created the world in time. The incredible jewel of creation of His was mankind. He delighted in them – man and woman, male and female – He created them. He saw what He made, He saw that it was very good. But not long after that, sin entered the picture through disobedience. And so, there was a rupture of that initial friendship that God enjoyed with mankind and mankind enjoyed with God. There was a rupture in that relationship through sin. And then ever since that time, God began to unveil, to reveal His plan for reconciling mankind to Him.

So, there was a flood, and then there were covenants. There was a covenant with Noah. And there was a covenant with Abraham. God promised to Abraham that He would make Abraham’s descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, or the sand on the shore of the sea. Sometime after that, the chosen people were taking into slavery in Egypt. We know that whole story. Years, and years, and years, and years, they toiled in slavery, and at one point God raised up Moses to be the one to deliver the people of God from that slavery. You know the story of how Moses led the people through the Red Sea onto dry ground. The water of the sea parted. And they wandered through desert, but they came to the Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey. Moses didn't get to enter. He saw it from a distance, but he didn't get to enter it.

Then God raised up judges to govern the people, and ultimately God raised up kings. He established a kingdom. We know the story of Saul and David and Solomon, and so many other kings that followed, mostly bad, some good. And this whole series of kings. And then there came times of exile. There was a Syrian exile, and people were driven from the land. There was a Babylonian exile. This was around 586, 587 BC. And that was somewhere around 50 years that they were exiled in Babylon. And during that time, God raised up prophets who continued to speak to God's people of this developing plan of God to reconcile us to Him. And of course, eventually comes the birth of Christ, and in the life and ministry, the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ we have the fulfillment of all of this that God has been revealing from the beginning - from creation, from the fall, and all the covenants, and the kings, the judges, the kings, the prophets, all of that - is a preparation for the entry of Jesus Christ onto the scene, into the scene, unto the scene - however you want to put it. The Savior! Go is preparing for all this, and then Jesus arrives on this scene. And that is this narrow little window where we have the story, the Annunciation, the birth. And then, of course, we know there was the flight to Egypt because Joseph and Mary, and the child Jesus, had to escape the wrath of King Herod. We know that Joseph and Mary and Jesus settled in Nazareth. Jesus grew up there. You know one story of his childhood anyway, where they went to Jerusalem to fulfill the precepts of the law for the feast. And Joseph and Mary started back home, and they realized after a little while that Jesus was not with them. So, they went back to Jerusalem. This is when Jesus was twelve years old. Then comes a period of silence. We don't know anything about the life of Jesus in the family from the time He was twelve to the time He was baptized.

And then He was sent out into the desert for forty days and began His public ministry, teaching, and working miracles, announcing the coming of the Kingdom of God. And of course, we know of His passion, death and resurrection. The source of our life, the source of our hope. After His Resurrection, He appeared for forty days to many, many, many people. They were witnesses of the truth that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And then after forty days, He ascended into heaven, about ten days later, He sent the Holy Spirit on Pentecost to fill the hearts of those who had gathered in that upper room and were so anxiously awaiting that promise made for the Spirit.

And that, of course, is the birth of the Church. At that point we enter into the era of the Church, the early Church, the apostolic age, the Church fathers, and so forth in so long, long succession of popes, bishops and the and faithful, celebrating the sacraments, bringing the grace of God into the lives of real people, transforming them, giving them healing and hope and light. And that brings us to today.

I remember, as a child, one of my favorite parts of Christmas gatherings and other family gatherings we had was my dad would come out with a projector. We actually had a reel-to-reel projector. We eventually got a camcorder. I know some of you kids don't know what a camcorder is.  We have these family videos and family movies. And there's no sound. So, my dad would tell us what was going on and some of them were so old I didn't know who the people were. You know, I was the youngest, but my dad, you know, got married in 1958. So, there were a lot of people, you know, that I didn't know about. And then, of course, I went to the, into the scene came my older brothers and sisters, so I saw, you know, and as a little baby, some kids running around, and “Ah, I can connect with that.” It was fun to watch that. But then there was a point where I was in the video too. As a little baby, a toddler or a young child. And you know, it wasn't this big ego trip. Like I needed to see myself in, you know, not on the screen or something, but it was important to me. It was valuable to me to see that I was in the story. I knew, of course, obviously I was part of this family. But to see that I fit into that whole narrative. That was important.

I say that because that's how we ought to look at this timeline from creation all the way to today and beyond. It's not just something that we observe unfolding in real time or think back on all these events. You know, we can memorize the series of events or study, you know, books of the Law or prophets. It's not just for us to see, but we realize that it's our story, too. How many here are baptized? Just about everyone, I think. You are baptized into the mystery of Jesus Christ and His suffering death and resurrection. So, this whole story of Salvation History becomes yours. In a certain way, from the beginning of your existence, yes, all of creation is part of the story, because God wants to bring all of creation back into friendship with Him so to speak. He wants to heal the wounds of sin and division. But in a very particular way, especially in privileged way, Baptism brings us into this reality. That's where we come onto the ‘screen’ of this story. But not just Baptism.

You noticed that as we're following this story, the appearance of the Christ right here in the middle. Right in front of the altar. We heard in the Gospel: “That the word became flesh.” The eternal word of God, spoken from before time, took on our flesh, our creation. Christmas. The word means “Christ’s Mass”. It's connected to the Mass. The Sacrament of the body and the blood of Christ.

In the Byzantine Catholic tradition, they have an icon where it shows an altar, and the paten is the vessel onto which the bread is placed for Consecration, but instead of bread, this icon shows the baby Jesus. So, picture the baby Jesus right here. But then also, when you when you go to the manger and you ponder the birth of Jesus - it's the same, the same Word made flesh. When you go there, think of the altar. Think of the bread of life given to us.

And after our baptism, of course, we have in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, renewing that grace of Baptism, that we also have this tremendous gift of Jesus Christ, His body and blood in the Eucharist, to strengthen us and heal and draw us deeper and deeper into the heart of God. That's God's intention in this whole story to take your heart into His. And for those two hearts to become one.

That's the gift of Christmas. He's come. All this Advent we say, “Come Lord Jesus. Come Lord Jesus. Come Lord Jesus, we are opening our hearts”, and now we recognize He is here. God with us. God with us at the altar. God giving Himself for us. To us. Christmas is the time we bring out our Nativity scenes. We just ponder this tremendous, wondrous mystery.

Christmas is a wonderful time for us also to ask God for the grace to see in the manger the Bread of Life. And to see on the altar the nourishment we desperately need to sustain us, to raise us up over all the things that weigh us down. The grief and the sadness of life, the struggles, the confusion, the disappointments, the discouragements, all these things. Jesus is the Light who lifts us up. And today, this morning, in this celebration, we can once again open our hearts to receive the greatest gift of Christmas: the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 21, 2025

Most of us have at some point in life been in a situation where we are not sure what to do. Where there was no clear answer to a difficult situation. Maybe some sort of moral dilemma where even after praying, discerning, and reflecting, the path just doesn't seem clear. St. Joseph finds himself in such a situation in today's Gospel.

From Joseph's perspective, it may seem that there is a conflict between the love of God and the love of neighbor because his betrothed, Mary, is pregnant before they have begun to live together. And the Law says something about such situations. The Law would say that a woman in this situation could be even stoned; put to death. Certainly, if her situation became known, she could be publicly ridiculed and shamed. Joseph loves God; he loves the Law of God. He wants to follow the Law; he wants to honor the Law, but he also loves Mary very, very much. He is not willing to expose her to shame. He certainly doesn't want to see her put to death. So, what does he do?

I have a hard time imagining that Joseph actually suspected Mary of adultery. Presumably, Joseph had been able to spend at least a little bit of time with Mary. He would have known very quickly of the purity of her heart, her goodness, her holiness. How could he even imagine that she would commit adultery? I have a hard time accepting that theory or that interpretation of the passage. Other readings suggest that Joseph recognized that something divine must have taken place if Mary was now found with child and that he now had a sense of awe and wonder and unworthiness. He said he would try to divorce Mary quietly. In any case, Joseph reflected on his dilemma and ultimately decides to divorce Mary quietly. And undoubtedly Joseph must have thought that this would be the best path, the most loving path forward.

One of my favorite commentators on this Gospel, Father Simeon, suggests that Joseph was so fatigued by his pondering of this dilemma, that he fell asleep. And it was in that sleep that the light shown, and he knew what to do. It was in this sleep that the angel of the Lord came to him and said, “Do not be afraid, Joseph, to take Mary your wife into your home. The angel explains, “For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her womb.”  And the angel points to Joseph's involvement, right? Joseph is to be the one to give Jesus his name. So, Joseph, in the midst of this darkness, in the midst of this struggle, confusion, uncertainty, received the light of divine wisdom. And then proceeded immediately to take Mary into his home and to allow God’s plan to unfold.

The same Father Simeon in his commentary on the verse about the appearance of the angel to Joseph writes: “Persevere in darkness, without rebelling, and without lighting some trembling candle and God’s healing light will invade you.“ That sentence lept off the page to me: “Persevere in darkness without rebelling, and without the lightings of a trembling candle and God's healing light will invade.”  I think there's so many times in life facing decisions where the answer was not clear, I don’t know if I rebelled all that much against God, but I have certainly lite my own candle. In other words, in the midst of this darkness, I'll say, “Well, Lord you do not seem to be giving me an answer, so I'll make one myself. I’ll light your candle. If you are not going to do it, I will make the light. I will craft my own solution to this situation, this problem.” By God’s grace, I don't know, sometimes it goes okay, but I don't recommend that course of action. “Persevering in darkness without rebelling, and without lighting of a trembling candle and God’s healing light will invade.” Wait patiently for the light of Christ. Wait patiently in silence. Listen. Resist the temptation to light that trembling candle; to rely on your own understanding, your own resources, your own strategy.

What constitutes that darkness in the common circumstances of your life? Just take a moment to ponder that question. Where is the darkness where the light does not shine? It will be different things for different people. For some there may be a real struggle with anger, there might be confusion about your path forward in life. It could be the reality of a serious illness or cancer, or it could be struggles with memory loss. It could be financial problems. It could be relationships that are strained and not being resolved. It could be unforgiveness, remembering past hurts over and over and over again. We all have different things that constitute that darkness. What do we do with that? That is the question.

The whole season of Advent invites us to sit in that darkness waiting for the Lord, begging the Lord to come. I keep saying it is always on the Church’s lips during the season of Advent: “Come Lord Jesus. Come Lord Jesus. Not just to bring consolation and peace to my heart. Calm my darkness! Bring light into this darkness that is in my life.”

As Advent nears its culmination, I think it is a good time for us to re-prepare ourselves with observers, really entering into silence. The quiet, the waiting. In the concrete reality of our darkness, whatever there is in our life. And above all to draw nearer and nearer to Jesus in the Eucharist, the Sacrament of Light. The Sacrament of God’s truth. In the Eucharistic we encounter that God is with us. Instead of lighting that trembling candle, crafting our own solutions to this darkness, let us rather to draw near to Jesus, the light of the world, the Bread of Life, the one for whom our hearts long. 

Third Sunday of Advent, December 14, 2025

Everyone wants joy. We are hard-wired with that desire. God made us that way. We desire great joy. Not just sporadically, but deep and abiding joy. My question for you today is this: How do you go about pursuing joy in your life? Or what do you look to to give you joy from day to day? Jesus in the Gospel asks the crowds, three times, basically: “What are you looking for? Why do you go out into the desert? What were you expecting to see?”  We can hear almost those same words addressed to us. “What are you looking for? What is it that you think will bring you joy in life? What are you going after, pursuing, in hopes of having deep and abiding happiness in life?”

People, of course, will answer the question in different ways. For some people, it is material or financial prosperity or comfort that they're looking for. If they have that, they can be joyful. For some, it's good health. If only I could be well, then I could be joyful. For others it is having fun. As long as we're having a good time, we are happy. Others may be looking for stability as a source of joy. If the dust would just finally settle, you know, if things would calm down for a while, then there would be happiness. Others are looking for harmony in their family, or even just to see that their children and grandchildren are doing well. That's a criterion for being happy in life. For some it is success in their career, a good crop in farming, a good return on an investment. For others, it might be a good reputation, having a good opinion of other people, or having good relationships with others, to be known as a good person. Others may feel that true happiness will come the more power they have, the greater control they have over things. When things go my way, the way I want them to go, then I can be joyful. But if things don't go the way I want them to go, then I can't be happy. For some, they will be joyful if their political parties are in power. Or their sports team is winning. Others find joy in not having to deal with people. Or if other people would just do what they are supposed to do, then I can be happy; I would find joy. It is not always self-preferential either, for some it is helping others that gives them joy. They find happiness or even just seeing other people happy gives them a sense of joy. All these things, all these things can bring delight to us in our day-to-day life. But every single thing I mentioned can change in an instant. Health can change, a financial situation can change, relationships with other people can change. It can all change in a flash. And then where are we? If our pursuit of joy is tied up in all of these other things, and then the circumstances change, we might do left feeling there is no joy until the circumstances change again. And then ground falls out from under our feet.

Well, true joy cannot be contingent of the circumstances of life. It cannot depend on that. So, others will say, well then, if you can't count on the circumstances of life to make you happy, then you just have to decide that you're going to be joyful. You just have to choose. I'm going to be happy. That is a step in the right direction, but it's still a flawed understanding of joy because we do not generate our own joy. It's like if you're thirsty, you can't fix that on your own. Not to be gross, but swallowing your own saliva, it's not going to be slay your thirst. Right? You just can't do that. And you can't just decide, I'm not thirsty. We can make a choice to go to the kitchen sink with a glass and fill it with water and drink and quench our thirst but even in that case, we have not quenched our own thirst. I didn't make the water. I may have paid for the water meter, but I didn't make the water. I have found the source. I can quench my thirst. And so, it is with joy. We don't generate it on ourselves, but we know where to go to get it.

And now I am getting to a true notion of joy - not dependent on the circumstances of life, not something we create on our own - but we do choose to avail ourselves or not. A joy that can be ours all the time. All the time. Wherever we are and whatever is going on. John the Baptist figures prominently in today's Gospel and last week's Gospel. John always pointed to Christ, always pointed to Jesus. Jesus is the source of our joy. And not just Jesus and His abstract, presence out there, but our nearness to Jesus and His nearness to us, that's the source of joy. Not in St. Matthew's Gospel, but in the Gospel of Luke, we hear that in that beautiful event of the Visitation, Mary goes to visit Elizabeth. And at the moment when the sound of Mary's greeting reaches Elizabeth's ears, John the Batist leaps for joy in her womb. John recognizes the presence of Christ and that brings him joy even as he is not possessing a rational presence yet. He leaps with joy in the presence of the Lord. The presence of the Lord is the source of our joy. So, it's such a relief to know that the circumstances of life do not have to govern the reality of joy in us.

If we're looking to the circumstances of life to determine our experience of joy, we become slaves of those things. We become slaves to them, slaves to work, slaves to money, slaves to power, reputation, to health. God didn't make us to being slaves to those things. He made us for the joy that comes of knowing and loving Him.

I would specify two simple areas in life where we have tremendous opportunities to experience the nearness of the Lord, and to be filled with joy. The first probably comes to us naturally as Catholics:  recognizing the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Here Jesus is not this abstract reality out there. He is unquestioned love, soul, and divinity - the complete presence of Christ is here in this Sacrament. So, whether we are just walking into the building, or coming to adore him when He is exposed on the altar, visiting Him in the Blessed Sacrament chapel or at the Mass, we are receiving Him into our body, into our heart. This is a special, special gift of Jesus. His presence, His real presence, His true presence, and receiving Him with eagerness, recognizing Him in the Sacrament – this should bring us great joy. It really should. That joy is available to us in this Sacrament if we have eyes to see, if we approach with faith and thirst and hunger in our hearts for Jesus. That's the intuitive one.

The second opportunity for us to enjoy the Lord and receive the joy of His presence is not so intuitive. It's the Cross. The reality of the Cross in our life. The exact thing in fact, that we regard as, maybe with the anthesis of joy in our life. The sufferings we endure, the sufferings of ours. The pains, the grief, the trials, the difficulties, - these things that in our human nature we shun. In the eyes of faith, we see the nearness of the Cross of Christ. And so even in the midst of those things, those difficulties, we find that Jesus is so near. So very, very near. No matter what that Cross entails. It takes a lot of faith I think to see the Cross from that perspective. But it is true. I am not lying to you. And in the Eucharist and in the concrete Crosses of our day-to-day life, Jesus is there. He is present.

So, it's a good day this day, this joyful Sunday of Advent to take stock of again that question that I asked in the beginning: What am I pursuing? How am I pursuing joy in my life? What are the decisions that I make day-after-day in which I am going after joy, wanting joy? Where am I looking for it? And then to meet that reality with the truth of the joy that comes from God alone, and the nearness of Christ. Maybe it is an opportunity today to sort of recalibrate, refocus, and redirect that pursuit of joy and like John the Baptist recognizes the nearness of Christ, and leapt for joy, you might just leap a little bit, you might just find something waking up in us. The nearness of Jesus really does bring us the depth and constancy of the joy that we desire so deeply.

Second Week of Advent December 7, 2025 Fr. David Kruse

 Friends, it is already the second week of Advent. We have Christmas coming up around the corner. The world has been preparing for Christmas since August. I walked into Costco at the end of August and I was seeing Christmas decorations up already. It's ridiculous. So, our minds definitely have been on Christmas for a while. Look at where are our hearts? That's the big question of Advent.

Where are our hearts during this time? Because the Lord wants you to make space for Him, to remove unnecessary attachments in your life so that He has the open space to come and dwell with you. So, remember one of the great keys of the spiritual life, I might have said this in past homilies, but it is so important for us to remind ourselves of this. One of the great keys of the spiritual life is what are we going to do to meet God and the be relationship to Him? In fact, it's very much, passive if you will, because He always moves first in relationship to His children – all of us. He always is the first mover. He is in other words; he is always present to us by his grace. And literally, he is present to us by the fact that he keeps us in existence every moment of our lives. We remember that. The foundation of all that exists is God himself. Now we have layers above that, layers of things that are in existence, that God has put into place to keep things going. But at the very bottom layer is God Himself, keeping you in existence. So, we are all alive. We are breathing; we are living. What keeps us alive? Well, the laws of biology. Right? All of the systems of the human body interacting properly. What keeps the laws of biology functioning properly? Chemistry. What keeps the laws of chemistry working? The laws of physics? What keeps the laws of physics functioning? You cannot go very much further until you get the bottom layer of existence, and that's what we call God. You can't just say, well, it just keeps going on forever. Philosophically, that is impossible. You cannot have an infinite regression otherwise nothing exists. You have to have some point where there is a foundation – a first place. That first mover, that first place, is God itself.

So, the point is that God is with you, not just spiritually, but literally with you, keeping you with existence at every moment of your life. That's profound! Where is God? I don't feel like I can sense God. He's here! He is keeping you alive! That's just the minimum. As the creator, He knows you by name, but as your Father, He loves you. So, the point is this: the key to the spiritual life is number one, to recognize that in our lives and then what is the work that we do? How do we respond to the fact that God is present? Remember the helicopter analogy? God is present to our hearts like a helicopter. Our hearts are the landing pad. But the landing pad has to be clear of debris. It has to be clear so there is a space for the helicopter to land – for God to land on our hearts. Our job is to create that landing zone. Our job is to remove obstacles so that we can receive a God who loves us who is already present to us. And so He can be with us.

God is with you in a special way. Friends, that is the whole purpose of Advent. That is the purpose of Lent! In Lent we prepare for Easter; in Advent we prepare for Christmas. Both of those pivots during our liturgical life. The entire calendar revolves around Christmas and Easter, the two great mysteries of our faith. God so loved us that He became one of us to rescue us, to be with us, to save us from our sins, so that we can go to heaven and be happy forever with Him. Forever.  That's .  journey. That is the goal. That is why we're here. And Advent is the time when we stop and reflect on these bigger questions. So, to help us prepare for Christmas properly, and if we haven't been thinking about our spiritual preparation in Advent, it is never too late. Today is a new day, and we start now.

The Church gives us this reading about John the Baptist to help us prepare. So, remember in Scripture, we always have two senses. Two meanings. Scripture is inspired by God. There is always a literal meaning, the historical meaning. What is it that the author is trying to communicate historically? So, there is a historical telling of what happened. In this case, it is about John the Baptist and what he said, and what was happening in the area. And then there is this spiritual meaning. What is it that God is trying to tell us? And how is He speaking to us through these images and words? So, it is historical meaning, spiritual meaning, and in the spiritual meaning there are several deep layers as well.

But here we have a couple of things that I want to leave with you to help with your reflection in these the last two weeks or so. Number one -What is important about the desert? Spiritual speaking. Why did men and women for centuries leave the city and go find a cave in the desert and live there for the rest of their lives? Which is beyond comprehension to me. Imagine living in a dugout hole on the side of a mountain for forty years. What is it though about the desert that is so appealing to the spiritual? Well, if you have been to a desert, what do you find there? Nothing! There is literally almost nothing there. That is the point. You can go into an environment, physically, where it is very sparse and quiet. There is not a lot of movement or features. Geology is just flat. And what that does is it helps us eliminate distractions in our lives. Friends we need go to the desert in our heart and find that quiet space to make room for God. That is the point. We go to the desert. The Saints of God went to the desert. Jesus went to the desert to prepare. We go to the desert, we find the spot in our hearts, and we find a spot in our home. That chair in the corner of my room is my prayer chair. That's where I go to pray. I sit down when it is time to pray and get away distractions around me, I just focus on my relationship with God. That is the desert of our hearts. That is what the Lord said. He said, “Go to the quiet room in your heart and be with your Father. Close the door.” In other words, get rid of the distractions! Our lives are full of distractions. My mind is full of distractions, and I am a priest.  I am trained in this, and I feel all my heart oftentimes is so burdened by distractions because there's so much going on in our minds. You can name, I am quite sure, twenty things that you're thinking about right now. It happens, but we have to be intentional to go to that desert place in order to find and make room for God and leave these are distractions behind. Turn off that phone or at least put it on an airplane mode, so that it is not a distraction. And you are dedicated to those five minutes a day. Five minutes. It is not too much to ask. Five minutes a day? One hour a week at Mass; once a month at Confession. That is a great baseline for the spiritual life. Because God now sees that you want to be with Him. And then He continues to be present to you in more special ways. All right, number two, so number one is the desert.

Number two, the word of John Baptist. What does he say? As a side note, remember the 1970’s? Remember in the 1970's the series Jesus of Nazareth? CBS would play it every Easter or for three or four days during Holy week. The Italian director Franco Zeffirelli directed it, and it remains well-known today.  It was really a classic. And it has you know, all the scenes of Jesus' life from his birth until his death and resurrection. The scene with John the Baptist – you have seen these images in your mind and you now have a reference point. John the Baptist is in his hair shirt and camel stuff; crazy hair and eating grasshoppers and honey. Can you imagine this character? He is one that is helping to prepare people to receive the Messiah. What does he say? First word out of his mouth, “Repent.” What does that mean? By the way, it was first word of Jesus, too, when He starts His public life. Repent.

What is the word that the Gospel writers actually use in the Greek? Metanoia. It is an imperative, so it is speaking to the person. So, repentance from Jesus' perspective and John the Baptist’s perspective is about changing the way think about the things that keep us away from God. Metanoia - remove the things in your life that are distractions and focus on God. Change the way you think about the questions of life. Are you even asking the big questions of life? Is your mind focused on the question, how do I stand this morning in my relationship with God? That is what going to the desert allows us to do. Focus on these bigger questions. Am I in right relationship with God? How is that relationship going? We have desert, we have repentance, metanoia, and changing our mind, the way we think. And then, lastly, we have St. John telling us to prepare for the kingdom of God.

What is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is not place. It's not set of ideas. It is not a political movement. But kingdom of God is a person, Jesus Christ. And so we go to the desert to remove ourselves from distractions; to think about the big questions of life, to change the way we think about, our attachments in our relationship with God, so that our hearts become empty.

Empty of those things so that we can be with God Himself, Jesus Christ. That is it. Simple, not easy, but always simple. So, friends, no better way to prepare for Advent than by taking a few moments every day to think about these things, and then to do what the people did as they were hearing you about this. They were confessing their sins, receiving St. John’s Baptism of repentance. They were coming to join and repenting and confessing sins. We have the Sacrament available to you any time you would like it. To be able to receive God’s mercy and to put things straight in your heart so that God can be more present to you as you repent from your sins, and clear the way for His coming, especially at Christmas.

Friends, may you have a blessed and holy rest of your Advent season and a very blessed Christmas as it comes upon us. God Bless you.



Solemnity of Christ the King, November 23, 2025

The story is told of a seminarian, I don't know if it is a true story or not, I do know it is not about me. But the story is told of a seminarian really struggling through his final oral exam just giving the professor wrong after wrong answer after wrong answer after wrong answer. Finally, the professor is so frustrated he says, “Look, I am going to ask you one simple question and if you can answer it correctly, I'll give you a passing grade.” The professor is probably thinking ‘I don't want to have to repeat this course with this kid!’ The question from the professor was “Who was the first king of Israel?” “That is an easy one,” the seminarian says, “His name was Saul.”  Just as the professor is reaching out to shake the seminarian’s hand and congratulate him on passing the course, the seminarian added some clarification. “Saul who was later known as Paul.” [laughter] Paul came many, many centuries later.

Saul was indeed the first king of Israel and then of course there was a long line of kings which you can read about in the Books of Samuel and Kings and Chronicles and there were some good kings but they were mostly evil kings who fell into idolatry and all kinds of other problems. But even though Saul was the first king of Israel, it was really his successor David whom God raised up as the model king and despite David's weakness and sinfulness, God said of David “Here is a man after my own heart.” David had the heart of a shepherd. He was not tyrant; he was not full of pride; he was not selfish. He had the heart of the shepherd. He was sinful but he had the heart of a shepherd. This is the divine model of kingliness.

 When I was a kid raising sheep for 4H, I had two main jobs in that I had to make sure that the sheep were protected from predators, and I had to make sure they had enough to eat. Those were the two main tasks of a shepherd. Of course, King David was as a shepherd, king, a prefigurement of the Lord Jesus. Remember the prophet Nathan prophesied to David that God would raise up a descendant of his to rule over the Kingdom definitively and his rule would have no end. And we see Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of that prophecy. So, more than any of the other kings, God reveals through Jesus his desire to rule his people with the heart of a shepherd.

So, on this Solemnity of the Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe the first question is what kind of King is he? He is the kind of King who reigns like a shepherd, governs like a shepherd, has the heart of a shepherd for his sheep, always seeking the good of the sheep, always looking toward the flourishing on his flock. That is the kind of King we serve. That is the kind of King we serve. And Jesus also carried out these two tasks, right? Protecting the flock from predators, from harm and from death. He gave his life on the cross to save his flock from sin and death. He made the ultimate sacrifice of himself, his own life for the good of the sheep, the good of his flock. He also makes sure that they have enough to eat. He feeds them. The Lord Jesus who feeds us his disciples with his whole body and blood. The nourishment which brings us to internal life.

So, that is the first question. What kind of King do we serve? We serve the King with the Lord Jesus who gave his life on the cross to protect us from evil and sin and death and he feeds us with his body and blood.

So, then the second question and last question is how do we respond to having such a good King? How are we to be loyal subjects of this good King, this shepherd King? Our first response is adoration. If you flipped through the hymnal, you would have seen all kinds of hymns that include references to the Lord as King. “Oh, worship the King all Glorious Above. Oh, gratefully sing of his power and his love.” Or “Hail Redeemer King divine. What the King of love my shepherd is.” Or “Come down almighty King.” “All creatures of our God and King.” I didn’t look at every single hymn in the hymnal but there are more than these that talk about Jesus as our King and you know in facing such a King, our first response is to adore - to lay down our lives for this King. To bow before him in adoration and worship acknowledging him as God that we are not God. The Lord his God; the Lord is King. He is worthy of all our praise and our admiration.

Secondly, his Kingship evokes from us for response of love. See, adoration is not just loving God more than anything else. Adoration is in its own class but the Lord's care for us as his beloved flock should evoke from us a response of love. That we would love God above all else and recognize and receive the love the Lord has for us. It also invokes from us a response of service -  to serve the Lord in all that we do in our profession, in our family, in everything we do, we ought to serve the Lord, to serve Jesus the King our Lord, our loving shepherd.

And finally, Jesus’ kingship evokes a response by invitation that we might also love others as he loves us which was his commandment anyway. He loves us as a shepherd loves his sheep. He laid down his life for us we lay down our lives for others. As He feeds us who are hungry, we feed others who are hungry and in need. We follow the pattern of our divine King and shepherd. We imitate. So, we adore him, we love him, we serve and we imitate him.

Finally, as a practical means of entering into proper relationship with the Lord Jesus, our King, I encourage you to participate in Eucharistic Adoration. The Eucharist is of course the Lord's primary means of feeding us. He gives himself to us in this sacrament. I know many of you already get here early on a Saturday just to spend some time in adoration as you are able, but if that's not part of your weekly practice to have some time in Eucharistic Adoration, I strongly urge people to take up that practice even if it starts with just a few minutes each week. Or if can stop at the Church when the office is open and just make a quick visit.

Adoring Jesus in the Eucharist, we come to face to face with this King, this shepherd, the one who loves us more than anyone else. And it is in the quiet of that Eucharistic Adoration that the Lord inviting you to make a response. A response of love, a response of service, a response to His invitation. So come to the Lord, adore him. Let us adore Christ the King.

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 16, 2025

Judgment, Heaven, and Hell - these were the four things in traditionally identified by Church as the Four Last Things. Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. And everybody gets three out of the four. Everyone gets the first two and one of the second two.

In November, we come toward the end of the Church’s liturgical year and the Church, especially in the apocalyptic Scriptures that are presented to us in Masses celebrating these days, turns to our attention to these Four Last Things. Not to stir up terror in our hearts, or anxiety, but to present them very much for our consideration. The Church always invites us to live in the present moment as it is in the present where God meets us. We don't want to dwell too much on the past that is already gone - it cannot change. We don't want to dwell too much on the future that isn't in existence yet, worrying and fearing, all of that. We are encouraged to live in the present moment where God meets us. God is not ‘The great I was’ or ‘The great I will be.’ He says His name is ‘I am.’ And yet, even though we live in the present moment, we always have an eye toward the end. We always have an eye toward the future in that sense so that the way we live in the present moment is governed by what we are looking at today. And it seems to me that the way we look at the end and the way we consider the last things has an impact on how we live in the present moment.

There are a lot of people who have different thoughts and ideas about the Last Things. For example, there are those who cannot bring themselves to believe that there is a Hell. Well, what is Jesus thinking about that? It does not seem to be a Scriptural point of view. It seems to go against what Jesus Himself says. So, I don’t recommend holding the stance that there is no Hell because if you look at the teachings of Jesus and the long tradition of His teaching through the Church, you see that there has to be if human beings have free will, for the potential of eternal separation from God.

Another thought is that there is a Hell, but that it is empty because God is too nice to send anyone there. Right? That the goodness and mercy of God override human freedom, so that no matter what we do in this life, God will triumph in the end and bring everyone to Heaven. This is problematic also because it dismisses the reality of human life. And it means that it doesn't matter what we do in this life. It would mean that there is no reason to have faith. There's no reason to strive to do what's good. If the exercise of our free will won’t make any difference in the end, then just do whatever they want, because God is so nice. Again, this has not harmonized well with the teachings of Jesus Himself.

A sort of a related perspective on this is that Hell is real but only the very, very worst of the worst could ever go there. So, there is like two souls. Well, again, we know that passage in Scripture where Jesus says, “The road to destruction is wide, and many find it, but the road to life is narrow and those who find it are a few.” We don't need to give a dogmatic interpretation of that to say that, you know, there's just one little dinner party of eight going on in Heaven and the rest of us are lost. But we should pay close attention to what Jesus says and not just set it aside because we would like to think that you have to be really, really, really bad to be separated from the God for all eternity. It is a choice. It is a human choice. We all know that we are capable of making choices, even bad ones.

Another perspective would be that Hell is certainly real and almost everyone goes there. This is towards the other extreme. That only the very, very best of the best go to Heaven. So, there is hardly a glimmer of hope for the rest of us. Or there is a perspective that most people go there thankfully, we're not.

The Church warns against the danger of presumption. Just saying, ‘Oh, well, got it made.” “It is an easy ride in.” But the Church also warns against the opposite extreme, having no hope or having so very, very little hope in Eternal Life. Jesus says, “Do not be terrified.” He does not want us to live our life in anxiousness, fear, and terror about Hell or Heaven. In previous generations, and maybe some of you know this, there was generally a much greater fear of Hell. And I would say that in younger generations today, there isn't very much of that fear and perhaps that's because Hell doesn’t get preached on all that much. I'm guilty of that perhaps. I mean, it's not on purpose.

It goes from one extreme to the other. Absolute terror of Hell versus no concern whatsoever. So, what is a good and healthy approach to this topic of The Last Four Things? I think we all need to have a good healthy awareness of the recognition of our poverty – that we need God; we need God like crazy; we need God. Absolutely. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot forgive our own sins. We cannot hoist ourselves up to Heaven. We are like little children with respect to God. We need God to lift us up and take us to Himself.

But when we look at our poverty, we should not look at our poverty without hope. “Oh, I am miserable worm. There is just hardly anything good about me.” We have such hope in eternal life because in our poverty God loves us. God wants us to be saved. God pours out graces upon us to draw us to Himself. That is our hope. We don’t want to feel discouraged because of our poverty and our need. We look at it always with great hope and confidence in the goodness of God. Not falling into presumption, not falling into this white- knuckled terrifying living of life. But honestly acknowledging our need for God, our poverty, and turning to Him with great hope. I think if we can take that approach and also exercising our free will in such a way to do everything we can to strengthen ourselves in our relationship with God, we might find that we are indeed the on the right path, on the path that leads to eternal life. 

Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, November 9, 2025

Relationships begin to break down when we start to see the other as a means rather than an end. We see this even in international relations, where in the context of wars, one party says to the other, “I want that land. I want your resources.” And then they make efforts to take it, to seize it. We see it on the national scene in which political opponents cannot seem to have the productive dialogue, but rather they say to one another, "I want you to consent to the way I want to do things. I want your vote. You should vote the way I want to vote.” We see it in marriage and family. We see it in our personal relationship of all kinds, asking ourselves, “What good does this relationship really do for me? What do I need out of this?”

People, human beings, become cogs in the great machine that is our vision and our plan for life. Our notion of how things should go. This is dangerous enough for timid relationships but even more dangerous for our relationship with God. In the Gospel today, Jesus goes in the temple, and He is angry. He is infuriated about what He finds there. He finds a spirit of business. He sees the money changers; He sees those animals for sacrifice. These are all there for the purpose of fulfilling the commandment of God to offer sacrifice, right? Animals are necessary. For foreigners, the changing of money would be necessary. But Jesus goes in and drives them all out in the temple area, overturns the table, spills the coins. And He says those famous words, “Stop making my Father's house a marketplace.” “Stop making my Father's house a marketplace.” The Father's house is not a marketplace. It is not meant to be a place of business, a place of transaction. The Father’s house should be a place of encounter. It should be in place of rest. A place of enjoyment of being with God in love and union. The Father's house should have the feeling of home. Not a marketplace where there is bartering, selling, and buying, a spirit of business, just things to get done, transactions to accomplish.

“My Father's house.” What does that mean to us? I profess I was not really all that good about visiting my parents when they were still alive and not even really all that good about calling them on a regular basis, and I regret that. But I think about the times that I went to their home, my childhood home and what my attitude was as I went to that place, I don't remember ever thinking that I could ‘check this off the box’, I visited my folks -  I did my duty as a son. I mean, there were things that I needed to do about the house, so there wasn’t in a sense, you know, there was work involved. But at the same time, this was their home and very much a sense that I was just there to be together with them. That we were there to enjoy each other's company and to enjoy the dynamics of this family that God had put together. To experience love, to experience goodness of one another. That is what I think about when those words, “My Father's house.”  

Today is the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. It is not just a marking of an anniversary of the event in which this magnificent Cathedral/Basilica was dedicated. It really is a feast day of the Church. It is a day in which we really celebrate the gift that the Church is. Not just that church, but ‘the’ Church. So, we read all these Scriptures today - from Ezekiel and First Corinthians, and the Gospel of John - and our eyes are turned not exactly to the reality of the temple, but the reality of the Church, which is the new temple reality. The temple prefigured the Church, the place of encountering God, the place of entering into Communion with God, the place of being at rest in the Father's presence, being loved by God, and opening our hearts to receive the mercy and goodness of God.

We are thinking about this Church as the Father's house - a place where we can be together with God and with our brothers and sisters, who are part of the family. It is not a marketplace. This isn't a place for business. We don't come here to accomplish anything per se. We don't come to Church so that we can check this off of our list for this week.

 We don't want to treat God like that. To treat God as a means rather than an end - to come the Church and say, “Well, I need to get something from God.” God gives us so much when we go to Mass. And yes, we bring our intentions; we bring all the desires of our hearts when we gather here each Sunday. But really it is about God. It is not so much about us. What a gift the Church is to provide a place and a community to experience being in the Father's house, and the rest and the joy that that is, that that entails. Just to be with God. To set aside for a moment our drive for production, and efficiency, and to accomplish things. Being efficient and accomplishing things is not bad, right? Things have got to get done. This is America, right? But to be able to set aside the drive for a moment and just be with God. Just be with God. What a gift that is.

The Church is also a school. The Church is a school of a sort in which we lovely learn how to be at peace and at rest and enjoy the presence of the Father in the Father's house. But we are learning how to stay in this place interiorly, even as we go out into the world. Out into the marketplace, if you will. Out into the place where there is so much that wants to tear our hearts out of this place, that place of rest, that place of being with the Father but we need to be in the Father's house, even if not physically here, the soul is, as we've heard in readings, “the dwelling place of God.”

So, in that sense, we carry the Father’s house with us. Our soul is the place where we have the indwelling of the Holy Trinity so the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit make their home in us. And how different things would be if we always operated out of that place of being with the Father through His Son, in the Spirit. Operating out of that place of rest and peace, and the enjoyment of His love and mercy which is present.

It is good for all of us to examine our hearts and to ask ourselves about why we bring ourselves to Mass each Sunday or even during the week for those who come more frequently? Do we sometimes come to Church with the intention of accomplishing something, getting something? Checking something off the list? Sometimes there might be something of that. The Lord invites us to refocus, to recenter our attention on the real reason we are here - to be with Him in the Father's house. To enjoy that presence of God, growing in union with Him and to learn how to take this experience out there. 



Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time October 26, 2025 Father Luke Tomson

The Book of Sirach provides a short catechesis on prayer and in particular, the state that one's soul must in in prayer. And we hear that the “Lord hears that the cry of the oppressed, the wail of the orphan, the complaint of the widow, and these prayers we are told, reach the heavens. They pierce the clouds.” Today we hear Christ’s Parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, and the Pharisee was a deeply religious man, and in many ways, he is doing everything right. He fasted like a faithful Jew on Monday and Thursday. He gave ten percent of his income to the Temple. He was not greedy, he was not dishonest, he was not adulterous. There he is in the temple praying. This man was deeply religious.

We have a tax collector. The tax collector, on the other hand, was the Israelite associated with fraudulent practices. You will remember that the Romans occupied first century Palestine and tax collectors were hired in order to levy taxes from people and give those taxes to the Roman authorities. The Jews didn't want the Romans there. So, fellow Jews who were working for the Romans were seen as traitors. At the same time, these tax collectors would often take more than what was their due and the Jews had no recourse. The Romans didn't care. They just wanted their taxes. So, tax collectors were seen as traitors and thieves. They were despised. So, it really puts into respective on that Christ Jesus called a tax collector, St. Matthew, to be an apostle.

So, in the temple, you have now a deeply religious man, and you have essentially a traitor and thief. And this is the Parable: The Pharisee seemed to express his gratitude, but his gratitude quickly turns into judgment. The Pharisee reveals that he knows what is going on in the inner sanctuary of the tax collector’s heart. Meanwhile, the tax collector - what is he doing? He is it acknowledging his sin and he has humbled himself. He is begging the Lord for mercy. And in Christ's admonition, the tax collector, went home justified, not the Pharisee. This Parable as Jesus spoke it must have cause quite a stir amongst the Pharisees and the Scribes. And I think it is meant to invite us now today to further reflection.

Like the Pharisee and the tax collector, we have come to worship Almighty God. We might ask, well, which one are we? Am I the Pharisee or am I the tax collector? I think we could go deeper because the reality is - I'm speaking from my own experience - I don't know you personally, but as I look at my own heart, I think we're a mixture of both: of both the Pharisee and the tax collector. At times, we're really proud of ourselves, but our pride comes at the expense of the other. “At least I'm not like that guy.” But then we find ourselves on our knees begging the Lord to hear us. The Pharisee, the tax collector, but then we cast judgment upon others, purporting to know precisely what their motives are. And then at other times, we find ourselves giving someone a benevolent benefit of the doubt. Again, we are like the Pharisee and the tax collector, a mixture of both.

Casting judgment – our blessed Lord says, "Judge not less you be judged. Condemn not less you be condemned. But the same measure with which you judge will be measured out to you.” These are words that Christ Jesus spoke. Jesus Christ is the God Man; God spoke these words. God became man, and He spoke these words. They are important. They are vital. Our salvation depends on them. Casting judgment always involves putting the other down in order to build ourselves up. So, why do we judge others? Perhaps we're dissolving something within ourselves that we don't want to acknowledge. It's too painful to look at.

How do we overcome this vice of judging others? I think it rests on seeing the world as it truly is. Seeing things from God's perspective. Now, this is a great mystery who are we to say, “I am going to look at these things from God’s perspective.” But let's think for a moment theologically: if God is love, if God created out of love, think of this world, the cosmos, all that is. God so loved the world we hear in the Gospel of John. If you think about how His love permeates all creation, if I can enter into that, and recognize that, then what need would there be for me to put others down in order to build myself up?

At the same mind, what use is there to cast judgment? As I recognize in the presence of God's love, that those things which matter to me once before, that I got so worked up about, begin to fall by the wayside. The more we can see this reality, the more that we can be creative rather than react to what others are doing. Now you get pulled into the debate. We can rest in divine love, being first gentle and generous with ourselves and our own brokenness, we show empathy for others rather than casting judgment. See, each of us is a sinner in desperate need of the mercy of God. We are powerless. We can't even atone for the smallest venial sin.

The Church has actually adopted the prayer of the tax collector and has a marvelous tradition of praying it. It is known as the Jesus prayer. It is a prayer that I have been praying since college. I have found great solace in praying this prayer. It goes like this:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

In this prayer, we acknowledge our own wounding. Notice that this prayer, we're not acknowledging the sins of others. We’re acknowledging our own. And it's a humble  turn toward the living God. The God who can save us from ourselves. It is difficult to pray this prayer and at the same time, judge our neighbor. Could I encourage us to pray the greatest prayer of the tax collector? Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. This is a prayer of people who don't have it all together. This is a prayer for those of us who look into our own souls, and we find a mess. This is a prayer of someone who trusts only in the mercy of God.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

This is prayer of the lowly. It is a prayer when prayed with great humility pierces the clouds. And might I also suggest that it is a prayer that reaches out and touches the very heart of God.

Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 19, 2025\

Prayer is one of the great mysteries of spiritual life. Sometimes we may think of prayer as very straightforward:  I say these words, I kneel down or I go to my place of prayer in my home, or I read the Scriptures. There is always something mysterious also about prayer and especially about the effectiveness of prayer. And there is something in us I think that wants to know how to pray effectively. We want to know that our prayer is doing something. We want to know that our prayer is worthwhile, that we are not just speaking into a void. We are not being unheard. Yet in our experience we find that not every prayer is answered the way we want, or we hope. And sometimes we wonder if our prayers are heard at all. I think I mentioned last Sunday that some of the passages in the Scriptures might lead us to believe that if we just did it ‘right’, that our prayers would always be answered the way we want or we would get what we are asking for. We would obtain what we called for but that's not really what prayer is all about.

The Scriptures are not presented to us as some sort of secret code, that if we crack it, then we open the vaults of Heaven and get every answer we want. There isn’t a key that opens up this treasure chest where God is somehow withholding from us the things that we want. No. But again in today's Gospel, we might tend toward this kind of interpretation. We might think, ‘Ah, perseverance is the secret.” Perseverance is the key. So, if I just keep asking, I will wear God down and He will, in the end, give me what I want.” But this is a rare condition where one of the Gospel writers explicitly states why Jesus tells the Parable. He says: “It is a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.” That doesn't say anything about ‘this being the secret to obtaining what we are asking for.’  

It is a Parable about the necessity of perseverance, and I will expand it from the necessity of praying always to the necessity for always just persevering in our faith because in a sense, our whole life of faith is a prayer in which we are asking God for Heaven. In our thoughts and words and deeds we should be expressing our desire for eternal life. We are crying to God “I want heaven.” Jesus says, "It's necessary for us to persevere in this to pray always, without becoming weary.” And so, as we hear the words of this Gospel, instead of turning our attention to the judge and trying to break the judge down and trying to get a response from the judge, we turn current attention instead to the widow who represents all of us. And asks the question, how long will we persevere? And are there any conditions to our perseverance? Jesus asks at the end of the Parable: “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Will he find faith? Will He find that His disciples got persevered in living the Christian life?

 It doesn't take long to recognize that there are many, many challenges to be overcome by perseverance. There are many things that could be obstacles, things that would stand in the way of our persevering until death in living our Catholic faith. Some find it simply difficult to maintain right belief. To actually believe what is taught in the Gospels and taught by the Church. Perhaps evidence of this is the fact that there are thousands and thousands and thousands of different denominations of Christians. But some may struggle to persevere in holding right belief. For example, the Church’s teaching that God is good and only good and loving and confident. People who are struck by terrible tragedies may have some trouble persevering in that belief that God is good and that God hears prayers.

Some have difficulty persevering in right worship. We all know people who used to gather here with us for Mass who are not here who are still living and still living in the area. And people who are not here have their reasons. I mean thousands of reasons for not persevering in worship. Sometimes it is just a busyness. People are so busy, their schedules are so full if it is have for them to carve out time to come to Mass. Or they have been hurt by someone in the Church and do not want to come here. There might be all kinds of different reasons.

What about persevering in right actions? The struggle with sin is a reality. It is hard to persevere. Sometimes people get very discouraged, even to the point of despair over their own weakness, their own sinfulness, and that makes it very difficult to persevere. Sometimes people face persecution or ridicule or opposition because of their faith. They suffer rejection. It is hard to persevere in the face of that. Sometimes it is just the dynamics of being in the Church, struggling with the decisions that are made, the way things are handled. One of the priests of the Diocese was telling me the other day that some time ago, he had to schedule the Confirmation Mass at noon, which was not the normal time that their parish had Mass. And some were so upset; they never came back. People have their limits. Some are lower than others, I guess. Or people are turned away by the scandal. Scandals that have rocked the Church. Behaviors of those in leadership in the Church. It goes on and on. I mean, I can stand here a long time and talk about different things that test our perseverance.

But the question is, will we persevere? And perseverance doesn't always look like starting something and then continuing until it's completion. Sometimes we do weary and it doesn't mean we can’t pick right back up again and keep on persevering. And the fact that there are folks we know that aren't here today and probably haven’t been here in a long time is no cause for discouragement or despair – it is not a condemnation on any of them. We trust in the goodness of God, and that God is working in their life too, in their own journey in this world, this life.

But there's still need for perseverance. Are we able to say, truthfully, there is nothing that would cause me to abandon my practice of my faith. No scandal, no offense from another person, no disagreement with a decision. There is nothing that would shake me from the practice of my faith. When the Son of Man comes will He find that we have persevered? It may seem like I'm preaching to the choir, well, I am preaching to the choir [laughter], but everyone else here, too.

We all struggle in some way to persevere. We all face challenges to our perseverance in faith. So, we are not here patting ourselves on the back, saying, ‘we are the ones persevering.’ Jesus is reminding us of how important it is to press on, to remain faithful. It is an opportunity for us to recognize, to reflect on our struggles and challenges in this disregard. Whether it is a struggle with sin or a struggle with people in this church, or the structure of the Church of a belief, or whatever it is, the struggle in our vocation, the struggle with discouragement.

What is it a temps us to walk away? It is a great opportunity for us to renew our resolve and that resolve is not that we say, “I am going to do it. I can do it!” We have to turn to the God with our whole heart to receive the grace to remain faithful all our days.

Twenty Eighth Sunday In Ordinary Time, October 12, 2025

In 2015, when Bishop Daly just arrived here in the Diocese of Spokane, one of the first things he wanted to do was to appoint a new rector at Bishop White Seminary in Spokane, and he asked all of the priests of the Diocese to make recommendations to him who might be a good fit for that position. And I prayed on it, and I wrote to the Bishop saying that I wanted to do it. Not that I was just dying to have that position or anything like that but there was definitely a part of me that wanted it. And I don't remember how exactly I prayed in those days, but I was probably asking God to make it happen. And it didn't happen. I'm sure I was disappointed about it at the time. I don't remember sulking in my prayer, but I might have. I've done that. We've all done that. Anyway, a few years down the road from then it became abundantly clear to me that it would have been a terrible mistake to put me in that spot. And so, I prayed and thanked God that the answer to my prayers was “no.”

And if you have had that experience, too, you ask God for something, you think it's the right thing, and the answer is “no.” You're disappointed, but then later on down the road, you realize God knew what He was doing. Too often in our prayers, especially when we are petitioning God for something the matter that is of most important to us is whether not we get that thing we were asking for. And then if we don't receive what we're asking for, we don't see any reason to be thankful. I don't remember ever thanking God at the time when the answer given was “no” to what I was asking for.

But is the granting of our petition really the only reason to be thankful? It seems like an approach to prayer and relationship with God that is lacking in maturity if we're only thankful when God gives us what we want. We want to be thankful that God Almighty, the Lord of the universe, loves and cares enough about, to receive our prayer, to hear our prayers, listen to our prayers and to answer them whether the answer is “Yes”, or “Not yet”, or “No, I have a better plan”.

The first reading in the Gospel today seemed to present to us two situations where people get what they want. Naaman in the first reading, follows the instructions of the prophet Elisha, plunges in the Jordan seven times, and he is cleansed of his leprosy, and he gives thanks. And then, of course, the well-known story of the ten lepers crying out to Jesus for healing. They receive healing on their way to the priests and just one comes back with gratitude. These and maybe other passages in the Scriptures may lead us to think that if we just do it fine, we would get the things that we're asking for every time. But the reality is, God is always working for our the good, no matter what the answers to our prayers might be. God is always working for our good, and not for our destruction.

You may know the story of Blessed Solanas Casey; he was a Capuchin Franciscan in the 20th century. I think he spent most of his life in Detroit and there are many interesting things about Solanas Casey. One of the things that he used to say was, “Thank God ahead of time.” Thank God ahead of time. And I don't think that that was just some little quirky think like, "Oh, if you say a prayer, and then add a little thanks to it, and you will get what you wanted.” God does not come to be manipulated in such a way. But he probably realized that we should be thankful to God, no matter what the answer to our prayers is. Be thankful that God does hear us and the answer us knowing that God is always working for our good.

It makes me think again of my niece, Aleana. I know I have shared about her before. When she was about age ten, she had a cancer, very serious cancer, a rare cancer and of course we prayed and prayed and prayed. We begged God to heal her, and she died. So, to look back on that and to just suggest that we should have been thankful to God instead of being disappointed seems like a little insensitive or crass or does not quite seem right. I am still trying to process through that even after all those years. But, even in the situation like that, families are invited to trust in God. That God always acts for our good and He does answer our prayers in ways that sometimes don't make sense to us. But in the end, it turns out that He was acting for our good. It is hard to accept.

In both the first reading and the Gospel, the Word tells us that there is a higher value than just the healing that is granted. There's a higher value and that is faith and the relationship with God. At the end of the account in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus says to the ex-leper, “Your faith has saved you.” Your faith has saved you. Interesting, how when these lepers approached Jesus, they had faith that He would heal them and Jesus doesn't say, “Be healed.” He does not lay His hands on them and heal them in that moment. He tells them, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” Going and showing yourself to the priests would be the action that taken by someone who has been cleansed. So, if they were cleansed, they would go to the priests who declares them clean and therefore fit for entrance into worship. But these ten, without even being cleansed yet, follow Jesus' instruction to go show themselves to the priest. So, they step out in faith; they have faith, and that's the moral to the story.

It's about faith. It's about having faith in God, trusting in God and in this particular case, yes, they are cleansed. What is most important is that they have an experience of God’s goodness and they grow in their faith and love of God. Likewise, in the story of Naaman, you might think that the most important verse in that passage is, “His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean of his leprosy.” But the most important verse in this passage is where Naaman says, "I will no longer offer holocaust for a sacrifice to any other God, except the Lord.” He comes to believe in the true and living God. That is what the scene is all about. That is what this passage is about.

I pray that all of us have the grace in our prayers when we are asking God for graces, blessings, asking God for particular things, that we would we be grateful, that we would thank God ahead of time simply for hearing us and answering our prayers – whatever the answer might be. And that we would realize that whatever the answer is, it is meant to lead us not farther from God, but closer, always closer.

Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 5, 2025

When we get to the end, and when we come in from spending our life working in the Lord's vineyard, we will not be entitled to take our place at the Lord's table. We will depend completely and solely on God's mercy. We may say, “We are unprofitable servants, we have done what we were obliged to do.” The Gospel shows us that that we are entitled to nothing. We are entitled to nothing. We should not think that we are something special simply because we did our job. “We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.” Actually, I am not sure that I can honestly say that. How have I done what I was obliged to do? I can think of many times I have fallen short. Many times, I have deliberately chosen not to do what I ought to do. So how can I stand before the Lord and say, “I've done all that I was obliged to do?” When we get to that moment, we will rely on God's mercy. And His mercy alone.

But what are we obliged to do as disciples of Jesus? Many of us learned early on what the obligations of Catholic religion were. We sum these up in the Precepts of the Catholic Church, right? Go to Mass every Sunday and Holy Days; fast and abstain on prescribed days; go to Confession at least annually; receive Communion at least annually during the Easter season; and offer material support to the Church. These are the Precepts of the Church, they represent a minimum for a Catholic life, maintaining, sustaining a spiritual life.

It reminds me a little bit of learning to do things when we were kids. Our parents teach us: “Here is how we make pancakes,” or “Here is how you fix a flat tire on a bicycle." “Here is how you write a check.” “Here is you write a letter.” “Here is how you run a lawnmower.”  Maybe we were sort of taught: “Here is how you do religion. You go to church on Sundays, you say your prayers every day, you give a little money to the church and to the poor.” You try to be a good, honest, and kind person. I am not here to say that that is wrong, but I say, it's a good start. That is not the apex of living a Christian life, saying, "Well, I did the bare minimum.”

Are there not other obligations in the Christian life? Think about the teachings of the Lord Jesus. He said: “Forgive. Take up your cross. Deny yourself.” He said: “Love one another as I have loved you. Turn the other cheek.” Give to the poor. Set your hand to the plow, do not look back. Go and make disciples.” Are these not obligations of the Christian life? Jesus said, “If you want to be my disciple, do these things.” Can we really say we do all those things? I look at my own life and say, ‘well, I will give it a shot, I hope it is my best shot,’ but I've fallen short a lot.

The trouble is when we don't allow our faith to permeate all the areas of our life. We allow God into some parts and in other parts we say, ‘Thank you, but I'm going to maintain control here. I want to be in charge.’ The Apostles come to Jesus, and they say, “Increase our faith.”  Increase our faith. Faith ought to be the guiding force of our life. It is the lens through which we see everything, through which we perceive the world around us, the events that happen in the circumstances of life. And it is not just one part of among many other parts.

Faith is central; faith permeates everything. When we look at relationships, how would we relate with other people? Does our faith always guide us in those relationships? Maybe it is someone who has harmed us or hurt us or offended us. Someone who we disagree with. When I look at that person do I say to myself, “My faith governs the way that I engage with that person,” or do I allow my emotions to guide me instead? What about the way to make decisions at work, or in my business dealings? Does my faith come into play there? What do I spend my money on? Does my faith impact that? Yes. How do I spend my time? Raising the children, watching grandkids, does my faith come into that? Or sometimes do you say, “Well, I kind of have to have to set my faith aside when the grandkids come over.” Or when I am at a family reunion. It is unfortunate that religion falls into that category of ‘things that we are not supposed to talk about.” I can go on about for a long time with that, I suppose. What about the way I suffer? The way I deal with new trials in life? Does my faith provide the firm bedrock for dealing with those trials? What about the media we consume? The way we vote? Politics? Does faith permeate all of that? Or is faith allowed in some parts, but not all parts of our life? Do we carry on our life according to a well-formed conscience, bathed in a life of faith?

There was a seminarian some time ago who was smart, athletic, devout, relatable, seemed like he had everything going for him and people would say, "Oh, he is just going to make a great priest!” Well, after Christmas break one year, he didn't come back to the seminary and the other seminarians asked one of the priests in charge, “What happened to so and so? He left the seminary. What happened?” The priest responded, "He never made the interior move.”  He never made the interior move. You can do all the studies, ace the courses, do all these sorts of things. We can say all kinds of prayers. But what about the interior move? There has to be that interior move. I think about our young people, teens, younger, in our parish, we teach them how many persons are in the Holy Trinity. We teach them how many sacraments there are in the Church. We catechize; we give them all kinds and the teachings of the church, but I ask myself, will them make the interior move before they go off to college and are on their own and will  have to decide whether they pursue a life of faith? I consider number of people who are interested in becoming Catholic, joining the church. Beyond being convinced by the truth of the Church's teaching or feeling a sense of community or fellowship, are they making the interior move in such a way that will sustain them in the practice of a faith until the end of their life?

The same question can be asked for all of us, even if we been Catholic for many, many long years - have we made the interior move? Are we making the interior move? Are we embracing that life of ongoing conversion, opening up every dimension of our life to our faith allowing our relationships with God into every place?

We don’t do a perfect job in all of that. None of us is perfect. And you know, I'm not here to discourage you or you know to give a depressing kind of homily. No. There is good news in today's words, right? The Lord speaks to you through prophet in the first reading. “The vision still has its time.” Our journey is not over yet. It is not too late. We have until our last breath to give ourselves completely over to God. Well, why wait? Why wait until the last breath? Why not do it today? Invite Our Lord into those different parts of our life where we have not invited Him or we can identify some sort of resistance to Him. The Lord says there is still time. His vision of our holiness, our growth in our relationship with Him; our growth in virtue, goodness, there is still time.

Saint Paul writes to Timothy: “I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.” Well, there is our answer, isn’t it? “Stir into flame, allow the Lord to stir into flame the gifts He has given to us. The gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling in our soul.” Let us not sort of keep that flame over here, but let the Lord pour the gas on it, you know, let it burn, let it erupt in us in a great, higher love for Him.

The Eucharist can accomplish all of this in us when we receive this Sacrament orderly. When we receive this Sacrament knowing what we are doing, attentive to what we are doing. Not with a sense of entitlement. But with humility, with reverence, with focus, humbly recognizing the body and blood of the Lord. Conforming ourselves, conforming our eyes to His plan for us. This Sacrament has the power to change our whole life and transform.

We don't want to get to the end and merely say, “We are unprofitable servants. We have done what we were obliged to do.” We want to meet the Lord face to face and say, “Lord, I lived my life in friendship with you. I spent my life; my life burned with the fire of faith.” 



Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 28, 2025

People want to say that because God loves them, they are assured of eternal life in heaven. I disagree. Jesus disagrees. To be honest, never, not once in the Gospels or anywhere else in Divine Revelation is it stated that the fact of God’s love for us guarantees that we will enter into eternal life. The love of God for us, the mercy of God toward us, the goodness of God is the basis of our hope for eternal life. But on its own, it doesn't guarantee that we enter into everlasting happiness.

We've been working our way through the Gospel of St. Luke this whole liturgical year and St. Luke very much wants his reader or his audience to know the infinite love and mercy of God. So many of his parables of Jesus, so much what we hear in Luke is him communicating this fact: That God's love is unconditional, it is unlimited, it is available. But Luke’s message is not that the fact that God loves you means that you will automatically go to heaven. No, the fact of God’s love demands a response. When we come face to face with that divine love, when we are, we convinced that the love of God, as the Scriptures reveal it is true and real, that elicits from us a response of love – that is how it is supposed to work anyway. Right?

When we're face to face with someone who loves us infinitely, we can’t just say, “Well, that's just great! I guess our relationship is really good.” You who are married out there know that that's not how it goes. You can't just say, “Well, my spouse loves me and so our marriage is healthy and strong.” When you realize that your spouse loves you, that elicits a response to you. You say, "Wow, this person loves me so much that makes me want to love them better, too.” And so it is in our relationship as the Church, with the Lord Jesus. We think of the Church as His bride. But God has that kind of relationship with to show ys His love. He wants to elicit a response of love from us.

And if you look at the Gospels, I mean for the last several Sundays, and we look at Luke, you see I think, that there this communication of the infinite love of God and there's also this other side of the coin, if you want to put it that way, that the Lord wants something from us. As I said last Sunday, it is not that He wants to extract some sort of productivity from us. He doesn't just want to see what we can do with the talents that we have been given. He wants to live our lives as a response to His love. To live our lives as an expression of our love for Him.

And that love needs to be expressed in so many different ways. In today's Gospel we see that the Lord wants us to express that love in our care of those who are in need, those who are suffering, those who are poor, those who are abandoned or rejected. If we love God, we are supposed to care for those brothers and sisters of ours. Our care for them is an expression of the love we have for God. I spoke last Sunday about a stewardship, right? Not just what do we do with the time, talent and treasure God has entrusted to us – what about the grace of Baptism and all the wonderful graces that we have received? Our good stewardship is not just a duty incumbent upon us. It is actually an expression our love for God when we see how God loves us. I know we can be a steward of these good gifts as an expression of my love for God.

Other things like our own personal prayer life, not just a duty – ‘oh, well, time to sit down and do my prayers today’ – but we pray out of love for God and as an expression of our desires to be a deeper friendship with God and open our heart's more to the outpouring of His grace. Participation in the life of the parish, building up the life of the parish each in our own way that is part of the light of this church.

Evangelization is another element ins our expression that God’s love elicits from us. Pope St. Paul VI almost fifty years ago wrote in an encyclical, “That the person who has been evangelized goes on to evangelize others. Here lies the test of truth, the touchstone of evangelization. It is unthinkable that a person should accept the Word and give himself to the Kingdom without becoming a person who bears witness to it and proclaims it in turn.” It is the same dynamic. It just doesn't make sense to receive so much from God and not to have something well up from within us wanting to give back something in love. And not just this little category, this little category, this little category. It is like all the all the dimensions and aspects of our lives - in all of that, we can make it an expression of our love for God in the face of the love God grants which is so pure and strong and powerful, and immeasurable.

You may remember the traditional hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” usually sung in Lent. The final stanza of that hymn has these lyrics:

   Were the whole Realm of Nature mine,
    That were a Present far too small;
    Love so amazing, so divine,
    Demands my Soul, my Life, my All.

You know, if I possess everything in the world and offer that to God, that would not be enough. God wants me. He wants you. He wants your whole heart. You might say, “God gives us infinite love, and I cannot give infinite love back to God?” He is not demanding that. He doesn’t demand perfection; He invites a totality and gift from us. He wants us to go completely to Him; to hold nothing back.

You know, I think there's a danger when we get into this. You might look at other people and say, "Well, gosh, they go to Mass every day. They go to Adoration. They're doing this and that.” And you say, “It is all I am able to do is come to Mass on Sunday.” So, don't think of that another person say, "Oh, they must be so much holier than I, they must belong to God so much more than I do because they do all of these other things.” That is useless thinking. They might inspire you. But the question is, am I, in the circumstances of my life making the return to God that He wants me to give. Am I loving God in all that I can with all my heart and mind and soul and strength with the circumstances that is yours - working full time, raising a family, busy, busy, busy with all kinds of things. Do you love God above all? Are you loving God in the  way you should? All of us can admit to the fact that we can do more to love God. We can love God more completely in the way we live. And that's all God wants from us. He wants us to serve Him with love. He's trying to elicit this response of love from us.

A couple of Sundays ago, it was the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, so we didn't hear the Gospel passage from Luke that day, we heard the Gospel of John. But the Gospel of Luke that day had we heard it would have been the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Parable of the Lost Coin and the parable of the Prodigal Son. You remember the older son in the Parable. He did his duty; he remained in his father's house. He did everything he was supposed to do, but he resented his father because he had the attitude of a slave for his master. He didn't have the attitude of the love of the son. God doesn't want to have a slavish attitude. He wants us to realize the profundity of His love for us and to love Him with our whole heart in return.

It's so important every day - maybe the first thing in the morning – to reflect on God’s love for us. Reflect on the God’s infinite mercy, His goodness toward us. Because that sets the course for the rest of the day. When we have love at the beginning of our day, it awakeners something in us - this desire to live our day as a response to that love, to live our day as an expression of our love for Him.

We ask God for the grace this day, not only to live in the truth of His love for us but to find it in ourselves in everything we do and say and think, to make ourselves an offering in love to Him holding nothing back of giving Him all. 

Twenty Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time, September 22, 2025

The words spoken by the rich man to the dishonest steward at least in part will be spoken to each one of us. “Prepare a full account of your stewardship.” When we think about preparing an account of our stewardship, we ask ourselves a basic question: “What good have I done with the gifts that God has entrusted to me?” That is the basic question. What good have I done with the gifts that God has entrusted to me? And very often, we look at this question under the three headings of time, talent and treasure and say,” How have I spent my time, this gift of time, that God has given me? How have I used the talents and skills and abilities that God has given to me? Have I used them for the building up the Kingdom of God including my neighbor? Or do I tend to keep them to myself? And the question of treasure – all the material gifts that we have because of God’s goodness to us, His generosity, how will we use those for the building up of the Kingdom including our neighbor especially the neighborhood we live in.

Truly, these are good questions to look at. How do we use the time, and talent and treasure God has given us to do something good? Believe it or not, stewardship is not just an economic matter. Think about the Parable of the Talents, you remember there was a master who was going away and he entrusted one of his servants with five talents, another with two talents and another with one. And then when he returned, he expected them to have grown those talents that he had given them. But it is not just about what those servants could produce. In the end, the master doesn't just say, “Very fine, I will bank those five, those extra two, and you all can go on your way.” The master instead says, “Well done, good and faithful servant, come and share your master's joy." So, the moral there is that good stewardship does not just lead to an increase for economic terms. It is not that God is just looking for us to produce something but rather the good stewardship leads to a share in the life and the joy of God. Entering into the master's joy, you can picture the servant being brought into the home, sitting at the same table with the master, having a great feast. That is the result of what good stewardship. not just the multiplication of what has been given.

The other moral of this story in that Parable and today’s Parable is that poor stewardship leads to separation from the master. I believe in the Parable of the Talents, the servant that parable and given one talent has simply taken that one talent and buried it was sent out into the darkness where there was wailing and grinding of teeth. In today’s Gospel Parable, the rich man said to the steward, “You can no longer be my steward” because he's been exposed for being dishonest, and he was being removed.

So, it is not just that God is interested in getting a return of His investment in us. He has something more than that in mind when he gives us gifts. God gives us gifts so that we have something to give! He gives us gifts so that we have something to give. And in giving, our hearts are expanded in the saving love of God, and we expand in charity. So, when God gives gifts to us and not just time, talent and treasure, whatever gifts Gad has given to us, they are intended for the purpose of actually calling us to Himself because He gives the gifts so that we can give and we grow in love and our growth in love brings us closer to Him. It makes us more and more like Him.

So, if you go back to the original question, “What good have I done with the gifts God has entrusted to me,” we realize God has entrusted these great gifts for the purpose of saving us, for the purpose of increasing our hearts in charity and drawing us to Himself.

And so, it is good to examine our stewardship in terms of time, and talent, and treasure, but what about the grace of our Baptism? How can the steward in that gift? The gift of divine life poured into our soul? How attentive have we been to that gift? What about the grace of every Holy Communion? How can we steward it? What about the gift of the Sacrament of Penance, Reconciliation, Confession? How operative is that gift meditated on in our life? How have we stewarded that gift? Are we using the gifts that God has given to make provision for eternal life? There's a good question to ask.

 Are we making provision for eternal life? How effective are we day in and day out over the course of a week to these matters that pertain to eternal life? Well, sometimes we think about them and sometimes we don’t. Isn't that honest truth? Yes. I heard ‘Yes.’ [laughter] Thank you. It is true, we are not always the best steward. We always have room to open the door of our heart. I am not saying that everyone has to be at church all day every day. We don't usually have the availability for that. But we can always open the doors of our hearts more widely to Christ.

And this is where in the reality of ‘community’ comes in. The Lord Jesus in His great, perfect wisdom, designed the Christian life to be lived in the context of community, not for each of us to be Lone Rangers, trying to do it on our own. I find that I become a better steward when my journey of faith is shared with others. I find that I do more poorly when I try to do it on my own; when I don't, when I don't share anything of my own spiritual journey with others. So, the parish community is actually designed to be a place where we obtain support that we need for being good stewards and walking in the path with Christ more faithfully. It's not just meant to be a place where we gather to worship and pray and come to the Lord, though it is all of those things. We have to see the Church as that. But there's also the dynamic of a community in which we find support for living the Christian life.

Even this dishonest steward in the parable, what happens when he gets canned? “What am I going to do?” He starts making connections with people. He realizes he is going to need to lean on these people for help when he can’t be in the rich man’s household anymore. I am not saying that we should follow that example per se, but connection is important. How do we invest and engage in the life of the parish?

Are there people in the parish who know what the spiritual journey is like? Not mine but all of ours. We ask ourselves that question, is there anyone who can share in the walk with me? Is there someone who can help me be accountable in terms of stewardship, in terms of my resolutions that I have made? Or is my spiritual life mostly just a private thing that I am doing individually? We would love to see the parish become more and more of place where this spiritual journey can be shared so that we can support one another on this walk. Of course, with God’s grace first and foremost.

“Prepare a full account of your stewardship.” For us today we are asked to look at the reality of stewardship in our life asking the question: “How do I use the time, talent and treasure God has given to me but also, the other gifts, His wonderful graces. The graces of Baptism, the graces of Holy Communion, the grace of Marriage for those who are married, the grace of Confession. How am I stewarding these skills, these graces? Am I making provision for eternal life? And am I am engaging in the life of the parish community?” Maybe each one of us has a role in building up the parish community so it becomes more and more a place where the journey of faith is shared. 

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 7, 2025

If you have you ever seen the musical Fiddler on the Roof you may remember a playful scene where the husband, Tevye, keeps asking Golde, his wife, "Do you love me?” And in her first response is, “Do I what?” The lyrics are quite humorous, and fun to watch if you have the time. But I thought of that song a few months ago when in the Gospel at a weekday Mass where we heard the story of Jesus, appearing to the disciples after the Resurrection and asking Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Reflecting on today’s Gospel, I can hear the Lord asking that a question again. “Do you love me?” And I would just wonder if that might be the question that is the basis of our judgment when we meet Jesus face-to-face at the end of our journey here on earth.

We know all, all, have to give an account of our life. And there is very little doubt that what is laid out in that account will give a clear indication of what we valued in life, what we loved. And there Jesus will stand saying, "Do you love me? Or perhaps, “Have you loved me,” or “How have you loved me?” What poverty it would be to have look Jesus in the eye and say, "I love you, Lord, but not as much as I love this other thing, or not as much as I loved I myself.” In today's Gospel, Jesus demands to be our first love. Not the second or the third or somewhere down the line. He demands to be our first love and in strikingly strong language, He tells us that people come to Him without “hating father and mother, spouse, children, brothers, and sisters, and even their own wife, they cannot be his disciples.” Although we can get over that hurdle of the word ‘hate’ by assuming that Jesus used the word rhetorically, it's still a very strong statement. He didn't stumble over that word or accidentally use it. He chose it making a strong point. We should have a strong aversion loving anything more than we love Jesus or putting anything ahead of Him or before Him in our life. We should hate anything that gets in the way of our putting Jesus of absolutely first.

It might be good to make it distinction here. It's not always the ‘thing’ that is the problem. So, for example, if I have an inordinate love of rich food or my favorite music, and I prefer that or I seek that more than I see friendship with Christ, it is not the food and the music that are a problem. It's not their fault, right? It's my disordered attachment to those things. That's the problem. That's what I should hate. I should hate my disordered attachment to those things because that's what gets in the way of my putting Christ first. Likewise, if a person put children or grandchildren before Jesus, before we ask for person to start ‘hating’ them, you would ask that person to put their attachments in proper order. God first, and then others. St. Benedict said, “Christ is the center of all Christian life. The bond with Him takes precedence over all other bonds – familial, social. We can prefer nothing to Christ.” I thought that distinction was fairly obvious, but I just wanted to make that clear – not to hate a particular thing, but rather out attachment to that thing or that relationship.

So when it comes to these things that get in the way of our putting Jesus first in our life, I don't think we are merely talking about the occasional things that pop up -  situations happen, like you are having a bad day and you go to the bank and you snap a little bit of the teller, instead of being patient and kind and loving as Jesus would have you be. That kind of thing may be an obstacle in the spiritual life, but it's not the kind of thing that you look at that you really need to worry about. It happened once. Rather, what we want to look at are the patterns in our life, patterns in our life that point to a mis prioritization of our desires and love. I will give you a few examples. Having a casual attitude about the Sunday Mass obligation. Another is being in an irregular relationship. Perhaps having a marital relationship with someone without the Church blessing on their union. Or being always geared for money; always money, money, money. Or having a complete, or nearly complete lack of self-denial. Always saying ‘yes’ to every urge, every impulse, every desire that we can experience and never saying ‘no.’ Maybe it is a strong habit of self-preference where it always comes back to me, how I think about things and what I want. It could be the use of contraceptives or pornography, or turning to self-gratification, anything else that is contrary to God's design for human sexuality. It could be using other people for our own gain or advantage. It could be the habit of speaking ill of others. It could be a disproportionate interest in sports or other things. So, I think it could be a number of other things, obviously. But I don’t need to point out all of these things, just in the sense that, you know, there's a connection to sin there, but that they are all indicators - that these are patterns in our life. They're all indicators of something being out of order in our heart. They are indicators of places where the Lord is inviting us to look to Him first instead of something else. And Jesus is not in this Gospel saying, “If you don't think that you have what it takes, you should walk away now.” He's not saying, “Look, I am only taking the strongest of the strong. If you don't make the cut, might as well go home.” But I think He is telling us out we have to be serious about these things. We have to take a hard look at our life, make our good examination, and not just once, but on a regular basis to see how we are putting Christ first and what are those areas where we are not.

It is interesting in the Gospel the two examples or illustrations that Jesus gives about constructing a tower or the king marching into battle. He uses the phrase, "…first sit down. Which of you wishing to construct a tower do not first to sit down to calculate the cost. Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide…” What is that “sitting down?” For us, perhaps it's our daily prayer. Because sitting down and not just rattling off a few Hail Mary’s but really taking a look at this issue in our life, the cost of discipleship. Taking stock of these different things in our life that are vying for our heart, grasping for our attention and our devotion, maybe recognizing that we don't always put Jesus first in absolutely everything. But then crying out to God asking for the grace to put Him first. And towards the end of the gospel, the king marches into battle finds that he doesn’t have the strength overcome his enemy. “While he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.”

Perhaps that represents our crying out to God and asking for the grace to put him first. We might recognize, “I know I need to put you first Lord but help me. I am not walking away from being your disciple. I need your help Lord to put things in proper order in my life.” In those times of prayer where we have sat down and considered, maybe you will hear the voice of the Lord “Do you love me?” Perhaps he doesn’t sing but do you love me? Do you love you with your whole heart? Do you love me more than anything else? Will you put me first in your life? Will you be my disciple? 

Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 31, 2025

Sometimes I will be in the middle of talking to someone, and I come to the sudden realization that I've been talking way too much about myself. So, I like to say in that situation, “Well, enough about me, what do you think about me?” [laughter] Jesus gives us a good teaching about humility in today's Gospel, including those of famous words, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” It is interesting to me that today's teaching of humility comes right on the heels of last Sunday’s exhortation to strive to enter through the narrow gate.

On my first consideration of the two topics side by side it seemed like there was a bit of a contradiction, perhaps. When I hear strive, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate for many will attempt to enter, but will not be strong enough,” my thought is ‘Hey, I’ve got it work hard to prove to God that I am worthy enough, that I am strong enough.’ That I qualify for eternal life, basically. Striving as the overall feeling or sense of becoming bigger, and stronger and greater, not so much of this sense of becoming smaller, weaker, or lower. But when Jesus spoke of being strong enough to enter through the narrow gate, He was talking about being strong in the things that matter to God. Not strong in self-reliance, self-sufficiency, self-determination, self-righteousness, the esteem of other people. Most of us come into the world with plenty of that to start out with we don’t have to strive to increase those. Rather, the striving is not so much about building ourselves up in those kinds of things, as clearing our heart of those.

Clearing our heart of self-reliance, and self-sufficiency, self-focus, self-righteousness, and dependence on the esteem of other people and all the rest. The result of striving is not that we get to the point where we can look at ourselves and say, "Yeah, we are pretty good.” The result is not that we become great in that sense, but that we become little or perhaps, that we acknowledge that and even embrace our littleness for what it is, the capacity of God.

I have told you before about what Jesus said to St. Angela of Foligno. He said, “You will make to yourself a capacity, and I will make myself a torrent.” In other words, you make space in your heart for me, and I will fill it to overflowing. That is what we want. That is what we strive for - to empty ourselves of all these different kinds of attachments, especially to self - to make love in space for God to come in and to fill us. There is no contradiction in the end between humility and striving – unless we are striving for the wrong thing. But if we are striving in the spiritual life and growing in our humility, and we are coming to an ever-clearer realization of our own limitations, our own inability to save ourselves and our absolute dependence on God for everything. Everything.

Striving doesn't lead to rejecting and alienating us in our littleness. It leads to accepting and embracing that poverty as the very arena where God wants to come in and accomplish His purposes in us. Striving for humility may seem like an uphill battle. I can't say this of everyone, but I can say this about myself, but as we get older, we tend to get a little more set in our own ways, and we become less tolerant of anything that doesn't fit with our own ways. We can become more attached to our own agendas, our own ways instead of becoming free of those, and detached. Also, our culture highly values self-sufficiency and self-reliance. And it is practically in our DNA inherent in all of human nature and pride comes right along with it. It's all too easy for us to always be asserting ourselves and inserting ourselves and certain situations, maybe from where we don’t belong or elevating ourselves over other people. It might especially be an uphill battle for those who struggle with perfectionism where perhaps the goal is to say, “I'm good. I have got it made. Thanks Lord, I appreciate you, but no need for your call here. I've made it to perfection.” I have probably shared this before but a priest said to me, "Isn’t it a shame when you've got perfectionism, but you don't have the skill to back up?” So true, so true.

We can't just expect that humility is going plop into our lap. It's not in our nature for that to happen. We have to work on it. We have to open our hearts to the grace of God to help us grow in humility. I don't know who it was that said this, but I thought it is a good saying: “Humility is not about thinking less of yourself in terms of like hating yourself, rejecting yourself and all of that but thinking of yourself, less. Not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. So, in thinking of other people, one of the ways we have, one of the pieces of wisdom we have from the Saints, is that the way to grow in virtue is to combat the opposing vice and the way to combat vices is to practice the golden virtues. It is not just a matter of going before the Lord and saying, “Lord, help me to grow in humility.”  We also want to practice combatting pride. Combating that movement in ourselves that exalts ourselves and elevates ourselves.

What if we got in the practice each day of waking up in the morning and saying “Who would come to me today? How can I do some good for them? Who am I likely to meet today and how can I build them up? How can I help? How can I acknowledge, or will I acknowledge in the other the good that I see? Becoming more outward oriented is part of growing in humility. We are not always thinking first of ourselves but of God and of others. And I think one of the best ways we grow in humility is by receiving Holy Communion worthily and attentively. This great Sacrament in which God Himself has become so humble, He is intrinsically humble, but He humbles Himself to feed us with His whole body and blood, the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Receiving that Sacrament of such immense humility must also help us to grow in humility ourselves. In the end, Jesus' words are true that  “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” 

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 24, 2025

My dad's older brother George was a Jesuit priest for about ten years and then he not only left the priesthood he actually left the church altogether and began calling himself an atheist. I think for the rest of his life he seemed to harbor some resentment toward the Church. When I was ordained to the priesthood, he sent me a card that I thought was a little snarky. I don't remember every word that he wrote in the card, but I remember that he wrote “Enjoy your new avocation.” In other words, “Have fun with your new hobby.” I took offense. Here I had just finished five years of seminary, laid down my life on the floor of the Cathedral offering myself for Christ and His church and Uncle George was treating it like I was taking up skeet shooting or pottery or something. May he rest in peace.

After eighteen years in the priesthood, I still think his jab was a little rude, but I realize that it is not impossible for the priesthood to become something of a pastime. A priest can begin to treat his ministry like a job, a career or something apart from who he is, and the life God has given him. To tell you the truth, the same can be said about all of us as Christians. Our discipleship can become something of a hobby; something we tend to when we have time; something we truly want to be present in our life and yet something that is in some way distinct from our identity. It can become something auxiliary to us; something on top of who we are. We can come to think of the practice of our faith as something very important to us but not of the essence of who we are, something absolutely necessary.

In the Gospel someone asked Jesus, “Lord will only a few people be saved?” Who knows what made the person ask this question? Maybe the person thought he was already part of the ‘in crowd’ - one of those who would be saved, and he was asking for other people. Perhaps he was looking out to the rest of the world saying, “What do you think about those people over there? Do you think they are going to make it?” A lot of people even today even in the Catholic Church have something of a preoccupation with the question of whether someone else is going to be saved and don’t get me wrong, we care very, very, very much about the salvation of other people. But none of us will ever have enough information to make that judgment from where we stand so I think there are better ways to spend our time.

Maybe this person in the Gospel was honestly just asking, “Lord what are my odds for getting into heaven? What are the odds that I could be saved?”  And if the answer comes along ‘very few’ or if the Lord responded and said ‘Don’t count on it’ or something like that, the person would take a fresh look at his life, I am sure. Jesus does answer the question. He doesn't say, “Oh, I assure you that those others over there? They are out of luck.” He doesn't point to the others at all. So perhaps that is not what the person was asking a question about. And Jesus doesn't say to them, “You've got it made. You are in. Don't worry.” He answers with a commandment, an exhortation. An imperative: “Strive! Strive.” He says, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate for many I tell you will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.”

Striving whether in the in the priesthood or in the Christian life can't be a part time thing, can it? If we are striving for something we don’t just strive when we have time for it – we are constantly committed. We are going after something. We are searching for it. Striving speaks of something serious; something weighty. It is not something to be terrified of. Jesus isn't threatening with these words, but it would seem based on what He is saying here that salvation is not cheap.

Salvation is a ‘free’ gift. Perhaps we could say it is free but not cheap. It costs us something to receive the gift that is freely given. That may seem counterintuitive. It costs us something to receive the gift that is freely given. The gift of the gift does not depend on us – it doesn’t depend on our work, on our performance. The gift is freely given but from our perspective it takes something in order to receive it. And that is the striving. That is the striving to enter through the narrow gate. It is the opening of our hearts each day. It is the eager pursuit of friendship with God. It is the Christian life. It is the fullest living possible of the life of discipleship; it involves a commitment to prayer; the faithful service of our neighbor; the heartfelt worship of God consistently; it means death to sin; persevering in the struggle against sin. All the things that constitute the Christian life. They demand something of us. All of this demands something of us. Salvation is not cheap. We must strive and strive and strive.

Maybe there are some places in our life, some ways in which our Christian life, our spiritual life is sort of off to the side or we make some distinction between our spiritual life and the rest of life. It may be in the context of family, career, social life, leisure time. We tend sometimes to compartmentalize. We will say “I will tend to my faith now. But now I want to do something else.” It's not a question of making room, of making space in our life for God. It is not how everything in our life relates back to our life of faith, our relationship with God, because there isn’t any part of our life that God doesn’t want. He wants the whole thing. He wants the whole thing.

Strive! That is a powerful word. A powerful exhortation from the Lord in today's Gospel. It is spoken to each and every one of us. Maybe some of us are saying, “Lord, what am I supposed to do? What do you want me to do? How am I supposed to be spending my days and weeks?” Maybe sometimes we are saying, “Well, surely Lord you are not asking for something more from me?”  I don’t know. I have a hard time looking at a crucifix and saying that. “Lord, surely you are not asking more of me?” He wants all. He wants all. How can we do it? Today the answer to that question is ‘strive.’ Give yourself to this journey of the Christian life. Do not hold anything back but ‘be  all in.’ 

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 17, 2025

The Lord Jesus says in today's Gospel, “I have come to set the world on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing.” What does He mean? “I have come to set the earth on fire.”  Isn’t that a strange thing to say? An interesting turn of phrase - “I have come to set the earth on fire.” I found a helpful footnote for this passage in the Didache Bible. It reads: "God offers us His love, mercy and salvation, and ardently desires that we accept and respond to these gifts. Although these gifts are offered freely and generously not all are willing to receive them. And thus, divisions will occur even within families, further evidence that Christ is a sign of contradiction.” It goes on to say, “In Scripture, fire symbolizes God's presence. His love. His judgment. divine purification and the power of the Holy Spirit to effect change within us. In this passage, the Word carries all of these meanings in various degrees” and then it references paragraph 696 of the Catechism.

So, fire, fire is God's presence, God's love, His judgment, divine purification, and the power of the Holy Spirit to effect change within us. This is the fire that Jesus came to set on the earth, and that He wishes were already blazing there. Now, of course, Jesus says these things before His passion and death and resurrection. So perhaps we can say, in this day and age, in the age of the Church, the fire is already on the earth, but I suspect He would still say that He would like to see it blazing a little bit more fully. But why does He not already see this fire blazing on the earth? It's not because of some failure on His part. It's not that He couldn't, as the Son of God, accomplish what He came to accomplish in setting His fire ablaze in the world. It is because our hearts are not completely, fully open, receiving this, this fire. And that can be for a number of different reasons - maybe it is neglect on our part, neglect of spiritual things, not prioritizing our relationship with God. Maybe it's just the reality of sin in our life, the struggle with sin. Trying to overcome these things that get in the way of the fuller version of a life of God in our soul. Maybe it's fear. We look at a figure like Jeremiah, who belonged completely to the Lord and say, ‘well, he was passed into a cistern and only by the grace of God rescued from death from that cistern.’ Or even the Lord Jesus Himself, who belonged absolutely to the Father and always did the Father's will. Look at what He suffered. Maybe we look at the prospect of really fully opening our hearts to the gift of the fire of God, and we say, that might cost me something. That could be painful. I might suffer because of that. Jesus Himself says, "It can bring division to families.”  We don't want that. We shrink away from the prospect of division coming into our family. Or what persecution? What ridicule might we suffer if we truly, totally belong to God and allowed the fire of God's presence and love, His Holy Spirit, to govern us?

The responsorial psalm this past Wednesday had the refrain: “Blessed be God, who filled my soul with fire.” It's funny how after celebrating Mass year after year, I don’t remember ever hearing that refrain before, but it's wonderful. “Blessed be God who filled my soul with fire.” What if we could pray that every day? “Blessed be God, who filled my soul with fire.” I suspect we don't all wake up in the morning with that sentiment. “Blessed be God, who filled my soul with fire.”  We don’t always feel that zeal, or that ardor, that sort of energy for the Lord. We're not always just falling over with the joy of Lord.

When I was in the seminary, I went through this hospital ministry training program, and at the end of that five-week period or whatever it was, the criticism that the supervisor leveled at me was ‘you are too even keeled.’ I thought that was a good thing! [laughter]. "No, you're just not expressive enough. Sometimes when you go into the hospital room with a patient, you have to do cry with them or whatever.”

Well, anyway, the point of what Jesus is saying is not that we have to publicly, outwardly full of energy, but the fire has to burn within at least. He's not saying you're going to put on some other kind of personality, that's not the way you are. But the fire must burn within. The fire must burn within. The fire, God's presence, His love, His judgment, divine purification, and the power of the Holy Spirit to affect change to within us.

So, just three simple reflections on today's Gospel. First is that we should remind ourselves each day we have already been given the gift of this fire. Any person who is Baptized has received the gift of the Holy Spirit. When we were baptized, God formed this gift, this gift of His fire, His presence, His life, into our soul. So, we already had it. It is a fact. So, that's a good thing to remind yourself of first thing in the morning – “I am baptized. I received the gift of the God in my soul.” Secondly, we can ask the Lord in His goodness to stir up this flame within us, to increase our ardor, increase our zeal, increase our love, increase our openness to receiving in greater and greater measure, the life of God. That our love for God would increase each day, and that it would truly become more and more the motivating and animating factor of our life especially in receiving Holy Communion. This gift of Jesus to us really should awaken something within us; awaken the response of love, pure and fuller love. So, we remind ourselves we have already received the gift, asking the Lord to stir up this gift, and then thirdly, flame, by its very nature, spreads when it is shared. Think about Easter, when we all stand individually holding our little tapers and the flame spreads from one, from the Easter Candle and spreads through the whole church until the church illuminated by that light. This is how this fire also spreads. We share our faith, we share with others about the impact of the fire of God in our own life, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the presence of God, His love and mercy, His judgment, divine purification and all the rest. What difference has that made in our life? And if we can share that, then the fire really begins to blaze more and more.

So, that’s three simple things. Remember you received the gift, asking the Lord to stir that flame more and more especially in the Eucharist, and then also sharing that flame. Jesus said, “I have come to set the earth on fire. How I wish it were already blazing.” And if we do these three simple things, then we are going to get closer and closer and closer to seeing that fire really spraying to the earth and enkindling the hearts of all peoples with divine love and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 10, 2025

Much earlier in my life, well before my seminary days, I briefly entertained the idea of becoming a professional musician, a concert pianist playing the piano for an audience. And looking back at that now, I find the idea amusing not just because I don't have that level of skill, but also because I can't imagine myself lasting very long as a concert pianist before I would have a nervous breakdown. There's a big difference between playing for enjoyment alone, or with a small group of friends, and playing for a crowd of strangers who have paid money to hear a flawless performance.

We behave differently when someone is watching our every move. When we have a ‘performance mentality,” we have to show the critics how good we are. Now, there's a flip side of the coin as well, as the old saying goes, “when the cat is away, the mice will play.” If we aren't aware of the presence of the critic or the one of who can deal out the consequences, we might try to get away with things. I remember, as a child, sometimes my folks would be out for the afternoon or the evening, and I was home alone. I would certainly try to get away with things that I wasn't supposed to do when they were not home. Watching TV- I wasn’t supposed to do that at home alone or getting into the sweets and things like that. I am not proud of that; I wish I had been virtuous enough to behave while they were gone the same way I behaved when they were home. Sometimes we try to get away with things and this isn't just for children either. There's a reason that buildings have surveillance cameras. We behave differently when someone is watching what we are doing.

In the Gospel today, we have the two different servants. The one who faithfully distributes the food at the proper time – the servant who is faithful to what his master has asked him to do. And the other servant who, while the master is delayed in returning, begins to beat the servants, and even drinking and get drunk because he senses that the master won't be coming anytime soon. Or maybe I can get away with some things.

I wonder if this principle applies to our spiritual life. The two principles actually. The performance mentality on the one had where we feel that we are on stage and God is the critic sitting in the back row, taking notes, demanding a flawless performance. So, we're scrambling, we're trying to do our best, trying to show God how good we are, and that we're good enough. Or the other extreme, not being aware that God is with us at all times and therefore, perhaps we're not as diligent in this struggle against sin. The lesson in today's Gospel is not that we should lean toward one or the other. Jesus does not encourage us to live in a life terrified of wrath of the Father; terrified that are not going to be good enough; terrified that we will be horribly punished if we choose badly or make some mistake. What father, among any of you, would delight in seeing his children terrified of making a mistake. No.

Of course, the Lord doesn't recommend the other extreme either. While the cat’s away, the mice will play. In the spiritual life, so to speak, the cat is never away. But the Lord God is not a cat waiting to pounce on a mouse. The Lord God is not the divine critic waiting for His children to slip up. God is a loving Father, who looks upon us as children with a great desire that we would flourish as human beings and we that we can grow in charity, grow in holiness, grow in goodness, grow in virtue.

And so, what we want to strive for is not that we would always be on alert that God is watching and criticizing us. We should always be alert that God our Father is looking upon us and looking for us to make a response of love. That our thoughts and words and deeds could be good, not out of fear, or certainly not merely out of fear. But that our thoughts and our deeds and our actions, our deeds and our words will be good as an expression of our love for our Father. Our true love for God, our desire to be glorify God; our desire to please the Lord in everything.

Perhaps today with this Gospel, we have an opportunity to reflect on the many areas of our spiritual life where we might, so to speak, try to get away with things because we are not aware of God's loving gaze upon us. How might our behavior change if we were more aware throughout the day of God's loving presence with us, God's loving gaze upon us. We might reflect on how it is that we even approach that question currently? Do we think of God as the Divine Critic, or as one who looks at us with a longing love.

The other conversation is that we have been entrusted with a stewardship that is ongoing, it is constant, steady.”Much will be much will be required if the person entrusted with much and still more demanded of the person entrusted with the more”. It's not just in certain times when we pray, when we are at Mass, when we're thinking about God, not just in those moments are we called to be good stewards, but at all times. May God give us the grace to be more of His eye upon us, not to stir up fear, but rather to awaken in us a deeper desire to live with the glory of God who loves us so much.

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 3, 2025 Father David Kruse

We enjoy so many more freedoms than any other place in the world. I am talking about personal freedom. What does it mean to have the ability to make our own decisions, our own choices? What do we do with this? Because the culture is telling us something very powerful about our freedom.

About 100 years ago in France, just outside of Paris, there was a young philosopher who developed a theory. And his theory was this: “That my radical freedom as an individual comes before who I am.” And he said it this way: “Existence, my existence, my freedom, my existence, precedes my essence.” My existence, my freedom comes before my identity, what is meant by this, in his philosophy, in the book that he wrote, is that “I determine what I become; I am so radically free, that is one thing over my existence about being a human being, I am so radically free that I determine who I become. I create my own identity. Who are you to tell me what I should do and what I shouldn’t do? I get to decide that. There is no one that's going to tell me how to live my life. I determine how I am going to live my life and who I am going to become in the process.” And that radical philosophy was developed by a man by the name of Jean Paul Sarte.

And that philosophy, friends, has become the dominant influence in our culture. Do you know what he said was an obstacle to his philosophy of radical freedom? Existence precedes essence. I determine my own identity. I determine who I am going to become. Do you know who he said was the greatest obstacle? It wasn’t the state. It wasn’t a political establishment, and it wasn't even the Church. It was God Himself. God was the primary obstacle to living out my freedom. Because he said, “If God exists, I can’t be free. But I am free, so therefore God doesn’t exist.” That is how he reasoned things. By the way, if you haven’t figured it out by now, he was really wrong.

But I illustrate this point because the philosophy that underpins pretty much all of Western culture these days has become the main way of thinking, especially in younger generations, and we see crop up in the last five to ten years, especially with all of the identity movements. “I identify as a cat, and so you treat me as a cat because I have determined that's who I am.” Or “I am a boy, and I have determined that I am a girl; or I am a girl and have determined I am a boy.” I dictate my own identity. I am able to decide who I am. What I decide is what I become.” That's a direct line from Sarte.

So, what does Scripture say? What does the Biblical world view say about our freedom. We are free, for sure. But God has chosen us first. We haven't chosen our own identity first. He's chosen us. At a certain point in time, He has willed you into existence. At the very moment of your conception, He created your soul, an immaterial soul that cannot be created through natural biology. God intervened in your creation, and He keeps you in existence. Did you realize that if God for one single second, a split second, were to stop thinking about you, you cease to exist.

So, think about this. What keeps all of us alive? The laws of biology, right? What keeps the laws of biology working? All the laws of chemistry. What keeps the laws of chemistry working? The laws of physics. What keeps the laws of physics working? We have pretty much reached the bottom end of it. That's when we call God. God holds all of this up. And even if we were to discover some other layer of reality that keeps the laws of physics working, it cannot go on forever.

So, in philosophy we say you cannot have an infinitely regression. An infinite cause of things without a first cause, otherwise, nothing exists. You have to have a first cause at some point, and we call that ‘Person” the Three Persons. We call that which keeps everything else in existence – keeps the laws of physics in existence, which keeps the laws of chemistry in existence, which keeps the laws of biology, which keeps you in existence. That is done by God. So, if He were to stop thinking about you, if you were to figuratively take His hands away, you would cease to exist. That is how much God knows you.

He's always with you. He's chosen you first and has given you an identity. You are His beloved sons and daughters. You are his beloved children. We are His beloved children. That's our identity, and He has given us freedom with this identity to use. And here is the key because Sarte would say our freedom is freedom from anything that can possess us. Freedom from anything that might infringe on our freedom. “Freedom from” is what Sarte would say, and we would say, ‘Freedom for.” God has given us freedom so that we will make decisions that lead us to live a life the way He wants us to live and therefore find happiness.

So, our freedom is meant to be used for something: Toward the salvation of our soul. For Heaven. For walking on a path through this life that leads us home to Heaven. That is what freedom is meant to be used for, and God gives us boundaries, and He gives us rules – the Ten Commandments. He gives us the Church as a good Mother, not as a bad Mother, but as a good mother, to help us choose well.

I leave you with this image. GK Chesterton wrote a famous book called Orthodoxy and, in his book, he gave an image to really reinforce this point about God, and about why He gives us the Commandments, why He gives us a law, why He gives us miracles. GK Chesterton said that there was an island out in the middle of the rough seas, out of the middle of the ocean, raging seas all around this island, and on the side is a big hill, and on the top of this hill was a grassy knoll. There was a wall that surrounded it. Surrounded the grassy knoll. And on the grassy knoll were a group of children, and they were playing, and they were having great times, and they were running around and throwing the ball and being free as children are free, right? So, one day, somebody came and said, "Why are you putting a wall around these children? That is so oppressive. Tear down that wall!” And they tore down the wall. And a short while later, they came back, and they found all the children huddled in the center of the grassy knoll out of fear for being able to run freely and fall over the side of the hill.

The idea, friends, is that God gives us boundaries – He builds a wall saying this is how I want human beings to act. Don't steal, don’t lie. Don't covet, don't kill, etcetera. Worship your Creator, this is the way I want you to witness, and this is the wall I give you. And within that boundary, play! Be completely free, be yourself, and you are free to do whatever you want within these boundaries. And these boundaries are there to keep you safe.

So, friends, I have all of this with you because it actually is related to our readings, not just today, but everything in the Gospels. If we get this point right, and we realize, hey, I am meant for something. I have freedom. Yeah, I can say, I am free to choose whatever I want in my life. But you are meant to use this gift for something wonderful, and that is to live a life where we are chained toward Heaven, and we are walking toward Heaven. And we are meant to use these gifts that we have of our identity as God’s beloved children. The gift of freedom that we have to choose well that leads to happiness - for one thing friends and for one thing only - so that you make it home. That's it. So that we make it home and there everything will be fixed. We will have eternal happiness and all of this, these difficult years of that we have experienced so many of us have experienced will be just distant memories.

Friends, that is where our treasure is meant to be, and our sights, the sight of our mind and the sight of our heart, is meant to focus on, not just when we come to Mass, not just when we're here praying, but every single day of our lives. Make God your primary focus, use your freedom well, and all will fall into place.

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 27, 2025

In the way of praying, we all pray asking God to give us different things. We may be asking God to give us healing. We may be asking God to send employment our way. We might be asking God to give us protection from fire or good test results, or for peace in our family, or consolation in time of grief and loss. We might be asking God to help us in a situation of material need. But also, non-material needs. We ask for wisdom. We ask God to give us courage, patience; we ask God to give us forgiveness, and so many other things.

Perhaps this dynamic deepens and develops a little bit when we find ourselves asking God to give others things more than we ask for ourselves. “Lord, bring peace to those nations that are at war. Give protection and safety to persecuted Christians. Help those who are alone, or in hospitals or nursing homes, those who are homebound, those who are suffering. We pray that God will grant to others what they need.”

But then the dynamic of prayer also deepens when we realize prayer is not just about getting something, but that we go to prayer with the intention of giving something to God. We pray in order to give God praise or to give adoration, to give God glory, to give God thanks. We offer to God in our prayer, our devotion, our actions, offering of love. We offer obedience. We offer our works, our joys, our sufferings each day. We offer with our whole heart and sometimes we pray, and we do not ask for a single thing, but simply go to offer to God our heart, to present ourselves to God as a gift. A gift in response to what God has already given to us in an expression of our love to Him and in our gratitude.

The Lord God has a desire for us in prayer that is deeper even than that of forgiving. At the end of today's Gospel, Jesus says, “If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?" So, you say, well, you can say, I am not asking to get the Holy Spirit. But the gift of the Holy Spirit is orientated toward something that is right up on par with God’s desire for us and that is union. God is the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit works within us to draw us into deeper and deeper union with God. Closeness to God, conformity to the Lord Jesus in thoughts, in word and deed. The Lord draws us into prayer, not just to give us something or to receive something from us, He draws us into prayer to bind us to Himself, to conform our minds and our hearts to Him, to His mind, to His heart, to His will.

So, the more we pray, the less the getting and the giving matters and the more and more what matters is our conformity to Him. Our desire for God’s will for our life and the whole world – the lives of all people. So, we can ask the question, why pray in an abstract kind of way and sort of get an abstract answer but it also has to come home to us in a vision, where we ask the question of ourselves, why do we pray, why do I pray? Why am I praying right now when I go and sit in the chapel or when I am out walking and praying. Why am I praying? Am I stuck on just asking God for things? I am always asking if I can get this or that. You know, it’s not a bad thing, but my idea is that Lord wants something more.

If I find that when I am always praying asking God for something, might I begin to turn toward offering God something in my heart even more than I ask to receive something? And even beyond those dynamics of asking for and offering, in the hungry reality of my prayer, I realize that God really desires for me union through prayer. The conformity of my will to His.

Some years ago in a homily, I mentioned that the purpose of prayer is not to change God's mind so that He will give us what we need or want, usually ‘want.’ But rather that our hearts would be changed through prayer in order to be able to accept joyfully and gratefully whatever it is that God wills for us. How much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit? How much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? We want the gift of the Holy Spirit. We want the transformation of our hearts according to the heart of Christ. We want greater and greater conformity to the Lord Jesus, greater and greater conformity to the will of God.

Today in the celebration of Baptism, the majority of you who are here were baptized remember that when we were baptized in our Masses, we receive this gift of the Holy Spirit and it is the beginning of transformation according to the image of Christ. And as we momentarily move into baptism of Silas, we pray for that outpouring of the Holy Spirit on him. Recognizing that what God is doing in him, bringing him new life, drawing him to Himself, God is also doing in each one of us. He wants to do to each one of us. Very much through our prayers each day.

May we have the grace to pray, not just for the things that we need, and not just even to offer ourselves to God but to also to recognize that the Lord is goodness and love is really drawing us into union with Himself. 

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 20, 2025

This well-known Gospel passage is not primarily about choosing how you spend your time, whether in prayer or work or some other activity. Jesus is not pitting prayer against work. Sometimes this message has been used to argue that Jesus is promoting the contemplative life over a life of action. But then the Martha’s in this room always object. They say, “If we just sat around praying all day, nothing would ever get done.’ And okay, they have a point. And although prayer and contemplation are certainly essential to the Christian life, Jesus did indeed send His disciples out into the world to work, to work for the building of the kingdom of God, and Jesus Himself worked. So, prayer and work or action do not mean to be considered as enemies.

Maybe the question is not about how we spend our time exactly. Maybe ‘choosing the better part’ is not necessarily choosing contemplation over action or choosing action over contemplation. Maybe that better part is available to us no matter whether we are working or praying or doing some other activity. And actually, I think we know this intuitively. If we're in the midst of a time of prayer, we know that we can choose to go along with moments of daydreaming or distraction, or we can choose the better part and bring ourselves back to focusing on the Lord. We know that if we're in the midst of a time of work or activity, we can choose to be present and mindful of God, which is the better part, or we can choose in some way to set it aside and say, ‘God, I'm going to do this my own way.’ Kind of like taking the Lord and putting Him on a shelf for a little bit. ‘I love you, Lord, but right now I have to take care of this other thing.  So, you just be over there. And if you would be quiet, I wouldn't mind.”

 Jesus says in John 15, "Abide in me, and I in you.” Abide in me, and I in you. Choosing the better part means that no matter what we're doing, whether praying or working or doing some other activity, we abide in Jesus. We remain in Him. We live from that place of the union with Him. It means we don't set Jesus aside in any way, but remain in Him, abide in Him, and be present to Him.

In the Gospel, Mary is fully present to Jesus. And I think the fact that she is not working in that moment is not really the point. It is not a critical part of this account. She is present. She is sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to him. Her sister, Martha, is busy with the serving but apparently, while she is working, she's not focusing on serving out of love - love for Jesus and love for her sister. She seems to be focused on herself, and she is focused on the unfairness of having to do all the work herself without having any help from her sister.

How might the conversation have gone differently had Martha remained present to Jesus in her heart even while she was working? She was mindful that she was doing this work out of love. I suspect things may have gone differently. To abide in Jesus, to remain in Jesus, is to choose the better part. And it requires a lot of practice because we know, I think, the temptation, when we have other things to do is to set Jesus aside and we create this division between our spiritual life and the rest of life. But Jesus actually wants us to remain in Him no matter what we are doing. And there are many ways we can work on that. We can take up maybe different devotions that can be prayed while we're working or doing other things. We can have sacred music playing in the background or something while we're doing other things. We can just simply try to remind ourselves more and more frequently that the Lord is with us, the unseen guest in every conversation, or at every meal, in every place we go, that He is there, He is present. Even just remembering that He is present helps us to be present to Him. And of course, this Sacraments are a tremendous gift in helping us to abide in Jesus to remain in Him. The sacrament of Reconciliation, Confession, helps us to return to Him perhaps after we have wandered a bit. After we recognize we haven't always been abiding in Him. Of course, the gift of the Holy Eucharist is Jesus' gift of abiding with us in which He invites us also to abide in Him in a special way. Even spending time with Him in Adoration, whether the host is exposed on the altar or reposed in the Tabernacle or receiving Jesus in the Eucharist, there is that beautiful intimate invitation: “Abide in me, and I abide in you.”

 It is good to reflect on how in the living of our mission of life, we abide in the Lord. For where are those places in life where we tend towards setting Jesus aside? Have we created somehow a dichotomy in our mind or in our living between spiritual life and the rest of life? Can we bring those together and abiding in Jesus, choose the better part.

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 6, 2025

I find myself as time goes on loving the Church more and more. It's not because of all of the beautiful structures, the beautiful churches I've seen, or because of the beautiful music, liturgy, and the tradition of the Church, but for the love of God that inspires all of those, and so much else. And also, just coming to know the people of God, not only in their gratefulness, but in every, in all of the moments of life - their devotion, their faithfulness, their perseverance, also their dreams and struggles and the weaknesses, all that goes together to make a Christian life. I have a priest friend who jokingly says, "I love the faith. It's the faithful I can't stand."

And sometimes people do want to just have that relationship with God with no regard for the Church. There are many who regard the Church with sort of an attitude of tolerance at best. They put up with these other people, but the main thing is just that they have their own relationship with God. There are some who despise the Church, perhaps out of misunderstanding, perhaps out of a sense of self-righteousness. A judgment that everyone else in the Church is somehow off base. Some despise the structures or the hierarchy of the Church and the leaders. Some despise their fellow lay people. They don't like this or that thing about the Church. Sometimes people stand in judgment of the Church or reject Her for the imperfections of Her members.

But we have got to love the Church. We've got to love the Church. Because we cannot despise what Jesus loves so dearly. Jesus has taken the Church to Himself, united the Church to Himself. The Church is His Body; the Church is his Bride. The Church is His Beloved. So, we must love the Church - warts and all. We must love the Church.

I mentioned a couple of Sundays ago when we see Jerusalem mentioned in Scriptures, especially in the Old Testament, Jerusalem is a prefigurement of the Church. So, what if we read again todays first reading with that in mind?

“Rejoice with the Church and be glad because of her, all you who love her; exalt, exalt, with her, all you who were mourning over her!” What if I regard the Church really as a beloved mother who nourishes us like a mother nourishes her child? Comforts her child. As nurslings, you shall be carried her arms and fondled in her lap; as a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; in the Church, you shall find your comfort.”

 Do we rejoice in the Church? How do we love the Church? Do we regard the Church truly as our mother? The trouble, I think, with standing judgment of the Church or despising the Church, or just tolerating the church, or we being leery of the Church - I'm not saying we should be uncritical - but if we have this attitude toward the Church, it's very easy then to stay at the margin of the Church. To stay at the edge, kind of looking in and saying “Well, I really don’t want to be fully associated with those sinners.” No. Or if I don't want to be associated with those who don't think the same way and so forth and so on. We can easily put ourselves at the edge of the Church instead of making us the heart of the Church. And we want to be in the heart of the Church and to share the mission of the Church.

In the Gospel we hear about these seventy-two whom Jesus sends in ahead of Him to prepare His way to announce His coming. They must have something more than a personal relationship to Jesus to be able to go at out and to announce Jesus, and to get people, to help them to prepare their hearts, to receive Him, that they would love them too. They came back rejoicing. They're participating in the mission of Jesus to save the world. If we are not in the heart of the Church, if we find ourselves on the periphery of the margin of the Church, we are not very likely to participate in that mission. Going out and preparing the way for the Lord and preaching the Gospel and making Him known.

We have to love the Church. We have to love the Church and be in the heart of the Church. What is our attitude today toward the Church, to Her structures, Her traditions, Her members, Her leaders? Do we struggle with the temptation to be at the edge or the margin or are we ready to really be in the heart of the Church to recognize that we each have some sort of role in the announcement of the Gospel. Jesus says, “The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few.” The harvest truly is abundant today - right now in our neighborhood, in our towns, in our county. The harvest is rich, the harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few.

God give us the grace today to love the Church more and more; loving Christ and His Church, His body, and may we have the grace to recognize that we, like the seventy-two, are sent into the world to bring all people to Christ.

Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, June 30, 2025

Summary:

We hear different things about the weaknesses of these saints, and that's fine. It is good to mention that, too, I guess, but it seems like the message that is communicated then is: “Well, if these great Saints have a past as sinners, then there is hope for all of us, too. Maybe we are not disqualified from Heaven because we are still broken and weak and sinful.”

But that isn’t the question. There is no question of whether we qualified to be disciples of Jesus. Everyone is qualified to be a disciple of Jesus. The question is are we open to God? Are we open? Before God there are only two ways we can be. There are only two ways – open or closed. So, you see in the lives of Saint Peter and Saint Paul perhaps not just a onetime changing from closed to open. Even though Saint Paul’s conversion was a profoundly transformative event, we also see in it an ongoing journey of conversion. Saint Peter didn’t just get it right one time and keep on getting it right. As we all do, these things stumble – they have to struggle to become more and more open to God and less and less closed. 

This is the journey of conversion. This is the description of pretty much all the Saints. They are open to God. Open to God. And for those who underwent conversion over the course of their lives, it was a journey of becoming more and more open. I think in our own human experience it is fairly easy for us to identify these certain moments whether we are open to God or are closed. For example, even in our thought life. How do I think of my neighbor? Am I open to God in that, or am I closed to God in that? How do I think of my family? Maybe some of the members of my family that I am in a struggle with? How do I think of public figures? How do I think of the Church? How do I think of myself even? Am I open to God in the way I think of myself? How do I think of God? 

In our words, how do we speak of our neighbor? How do we speak of our family members? How do we speak of public figures? What is our conversation like? It doesn't mean we are always explicitly speaking about God, we need to have conversations about other things as well, obviously. But in any conversations, are we open God? Is the conversation open to God or is it closed? In our deeds, again, are we open to God? We know whether we are serving God or serving ourselves. We know whether we are open or closed.

I think this is actually something of a useful tool for us to stow in our spiritual toolbox. Just a simple question. Am I open or closed? What if in the course of a conversation that little question flickered through our mind? Do I come open to God in this? Even in the privacy of our home, in the quiet of prayer, perhaps, or thinking about different things, the thought comes mind - am I open to God right now, or am I closed. Could I be more open?

Honestly, we all have to answer the question about openness and or being closed. I am saying that sometimes we are open and sometimes we're closed. None of us is perfectly open all the time. I don't think any of us is all the way closed all the time, either. Here you are, celebrating Mass – that is an example of openness. It is one thing to have a life of prayer, to do good works and to love your families and serve God the way that you love those around you. So, there's clearly openness. But we want to become more and more open to praying each day:

Jesus, I open my heart to you. Help me to open my heart, teach me to open my heart. Give me the grace to open my heart. Help me to receive whatever it is that you wish to pour out to me. Help me not to be closed, help me not to be stuck inside my own thoughts and reasoning, my own understanding. Help me not to be closed in on myself and what I want and my agendas. But help me to be open to you O God.

Just this simple question: Am I open or am I closed can help us so much in our spiritual life. And through the intersession of Saints.

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, June 22, 2025

Summary:

I am sure I have shared before about what a central role the Eucharist played in my vocation to priesthood, but also just in my own spiritual development as a young person. Jesus in the Eucharist captured my heart from the time I was just a little boy. The truth of Jesus' real presence in this Holy Sacrament entrusted itself on my soul in such a way that I simply accepted it as an undeniable fact. And I can’t really think of a time that ever fully doubted the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and by God's grace, I hope to remain faithful all the days of my life. 

But also, I found that through the Eucharist, God is always with me. You know, God is present everywhere, we know that by faith. But He is present in a very specific and special way in the Sacrament of Eucharist. And when I encounter Jesus in the Eucharist, I experience His abiding presence. He has made a promise to never abandon us. His promise “I am with you always.” And there's a sense there that He is always available to me. I can run to Him whenever I need him for whatever I want.

People ask me, don't you get lowly as a priest? I very seldom feel alone. I have the capacity for solitude, but I very seldom feel lonely. And even if those feelings creep up, I go straight to the Lord and I know that He is present, and He is there to give me His company and much consolation. The Sacrament of the Eucharist is the Sacrament of Divine love. In the Eucharist we have the very love of God Incarnate and meditating on that Mystery, receiving that Mystery in Holy Communion, reminds me of what I am called to as well. What we are all called to do - imitate the very love of Jesus Christ Himself, and in that Sacrament always pouring out the love of His heart for me, for all of us. 

I can say there's a lot of different effects that the Eucharist has had on my life. One of them is that is ongoing is that I find I have a deeper desire to receive the Sacrament worthily. So, one of my greatest anxieties as a priest has been surrounding my participation in unworthy Holy Communions. Obviously, I distribute a lot of hosts. I mean, if I celebrated 10,000 Masses, I don't know how many Holy Communions I have given. And I worry sometimes, what will be my burden and responsibility for other people to receive Holy Communion worthily or not. Aside from situations where grave public scandal would result from my giving Communion to someone, I sort of settled on the reality or truth that the responsibility for ascertaining one’s worthiness to receive Holy Communion lies with the recipient, and not with me. I am not Padre Pio – I don’t read your soul. I learned recently that in the Coptic tradition, the priest, after washing his hands before the Eucharistic prayer, shakes his fingers out in front of the people to signify that he is not responsible for any unworthy Communions. The responsibility is yours to receive Holy Communion worthily. This is not to say, you just open up the flood gates and give Communion out willy nilly. No. The Sacrament is celebrated and received on God's terms, not on ours so we all have to have the humility to submit ourselves to what God has revealed concerning the Sacrament – through the Scriptures and through Tradition. We are supposed to conform ourselves to Christ, not expect Him to conform Himself to our plans.

In this sacred life, today, with a special feast, perhaps we can simply ask the Lord to help us place Him more and more at the center, especially to place His Eucharistic presence more solidly, more totally, at the center of our life so that when we receive the Eucharistic it is folded into the fabric of our being, and we couldn't imagine living without that. Lord Jesus, help us to open our hearts to You and to receive You with total love and to allow You to accomplish Your purposes in our life.