How Awake Are We?

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Lent

2nd Sunday of Lent

In our Gospel today, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a mountain, and He is transfigured before them, they get a glimpse of the dazzling bright white glory of Jesus’ divinity, a foretaste of heaven and of who we are called to be!

But our Gospel today says, “Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory!”  Jesus was already in conversation with Moses and Elijah and showing forth his tremendous glory…before Peter, James and John woke up and realized what had already been happening even as they were sleeping, “missing out on it,” as it were.  What if Peter, James and John had slept through all of it?  Would we even know about this event?

What will it take for us to become “fully awake”?  Fully awake to the presence of God already alive, active and at work around us, within us, and through us?!

How Do I Consume Media?

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Lent

1st Sunday of Lent

On this Safe Haven Sunday, we are asked to to, first and foremost, make the home a safe haven for our kids by taking practical steps to help our kids engage technology in holy and virtuous ways and, inasmuch as possible, protect them from exposure to explicit content.

This is also an opportunity for individuals of all ages, young and old, to not only ask whether our media use is healthy in regards to explicit content, but also in regards to where it encourages our focus, energy and attention.  Satan doesn’t care how good our motivations are so long as we are concerned about things we can’t change (politics, national happenings, world happenings) and don’t see the real, down-to-earth, practical things that we can!

Missionary Disciple

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Ordinary Time

7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus calls us to be transformed, to be renewed in mind and action, to look and act differently than others normally do: this theme runs through all of our readings.  Yes, we are called to be disciples of Jesus, but our mission is more than just following Jesus as a disciple.  Jesus’ last words on this earth before He ascended into heaven give us our mission: “Go and make disciples”.  So we are called to not only be disciples, but missionary disciples, reaching out genuinely and in faith to others that the Lord puts in our path so that we can fulfill the mission Jesus entrusted to us: to make disciples!  The movement from a disciple to a missionary disciple is slight, but it’s also powerful…and it makes all the difference!

The Willing Ones

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Ordinary Time

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

What does our world need?  Whom does God seek?  Not the “perfect” or the “sinless”, but the willing!   No matter how unworthy we are, He calls us, and when we willingly say “yes,” He cleanses us, and He strengthens us to go on whatever mission He has planned for us.

This week, let’s be the ones whom God seeks and whom our world needs: the willing ones.  “Here I am, Lord. Send me.”

Baptized: Children of the Father

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Feasts

Baptism of the Lord

When we are baptized in the waters, we are adopted into God’s family and actually become, in Jesus, children of the Father.  Baptism happens once and is the doorway to the other sacraments.  Receiving the Eucharist (which we do again and again and again) is becoming who we are: the Body of Christ.  So ask yourselves a few questions: “How do I come to Mass?  What do I see as my role at Mass?  How am I engaged at Mass?”

“Priest of God,
Celebrate this Mass as if it is your first Mass,
Your last Mass and your only Mass.”

“People of God,
Celebrate this Mass as if it is your first Mass,
Your last Mass and your only Mass.”

Part 3/4: Rescued with Joy

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Advent

3rd Sunday of Advent

We were created by God for the kingdom of eternal life with him; by our own free choices to turn away from God and ‘go at it on our own’ we’ve been captured by the kingdom of sin, death, darkness and Satan.  Jesus becoming a baby at Christmas is the invasion of one kingdom (the kingdom of darkness, hell, death, sin and Satan) by a stronger kingdom (the kingdom of God).

Jesus came as a warrior, a predator.  He became one of us, waited 33 years, lived and taught the kingdom of God by example, both showing us the way and luring in his quarry — Satan, the devil — and then finally on the cross Satan fell prey to the trap set for him in a manger decades earlier!

Jesus on the cross is not poor or helpless. He’s not the hunted. Jesus on the cross is the aggressor and the hunter.  And so when death unknowingly took in its jaws, chewed up and swallowed the Author of Life, something extraordinary happened: death itself was slain from within!  That’s the good news that we have to share, that’s why we can be full of joy this Advent — Christ has conquered, and we can now live in His kingdom, if we so choose.

Part 1/4: Created in Hope

On By Fr. David NeuschwanderIn Advent

1st Sunday of Advent

During this Advent season we will be doing a 4-part homily series as we Journey to the Manger together to welcome the Christ-child at Christmas.  Our story starts with God’s incredible creation – of the universe, and of each of us – and the hope that it promises.

As Fr. Riccardo says: “God created and runs this immense universe, and nothing is more important to him than you and me…He thinks you’re worth the trouble.”  That’s what it means to be created!

So on this Journey, when you are feeling “drowsy” from “the anxieties of daily life”, I encourage you to take a moment and look at the world with fresh eyes.  Allow God to reinvigorate you with hope.  Pause and be filled with wonder each day.

“O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder, 
Consider all, the worlds thy hands have made.”