Pictures of the Sisters' Visit

Who knew Jilly the cow was a Dominican?

  I've posted a bunch of pictures from the sisters' visit on Facebook.... Check them out on the external links below.

High School Game Night

Middle School Event: Living the Prolife Message

Pizza & Ponder at Catholic Campus Ministry

Visiting Fr. jMarquette Elementary School ( and Jilbert's!)

Speaking to the Fr. Marquette Middle School

Theology on Tap at the Vierling

As you'll quickly see, it's been a busy, and joyful, four days!

Love in the Desert of our Hearts

Homily Outline for the Third Sunday Lent, Year A

Are you satisfied? For whom do you long? Today Jesus tells the Samaritan woman, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” This is His offer, His promise to us at every moment, above all during Lent, above all at every Eucharist, His offer to you NOW.

The Israelites have followed Moses into the desert, they saw God work great wonders, but now, when they’re out of water, they ask “Is God in our midst or not?” Does that question echo in your heart? When we face sickness, or a broken friendship… when we face our own weakness and sin, our own confusion, when we feel isolated and alone, with a thirst that nothing seems to quench, “Is God in our midst, or not?” God hears and answers this question, this prayer: water comes from the least likely place… a hot sun burnt desert rock. Moses strikes it with his staff and sweet water gushes forth. Could God do something like that to our dry and dusty hearts? Can His love pierce them and shower them with life-giving streams?

We thirst, for many things. We seek, and sometimes we are able to quench our thirst for a time with the things of this world. But the thirst returns. In our Gospel today we learn something astounding… not only do we thirst for God and seek Him, even when we don’t realize it, but God seeks us, mysteriously He thirsts for our love. In Jesus Christ, God has come to us; He has come for us. Paul says it very clearly, “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” God comes to us precisely in our thirst, in our need. He does not wait for us to get everything straightened out, but He comes to us wherever we are, even in the pew you’re sitting in this morning!

The Samaritan woman comes to the well as she does every day, but to her surprise she encounters a Jew, Jesus, and he speaks to her and even asks her for a drink. Jesus offers her living water. This seems to make no sense at all; he doesn’t even have a bucket. “Are you greater than our father Jacob,” she says. Indeed, He is greater… Then, Jesus speaks clearly of what He offers her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Not fully understanding, but thirsty and desiring the gift He offers, her heart opens to the Lord and she says, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty…” She speaks for every one of us here… Lord, give us water, give us joy, give us hope, give us the grace we need to persevere. Even the good things of this world do not finally satisfy, we hunger and long and thirst for your love. Lord, give us this gift!

Dust and deception often swirl in our hearts, obscuring our knowledge of self. God’s grace pierces this storm. If we can look within our hearts and honestly see the desire that persists, we have reached a moment of opportunity, a moment of grace. But there is more, the journey has only begun, not ended. We come to the Lord thirsty, in need… but to truly receive the full grace He offers us, we need to be healed and reconciled. If we still grasp our bitter beguiling sins in our fists, we cannot dip our hands into the water of life and slake our ravening thirst. Jesus invites the Samaritan woman to repentance, and reveals to her the way she sought to quench her thirst with a broken rusty chain of relationships. She sought in human love that which only God can provide. Before she can drink from the spring, she needs to be healed. Jesus reveals her heart to her… it is painful, but He will do the same to us, He will speak to us in our consciences, showing us clearly where we have turned away.

It is hard to look clearly at our sin. It is easier to turn away, to rationalize, to pretend we do not see our sins. The woman is unsure… she challenges Jesus with some basic religious questions, areas where Jews and Samaritans did not agree. She speaks of the Messiah. Having laid bare her heart, Jesus also reveals himself. “I am he, the one speaking to you.” Her subsequent actions reveal her response. She has found the Lord, she brings the glad tidings to her people. Christ reveals her heart to her, He reveals Himself, and she responds by accepting the gift of faith, this living water, the Holy Spirit. This gift brings forth in her heart the courage to live and speak the truth.

Sr. Katty, Sr. Jessa, Sr. Francis Mary, Sr. Elizabeth John

It has been a real gift to work with these four sisters from the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist.  In each of them you can see the joy of Christ that can fill one's heart.  It is evident and visible!  They have shared that joy so generously with literally hundreds of people since they got here on Thursday, from recess with the Pre-Kindergartners to Theology on Tap with the Marquette Frassati Society, even foosball with the high school group last night.  Obviously we are not all called to be sisters, bu we can imitate their generosity in saying, "Yes" to God.

Jesus can work this same joy and healing in you and in me. He offers us living water; he offers us food that satisfies: His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. With His help we can look within. In the beautiful Sacrament of Penance, He offers us mercy beyond measure. What do you hold clenched in your heart that God longs to heal? Why have you stayed away from His Mercy? Trust Him, do not resist His love any longer. What better time to seek repentance and healing than now, during this Lent? Today is the day of salvation, Jesus will meet us in our thirst.

God so loved the world

Heaven in our eyes, on our lips?

A glimpse of the basilica

Homily Outline for the 2nd Sunday of Lent, Year A

This Thursday I had the beautiful opportunity to spend my day-off at Holy Hill. This is the beautiful shrine with a long official name: The Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady, Help of Christians. It’s on a big round hill near Milwaukee and it’s run by the Discalced Carmelite Friars. If you’ve never been there, you need to visit it! I met one of my seminary classmates from Chicago. Thursday evening we were waiting in the hallway near the refectory for dinner to start. An elderly Carmelite Friar came up to us… after introductions he paused and said with wonder and excitement in his voice, “I wonder what heaven’s like?” We discussed this, and I could hear the awe and quiet joy in his voice. He questioned us on some points of doctrine as if we were back in seminary, and was content when we answered well!

Heaven is no theoretical question… it’s not something we should push off to the sidelines of our lives. Our gospel this Sunday complements last Sunday’s where we heard of the temptations of Christ in the desert. Three times he rebuffed Satan. Fr. Jamie spoke in his homily of the full reality of Christ’s divinity AND humanity. Jesus in His humanity was tested and found to be true during that trial in the desert. Unlike Adam and Eve, unlike each one of us, He NEVER fell to temptation. He felt the pain and fear and struggle of rejecting sin, and stood strong and true. In taking on flesh, Jesus raised and lifted up our humanity, and rejoined us to God. In Christ, we need never face temptation alone. So here is one piece of the pie: In Christ, we are given strength resist evil.

The Transfiguration shows us of the second piece. The trials and temptations here on earth are not the full story: to be joined to God in eternity is full and true joy… that is, heaven: eternal and perfect intimacy with the Holy Trinity, to know and be known, to see God face to face. When we are in the desert, assailed by temptations, it can seem VERY far away. But heaven is the joyful goal to which we lift up our eyes. This is the final homeland to which our earthly pilgrimage is directed. Jesus not only raised our humanity above sin and temptation, but He actually draws us right into heaven, if we are willing to accept this gift.

God’s call to us began long ago! When Abram is called by God in Ur, God begins to reveal this promise. He speaks of “ a land that I will show you,” and tells Abram He will make of him a great nation that will be a blessing to all the communities of the earth.” Abram probably understood this at first as an earthly and tangible blessing, but we see already foreshadowed our heavenly home. There is a land and a place prepared for us. We have here on this earth no lasting home. Paul encourages the young bishop Timothy, “Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.” Strength comes to us “through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

The Church of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor

That light shone with nearly full force upon the faces and into the hearts of Peter, James, and John. They saw those descendents of Abram, Moses and Elijah, conversing with Jesus in glory. They had glimpsed Jesus’ Godhead and power in His miracles, in the authority with which He taught, in the intimacy with which He spoke of being one with the Father. On that day, on the summit of Mount Tabor, this glory shone through clearly. Our earthen humanity, made of humble clay, had been assumed by the Son as He was conceived in the womb of Mary. Our humanity was lifted up, drawn away from sin and death, drawn into intimacy with the Father. On that day, Peter, James, and John were given a glimpse of this beauty, Peter wanted to stay there forever, and they fell prostrate in awe and fear. They heard with their own ears the voice of the Father, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

The penance and discipline of Lent are meant precisely to prepare us and purify us and dispose us for the heavenly joy of Easter. We learn to say no to created things so that we can give our full and joyous yes to God. To live these days and weeks of Lent well in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving is our preparation. Not only does it dispose us to receive Easter joy, but even the very joy of Heaven itself! In His victory over temptation, Jesus empowers us to reject evil in all its forms. In this revelation of His glory, Jesus gives us joy and hope, a taste of what lies ahead.  Do we live in light of this truth?  Does heaven touch our daily lives? Do we speak and act in light of the promise and hope of eternal life?  This is what the Gospel calls us to.

That elderly friar has heaven before his eyes and in his heart. Peter, James, and John were given a glimpse of heaven. God does not leave us on the sidelines either. In just moments, Jesus will be before us Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. This presence will be veiled, but no less real. I will hold aloft the consecrated host, and each one here will behold with their eyes and hearts the God-Man. Truly we can say with Peter, “Lord, it is good that we are here.” May this glimpse and foretaste of heaven fill us with joy and lead us to persevere on this Lenten journey, and through this life to heaven.

Spring Break Missionary Trip and Pie Bonanza

These last weeks have been busy and very blessed.  I had the opportunity to spend last week with our Catholic Campus Ministry Spring Break Mission Trip... we worked at the Salvatorian Mission Warehouse in New Holstein, WI, and at Fr. Carr's Place 2B Homeless Shelter, Food Bank, and Free Clinic in Oshkosh, WI.  In addition to our labors, we visited the Discalced Carmelite Monastery in Denmark, WI, the Manitowoc Franciscans, and Holy Hill.  And, to top things off, we spent an evening at Catholic Youth Expeditions' Base Camp Coffee House in Appleton, and we stopped at the Marian Apparition Site and Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, WI...  A busy and joy-filled week: work, prayer, pilgrimage, fellowship, FUN!

The Spring Break Missionaries, and the CYE Mission Interns at Base Camp.

Spring Break Mission pictures are here and here.


Our World Youth Day Pilgrims also recently baked up close to 90 pies as a fundraiser!

A busy beehive of pie-making

Since we'd done it before, our team worked lickedy-split!  And, early returns suggest the pies were tasty.


The rest of the pie-baking pictures are here.







The Final Results:

SOME of the pies!

Worship God or His gifts?

Homily Outline for the 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Last week we heard from the preceding chapter in the aGospel of Matthew. Jesus told us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect… this is a tall order, but it truly is our calling in Christ: holiness, perfection. I asked a bunch of rhetorical questions, but I think the most important was this: Are you satisfied? If we listen to the hunger God places in our hearts, we won’t shuffle our feet or shy away from God’s call.

This week St. Matthew continues by recounting the rich encouragement Jesus gives us to stay the course, to seek the Lord. We are not yet perfect, and sometimes our brokenness and weakness can be very discouraging. That was very vivid for me this morning – I went to check a beaver trap in a very large and thick swamp. As I strode away from the car on my snowshoes, the sky was blue, the air was crisp (about 4 º) and I was VERY content with myself, the mighty trapper! 40 minutes later I was at the empty trap with a broken snowshoe. I tried heading back without the snowshoes, and it was quickly apparent that would take me several hours as I floundered along breaking through the crust. I put both snowshoes back on, and ignoring further damage I got back to my car after missing my trail for an extra mile or so. As I struggled through the brush, I was reminded how precarious one can be… I did have a cell phone, signal, a knife, hot coffee, a lighter… and yet I realized how easy it would be to be lost and cold and afraid. I was also hoping there were no mountain lions or wolves noticing my uneven step and heavy breathing… I might have looked very vulnerable and tasty, not to mention filling!

What does God have to say to us when we’re vulnerable and afraid? Far more than being lost in a swamp, on any given day many of us may feel scared, or sad, or discouraged… perfection, if it’s still visible at all, seems a very distant glimmer. Our first reading reminds us that we’re not alone, “Zion said, ‘The LORD has forsaken me; my LORD has forgotten me.’ Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.” Since God called Abraham 4000 years ago it has often been the case that we feel as if God is far away. Speaking through Isaiah, God tells us that He NEVER forgets us.

Different things may lead us to feel far from God. Sometimes it may well be that we have walked away from Him. As we seek to find satisfaction and peace, we may attempt to fulfill that desire in ways that are doomed to fail. If we seek worldly peace and security, are hearts will continue to be restless and yearn for more. A friend once shared a dream he had with me… in the dream he was told that Jesus would come again in one week. He began to think of all the things he would do for his family: a shiny new SUV, some really sumptuous restaurant dinners, sparing no expense… then all of a sudden he realized how off base his heart was! Faced with the end of time, he was seeking to do good, yes, but in a way that was almost entirely material, and even superficial. Only in God will our souls be at rest! God is the rock of our strength, our refuge.

The worldly things we desire are not bad in and of themselves… but they must come after God, or they will lead us to hell, both here and in eternity… “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.” Food, drink, clothing, shelter, love, family, joy… God will give us what we need, but we turn our back on God if we seek His gifts instead of seeking Him! These gifts are good, but they must not be first!

Here’s some ways to test where your heart is: What do you spend most of your time doing? What do you think about most of the time? What do you talk about most of the time? How often do you turn to God in prayer? What are most of your emails, phone calls, or texts about? If God’s far down the list, or not even on it, it’s time to re-evaluate! Most of us have to spend a lot of time at work, but do we offer that to God as a gift, or do we strike out on our own? Many of you are responsible for your retirement, your children, your spouse… It is not true that this is only up to you! God will help you. Perhaps worldly success is the most dangerous of all, even more dangerous that discouragement. If we’ve found our place and built our barns, we might begin to believe that we don’t need God.

Jesus mentions the beauty and joy of the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. We cannot extend our lives by a single moment through worry and self-sufficiency. We CAN be filled with God’s joy and help if we will turn to Him and ask… that most joyful of men, St. Francis, had nothing and was filled with peace. Our various vocations may not lead us to follow this literally, but each one of us must surrender our lives and cares to God if we want to walk with Him. May the Eucharist we are about to receive fill us with an abiding knowledge of God’s love and presence, and help us to surrender all to Him.

Crossing the Chasm

Homily Outline for the 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

 

Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18

Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13

1 Corinthians 3:16-23

Matthew 5:38-48

 

            Not this past week, but the week before I had the privilege of spending a week with the monks of Holy Transfiguration Skete up in the Keweenaw... these are the monks who make all the good muffins, cookies and jam at the Jam Pot!  Unfortunately, they're not baking this time of year, so I didn't get to sample the goodies.  I really enjoyed my time with them, and I wanted to join, but they said my beard was too short, so I had to come back!  In all seriousness, it was a time of retreat, a time for prayer and reflection.  They live a very counter-cultural life of prayer, poverty, chastity, and obedience.  Not only do they live this out of the conviction that it is the vocation God calls them to, but they are also a sign of contradiction and a challenge to the world, and to us.

            This past week at Catholic Campus Ministry, Fr. Larry gave a talk about what it means to be countercultural in light of our faith, the introduction to a series of presentations on ways that our faith calls us to stand up for truth.  To be a Catholic Christian is not simply to counter or go against culture… in any time and place, in every generation, there are some aspects of the culture that are good, and others that are unhealthy.  However, in every time and place Jesus Christ calls us to march to the beat of His drum, the drum of truth and goodness and beauty.  This beat, which speaks to us in the Church, in the Scriptures, and in our own conscience, is what we are to use to measure our lives and decisions, to direct and guide our path.

            The portions of the Word of God that we have heard at this Eucharist are particularly challenging, especially when taken together!  What rhythm, what beat, what pattern does God call us to?  Listen to three quick quotes: Leviticus, “Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.”  First Corinthians, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”  The Gospel of Matthew, “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  This sounds like a sustained theme, a consistent message, an entirely radical and countercultural approach in any age: Be Perfect… even, be perfect as God is perfect!  

            God calls us to be holy, to be perfect… I don’t know about your life, or even an average day in your life, but in my life, that sounds rather like a pipe dream!  When we hear this call from God, there is a great danger that the major disconnect between our brokenness and perfection can cause us to turn away, or to walk on past this call.  To whatever extent we are capable of looking into our hearts with honesty, we can’t help but notice a pretty big chasm between the confusion, pain, or even boredom we find there, and God’s perfect beauty and joy.

            What does this call to be perfect, to be holy, mean then?  Why even try?  I think we need to reject some common false images before we can zero in on holiness.  First of all, this does not mean that God wants us to turn in the accumulated result of our good works, like a term paper, in hopes that we’ll get an A!  To follow this call will cost us everything, but it’s not primarily our accomplishment… it is not so much work we do for God, but work God can do in us.  Secondly, this is not a call to “be a good person.”  Unfortunately, that can often imply, “hey, look, lots of people around me are worse!  God should be grateful at all the bad things I could have done that I didn’t!  Isn’t this enough, God, I mostly play by the rules…”  This is not what the Word of God is saying, but rather we are actually called to perfection, not just to be graded on a curve, and to do better than average.  Finally, the call to perfection and holiness is not a call to be spiritual perfectionist, to be obsessed with minutiae, to be judgmental towards ourselves and others.  It is not a call to be harsh and unyielding in our adherence to the Law of God.

            All three of these misperceptions stem from seeing this call primarily in terms of our own efforts.  If we are “Temples of the Holy Spirit,” that suggests that the very life and love of God dwells within us!  God knows to whom He speaks, He knows the mess in our hearts and lives, and yet He still calls us.  We look honestly into our brokenness not to court despair, but to open up to our need for a savior, the very Lord Jesus Christ who suffered, died, and rose again for us.  John Paul II, soon to be beatified, was very fond of quoting Gaudium et Spes #22 “Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear.”  This is from one of the four principal documents of the Second Vatican Council.  Christ reveals us to ourselves – as we gaze upon the Lord, we not only learn of God’s love for us, but we can begin to see the journey we are called to walk.  We are not starry-eyed with false optimism: we are not now perfect, we are indeed weak, we will make mistakes, but that doesn’t mean settling for now, for today, for the status quo.  Jesus Himself calls us deeper, and shows us what deeper looks like.  Ask yourself… Are you satisfied?  Ask God to give you a hunger and thirst for holiness.  What is locked up in your heart?  What old wounds are locked up that need to be unbound?  What lust, or bitterness, or envy needs to be washed away and surrendered?  Have you allowed yourself to believe that God still loves you in the midst of brokenness?  His love for us is perfect, unfailing, and faithful, completely undimmed by our lack of faith.  Can we embrace that love, receive it once again?  It is God’s unfailing love that will transform us if we accept and receive it each day, each moment.

            At this Eucharist we who are not yet perfect, we who hunger for holiness, we who are temples in need of sweeping will approach this altar.  The one who is perfect and holy offers us once again His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.  The power and grace to transform our hearts comes to us now… will we embrace it and be transformed?

Going to visit the monks with the middle-schoolers!

This past Sunday we had a wonderful trip up to Holy Transfiguration Skete to visit the good monks there!  There were 19 of us, and we had a wonderful day featuring monk chili, a tour of the monastery and church, and solemn sung vespers.  On the way home we feasted on pizza at Irene's in Baraga!

Check out the rest of the pictures from the trip here:  Pilgrimage Pictures

I also was able to spend last week with the monks on retreat, pictures of that HERE.

God Bless,
Fr. Ben