From the opening line of Mt. 4:1, today’s Gospel passage, “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness...” Is the wilderness a scary place? It could be. For sure it’s not a fun place like the beach is on spring break. In high school I always wanting to go to Fort...
Pondering With Prompts
Homily – Ash Wednesday 2026
Lent is not just a time for giving up things. But it’s all how you look at it. If you think of it as an adventure that can teach us a lot about ourselves, it changes everything. I remember an adventure that came the summer of my sophomore year in college. It was a...
Homily – February 14, 2026
DOWNLOAD LENTEN MENU A friend of mine called and asked if I could visit his brother-in-law who was in the hospital. I said “Sure”. But then he warned me. “George hasn’t been to church in years so don’t expect any miracles.” The next day I’m standing at the door of...
Homily – January 25, 2026
Today’s readings remind me a bit of Charles Dickens’ classic novel: A Tale of Two Cities. In that book, Dickens juxtaposes the relative peacefulness and prosperity of late 18th C London against the increasingly dark descent of Paris into revolutionary excess, chaos...
Homily – Jan. 18, 2026
Stand By Me Video Link So, the story goes a little parish on the Wisconsin and Minnesota border had just completed building their new church. There was but one thing that remained. What color would they paint the front door of the church? Half the parish were Packer...
Homily – Jan. 11, 2026
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord. When you think about baptism what comes to mind for you? When I was a kid, I was taught that baptism “removed the stain of original sin”. Hearing that I thought of the water used in baptism as a sort of...
Homily – Jan. 4, 2026
The star that the Magi had seen at its rising proceeded them until it came and stopped over the place where the child was with his mother. Mt. 2. A star shines in the dark of night not in the light of the day. If we were to think of the star as the light of faith,...
Homily – Dec. 25, 2025
There was chaplain for a high school football team. That chaplain of course was me. The team had gone, several years without a win. But the twenty-three guys on the team were warriors. They battled on and never lost the sense of brotherhood among them. It was a...
Homily – Dec. 21, 2025
Shortly before he died of a glioblastoma brain tumor a friend of mine told his son something that I had to think about. “The greatest gift a parent can give to their son or daughter is to teach them how to face pain.” Each of us here knows of some pain in our lives....
Homily – December 14, 2025
As Catholics we’re taught that we should strive for holiness. But what does holiness look like? Unfortunately, holiness is sometimes thought of as a softness that will turn us into these very docile, meek, mild and timid people. If that is what holiness is it doesn’t...