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 wonders of Christ.

Fr. Ken Halbur

"Pro-Life"

On Wednesday of this past week, Washington DC was flooded with hundreds of thousands of people in the annual March for Life. If you have watched the main news outlets you probably didn’t hear much about it, even though it is one of the largest attended annual marches, or you were shown a small group of counter protesters.

The annual March for Life is expected to have well over half-a-million people come to march peacefully, and it is a wide spectrum of people, including many thousand young people going to support the life of those who do not have a voice. It is pretty common knowledge that the Catholic Church is a strong leader in the Pro-Life movement, which goes well beyond the work to end abortions. It is one of the primary missions of the Pro-Life group, but not the only one. Each year, over 900,000 children are aborted in the U.S. alone, that is a staggering number and sadly in Washington DC, 38% of pregnancies end in abortion. It is estimated that one out of four women have had an abortion and we need to respond to them with mercy, forgiveness, and love. Jesus calls us to respond not with anger and bitterness, but with care and love.

I have had a number of women who have had an abortion come to me to talk or to confess it, as well as a number of men come to me as well to talk about their role in the support of an abortion. These are always challenging conversations because if they are coming to me, they feel regret and sorrow, and my role is not to judge, but to show the mercy of God to them. When we talk about being pro-life in our Church it is more than just being anti-abortion, it is about supporting life from conception to natural death. This means that we should strive for the dignity of life from the time that the child is conceived in the womb to the time that we naturally die.

We sometimes separate social justice and pro-life as two different groups, but they must be intertwined. If we profess to be a people who support life, then we also need to support those who are living, no matter what state of life they are in, if we support social justice of any kind, then we need to have the first rule which is life. Jesus calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves and then explained who are our neighbors and he states, that all people are our neighbors, even those we do not agree with, from the child conceived with a disability, to the child conceived on a hook-up, to the immigrant, to the prisoner on death row, to the elderly person in a nursing home, to someone who is very sick, or someone who is on their death bed. This is what it means to be Pro-Life. Pray for those who have been affected by abortion as well as for an end to it.

Fr. Ken Halbur

Answering Some Common Questions

Welcome back to Ordinary Time in the Church. We call it Ordinary time, even though the time in the Church is always special, it is called that because it is not one of the special seasons like Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter. We switch back to the green color which represents growth and vitality, like the trees and grass growing. Sometimes I get asked questions on what is done and why we do things the way that we do. So, I am going to use this article to answer a few questions that I have been asked.

Why did I have the chairs at the altar moved from the East side of the sanctuary space to the South side? I did this so that the chairs are facing the altar better as well as being able to face the ambo (the place where the readings are proclaimed.) Within the Church, the primary point of focus should always be the altar, which is a reminder of the altar of sacrifice from the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, but instead of doing animal sacrifices, we are reminded of the sacrifice of Christ in which he gives us his Body and Blood for our spiritual nourishment.

Why do I only distribute Holy Communion on the north side of the church? The first and easiest reason, is that is what I was told had been the practice here at St. Luke’s. But there is also a practical reason for it, we have a number of parishioners who have a gluten allergy. We have a supply of the very low gluten hosts and those who use them are instructed to come to my line, and so I always distribute from the same place, so they know which side of the church to sit on. There are specific requirements for the bread and the wine we use at Mass, the bread must be made from wheat and can only have salt and water as ingredients. The wine must only be made from grapes and cannot have any other flavorings in it.

Why have I been using a different main chalice for Mass? This is my personal chalice and I am planning on using it during some of the special seasons in the Church. This chalice was originally given to Fr Patrick Bacon in 1955 from his parents. He was the priest who first asked me to consider being a priest. Once I was close to ordination, my parents found out that Fr Chris Hartshorn had the chalice, and he graciously allowed me to have it. It means a great deal to me.

Why do I not genuflect when I go to the tabernacle to get the reserved Blessed Sacrament during Mass? I do not genuflect when I get it, because I have just turned away from the Blessed Sacrament at the altar and am still in the presence of Jesus in both places. I do however genuflect when I replace the ciboria (the bowl that holds the consecrated hosts) back into the tabernacle out of reverence for our Lord and Savior in the Eucharist.

If you have any other questions, feel free to send them to me!

Fr. Ken Halbur

We Say Goodbye To Christmas

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 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 to 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. But 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 ones. 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.

Father Ken Halbur

Merry Christmas!

This weekend we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany. This is the day in which we honor the Magi who took a chance and followed a star in order to find something new and special. They knew that they were looking for a king, a new king who would reign forever. They found this new king, Christ Jesus himself. They came to honor him and to bring him the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh because they knew that there was something special about his kingship.

The gifts that they brought are ones that we all know by heart, but we may not know that there is a good reason behind each of them. Gold is the gift for the king, frankincense is the gift for a priest, and myrrh is the gift for the prophet but also it was used for burial, in essence preparing him for his death as well. One of the interesting things is that we have a tradition that it was three Magi or wise men, but Holy Scripture says nothing about the number of Magi who came, it simply states “behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is the newborn king of the Jews.’” The number of them is inferred by the three gifts that were given.

These men took a chance to travel a great distance to find something that they knew was going to be great, they were looking for the newborn King of the Jews and they found him. To find the Christ child, they would have needed to travel through the desert and the infamous road to Jericho the same one in which Jesus tells the story of the man who was robbed and left for dead. Traveling was dangerous and difficult in those days and most people never went more than a few miles from their homes in their lifetimes. These men took a chance in order to see Jesus, sometimes it is not easy but when we do have that experience with Christ it is a wonderful thing. They wanted to see him and they wanted to praise him, but not all who heard about this new king were happy. Harrod was afraid that this new king would someday grow up and take his power away from him, so he wanted to destroy him and to do this he was willing to kill many others, which he did. Even though they received the message not to go back to Harrod in a dream, there is a great message that we can get out of the account that they went home a different direction.

The Magi came not out of fear, but out of a wish to be a witness, but once they had the experience with Christ, they were changed and went a different direction. Jesus calls us to witness the miracles that he is trying to do in each of our lives and then wants us to go a different direction, which is always toward him. I pray as this Christmas Season continues, that you will all have a great a blessed year.

Father Ken Halbur

Merry Christmas!

We began the Christmas season in the Church this week and we will celebrate it until January 12th which is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. We also celebrate this week 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.” But 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, but 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 continue to celebrate the 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.

God Bless
Fr. Ken

Merry Christmas! Jesus has come again!

This Wednesday we celebrate Christmas and it is the beginning of the true Christmas season which goes until (depending on the calendar you follow) the feast of the Epiphany. This is a wonderful season, a season of joy and peace, and while the time with family and friends, the food and drinks, and the gift giving and receiving is wonderful, remember why we are celebrating in this time.

During this Christmas season let us be mindful of one of the greatest gifts that we have been and ever will be given, Christ Jesus. Take some time to reflect on the Gospel account of how the coming of our Lord and Savior came about. In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

This is a story we have all heard many different times, and I would recommend talking to our children about it during Christmas. The line that I like to reflect on is the one that the angels say about the good news of great joy. This really is a season of joy and peace, even though we are running around to see family and friends, it is a season of peace that only Christ can offer us. So don’t get tired of this beautiful season of Christmas.

God Bless,
Father Ken Halbur

"X-Mas" & Rose Vestments

Sometimes there is a great reaction to how some people write Christmas, often we see it written as x-mas instead of Christmas.

The word Christmas comes from Christ’s Mass, the Mass that we celebrate each and every week. The term Christmas is really not that old, within the Church it is known as the feast of the Nativity of Christ, or the birth of Christ. When we see it written as x-mas some people think that we are crossing out or “X”ing out Christ. But it is actually a shorthand for the first letter of Christ in Greek (χριστός Christos.) Within the Church you will see an overlapping XP (I have this symbol on my green chasuble and it is also on the purple one that the parish has) the XP is the chi (X) Rho (P) those are the first letters for Christ these are often flanked by the A (alpha) and Ω (omega) first and last characters of the Greek alphabet to represent Christ being the beginning and the end.

So, in short, X-Mas was just using the X as shorthand for Christ and is not really trying to get rid of Christ in Christmas. Remember, the best way to keep Christ in Christmas it to keep the Mass in Christmas since it is in the holy sacrifice of the Mass in which Christ comes Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, then allows us to receive Him in this way.

The second topic of this article is because this weekend we will also be lighting the pink candle as well as we will be using the rose or pink vestments. One of the things that this means is that Advent is over half way over and the coming of Christ in Christmas is getting closer! We only will wear the rose vestments for two weekends a year; Gaudete Sunday for the third Sunday in advent and Laetare Sunday in the fourth Sunday during Lent.

It is an option for Priest’s to wear the rose color vestments and we are not requirement to wear it, but it is nice to have something visual to see the difference.

The words Laetare and Gaudete mean the same thing they mean rejoice! This is because we are rejoicing that Christ is near. The word Laetare comes from an option introit or introduction to the Mass that is either said or sung which goes “Rejoice, O Jerusalem: and come together all you that love her: rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation. (Psalm) I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord…” 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.

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

Blessings,
Father Ken Halbur

The time of the Lord is coming!

We are getting ready to celebrate Christmas, while the secular world is already celebrating it. I pray that you will not get tired of the “holiday season” before it even begins!

We, as the Church, will begin to celebrate Christmas at the vigil Mass on Christmas Eve and celebrate it until the Baptism of the Lord. We are often drawn into the “regular” or secular way of saying and doing things for example Santa Clause.

Tradition holds that the name came from a mishearing or mispronunciation of Sint Klaes which is the Dutch way of saying Saint Nicholas. Saint Nicholas, whose feast day was Friday, December 6th was well known for a couple of things: the first, giving three bags of gold to a poor man for a dowry for his three daughters to save them from a life of prostitution. The account goes that there was a man who had three daughters and he was too poor to put together a dowry, which would mean that the young women would not be married, and in those days it was not easy for a woman to get a job, especially someone who was poor to begin with. There are different accounts of how it happens but it goes that St. Nicholas threw a bag of money into the house on three consecutive nights/weeks/months, and was caught by the man on the third time. It is also a tradition that one or all of the bags were put in the shoes of the girls, which is where we get the tradition of putting chocolate coins in shoes. The second things that St. Nicholas was famous for is slapping the heretic Arius in the face during an argument about whether or not Jesus was really God.

As we continue to prepare in the Advent season for the upcoming Christmas season, we want to keep reminding our children that there is a real reason for the Christmas season and that is that God loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to be with us. We hear the phrase that we should keep Christ in Christmas and the best way to do that is to be a good and joyful Christian. The example of how we act is one of the great things we can give to our children, whether it be the joyful celebration of the Holy Mass, or the way that we treat our neighbors, even those we do not like.

I will sometimes say that the best way to keep Christ in Christmas it to keep Mass in Christmas. Since the greatest prayer we have in the Church is the reminder of the depth of the love that Christ has for us in his sacrifice that we celebrate in the Mass. In this busy time, we prepare for the coming of the Lord, keep reminding ourselves who we are going to be receiving in the real Christmas season, Christ the Lord.

God Bless,
Fr. Ken

Happy New Year!

It is once again time for Advent, which starts 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, 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 which is the beginning of the Christmas season which 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. So please take some time to ready your hearts for the coming of our Lord and Savior during this Advent season and don’t get tired of Christmas, before we celebrate that great season of joy, and have a blessed Advent!

I also wanted to update the parish on what we are calling the 13th street issue. Some of you may have heard that the land to the north and west of us is owned jointly by, Mercy One, Catholic Charities, and the Diocese of Des Moines. They are in the process of selling the land to a developer, with this sale, 13th street will need to be built and currently it is on the land that St. Luke’s owns. This means that if everything happens right now, without anything done, we would have to pay for the construction of the street, and that is expensive. I and a committee have been working with the diocese and the developers to make sure that we are not burdened with that expense. This is the deal that we have worked out: St. Luke’s will give up 7 acres of land to the north and add 5 acres of land to the west which includes a cash payment for the additional 2 acres. This still leaves us with 33 acres of land and plenty of room to make sure we have space for everything we have planned in the years to come.

God Bless
Fr. Ken

Thanksgiving

On Thursday we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. Did you know Thanksgiving was officially proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 during the Civil War, even though it had been celebrated for some time?

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?” This is also the unofficial kickoff of the holiday season. It is a time that will get busy with our families and friends. As we are giving thanks for all of the gifts God has given us, ask Him for strength for the challenges we have in our lives.

We spend Thanksgiving 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 deals 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.

We hear of the many different places that people are being pepper sprayed, hurt, and sometimes killed over saving a few dollars. What a sad way to remind ourselves of our thankfulness than to trample over our neighbor so we can get a television for half price.

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, 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.

Father Ken Halbur

Cheap Socks

Did I get your attention? Have you ever had a package of cheap socks and they just fall apart and have holes in them after only wearing them a few times? It is something that is frustrating, you spend money on something and it just does not last.

One of the things that I have found out in life, is that the cheapest things are not always the least expensive, especially if you have to replace it shortly after you purchase it, or it does not work like it really should, or you get so frustrated with it that you get mad and throw it away. I have always found that there are a few things that you need to spend the extra money on to make sure that you get something of quality, a few of those things are tools, tires, shoes, and Oreos (generic Oreos just do not taste right.).

Many times, we do not take care of those things that are cheap or free. I know someone who has outright stopped buying things for his children that are not necessary after they failed to take care of some things and told him, “why should I take care of it, we can just get another one.” What he does now, is if one of his children wants something, they have to do something to earn it. They have to do chores, help out a sibling, or another good deed to get what they want. This makes them realize that things that they want in life are earned, and things that are earned, are things we want to take care of.

I sometimes think that we forget that our grace was earned for us and given to us for free, and I have to admit that I too, forget this at times. We have the opportunity to accept the free gift of grace that Jesus Christ has earned for us. He did the work and gives it to us for free or cheaply, only requiring us to follow the example that He set. I know that it is not always easy to follow the Christian life, but it is something that we are called to do. We sometimes do not take care of our faith because it is free to us and it is something that we can do freely.

In other regions of the world, following the faith is not so easy and, in some cases, it is dangerous to practice the faith. In China a few weeks ago, there were a group of Catholics in a church for Mass and they were thrown out of the church and the building was destroyed because it was not part of the government sanctioned Church.

The interesting thing about our “cheap” grace, it is a very precious thing, it was paid for with an expensive price, with the blood of Christ. It was bought and paid for and then given to us for free, and the only thing we need to do to get it, is to accept it and follow our Lord and Savior who wants to give us this gift that no amount of money can buy.

God Bless,
Fr. Ken

The Internet is down!

The Internet is down! Have you ever heard this statement? It can bring a wave of panic to flow over a teenager or even a web addicted adult. What am I going to do, no web surfing, no Hulu, no online gaming, Twitter, etc. These are some things that we do all the time, many people do not want to even go to the bathroom without bringing their phone with them. A while back I watched an online ad for a product that I am not sure is even real, the pepper grinder that will turn off the internet, and cable to all devices in the house. This is a way to make sure that everyone puts down the devices and shut off the TV so that everyone can eat together without their phones or other devices in their hands. We are a society that has constant communication ability, but we are losing the ability to communicate face to face. I see my nieces often texting each other when they are in the same room as each other and that is an issue sometimes with classrooms, it is the equivalent of passing the note to a friend. I read a study a while back in which they took cell phones away from teenagers for two weeks, and in the study, they realized that a good percentage of young people actually had withdrawal symptoms the same way an alcohol or drug addict would. We even do not seem to want to put the phone down when it is dangerous to look at it, just look around when you are driving and see how many people cannot seem to not be texting while they are driving. A few years ago, during the “Back to the Future” day at St. Malachy school, the students created a time capsule and one of the things they put in it was a sample of writing and in cursive even, because they feel that in the next 30 years people will not be writing and cursive will be stopped first. In restaurants, I often see both the adults and children with a tablet or a phone and headphones in their ears with no one talking to each other. We are an Internet and device addicted society, but we can help to change that. While I do like having the convenience of being able to pick up my phone and look something up, or use a prayer app on my phone because it is something that I almost always carry with me, I also need to keep reminding myself that I need to unplug for a while and spend some time with God, as well as with other people, because we are social people and we do need to have contact with others, and not just through a phone. Take some time away from the constant but impersonal contact that we have and spend some peaceful and prayerful time with our Heavenly Father in prayer so that we can use that peace to give to others.

God Bless,
Fr. Ken

All Saints Day & All Souls Day

This past Friday was the feast of All Saints Day, and Saturday was the feast of All Souls day. On All Souls day, we remember those who have died this past year, and we are reminded to pray for all of our family members who have died. A few years ago, a priest that I greatly respected and served with, Fr Bob Hoefler died. While he was in the hospice center with the final stages of his cancer, I and some other people were visiting with him and he made a comment to all of us who were there, he said that at his funeral he did not want anyone to canonize him. He did not want people to constantly say that he was in heaven, don’t get me or him wrong, he really wanted to go to heaven, but what he wanted was for people to pray for him, because if we always say that someone who has died is in heaven, there is no need for us to pray for them anymore, and they may still need our prayers.

The feasts of All Saints and All Souls are important feast days for us as Catholics. We celebrate these days in order to remember those who have gone before us to eternal life. While they are similar in the fact that we are celebrating those who have died, they are different in what we are praying for. For those that are in heaven (All Saints) we pray a prayer of thanksgiving, one that is also asking those saints to pray for our needs. For those who are not in heaven yet, those who are in purgatory (All Souls) we are praying for their needs, that God will speed the time of their purgation of sin and bring them lovingly into the kingdom of heaven.

At a funeral, I will always tell people that the person who has died is in the loving and merciful hands of God now, I will not say that they are in heaven, because I am praying that they will be there. I want them to receive the benefits of our prayers. We pray for them, not in the body that is on earth which is dead and buried, but for the soul which is eternal and is entrusted to God’s hands now. On All Saints day, we celebrate all those who have served the Church in a special way, those who have fought the good fight of their lives and have been examples of holiness. Most of the people we celebrate are the countless examples of how to live holy lives. Only one of the saints in our history has been a perfect example, which is Mary, the mother of Jesus, who was also perfect because He was God. Even though the saints are not perfect, they are still examples that can lead us to holiness.

In the month of November, we remember our loved ones who have died. Here at St. Luke’s, there is a book in the gathering space of church to write down the names of our loved ones, and you are welcome to write down the names of any of your loved ones who have passed away.

God Bless
Fr. Ken

A Three-Fold Focus

I have now been here just over 3 months, and I wanted to give you a short overview of where we are at financially. For the parish and school, we have done a pretty good job of keeping our expenses down. To go along with that work, we need to also work on a couple of ways of increasing our income, we are currently heavily relying on parish income and emergency funds to support the school. First and foremost, we need to keep recruiting for the school. We have quite a few open seats and each extra child helps to reduce the cost per student as well as continuing to grow our school. I know that over the last few years there have been some challenges, but I feel that we have now a wonderful staff as well as experienced leadership that works well together and works to have a faith-filled highly preforming school program. As we continue to provide this, the students will come.

The second thing we need to work on is our tithing or what we receive in the collection to the parish. The original plan was to be able to fund our mortgage with tithing, but over the last years, we have been paying the interest from tithing and principal from emergency funds, and in the last few months there has not been enough tithing to do that, and our entire $31,700 mortgage payment from our emergency funds, which at our current pace, will be gone in just over a year. The good news is that we are growing in registered members and hopefully that also means that we should be growing in weekly donations as well.

Another major concern is the Phase II building project. As most of you have guessed, the project has not been moving at the pace that was expected and I have been working on keeping this project on track. We are in desperate need for space and not only for the school, but for the entire parish. Our religious education program is in need of space as well. I am of the mindset (and Misty as well) that our school section is not just for school usage, but for the entire St. Luke’s Parish. We currently do not have a space for the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS) program in our building and so they are using another parish for the program. We currently only have the gym for large groups and the extra meeting rooms planned will be a great help. Also, if you have tried to schedule a group meeting or function here, we are very limited in space, because we do not have room. Within this project, we are adding storage space, we currently have stuff stored in many different places, including a trailer, the rectory, and in the homes of very generous parishioners and it would be wonderful to bring most of it back into the building.

A major issue holding us back is that the secondary estimates have come in significantly higher than expected. Originally the project was expected to be around $2.2 million to $2.4 million, and the estimates came in at $4 million, then was value engineered down to $3.4 million. Between pledges and payments, we have about $2.9 million raised so far, which leaves us with another $500,000 to come up with. It was clear in the survey, as well as by Bishop Pates, that we cannot accept any more long-term debt. So, this means that we need to raise the last $500,000 to begin. At this point we are planning on a spring start. With this will be kicking off what we are calling the Plus 1 campaign. What we are asking is that families that are currently giving to the Growing Together campaign to add one more year to their pledge and for people who are new or have not pledged previously to do a two-and-a-half-year pledge to get this project going. If the families that have been making payments add a year, this would add up to over $300,000 and then if a good percentage of new families would pledge, we would be doing great. I would be willing to bet that most of you here today have not been a part of such a growing parish, which does require a lot of funding to get started.

I normally hate asking for money, but this is where we are at, and even Jesus himself relied on the generosity of the people who followed him. So, to summarize, I feel that the focus should be three-fold, concentrating on recruiting students, raising the $500,000 to begin the building project, and raising tithing. While the numbers do not look good at this point, I trust in God that we will be fine. I fully believe that money problems here at the parish and school are temporary, and with God’s help and yours, we will get through this time and I invite everyone to help us with this wonderful goal.

God Bless,
Fr. Ken

The Rosary

October is the month of the rosary within the Catholic Church. The rosary is one of the many different devotional prayers that we have and is a beautiful one to pray. It is primarily a prayer of meditation and a guide to other prayers. The tradition a mantra prayer, in which we pray something over and over again has been around a long time and the purpose of the prayer is to focus ourselves to something else. We sometimes get into the idea that it is just getting in the prayers, but the rosary is much more than just praying the Our Fathers and Hail Mary’s over and over again, it is spending time with God and bringing your thanksgiving and needs to Him. One of the things we should remember as we pray the rosary is that we should also be asking for something within the prayer. There are many ways of praying the rosary, most commonly the rosary is prayed on its own, but it can also be prayed as a part of a larger prayer like a novena which is a series of prayers that based on the number nine or three times three. This means that we pray for nine days, weeks, or months in a row for a specific purpose.

Tradition holds that St Dominic was the one to devise the rosary, but other sources hint that it was prayed before St Dominic’s time, and given to him by Blessed Alan de la Roche. It is clear, however, that St Dominic did use the prayer for the brothers in the Dominican order. All priests and religious, even to this day, make a promise to pray a prayer called the Liturgy of the Hours. In the time of St Dominic, the priest or religious would pray through all 150 Psalms each week through this prayer set, it has been shortened in more recent times to pray them over 4 weeks with other meditations added to the Psalms. In the time of St Dominic, books were large, heavy, and expensive and Dominic wanted the men of his order to basically be traveling preachers so they need a better way fulfill their promise. One theory is that Dominic recommended praying the rosary while the priests were traveling because they could do so while walking. No matter who or how it started, we know that the rosary is a powerful prayer and has been a comfort to many people throughout the ages. In 1566 Pope Pius V asked that everyone pray the rosary because Europe was open to attack and a Christian fleet met a much larger Turkish fleet off of Lepanto and destroyed most of it. This victory was attributed to the daily prayer of the rosary. In Fatima, the Blessed Virgin Mary told the three children, Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta, to pray the rosary for peace since World War I was going on. This prayer is a powerful one, and it is a prayer that reminds us that we are not alone, Jesus has people, including His mother, interceding for us.

God bless,
Fr Ken

October Is Respect Life Month

October is respect life month in the Church. When we as a Church talk about being pro-life, that phrase has many different aspects to it. It is pretty common knowledge that the Catholic Church is a strong leader in the Pro-Life movement, which goes well beyond the work to end abortions. Protection for the unborn is one of the primary missions of the Pro-Life group because it is the first stage of life, but not the only one. Each year, over 900,000 children are aborted in the U.S. alone, that is a staggering number and sadly in Washington DC, 38% of pregnancies end in abortion. It is estimated that one out of four women have had an abortion and we need to respond to them with forgiveness and love. When we talk about being pro-life in our Church it is more than just being anti-abortion, it is about supporting life from conception to natural death. This means that we should strive for the dignity of life from the time that the child is conceived to the time that we naturally die. This means that we should also not support euthanasia, no matter what light it is cast in, it is sometimes called “dignity in death” because some would argue that it is better to die than to suffer and that the taking of a life over allowing them to suffer is better for the person or even the family. This also applies to the death penalty, within the United States, have an ability to keep those who have committed a major crime in prison. Capital punishment is not supported by the Church for multiple reason, first and foremost, there is a small chance, that the person convicted is not guilty, but it also does not allow for a conversion of heart by the person who is guilty, and most of the time, capital punishment is retaliation and not justice.

We sometimes separate social justice and pro-life as two different and separate groups, but they are intertwined. If we profess to support life, we also need to help and provide support for those who are living, if we support social justice, then we need to have the first rule, which is life. Jesus calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves and then explained that all people are our neighbors, from the child conceived with a disability, to the child conceived on a hook-up, to the immigrant, to the prisoner on death row, to the elderly person in a nursing home or those on their death beds. Being pro-life in the Catholic Church also means providing for the needs of the other in many varied ways, which is why the Church provides food and water to those in need, we as a parish are supporting this effort with Meals for the Heartland. The Catholic Church feeds millions of people throughout the world as a part of our supporting life efforts. It also provides health care for millions. This is what it means to be Pro-Life. Pray for all of the pro-life ministries that we support throughout the world.

God Bless,
Fr. Ken

Worry

How often do you get caught up in the things that are going on, things that you have no control over? We live in a time in which you can pull out of your pocket or purse a device that can instantly give you information from just about anywhere in the world with the click of a thumb.

I have a friend who has banned his mother from watching the Weather Channel because she used to sit and watch it most of the day and worry about the weather in other countries and regions. The weather is something that she could not control but she worried about it anyway. While there are times that we really wish that we could control the weather, but we cannot. We spend so much time stressing and worrying about things that we shouldn’t because they are things that are not in our hands, but in God’s. This is something that I need to listen to myself, I constantly worry about the things that are going on in this parish, even though I know that God will provide! I, by my own nature, tend to worry and I need to keep reminding myself that worry steals from hope and peace and peace of tomorrow, and hope and trust in God overcomes worry.

When we allow ourselves to get caught up in those things that may never happen, we forget to concentrate on the people and things that are going on right now. When we get stressed about things, we often take it out on people that are around us, most especially those that are closest to us. This is something that we can work on and that will help us with the worry. Even in our busy lives, we can take some time to pray, pray for calmness and peace in our hearts. We can often look to the lives of the saints and wonder how they were so calm in their lives, even though they often had good reason to worry. Many of the saints were persecuted for their faith, and some even by leaders of the Church. Mother Teresa was a woman of great faith and trust in God, she is quoted as saying “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We only have today. Let us begin.” When I begin to worry about things myself, I remember that if we trust in God everything will work out.

Padre Pio was another saint who had some incredible struggles in his life, but he was also one who had a great saying “Pray, hope, and don’t worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.” And also “My past, O Lord, to Your mercy; my present, to Your love; my future to Your providence.” My advice is to Pray, hope, work to change those things you can, and trust that God will take care of the rest. If I were to add to Mother Teresa’s quote, I would say something like we remember the beauty and good things of the past, we plan for the things in the future, but we live for today.

God Bless,
Fr. Ken

A Special Day

This Friday, something will happen that has not happened since 1968, a bishop will be ordained in the Diocese of Des Moines. Just to remind you, the bishops since, were ordained a bishop before being assigned to our Diocese.

The ordination of bishop is sometimes called the ordination to the fullness of the priesthood because there are three “levels” of ordination. The first is the diaconate, when a man is ordained to become a deacon, he is ordained into the service of Christ. In the Acts of the Apostles, the Apostles realized that they could not do everything, the teaching as well as the service to others, so guided by the Holy Spirit, they ordained seven men to help with the service at table. The next level, is the priesthood itself, but within the ordination of the priest, there is still not a fullness that happens. There are still a few things that a priest cannot do. For example, a priest cannot ordain at all, he cannot even ordain a deacon. He also cannot validly confirm someone unless the bishop allows it. Within the Diocese of Des Moines, the bishops have given a blanket authority to confirm someone at the Easter Vigil, but only those who were not baptized Catholics, that still has to have special permission given. All of the faculties (abilities) of the priest come through the ordination of the chief shepherd of the diocese which is the bishop. The next level and final level of ordination is the bishop himself. This is the highest level of ordination, all other titles are honorary ones only and men are not ordained to be Pope, they are elevated to it.

Within the Church, we have other special titles like monsignor, which is an honorary title that is given to a priest who has done special service to the diocese and is only given at certain times. 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. You will also hear the title of Cardinal, and this is given to bishops of diocese of special significance, the closest Cardinal is Cardinal Cupich of Chicago.

This Friday will be a special day for the Diocese of Des Moines as well as for a particular family within this parish. At St. Francis of Assisi Church, we will see Bishop-Elect William Joensen ordained to the Order of the Episcopacy, along with this, he will be installed as the tenth bishop of the Diocese of Des Moines, and our new shepherd. During this time, I ask a favor from all of you, and that is to keep Bishop-elect William, his family, Bishop Pates, and all the people of the Diocese in your prayers. This is an exciting time for our entire diocese and we are looking forward to the leadership of the soon to be Bishop William Joensen.

God Bless,
Fr. Ken

Adoration

This week was September 11th, it is a day that will bring an emotional reaction to many because of the attacks in 2001. But there are many other significant things that have happened on that date. It is thought that the attackers chose the September 11th date because of the significance of the defeat of the Ottoman empires armies on September 11, 1683 while trying to invade Vienna, Switzerland. Although this date is significant for American history, there is something else that is important for the prayer life of the Catholic Church that happened.

In 1226 the first recorded practice of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament was held at regular parishes. Previously it had been a long-held practice not in public, but in the privacy of a number of monasteries. This is a practice that is still held around the world, including St. Luke’s parish. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament or often just called Adoration is a wonderful time that we have to just be with Jesus.

I am sometimes asked about what we should do during Adoration, and the simple answer is to pray, and there are many ways that we can pray. From just sitting and trying to listen to where God is leading us, to praying some of the memorized wrote prayers. I often pray the Liturgy of the Hours during Adoration or even the Rosary, but that is up to each of us. Something that I really recommend during this time is to read and pray over the scripture readings for the upcoming weekend, it is a great way to be prepared for them even if there is some distraction when they are being read at Mass.

Here at St. Luke’s we have Adoration on Thursday evenings after the 5:30 Mass and we also have it on Saturday morning during Confessions from 9:00 to 10:00, and we also have it on the first Friday of the month from after the 7:45 Mass until 8:00 pm. If you have never had the experience of spending time with the Blessed Sacrament in this way, I would highly encourage it, it can be a great way to reset or really enhance your prayer life. For most people who lead busy lives like we do, it can be a challenge to just sit and listen to God until you get used to it. We often want to be “doing” something and just sitting praying does not always feel like we are doing something. For someone who is beginning this devotional practice, I would recommend starting with bringing something, like Holy Scripture, a rosary, a book of prayers, or some other devotional book to get started. After a few times of the quiet time with Jesus, most people begin to really like to just be. I myself do a combination of other prayers along with mediation during Adoration. I would recommend taking some time to spend with Jesus in this way, even if you cannot spend a whole hour, even 15 minutes would be a great start, and then you can build from there, it truly is a wonderful way to pray.

God bless,
Fr. Ken