Solemnity of Saints Peters and Paul

We are not on this journey of faith alone.  We turn to each other so naturally when we need help, especially to our friends and family.  The saints are our friends in heaven, our family in heaven; they are alive in Christ!  So ask for their help, their prayers, their support as fellow members of the Body of Christ.

St. Peter...pray for us.

St. Paul...pray for us.

All you holy men and women...pray for us.

Pentecost Sunday

God is doing great things here in our family of parishes!  More people are coming to Church; more young couples are attending Mass; more kids are being baptized; more families are joining the Church; more people are becoming Catholic — great things are happening here because of you and your witness!

God's Spirit is being poured out in other places as well.   God is doing great things in vocations in our diocese.  God is doing great things at St. Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee (where we send our graduate seminarians in final preparation for priesthood).

Ascension Sunday

We are called to follow where Christ our Savior went first.  We, like Jesus, are called to be light enough to ascend to the Father: some things weigh us down, and some things raise us up.   Do you ever feel heavy?  Do you ever feel weighed down?  Jesus wants to lighten your load.  

Ask Jesus for the grace today, ask the Holy Spirit for the power today: “Lord, give me the grace and the power to let go of one more thing I’m holding onto that’s weighing me down.  And Lord, help me with your grace and power to take one more step in an area that will raise me up!”

6th Sunday of Easter

On this Memorial Day Weekend, we give thanks to God for the lives we are able to live in our country as we remember those who have died while serving in our Armed Forces, protecting us and upholding the rights and liberties which we enjoy here and now; we remember them and we pray for eternal rest and peace for their souls. 

If I'm being totally honest, though, in my day-to-day life, I usually take these freedoms for granted.  I also take many of the blessings of life for granted...and the people God has placed in my life for granted...and the incredible gift of forgiveness of sins in Jesus and eternal life for granted...and our incredible Catholic faith for granted... So if you’re anything like me, let’s pause this week, and intentionally give thanks to God this day for all of His many gifts!

4th Sunday of Easter

Just a few days ago, on Thursday, May 8th, something happened that I never thought I would see in my lifetime: Habemus Papam! We have a Pope! …And he’s American!

Robert Francis Prevost is a native of Chicago; an Augustinian priest (a religious order priest) who spent much of his priestly life as a missionary in South America, and eventually serving as a Bishop in Peru.  More recently, he was called to Rome, where he worked in the Dicastery for Bishops.

On this Good Shepherd Sunday let’s pray for our new shepherd, Pope Leo XIV.  I also ask for your prayers for me, your local shepherd.  And finally, prayers for those that you have been called by God to shepherd. 

Jesus doesn’t say “follow me” to only popes or priests; he says it to every disciple.  Every one of us who has heard Jesus’ invitation and chosen to follow Him has also been tasked with the responsibility to shepherd specific people the Lord has placed in our care.  May we all model our shepherding after that of Christ, the Good Shepherd!

Easter Sunday

"Roll away the stone.  See the glory of God.  Roll away the stone."

What stones are still blocking the tomb of your heart?  This Easter, God wants to roll those stones away.   Christ doesn’t roll it away to shame us—He rolls it away so that He can enter in.  Just as He stepped out of the tomb into the garden of new life, bringing into our world something entirely new — so Jesus wants to step into the tombs we’ve been trapped in and say, “Peace be with you, ” bringing His light and His healing, to clear out the old, musty, life-draining, stale air, and bring in a breath of new, fresh, moving, life-giving air!

Happy Easter!

5th Sunday of Lent

“Then Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you.  Go, and from now on do not sin any more.'”

“Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new!”

“forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead,”

2nd Sunday of Lent

In our Gospel today, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a mountain, and He is transfigured before them, they get a glimpse of the dazzling bright white glory of Jesus’ divinity, a foretaste of heaven and of who we are called to be! 

But our Gospel today says, “Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory!”  Jesus was already in conversation with Moses and Elijah and showing forth his tremendous glory…before Peter, James and John woke up and realized what had already been happening even as they were sleeping, “missing out on it,” as it were.  What if Peter, James and John had slept through all of it?  Would we even know about this event? 

What will it take for us to become “fully awake”?  Fully awake to the presence of God already alive, active and at work around us, within us, and through us?!

1st Sunday of Lent

On this Safe Haven Sunday, we are asked to to, first and foremost, make the home a safe haven for our kids by taking practical steps to help our kids engage technology in holy and virtuous ways and, inasmuch as possible, protect them from exposure to explicit content. 

This is also an opportunity for individuals of all ages, young and old, to not only ask whether our media use is healthy in regards to explicit content, but also in regards to where it encourages our focus, energy and attention.  Satan doesn't care how good our motivations are so long as we are concerned about things we can't change (politics, national happenings, world happenings) and don't see the real, down-to-earth, practical things that we can!

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus calls us to be transformed, to be renewed in mind and action, to look and act differently than others normally do: this theme runs through all of our readings.  Yes, we are called to be disciples of Jesus, but our mission is more than just following Jesus as a disciple.  Jesus’ last words on this earth before He ascended into heaven give us our mission: “Go and make disciples”.  So we are called to not only be disciples, but missionary disciples, reaching out genuinely and in faith to others that the Lord puts in our path so that we can fulfill the mission Jesus entrusted to us: to make disciples!  The movement from a disciple to a missionary disciple is slight, but it's also powerful...and it makes all the difference!