Peace for Mind and Heart

Dear Parishioners,

November is the month that the Church remembers our beloved dead as we pray for our deceased relatives and friends. It is also a good time to think about our own deaths and the help we might need as we approach God’s judgment. The best possible help we can get is a funeral Mass. The merits of one Mass are infinitely more valuable than a simple service at a funeral home. If you want the best help for yourself or loved ones, have a Mass and make sure your family and parish are notified before hand. All too often, surviving family members are choosing a service at a funeral home instead of a Mass because it is more convenient. Not a good reason! I just revised my will today and left money to be used for memorial Masses for my soul. I figure I am going to need all the help I can get. What about you?

As we come to the beginning of Advent on the last day of November, the readings remind us to be vigilant and look to the end (Isaiah 63:19b; 64:2-7; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37). It is a sober reminder, at the start of this joyful season culminating in the celebration of our Lord’s birth at Christmas, that we must be ready to meet Jesus at the Second Coming or at our death. As Isaiah says in the first reading, “Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways.” The best way to start doing right is through confessing what we have been doing wrong in the Sacrament of Penance. As St. Augustine said much more eloquently, “The beginning of good works is the confession of bad works.” So avoid the Christmas rush, and come to Sacrament of Penance sooner rather than later. Confessions are held each Saturday from 3:30—4:30 p.m. If you cannot come then, call the rectory and make an appointment. One of Jesus’ greatest blessings is the peace of mind and heart experienced after this beautiful sacrament of spiritual healing.

- Father Carl

“We listen to a sermon if we happen to like
the preacher… We must not act thus humanly.
It is not the shell we should look at.”
~ Thoughts of the Cure D’Ars

Christ The King

Dear Parishioners,

Jesus never called himself a king. To the contrary, he ran from it. During his ministry, he was always deflecting attention away from himself. A man calls him “Good teacher,” and Jesus says, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.” This is what qualifies Jesus to be the king the world needs. He had no self-seeking ambition. He was free of infatuation with power. His only business was his Father’s business. Jesus inverted the concept of kingship into servanthood. There has never been such a King. This is why he is our king… the King of Kings… he is for us Christ the King.

- Deacon Robert

“We must watch over our mind, our heart and
our senses, for these are the gates by which the Devil
enters in.”
~ Thoughts of the Cure D’Ars

Whose Got Talent?

Dear Parishioners,

After two weeks in the hospital, it is so good to be home. Thanks so much for your prayers and “get well” cards. They helped so much. My experience reminded me just how fragile life can be. One little spider bite led to cellulitis and then a very bad staph infection. Thanks to the doctors and nurses at St. Agnes Hospital, I am on the road to recovery and back home.

Today’s gospel used to be called the parable of the talents, because the original Greek says the master gave his servants five talents, three talents, and one talent respectively (Matthew 25:14-30). It says nothing about silver. A talent was a measure of weight that gradually became a measure of gold exchange and could weigh between 58 and 80 pounds. One talent of silver or gold would have been a very large amount of money. Three or five talents would have been a huge sum and a very generous loan from the man to his servants.

We are God’s servants, and he has been extremely generous to us, giving us many gifts and talents. Very often we take these gifts for granted—good health, food, clothing, shelter, family, friends, money, employment, etc. The question posed to us by the gospel is, “Are we using these talents for the good of God and the world or not?”

- Father Carl

“There is not a single creature which does not
provide us with the means of reaching God.
If any of them become an obstacle, it is only
by our misuse of them.”
~ Thoughts of the Cure D’Ars

Sacred Places

Dear Parishioners,

There is a beautiful, elegant house of worship in the city of Rome. This church, one of Rome’s four major basilicas is known as the Pope’s church. Tradition says that on the site of the basilica, St. John Lateran, the Roman Emperor Constantine was baptized in the third century. Today, November 9th, we remember the dedication of this great church.

But be sure that as magnificent as the ancient Temple in Jerusalem was, as majestic as St. John Lateran in Rome is, as deeply memorable as any place you would name “sacred” could be, no place on earth is as sacred as the holy place within you and me.

Unsure if his Corinthian Church understood his teaching, Paul then speaks plainly. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Cor 3:9c-11, 16-17) We are God’s sacred space in this world, and in this sacred space within us, God chooses to live and do His sacred work.

- Deacon Robert

“When we come from our Communions, if anyone said to us:
‘What are you taking home with you?’ we should be able to reply:
‘I am carrying away Heaven!’”
~ Thoughts of the Cure D’Ars

All Soul’s Day

Dear Parishioners,

More than a celebration of an event, we have good reason to celebrate the presence of Jesus whose faithful and risen life is our first and only hope. All Soul’s Day remembers the faithful departed, our beloved dead, sure. But in addition to that, this is a day to honor and worship our living and loving Christ. The risen Lord, his transforming victory over death, his faithful and abiding presence in life, is the One whose love wins the day.

Because he lives, I can face tomorrow; because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future, and life is worth the living, all because He lives. What a victory! What love! Amen.

- Deacon Robert

Who Do You Love?

Dear Parishioners,

What would it mean if we could love our neighbor as ourselves? (Matthew 22:34-40) Perhaps this calls for us to have a healthier self-love, too. In fact, we probably will love others in similar ways to the ways we accept ourselves. The thief thinks everyone else is a thief. Similarly, the person who has come to see themselves as beloved in the heart of God is more likely to see that same potential in everyone else.

Our love is anchored in God, therefore we love the Lord our God with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength. And who is our neighbor? Our neighbor is anyone and everyone who lives outside our yard. Learn to love your neighbor in a global village where that neighborhood includes the entire world, past, present and yes, the world to come.

- Deacon Robert

“If you really love God, you will greatly desire
to see Him loved by all the world.”
~ Thoughts of the Cure D’Ars

Living On Borrowed Time

Dear Parishioners,

“I’ll do it in my own good time.” That’s a phrase we sometimes use to postpone a task, because we are currently occupied with something else. But whose time is it really? Is it our time to do whatever we want to do with it, or is it someone else’s time?

Actually it’s God’s time; it belongs to God along with the rest of creation. Time didn’t exist until God, who lives in eternity, created the world. Time is the measure of change since the world began, and since God created time, time belongs to God. We are simply stewards of God’s time. In short, we are all living on borrowed time.

In today’s gospel (Matthew 22:15-21), we hear the famous saying of Jesus: “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but give to God what is God’s.” We have an obligation to serve both our government and God. However, since all creation including our time, talent, and treasure ultimately belong to God, we cannot give them to our government when it would be contrary to God’s law. We must remember what happened in Germany, Italy, and Japan in the 1930s and 1940s.

Today, we must ask ourselves what more we can do for the good of our government and the good of our church. How can we more generously use our time, talents, and our treasures to serve both God and country.

- Fr. Carl

“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary.
To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”
~ St. Thomas Aquinas