Pilgrim Priest

Have you thought sermons were boring? Think again as Fr. Joel unpacks the word of God for today's audience. Fresh, local, and live takes on the Gospel for our world. A new homily every Sunday.

Set Apart for the Worship of God | #1549 11/14/2025

Funerals Have Much in Common with Baptisms | #1548 11/04/2025

Hastening to the Heavenly Jerusalem | #1547 11/03/2025

Persistent Prayer Changes the World | #1546 10/25/2025

The Healing That Flows From Obedience | #1545 10/15/2025

The Devil's Secret Plot to Take Over the World | #1544 10/06/2025

The Devil's Secret Plot to Take Over the World | #1544 "I cry out to you, 'Violence!' but you do not intervene. Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and clamorous discord." Was the prophet Habakkuk looking over my shoulder as I watched the evening news? We come to Sunday Mass to get a new vision, a vision that is different from the evening news or your social feed. God appears not to intervene because he is more concerned about the state of your soul than about the state of the world. Let's consider an attitude adjustment. First, how do we look at the global and national news? Some people like to use the lens of "Spiritual Warfare." By this, they mean that the Devil has a secret plot to undermine the Church and take over the world, and we have to act now to stop him! But that's not how the Church sees the world. Our Father is still in control, and he is quietly working things out for our good. We spend a lot of energy on the big-picture things we have no control over. And we miss chances to change the world immediately around us. I'm an advocate of Stewardship because I believe that it can be an antidote to our consumer culture. It starts when we are grateful for God's gifts. Then we can be generous with the time, talents, and treasures that God has given us. The more we give, the more we will see ourselves as a gift. If I'm trusting in myself, my resources, and my smarts, then I only have a limited amount to work with. But even the smallest amount of faith gives us access to the infinite power of God. Faith enables us to act with power, love, and self-control. And when we have done great things by God's power, we can simply say, "I was just a faithful steward." (5 Oct 2025) Going Deeper: Take some time to re-evaluate your life. "Am I really living as a Steward?" Am I taking care of my little world, and trusting God with the big picture? AdobeStock_125406453 | Over 14 years of homily episodes available at | Like, , and share us with your enemies. | Find me on and | | or leave a nice review on your favorite podcast platform. /episode/index/show/wordcast/id/38474275

Winners and Losers | #1543 09/30/2025

Snake! (Look at the Cross) | #1542 09/14/2025

Discipleship Only Works When You Do This | #1541 09/14/2025

Discipleship Only Works When You Do This | #1541 We think we are free, but many of us are slaves. We are burdened by the needs and worries of the flesh. The book of Wisdom says, "For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns." In today's Gospel, Jesus seems to be adding more burdens: Hate your family, take up your cross, and renounce all your possessions. In reality, Jesus is not adding more burdens, but lifting burdens from us. He is setting captives free. Think of the times we worry about our family and friends. If Jesus is the most important person in our lives, all our other relationships will find their proper order and place. We all face suffering. But if we carry our crosses with him and for him, our burdens will be lighter. We all worry about our material possessions. But if we follow Jesus, he will make sure we have what we need. I find marriage to be a useful illustration of this "all-in" principle. Can a husband say to his wife, "I love you, but my mother is more important than you. My family, my friends, these are all more important."? I tell you, his marriage will not last long. A wife needs to be the first and most important woman in her husband's life. Then the other relationships will find their proper places. How many would want to be married to a spouse who says, "I will be with you when things are easy, fun, and comfortable, but I will be leaving as soon as things get hard?" Even in marriage we must take up our crosses daily. Lastly, the possessions of one become the possessions of both when you are married. Some people are trying to be married as a kind of side job. Marriage only works when both spouses are willing to go "all-in". In a similar way, many of us are trying to follow Jesus as if it were a side-job, something we do after we've done everything else. But it's only when we are willing to be "all-in" disciples of Jesus that everything else falls into place. (7 Sep 2025) Going Deeper: Join me for this year. Learn more at | Over 14 years of homily episodes available at | Like, , and share us with your enemies. | Find me on and | | or leave a nice review on your favorite podcast platform. /episode/index/show/wordcast/id/38213655

Why Would Anyone Choose Poverty? | #1540 09/03/2025

Why Would Anyone Choose Poverty? | #1540 Jesus goes to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the guests at the banquet are observing them carefully. Jesus is also watching them. He offers some sage advice, a radical suggestion: fight for the lower spot. Make yourself as humble as possible, and wait for the host to exult you. Two news stories shocked me this week. The first was the shooting at Annunciation Catholic school in Minneapolis. The second was a priest of the Madison diocese who was arrested for pursuing an illegal relationship with a young girl. I don’t know a lot about these situations. And it’s always dangerous to judge things at a distance. But, with those caveats, I want to hazard a guess. I bet that deep down, both the perpetrators in these terrible situations had, at some point, refused to accept their own poverty. They looked for ways that they could grasp at that would make them feel powerful. St Francis of Assisi grew up the son of a wealthy merchant. He liked expensive clothes and throwing lavish parties. He decided he wanted to be a knight. His father paid a pretty penny for a new suit of shiny armor and off he went to win glory in a local war. Instead he was captured and put in prison. He was held for ransom. There in prison he began to have a change of heart. He realized that fighting for the best place at the table was not working for him. He realized that Jesus chose poverty. He decided to choose poverty. When he was released from prison, he started praying a lot and dressing like a beggar and begging for food. As you can imagine, the town thought he had gone crazy. But in reality, he was falling in love. Francis chose poverty because it made him like Jesus. Jesus chose poverty because it made him like us. You see, deep down we are really poor. The richest, most powerful man on earth will die and lose everything. We are all poor little creatures. And we can respond to our poverty one of two ways: Grasping at more so we don’t have to feel poor, or childlike trust in the Father's love with a gratitude that feels no need to possess. When we grasp at things, we can only hold so much in our own two hands. And it's all slipping through our fingers. As my empire expands, that reality doesn’t really change. I only control so much and it can easily be lost, stolen, or corrupted. When I live in childlike trust of my Father, I own nothing of my own, but the wealth of his kingdom is also mine. Paradoxically, by choosing to accept my poverty and see myself as a grateful steward, I become unimaginably wealthy. I don’t own anything but Daddy owns the sun, the moon, the stars, and the whole planet. And he lets me use whatever I need whenever I need it. When we choose the path of childlike trust, then we can turn and be generous to others. Today Jesus holds a banquet and invites the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. He wants you to do the same for others. (31 Aug 2025) Going Deeper: Reflect on Psalm 131: O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother’s breast; like a child that is quieted is my soul. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and for evermore. | Over 14 years of homily episodes available at | Like, , and share us with your enemies. | Find me on and | | or leave a nice review on your favorite podcast platform. /episode/index/show/wordcast/id/38067275

Discipline Makes Good Camping | #1539 08/26/2025

Jesus Helps His Leaders with the Heavy Lifting | #1538 08/18/2025

A Humble Little Ark | #1537 08/17/2025

Most of Us Are Living Irrational Lives | #1536 08/13/2025

What's In God's Wallet? | #1535 08/05/2025

What's In God's Wallet? | #1535 What's in God's wallet? Certainly not cash, credit cards, receipts, or insurance cards. The only thing in God's wallet is photos of his kids. Lots and lots of photos, because God has lots and lots of kids. And he knows each one's name and their story. God loves every child like an only child. The Catholic Church believes that every person has a dignity and value that comes from God himself. There are so many temptations not to recognize the dignity and value of every human being. There are many obvious ways that human dignity is attacked: genocide and racism, abortion, suicide, and eugenics. Then there are less obvious ways, such as IVF and surrogate motherhood. Lying, gossip, the exploitation of workers, and the mistreatment of immigrants all attack human dignity. "There can be no true democracy without a recognition of every person's dignity and without respect for his or her rights." (Pope St. John Paul II) "Holy Spirit, show me the true value of every person, starting with myself." "Holy Spirit, how are you calling me to uphold the dignity of every person in my community, state, country and world?" (3 Aug 2025) Going Deeper: Thank you Fr. Paul Timmerman for helping with this homily. Reflect on the following quotes: Pope Francis in Fratelli Tutti "The dignity of others is to be respected in all circumstances, not because that dignity is something we have invented or imagined, but because human beings possess an intrinsic worth superior to that of material objects and contingent situations. This requires that they be treated differently." Declaration of the Infinite Dignity of Human Dignity (2024) "Every human person possesses an infinite dignity, inalienably grounded in his or her very being, which prevails in and beyond every circumstance, state, or situation the person may ever encounter. This principle...underlies the primacy of the human person and the protection of human rights. ...the Church resolutely reiterates and confirms the ontological dignity of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God and redeemed in Jesus Christ. From this truth, the Church draws the reasons for her commitment to the weak and those less endowed with power, always insisting on "the primacy of the human person and the defense of his or her dignity beyond every circumstance." Vatican II Gaudium et Spes #27: "Furthermore, whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia or wilful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where men are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed. They poison human society, but they do more harm to those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are supreme dishonor to the Creator." St. John Paul II in the encyclical the Gospel of Life (pp 101): "There can be no true democracy without a recognition of every person's dignity and without respect for his or her rights." Photo credit AdobeStock_392287192 | Over 14 years of homily episodes available at | Like, , and share us with your enemies. | Find me on and | | or leave a nice review on your favorite podcast platform. /episode/index/show/wordcast/id/37694500

Jesus the Good Samaritan, According to Bishop Barron | #1534 07/19/2025

Sent as Missionaries Two-by-Two | #1533 07/09/2025

A Homily 18 Years in the Making | #1532 07/04/2025

The Vulnerability of God | #1531 06/24/2025

Mind, Body, Spirit | #1530 06/17/2025

Every Member a Missionary | #1529 06/09/2025

Jesus Ascends and the Spirit Descends | #1528 06/03/2025

Jesus Ascends and the Spirit Descends | #1528 • We know that the earth is a giant sphere suspended in outer space. The ancient people thought of the world like a snow globe. Jesus is ascending to the highest point of the universe. From there he can see everything and lead his people to victory. The cloud of God's glory leads the Israelites out of Egypt, meets Moses on the top of Mt. Sinai, and takes up residence in the newly-consecrated Temple of Solomon. The cloud appears at the Transfiguration. So when Jesus is hidden from their sight by a cloud, it means that he has moved into the presence of God. How can Pope Leo the Great say, "Jesus had not left his Father when he came down to earth, nor had he abandoned his disciples when he ascended into heaven"? It's almost like Jesus and the Holy Spirit are two sides of an old-fashioned two-car elevator. When Jesus walked the Earth, the Holy Spirit kept him connected to his Father. Jesus ascends and the Holy Spirit descends. Now the Holy Spirit is here with us keeping us connected to Jesus and the Father. Jesus is the head; we are the body. We could say that the Body of Christ has its feet on the ground and it's head in the clouds. We, the Body of Christ, is suffering, dying, rising, and ascending into heaven. Meanwhile, our head is safely home and leading us there. Let us pray for a greater communion with God through the Holy Spirit. Place your hands over your heart an repeat after me, "Come, Holy Spirit, fill the heart of your faithful, and kindle in me, the fire of your love." (1 Jun 2025) Going Deeper: Reflect on these words from Pope Leo the Great: "Even the blessed apostles, though they had been strengthened by so many miracles and instructed by so much teaching, took fright at the cruel suffering of the Lord's passion and could not accept his resurrection without hesitation. Yet they made such progress through his ascension that they now found joy in what had terrified them before. They were able to fix their minds on Christ's divinity as he sat at the right hand of his Father, since what was presented to their bodily eyes no longer hindered them from turning all their attention to the realization that he had not left his Father when he came down to earth, nor had he abandoned his disciples when he ascended into heaven." Image Various | Over 14 years of homily episodes available at | Like, , and share us with your enemies. | Find me on and | | or leave a nice review on your favorite podcast platform. /episode/index/show/wordcast/id/36827990

Dunked Into Communion | #1527 05/28/2025

The Purpose of Our Parish | #1526 05/21/2025

A Felt Sense of Safety and Security | #1525 05/12/2025

The Pope's Job Description | #1524 05/04/2025

The Pope's Job Description | #1524 This Gospel is one of my personal favorites. It was given to me on a in 2004. John chapter 20 ends with these words: Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. It's a perfect ending. Roll credits. Then chapter 21 opens with one final scene, like those after-credit scenes in the MCU movies. Captained by Peter, the church is sailing into the Resurrection. Jesus is waiting there with a banquet. St. Augustine tells us that the Greeks had identified 153 species of fish and therefore people from every language, culture, and race are invited into the Kingdom. Three times Peter confesses his love for Jesus and is given his job description as the first Pope. Peter must love Jesus and he must care for the flock. If he follows Jesus faithfully, he will eventually die for Jesus as Jesus died for him. This Wednesday, the Cardinals will enter the Conclave to elect a new pope. They will begin by celebrating Mass at 10 AM (3 AM Central Time). Cardinal Re, the same Cardinal who celebrated Pope Francis’s funeral, will pray, "O God, eternal pastor, you who govern your people with a father's care, give your church a pontiff acceptable to you for his holiness of life and wholly consecrated to the service of your people." Is this not the same job description that Peter was given? At the end of the Mass, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the highest-ranking member of the College of Cardinals who is under the age of 80 and eligible to enter the conclave, addresses the cardinals: "After having celebrated the divine mysteries, we now enter into conclave to elect the Roman pontiff. The whole church, united with us in prayer, invokes the grace of the Holy Spirit so that we elect a worthy pastor of the entire flock of Christ." Let us pray for a Pope who loves Jesus and will feed and tend His sheep. (4 May 2025) Going Deeper: Spend some time this week praying for the election. You might use this prayer, taken from the : O God, eternal shepherd, who govern your flock with unfailing care, grant in your boundless fatherly love a pastor for your Church who will please you by his holiness and to us show watchful care. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. | Over 14 years of homily episodes available at | Like, , and share us with your enemies. | Find me on and | | or leave a nice review on your favorite podcast platform. /episode/index/show/wordcast/id/36428565

Where Can We See the Risen Jesus? | #1523 04/29/2025

When Did God Become Real for You? | #1522 04/21/2025

When Did God Become Real for You? | #1522 • We have three reasons to be happy for Easter. The first reason is what we move from fasting to feasting. Happy "feaster" everybody! The second reason is that we can dress up nicely and have a good day with family and friends and our church family. And the third reason to be happy is that Jesus has risen from the dead. The Resurrection means that we can find hope even in our most hopeless places. It is hard for us to appreciate how truly hopeless Good Friday looked to Jesus' first disciples. When did God become real for you? Did you ever have an experience that moved you from believing in God just because that's what you were told to knowing for yourself that God exists? For me, the death of Pope John Paul II was a time when God let me know he was with me. The Risen Jesus is with us and he wants to walk with you every day. If some guy in India died and then rose again, it wouldn't impact you very much. But what if your best friend rose from the dead? That would change your life! The reason why many only experience Easter as a nice day is because they don't know Jesus personally. Your friendship with Jesus is what makes Easter great. Easter is proof that, even after we have rejected him, God still desires Communion with us. We are often unaware of how deeply we desire communion. We were made for a life of Communion with God himself. The invitation of Easter is to die to the old life of self-reliance and isolation and rise to a new life of communion with God and reliance on God. The harder we try to live for ourselves, the less fulfilled we feel. The more we see ourselves as a gift and give ourselves back to God, the more fulfilled we feel. Jesus desires a deep, personal communion with you. What do you want? (20 Apr 2025) Going Deeper: Our Communion with Jesus should transform us into visible images of his invisible love. If you're doing life well, your wife and kids should see Jesus in you. How much do you really look like Jesus? | Over 14 years of homily episodes available at | Like, , and share us with your enemies. | Find me on and | | or leave a nice review on your favorite podcast platform. /episode/index/show/wordcast/id/36255060

Was God Still a Good Father on Good Friday? | #1521 04/19/2025

The Miracle Moving Host (God Is With Us) | #1520 04/18/2025

The Miracle Moving Host (God Is With Us) | #1520 Holy Thursday • God is with us! He is with us in the happy Christmas times, the intimate Holy Thursday moments, and our tragic Good Fridays. No matter how much we run from him, abandon him, or choose everything else besides him, God is still with us! And he chooses us. Jesus knew that Judas would betray him, but he still washed his feet and did everything he could to show love. If only Judas had been able to receive God's love. If only Judas had chosen Jesus. The Christian life is not about trying to do well on the "final exam". It is, rather, that we need to learn to see that Jesus is walking with us. Sin has closed our eyes, ears, and heart to God's presence in our world and within us. We won't be able to share the love of Jesus with others if we ourselves have not received it. I want to share with you a Eucharistic miracle I experienced at St. Wenceslaus. It was the Sunday after Fr. Kelly's funeral, and a number of large hosts were left in the tabernacle. I dumped the ciborium into the second host bowl on the altar and then thought, "That wasn't smart. Now all the large hosts are on the very bottom of the host bowl." I had wanted to use them up at Mass. I moved some small hosts to the first host bowl, and then when I looked back, all the large hosts were neatly on the top of the first host bowl. This tiny miracle reminded me that God is with us. May this year's Triduum experience open your eyes, ears, and heart to God's presence. (17 Apr 2025) Going Deeper: Do you live your daily life in Communion with the God who is with us, or do your daily choices and anxieties reflect a life lived as if God wasn't there? How have you noticed Jesus walking with you in your daily life? In whom do you most clearly see Jesus? | Over 14 years of homily episodes available at | Like, , and share us with your enemies. | Find me on and | | or leave a nice review on your favorite podcast platform. /episode/index/show/wordcast/id/36221375

Pilgrim Priest

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