This past Friday afternoon, I sat down and watched the movie, The Passion of the Christ.  It had been several years since I had watched it.  As hard as it is to watch, I knew I needed a reminder.  A reminder of what Jesus did for us and what it would have looked like, beyond what words can convey.  Regardless of your thoughts on the film, one thing it does an effective job of doing is showing just how bloody, brutal, and agonizing Jesus’ journey to the cross, and the crucifixion itself, were.

How often do we gloss over the fact that Jesus was crucified?  I know many times I have found myself allowing this fact to be just a fleeting thought.  Of course, we know what Jesus went through was brutal and bloody.  But we often don’t let the reality of it penetrate and pierce our hearts and minds.  Every weekend at mass, during the creed, we pray, “for our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried…”  But most of us are numb to what this really means.

As I watched the movie, I did not make it through without tears.  During the scenes of Jesus’ scourging and being nailed to the cross, I was struck once again by the immense and extreme suffering He took on because of sin- my own and that of the whole world.  Scourging and crucifixion involve suffering and excruciating pain far beyond what we can comprehend.  And it was all because of a love beyond what we can comprehend.

He took every whipping, beating, and hammering of the nails with each one of us on His mind, all for love of us.  It is a love that we will never find anywhere else.  For the times we deny Him in our words and actions, the times we choose other things above Him, may we be reminded of the ultimate sacrifice He made for us.  He made this sacrifice in hopes that we would maybe choose to love Him back, knowing that many would not.  And He would do it again because He loves us that much.
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This love that Christ has for us is a love that is life-changing.  As we journey through this Holy Week, the most powerful and moving week of the year as Catholics, may we let this love change us just a little more.  May we enter deeply into the liturgies and take time to reflect on everything Jesus experienced this week.  And may we walk with Him to the cross, remembering just how much pain and agony he went through for us.

We live in a culture that lives by the motto “Do what makes you happy.  You do you.”  As Catholics, we cannot have this mindset.  In today’s (Monday) gospel, Jesus says to the woman caught in adultery, “Neither do I condemn you.”  And oftentimes, that’s where many people in our world would like to end the passage.  But Jesus doesn’t take sin lightly.  He accepts us as we are, but He doesn’t let us remain as we are, so that we aren’t left  thinking that sin is no big deal.  In the gospel reading, he goes on to say, “Go, and from now on do not sin any more” (John 8:11).  He calls this woman to conversion.  And He calls us to the same.

We are all sinners in need of Christ’s mercy and forgiveness.  And He freely gives it to us.  Just as He doesn’t condemn the woman, He doesn’t condemn us either.  He opens His arms to us and invites us to draw closer.  In fact, He longs for us to come to Him.  Instead of running in the other direction, He deeply desires for us to repent and be reconciled to Him.  This is exactly what we have the opportunity to do in the sacrament of confession.

To go to confession is to encounter the heart of Jesus in a beautiful way.  Partaking in the sacrament is where we encounter love, mercy, and forgiveness.  And it is a place of conversion.  Whether we think our sins are small or serious, bringing them to Christ with a contrite heart will change us, even if just a little bit.  Every time we go to confession and experience grace washing over us, our hardened hearts will become just a little bit more like His.

We will fail and when we do, we must recognize the ways in which we have offended God with our sin.  But we must not stop there.  We must return to Him by asking for forgiveness.  The Church offers us the opportunity to be made new, to be changed, and to experience conversion every single time.  This is a continual, life-long process.  Slowly and in small ways, our hearts and minds will continue to be transformed.
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Sin is real and we must never let the world around us convince us that it isn’t.  Jesus calls us to follow Him more closely, to leave behind anything that hinders us from Him.  And when we fall, he waits for us to choose Him again.  He opens His arms to us, and calls us to go and sin no more.  May we all listen to His challenge and continually allow ourselves to experience conversion in confession.

Last Thursday at work, I spent the day with some of my coworkers and staff from other area agencies helping sort and divide somewhere around 100,000 hygiene products that were donated throughout Brown County as part of the Help for the Homeless Hygiene Drive.  This took place at Green Bay Community Church.  I walked into the doors and into the main worship space where they had all of the boxes and bags of donated products.  The space was a big, square, auditorium-like space with cement walls, a large stage, and basketball hoops up above.  In that moment, I was reminded of how grateful I am to be Catholic and for the beauty of the Catholic faith.

God can be worshiped and praised anywhere.  But churches are the house of God and He deserves our best.  He deserves places that are set apart and different from other spaces.  We are all drawn towards beauty, and it is one of the three transcendentals.  I think many people on the outside looking in may not recognize the goodness and truth of the Catholic Church, but they often cannot argue with the beauty found.  It may be the beauty that leads them to see the truth and goodness.

Walking into a Catholic church, our minds are raised to God.  There are stained glass windows, murals, and other artwork depicting different religious events and scenes.  Statues of saints that remind us of the holy men and women who are interceding for us in heaven and who serve as examples and inspiration for each of us still walking the journey of faith.  Even the candles that are lit make the space beautiful.  From large and intricate cathedrals adorned with marble, to small, humble country churches with wood paneling, and everything in between, the beauty that is found in Catholic churches points us to God, who is beauty.

The crucifix is one of the central things we see as we look above the altar.  The ultimate sacrifice of Jesus is something that strikes us in a powerful way.  The crucifix reminds us of the painful, bloody, and brutal death that Jesus endured for us on the cross, defeating death.  And that is beautiful.  To be loved so much that this sacrifice would be made for us reveals a God who loves us so deeply.
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The Catholic Church is not only beautiful because of the way the churches are built and what is in the spaces, but also because of Who is in the churches.  We have the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ, in the gift of the eucharist.  To receive Jesus in the eucharist is truly the most beautiful encounter we can have with Him. 
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The Catholic Church truly is the most beautiful faith, as it is from Jesus Christ Himself.  Our hearts and minds are drawn closer to God and we experience beauty that cannot be found anywhere else.  Next time you walk into your church, or any Catholic church, thank God for this beautiful faith.  May we never take it for granted.

Seven years ago, I attended a retreat, called CEW, for the first time.  I had been on retreats before, so I didn’t think it would be anything different, just another retreat.  But this past weekend I was on this same retreat, and as I reflect back on that first experience, I would’ve never imagined I would be in the position I am now, having the opportunity to be a part of the team in a whole new role.  All I can think about is how great is God to allow me to be part of something like this.  As I experienced the last three days, I was reminded of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, the love of Christ, and the community that this retreat is.

I’ve written about this before, but it is the coolest thing to see the Holy Spirit working so clearly in front of you.  To watch people on the weekend be transformed right in front of your eyes in a short period of time is evidence of the power of prayer.  This past weekend, I saw people set on fire and filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit get up at the front of the room to give powerful witness talks.  I saw people have their hearts changed by the Holy Spirit and watched as others allowed Him to work through them.  There was no doubt in my mind that God was working.  It is something that I wish every single person could see and experience.

Another thing I was struck by on this weekend once again, was the love that is present on these retreats.  To watch people serve so selflessly, give of their time so generously, and to encourage and lift up others so well is evidence of the love of Jesus shining through.  When you’re on these weekends, you don’t have to question His love for you.  This is another thing I wish the world could experience.  There are so many people out there who feel alone and unloved, and they are just searching and thirsting to know Him.  If they could only get a glimpse of how much they are loved by Christ and how much other people love them through Him, their lives would be changed.

Watching the Holy Spirit work and the love of Jesus fill people up, it is evident that there is a strong and supportive community that helps make it all happen.  To be supported and lifted up in prayer by so many is something that is hard to find.  This community is truly something special that makes a profound difference in my faith journey.  And it is something that I hope everyone can find their way to, whether it’s CEW, or another community.  It’s essential to growing closer to God and deepening your faith.  It’s not possible to do it on your own.
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As I continue to reflect on and absorb all that happened this past weekend, all I can think about is how grateful I am and how amazing it is that I get to be a part of something so cool.  I think this quote from Sister Clare Crockett sums it up pretty well as she says, “I love ending the day tired, but filled with an interior joy, knowing that if I am tired, it’s because I have served the Lord.”  It was a tiring weekend, but a weekend that brought so much joy, knowing I could serve God in a very small way.  All I can say is thank you, Lord!  

How often do we have experiences that we perceive as coincidences?  The times where we think to ourselves, “wow, what are the chances?” or “did that really just happen?”.  The situations and happenings that seem random and like mere coincidences can be seen as something more when we have faith.  The greater the faith we have, the easier we can recognize these occurrences as God moments, moments where we can simply say, “thank you, God.”  Sharing God moments with others can inspire them to think about the small moments in their days where they too can recognize God’s hand at work and see His goodness.

I experienced one of these moments awhile back.  When you work a job with normal hours, it is a bit harder to make it to daily mass.  Many parishes seem to have daily masses at 8:00 AM or another similar time.  While some have masses scheduled over the noon hour, it can be hard to make unless the parish is really close to where you work so you can get there, attend, and get back to work before your lunch time is over.  Working 7:30-5:00, I just assumed over the last several years that I wouldn’t be able to get to any daily masses unless they were in the evening.  However, not too long ago I accidentally found that there is a parish exactly 1.1 miles from my work when I was driving down a side road, different from my normal route.  It is a parish I had been to before, but with my lack of strong directional skills, I hadn’t realized that it was close to where I work.  And upon looking up their website, I discovered that they have a daily mass at 6:45 AM.  Wow, how perfect!  What are the chances that there is a church that close that also happens to have mass at that time?  It was surely a God moment.

Another God moment took place at the beginning of the month.  One Sunday, I was talking with someone about the National Eucharistic Congress event that is taking place in July.  She asked me if I was going.  I mentioned how it would be cool, but that I most likely wasn’t going, because it seemed easier to go with a group.  The next evening, I was at a meeting at UWGB and someone from the diocese was also there.  After the meeting, she came up to me and told me that I was on her list of people to ask if I’d like to attend the event in one of 15 spots as part of the young adult delegation for the diocese.  Again, the chances of this situation seemed unreal.  But I was able to recognize that it wasn’t just by chance, but rather, that it was God.

We all experience different moments on a regular basis, big or small, that seem unlikely, which lead us to believe they just happen coincidentally.  But, God is at work in our lives and guides us each day.  He knows everything that will happen and works within the events of our days to reveal His goodness.
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When something seems too good to be true, we can look to God and thank Him.  He wants to give us good things and provides many opportunities for us to grow closer to Him.  This week, be on the lookout for the moments where you can see glimpses of God in your life.  He is there and He is always good.

I’ve always liked envisioning an image of the desert.  It is a place that is warm, quiet, and probably pretty empty.  A space so different compared to the full and fast-paced environment we live in.  A place with no distractions and where we can hear more clearly.  A place that is still.  While we may at first think that nothing good can come from the desert, especially after hearing this weekend’s gospel, where Jesus is tempted there, we must think again.  We are all called to follow Jesus into the desert, to find our own sort of desert.  Because while Jesus was tempted by Satan, He also overcame the temptations.  And that’s what He wants to teach us too, that we can overcome the temptations and lies of the devil, but only with His help.

This weekend, I was able to spend time in adoration, late at night and also at many other times throughout the weekend, while a men’s retreat was going on.  It was sort of like a desert, or at least I imagined it to be.  Quiet, calm, no distractions, away from the outside world, sitting with Jesus in prayer.  Being in that chapel, it felt like I was on a retreat, and I forgot about anything going on outside in the world.

As I sat in the chapel, truly the best place to be on these weekends, I was reminded that anything we face out in the world, He faces with us, and without Him, we can do nothing.  I think sometimes we are scared to follow Jesus into the desert.  What will we hear?  How will He call us to walk more closely with Him?  How will our lives be changed?  But we don’t have to worry about any of these things.  Because when we sit before Jesus in the blessed sacrament, He reminds us that He has walked the path we are walking and He walks it with us everyday so that we don’t have to face the world and all the lies, evil, and temptations of the devil alone.

Satan wants to whisk us away and disrupt our peace, joy, and ultimately, our souls.  But Jesus fights for us.  He does this not in a forceful, demanding, or aggressive way, but in a gentle and inviting way.  He is always working to draw us closer, even if we do not recognize it or if we wander away from Him.  When you spend time in eucharistic adoration, you will experience peace, joy, and love that you can’t find in the world.  Your heart will be changed and transformed.
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Find your desert- a place free of the stuff and distractions, a place you can experience the deep love He has for you.  Any lies you believe, fears you have, or burdens you are carrying, Jesus will take away.  As you walk with Him this Lent, may you allow your heart to be transformed and may you remember that He is with you, leading you always.

Once a month, the 7th through 11th grade religious ed students start off the class period with eucharistic adoration, usually just for 15 minutes.  Every third week of the month, my 8th grade class, without fail, has rattled off a list of complaints before we head over to the church and also afterwards, once we get back to the classroom.  They complain that it’s boring, their knees hurt, they don’t like the smell of incense, they think it’s weird and have to try not to laugh, they don’t want to stare at the wall for so long doing nothing.  They ask what they’re supposed to do and why no one says anything.  These are some of the many words that I’ve heard from them.  Even though it’s been explained to them that Jesus is present and it is a time to be with Him, they still don’t get it, which is likely why they never feel like going.  But when it comes to our faith, it is not just students who can have this mindset.  Just like these students, for many, it is a lack of understanding that keeps them from practicing their faith actively.  And for others, it may be because they just don’t feel like doing anything.  But our faith is not about what we feel.

While many times, our faith makes us feel a certain way or we feel certain emotions, it is not feelings that we should allow to guide us.  It is a choice.  Everyday, we have to get up and choose to live out our faith.  We have to choose God, even when the world around us is choosing the opposite.  We have to choose to speak certain words and serve others however we can.  We have to choose to pray and find ways to grow in our relationship with God.  Making these choices can be hard; they take effort and commitment.  

All we have to do is look at the cross.  When we look at  and think about Jesus dying on the cross for us, we see the ultimate picture of love.  Love is not about feeling a certain way, it is a choice that is made.  And if we ever feel like Jesus is far from us or we cannot feel his presence, we must remember to choose Him anyway.  Because that is love.

With Lent beginning tomorrow, there may be a lot we are thinking about regarding how we can grow.  As we think about the small sacrifices we might make, the extra money or time we may give, and the deeper and extra prayer we will enter into, we might decide that we don’t feel like doing certain things because it’s too hard.  When we are tempted to take the easy way out, may our love for Jesus outweigh our feelings.  Let us choose to be intentional in what we do, even when we don’t feel like it.
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Choose Jesus this Lent, he has chosen you.

“Do not be afraid; just have faith” (Mark 5:36).  These words in Tuesday’s gospel that Jesus says to the synagogue official are words that he also says to us.  In our daily lives, there are many moments where we might be tempted to fear or worry about certain situations or about what is to come.  However, we must take Jesus’ command to heart.  Faith changes everything.

It’s easy to tell ourselves we have faith.  But is it just an inspirational word that we pull out when we need it or is it a virtue that guides our whole lives?  Do we recognize faith as a great gift that allows us to trust Jesus with everything we have?

Whenever we are going through something challenging or when we are filled with fear or worry, there is often a lot of noise around us, which can block out the truth.  Satan uses fear as a weapon against us and loves when we are filled with doubt and worry because He wants to drive us away from Jesus.  But in these moments, remember that Jesus is right there with us.  He looks upon each one of us with love and says to us, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.”

These words should be a source of great comfort and peace for us.  They remind us that faith makes a profound difference in our lives and has the power to outweigh any fear, worry, or doubt.  And the thing to remember about having faith is that we have never reached maximum capacity; there is always room for more.  We can always ask Jesus to increase our faith.
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If we allow it to, fear can consume us and take over our lives.  But Jesus has something better for us.  When we are in the midst of the unknown or something challenging, remember Jesus’ words to us.  Just have faith, it will change everything.

Last week, I spent the week at my sister and brother-in-law’s house in North Carolina and met my now three-week old nephew.  As I held him, and watched him, I was filled with so much love and gratitude for this new, precious and small  life.  As I spent time with him, I saw the work of God.  Babies easily remind us of a powerful, good, and loving Father and Creator.  I can’t help but think about all of the babies who never get to live outside of the womb.  And I wonder, how can anyone look at life as something to discard just weeks or months before in the womb, all in the name of “women’s rights” and “reproductive health.”

Yesterday marked 51 years since the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.  The fateful decision on that January day revealed a country who had again lost its moral compass and a culture that had turned away from God.  With the overturning of the decision in June of 2022, our country has seen a lot of states pass laws that ban abortion and favor life.  There has been a lot of progress, but there is still so much work to be done.  We need to stand up for life until abortion is not only illegal, but more importantly, unthinkable.

So many people are complacent and many others have become desensitized to the culture of death that normalizes the absolutely dehumanizing, cruel, and evil practice of abortion.  Others believe the lies that the pro-abortion lobby and media push.  Some people say that we care too much about this issue or to stop talking about it.  But as long as God has given us another day, we must work to uphold and honor the dignity of life, sharing that every single life is a gift from conception to natural death. 

In order to make abortion unthinkable, it takes all of us.  In order to change the culture, we need people who are passionate about life and about helping women in unplanned pregnancies who feel like abortion is their only option.  We need to support and promote pregnancy resource centers and work to steer people away from the abortion-giant, Planned Parenthood and share their corrupt and immoral practices.  We need to study and brush up on our pro-life apologetics so that we have the knowledge and ability to share why life matters with those who disagree.

For any of you who do not feel very passionate about being pro-life or any of you who are scared about sharing your pro-life stance, I’d challenge you to do something this week that helps you to put your beliefs into action.  And for those of you who are already passionate about being pro-life and strive to live it out daily in your words and actions, do not lose your fire and conviction.  The culture of death has permeated our country and the battle over abortion rages on.  But God is on the side of life, and with Him alone, we can change one heart and one mind at a time.
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“We are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the “culture of death” and the “culture of life”. We find ourselves not only faced with but necessarily in the midst of this conflict: we are all involved and we all share in it, with the inescapable responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life.” (St. John Paul II)

Nine years ago, as of yesterday, I received the Sacrament of Confirmation.  Some pictures from that night popped up in my facebook memories and caused me to think about the sacrament.  As I look back and reflect on the years since, I recognize just how significant and important that special evening was and how much of an impact it has had.  If you know me, you know that I am not a loud and outgoing person.  But with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit, He has helped me to share my faith, even if just in small, subtle ways.  And no matter what our personalities are or what obstacles and weaknesses we have, we are all tasked with sharing our faith with others and taking a stand for who Jesus is and what He has done in our lives.

At some points in our lives, we may have had a lot of fear around sharing our faith.  What will people think of us?  We might be seen as weird.  Will we lose friends?  We cannot let this fear and the temptation to conform with the rest of the world stop us from sharing what we believe and why.  It can be uncomfortable and may stretch us past what we think we are capable of.  But with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will be given the ability and desire to get out of our comfort zones and live our faith.

The key to sharing our faith is to rely on the Holy Spirit and ask Him daily to help us and increase in us the different gifts we need at different times.  We will definitely fail many times, but this is not a reason to stop or give up.  We must call upon the Holy Spirit and ask Him to help us again.  We must not let our weaknesses prevent us from living the lives Jesus calls us to and being who we were created to be.
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At Confirmation, we accepted a mission; to live as a witness to Jesus Christ in the world.  He is counting on us.  Every day that we wake up is another day we have to share Jesus with the people around us.  Sometimes it will be in big ways, but other times, it will be in small, quiet ways.  Whether it is in the words we speak, or in our actions and the way we live our lives, we have the opportunity to make Him known.  May we ask the Holy Spirit to increase His gifts in us and fill our hearts so that we would live out the mission we have said “yes” to.