Browsing Thoughts from Fr. Bob
5th Sunday of Lent - April 6, 2025
Posted by Fr Bob Betz on 4/03/25
This Jubilee Year reminds us that we are pilgrims of hope. Our lives are a pilgrimage and the season of Lent is a concentration of that journey. This time of penitence, of sacrifice, and of suffering is our pilgrimage to the cross, the scene and sign of Jesus’ greatest ... Read More »
4th Sunday of Lent - March 30, 2025
Posted by Fr Bob Betz on 3/26/25
Three and a half weeks into this forty-day journey through Lent, we may have lost our way. Perhaps we have returned to our normal habits, tiring under the disciplines of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. Perhaps we’ve slipped and found ourselves rationalizing our failures. The story of the prodigal son, ... Read More »
Third Sunday of Lent - March 23, 2025
Posted by Fr Bob Betz on 3/20/25
The reading we heard reminds us that we are fortunate to be alive for this blessed season of Lent. Why? Because it means we still have the opportunity to repent our sins and to turn back to God with our whole hearts. We all sin; it is the human ... Read More »
Second Sunday of Lent - March 16, 2025
Posted by Fr Bob Betz on 3/13/25
Like Advent, Lent is a season of preparation, in this case, for Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice on the cross and the glory of his resurrection. We prepare our souls through repentance and our bodies through fasting. We prepare our relationship with God through prayer and our relationship with others through ... Read More »
First Sunday of Lent - March 9, 2025
Posted by Fr Bob Betz on 3/05/25
Each year on the first Sunday of Lent we hear how Jesus was tempted by the devil three times during his forty days in the desert. Each time he resists the devil finding strength in God’s words. As we embark on these forty days of Lent, we will encounter ... Read More »
8th Sunday in Ordinary Time - March 2, 2025
Posted by Fr Bob Betz on 3/01/25
As we approach the penitential season of Lent we hear a warning from Jesus about sin. Don’t focus on the sins of our brother, our sister, or our neighbor; look at our own sins. Every year, Lent affords us the opportunity to recognize our sinfulness and our need for ... Read More »
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time - February 23, 2025
Posted by Fr Bob Betz on 2/20/25
In our world today, we don’t have to look far to see a lack of respect for human life. War, mass shootings, abortion, euthanasia, and capital punishment make a mockery of what should be a basic principle for us all, every life is precious. Let us keep in mind ... Read More »
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time - February 16, 2025
Posted by Fr Bob Betz on 2/13/25
Just last weekend we heard Jesus call his first disciples Simon Peter, James, and John. Today we hear him talking to a much larger audience, though Luke says he was looking at his disciples when he spoke. Much as he explicitly called them to follow him on his mission, ... Read More »
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time - February 9, 2025
Posted by Fr Bob Betz on 2/08/25
Our presence here today puts us in the place of the crowds on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, the Sea of Galilee. We are in the presence of God, listening to God’s word, attuned to what it can teach us. But Jesus calls us to more than wading in ... Read More »
The Presentation of the Lord - February 2, 2025
Posted by Fr Bob Betz on 1/30/25
When forty days had passed since Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph brought him to the temple to consecrate him to the Lord, as was required by the law. While they were there, the Holy Spirit guided the elderly Simeon and Anna to the baby, whom they recognized as ... Read More »