Anchored In The Lord

Weekly homilies of Father David Neuschwander

Catholic Services Appeal | 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time | 08/17/25 08/18/2025

Catholic Services Appeal | 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time | 08/17/25 Catholic Services Appeal Weekend This weekend we begin our Catholic Services Appeal (CSA) — the annual appeal that sustains our Diocese in Northern Wisconsin. St. Joseph Parish Goal: $65,127 St. Ann Parish Goal: $15,973 (We met our goals last year, and with your help, we can do it again!) But this isn’t just about meeting a financial goal. The true call is to grow in Prayerful Generosity: Prayerful — Jesus prayed for us and intercedes for us. Generous — Jesus gave his life for us. Why Support the CSA? Funds the education and formation of seminarians (7 this year, most in 16 years, at $50,000 per seminarian annually). Brings international priests to serve our parishes (currently 26 of our 42 active priests are international). Supports youth faith experiences (Extreme Faith Camp, Totus Tuus, March for Life, retreats). Offers adult retreats and formation. Provides essential administrative and legal guidance for parishes. Strengthens Catholic schools, including St. Francis Solanus in our cluster. How to Give Use CSA envelopes mailed to you or found at church entrances/bulletins. Return in the collection, bring to the parish office, or mail directly. Give online at haywardcatholic.org under the Give tab, designating the 2025–2026 CSA for St. Joseph or St. Ann. Any amount above our goal comes back to our parishes! Challenge: Grow in Prayerful Generosity. Give more this year than last — and pray for the causes you support. In doing so, we become more like Jesus. /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/37867340

Retirement: for Me or For God? 08/08/2025

Retirement: for Me or For God? 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 08/03/25 Retirement: For Me or For God? In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells of a wealthy man who stored up riches for himself, only to be called a fool by God—not for working hard, but for forgetting eternity. He lived as though his future belonged to him, not to God. This challenges us in a culture that views retirement as finally doing what we want. The Christian question is different: Is retirement about me, or is it about God and others? Ecclesiastes reminds us that work without God is vanity. St. Paul urges us to “seek what is above” and put on Christ. Retirement, then, isn’t the reward for decades of labor. It’s a new vocation—a fresh opportunity to serve, love, and live for God more freely. The Christian mission never retires. Key Questions: Am I investing my time, resources, and energy in what matters to God? Am I growing as His disciple and helping others come to Him? True retirement is not self-indulgence, but self-gift. Not vanity, but eternal value. Every day, even in small hidden moments, we are called to glorify God and bring souls to Him. /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/37867760

Wanting to Want "All" 07/18/2025

Wanting to Want "All" 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (07/13/25) Wanting to Want “All” In this episode, we reflect on Jesus’ call to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind—a total, undivided love. We ask the honest question: Do I really love God with all, or just a lot, a majority, or maybe only some? This homily challenges us to move from partial devotion to wholehearted surrender, inviting us to desire a deeper, fuller love for God that shapes every part of our lives. /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/37460705

True Freedom | 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time | 07/06/25 07/12/2025

True Freedom | 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time | 07/06/25 This week, we reflect on the meaning of freedom—not just as Americans celebrating Independence Day, but as Christians sent into the world. True freedom isn’t about doing whatever we want; it’s the gift of choosing love, sacrifice, and God’s will. In the Gospel, Jesus sends out seventy-two disciples two by two—not alone, but united in mission and reliant on God’s grace. Their joy comes not from their own accomplishments but from seeing what God did through them. As we cherish our country’s liberty, we’re reminded that freedom without virtue can lead us astray. Christian freedom is always “freedom for”—for holiness, justice, and love of neighbor. This episode challenges us to step out of comfort zones and use our freedom to transform the world for Christ. /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/37384650

Pray for Us 07/03/2025

Pray for Us Solemnity of Saints Peters and Paul We are not on this journey of faith alone. We turn to each other so naturally when we need help, especially to our friends and family. The saints are our friends in heaven, our family in heaven; they are alive in Christ! So ask for their help, their prayers, their support as fellow members of the Body of Christ. St. Peter...pray for us. St. Paul...pray for us. All you holy men and women...pray for us. /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/37268080

Great Things! 06/12/2025

Great Things! Pentecost Sunday God is doing great things here in our family of parishes! More people are coming to Church; more young couples are attending Mass; more kids are being baptized; more families are joining the Church; more people are becoming Catholic — great things are happening here because of you and your witness! God's Spirit is being poured out in other places as well. God is doing great things in vocations in our diocese. God is doing great things at St. Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee (where we send our graduate seminarians in final preparation for priesthood). /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/36971260

Ascending 06/02/2025

Ascending Ascension Sunday We are called to follow where Christ our Savior went first. We, like Jesus, are called to be light enough to ascend to the Father: some things weigh us down, and some things raise us up. Do you ever feel heavy? Do you ever feel weighed down? Jesus wants to lighten your load. Ask Jesus for the grace today, ask the Holy Spirit for the power today: “Lord, give me the grace and the power to let go of one more thing I’m holding onto that’s weighing me down. And Lord, help me with your grace and power to take one more step in an area that will raise me up!” /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/36820325

"Thank You, God" 05/29/2025

"Thank You, God" 6th Sunday of Easter On this Memorial Day Weekend, we give thanks to God for the lives we are able to live in our country as we remember those who have died while serving in our Armed Forces, protecting us and upholding the rights and liberties which we enjoy here and now; we remember them and we pray for eternal rest and peace for their souls. If I'm being totally honest, though, in my day-to-day life, I usually take these freedoms for granted. I also take many of the blessings of life for granted...and the people God has placed in my life for granted...and the incredible gift of forgiveness of sins in Jesus and eternal life for granted...and our incredible Catholic faith for granted... So if you’re anything like me, let’s pause this week, and intentionally give thanks to God this day for all of His many gifts! /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/36779700

Habemus Papam-We Have a Pope! 05/12/2025

Habemus Papam-We Have a Pope! 4th Sunday of Easter Just a few days ago, on Thursday, May 8th, something happened that I never thought I would see in my lifetime: Habemus Papam! We have a Pope! …And he’s American! Robert Francis Prevost is a native of Chicago; an Augustinian priest (a religious order priest) who spent much of his priestly life as a missionary in South America, and eventually serving as a Bishop in Peru. More recently, he was called to Rome, where he worked in the Dicastery for Bishops. On this Good Shepherd Sunday let’s pray for our new shepherd, Pope Leo XIV. I also ask for your prayers for me, your local shepherd. And finally, prayers for those that you have been called by God to shepherd. Jesus doesn’t say “follow me” to only popes or priests; he says it to every disciple. Every one of us who has heard Jesus’ invitation and chosen to follow Him has also been tasked with the responsibility to shepherd specific people the Lord has placed in our care. May we all model our shepherding after that of Christ, the Good Shepherd! /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/36534240

Roll Away the Stone 04/22/2025

Roll Away the Stone Easter Sunday "Roll away the stone. See the glory of God. Roll away the stone." What stones are still blocking the tomb of your heart? This Easter, God wants to roll those stones away. Christ doesn’t roll it away to shame us—He rolls it away so that He can enter in. Just as He stepped out of the tomb into the garden of new life, bringing into our world something entirely new — so Jesus wants to step into the tombs we’ve been trapped in and say, “Peace be with you, ” bringing His light and His healing, to clear out the old, musty, life-draining, stale air, and bring in a breath of new, fresh, moving, life-giving air! Happy Easter! /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/36265560

Looking Ahead 04/10/2025

Looking Ahead 5th Sunday of Lent “Then Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.'” “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new!” “forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead,” /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/36088405

How Awake Are We? 03/16/2025

How Awake Are We? 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?! /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/35709705

How Do I Consume Media? 03/11/2025

How Do I Consume Media? 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! /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/35620550

Missionary Disciple 02/24/2025

Missionary Disciple 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! /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/35410625

The Willing Ones 02/15/2025

The Willing Ones 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." /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/35295225

Baptized: Children of the Father 01/12/2025

Baptized: Children of the Father 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.” /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/34827565

Eucharistic Prayer 01/06/2025

Eucharistic Prayer Epiphany How do I come to Mass? /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/34745870

The Little Drummer Boy 12/25/2024

The Little Drummer Boy Merry Christmas! Come, they told me — pa rum pum pum pum A newborn King to see — pa rum pum pum pum Our finest gifts we bring — pa rum pum pum pum To lay before the King — pa rum pum pum pum Rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum. So to honor Him — pa rum pum pum pum When we come. /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/34612065

Part 3/4: Rescued with Joy 12/16/2024

Part 3/4: Rescued with Joy 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. /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/34470020

A Peace This World Cannot Give 12/11/2024

A Peace This World Cannot Give Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception 3 Levels of the Heart God wants to give us peace at the deepest level, a peace which endures all things. /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/34403720

Part 1/4: Created in Hope 12/02/2024

Part 1/4: Created in Hope 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.” /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/34242015

Advent: Journey to the Manger 11/25/2024

Advent: Journey to the Manger Solemnity of Christ the King Together, during this Advent season, all 5 of our parishes (along with Christians throughout the world) prepare to welcome Jesus into our hearts and homes in new and deeper ways, and as we are practicing hospitality in opening our hearts and homes to God, let us also practice hospitality by inviting others in our lives to join us. On this Feast of Christ the King, Christ is a King Who doesn’t force His way into hearts, He doesn’t strong-arm His way into our lives, Christ is a King who came first as a baby, silently, quietly, yet in the full power of God to destroy the darkness of sin and to bring the joy and peace that only God can. The Journey to the Manger is both the triumph of Christ the King and the Triumph of Christ the Babe, Who wants a warm place of welcome in the manger of your heart, and who wants us to invite others to join us as we Journey to the Manger, so that He can have a warm welcome in their hearts as well! /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/34137711

Hudson: Post-Election 11/11/2024

Hudson: Post-Election 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time I want to talk about 2 things today: How do we as Catholics respond to an election? What will actually change our country for the better? This weekend I preached in my hometown of Hudson, Wisconsin, at the parish of St. Patrick where I grew up. It was a blessing to be home! (One disclaimer is that the answer to the homiletic answer to first question above I begged, borrowed, and stole from an excellent homily of my own Deacon Dave DiSera of Hayward which he gave the weekend before the election. I thought that his words were so pertinent they bore repeating. So thank you, Deacon Dave!) /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/33883902

"God, what do You want me to do for You?" 10/28/2024

"God, what do You want me to do for You?" 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Jesus asks Bartimaeus today, "What do you want me to do for you?" Bartimaeus's request is granted, he receives his sight, and he follows Jesus on the way. Being a disciple of Jesus is being in a relationship with Jesus, and a relationship is a two-way street. When Jesus asks us that question, we are called to respond from the depths of our heart with what we really, really want Jesus to do for us. But as now-country artist Jelly Roll sings: do we only talk to God when we need a favor? Are we sometimes one sided or overly self-focused in our interactions with God? As disciples of Jesus, in a relationship with Him that is a two-way street, do we also ask the question often and frequently, "God, what do You want me to do for You?" /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/33647437

The Typewriter 10/23/2024

The Typewriter 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Life in a fallen world brings us all plenty of suffering, and our readings today take up that theme of suffering. Our sufferings - wether mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, or some combination thereof - have varying levels, but the key to all of it is that I have a choice in the midst of my suffering, I can choose to respond in one of two ways: one way is the common response to suffering, the other way was modeled by Jesus in His suffering. Which one will we choose to confront our sufferings today? /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/33586047

Upside Down, Right Side Up 09/23/2024

Upside Down, Right Side Up 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time The famous architect Antoni Gaudi designed the incredible basilica of Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, which has been under construction for 128 years. A genius of architecture, he built a model of the church with strings...UPSIDE DOWN...to find and test balance and proportion, because each change in balance would immediately change all of the arches and balance throughout the entire upside down structure. He turned it UPSIDE DOWN to learn how to do it in the best possible way RIGHT SIDE UP. Jesus turns so many of our human perceptions, assumptions, and ways of thought UPSIDE DOWN in order to teach us how to live RIGHT SIDE UP...which is especially helpful (and a challenge to us all, I believe) in this time of the election cycle. Are you willing to see and live things seemingly UPSIDE DOWN from what the world and the media tells you in order to actually live RIGHT SIDE UP?! /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/33164577

Whose Side Are You On? 08/24/2024

Whose Side Are You On? 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time The people in our first reading today, the Israelites, are at a decision point — they need to decide whom they will follow. This ancient Biblical situation is wildly applicable for us today. November 5th is the upcoming presidential election. Everyone is getting so worked up over politics, and we are all guilty of becoming more and more demonizing to anybody who disagrees with what we think. I'd invite you to ask yourself: “Whose side am I on? Whom do I support?” I think you'll be surprised by what ought to be the real answer to that question, O Christian! /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/32726657

Prayerful Generosity-CSA 08/19/2024

Prayerful Generosity-CSA 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time This weekend is the kickoff for our annual diocesan Catholic Services Appeal (CSA). The CSA provides incredible opportunities to spread the faith of Jesus Christ in northwestern Wisconsin - for our seminarians, for our youth, for our schools, for our parishes - opportunities that I witness and see the fruits of firsthand! I'm challenging you this year to stretch yourself in prayerful generosity to all of your favorite organizations and non-profits. I challenge you particularly this week to think what you might be able to sacrifice monetarily to support the CSA for your parish this coming year. Jesus Christ is our model of prayer and generosity; let's act more like Christ in this life, so as to become more of who we are called to be in the next! /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/32639252

Remember & Give Thanks 08/09/2024

Remember & Give Thanks 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time God works so powerfully in and around us at different times in our lives...but like the Israelites in our first reading, it's so easy to forget the good things God has done in our lives. When we remember what God has done for us and consciously give Him thanks for those blessings, we begin to enter more fully into the celebration of the Eucharist, where we "give thanks" to God for what He has done for us, especially in giving us the greatest gift of all: the gift of His own Body and Blood, "the food that endures to eternal life!" /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/32516967

The Comfort Crisis 07/15/2024

The Comfort Crisis 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time We mistakenly think that comfort will lead to happiness…but the human experience proves that those who do NOT regularly push themselves outside their comfort zones experience a slow but sure atrophy of their spiritual, emotional, physical, and relational health, and thus a slow but sure atrophy of happiness and fulfillment. Those who consistently push themselves outside their comfort zones are healthier, happier, more fulfilled people: spiritually, emotionally, physically, relationally, etc. (Book: The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter) In today's readings we see Amos and the Twelve pushed way outside their comfort zones to proclaim God's message - they weren't "religious professionals", they were never schooled in this, most of them had blue collar jobs...and yet God chose and sent these individuals to witness to Him. God has chosen and sent you, too, O Christian, as Paul tells us in our second reading. You have been chosen, you have been sent, by the creator of the universe! Will you begin to step outside your comfort zones, push your perceived boundaries, and start experiencing, to a degree you didn't even know was possible, the life God actually has in store for you?! /episode/index/show/anchoredinthelord/id/32138347

Anchored In The Lord

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