Pilgrim Priest

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph (A) We are each special, hand-made, and unique. When God creates children, he wants them to be welcomed into the world by a family. 

Right from the beginning, the family is under attack. Adam doesn't protect the garden. He and Eve disobey God. They begin living lives of isolation, self-protection, and self-reliance.

How does Joseph manage to best Herod? Joseph is a good father to G...

Christmas Eve • I decorated my tree on Christmas Eve. It was a journey through my life history. As we listen to the genealogy of Jesus, we get a brief summary of the history of the entire Bible. Only one name is repeated. Each person is a unique link on the chain that leads to Jesus. You are precious and unique. God delights in you and rejoices in you.

Not all of us are faithful. In fact, most of us are not faithful some of the tim...

Advent, 4th Sunday (A) A young King Ahaz faces a complicated and difficult political situation. He doesn't need a plan, a strategy, or powerful allies because God will be with him. God wants to give him a sign, but he doesn't want a sign. Does he feel ashamed? Is he trying to be the one in control? Is he afraid to trust? Or maybe me thinks he doesn't matter.

Whatever difficult situation, challenge, or darkness you are facing, God i...

Advent, 3rd Sunday (C) For twenty years, Franciscan missionaries labored in Mexico with very little success. Finally, God acted through Mary, and in 10 years, over 8 million Aztecs and Chichimecas became Catholic. 

Zachary Feldker served as a missionary to teens through the Spiritus program. He often prayed at Champion Shrine and complained that God wasn't revealing his vocation to him. Finally, Mary spoke in his heart. All that wa...

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary • Which Catholic teaching is the most difficult to accept? It's not the Immaculate Conception, the Incarnation, or Transubstantiation. Most people seem to have a really hard time with the idea that every child is a gift from God.

Thanks to original sin, every child is perfect and precious and also rather annoying. And we make things worse when we make our own sinful ...

Advent, 1st Sunday (A) Winter was coming, but were you prepared? Advent was coming, were you ready? Jesus is coming; are you prepared to meet him?

Some of our Protestant brothers and sisters use today's Gospel to justify "the rapture." But in the days of Noah, the evil people were taken and the good people were left. The rapture is the opposite: the good people are taken and the evil ones are left. The Catholic church does not beli...

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (C) Today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King, a relatively new feast in the church year. It was added to the church calendar in 1925. It is not a celebration of the idea that it would be really nice if Jesus were our king. Nor does it celebrate the fact that Jesus will be a future king. Rather, this feast day acknowledges that all power in heaven and earth has been...

Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome • The consecration or dedication of a church building sets it apart for the worship of God. Every Christian is consecrated to the Lord. We were Baptized and Confirmed and received Holy Communion. The church is holy so we can be holy. We should be no less holy than our local Catholic Church!

Some of us are called to dedicate ourselves particularly to God. The men and women who ...

All Souls Day • The dead are not so very far away. They have a message for you:

"What you are, I once was.
What I am, you will be."

I want to start my homily by talking about funerals. Funerals and Baptisms have more in common than you might realize. We greet the body at the door, we sprinkle the casket with Holy Water, and we unfold a white pall over the casket. Jesus receives all of our concerns and bur...

Solemnity of All Saints • What are we celebrating today? The Preface for All Saints explains:

For for today, by your gift, we celebrate the festival of your city, the heavenly Jerusalem, our mother, where the great array of our brothers and sisters already gives you eternal praise. Towards her we eagerly hasten, as pilgrims advancing by faith, rejoicing in the glory bestowed upon those exalted members ...

Ordinary Time, 29th Sunday (C) Welcome to our Stewardship Commitment Sunday. When it comes to stewardship, I feel like the little old lady who is constantly badgering the judge. "Turn in your card!"

When God doesn't answer our prayers, we need to step back and notice our underlying need. The Lord wants to grow deeper in a relationship with us. We are often not open to receive the gift of Jesus himself. The good times and the bad, t...

Ordinary Time, 28th Sunday (C) Naaman the Syrian is powerful, wealthy, and successful. But his strength and wealth are not enough to make him healthy. He encounters love and truth through his obedience to God's will, and experiences wholeness and communion.

When we started our stewardship program, I thought everyone else needed to learn stewardship. The program is helping me learn to trust in God, be grateful, and be generous with ...

Ordinary Time, 27th Sunday (C) "I cry out to you, 'Violence!' but you do not intervene. Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery?  Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and clamorous discord." Was the prophet Habakkuk looking over my shoulder as I watched the evening news?

We come to Sunday Mass to get a new vision, a vision that is different from the evening news or your social feed. God appears not...

Ordinary Time, 26th Sunday (C) I saw a lot of amazing things on my pilgrimage to Italy: medieval towns, Pope Leo, three Eucharistic miracles, the four major basilicas... but the most amazing thing was our Italian bus driver, Pino. I used to think that Italian driving was highly competitive. But I watched Pino and the other drivers cooperating with one another.

Do we see the world through a lens of competition or cooperation? Many o...

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross • Anti-venom comes from animals who were poisoned but survived. Jesus drank the poison of our sins and it killed him. But he rose from the dead and now his body is the antidote to sin and death.

Grumbling is a kind of poison. If left unchecked, it will kill our spirits. When you suffer, look at the cross. Know that Jesus suffers with you and he suffers for you. You can unite your sufferings...

Ordinary Time, 23rd Sunday (C) We think we are free, but many of us are slaves. We are burdened by the needs and worries of the flesh. The book of Wisdom says, "For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns."

In today's Gospel, Jesus seems to be adding more burdens: Hate your family, take up your cross, and renounce all your possessions. In reality, Jesus is not adding...

Ordinary Time, 22nd Sunday (C) Jesus goes to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the guests at the banquet are observing them carefully. Jesus is also watching them. He offers some sage advice, a radical suggestion: fight for the lower spot. Make yourself as humble as possible, and wait for the host to exult you. 

Two news stories shocked me this week. The first was the shooting at Annunciation Catholic school in ...

Ordinary Time, 21st Sunday (C) Tent-camping is the best kind of vacation, because when you come home, your ordinary life feels like a luxury vacation! Fr. Michael is a very disciplined camper. He taught me the importance of doing the important things first, then relaxing and enjoying yourself afterwards.

When we hear the word "discipline", we think of punishment. But the Latin word actually means, "instruction." Discipline is about...

Ordinary Time, 20th Sunday (C) Leadership isn't cool. People lead badly when they start trying to look good. Jesus wasn't worried about being cool. Jeremiah wasn't worried about being cool. When we are called to lead, we can't worry about trying to be cool.

Thank you, men, for coming to Mass today. The world tells you that you should be anywhere else but here: fishing, working, having fun, or sleeping off a hangover. But you are he...