Just Another Priest Podcast

A little bit of a brief Bible Study on the last chapter of the Gospels: John 21. The post Ep 16: John 21 appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

I always wonder how much Thomas wanted to crawl under the table at that moment. To put yourself into his sandals, a week ago, he denied even the possibility of the Resurrection, and now: ‘Hey, Thomas, how are you?’ “Don’t mind me, I’ll be under this chair!” But Thomas is so great in John’s account of the Gospel because he gives voice to so many things that we might express in our own lives. How often we might think the same sentiment: ‘Unless God does this for me, I will not believe!’ Yet, Jesus comes to us in that exact moment and in that exact question; answering it in a way that only He can, and always reaching out to us to bring us to a deeper and greater belief, striving to help us over come that doubt and care and concern, if we but just bring it to Him first! Because despite so much evidence to the contrary, I think many of us have this image and view of God that He is out to get us. God is this divine taskmaster just waiting for us to screw up. And we know that at some level, we are all screw ups, aren’t we! (Me more than most!) But that’s more of an image of how others see God than how we should. For Islam, God is Allah, Master, and the goal is to obey. For Judaism, God is so far other, we cannot even say His name, we have to call Him by the title Lord, Adonai, rather than use the Four Letter Name for God, the Tetragrammaton. As Catholics, we get to receive Him into our very selves and be drawn intimately into the very mystery of Who God is in and of Himself, so great is His love for you! Today, as we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, bring your cares and concerns to Him, as Thomas did, that he can transform even that into something greater! The post Divine Mercy Sunday – Homily appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

Water surrounds us, and the Church uses that mystery of water to bring us in to new birth in Christ, Jesus. The post Water Brings New Life – Easter Vigil Homily appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

In St. Jonn’s Narrative, Jesus rules triumphant from the Altar of the Cross as the New High Priest of the New Covenant and the offering to seal the covenant in his own blood. Such a powerful day that we celebrate. The post Jesus: Priest, Sacrifice, Altar – Good Friday Homily appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

The Chrism Mass is rightly known for the consecration of the Sacred Chrism and the blessing of the oils of the Sick and the Catechumens. Yet, it is also the Mass where we, as priests, renew our priestly promises before the bishop and the faithful are also given an important exhortation. The post Ep 15: Renewal of Priestly Promises appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

In which I talk without a script and give shoutouts to another podcast, some friends and a transitional deacon getting ready for priesthood ordination! The post Ep 14: Hobbies! appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

It is a dangerous thing, it seems, to be a friend of Jesus. ‘Jesus love Mary, Martha and Lazarus, so when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed where he was for two days.’  Huh?  It brings to mind a line from Theresa of Avila: ‘Lord, if this is how you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few of them!’ Yet, there is a promise that is given: “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Jesus always looks at the bigger picture of an issue, rather than just at the finer details. (Even though he knows the finest of details as well!) And he leads us through similar moments that we, too, can come to realize, with Mary, that Jesus is ‘the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.’ The challenge comes in how are we able to come to that recognition, especially in those moments when darkness seems to overwhelm, or the pain of grief seeks to snuff out the light of faith. So, again, we turn to this passage, and really the passages from the last two weeks as well, to see how Jesus interacts with those in these passages. The first thing we realize: Jesus always comes in the hour of greatest need, the hour when all else looks lost, He appears; bringing light for those who attempt to see; bringing healing as only He can provide; bringing reconciliation for wounds and injuries. Yet, He also enters into our grief. He weeps at sorrow at the death of his friend Lazarus. He weeps in sorrow when we fall into the death of sin. He weeps with us when we weep in sorrow at the death of a loved one, as well. But in all of this, he points us to something more, something beyond our grief of the moment, into a realization of a deeper embrace of life, and an awareness of life in Christ, a life which does not end. Because when we start to look at the world through the eyes of faith, we start to see that the glory of God is all around, and miracles happen every single day.   I fully realize, however, that this does not necessarily make those ‘hard times’ easier to bear or nicer to encounter; but when we are finally able to overcome and see that difficult moment through the eyes of Jesus instead of through just our own very limited sight, the Glory of God becomes all encompassing. And even death cannot overcome it.   Those very things in your life which seek to separate you from one another, as death separated Lazarus from his sisters, is the very thing where Jesus comes to you over these next two weeks in our approach to Easter. And it is precisely through ‘that thing’ in your life where Jesus calls you to experience new life in Him, to experience a Resurrection, as it were, to something more. Yes, could Jesus have prevented that rough spot in the first place? Absolutely!  But if He brings you through it, He has something even better in mind for you. Dare to live that adventure with Him! The post It’s Dangerous to be His Friend! – Sunday Homily appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

We are all going to die. Only three people, that I know of, have escaped this world without it: Enoch, Elijah and Mary. Not even Jesus. There are many rites and rituals that accompany the family of one who has passed, but those rites take on a little different twist when a priest dies. The video mentioned at the start can be found here. The post Ep 13: Priest Funerals appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

In our first reading, we have the election of David as King of Israel by Samuel, the Judge and Prophet. He did not look like a king, however. After all, he was out in the field with the sheep. But God sees what is in the heart. His predecessor, on the other hand, he looked the part of the king: tall, robust voice, nice beard, described as a man’s man, etc. etc. But King Saul was an awful king, he consulted with soothsayers, he embroiled the kingdom with foreign gods, got them into false wars, etc. David, on the other hand, is almost described as that cute kid, when described as ‘ruddy,’ he was a red-head, ‘handsome’ in almost a feminine sense; and young, barely a teenager; not some one hardened soldiers would follow, not someone who would, by outward appearances, make for a good leader. Yet, God chooses him over Saul, because David, for all his many faults, had a deep and profound love for God. And becomes that greatest king in the history of the monarchy of Israel, and Jesus comes to live in his lineage and line; a king unlike any other king as well. In the Gospel of John, this distinction between how God sees versus how we see gets picked up again, in a particular way in the passage presented for us today; but also throughout the Gospel in the distinctions that John places between light and darkness. If you read through the Gospel of John, it is helpful to pay attention to all the times when day is contrasted with night, when light is contrasted with darkness. A few examples that I found just paging through the Gospel: In the Prologue, the first 18 versus of the Gospel, the Light shines into the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. Nicodemus, in chapter 3, comes to Jesus at night, out of fear of his fellow members of the Sanhedrin. John the Baptist testifies to Jesus from the darkness of prison. Last week, Jesus met the Samaritan woman at noon. Judas comes out to him at night in the Garden of Gethsemane, for his arrest and to begin His passion.   So often, to meet Jesus during the day was to be brought into a greater amount of light; whereas to meet at night was subversive, diabolical, hidden. But yet, when we can see who Jesus truly is, we are brought from darkness and into his marvelous light, as was this man who was born blind. What we start to see in this passage is that there becomes a connection between those who see as ones who dwell in the light of God, versus those who are blind as being ones who dwell in darkness, hearts hardened to the presence of God within their midst. Towards the end of this passage, the man who was born blind asks to see the Messiah, and I love how Jesus responds: “You have seen him, the one speaking with you is he.” So not only are you seeing Him now, you did before, while you were still blind! Yet the Pharisees and those around them are not able to see who Jesus truly is, and they are blind because of it, their sin remains.   Every day, we encounter those whom we could easily dismiss: the poor, the needy, the developmentally disabled and or handicapped. What I have found in my life, is that those whom society can so easily label as unwanted and unnecessary are so often way more connected to God than I am. And they teach me more about the unconditional love of God than I have learned from study or my own prayer. And I cherish every encounter I have with them. Do you see God active and alive around you? Do you see Jesus every moment of your life, walking, talking, encountering you? Because He is there! Might we all be able to say with the man born blind: ‘I do believe, Lord!’ The post Sight versus Blindness – Sunday Homily appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

JRR Tolkien, as a life long Catholic, placed so much of his faith in the underlying mythology of his created world, Middle Earth. There is a connection this coming week, on March 25. For more information on this, see Dr. Joseph Pearce’s comments on unlocking the Catholicism of The Lord of the Rings. The post Ep. 12: March 25 and JRR Tolkien appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

The woman at the well represents not only the combined heritage of the Samaritans, but she also represents us in our brokenness. As she comes to Jesus for healing, so might we: The post What separates, unites! – Sunday Homily appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

A question I get all too often: Is it lonely being a priest?  In short, I wish it were! There are times when I wish I had more time alone, and to get a quiet evening at home is a true delight! Yet, how do I, as a priest, fill my days from Sunday to Sunday? The post Ep 11: Are Priests lonely? appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

The Bible is easily the most influential book to ever be collected, but how was it collected and why are there more books in the Catholic Bible vs. the Protestant Bible, etc. etc. These questions and more answered in this week’s podcast episode: The Canon of Scripture! The post Ep 10: The Canon of Scripture appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

First off, a question from our first reading to see if you were paying attention: How many trees did the Lord God plant, by name, in the Garden of Eden? Who thinks one?  Who thinks two? The latter are correct: they are the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil was also mentioned. Now, which tree were they originally prevented from eating? Knowledge! In the Garden of Eden, there were three gifts that God gave to humanity: infused knowledge, freedom from concupiscence, and immortality. All three of these gifts were lost when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. After that event, we have to work for our food, instead of the land freely giving of her produce; there is now discord between husband and wife; and we are eventually doomed to die, as Eve knew. (The serpent pulls the standard trick of the evil: not an outright lie, but at least a partial one…) Adam and Eve are escorted out of the Garden because they can no longer eat from the tree of life, but what happens to it? Is it destroyed? No. At the very end of this chapter, Chapter 3 of Genesis, the Lord God stations a cherubim with a ‘fiery revolving sword’ at the entrance to the garden of Eden ‘to guard the way to the tree of life.’ What I would like to introduce to you today is that the whole of the rest of the Bible, from Genesis three until the very end of the Book of Revelation, is about the Tree of Life. The whole point of the book is to get back to that tree, to be able to once again eat freely from the tree of life and have that lasting relationship with the Lord God that was lost by Adam and Eve.   The key question, then, in this run of questions is how do we get there? How do we get back to the Tree of Life? St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans which is presented as our second reading today, gives us an insight into this process. ‘Through one man, sin entered into the world, and through sin, death.’ Yet, the gift of Jesus Christ is the gift of salvation, through Him, redemption, justification, restoration enter into the world. His obedience undoes the disobedience of Adam! Where Adam’s action led to brokenness, the action of Jesus leads to unity and wholeness!   And where does this take place? Where does this restoration happen? But on the cross. The Cross becomes the new Tree of Life, the cross, meant to be a sign of torture and shame, becomes the sign of new life for those who are baptized into the death of Jesus Christ. For the Cross is the doorway from earth to heaven. It is by staring down the temptations that face us every day, as Jesus did, it is by boldly embracing the Cross that Jesus gives us, that we find life, and we find life to its fullness.   And lo and behold, what do we then find once we achieve the glory heaven? Let’s turn to the end of the Book, shall we… There in Revelation 22, the vision of the new city of Jerusalem, not an earthly city, but the heavenly one, there is a tree in the center. Verses one and two of that final chapter of the Bible read: Then the angel showed me the river of life-giving water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of its street. On either side of the river grew the tree of life that produces fruit twelve times a year, once each month; the leaves of the trees serve as medicine for the nations.   In Christ Jesus, in his victory on the Cross, in his defeat of sin and death; and in our baptism into that; which brings about our own triumph with Him; then are we able to again eat freely from the tree of life, as Adam and Eve were once able to do. Why do we do what we do here? So that eventually we can be there around God’s throne in heaven to be nourished completely by the new Tree of Life: Jesus Christ. The post The Tree of Life – Sunday Homily appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

I admit this is one of my favorite juxtapositions of the year: we barely finish hearing Jesus say: ‘when you fast, wash your face and comb your hair,’ and the very next thing we do is put a smudge on your foreheads… I always chuckle when I think about it. But then it causes me to think: why do we do such a thing? If it is so blatantly against what Jesus says to do, it must have a significance in the eyes of the Church, then, right? At least I hope so! I think the answer comes from the start of our second reading for Mass today: ‘We are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us.’ Our task as disciples of Christ is to also be an ambassador for Christ, to be His messenger to the world where He sends us, wherever that might be! But in order to be that ambassador, the next line is vital: be reconciled to God! And this is why we begin this period of fasting and prayer prior to our celebration of Easter: it is all geared towards a greater reconciliation, a greater communion, a greater relationship with God. Over the last year, however, we slide. We let in those little things that hamper that union: whether a small sin that becomes something more, whether that little creature comfort that makes us a little too secure, whether that little bit of trust in wealth instead of trusting in God. St. Paul echoes so many thoughts that we might have: I do the things I do not want to do, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak! And so we enter into this time of fasting and prayer, a time of almsgiving and renewal; a time to strip away all that hides Christ from those whom I encounter. As St. Paul tells the Corinthians in today’s reading: ‘now is the acceptable time, now is the time of salvation.’ As we enter into this great season, let us take advantage of the opportunity that God sets before us! The post Now is the Time – Ash Wednesday Homily appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

No matter who I talk to, it seems one common unifier is a desire for a stronger prayer life. Goal #2 of Courage addresses this desire, based around prayer and dedication: To dedicate our entire lives to Christ through service to others, spiritual reading, prayer, meditation, individual spiritual direction, frequent attendance at Mass, and the frequent reception of the sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist. (Prayer and Dedication) In this episode, I take a look at each of the elements in the Goal and address how they all help us to grow in our living relationship with Jesus. To learn more about the work of Courage, visit their website at www.couragerc.org God Bless The post Ep 9: Prayer and Dedication appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

Had a lot of questions regarding the role of parish pastoral councils, so addressed them in our meetings of Feb 21, 2017. Thought it would be good to share here, too. Links: Canon Law on Pastoral Councils Pastoral Council Website The post Episode 8: Parish Pastoral Councils appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

The prayers the priest says for Mass begin long before he venerates the Altar and starts with the Sign of the Cross. Each piece of vesture that he wears has a prayer that goes with it that signifies the meaning behind that garment and, all together, give an indication of who the priest is and what it is that he does. Please share as you are able and give a review in iTunes or the Google Play Store! The post Episode 7: Vesting Prayers appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

To our modern world, chastity seems like such a dirty word, a denial of who we are as sexual beings. Yet for the Church, there is beautiful and wonderful challenge issued in the call to chaste living. Tips and tricks for growing in chastity as well as some thoughts on the struggles against chastity are all included. Links: Catechism of the Catholic Church on Chastity Questa Grande Vostra Adunata, Address by Pope Pius XII to Members of Various Catholic Women’s Associations on October 21, 1945 Reclaim Sexual Health OpenDNS Qustodio   The post Podcast Episode 6: Chastity appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

Over the last several months, maybe a bit more than a year, now, I have developed a bit of a reputation for baking. Perhaps I should put more on Instagram than just pictures of food, but what would be the fun in that? When I first started making my own bread, one of the key ingredients fascinated me: salt. Sure, I was expecting it, salt seems to go in everything, but the reason ‘Why’ was the interesting part: it was required to help provide a favorable environment for the yeast to do its job of turning the sugars in the flour into the gases that help bread rise. Salt also helps gluten form in bread, gives it a richer flavor, etc. Even just a little bit is required to make the whole project work. And it isn’t just bread, either. Cooking without salt leads to bland and flat food. If you watch any cooking competition show on tv (guilty as charged!), one of the major complaints is that it wasn’t seasoned enough with salt; the food is flat. You see, salt allows all the other flavors that a chef has worked so hard to impart into the food to come out and blossom. And if it fails to do that, if salt becomes stale and tasteless; it not only deserves to be thrown out and trampled, but the Greek that Jesus uses here has a connotation of being foolish. It does not achieve the end set for itself, and is just worthless. Now, when we turn and look at this passage from Matthew, it is important to remember what we just heard. Last week, we had the Beatitudes, and we are still very early in our march through the Sermon on the Mount (which lasts through Chapter seven of Matthew’s account of the Gospel). By including these similes early in the Sermon and immediately after the Beatitudes, Jesus is not so subtly reminding us that if we do not put those teachings into action, we are worth nothing more than being tossed out and trampled. We are nothing more than fools, and not in a good way! That is the same problem that is being addressed in today’s First Reading from Isaiah, too. If you look just prior to what was proclaimed today, the people of Israel are lamenting that they have fasted, they have prayed, they have dutifully gone to the Temple for worship, yet Jerusalem is still going to be destroyed by Babylonians as they march toward the city. God responds in verse six, leading in to the reading: ‘This is the fast that I choose: release those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke, free the oppressed, break every yoke; (and from there it picks up with the reading: ‘share your bread, welcome the homeless, cloth the naked, etc.’ It isn’t a question of pray and worship OR do these things; it is a question of ‘If you pray and worship, that should lead you into these things!’  (The Letter of St. James comes to the fore: ‘If you show me your faith without works, I will show you the faith that underlies my works!’ And I return to that image of baking bread, and Jesus calling us to be salt and leaven, yeast, for society. The basic recipe for bread that I use is six and a half cups of flour and three cups of water. (Makes a lot of bread!) To that volume of dough, I add just one tablespoon of salt, one tablespoon of yeast. And all that flour and water is transformed into something more, lighter, airier, tastier, etc.   As Catholics, that is what we are called to do in society. We can’t just be about what we do here, but what we do here is to enliven and inform and drive us to what we do out there, out there in the world! The world should be a better place because we are in it! The world should be more aware of the needs of the unborn, the hungry, the homeless, the refugee, the naked; because we can identify with them all and our task in the world is to give a voice to those who have no voice. And it should all be driven by our faith, our prayer, our worship here in this place. You are salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. You!   Be this! Today!!! The post Be Salt and Light for the World! – Sunday Homily appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, celebrated February 2, is the traditional close of the Christmas Season and celebrates the end of the Infancy Narratives. But we have already been in Ordinary Time for a few weeks, so what is this feast all about? The post The Presentation of the Lord – Podcast Ep. 5 appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

Delivered at St. John Neumann, where I am blessed to serve as Pastor: Admit it, you have never sat down and read the book of Zephaniah, have you? If you have, you win a prize this weekend! It is, admittedly, not a well-known book of the Bible. It is only three chapters long and is the fourth to last book of the Old Testament, right after Habakkuk and before Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Fascinating, I know! In my own curiosity, I wanted to go back reread the book in preparation for this weekend, after all, it is only three chapters, right. (And only 53 verses, total.) What I found fascinated me. In the selection that we have presented for our First Reading this weekend, there is a rather positive message about being humble, being a remnant, the lowly and meek take refuge in the Lord and none will disturb them. And then I read the rest of the book, and what I found was prophecy that included death and destruction, walls being laid low and erased from the land. The first verse of the book reads thusly: “I will completely sweep away all things from the face of the land—oracle of the LORD. (Zeph 1:2)” And I think: that escalated quickly! The prophesies of Zephaniah were written at a low point in the history of Judah. Under the leadership of some of their worst kings, they had sunken into Idolatry and the worship of the false gods of their neighbors. The northern Kingdom of Israel had been destroyed by the Assyrians about a hundred or so years prior; but Judah did not learn their lesson; they stayed in their false worship, they stayed in the hardness of their hearts. And as such, Zephaniah’s task is to bring the people of Judah, the Southern Kingdom, the Kingdom of David, back to God; but he knows the majority of them will be destroyed, the Babylonians are coming and God’s protection over the Holy City of Jerusalem is going to be removed. But yet, not all will be destroyed. Not all will be lost, these prophecies of the humble, those who have embraced the Law of God give a ray of hope that Israel and Judah will eventually be rebuilt into something new. The old laws of power and prestige will be turned on their heads and a new law of Grace will be established. Six hundred and thirty some odd years later, Jesus comes and picks up those few hidden passages in Zephaniah and expands upon them: Blessed are the poor in spirit Blessed are they who mourn Blessed are the Meek Blessed are those who thirst for righteousness Blessed are the merciful Blessed are the clean of heart Blessed are the peacemakers Blessed are the persecuted The Health and Wealth Gospel, the message of living in right relationship with God for the sake of prosperity is turned over; and the lowly, the meek, the humble, those who live according to God’s Law in spirit and truth are now held up as the example that we should follow. But what does it mean to be ‘blessed’ in this context? Matthew is the most ‘Jewish’ of the Gospels. There is some evidence that suggests that he originally wrote his Gospel in Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke, prior to translating it to the Greek that has been handed down to us. In Hebrew and Aramaic, ‘Blessed’ has a connotation of ‘Happy,’ but not ‘happy’ in the sense that one has had too much helium, but that deeper sense of happiness and joy that comes from knowing, loving and serving God; that deeper sense of happiness that comes from knowing a purpose in life, knowing meaning in life, having a mission that has been given by God and is unfolding before you. This is a much different notion of happiness than how the world and our modern culture define ‘happiness.’ Take a moment and think, ‘What makes you happy?’ (PAUSE) What we believe, what we know, is that what makes us happy, what makes us ‘blessed’ is not found within; but is found in Jesus Christ and living for something more, something greater. “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.” We know the secret of life, because He has created us, He has created you; and He gives us this list so that we can find our way back to Him, for He is the only lasting source of true happiness.   The post Jesus, the only lasting source of True Happiness – Sunday Homily appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

The Papal Nuncio has a role that impacts the life of every Catholic in the Church, but how many know of his role and what he does for us? Taking a little bit of a walk through the importance of this office both for the political life of the Church, but also some very important aspects of the ‘ad intra’ life of the Church, as well. The post The Papal Nuncio – Podcast Ep. 4 appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

As a priest, one of the most important things we do is preach the Word of God to our people at Sunday Mass. Every priest (or deacon) has his own way of crafting his homily, here’s how I do it. The post Homily Prep! – Podcast Ep. 3 appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

Everyone has a story, here’s mine! The post Just Another Priest Podcast Episode 2: Vocation Story! appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

There is an organization called ‘Crossroads: Pro-Life Walks Across America.’ Every year, they recruit teams of mostly college students to walk from the west coast in three groups/paths to eventually converge on Washington, DC, as a witness to the beauty and sacredness of life. As they make their way across the country, the stop in cities and parishes to give a witness about the giftedness of life and a short testimony about why they do such a thing. I heard one of their walkers talk about going across the plains of northern Nevada, at one point; and she said it was so absolutely disheartening. Of the team of six or eight or ten walkers, they team up in pairs to break up the walk across the entire country, with those on ‘break’ resting in support vehicles. Across Nevada, the vehicle would drop you off to begin walking and would drive forward about five or six miles and pull over and wait on the side of the road, with the flashers on. The problem in northern Nevada, is that you could see the car the entire time! Sitting there, off in the distance, just blinking. And it seemed, no matter how long you walked, no matter how many steps you took, it just sat there, off in the distance. I wonder how the Magi felt in their walk from the East towards Jerusalem, the long trek of observing and following the star… They finally get to Jerusalem and… He’s not there!   Who? What? And they must have made quite the sight! Not only was Herod greatly troubled, but all of Jerusalem with him! What type of caravan were they in? It sets up quite the contrast in the Gospel, doesn’t it? The Magi, who did not have easy access to the Scriptures and the Prophets, are able to see and recognize the King by the mere appearance of the Star. Yet, the leaders of the people, the Scribes, the Chief Priests, are blind to His coming. And I wander what causes this difference?   For the Magi, they seem to be astrologers, ‘wise men,’ I always think of them in the way we think of the old ‘Medicine Men’ from indigenous cultures here in the US: they have a natural knowledge and respect for the lore, the story, that has been passed down to them. Because of this approach, there is a humility and docility that allows them to feel the promptings and guidance of the Spirit so that they can recognize this star means the birth of the Messiah.   The Chief Priests and the Scribes, on the other hand, have this pride of place and security of the city. Because they know the Scriptures better than anyone else, they do not need to have this guidance, as they are so sure of themselves!   And as I read these passages, one thing I am keenly aware of: by my position, the temptation to follow the example of the Chief Priests and the Scribes is strong! How often, as the pastor, people look to you and ‘whatever you want to do, you’re the boss!’ and how that can feed in to your head…  with this approach, that far off blinking light which guides our path just slowly starts to fade. So, what can we all learn from this? The importance of being open to the promptings of the Spirit, hearing His Voice speak in unexpected ways. The challenge of humbly acknowledging that others can have a greater share of wisdom, even in your own subject area, and generously offering the gifts that you have to those in need, can all keep our eyes, ears, and hearts open to what God is doing in our midst. The post Epiphany! — Sunday Homily appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

Delivered at St. John Neumann, where I serve as Pastor, for the Feast of Mary, Mother of God: I would argue that the most tender and most intimate line of all the Scripture is found in today’s Readings: ‘And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.’ Is there a better description of who a mother is and what she does throughout the life of her child? There is a treasure trove of memories and emotions; joys and sorrows that are saved in the locket of a mother’s heart; and there is a unique and special bond that a mother has with her child, that even her husband and the father’s child cannot approach; because of the intimacy of carrying that life, a life which is not her own, within her very body, within her womb. Over Christmas at my parent’s house, I was able to ask my niece about what it was like the first time she felt her child move and stir; while she wasn’t able to put that experience into many words, the expression on her face spoke volumes. There is a mystery that is present, a mystery that can only be experienced, not related. The gift of new life is truly a miracle! Now we turn this awe and mystery to the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity; the mystery deepens even more! In these few short chapters of the Infancy Narratives, there is so much for Mary to hold, to contemplate, to discuss with Joseph, with Jesus as he grows; her Immaculate Heart must have immense room to cherish these mysteries!   Now, I’d like to take a step back and call to mind images of the Blessed Virgin Mary that have been presented over the years. So many of these images, especially in the Iconographic tradition of Eastern Catholics, Mary is usually presented as holding the Christ Child. What becomes interesting is that He is often looking to Her, She, Mary, is looking out to the viewer. So there becomes this pathway: from Jesus to Mary to us; from us through Mary to Jesus. What I would like to propose for your reflection throughout this coming year is that when you start to feel lonely or afraid; when you feel cut off or that you are walking in the valley of darkness; to always remember that the same way that Mary looks to the Child Jesus in this passage, the same way that she holds all of these things in Her Immaculate Heart, is the same way that she looks to you and holds you in her heart; so great is her love for you as her child, as well. So often when she has appeared down through the ages, she calls the visionary by a tender and intimate name. She called St. Juan Diego ‘Juanito,’ My Dear Little Juan… When she looks at you, she calls you in the same way, ‘My dear little (insert your name here)’ To know this, to dwell in this, is be always be drawn closer to her Son; and He will never forsake you, for she will never forsake you. The post Mary, Mother of God and Our Mother — Sunday Homily appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.

We know our parish, we know our diocese, we know the Vatican; what other structures are out there in the Church? Diocese of East Anglia, UK, on the Role of the Dean. So, this is the ‘something new’ that I am starting, publishing now to get it up and running on iTunes, and I will come back and add a link to iTunes and Google Play when those are available! UPDATE:  Here is the iTunes link.  And it is now live in Google Play. Please be sure to subscribe and give it a rating! The post Just Another Priest Podcast Episode 1: Structures in the Church appeared first on Called By Name by Father Schnippel.