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