Browsing Thoughts from Fr. Bob
Ascension - June 1, 2025
Posted by Fr Bob Betz on 6/02/25
On this special day, we celebrate the Ascension (40 days after Easter) moved to Sunday so that more of God’s people could celebrate this wonderful holy day. We celebrate twin milestones; Jesus’ ascension from earth to heaven and the commissioning of the disciples. Before he left them, he told ... Read More »
6th Sunday of Easter - May 25, 2025
Posted by Fr Bob Betz on 5/21/25
In John’s account of the Last Supper, Jesus, knowing that his time here on earth was short, prepared the disciples for the future. He specifically promises to leave them with two gifts; his peace and the Holy Spirit. Two incomparable gifts which nearly two thousand years later we have ... Read More »
5th Sunday of Easter - May 18, 2025
Posted by Fr Bob Betz on 5/15/25
Spring can be a great time to renew our hope. We see trees starting to bud, flowers poking their heads out of the ground, and grass turning green. We hear migrating birds and feel the warm sun on our faces. Much as we can behold spring making all things ... Read More »
4th Sunday of Easter - May 10,2025
Posted by Fr Bob Betz on 5/06/25
How appropriate it is to celebrate Mother’s Day and Good Shepherd Sunday on the same day! Many of us are fortunate to have mothers who have cared for us, comforted us, and protected us, much as shepherds do for their flocks. A mother’s love is an example of the ... Read More »
3rd Sunday of Easter - May 4, 2025
Posted by Fr Bob Betz on 5/01/25
In the days and weeks that followed the Resurrection, the Risen Lord kept appearing to his disciples when and where they least expected: in a locked room in Jerusalem, on the road to Emmaus, on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias. Each time, it took a while for ... Read More »
Divine Mercy Sunday - April 27, 2025
Posted by Fr Bob Betz on 4/24/25
The Easter season, fifty days, gives us the opportunity to get a glimpse of the faith of the early Christian community. What if all the apostles had been in the locked rooms and had seen the risen Lord on that first evening? Without the one who missed the opportunity ... Read More »
Easter - April 20, 2025
Posted by Fr Bob Betz on 4/17/25
Christ has risen, he has truly risen! Jesus Christ, having made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of our sins, has been raised from the dead. He has atoned for our sins and conquered death. Neither death nor sin have the final say any longer. We are a people ... Read More »
Palm Sunday - April 13, 2025
Posted by Fr Bob Betz on 4/10/25
We begin the holiest week of the year by holding palm branches in our hands, which recall the palm branches the crowds used two thousand years ago to welcome the Lord into the holy city. Our palm branches are blessed, for they also welcome the Lord to this holy ... Read More »
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 »