Homily for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C. Of all the sacraments I get to be a part of, the most complicated by far is Holy Matrimony. In the first place, there’s a lot of work that goes into planning and preparing for a wedding. The bride and groom have spent months or …
Author: Fr. Nick Baumgardner
Spending Time in the Basement
Homily for the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Year C. I just turned thirty recently, which has given me the opportunity to reflect on the many, many, MANY years of my life. And in doing so, I’ve realized I’ve spent a lot of time living in the basement. I don’t mean that literally, …
Three “Useless” Gifts
Homily for the Solemnity of the Epiphany. Growing up I did a lot of my Christmas shopping at the hardware store. That’s because I did a lot of my Christmas shopping with my dad. And my dad lived by a pretty simple philosophy: anything worth buying can be bought at the hardware store. This meant …
Mary & Midwestern Goodbyes
Homily for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Wisconsinites, and Midwesterners in general, are famous for their long goodbyes. When it comes time to leave a party or a family gathering, we can’t just get up and go. It’s against our nature. The Midwestern goodbye is a long and drawn-out affair consisting of at …
Holy and Messy Families
Homily for the Feast of the Holy Family, Year C. As you were listening to the gospel just now, you might have said to yourself, “Wow, Jesus has grown a lot since yesterday! Yesterday he was just a baby; now he’s twelve years old.” Those of you who are parents probably feel the same way …
Christmas: A New Hope
Which Christmas movie is the greatest? Some say a classic like It’s a Wonderful Life or Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Some say a more recent movie like Elf or The Polar Express. Some say, quite controversially, that Die Hard is the greatest Christmas movie. But in my opinion, unsurprisingly, the greatest Christmas movie of all time is Star Wars: A New Hope. The events of Star Wars: A …
Responding in Haste
Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year C. One of the things you’re often asked to do in seminary, is to tell your vocation story—your story of how God called you to be a priest. And because you’re asked to do this so often and in so many different contexts, you have different versions …
The Path to Spiritual Joy
Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent, Year C. “What gives you joy as a priest?” This is a question which people often ask me. Besides “Chick-fil-A,” people are often expecting me to say “baptisms” or “weddings” or perhaps “celebrating Mass.” And that’s true, all of these things bring me joy. But what people are …
Too Good to Be True?
Homily for the First Sunday of Advent, Year C. If I was to tell you this morning—and not just tell you but promise you—that the new church we are building will be done by Christmas, I’m sure none of you would believe me. And rightly so because it isn’t true; it’s not going to be …
The Lord of History
Homily for the Solemnity of Christ the King, Year B. When we’re reading a book or watching a movie for the first time, we don’t always understand the significance of an event or character at the beginning of the story until we get to the very end. That’s one of the reasons for reading a …
Isaiah Forty-Three 