Christmas, Holy Family (C) The Feast of the Holy Family reminds us that Jesus comes not only to restore us as as individuals, but also to heal our family. The four fundamental identities help to reveal God's original plan for the family. These identities have three characteristics: Relational. Each identity requires another; none are just my sense of me in isolation. Foundational. They build on each other and move us from receiving to giving. Gift. The identities are healthy when I receive the o...
Dec 29, 2024•21 min•Season 15Ep. 6
Christmas Eve • There was a time when your ancestors did not celebrate Christmas. Then one day, missionaries came to bring the good news of Jesus Christ. This was their message, "Your Father loves you and he wants you to come home." Remember how God made our first parents and put them in a beautiful garden? There were two trees in the middle of the garden, a good tree and a bad tree. They ate from the bad tree and had to leave the garden. They went out into the cold, cruel world. They learned to...
Dec 25, 2024•15 min•Season 15Ep. 5
Advent, 4th Sunday (C) Imagine for a moment that you attended a school Christmas program but no one was listening to the director. Everyone was singing their own songs and trying to do their own thing. There would be chaos, frustration, hurt feelings, and a lot of giving up. Bishop Barron calls this the "Ego-drama." Each of us is trying to be a star in our own show that is written, produced, and directed by ourselves. We try to get everyone else to be the supporting actors in our show. But each ...
Dec 23, 2024•12 min•Season 15Ep. 4
Advent, 3rd Sunday (C) The monastery cloister teaches us to keep part of our hearts closed to the world and open to heaven. The ancient and medieval world was familiar with the example of the wheel of fortune: One minute you're on top of the world, the next minute you are on the bottom. We need to move from the chaos of the outside to the peace at the center. Peace comes from being with Christ in the core of our own being. Joy comes from healthy connections with God and others. Stop trying to fi...
Dec 17, 2024•15 min•Season 15Ep. 3
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception • St. Augustine first taught about original sin. He said that our first parents passed the infection of sin on to all their children. Humans have been all been born with this original sin. Except Mary, whom the Archangel Gabriel calls, "kekaritomene", or "the one who is fully blessed or gracious". She is completely free from the infection of sin even from the first moment of her conception. When we look deep into our hearts, we see a desire for communion. W...
Dec 10, 2024•13 min•Season 15Ep. 2
Advent, 1st Sunday (C) A felt sense of safety and security is necessary for us to find peace. When peace is missing, there are many ways we might try to manufacture it. Perhaps you surround yourself only with like-minded people. Try to control everything, get angry, or run and hide. Maybe you numb yourself or pretend that it doesn't matter. God desires to make his people safe and secure. We receive this safety through knowledge of God's unconditional love and trust in his ongoing providence. The...
Dec 01, 2024•12 min•Season 15Ep. 1
Solemnity of Christ the King (B) There are three key figures in Old Testament society. The priest heals and sacrifices. The prophet teaches and preaches repentance. The king protects society from invasion and rightly orders life within the city. We often think of Jesus as priest or as prophet. Today we focus on Jesus as King. Jesus tells Pontius Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world." How is Jesus different from the kingdom of this world? The kingdoms of this world use violence to enforce the...
Nov 25, 2024•19 min•Season 14Ep. 53
Ordinary Time, 33rd Sunday (B) Ancient people couldn't depend on much. Plagues, wars, earthquakes, death, and decay all dogged their lives. The heavens above appeared incredibly stable and predictable. When Jesus says, "The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken," what he means is that the dependable things are failing us. When everything else fails, we can still count on Jesus. His word...
Nov 17, 2024•10 min•Season 14Ep. 52
Ordinary Time, 32nd Sunday (B ) Jesus is impressed not with the size of the donation; he is impressed with a generous heart. A poor widow holds nothing back; she gives God her whole livelihood. God has blessed me with gifts, perhaps less than I had hoped. The temptation is to hoard the little I have and use it for myself. God's invitation is to be generous with what we have and trust that he will give us more. For many Americans, time is worth more than money. Don't be afraid to be generous with...
Nov 10, 2024•16 min•Season 14Ep. 51
Ordinary Time, 31st Sunday (B) The first level of vocation is the Universal Call to Holiness. This means that we were made in the image and likeness of God, and God is love. We are called to allow the love of God to transform every aspect of our lives. Holiness is nothing other than living love in every aspect of our lives. The second level is the call to love in a specific and permanent state of life. Jesus is called to be the High Priest. Priests are called to reveal Christ's love to his churc...
Nov 03, 2024•14 min•Season 14Ep. 50
All Saints Day • Why have so many people left the Catholic Church? I think they have left because being Catholic made them less happy. It gets in the way of getting their way and having all the things and pleasures they want. Getting what we want only makes us happy when we have learned to want that which is actually good for us. The happiness based on having things or fun experiences is the most fleeting source of happiness. It will naturally tend towards addiction. Are there forms of happiness...
Nov 01, 2024•12 min•Season 14Ep. 49
Ordinary Time, 30th Sunday (B) Jericho often symbolizes the kingdom of this world. Bartimaeus can see with the eyes of faith that Jesus is the one he has been waiting for. He keeps calling Jesus until Jesus calls him, then he leaves everything to follow Jesus. Jesus is leading home to the heavenly kingdom all who have heard his call and followed him. We gather at Sunday Mass to experience ongoing encounter with God's love and truth that brings us into wholeness and communion. Jesus desires to gi...
Oct 27, 2024•14 min•Season 14Ep. 48
Ordinary Time, 29th Sunday (B) Stewardship is a great way of understanding the Gospel in our practical, everyday life. Christians are called to be like God. We can't possibly succeed, so the Holy Spirit gives us the power to love as God has loved us. Consumers we are rarely grateful, because we have been trained to see the lack in our lives and to think that one more product will fix our problem. We see our value in terms of what I produce or consume or own. We see each other as competition. Thi...
Oct 20, 2024•14 min•Season 14Ep. 47
Ordinary Time, 27th Sunday (B) This weekend we kickoff our annual parish Stewardship Renewal. We ask every parishioner of the Antigo Area Catholic Churches to make at least one commitment each in the areas of Time, Talent, and Treasure. It's always good to re-evaluate our commitments. What can our scripture readings teach us about stewardship? Adam names the animals. He is practicing on creation so he can be ready for a bigger stewardship. God gives him the gift of Eve, his equal but whom he als...
Oct 06, 2024•13 min•Season 14Ep. 46
Ordinary Time, 26th Sunday (B) Many Catholics have no sense of the incredible gift they have received, nor the responsibilities that come with that gift. How would your life be different if you were able to live from your true identity as a child of God, temple of the Holy Spirit, and a part of the Body of Christ? Traffickers deceive their victims into thinking they are loved. Then they manipulate, use and abuse them. Damascus Road Project loves trafficked women into their true identity. On Octo...
Sep 30, 2024•14 min•Season 14Ep. 45
Ordinary Time, 25th Sunday (B) The Bible and our Catholic faith teach that life begins at conception and that every child is a gift from God. Every one of us is wanted, every one of us is willed, and we each reveal something special about God. “ Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me. ” Many parents nowadays don't want God to give them many of these gifts. Can we recognize that we are a gift? Can we recogn...
Sep 22, 2024•17 min•Season 14Ep. 44
Ordinary Time, 24th Sunday (B) Which world religion is the true religion? You don't have to look at every religion, you just have to answer this question: Is Jesus who he says he is ? Every other founder of a major religion has claimed to have a special insight or revelation from God. Only Jesus claimed to BE GOD. Most people accept that Jesus was at least a good and holy man. But that is the one thing that Jesus CANNOT be. He must be either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord. He proves his claim no...
Sep 16, 2024•11 min•Season 14Ep. 43
Ordinary Time, 23rd Sunday (B) After an attempt at rolling my kayak, my ears had to be opened in order for me to hear clearly. Just because we can hear doesn't mean that we are really listening. What would happen if God actually spoke to you during your prayer time? Some of us might feel he was interrupting our prayers. When working with foreign priests, I have learned that just because he says, "Yes" does not mean he has understood. I need to wait for further information to confirm he got what ...
Sep 09, 2024•14 min•Season 14Ep. 42
Ordinary Time, 22nd Sunday (B) Is Jesus opposed to rituals and traditions? I see that Jesus has three objections to the behavior of the Scribes and Pharisees. Using external rituals to say, "I'm better than you." We can and should judge right and wrong behavior. But we cannot judge hearts. And we must not use external rituals to compare ourselves to others. The rituals and traditions must not become more important than the law of God. Our hearts are the important part. Our external actions shoul...
Sep 01, 2024•12 min•Season 14Ep. 41
Ordinary Time, 21st Sunday (B) Why have so many people left the Catholic faith? Some left because they didn't experience the Catholic church to be a loving, healthy family. Others have left because they don't believe that we teach the truth. But the vast majority of people have left for one simple reason: they want to be happy. We all know that I'll be happy if I get my way, getting to have the things I want and do the things I want to do. The Catholic Church tells me to do God's will, not my wi...
Aug 26, 2024•15 min•Season 14Ep. 40
Ordinary Time, 19th Sunday (B) The Eucharist looks like bread and it tastes like bread but it's really Jesus. Catholics have started to lose a sense of God's presence in the Eucharist. But first we lost a sense of the sacramentality of the whole world. Creation speaks to us about the Creator. Humans reveal who God is, and the nature of God reveals what we were made to be. As we began to uncover the precise mathematical laws that govern creation, we started to miss the sacramental nature of the w...
Aug 12, 2024•17 min•Season 14Ep. 39
Ordinary Time, 18th Sunday (B) The Israelites were well-fed slaves! We modern Americans think we are free because we can have whatever we want. The problem is, the more we want, the less satisfied we feel. I become enslaved by my desires. Only Jesus can satisfy the deep hungers in the human heart. This is why Jesus gives himself to us in the Eucharist. He invites us to move away from being gluttonous graspers to being grateful receivers and generous givers. Paradoxically, when I try to be the ma...
Aug 06, 2024•8 min•Season 14Ep. 38
Ordinary Time, 17th Sunday (B) I notice three lessons from the multiplication of the five loaves and the two fish: First, we are hungry. Humans have many deep needs. We need to feel valuable, to know that we are good, to feel that we matter, to be seen and known by others, to live with security and a sense of justice, to have a life of meaning and purpose, to find peace and contentment, and to live in communion... to name some important ones. We are not honest with ourselves about how needy we a...
Jul 29, 2024•14 min•Season 14Ep. 37
Ordinary Time, 16th Sunday (B) Bad leaders confuse and scatter. Good leadership leads to clarity, unity, and peace. The clarity comes from a respect for truth. The unity comes from the love for the sheep. Being led according to truth and love leads to peace. The Apostles are being good shepherds by bringing people to the Good Shepherd. Have you seen the news about the National Eucharistic Congress ? The whole Catholic church in the USA went away for a weekend with Jesus. The news from the congre...
Jul 22, 2024•14 min•Season 14Ep. 36
Ordinary Time, 15th Sunday (B) The whole human race has a long love affair with self-reliance. We are convinced that a good, happy, and successful human life will be the fruit of our hard work and intelligence. Repent! When Jesus sends his missionaries out two-by-two, he precisely prevents them from relying on themselves. They can only carry what they need for the day and they have to trust God for the rest. God's power enables them to accomplish so much more than they could on their own. They a...
Jul 14, 2024•10 min•Season 14Ep. 35
Ordinary Time, 14th Sunday (B) Life is not meant to be easy. The more we try to live a comfortable life, the more miserable we become. When Jesus comes to save us, he doesn't come to take away our pain and suffering. He comes to suffer with us and to suffer for us. Have you had a moment yet when God became real for you? For many, it happened when they experienced suffering. The very thing we run from, the very thing we try so hard to numb and avoid, actually is the place we are most likely to ex...
Jul 08, 2024•16 min•Season 14Ep. 34
Ordinary Time, 13th Sunday (B) Disintegration, disharmony, dis-ease, destruction... this is spiritual death. Through the envy of the devil it entered the world. As long as we remain in the devil's company we will experience all these things. It's not that Jesus hands out cures to this or that problem; Jesus himself is the cure. When we are in his company, we experience integration, harmony, freedom and peace. Jesus enters some of the worst possible human experiences: chronic illness and the deat...
Jul 01, 2024•15 min•Season 14Ep. 33
Ordinary Time, 11th Sunday (B) What would you wish for if you only had one wish? I know exactly what I would wish for: that men would be good fathers. About 90% of the issues that wander in my office can be traced back to men who failed to be good fathers. We have a severe crisis of childhood, which is rooted in a crisis of fatherhood and motherhood. The crisis of fatherhood came from a rejection of God's fatherhood. Men will only be good fathers to the extent that they are willing to be obedien...
Jun 17, 2024•17 min•Season 14Ep. 32
Ordinary Time, 10th Sunday (B) We are the only critter in creation not comfortable in it's own skin. Why do humans wear clothes? The Bible says we started with original innocence. But then we rejected God's Fatherly authority and all started playing the Blame and Shame Game. Jesus refuses to play the game. He lives a life of simplicity, innocence, and honesty. His lifestyle is so unexpected that people think he is crazy. If you follow Jesus, you too will become a scapegoat. But the power of this...
Jun 09, 2024•12 min•Season 14Ep. 31
Corpus Christi (Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ-B) This weekend the Diocese of Green Bay implements Bishop Ricken's pastoral instruction that allows the common cup on select feast days. We receive the whole Jesus no matter how we receive Communion, but Communion under both species is a fuller symbol of Jesus giving himself completely to us. Jews don't eat blood because it was seen as the life force of an animal. St. Jean de Brèbeuf died so bravely that the natives who killed ...
Jun 03, 2024•14 min•Season 14Ep. 30
