New Year's Resolutions

Merry Christmas! We began the Christmas season in the Church this week and we will celebrate it until January 10th 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

Hard to Believe

It is hard to believe, but Christmas is this week, in just a few days, we will officially begin the Christmas season, even though most of the country has been celebrating it for quite a while. Just a reminder, the 4:00 Masses on Christmas Eve are always the busiest and we are limited in the space we will have available this year. We will have signs ready to say if the Masses are full, that we will put out when they are full. We have added a second Mass at 6:30pm as well as adding a Mass on Christmas morning. I pray that many will consider going to a different Mass than the two at 4:00. Last year, we had over 1,000 people attend the two early Masses, this year we will have room for half that.

Remember also… Christmas does not end on this Friday the 25th, but it begins! The season of Christmas goes on for a while, the exact date is dependent on a few things, some would say that the Christmas season goes on until the feast of the Epiphany (January 6th or we celebrate it on the 3rd this year), but most would say that it goes to the feast of the Baptism of the Lord (January 10th), which is the date we will use here, and others would argue that it goes until the Feast of the Presentation (February 2nd). No matter how long it is celebrated, it 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 the greatest gift that we have been and ever will be given, Christ Jesus, and take some time to reflect on the story. In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled… 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.”

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Second Week of Advent

We have arrived at the second week of Advent, our season of preparation for the coming of Christ a humble child. Again, I wanted to remind everyone to not get tired of Christmas before Christmas actually gets here. The Christmas season runs from Christmas Eve until the feast of the Epiphany and it is a wonderful time to remember Christ coming into our lives. With that, as we continue the Advent season it is a time to prepare. I am sure that many of you are preparing for the coming of Christmas, children tend to try and act a little bit better hoping for a better gift, we are running around getting gifts, or ordering them online (please remember local businesses as well,) we are cleaning the house preparing for the friends and family coming, and so many other things. I wanted to remind all of us that while it is great to prepare for all of these material things of Christmas, it is also important to prepare our hearts for the celebration of the coming of our savior. This is why we offer more confession times in the seasons of Advent and Lent, confession is a wonderful way to, as John the Baptist says to, make straight the way of the Lord in our hearts.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind us all what confession is for and what it is not for. First of all, it is not the time to vent or tell the sins that they about our spouse (or anyone else) has done, but those things that we have done. Also, leave the buts out of it, we are good at making excuses about why we do things, but this is not the time, just say those things that we are sorry for. The sacrament of Reconciliation is a great one in which we get to push that reset button in our spiritual lives. We get to reset our lives back to that of baptism. During this time, we are also continuing to celebrate this sacrament with our second graders for the first time. The sacrament of confession is a great way to unload that sin and guilt that we are carrying around. I sometimes hear that people do not want to confess because it is embarrassing, but it is better to let out that sin rather than to hold it in. I sometimes tell people who talk about Confession being embarrassing, that it should be more embarrassing to do the sin, than to confess it. Our sin is an extra burden that we do not need to carry around, we simply need to let them go and to continue to work on our lives so that we can continually draw ourselves closer to God. Remember, the Father sent his Son, our Lord and Savior for the forgiveness of sins. So, just as we are preparing our homes for Christmas, remember to prepare our hearts as well.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

A New Church Year and Christmas Masses

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, 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. We hear the words of John the Baptist who is reminding us to prepare the way for the Lord. Jesus our Savior is coming again! It is a season of anticipation and preparation. We spend a lot of time preparing the house for the coming of Christmas, we prepare food for the many different Christmas and family parties, we spend a lot of time shopping for or friends and family. How much time do we spend preparing ourselves for the coming of our Lord and Savior into our lives? It is very easy to prepare ourselves for the material things of Christmas, but do not forget the spiritual things of Christmas.

This year again, we have so many different things happening, even our preparations for the upcoming Christmas season are different, we may be ordering a few more things to be delivered, hopefully we are still supporting our local businesses. We also may be planning on doing a scaled down version of our normal Christmas routine. Speaking of this, I want to ask a favor, and that is if you usually attend the early Mass on Christmas Eve, to consider going to a later one. Last year, between the Mass Fr. Larry celebrated in the gym and the Mass I celebrated in the church, we had around 1,000 people. This year our capacity will be less than half of that. We are adding a couple more Masses to help this out. We are adding a second 6:30pm Christmas Eve Mass, along with the regular 10:00 pm Mass, and we are celebrating two Masses on Christmas morning, 8:00 and 9:30 with room to spread out in the gym as well. We are hoping that it will help to allow more people to attend in person. While I really like to see everybody here, especially in these big holidays, also remember that the obligation for Mass attendance is still suspended.

As we begin this season of preparation of the coming of our Lord and Savior as a child, remember to open our hearts to where Christ is continually calling us, into his peace and mercy. Do not let the stress of this year and the stress of the normal secular holiday season get you down, Christ our Savior is coming into the world, let us prepare for the coming of our Savior.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Thanksgiving

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 this year! This year is different; when I hear this phrase, I often am reminded of the questions that are asked at a Passover celebration by the youngest son, “what makes this night different than any other night?” In the Passover celebration, the father answers the questions with the story about the passing over from the slavery of Egypt into the promised land. We can even relate to the plagues that helped to bring about the freedom of the Jewish people from Pharaoh.

Yes, this year is different, it is a challenging one in so many different ways. We have had to cancel many of the things that we really enjoy, and even had to be separated from the reception of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, and some are still separated at this time. We have seen the devastating effects of this illness, not just those who have gotten sick from it, but the other effects. The physical effects are obvious, but there are also many more. When you also pair it with a very divided, brutal, and angry election season, it makes it even more challenging. One of the more difficult things that I have seen are the moods of people, I so many times catch myself saying that I am tired when someone asks me how I am doing. I have heard a number of times how tensions are high and people are finding it easy to snap at other people, my sisters were talking about some of their conversations in their jobs. I myself have gotten a number of people angry about something going on in the parish. Masks or no masks, more singing or less, Democrat or Republican, sports or no sports, the list can go on and on.

So again, with this year being the way it is, what is there to be thankful for? In one of my favorite movies Pollyanna, there is a line that is credited to Abraham Lincoln, “When you look for the bad in people, you will surely find it.” We can do that as well when we apply it to everything else, even 2020. In our world, there are bad things that happen, but there are also good things as well. We can choose to focus only on the bad things that are happening and let it take our joy away, or we can be reminded of the good things as well. The main thing that we can focus on that is good is that no matter what happens, God will always be there for us, even if we do not feel him. So, take some time this week to be thankful for the gifts that God continually gives us in our lives, and let his joy and peace flow through us.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Is your low battery warning light on?

Have you ever had the experience of looking down at your cell phone and seeing the low battery warning light on? You kind of get that sinking feeling. Most of the time it is not a big deal, you just put it on the charger and leave it there for a while so that the battery will get charged up. But, there are other times in which you really need to use the phone and are not around a plug, or do not have your charger with you. Most of us now have multiple places that we can charge our electronic devices. I find it funny watching people hovering around the plugins at the airport charging their phones.

When you are not able to get to a charger and you are in the middle of something, you can feel panicked or worried that you will not be able to do that phone call or zoom meeting. This happens not only with our phone, but it can happen with our lives. We can feel that we are not charged up and are running on empty. This year more than most, we can feel more and more stressed, whether it be the challenges that go along with being in a pandemic, the challenges with working at home, over the elections, whether we are still going to have a job, or even whether we can find a job. All of this takes a toll on us and it can lead us to a sense of dread or depression.

We know that keeping the phone charged is important, but what about our prayer life. Do we keep our prayer life charged? One of my priest friends reminds us to “keep that halo charged.” Our prayer life is just like a phone, if we do not take the time to charge it up, it may not be there when we really need it. There are many ways in which we can get it charged up, the celebration of the Holy Eucharist is the primary one (even in this time) but reading scripture, spending a few minutes each day just in conversation with God is another, praying the rosary, or another devotion is good as well. I often remind people to attach ourselves to a particular (or multiple) saint, they can be an incredible source of strength and comfort. There are so many times in our lives in which we don’t feel like we need prayer, but we always do.

Most people now days, would never think of walking out of their room without their cell phone, let alone leaving home without it, but how about leaving home without spending some time with God. There are so many different ways that we can pray, I often recommend turning off the radio in the car and praying. It could be something as simple as praying the rosary, or taking some time in conversation with God. Just as we make sure that we keep those electronic devices charged, remember to take some time to charge up your prayer life and to always make sure that you are taking God with you wherever you go.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

The School Addition Has Begun

This past week, they should have begun to move dirt for the Phase II addition. I know that this has been a long time coming, at least two years and three iterations of plans, but we are beginning. I know that this is an odd time of the year to begin construction, but if we do not begin now, we will not have enough room in the school for all of the classes. We still have the flexible meeting room in the building, and it does have its own entrance and is isolated from the rest of the school, so that we can have meetings in the room while school or religious education is going on and have the security for the students. This is a wonderful thing to get started, because we are a growing parish.

The good news is that we have a significant amount of cash for the project in hand, and we have a good amount of pledges to cover most of the cost, but we are still short about $300,000 and we do need to raise that so that we will not incur any more long-term debt. I wanted to give a large thank you to the building committee and the finance committee for helping to get this going, and while we have a lot to work on still, I feel confident that we are on the right track. While I personally tend to be someone who worries, I also keep reminding myself to trust in God and stay close to Him and everything will work out in the end. We have a number of challenges, mostly financial, in the parish here, but we have a young and vibrant parish that helps to raise my hope that we can do this.

Over the last few months, whenever something is odd that happens, I keep hearing well, it is 2020! Yes, this year has had more than its share of challenges, there are also some really good things that have happened and will continue to happen before it is over. This is one of them. God in the past has shown us the path that we need to be on and he will always guide us if we are willing to keep our eyes open and have that courage to follow him. This addition has been a long time coming and it will serve us well in the future. I continue to pray for the success of this project and I ask all of you to pray for the success as well as where each of us can help in other ways.

Again, I wanted to thank everyone who has supported the parish of St. Luke in the past and all who continue to do so. Trust in God, and everything will work out.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Things

A few years ago, I was in the thrift store that the parish ran in Creston and was amazed at the mountain of stuff that was donated just over the weekend. I began to think that at some point someone looked at whatever the item was at a store or on a commercial and told themselves “I have to have that thing” or they would not have purchased it. So many of the things that come in were never used or worn, they were purchased or received as a gift and then got put away in a closet or basement and then donated. I can only imagine the price of these things when they were purchased new and are now sold for anywhere from a quarter to a couple of dollars. We as Americans are constantly bombarded by the many messages that give us an opportunity to be parted with our money. Turn on the TV and just look at some of the ads, your car makes your kids embarrassed, so if you want to be a cool parent, buy this one, we will even help you to go into debt to buy it, or if you want to pick up a member of the opposite sex, just drink this beer, or if you want to jump like Michael Jordan, buy these shoes… the list goes on and on. I can fool myself by saying that the ads do not affect me, but I find myself seeing something in the store that I saw on an ad and wanted to buy it just to see what it is like. The more ads we see, the more we are affected. The best way to circumvent it is to practice self-control, the same goes with sin, sin like in advertising seems really attractive, but in the end, like all of the things that get donated, they leave us unfulfilled. The devil always promises us something that is good, otherwise we would not choose it, just look at the temptation of Jesus. However, the good that sin portrays, always comes with a cost. Jesus knew that he had access to whatever the devil promised anyway and had something better. The cost of sin always affects our soul. The point of the devil is to offer us something that we think that we need, even if he does not have the power to give it to us, the point of advertising is to make something good, so that the next time we are in a store, we will purchase it, even if we do not need it. This is where we need to have that self-control in purchasing, but more importantly in our spiritual life. It is easy to say, don’t fall into the temptation to sin, but it is not that easy to follow. The best way to not fall into the temptation to purchase something is to make a list of things that you need to purchase and only get those. The best way to not fall into sin is to draw close to God who will give us the power to overcome sin.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Who was St. Luke the Evangelist

This Sunday, October 18th we celebrate the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, and since it falls on Sunday we use the Mass in his honor. One of the common symbols of St. Luke is the Ox, and this is why we have switched our parish festival to Oxtoberfest. Since we are celebrating the feast of our namesake, I thought that it would be good to write about him. The ox comes from the prophet Ezekiel who has a vision about a creature with four faces that of an ox, that of a man, that of an eagle, and that of a lion. The ox is a symbol because this was an animal that was used for sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins and St. Luke begins his Gospel with the sacrifice of Zacharias. First and foremost, we know that he was the writer of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, we say writer and not author because the author of all of scripture is God, humans only write them with the inspiration of God. Another reason for the ox is that St. Luke’s Gospel has a heavy focus on the mercy and forgiveness of God. We have St. Luke to thank for the story of the Prodigal Son and the woman who washes the feet of Jesus with her tears.

We also know that he was highly educated, because he was a physician, and we know this from a couple of different sources, first from St. Paul who calls him the “the beloved physician” and second from Church historians like Eusebius, St. Jerome, St. Irenaeus who all refer to St. Luke as a physician. There is also a discussion about where St. Luke came from, most would claim the he was Greek and was a Gentile who became a disciple of Christ. There is evidence because he is not listed when Paul mentions in the Letter to the Colossians those who were “of the circumcision” which would mean the Jewish people, but he is mentioned later along with someone called Demas. There is also a theory that St. Luke was a slave. We also know that St. Luke joined St. Paul in many of his journeys but not always. St. Luke first met up with St. Paul in Troas and traveled with him for quite a while then were apart for about seven years when they traveled again through Caesarea and Jerusalem. He was most likely with St. Paul when he was arrested and thrown in prison in Rome, even though it does not seem that he was in prison with him.

St. Luke also is one that has a special connection with the Blessed Mother, because he was the only one who has the account of the Annunciation as well as the Magnificat prayer. He was also one who put the account of the Presentation in the temple, as well as the finding in the temple. He is also the one that we have to thank for the first part of the Hail Mary prayer which comes from the Annunciation and from the Visitation.

There are some conflicting stories of St. Luke’s death, but most say that he was martyred around the year 84, and his relics are in the Basilica di Santa Guistina in Padua, Italy.

God can work all things for good

During one year in seminary, I found myself living off of less than five dollars a day for food during a pilgrimage (Don’t worry: it was not because the Annual Diocesan Appeal support or all of the generosity shown towards seminarians gets lost in the mail somewhere; it was because I’m cheap and was working on traveling light). During that same year, I found myself at a dinner with three forks on the left, three knifes on the right, three glasses in front, and at least three courses on their way; the whole works. Granted, both of these examples are fairly exceptional to the seminary education experience, but that variety does speak to Paul’s words from his Letter to the Philippians which we have this weekend as the Second Reading: “I know how to live in humble circumstances; I know how also to live with abundance […] I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry.” Paul sees neither times of abundance nor times of poverty as inherently good or bad, to be sought or avoided. He sees them more like the seasons: spring and fall, summer and winter, they can each serve and have a beneficial role to play in the agricultural world.

It is Scriptural passages like this that lay the foundation for St. Ignatius’s Principle of Indifference, also called Ignatian Indifference:

For this it is necessary to make ourselves indifferent to all created things […] ; so that, on our part, we want not health rather than sickness, riches rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, long rather than short life, and so in all the rest; desiring and choosing only what is most conducive for us to the end for which we are created.

And that “end for which we are created,” as expressed in the first paragraph of the Catechism, is “to seek [God], to know Him, to love Him with all [our] strength,” and to “share in His own blessed life.” That “blessed life” is what we usually call Heaven: that eternal union with the God who loves us. In both the First Reading and the Gospel, heaven is referred to as a banquet, specifically a wedding banquet. It is a place of joy and rejoicing, a place where long-separated family comes together in celebration. It is a place of abundance, a place of infinite goodness and, therefore, far more than enough to last us forever.

That Heaven is what we’re always aiming for, our final end. In that aiming, Paul and Ignatius consider all things (rich or poor, sickness or health, better or worse) as but means to that end: means by which we can pursue and offer ourselves more fully to God and means by which God can draw us ever closer to Himself. So, in those things we so often have no choice about, whether it’s a good day or not, a good month or not, don’t forget: God can work all things for good, not just the things we think He can.

God Bless,
Fr. Ken

Praying with the Saints

One of the topics that I often like to talk about is the Saints. Usually when someone asks me about ways to pray, I recommend starting with wrote prayer (our memorized prayers), meditational prayer and having that conversation with God, praying with Sacred Scripture, and often times praying with the saints.

Some of the reasons that I like to recommend praying with the saints, is that first of all, they were just regular people like us, they were born, they lived, they made mistakes, sinned, but in the end, they ended up living out the life that God was calling them to.

When praying with the saints, i usually recommend to find a topic that you can relate to and then look up a patron saint that is related to that. For example, if you are someone who loves music, then St. Cecilia is the patron saint of music and musicians, because she heard heavenly music in her heart when she was married. If you have a passion for sports, St. Sabastian is the patron saint of athletes because he was a strong soldier who was shot so full of arrows that he looked like a pin-cushion. There are some things that there are many patron saints that will help and guide; the Blessed Virgin Mary is the first one that will come to mind, as well as St. Anne, her own mother who taught her, St. Martha who was a friend of Jesus who famously complained that her sister was sitting at the feet of Jesus instead of helping her with the work of the house, St. Monica the mother of St. Augustine, she prayed for years that her son would have a conversion of heart and become a Christian, as well as many others for mothers. For fathers, there are also a number of them that can help us; St. Joseph the husband of Mary who is also the patron saint of the Church, St. Joachim, the grandfather of Jesus, St. Thomas More, who thought that he was to be a monk, but was called to be a husband and father, St. Maximilian Kolbe, who gave his life for a father with young children, as well as many others. If you like to cook, St. Lawrence, he is the patron saint of cooks, ironically, because he was grilled to death.

Sometimes you can be drawn to a saint for other reasons, for example, I am drawn to St. Anthony because I was born on his feast day, and I forget a lot of things and he is the patron saint of lost items. I am also fond of Therese of Lisieux, because of the holy life that she led, and of Mother Theresa because of her missionary zeal.

There are so many wonderful examples for us out there and they are an incredible help, we simply need to utilize them. You quite literally can find a patron saint of just about any activity or hobby, so look one up and then find out why they happen to have the patronage that they have. With the obvious exception of Mary, the saints weren’t perfect, but they did end up in the glory that God is offering each and every one of us.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

One more week!

Next weekend, June 27-28th we will be able to come together again for Sunday Masses! I am so excited about this and hoping that you are also. If you have been to any of the daily Masses, you will have noticed some of the changes that we will be following. I would highly recommend coming a bit early, so that there will not be a large group of people in the gathering space. There will also be copious amounts of hand sanitizer available to sanitize hands. We also will have less than half of the space available in the church nave itself, half of our pews are blocked off and then families will need to be sitting 6 feet apart, so I am not going to set a number, because it is possible for 3 couples to occupy a single pew, as well as 2 families of 4-6 people can occupy one. So, I am asking for your cooperation and patience with this process.

We will also have video in the gym so that we can have extra seating available. This should allow us to be able to accept everyone who wants to come to Mass the ability to do so, yes, it is not ideal for many reasons, but it is the only way that we will be able to accommodate everyone. So, please out of Christian charity, do not get upset at an usher or greeter if they ask you to proceed to the gym or ask you to slide over a bit. I am asking for everyone to walk single file down the middle of the aisle between the taped lines. If someone needs to go to the back of church after sitting but before Mass starts, they should walk back out via the side aisles until after the start of Mass.

As for the Mass itself, the priest and all ministers are required to wear a mask and it will be highly recommended for everyone else to wear a mask. I know that there are many different opinions both within the scientific and medical communities. However, the committee that the bishop has been getting his advice from recommends it.

For the reception of Holy Communion, I am asking for a single line down the middle of the center aisle and to remain 6 feet apart as a family group. Also, it is recommended that if you normally receive Holy Communion on the tongue to receive on the hand if you feel comfortable, if you would still prefer to receive on the tongue to come to my line and I will distribute it to you.

At the end of Mass, I am also asking that people be conscious when leaving, to not leave in one mass group, but to leave by rows and to not congregate in the gathering space or around the doors outside the entrances to the church. After Mass, I will be asking for a couple of volunteers to help sanitize the church by spraying down the pews and wipe them off and wiping off all door handles. I would strongly recommend to put on a pair of gloves that we have available to both protect your hands from the chemicals as well as to help with the sanitizing of the church.

I am looking forward to having everyone here to celebrate Mass with us.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

A Wonderful and Challenging Thing Happened

Friday night we had a wonderful and challenging thing happen, we had three men ordained to be deacons for the diocese, with the expectation that they would be ordained priests next year! It was wonderful, because it has been a while since that happened and with God’s grace, we will have two more ordained in December so that next summer we will have FIVE men ordained priests! It will be a very special event. The challenging part of that, is that traditionally the majority of the priest and deacon community comes together to celebrate with those who were ordained and celebrate as a diocese this incredible event, but with the current situation, only a few priests and a small number of family members were able to be present to be with them. I personally participated with Alex, our seminarian, and Fr. James Downey our soon to be associate pastor.

We commented on the fact of how empty the cathedral looked for such a wondrous occasion. It was a reminder of how the Mass has been celebrated over the last couple of months, and how challenging it can be. But the pure fact is, that now, Reed Flood, Bradley Robey, and Jake Epstein are now ordained deacons of the Church, whether we or anyone else was there in person. Also, it will be an ordination that no one will ever forget!

Just like the Masses we have celebrated in these last couple of months. I was filled with joy on Thursday evening when over 70 people showed up for the first public Mass we celebrated here at St. Lukes and I am anxiously looking forward to the next couple of weeks in which we can celebrate the Sunday Masses together in person. Just as whether or not we were physically present in the ordination of these three men, they are now deacons of the Church, and just as whether or not others are present in the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Jesus is still present among us, in body and spirit.

I hope that you all share in my excitement at our coming together again to receive Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. But… even in these challenging times, we can relish in the fact that Jesus came to be with us and continually invites us to be a part of his life, whether or not we can be in his presence physically. Just being a part of the celebration via video is a poor substitution for being there, we will be together again soon. Just as seeing a glimpse of the kingdom of heaven in the creation of God is a poor substitution for the true kingdom, we do know that there is something better and we long to be a part of it. Keep praying for these three men, the two who, with discernment and the grace of God will be ordained as well, all of our other seminarians, and also for those who need to answer the call to serve God in the priesthood. Congratulations Deacon Reed Flood, Deacon Bradley Robey, and Deacon Jake Epstein.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Retreats

In a normal year… I would be planning on going on retreat next week, but as we all know, that this is not anywhere close to a normal year. In the first week of June the priests of the Diocese of Des Moines usually meet at Conception Abbey in Northwest Missouri and spend a few days together to kind of regroup spiritually. We have the opportunity to pray together, listen to a spiritual director with a topic, celebrate the Mass together, and even spend some down time talking and maybe even spend some time just relaxing.

Retreats can be a wonderful time if you ever get the opportunity to do one, which I know that working parents would have a difficult time to do. As a priest, Canon Law (Church Law) requires that priests take a spiritual retreat at least once a year, because in a busy parish, we may not always get the opportunity to spiritually recharge in the daily life. Some of the retreats that I have been on have been mediocre, but I have also had some incredible retreat experiences in my life that have really strengthened my faith. I remember when I was in seminary that I was really considering leaving, but then we had an eight-day silent retreat. This means that we were not allowed to talk, read newspapers, surf the internet, text, watch TV, or anything like that for eight days! The silent retreats can be difficult to get into, but in many ways, they really help to get in touch with God’s guidance in the Holy Spirit. During this retreat, I had a great strengthening of my vocation because of the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

This weekend we also celebrate the feast of Pentecost in which the Disciples had an incredible experience that changed their faith and gave them the courage to go out into the world to preach the Gospel of Jesus. Jesus promised that he would send the Paraclete or the Holy Spirit to guide them and on Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon the Disciples to give them the courage and the abilities to be able to fulfill their mission to spread the faith to the world, and they did.

The Holy Spirit is still working in our world even today, but we need to calm ourselves to be able to listen to him, and retreats can help us to do that, but they are not the only way. We sometimes need to work for some silence in our lives. A book that I really enjoyed was from Cardinal Sarah called “The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise” Cardinal Sarah reminds us that to truly hear that whisper of God we need to get into the silence and a retreat is a wonderful way to do that.

Even if we do not have an opportunity to do a spiritual retreat, maybe take some “micro” retreats in which we find a nice quiet place, turn off our phone, break out the Sacred Scriptures or find a good spiritual book and spend some time with God each and every day, and with God’s grace we will all be on fire with the Holy Spirit just like the Apostles were.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Summer is here!

This weekend we have the official kickoff to summer… Memorial Day weekend, even though the weather leading up to it does not feel like it. As we celebrate this day, we should be reminded that it is more than just another day off of work, or that it is often a day of picnics and grilling, the end of the school year, or even the beginning of summer. Memorial Day is a day that we set aside to remember those who have gone before us, especially those who have given their lives in service of our nation.

Memorial Day was proclaimed by General John Logan the national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic on May 5th, 1868 and celebrated on May 30th of that year as a remembrance of both the confederate and union soldiers that were at Arlington National Cemetery. It was made a national holiday by the National Holiday Act of 1971. It has been expanded to not only remember those who have died serving our country, but to remember all of our beloved dead. It is difficult sometimes to remember those who have died because it can bring back the emotions of missing them, but we also know as Christians that there is a hope that we will see them again. During the funeral liturgy there is a beautiful prayer that is said as we are leaving the Church and getting ready to go to the cemetery that says “May the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs come to welcome you and take you to the holy city, the new and eternal Jerusalem.” This is the hope that we have the hope in eternal life with the Father.

Within our celebration of Memorial Day, like all days, should include prayer, but on this day prayers in a special way remembering those who have gone before us. Our memorial should include prayers for those who have died, but also those who are currently serving our nation in its military. We should pray that one day we can change the role of our military from that of combat to that of service for the good of all the peoples. One of my prayers for Memorial Day is that we one-day set aside all of our differences and never again have to live with the fear of violence, but that day will only happen when we see the goodness that God has really given all people and we can live out the message that Jesus himself gives us to love God above all things, and our neighbor as ourselves. As we continue to work through these strange times, we can add a prayer for those who are serving to help protect us each day.

Take some time on Monday to pray for those who have died, those who have sacrificed themselves for freedom and to remember to thank God for His many gifts He has given us.

Special note to all: We want to thank those who continue to tithe, remember us with gifts and donations. April was a good month for the Parish and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. May God continue to bless your families and our Parish.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

A Tough Subject This Week

During this time in which we are home a lot more, and maybe have a bit more free time, we can often fall into some old habits or addictions. There is a subtle difference between the two, but basically a habit is something that we automatically do, whether good or bad, because we are used to doing it. An addiction on the other hand, is something that we do because we must do it and we often have little power on our own to stop it. We all know that addictions can cause major issues, we know that smoking can cause health issues, addictive use of alcohol and drugs can seriously affect our lives. Those are the addictions that most people think of when we mention addictions, but out there that are not often talked about; addictive hoarding, shopping and one that I am going to focus on in this article, pornography. It is one of the most addictive things out there and while some people don’t see it as a problem, but it is something that can ruin lives. It can drive a wedge in a marriage, change the way we see others, and can lead to other destructive behaviors. There are some scary statistics about it, the average age for the first viewing of hard-core pornography is now under 10 and 65% of the people between the ages of 13-24 actively seek it out at least weekly! It is commonly thought to be just a problem with males, but more and more, females are becoming addicts, with teens being the highest bracket affected. These statistics are kind of scary, and should be for parents of young children. We normally do not think that we should discuss this with young children, but we should do it in an appropriate way. For teens it should be at a higher level, and with the younger ones, we should do it in a way that is appropriate for them, a good resource is a book called “good pictures, bad pictures” they also make a jr version of it. For electronic devices, there are a number of decent filters out there that can help to block access, most are not perfect, but they can help.

For those who may be currently struggling with an addiction, there is support available as well. There are a number of good websites available fightthenewdrug.org is a pretty decent one, as well as some good filtering programs Covenanteyes is a pretty good one. In a recent priest study day, we had a priest from another diocese talk about his own struggle and overcoming his addiction. assessingpornaddiction.com is a good self-check for ourselves but we need to be honest with ourselves. He recommended a good process to get us through an addiction. Having a good and open Confession is a great start to it, second is to close off our access to porn, third is having accountability to someone, whether it be a spouse or close friend, fourth is counseling, Catholic Charities counseling services is a good starting place, and fifth is to stay vigilant! I know that this is not a fun topic, but it is one that is important and with God’s help, we can overcome anything.

God's blessing,
Fr. Ken

Happy Mother’s Day!

This weekend we will be celebrating Mother’s Day!

It is a holiday that we have only been celebrating for about a hundred years. This year we are again going to be celebrating it in a much different way than we have in the past as we have been doing for everything in the last month and a half. Most of us have a very fond memory of our mothers. We love them and care about them. A mother’s love is a very special one, even in Sacred Scriptures it is mentioned.

In the Gospel of John, it talks about when a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.

Even Jesus himself listened to his mother at the wedding feast of Cana that I talked about last week, after the finding in the temple Jesus went down with Mary and Joseph and was obedient to them. While on the Cross, Jesus still wanted to know that his mother was going to be taken care of, so he entrusted her to the disciple whom he loved. God himself knows about the special love of a mother, and wants us to know that as well. Even though we may not be able to be with our mothers in this time we can still pray for them. If our mother has passed away, pray for her that she will be in the loving arms of God, if we are estranged from her, pray that God will bring healing in her and your hearts, if we are physically far away from her call her, or even if we are just away from her because of the pandemic, call her as well or maybe drive by the house and honk.

The respect for parents is so strong that God even gave us a commandment to honor them. I know that everyone does not always have a good relationship with our parents, but we can continue to pray for healing and to remember that we have the perfect mother in the kingdom of heaven that is always interceding for us in the Blessed Virgin Mother. For most, though we do have a good relationship and we can remember those wonderful times (and still remember our perfect mother in heaven.)

During Mother’s Day we often think of what we should get our mothers, but sometimes the greatest gift is to be with them. I think that it is fun to hear stories about different traditions within families about different holidays, or events. A friend of mine who has a couple of her kids that do not go to Mass every Sunday and others that go to different parishes, asks her kids for the gift of coming to Mass with her on Mother’s Day and then do something together. As we celebrate this Mother’s Day in the best way that we can, let us always remember to ask our heavenly mother to pray for our mothers. Happy Mother’s Day!

God bless,
Fr. Ken

May is for Mary

We have moved into the month of May and during this month we as a Church honor the Blessed Virgin Mary. The practice of dedicating May to Mary has been around for over 700 years. 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 he responds, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” To which she responds to tell the waiters to do whatever Jesus tells 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! 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. Throughout history Mary has interceded for us and also has appeared many times to give us hope in times of trial. Mary has a special role in our history, and that role is to bring Jesus to us and us to Jesus.

May is the month in which we are reminded to pray the rosary and other devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary asking for her intercession. 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 this month 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,
Father Ken

Happy Easter season!

We have gotten through the most bizarre Holy Week and Octave of Easter that I have ever been a part of. Even though there are many challenges that we are still facing, the one thing that we can always take out of the resurrection of Jesus is hope. Hope that we will get through this challenging time and hope that we will continue to see the many blessings that God has bestowed on us. I think that the Scripture readings in this past week or so have been so fitting for us in what we are going through at this time.

The Apostles and disciples were confused about what was happening to them as well as what was happening in the world around them. Mary Magdala went to the tomb and saw Jesus but did not recognize him until he called her by name, because she wasn’t expecting him to be alive, but he called her back to him and sent her to the others.

The Apostles for a while were still hiding out in the Upper Room until Jesus came to them and breathed the Holy Spirit upon them and sent them out. We too are hiding in our rooms and a blessing that we can remember is that we have that room to spend the time in. Peter and the other Apostles were kind of going back to their previous lives, for example Peter mentions that he is going fishing and the others join him, even though they catch nothing that night, Jesus appears to them on the shore in the morning and guides them to a huge catch.

This reminds us that when we are lacking something, if we listen to Jesus, he will lead us to a super-abundance. In our time of confusion and uncertainty we need to use the example of those who were with Jesus and going through the Passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus with him. Even though they were confused and worried, they still trusted in him.

I know that I have used this quote that I have in my office in the past, but it is one that is very fitting for us in this time “The deeds and miracles of Jesus are not actions of the past. Jesus is waiting for those who are still prepared to take risks at his word because they trust in his power utterly.” Do we still trust that our Lord will help us to get through this time? I know that there are many people who are worried about many things, like health, finances, freedoms, supplies, etc., but keep praying, keep trusting in his word and we will cease to be confused because we trust in him utterly.

God bless,
Father Ken

How is the fasting going?

This week we break out the rose or pink vestments again as a celebration that we really do rejoice in the Lenten season, even though we are fasting.

This Sunday is called Laetare Sunday from the entrance antiphon which states Laetare Jerusalem or rejoice O Jerusalem, it comes from the Psalm “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. I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord…”. Our celebration of Laetare Sunday is to give us hope through our fasting, and is celebrated here, because we are over the half-way point of the Lenten season.

So, how is the fasting going? Is it getting easier because we are in the habit of it, or is it harder because we have not had it for a while? The purpose of fasting is to use the temptation that we feel to increase our self-control so we can be better at moving away from the temptation to sin. We rejoice in our self-control because it really does lead us to freedom, the freedom from sin. When we are slaves to an addiction, no matter what it is, whether it be gossip, alcohol, drugs, pornography, or anything else, the addiction does not give us the freedom to live our lives as we should, or want to, so we are slaves.

Currently the number one addiction in our nation is pornography and it is affecting kids younger and younger. The average age of first exposure is now less than 10, and as most other addictions, it leads to other problems in our lives. The practice of fasting helps us in the building of our self-control leads us to the true freedom that God wants us to have, so we can rejoice, even in our suffering. We also know that in our temptation, we are not in this alone.

A couple of weeks ago, we heard the Gospel passage in which Christ himself was tempted and he overcame the temptation as an example for us. He himself suffered and he accepted that suffering also for us. We can overcome temptation, suffering, and death with His help. Lent is really a beautiful time of the year and really is a season in which we can rejoice in the practices that we are doing during this season. We can also rejoice because of all of the opportunities during this wonderful season we have to grow in our faith as we prepare our hearts and minds for the upcoming Easter season.

Fr. Ken Halbur