17Oct21 (21bO29). Prayer is tricky. Do we always get whatever we want? God answers our prayers, but sometimes his answer is “No” or “I am going to do better”. God knows much more than us. We need to trust that he hears and answers our prayers, but not in our way, but in the full goodness of God’s plan. Even good things we ask for can less good than God’s desire. He can answer by not answering. It isn’t a matter of praying just right but with the right receptive spirit. “Thy will be done”.

10Oct21 (21bO28). It is amazing what we are willing to do for sports or other things that we love. It doesn’t seem like a chore to wake up early to train or practice. Many things in Catholicism can seem like a drag. Is it because they are difficult, or because we don’t think they are important? Getting to heaven is not easy. We are rich and it is impossible for us to get to heaven. We need try more than avoid sin, but pursue perfection in Charity.

03Oct21 (21bO27). Jesus seriously meant this teaching on divorce. Men and women are created equal but not identical. Their complimentary that is so special that when a man and women come together that God has ordered creation as to bring forth life.

26Sep21 (21bO26). Bullies are often bullies because they are insecure/jealous and have been bullied themselves. We want to prevent bullying attitudes by living in security ourselves. We do that by living in gratitude and knowing who God is, what the Church is, and ultimately who we are. Dominus Iesus, is one of my favorite documents of the church by Cardinal Ratzinger explaining our relationship to other religions and denominations. It helps to know who we are before we start making comparisons and similarities. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000806_dominus-iesus_en.html

19Sep21 (21bO25). USCCB have named this Sunday Catechetical Sunday. I give some history of Catechesis. Our children are watching and see almost everything. We teach our children not by just sending them to CCD, but how parents live it out.

12Sep21(21bO24). #9/9 Bread of Life Series.  Peter professes that Jesus is the Christ and then tries to rebuke Jesus for his talk. Jesus rebukes Peter and calls him “Satan”. How do we think as God and not as men? Make acts of Faith. The most powerful act of faith we make is going to Sunday Mass. Within Mass the “AMEN” is the most important act of faith we make in the Mass. Here are some practicals.

05Sep21(21bO23). #8/9-Bread of Life Series.  Jesus acts in some strange ways. Today he puts his finger in someone’s ears. God always acts in the most fitting way. Which sometimes isn’t the way that we think. Jesus touches us today in the Eucharist which is the most fitting way.

29Aug21 (21bO22). #7/9-Bread of Life Series. We don’t like laws, but we put laws around things that are important. We don’t have any laws about touching an ordinary rock, but a lot of laws about special art. We also have a lot of laws around the Eucharist. Here are a few of those laws that are supposed to point us toward the reality of what the Eucharist is.

22Aug21 (21bO21). #6/9-Bread of Life Series. God gives us embodied ways to continue to encounter Him. The Eucharist is given for us to EAT. We are what we eat and God wants us to eat Jesus and be completely united to Him. It should make us a little uncomfortable in how real the Eucharist is. This is not symbolic but substantially and really present.

15Aug21 (21Assumption).  #5/9-Bread of Life Series. Mary is assumed into heaven body and soul. We are not disembodied beings, but human persons are body and soul. Jesus and Mary are both in heaven as their full persons being body and soul. The rest of us when we die live in an imperfect state as disembodied persons until the end of time when we believe in the resurrection of the body. If the body is so important than it makes sense that God would give us a Sacrament like the Eucharist that encounters both our body and soul in our full humanity.