Wonder why we have the readings we have each Sunday?

Have you ever wondered why we have the readings we have each Sunday? Why this reading and not that one? Is there a connection between the 1st reading, Psalm, 2nd reading, and the Sunday Gospel? These are questions that I hadn’t thought about until they were brought to my attention in conversation and classes.

For example, the First Reading this weekend (the 4th Sunday in Lent) is from the Book of Joshua. It briefly mentions the Israelites’ initial entrance into the Promised Land and the official end of the Exodus journey, led by Moses. Why this passage from Joshua, Chapter 5? During the liturgical season of Lent, the readings for the Sunday Mass are chosen for a different reason than, say, Sunday Masses during Ordinary Time. During Lent, the 1st reading brings to our minds and memories the great history of Salvation where God begins by choosing Abraham to be the “Father in faith” of His people, Israel. Each successive Sunday in Lent, the 1st reading gives an account of some monumental moment in Salvation History so as to “move us along” and have us recount the Story of Salvation that will ultimately culminate in the Paschal Triduum, the 3 most sacred and holy days of the Liturgical Year.

What about the 1st readings on Sunday’s during Ordinary Time? The 1st readings on Sundays in Ordinary Time are almost always chosen so as to “connect” with the Gospel for that Sunday. The Gospel reading is meant to show how Jesus fulfills or brings to perfection the history of the people of Israel in the Old Testament (first reading). This “connection” between the 1st reading and the Gospel reading is what is referred to as typology.

The Second Reading is usually from one of St. Paul’s Letters to particular Churches that he visited, wrote to, or both. Generally speaking, the Second reading gives a moral teaching and exhortation. These Second readings are usually not chosen so as to “connect” typologically with the 1st reading and Gospel reading.

Finally, the Psalm, is usually meant to be a “bridge” between the 1st Reading and Gospel reading. It re-emphasizes the “connection” between the 1st reading and Gospel reading through speaking to the heart in song and praise.

May we grow ever closer to the Word made flesh, Jesus our Savior, through the Scriptures and in the Eucharist, as we journey toward His Paschal Mystery.

Fr. Ryan

Two Divine Names

A month ago, Youth 2000, a Eucharistic-Centered retreat was held at St. Francis of Assisi parish in West Des Moines.

At the center of the retreat (quite literally) was Jesus in the Eucharist, in a typical yet beautifully ornate monstrance.

What was unique about this was that the monstrance was resting on top of a 6 foot platform under which were arranged many planks of wood painted white that were connected together to look like a kind of bush. Furthermore, candles were placed on the ends of the "branches" to give the effect of a kind of burning bush, like we hear Moses encountered in today's first reading where God speaks to Moses, revealing Himself and His Most Holy Name.

The two Names that God reveals to Moses tell us about Who God was, is, and always will be,

"I AM" and "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

These two divine Names reveal God is the Almighty, All-Powerful, All-Present God Whose very nature is "to exist." Yet, God is also the God of the Covenant with His People, the God who invites, establishes, and takes the initiative to make us His family, His sons and daughters and reveals Himself thereby as loving Father.

The God Moses encountered at the Burning Bush is the same God encountered at the Youth 2000 retreat at St. Francis a month ago. The God Who became flesh so that we might behold the face of God in Jesus Christ, astounding Gift and Mystery that even the likes of Moses and Elijah were not permitted to enter into during their earthly life.

Jesus' own Exodus of His Paschal Mystery is the reason he remains God-With-Us even now in His Church and in the Most Holy Eucharist. May we seek Jesus' face as did Moses and Elijah, and Peter, James, and John on the Mountain of Transfiguration and so be transfigured ourselves into the likeness of our loving Lord, Jesus Christ.

Fr. Ryan

What happens when a Pope dies?

As I write this, the Holy Father is sick, and I have been reading daily updates about his health and how he is doing, so if something has changed after I submit this, just know that it was written on Ash Wednesday. So, why do I bring this up? I have had a couple of people ask what happens when a Pope dies? The papal chief of staff (Camerlengo) is the one who will be notified and he is the one in charge of everything at that point. He is the one who will certify that the Pope has passed away. Just like most things in the Church there is a ceremony for it. The Holy Father’s name is called out three times and if there is no response, then the death certificate is authorized. There are also stories that in the past, while calling out his name he was tapped in the head by a small silver hammer, but that does not take place any longer. After the certification, the papal seal and ring are taken by the Camerlengo, which are later destroyed in front of the College of Cardinals. The public is notified through the cardinal vicar of Roman Diocese. The Camerlengo then seals the papal apartment and offices to protect the private documents of the Pope as well as to signify the end of the Pope’s rule. There is then a nine-day period of mourning and there are Masses celebrated for the late Holy Father. The body of the Pope will then be laid out in St. Peter’s Basilica so that people can come and pay their respects. By tradition, the body of the Pope is not embalmed, and the funeral Mass is held in St. Peters between the fourth and the sixth day, which he will then be buried in a triple coffin in the crypt of St. Peters.

After the funeral, 15 days after the death of the Pope, the conclave is convened with the College of Cardinals and all Cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to vote. It is held in the Sistine Chapel and there are strict security and rules that govern the conclave. The chapel is scanned for electronic devices at least three times a day and the Cardinals are not supposed to be in contact with the outside world. They begin each session with prayer and there are usually multiple rounds of voting that happen, a two-thirds majority is required. After each inconclusive vote, the ballots are mixed with a chemical and burned so that black smoke comes out of the chimney. If there are many inconclusive votes, then they take a day of prayer before they begin to vote again. If the conclave lasts more than three days, the Cardinals are only allowed one meal a day to quicken the process and if it goes past five days they are allowed only bread and water. Once a Pope is elected, the ballots are burned with a chemical that produces white smoke. The one elected is then asked if he would be willing to serve and then asked of his Papal name. He then goes to the Room of Tears, changes into a white cassock and is introduced on the balcony by the senior Cardinal Deacon who declares Habemus Papam, we have a Pope.

New technology vs our loving God

Have you ever had the experience of wanting something? Then waiting and doing a bunch of research to find out the best brand and model of whatever you are looking for, finally finding the exact model you want, and then buying it with great joy, only to find out a week later that there is a newer and better version coming out in a few weeks. Or, have you seen something that you might enjoy and sure that there is going to be a newer version out soon and waiting and waiting for it, then finally it does come out and the newer version is disappointing and you wasted the time that you would be able to use the new thing, for a disappointment. These kinds of things happen all the time.

Most of you know that, in my previous life, I was in the technology industry, and the speed at which technology develops is incredible. I remember my first computer in the 80’s, a Commodore 64 with 64k of ram, just to put that in perspective my current 5-year-old computer has 8,000,000k of ram. I also remember my first cell phone back in 1993, no texting, no internet, a 5–10 hour battery life, no free roaming, no free long distance, and limited time in conversations with a discount after 7:00pm. Things move fast in the IT industry, what is coming off the assembly line today is already obsolete.

So, how does this help us to grow closer to Christ? The newest and fastest device on the market cannot help us to be in the family of God. On the contrary, there is nothing new and updated about our spiritual life. We need to take some time and slow ourselves down in order to spend that good time with the Lord.  We still have Mass and get the ability to receive Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity each and every day. We still pray and ask the Lord to help us, we still need to rely on God’s grace and mercy, even if the world is moving so fast. Technology can help us to prepare for the Sacraments in our lives, for example, there are apps to help with Confession, there are apps that can help us with the readings for the Mass each day, but they cannot give us these Sacraments. We still have to go to the priest to receive Absolution and we can only receive Jesus in the Eucharist in person.

While the things of the world constantly change, God never does, and God will never abandon us. We cannot lose God so much that we can never find him or he find us. He will always be up to date in our lives, even if we ignore him or do not see him working in our lives. While technology can assist us in many things of our lives, like directions, or the ability to connect with a loved one that is far away from us, it can never replace that incredible relationship with our God and Creator who wants us to be with him. I invite you to take some time to put aside the technology for a couple of minutes each day and spend it with our loving God.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

What are you giving up?

Can you believe that Lent is starting this Wednesday? One of the things that I really like about Lent is that it gives us an opportunity to look at our lives and see what we need to work on. During Lent, one of the most common questions we hear, is what are you giving up? This is often the main focus of what we do during this season in which we prepare ourselves for the coming passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The giving up of something is the fasting aspect of our Lenten celebrations, and when we give something up for Lent, we are sometimes tempted to “cheat” in what we are giving up. Remember it is not a sin to eat or do what we have promised to give up, it is an act of self-denial and self-sacrifice. I remind people this every year, that the thing we give up is a penance and sacrifice for us and not for those other people around us! We should not sacrifice something if we are going to be cranky and complain about it all of the time. Our sacrifice should not be a sacrifice for others, but for ourselves, it should lead us closer to Christ and not away from him.

We live in a self-indulgent and disposable society that wants things right now and not later. We are being conditioned by advertisers to consume, to buy more even if you cannot afford it, just go into debt for it, that is what credit is for, right!?! But, when it does not make you happy any more, or it gets old, throw it away and get the newest and the best available. We are often told through advertising that we NEED the newest and greatest thing out there, but the newest and greatest thing changes right after you purchase it. Just look at the cell phone industry, here is the greatest phone ever made, you need it and if you don’t have it, you are not with it anymore, why don’t you upgrade to the newer and faster one, we will even allow you to pay for it monthly over the next few years. This is the way that we can get trapped into this cycle of always needing something new.

Fasting from something helps us to focus ourselves. The whole idea behind fasting from something for Lent is so that whenever we reach for, or are tempted by the thing that we have given up, we should be reminded that we do have some self-control and that we should use it, not only in the fasting, but also to have the self-control to not sin. During this upcoming Lenten season, take some time to not only fast from something, but also to try and do something good to replace it, for example, if you decide to give up going out to fast food restaurants, take the money that you would have spent on it and give it to a charity. Take the time during this Lenten season to really focus on giving up something that can help us draw closer to God each and every day. I pray that you will have a good Lenten season to prepare for the rising of Jesus.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

"Watch out for the slick spots"

“Watch out for the slick spots.” This is a phrase that you hear many times during this time of the year. We sometimes have the freezing rain, sleet, and snow, then we have the melting during the day and the re-freezing at night. This makes the sidewalks and streets kind of slippery and we have those many opportunities to fall and harm ourselves. I have to admit, a couple of years ago I was walking out to my car and hit one of those spots and went down. This is also the time of year when the auto body shops are busy from all of the little fender benders that we have.

These slick spots and fender benders do not only happen on the streets and sidewalks, they happen throughout our own lives. Most car collisions are avoidable if all of us are paying attention, we would be able to see the car coming, if we would be going slower, if we were not playing with our phone, or with the radio, we really could avoid most collisions. But also, in life we are not always perfect and hit some of those slick spots, we are sometimes not paying attention to others around us and we cause damage to them, or we get into a hurry and overlook the people in our lives who really need us at that time. I am sometimes guilty of this myself; a part of my personality is that I can get focused too heavily on something and then I can get so caught up in the noise of the world, the current project I am working on, or my homily, that I can slip and fail to take care of someone in need, which is what a sin of omission is.

When we crash and harm another, the best thing we can do is to figure out what is needed to do to repair the problem and the relationship that we have with the person, even though it may not be easy. In many ways, fixing a physical injury is much more straight forward and easier than trying to fix broken trust, or another part of our relationship. We can remember things that we have done to others, or that others have done to us or those we care about for a very long time. Even though we apologize, or have others apologize for the something they have done to us, the memory and the trust has been broken and we will often times have that in the back of our mind many times when we are with the person. This takes sometimes a great deal of time to get past, but Jesus reminds us to forgive so that we also may be forgiven. So, the best way to not get into these situations is to be careful in the first place. We often run into many different temptations in our lives, but, like driving, if we are careful, we can do our best to avoid the crashes, and when we have failed in this, get up, shake off the dirt, fix the damage, forgive the hurt, and thank God.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

What is your favorite gift?

How many have been shocked at the utter simplicity and embarrassing honesty of children about what they see. “That guy has a funny nose” or that girl has a… you fill in the blank. Children will often repeat things they have heard. While in the seminary I would sometimes receive letters from a school class asking me questions or telling me that they were praying for me. One day, I received some letters from a first-grade class in the diocese. It always made my day to get these letters. The children liked to ask lots of questions, and there was one in particular that really struck me. In between the questions of; “what is your favorite color in the whole world” and “do you know how to finger weave?” It was one of the toughest questions that I got from someone. It was, “what is your favorite gift from Jesus?” I had to stop and really think about that for a while. What is the favorite gift that you have received from God? Now I am not going to tell you what I said, because I want you to think of that for yourself. The answer will be different for each one of us.

Children have a wonderful simplicity and a way of thinking about things that can make us wonder where we lost that same way of thinking. Jesus tells us that “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.”

The faith that a child has is incredible, you can tell a child that there is a mystery to the Trinity and the Eucharist and they will accept it because that is the way that it is. This simplicity can come out in different ways, for example, I was talking to a child on one of those dark cloudy days and you could see rays of sunlight coming through the clouds. This little boy asked if the rays of light were places where God was shining his light on someone who needs it. This faith of that child was to see how something that commonly happens on a dark and cloudy day, could also be seen as a wonderful gift of God’s light shining down through that dark day. When I see those rays of light, I can see that it really is God shining His light on each one of us who need it. I often think of this comment on those dark days to see the faith that we are all called to have. Now when I say this, I do not mean that we are simply called to have a faith that is without reason, as many of our saints tell us that our faith, while mysterious, still has a reason to it. We are called to see that great balance between having a child-like faith and one that is reasonable. This is why Jesus takes the time to explain some of the parables. So, remember to have that wonderful faith of a child.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

"Anointing of the Sick" vs "Last Rites"

Within the Church, we have a wonderful sacrament called the Anointing of the Sick. There is often a confusion with the Sacrament of the Sick. This can be confusing because some people still call it the “Last Rites.” The Last Rites, which is technically called Viaticum (which is anciently translated to “provisions for a journey”) in the Church, is for those who are close to death. The Sacrament of the Sick, or Anointing of the Sick, is something that can be received by anyone who is ill, having a surgery, or someone who is advanced in age. It can be received multiple times as needed. One does not need to be at the point of death to receive the Anointing, nor does a baptized child before what is called the age of reason (before going to First Reconciliation.)

Anointing of the Sick is for the healing of the body as well as the soul and it holds the same power as the Sacrament of Confession, it removes sin, most especially for those who are not able to celebrate the Sacrament of Confession. This is why it was often seen as needing to wait until someone was close to death to receive it. Now Viaticum or Last Rites is a service in which someone receives the “provisions for the journey” to heaven. It includes the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, and reception of the Holy Eucharist. To receive the fullness of Viaticum, the person receiving it does need be conscious and able to confess their sins and also be able to receive Holy Communion. This begs the question, if someone who has received Last Rites gets better, can they receive it again, and the answer is yes, they can, I have personally celebrated Viaticum at least three times with the same person (I jokingly called her a drama queen at the last one and she thought that it was very funny.) I have had some incredible experiences with this wonderful sacrament. A very interesting one was with someone who had been very agitated and restless for quite a while, and one of the Protestant hospital chaplains had been trying to calm him down for a little while. The family then called for the priest and they got ahold of me and I went to see him, within a few minutes of having received the Sacraments of Confession and Anointing of the Sick, he was calm and relaxed. It is a wonderful sacrament to be able to give, because of the mercy and peace it offers.

The Church has a wealth of prayers and blessings and this is a fantastic one to be able to give and receive.  If you would like to receive the Anointing of the Sick, don’t hesitate to call me or Fr. Ryan at the office, or stop one of us after Mass. The Anointing only takes a few minutes to do and is a great blessing and comfort for those who receive it as well as their families.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Stranger than fiction

Anyone who has been on social media for any length of time has at least one friend who constantly posts very weird stuff. I personally have a couple of friends who will post links to bizarre alien conspiracy theories, reviews for some strange product on the market, or how robots are going to take over the world. There are even now a couple of entire websites that specialize in satirical news and stories that have some great humor to them. I have a couple of other friends that I have silenced their posts or even blocked because they get a little too political on either side or just post too many strange things. Some of these are really funny, some are just downright scary, and the over the top political stuff just gets annoying, and some even go too far in their level of divisiveness, and I block it because I do not need that level of anger and hatred in my life.

I do have to admit, if I have a bit of free time, I will sometimes follow some of the click-bait to some story that is humorous or strange. There was a website I used to go to every once in a while, called News of the Weird. This was a collection of bizarre snippets of news, like a Russian man who stole an armored personnel carrier to go steal some wine or a Missouri man who stole some power transformers to build a time machine. We are sometimes fascinated by the strange things that happen in real life, just get a group of priests together and bring up the topic of strange weddings or funerals, truth is really stranger than fiction.

Something interesting is some of the strange things that happen in Holy Scripture and see the reaction of the people who were witnessing them. Just look at the miracles that Jesus performed; changing water into wine, driving out demons, curing the sick, raising the dead, and many other things. I can only imagine what would happen if video recording cell phones and social media was around when Jesus was doing these things. Could you imagine the posts that would have gone up? The accounts of his miracles spread pretty fast for the time.  In fact, it says that Jesus had a hard time finding solitude to pray because so many people were looking for him to either heal them or so that they could witness a miracle. One of the great things is that we have access to the material in Sacred Scripture and we can read about them again and again. It is kind of interesting that we have heard the accounts so many times that we sometimes do not take into account of how incredible these things really were. So, instead of reading some strange thing that may or may not have happened, take some time to read some of these stranger-than-fiction accounts of the miracles that happened in the Bible and let them bring you closer to the wonders of Christ.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

The Catholic Church has been teaching and encouraging science for many years

This week is Catholic Schools Week. Within the Catholic Church we have had a long tradition of educating children as well as adults. The title often used for Jesus was Rabbi, which means teacher and one of the things that He did was to teach us about the Father. This has been a mission of the Catholic Church for two thousand years with formal Catholic schools for many hundreds of years. The Catholic Church has had a long history of promoting education, so when I hear the false phrase that the Church is against science I just have to laugh because we have been teaching and encouraging science for many years. Copernicus was a cleric of the Church, which means he received minor orders. Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian Friar, was a pioneer of modern genetics. He did experiments with pea plants to see how using cross fertilization of the plants affected the size and quality of the pea pods. His work was not really accepted during his lifetime, but decades later other scientists found his work and expanded on it.

Msgr. Georges Lemaitre was a cosmologist who was looking at models of the universe and as he studied the models, he started to develop a mathematical formula and proposed the basics for the Hubble Constant (the big bang theory) and a few years ago was renamed to the Hubble-Lemaitre law to reflect the work that Msgr Lemaitre had done.

So… the Catholic Church is not against science! The Catholic Church has been in the teaching business for a long time. The first Catholic school in the United States was opened in 1606 by Franciscan missionaries. Education has been the mission of the Church ever since Jesus walked the earth. Remember, He commands us to go out to all the nations and preach the Gospel. While a school is not the primary mission of the Catholic Church, it helps us with our primary goal and that is to bring all people to Christ and thus to Heaven. I often hear that it is too expensive for families to send their children to Catholic school, but there are many resources available for help. The Education Savings Account, Catholic Tuition Organization, and the Diocesan Ignite campaign, as well as an angel fund are all ways to help families with paying for the education of their children. Parents sacrifice financially to send their children to the school with their tuition payments, and other help of time, talent, and treasure. Teachers, faculty, and administration give because their salary could be higher by working for the public schools. Parishioners and other family and friends help by donating funds, supporting fundraisers, and the many other events that go on in the school. Here at St. Luke’s, we have been growing at a pretty rapid pace, which facilitated the need for phase II and Phase III is coming up fast. We have grown from 176 students the first year I was here to 375 this year and we expect to continue with these numbers for years to come. Catholic schools have been a wonderful part of our tradition and it has been such a blessing to be a part of all of the Catholic schools that I have been blessed to serve.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Set aside a few minutes each day

Well… We have finally finished the holidays, the Christmas time of year ended last week and we are back into Ordinary time. We have gone back to the green vestments for the Masses, and at the school, we are in the time that I call the one of the “long haul.” The time between Christmas and Spring Break. The kids are coming off of their post-Christmas sugar and present highs, and they have a couple of months before Spring Break happens, but there is still a lot to do in classes. In the school this can be a challenging time, because even though the daylight is getting longer each day, because we are still in the heart of winter, it is still cold out so the kids don’t always get to go outside for recess so they can get some fresh air.

This can also be challenging for us adults for the same reasons. The days can be dreary and short. We can easily find ourselves getting into a funk and have a lack of energy. This is also the average time in which a majority of people have fallen away from their New Year’s resolution. Hopefully we can get back on track with it, or maybe switch to something new, maybe spending some more time each day to pray. The challenge is that sometimes we just want to do something more, like go to the gym more, or eat less, or lose weight, but we do not set any real goals. We can do the same thing in our spiritual life, we can say that we want to pray more, or spend more time with God, but if we really do not set anything specific, it can just go to the side.

Adding to our prayer life does not always mean something big. Maybe we can set a goal to every day at the beginning or end of our lunch time to pray a decade of the rosary, it only takes a few minutes to do that, but it can really change our attitudes each day. I know a couple of people who set an alarm every day to say a short prayer asking for God’s guidance. I know someone else who once a month sets an appointment to do something nice for his wife, sometimes sends her flowers out of the blue, or brings her home something else that she likes. I myself, set aside the first time in the morning every day to pray for at least half an hour. It is a great way for me to start the day. I know that this is not always an option, especially if you have a family and kids getting up, but even 5 to 10 minutes in the morning would help, or as we get into the car after work and spend some time in prayer. One of the most helpful things we can do for ourselves and our families is to pray for God’s will to flow through ourselves to those that we love. So… find some time each and every day to attach ourselves to the God who is love.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Baptism

This weekend we say goodbye to Christmas with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. As we hear the account of Jesus’ Baptism, we should be reminded of our own Baptism, even though most of us do not remember it. Jesus himself was baptized even though he did not need it, but we do! Our Baptism is for the mitigation of our sins, including original sin; Jesus’ Baptism was to purify the redeeming waters for our own Baptism.

While most of us were baptized as infants, we were brought to the sacrament by our parents and then, when we were baptized, our parents and godparents made promises to bring us up in the practice of the faith. They also made the promises for us to follow the faith and we affirmed them in our Confirmation. Here are the promises that we make to God in our Baptism: to reject Satan, his works, and his empty promises, that we believe in God, Father and creator, Jesus Christ who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died and buried, rose from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of the Father, the Holy Spirit, to also believe in the holy Catholic Church, communion of saints, forgiveness of sins, resurrection of the body and life everlasting. These are the promises that we make to God and we should keep looking at in our own lives so that we can live these promises.

Remember in the practicing of being a Catholic, we are continually working (with God’s help) toward being that perfect Catholic in the kingdom of heaven. While that may not be an easy task, it is one that we need to continually work on, so that we, as Scripture reminds us, not be the cause for someone else to sin. I often times hear people use the example of people not following the faith to give them an excuse to not follow as well. The phrase that religious people are often hypocrites because we don’t always “practice what we preach” and that is true, I can almost guarantee that most or all parents can remember a time in which we were not a good example of something for their children. However, God wants us to keep working on it. We are “practicing Catholics” because we are not perfect ones, we are still practicing, which means we fail sometimes (sin). It is only when we are one with the Lord in the kingdom of heaven that we will become perfect Catholics. Until that day comes, we still need to do those things to help us live out the faith that has been given to us by God and by doing so we continually work toward him. This is the whole reason that Christ also gave us the sacrament of Confession, which is to bring us back to the state of our baptism. He did this, because he knows that we make those mistakes and he wants us to be able to be reconciled back to him. So… as we think of the wonderful gift of baptism which is that first and best thing to bring us into God’s family.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

We do not "worship" Mary

This past weekend we celebrated the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God. Up until a few decades ago, it was called the Feast of the Circumcision. (You can see why it was changed.) We as a Church honor the Blessed Virgin Mary as a second mother for us and the Church. As Catholics, we have a great respect and devotion to Mary that is sometimes questioned by non-Catholics. We are often accused of Mariolatry, which means that we are accused of worshiping Mary, but you all know that we do not worship Mary, worship is only for God. What we do as Catholics is to honor Mary and the other saints. So, the question is: why do we have this devotion and what does it mean for us? Well, the simplest answer to the question is that she was the one in whom our Lord and Savior Jesus chose to be born from with the Holy Spirit. Jesus himself honored his mother and so should we.

There are a number of passages in Scripture that support the fact that Jesus honored his mother. In the passage from John’s Gospel about the wedding feast in Cana, Mary came to Jesus when they ran out of wine and Jesus responded, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” To which Mary responded to tell the waiters to do whatever Jesus told them to do. This passage is one that shows us that Mary’s intercession does hold some weight with Jesus, remember he does what his mother asks! She interceded for the family in a time that could have been embarrassing; they ran out of wine at the wedding party. Another passage that shows the concern and love that he has for Mary is at the Crucifixion itself when on the cross he gives her to the care of the disciple who he loves, and the disciple to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Throughout history Mary has interceded for us and has appeared many times to give us hope in times of trial. One of these is Our Lady of Guadalupe; she appeared to Juan Diego who was sent to give a message to the Bishop to build a church in honor of her son Jesus. It is a major turning point for Christianity in the Americas. In the era of Mexico during that time there were fewer than 50,000 Christians, within a decade after her appearance, there were millions. She led the people to her son. This is just one of many times, just to name a few. She also appeared in Lourdes, Knock, Fatima, and many other places to help guide us closer to her son. Mary has a special role in our history, and that role is to bring Jesus to us and us to Jesus. I think that in this time of trial and struggle we can rely on her strength and witness to her son even in his death. Take some time to see where we can continually draw closer to our heavenly mother, who in turn will fulfill her role to bring us to her son and our Savior.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Do we act like Herod?

Merry Christmas! Last week, we began the Christmas season in the Church and we will celebrate it until January 8th which is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. We also celebrated a number of wonderful feast days this past week in case you missed them. On Thursday the 26th, we celebrated the Feast of the first Martyr, St Stephen. He was a Disciple of Christ and was killed because he refused to deny Jesus as our Savior. Then on Friday, we celebrated the Feast of St. John the Apostle who wrote one of the Gospels. Then on Saturday, we honored the Holy Innocents.

When we look at the readings that we have during that day, we realize just how far some people are willing to go to hold on to control and power in their lives. Herod was so afraid of a new king that he might take his place and usurp his power at a later date that he was willing to do something horrific to make sure that did not happen. He had all of the boys under two years old murdered so that the newborn King of the Jews who we celebrated with the birth of Jesus last week would be destroyed before he could grow up and come to power. The problem with that is that Jesus was not coming to be a temporal leader and posed no threat to Herod’s control and rule. Jesus came to call us to more than that; he came to show us his true kingdom, that of Heaven.

We can do the same thing sometimes, although not to that extent. We can sometimes think that the person we work with is trying to get us, or that maybe if they do their job too well, it might look bad on us, so we spread a rumor about them. We can do these kinds of things in many different ways. We have choices, do we act like Herod, or do we act like St. Stephen? Herod did things that were good only for him, while St. Stephen did things that were for the good of God and his Kingdom! So, as we begin this New Year on Wednesday, how are we going to change those things that we need to change, and continue to do those things that make us better? I would recommend adding some more prayer time each and every day so that we can have that same strength that God gave St. Stephen- the ability to stand up to those who were persecuting him. While we may never have to make that choice, we still need that strength and wisdom of God to get us through all of the other things we will face in this new year. So, Wednesday, as we begin the 2025 year, let us take the opportunity of the new start to restart with God. Also, pray for ourselves to have the courage of St. Stephen and see the many blessings that God will give us. Finally, take the time to pray for our family and friends as well, that they will do the same.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

New Year, New Me

Merry Christmas! On Wednesday, we begin the Christmas season in the Church and we will celebrate it until January 12th which is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. We also celebrate next Wednesday, the Feast of Mary the Mother of God on January 1st or New Year’s Day. It is a day in which we remember Mary’s role in the life of her Son, Jesus Christ. We often celebrate secular New Year’s Day with promises or resolutions like, “New Year, New Me.” Often, the new year’s resolutions only last a few weeks, the gyms are full for the first few weeks of the year, but then attendance drops off pretty quickly.

Instead of a “new year, new me,” how about “new year, and I will do my best to be the person God wants me to be.” The struggle with this is that we need to find out what that is and the best way for that is to ask Him. The best way to do this is to draw close to Him in prayer, but there is a challenge with this and that is that when you ask God where he wants you to be is that he will answer it and we may not always like the answer. This is because we sometimes have one idea of what we should be doing, but God has another. If we actually follow where God is leading us, it will always lead us to joy, even if it can be a lot of work or go through some suffering. The Apostles and many saints did not have an easy life, but they did enjoy eternal life with God.

The whole idea of “new year, new me” is that there is something in our life that we need to change or work on. The struggle is that most of us focus on the physical or material, like losing weight or working on being financially better, or reading more, but if we start off with our spiritual life the rest of it will be better. This is primarily because if we draw closer to God who is love and the source of love, it will change our attitudes.

Studies show that it takes about six weeks to build or break a habit, good or bad. If we make the effort for six weeks straight to do something good in our lives or stop doing something bad, we have a better hope of making it stick. In this upcoming new year, we should take some extra time to pray and ask God where He wants us to be so that we can become the person that Jesus Christ wants us to be. We celebrate the upcoming Christmas season in which God himself came to live the life that we lead and to preach, teach, and give us an example of how we are to live our lives in the way of Christ. Find some good Christian resources, especially during these cold months, so that we can build the life of prayer in our lives. Remember to not get tired of Christmas until the end of the Christmas Season.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Our 14th Parish Anniversary

This Tuesday, we celebrate a special anniversary on December 17th 2010, then Bishop Pates announced the creation of a new parish for the diocese located in Ankeny, our Parish of St. Luke the Evangelist. The parish began with a few families meeting in the basement of the Our Lady Immaculate Heart rectory to discuss the plans for the new parish. Wow, have we grown in these last 14 years! We are now over 860 families and we continue to grow about 75 families a year. We are still doing lots of Baptisms and seeing many children at our Masses here. This will continue to be the case for a very long time, and with that growth in people comes a growth in space. A few weeks ago, I wrote about the next phases of construction that we need to do, and while it is challenging, it is a wonderful thing to see. Anniversaries are a wonderful time in which we can look back on the things that have happened in the years past. Just like wedding anniversaries, when couples look back at the wedding and the years that have happened in between. In my over five years here, the parish has grown and continues to be a wonderful place with many young families, and I feel so blessed to be here. You have all been a great blessing in my life, and I thank you for the opportunity to continue to serve you people of God, here.

This weekend we will also be lighting the pink candle as well as using the rose or pink vestments. One of the things that this means is that Advent is over halfway over and the coming of Christ in Christmas is getting closer! We only have a week and a half until we celebrate the coming of our Lord and Savior as a baby. You have heard me say this many times, but we are called to be joy-filled or joyful Christians in the world, no matter what is happening in our lives.

As we continue to prepare ourselves for that wonderful coming of Christ again in the Christmas season, let us always remember to rejoice for the Lord is coming because that is the whole reason that we are celebrating this season of preparation- preparing ourselves for that coming of Christ. Even though we often get caught up in the material preparation, we still need to remember to take some time to prepare for the coming of our Savior in a spiritual way. Picking up Scripture for a few minutes a day is one way, but there are also many other ways we can be an example of prayer for ourselves and others. In the last week or so of the Advent season let us remember to be ready for that great coming of Jesus our Savior in the world.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

The Lure of Advertising

During this time of year, we are inundated with advertisements trying to get us to spend our money with this particular company, or in this particular way. Do you want to surprise your husband or wife, buy them this new car and they will love it.  Do you want your kids to love you how about this new really expensive toy.  Now, I really would not recommend purchasing something as large as a car without discussing it with your spouse for your own sake!

The secular world has no problem recommending that you go into huge debt to buy the things that you really do not need. There is a psychology behind advertising, and that is to try and convince you that you or someone you care about is lacking if they do not have this particular item. The true value in something is only as valuable as it is to the person who has it or the person who wants it. One of the most wanted gifts for many would be the newest and greatest gaming console and it would be of great value here. However, I had a conversation with someone from a remote region of Africa one time and they asked me how often the power goes out here in the United States. I responded very rarely, and he told me that in his village, the power is shut off every night to save fuel.  It also goes out many times during the day if the power plant is running short. They also have very limited access to the Internet. So, a brand new fastest gaming console would be of very little value, nor would they even want it. Cell phone manufacturers are also masters at leading you to the newest and greatest model.

In the end, advertising relies on pride and envy. Pride in that I have to have the best thing to be seen as the best, and envy in that I need these things that others might have in order to keep up with others. We as Christians know that the things that we own can end up owning us. We are called to really desire one thing, and that is the kingdom of heaven, and the things of the world can help us toward that, or they can hold us back from it. As we begin this season of Advent, we need to remind ourselves that while the material gifts are wonderful and exciting, one of the greatest gifts that we can give to others is our faith. This is something that will not break, it is something that can never be taken away from us, it is something that we will have forever. The gift of prayer and worship of God is a gift that will strengthen those around us and can make them to be a better person in the world. Keep praying and as we approach Christmas, keep in mind why and for who we celebrate this wonderful time.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It is once again time for Advent, this is the new year for the Church. We get to start off another liturgical year within the Church with this Advent season. Advent is another preparatory season, one that we are preparing for the coming of our Lord and Savior. He came as a humble child, one that was reliant on Mary and Joseph to take care of Him. He is also relying on us to help Him to carry out His mission in this world and that mission is to show the love that God has for us.

This is the time of the year that many people call the season of joy. It is a time in which we are getting ready to celebrate Christmas. But it is still a time in which we prepare for Christmas and it is not the Christmas season within the Church. The stores are trying to push us to celebrate Christmas earlier and earlier because if we do, it makes more of a profit for them. You will notice that the churches are decorated in purple for the Advent season and then will be decorated for Christmas on Christmas Eve the beginning of the Christmas season and it will not end until January 6th on the feast of the Epiphany. The song the 12 days of Christmas is based on the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany. In many cultures, most gifts were not given on Christmas day, most of them were given on the feast of the Epiphany, which is the day we celebrate the child Jesus being given the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Advent is a season of preparation for the coming of our Lord and Savior, but also, from Thanksgiving until about New Years, is a time in which many families get together to celebrate these holidays. These parties often require preparation as well; we clean the house just a little bit more, we get extra food to serve, we prepare special family dishes, the list goes on and on. Even though this time of year is busy with many things going on, I really enjoy this time because we get to celebrate quite a bit. I know that in my own case, my family does not get together near as often as we would like, and like we did in the past. My schedule is all over the place, and my sisters’ children are growing, and they are even becoming parents themselves. For many families these holidays, as well as weddings and funerals, are the only times they really get a chance to get together. It really is a wonderful season to be with families. So please take some time to ready your hearts for the coming of our Lord and Savior during this Advent season and remember, don’t get tired of Christmas, before we celebrate that great season of joy, and have a blessed Advent!

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Perspective on the upcoming holidays

On Thursday we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. It officially was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 during the Civil War, even though it had been celebrated earlier than that. It is a day in which we give thanks for the many things that we have been given. Sometimes we want to ask ourselves “What is there to give thanks for?” Especially with everything that is going on in our world today. It is a trying time right now, so why do we want to give thanks?

Thanksgiving is also the unofficial kickoff of the holiday season. It is a time that will get busy with family and friends. As we are giving thanks for all of the gifts God has given us also ask Him for strength for the challenges we have in our lives. We spend a day with our families and have a feast, a feast to remember the many gifts God has given us. This is a day in which we usually over-indulge in food and drink, watch some football, or many other things; after all, we are celebrating. We can turn any event into a time to celebrate and over-indulge, which leads us to the evening and the next day… BLACK FRIDAY. I find it interesting, that the day we give thanks we begin to line up at the malls trying to get ready to beat out our neighbor for the best deal of the season. I myself have only been out in the morning of “Black Friday” a few times and that was enough. The stores call it Black Friday because they are making a profit, going from red to black. I really think that it is called black because of the darkness that can come from our competition to save a few dollars.

The word that we use for the Blessed Sacrament is Eucharist, this word is transliterated from the Greek word Eucharistia and the word translated means thanksgiving, so in essence we are celebrating a feast of thanksgiving every Sunday and every day when we celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Mass is a celebration of giving thanks to God for the gifts that He has given us, as well as a remembrance of the sacrifice that He suffered. We are called to play a part in both of these elements of the Holy Mass, the sacrifice and the thanksgiving. As we celebrate our Mass for the Thanksgiving holiday, remember to thank God for all of those things that we have been given. Just like in our celebration of Thanksgiving Day, we have choices on how we will participate. We can choose to not participate at all, we can eat and go on to the next thing, we can eat and sleep, or we can eat and participate with our Church, our earthly family, and our heavenly family. Remember also that as we begin our Advent preparations looking forward to the celebration of Christmas, that we should be mindful of those people around us, those who are in need as well as our own families.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

The Basic Hierarchy of the Church

A while back, I was asked about how the hierarchy of the Church works. We as Catholics sometimes hear the terms that are thrown around and we know them, but we don’t always know how it works. For the clergy, we know about deacons, priests, and bishops, but there are different titles that are also used, like pastor, parochial vicar, associate pastor, arch-bishop, etc. For the priest, there are a few terms, while I am a priest, I am also the pastor here at St. Luke’s. This means that in the end, I am responsible for the parish and the care of the Sacraments here. I also have final say in the decisions that happen here, yes, I do rely on the committees that we have to help me make those decisions. Fr Ryan is the associate, or parochial vicar, which pretty much mean the same thing. This means that he is a help to me and one who assists me in this duty of the parish as well as performing his priestly duties of the care of the Sacraments. Some of the other priests of the diocese have the title of Monsignor, this is an honorary title given to them, it does not hold any other duty, but is given to a priest who has distinguished himself in the service of the Church.

Each diocese has a bishop in charge of it and is also called an “Ordinary” and this comes from the fact that he has ordinary powers, authority, and care of the people within the diocese. The authority for both Fr. Ryan and I to perform the Sacraments comes from the “Ordinary” of the diocese. Not all bishops are Ordinaries, there are Auxiliary Bishops as well, these are priests who have been ordained a bishop, but are not in charge of a diocese, but help out in a very large diocese, for example, the Archdiocese of Chicago has a Cardinal Arch-Bishop and 6 Auxiliary Bishops. To be ordained a bishop, a priest would be recommended to Rome for ordination, and then the recommendation gets researched and then the Holy Father makes the final decision. The bishop is the one who is the shepherd of all of the people within the diocese and is like the pastor, but the pastor of the entire diocese. Another title you will hear is Arch-bishop, and that is given to a bishop of an Arch-Diocese, which is a diocese of special significance, the Arch-Diocese for Des Moines is Dubuque. The Arch-bishop does not really hold any authority over the other bishops, but is because of the special significance of the diocese. You will also hear the title of Cardinal, and this is given to bishops of diocese of special significance or size, the closest Cardinal is Cardinal Cupich of Chicago. Currently, there are seven active Cardinals in the United States. One of the benefits of being a Cardinal, is that as long as they are under the age of 80, they vote on who will be the next Pope. Now, there are many other titles that we have within the Church, but most of them you will not come across around here, but mostly in Rome and other parts of the world. Keep all of us clergy in your prayers.

God bless,
Fr. Ken