Pilgrim Priest

The Ascension of the Lord (A) The Messiah will be a new King David and will restore the kingdom to Israel. When Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the people shout, "Hosanna to the son of David!" Pilate is mocking them with the inscription over Jesus' head. Then he rises from the dead with all power in Heaven and on Earth. Instead of unleashing hell on his enemies, he ascends into heaven. Why?

Jesus' kingdom is not of this worl...

Easter, 6th Sunday (A) What does St. Peter mean when he says, "Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts"? He is inviting us to set apart a special place in our lives for Jesus. Monasteries have a cloister that is closed to the world but open to the heavens. So our hearts must have a place that is open to the presence of God but protected from the world.

Mothers receive a tiny gift of life. They nourish and cherish it, and it grows in...

Easter, 6th Sunday (A) What does St. Peter mean when he says, "Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts"? He is inviting us to set apart a special place in our lives for Jesus. Monasteries have a cloister that is closed to the world but open to the heavens. So our hearts must have a place that is open to the presence of God but protected from the world.

Mothers receive a tiny gift of life. They nourish and cherish it, and it grows in...

Easter, 5th Sunday (A) We often think of a vocation is a special call from God. Some are called to be priests or deacons, to join religious life or marriage. Many of us keep our heads down and hope God doesn't call on us. Or maybe you have been waiting for a call and wondering why it hasn't come through.

Then you clearly weren't paying attention to our second reading. Jesus has called you to be a living stone in his temple. You are...

Easter, 3rd Sunday (A) You are driving home from church one day when you suddenly realize that someone is riding in the back seat! You panic, until he introduces himself as none other than Jesus Christ. "I've always been with you," he says, "but you were never able to see me until now." You spend the rest of Sunday together. Monday morning he is still with you, and he plans to join you at work.

As strange as this may sound, the Chr...

Easter, Divine Mercy (2nd Sunday) The world has moved on from Easter, but we Christians are staying close to the empty tomb. Today the Resurrection teaches us about God's mercy. Our English word comes from a price paid, wages, from merc-, merx merchandise. It is a generous gift of God, like the ransoming of a captive. The Greek word is eleos (as in Kyrie, eleison). It means pity or compassion. The Hebrew word is khesed and it means...

Easter Sunday • I have good news--the tomb is still empty! The empty tomb doesn't really prove the Resurrection. You have to notice the Risen Jesus working in the world.

Brenda Shepherd wanted to join the Catholic Church and she got a little help... from the Holy Spirit. When she joined the Church, she was so radiant with joy, you could see the Resurrection shining on her face. We know the Resurrection is real because of God's cont...

Good Friday of the Lord's Passion • Jesus was the most successful man that ever lived. Was he smarter, stronger, or tougher than the rest of us? No, Jesus was successful because he was obedient. He did his Father's will, and that's what made him successful.

We, too, will be successful if we are obedient. We need three things to succeed: Faith, trusting that our Father knows best; Hope, knowing that things being hard now often means...

Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper • This Mass commemorates so many beautiful things: the welcoming of the holy oils, the institution of the Eucharist, and the gift of the Priesthood. Then we have to go and ruin it by washing feet. Thank you, Jesus, for finding a way to make us all feel awkward.

Last summer I attended a wedding reception where the groom washed his bride's feet. It was tender and beautiful and not at all awkwar...

Palm Sunday (A) The Latin phrase, "Sic transit gloria mundi" (thus passes the glory of the world), is a sobering reminder that everyone who seeks the glory of this world will end up disappointed. Peter is worried about what people think of him; he winds up weeping bitterly. Judas is motivated by money; he hangs himself. Pilate is motivated by power; he winds up feeling powerless. Even the chief priests, who seem to have gotten exac...

Lent, 5th Sunday (A) Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus, then the son of a widow from Nain, then finally Lazarus. The first had been dead a few minutes, the second many hours, and the third was a rotting corpse. Martha and Mary have enough faith to not give up on Jesus even when he seems to ignore them. Jesus wants to give them something more than a healing; he wants to give them a faith that is stronger than death.

Jesus goes rig...

Solemnity of St. Joseph • Today we celebrate the saint that was Jesus' earthly father and husband to Mary. His wife was sinless and his son was God, so if anything went wrong, clearly it was Joseph's fault. Why would God put someone in that situation? And how did Joseph manage to succeed at a seemingly impossible task?

Dr. Bob Schuchts writes in the book Be Transformed that Holy Orders is given to help us overcome the wound of conf...

Lent, 4th Sunday (A) If something bad happened to you, according to Old Testament logic, you must have done something to deserve it. But what if you were born blind--were your parents being punished? No, says Jesus, this happened so that God's works could be made visible. Jesus then cures the incurable, symbolically fashioning new eyes for him from the clay. In doing so, he exposes the Pharisees who have eyes but refuse to see.

Let...

Lent, 3rd Sunday (A) Jews looked down on Samaritans as apostates from the true faith of Abraham. Jesus doesn't avoid them. In fact, he travels through their territory, finds common ground, and spends two days with them. God has not forgotten his Samaritan children.

Let's talk about paganism. The pagans had lots of gods. The gods were personifications of all the powers and forces that are outside of human control. The pagans tried t...

Lent, 2nd Sunday (A) At the Transfiguration, Jesus glows with heavenly light. Perhaps he is seeing the Beatific Vision? This fancy term refers to the fact that the saints in heaven see God and are overawed by his indescribable beauty and glory. Seeing God is the primary source of happiness in heaven.

Jesus gave up seeing the Beatific Vision when he became incarnate. Perhaps now, just a few weeks before his death on the cross, Jesus...

Lent, 1st Sunday (A) What can we learn from the temptation of Jesus? We can expect that Lent will be challenging. Temptations will be rolling up to your door. You can expect lots of opportunities to choose love and to be faithful to God.

The first two temptations begin, "If you are the son of God..." The devil is after something very specific -- he wants to steal Jesus' identity as Son of God. Will God really provide for you? Will ...

Ash Wednesday • The Prodigal Son went off to a distant country and partied his inheritance away. Every night the father wondered where his son was and was he safe and well. The son didn't feel the distance between them until the money ran out. Then he came to his senses, got up, and started the long journey home.

This is us. We run after the pleasures of the world. We are so busy trying to fill ourselves that we don't notice the di...

Ordinary Time, 7th Sunday (A) The biggest crisis of our time is not war in Ukraine, ongoing pandemics, or natural disasters. We are suffering from a crisis of identity. We don't know who we are. We don't know what we were made for. Consequently, we don't know what to do with ourselves.

Baptism teaches us who we are. In fact, it gives us not just one, but three identities. First, God adopts you as His child. Your Father will love yo...

Ordinary Time, 6th Sunday (A) "Thus says the Lord..." are the words Moses used when teaching God's law to the people. "But I say to you...", says Jesus, who claims to be the very God who taught Moses. Do you really want to be good, or are you willing to settle for looking good?

Haven't murdered anyone lately? Great! But don't feed your anger, don't insult, and don't name-call. Don't try to prove your own innocence lest you be inves...