You Cannot Serve God And Mammon

A while back, I was flipping through the channels on TV early in the morning, and ran across one of the prosperity gospel preachers. The theme with them is that if you are living your life well, God will reward you with wealth on this earth. This preacher was trying to reconcile the fact that Jesus states that we should not store up treasures on earth with the idea that you should be materially wealthy. He states that what Jesus meant was when we are in heaven, we don’t need any treasure, so when we do good works God stores up treasure for us from the good things that we do and then, He will give it to us on earth in the form of a good spouse, nice house, nice car, etc.

My reaction to that, is according to that logic, the Colombian drug lords must have been really good, because they have great treasure on earth, while all of those other people in developing countries must be horrible people, since their lives are a financial struggle. This idea basically states that God is the giant ATM in the sky who gives us money and houses and airplanes because we are good.

Umm … NO.

Jesus follows this up with the statement “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” and “You cannot serve God and mammon.” Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with being wealthy, money is only a tool, in so many ways, each of us are wealthy. In fact, most parishes benefit greatly from the wealthy, because they tend to have more disposable income to be able to donate to larger projects. So, yes, money is just like any other tool that we use. Instead of trading objects, we now use currency to be able to store our wealth easier.

Even the idea of being rich is a matter of perspective, depending on who you are, your needs, where you live, and many other factors. The median yearly income for the US is around $43,000 but, the worldly median income is $9,700, and in Liberia it is $781. Could you imagine trying to live on $781 a year? So, in the end, it is really not about wealth, it is about what we do with it.

I am always concerned when someone states that you can tell how morally good or bad someone is by how wealthy they are, because that is not the point of faith. The point is to bring us to the glory of heaven, where there is no need of anything else. God gives us many different tools in our lives to store up treasures in heaven. He gives us wealth and abilities so that we can share them with others. He also gives us other gifts so that we use those as well to show the kingdom of God to all we meet.

Fr. Ken

I clearly remember a day...

I clearly remember a day back in March of 2019 in which I was having coffee and a doughnut at St. Edward Parish in Afton, when my cell phone rang and the caller ID was the Chancery or offices of the Diocese. When I answered it, I heard the very distinctive voices of Bishop Pates and Fr. Michael. We talked for a while and then they asked me to come to St. Luke’s. Over the next few weeks we had a number of meetings in which Bishop Pates asked me to make sure that the building project happened.

This weekend we are finally able to show the building off, even though there are a few things that we need to finish, like moving in furniture. At this point we expect to receive our temporary occupancy certificate early this week and we are planning on beginning the moving process Wednesday the 4th at 9:00. We would like some help with that, so if you would like to join us to help, it would be great! We have some heavy tables to move in, desks, and other furniture that needs to go into the classrooms. I know that this has been a long process, with multiple pauses, cost increases, and other challenges, but it has finally happened, and Misty, the entire staff, and I are so thankful for all of the support that we have had in this process.

There are a couple of wonderful features of this new addition:

First, there are six very large new classrooms for kindergarten, first, and second grades for the school day, and we are hoping to get Catechesis of the Good Shepherd started up in two of the rooms soon, if we can get the volunteers together. The classrooms will also be utilized by the Religious Education group so it does not benefit the school only.

Second, we have four new storage rooms in which we store all of the things that we have here and stored in other places, including the rectory basement.

Third, we have a new flexible meeting space. This space has a movable wall in which we can have two small meetings or a medium size single meeting going on. It can also be used to have some funeral lunches if we need to have them. This meeting space is isolated from the school so that we can use it during the school day and still keep the security that we want for the school children and faculty.

While this has been a bit of a struggle, I would also like to thank Fr. Larry for getting the process started, Fr. Adam for continuing to work with it as well, getting it to a point to hand it off to me, all of the people on the building committee, and especially those who donated time and treasure to get us to this point. Yes, I have already been asked when we will begin the next, phase of building, but we will worry about that later!

Thank you again for all of the support everyone provided!

Fr. Ken

Take A Deep Breath

This weekend (July 24-25) is the expiration of the dispensation from the Sunday Obligation. Last week, we covered what a Catholic’s obligations actually are. As a refresher, the “indispensable minimum” to fulfill our yearly liturgical/sacramental requirements amounts to:

1. Attending the 58-ish obligated Masses (Sundays plus Holy Days of Obligation)

2. Going to the Sacrament of Confession at least once, preferably during Lent

3. Receiving the Eucharist at least once during the Easter Season
   *for a full list, from the source, go to Paragraphs 2041-2043 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church*

Why so many Masses? Because the Mass is where we directly encounter the Eucharist, our God. The Eucharist is the Source and Summit of the Christian life; It is what binds us to the God with Whom we hope to spend eternity and It is what nourishes us and keeps us alive on the way. Only going to Church twice a year is like thinking you only need to breath once every three minutes: there’s a slight chance you could survive like that briefly or in dire necessity without immediately suffering permanent damage or death, but it is not a thing you want to make a norm. The Mass and the Obligation are there to help make sure that we don’t drown in the cares of daily life. Sunday is the Lord’s Day so that no seven days go by without us having the chance to surface, take a deep breath, be restored in the Presence of our God, and remember that being with Him is the only thing that matters in the end. Otherwise, when a week turns into two, turns into twenty, it gets easier and easier to forget that we are made for something more than a 40-80+ hour/week grind until we retire or die. To reject the Mass is to reject the greatest gift we’ve been given as well as the God Who gave it. That’s why missing or skipping Mass just because I don’t feel like it, its inconvenient, or because I have other priorities always constitutes a grave sin.

One last thing to remember: our God doesn’t ask the impossible. These obligations hold for all who are capable of fulfilling them and are dispensed for those who are not. If you are sick (actually sick), you are a parent of a young child who is sick, you’re in a hospital or care facility, you’re not old enough or too old to drive and cannot find a ride to Church (and tried to), or you have been kidnapped and can’t manage to chew through your restraints to get to the 6:00pm Mass in time, you are not guilty of that deliberate rejection of God and His grace. Last year taught much of the Church what it was like to be incapable of going to Mass, but that didn’t mean we were cut off from God. It is not the same as being in person, but when there are no options, it is amazing what the Lord can provide when we offer to Him what little we have, even if it is just half an hour to pray through the Sunday’s Readings and make a prayer of Spiritual Communion.

The world will tell you there are a lot of other very important things you need to take care of, but let every Sunday and every Mass be your chance to say to the world, “You know what, you’re very important to me, but you’re going to have to excuse me for a bit; I’ve got something that I really can’t miss.”

God bless,
Fr. James

Sunday Obligation

Next weekend (July 24-25) is the expiration of the dispensation from the Sunday Obligation. This obligation was temporarily suspended by extraordinary dispensation by Bishop Joensen around mid-March of 2020. It was a time of a lot of unknowns. It has been a rather dicey 16 months for everyone, but hopefully whatever unsought graces came with those months found open hearts so that we haven’t strayed far from our God.

Before the Sunday Obligation it is good to remember what it is. This obligation and others are located in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2041-2043, which covers the “Precepts of the Catholic Church”:

1) You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of Obligation.
2) You shall confess your sins at least once a year.
3) You shall humbly receive your Creator in Holy Communion at least during Easter season.
4) You shall keep holy the holy days of obligation.
5) You shall observe the prescribed days of fasting and abstinence.
0) You have the duty of providing for the material needs of the Church according to your ability*
*This one isn’t numbered, but it is included at the end of the list

Some people look at this list and see a list of burdens; more stuff authorities say you have to do or else, like taxes. But Mass and practicing your Faith are not things that only take. Most of those same people wouldn’t consider it a burden if they won the lottery and were told they had to come in person to collect it, yet the Mass offers far more than Powerball ever could.

These precepts are not burdensome obligations; they “guarantee to the faithful the indispensable minimum” to keep a person within “the context of a moral life bound to and nourished by liturgical life.” The Christian life is not a life lived on one’s own or according to one’s own rules. It’s a life that binds us to God and to our fellow man. The things deemed worth requiring are the things that bring us closest to them both: the Sacraments, especially Confession and the Eucharist. Confession can restore both the relationships between us and our God and us and our neighbor, relationships we so often injure or destroy. With those bonds of love restored, we are in a good place to participate in the Mass, where the Body of Christ (us) comes together and is reunited with its Head in the celebration of the Body of Christ (the Eucharist).

Daily Masses are great, but the greater days have always been Sundays, a weekly renewal of our Resurrection-based Faith, and the Holy Days of Obligation: Mary Mother of God, Epiphany, Ascension, Corpus Christi, Assumption, All Saints, Immaculate Conception, Christmas. Some of these solemnities change date each year, some are fixed to a date, and some are permanently moved to it’s nearest Sunday (in which case your obligation double-dips). So, in order to fulfill their yearly obligations, a Catholic attends the 58-ish obligatory Masses (58-ish hours per year, depending on who’s preaching), goes to Confession at least once (preferably in Lent), and receives the Eucharist at least once in the Easter season. These are the particulars, but tune into next week’s bulletin for the real reasons why…

To Be Continued…

Saints

Often times I talk about the named Saints, because the saints are ones who may not have been perfect and even if they did not live the earlier parts of their lives in a good and holy way, they had a conversion in some way that brought them back on the path to God. However, there are a few interesting saints that we call saints, even though they really are not in the traditional sense, because they were not even human, and those are the Archangels. There is not even a question, because the basic definition of a saint is someone who is in heaven. We know of three Archangels from Scripture, Raphael in the book of Tobit, Gabriel was the messenger of God who delivers the greatest message of all time, announcing to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she was going to conceive through the Holy Spirit, the Savior of the World, and finally, Michael, who is mentioned in the book of Revelation.

Michael is the one who will lead the army of Heaven against the devil in the end, he is one that we often are reminded to pray to for strength. The Archangel Michael is also one who is a defender of the Church. He is most often portrayed with a flaming sword standing on top of the devil and pushing him back into hell. In the speech that Pope Francis gave while dedicating Vatican City to both St. Joseph and St. Michael the Archangel a few years ago, he says “Michael struggles to restore divine justice and defends the People of God from his enemies, above all by the enemy par excellence, the devil. And St. Michael wins because in him, there is He, God, who acts. This sculpture reminds us then that evil is overcome, the accuser is unmasked, his head crushed, because salvation was accomplished once and for all in the blood of Christ.” And “We are not alone on the journey or in the trials of life, we are accompanied and supported by the Angels of God, who offer, so to speak, their wings to help us overcome so many dangers, in order to fly high compared to those realities that can weigh down our lives or drag us down. In consecrating Vatican City State to St. Michael, the Archangel, I ask him to defend us from the evil one and banish him.”

We are constantly reminded in news stories that there is evil in this world and we need God’s help even through His angels and saints. We should be reminded of St. Michael’s strength in the prayer of Saint Michael “Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the Divine Power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.”

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Fourth of July and Unity

This weekend we celebrate the Independence of this great nation. The Fourth of July Holiday is one, like many other ones, that have lots of traditions. From parades, fireworks, cookouts, swimming, family time, and many others, we even here have started a tradition to come out on the west lawn of the church to watch the fireworks. One of the traditions that I think that we need to continue to do and to build on, and that is to pray, pray for our families, for our friends, our Church, and especially for our nation.

Currently, I personally have been avoiding watching the news on television because I get so disappointed with the level of division that we have in our nation, right or left, conservative or progressive. I see politicians on both side of the aisle name calling and blaming the other side for the problems that we have. I also see this within our Church, God is calling us to follow him and the devil is using his tools to fight against that. The reality is that it is up to all of us to begin to work together for the greater good of all of us.

One of the things I think that the pandemic has brought out is a greater division in us. We are social beings by nature, and one of the things that all of us desire is a sense of belonging, whether we are introverted or extroverted, we want to belong to something. God wants us to also belong to him and him to us, but God also wants that to be a free choice that we have to make. God will not force us to be with him, even though it might be easier for us, he has given us that freedom to follow or not, it really is our choice.

One of the greatest tools of the devil is division because pitting us against each other does not allow for peace, but strife and struggle. When we are focused on the differences that we have, we fail to look at the ways that we are alike and then we fail to look toward the only true one who can truly help us and that is God. He made us in his likeness and image, so in this way we are all alike, we are all children of the living God who loves us so much that he sent his Son into the world to free us from sin and death, if we are willing to let them go.

Keep praying for healing in our Church, our Nation, and our own lives and remember that this holiday is a remembrance that we can freely come together to be a people of unity.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Pray For Vocations

This past Friday, God willing we had five men that were ordained to the priesthood for our diocese; Max Carson, Jake Epstein, Reed Flood, Brad Robey, and Nick Stark. Next year with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit, we will have three more that will be ordained to the priesthood. This is the first time in around 30 years that we have had five men ordained priests for the Diocese of Des Moines, in fact, the last time was when Fr. Michael Amadeo was ordained a priest. The calling to the priesthood is not for every man, it is something that has to be discerned by both the man, as well as the seminary, bishop, and Church as a whole. In seminary, I remember quite a few guys that dropped out of seminary, that I felt would make wonderful priests, but they, or their formation team and diocese felt otherwise. Some of these guys I keep in touch with and they are making wonderful husbands and fathers because of their time that they spent really praying and discerning their vocation in life. Through that discernment, they decided that their calling was not the priesthood. There were also a few of the guys that went through, and some that got ordained, that I personally wondered about, but in the end, it is not my call, but God’s.

To be honest, the life of a priest is not always easy, one has to be someone who can first and foremost be a man of prayer, while also being someone who can talk in front of a group, run a multi-million-dollar corporation, be a counselor, a spiritual guide, a maintenance guy, and so many other “duties as needed.” A professor in seminary once said, “The life of the priest is not for wimps.” In this he was very true. The priesthood is so much more than a job. As a priest, you will be with people in times of great sorrow, maybe even be with someone during the worst day of their lives, but you will also be able to be with people in their greatest joys and even in some cases, the happiest days of their lives.

So, I would like to remind each and every one to pray for vocations and I would like to ask everyone to encourage someone to consider the religious life. To those young men considering the priesthood I would give this advice. If you want an easy job, don’t become a priest. If you want a job with a lot of free time or a lot of material wealth, don’t become a priest. If you want something that is more than a job, something that is challenging, something to help people in their life’s struggles and their great joys, consider the priesthood. If you want something that the blessings outweigh the difficulties, consider the priesthood. The priesthood is a wonderful calling. We priests and bishops are far from perfect people, but keep us in your prayers and help to encourage those young men to consider the calling.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Why do we stand, kneel, and sit in a Mass?

Whenever you have a group of non-Catholics come to Mass, and it is often when we have a baptism, wedding, funeral, or other special event during the Mass, you sometimes have questions, like why does the church not have cup-holders or “How do you know when and why to stand, kneel, and sit?” or, why do you stand, sit, and kneel. We sometimes don’t really know why we do these different things, but we do it because that is the way we were taught, but there is a reason for our postures during Mass.

As for the cup holders, we should be reminded that the Mass is not a form of entertainment, or a show, but it is a time of worship to God and not just another place to have our dessert coffee or soda, and yes, we still have the hour fast before we receive Communion. As for the posture, each part of the Mass has a different posture and a reason for that posture. Standing is a posture that tells us we are ready to do something, to come or go it is also a posture of honor and respect. We stand at the beginning and end of Mass because we are coming or going. We stand during the Gospel as a sign of respect for the words of Christ, the Gospels hold a higher place among the rest of the word of God because they are directly related to Christ’s bodily time on this earth. During the time of Christ, the teacher or master was the one that sat down and the students would stand around them. Sitting is a posture of relaxing as well as listening and meditation we sit during the readings and the preparation of the gifts because we are being attentive to what is going on. This is the way that students now listen, sitting so that they can be focused. Pews were a later addition in the Catholic Church; we have only had them for about 500 years. Kneeling is a sign of humility and penitence. Within the United States we kneel during the Eucharistic Prayer and at Communion time as a reminder of our humility and reverence for Christ in the Eucharistic species. To go along with this is the genuflection. This also is a reminder of our humility to Christ’s presence in the Eucharist, which is why we genuflect to the tabernacle as we enter and leave the church.

Sometimes the different postures we do at Mass are jokingly called Catholic Calisthenics but they actually do mean something and not just to get us moving so we do not fall asleep at the long sermons. So, as you stand, sit, and kneel at Mass, remember that each action helps us to give witness that we give witness to Christ in these actions.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Memorial Day

This weekend we have the official kickoff to summer… Memorial Day weekend. 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.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Mother’s Day

This weekend we will be celebrating Mother’s Day! It is a holiday that we have only been celebrating for a little over a hundred years. 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 fondly.

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 and 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, 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. 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 their 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.) Remember May is the month that we celebrate Mary, both her role in the raising of Jesus, and her continued role to bring us to Him.

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 to do something. 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

First Communion and Confirmation Masses

This weekend we are celebrating the last of the First Communion Masses and the Sacrament of Confirmation for some of our students. Over the last few weeks, we have celebrated First Communion for our 84 second graders and we finish them this Sunday. Both of these great sacraments are important milestones in the lives of our children and young adults. First Communion is wonderful because our little ones receive the Body and Blood of our Lord and Savior for the first time. Confirmation is beautiful because these young adults confirm their faith in Jesus Christ and His Church. Sometimes Confirmation is referred to becoming an adult in the Church, and in some ways that is true, but in other ways it is not. It is being an adult because they will be taking the responsibility of their faith upon themselves but it is not because Confirmation is simply the confirming of their Baptismal promises.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states “By the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence, they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed.” This weekend we pray that these young people will accept the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are being called upon them. It is interesting the timing of the Sacrament, because it was not the way that we celebrated them in the early Church. We would receive the Sacrament of Baptism first, like always, but then we would celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation shortly before we would receive First Holy Communion. There are many theories to why we changed the order, but that is the way we are celebrating them now, and it does give the students a bit more maturity to be able to take on the responsibility to accept the faith in a more adult way.

One of the great things that we can do is to pray for these students as they prepare their hearts and minds to receive this gift of the Holy Spirit. We pray that God will continue to guide them and that we ourselves will continue to allow ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit, so we can spread and defend the faith by our words and deeds. The prayer that will be said to them kind of sums up what they are to receive. “All-powerful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by water and the Holy Spirit you freed your sons and daughters from sin and gave them new life. Send your Holy Spirit upon them to be their helper and guide.”

“Give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence. Fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe in your presence.”

Where He Is Calling Us

This weekend is Vocation Awareness Weekend. This weekend was chosen because the readings at Mass are based on Jesus the Good Shepherd, the one who cares for the sheep, us, no matter what. When we hear the word vocation, we often think of what job we do or want to do, but in the Church, we often think of the vocation to priesthood. The word vocation is not simply about what we do for a job, it is about how we live our lives out. Most people in the Church are called to the vocation of the married life, but others are called to the single life, some to the religious life, and others to the ordained life. Within the parishes we hear a lot about the vocations to the priesthood, but everyone is called to a vocation. Which one are you called to? One of the saddest things I heard was at another parish, I was talking to a young man (who had discussed the priesthood with me previously) and his parents about the vocation to the priesthood, the mother said “No, I want him to be happy.” So… I guess with that comment, I am not happy as a priest?!? Anyone who knows me, would know that I am a happy person for the most part. The priesthood is a wonderful life, is it easy? Not always, but it is a blessed and a joyful life. Am I ever going to get rich as a priest? Probably not, but I do live a financially comfortable life. Am I going to have lots of free time, no, but good luck with that as a parent as well! The priesthood can and is usually a very busy and active life. One thing that I also know, is that even though there is a lot going on and I am busy, I know that I will always have help in Christ who will guide all of us if we are willing to follow. When we talk about vocations, the priesthood is not the only religious life that people can be called to, the religious life of sisters and brothers is one that we do not see a lot of lately, with the shrinking number of religious in schools and hospitals. There is hope, there are some beautiful religious orders that are growing with young men and women, we are even blessed to have a young woman from our parish to have joined the Dominican order, as well as the sister of Fr. James to have also joined the same order. God is constantly working on us and guiding us, but we do need to be open to where He is calling us. The life that we are called to is not always easy, but in the end we will be happy with it. The key to our vocational life is to have an open heart and ask God to guide each of us to where He is leading us.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Happy Easter!

We are continuing to celebrate the Easter Season! This weekend is a big one for some of the second graders of our parish. They are receiving Holy Communion for the first time! This year we again are breaking them up into smaller groups, so we are having four First Communion Masses, since we have over 80 kids that will be receiving this great Sacrament for the first time this year. For a while, they have been preparing themselves to receive Jesus into their bodies in a very special way, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. This is what we receive each and every time that we receive Holy Communion. As we are reminded of how special this day is, we can also remind ourselves to ask the question, how do we think of it when we are receiving it? Are we reminded how special of a thing it is to be able to receive Christ and let His body and His blood feed us, both bodily and spiritually? Yes, this is an important day in the children’s lives as well as their families. We sometimes get caught up in the children dressing so nice, the boys with ties, the girls in their pretty white dresses. It is a special day. It is a very special and holy event. It should be an incredible experience for them. But, as important as the first reception of the Eucharist is, the 2nd, the 10th, the 323rd, etc is not less special or important for any of us. We sometimes forget how special it is to receive the Blessed Sacrament on a regular basis, as the old saying goes, what we do daily, sometimes we do dully. I invite each and every one of you to remember your own First Communion (I received mine from Fr. Pat Bacon). Remember how special that day was and what it meant to you. Is receiving Jesus today, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity less special today since it is not the first time? Last year, when we were not able to celebrate Easter together, should have reminded us of what we were missing. Even now, there are many people that still cannot come together to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and thus are not able to receive Him in the Eucharist. We should take time again and again to remind ourselves how special it is and to receive Him each and every time we come to Mass. The first time is special, but so are all the rest!

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Divine Mercy Sunday

This weekend we finish what is called the Octave of Easter, the first week of the Easter Season. This whole week is a continual celebration of the greatest events of human history. Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God has risen from the grave and conquered even death itself for our sake. This wonderful week concludes with another celebration, that of Divine Mercy Sunday. This is a relatively new feast day it was instituted by St John Paul II and this day focuses on the incredible mercy that God offers us. In Holy Scripture, Jesus is the one that talks about the judgement of God more than anyone, but he is also the one who talks about the mercy of God more than anyone, and they are tied together. This feast day is based on the writing of St Faustina Kowalska and her vision of Jesus who came to her. This is what she wrote in her diary: "In the evening, when I was in my cell, I became aware of the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand was raised in blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast. From the opening of the garment at the breast there came forth two large rays, one red and the other pale. In silence I gazed intently at the Lord; my soul was overwhelmed with fear, but also with great joy. After a while Jesus said to me, 'paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the inscription: Jesus, I trust in You.'" This image that came to St Faustina is one that she painted and is now known all over the world with the red and the white representing the blood and the water that came from His side. This Sunday at St. Luke the Evangelist Church we are celebrating the Divine Mercy of God with Adoration and Fr. James and Fr. Ken will both be available for Confessions starting at 2:00 PM and lasting until just before 3:00 in which we will pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy followed by Benediction and Reposition of the Blessed Sacrament. This is a wonderful time to just sit and reflect in front of the Blessed Sacrament and give the greatest sacrifice that we can offer to God, and that is our time with Him. His mercy is far greater than anything that we can imagine and Jesus wants us to leave our sins with Him, and reminds us the same things that he tells the woman caught in adultery, I don’t condemn you of your sins, but go and sin no more. I would invite everyone to spend some time this Sunday, in person or remotely, with our Lord and Savior reflecting on His Divine Mercy.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Rejoice, Christ is Risen! Alleluia, Alleluia.

We have made it to the most wonderous season of Easter. I always marvel at the fact, that on Ash Wednesday I think how far Easter is away, and when I get to Easter, I think, how fast the Lenten season goes. It is a busy time around the parish and school. We have lots of extra Confession times during Lent, and usually we have other events going on as well.

For the last six weeks during the Lenten season, we have refrained from using the word Alleluia. It is a word of rejoicing and praise and it is one of the few words that we do not translate. If it were translated it would roughly mean, “All hail to him who is.” Easter is the season of rejoicing; we have come from a season of fasting and penance to the season of joy. It is joyful because Jesus Christ who once was dead, is now alive, He has Risen. In fact, that was one of the greetings that ancient Christians gave to each other. They would say, “The Lord is risen” and the reply would be “He has risen indeed.” It is no accident that Easter is in the spring, a season of new life, the grass is starting to get green, the livestock is being born, the songbirds are returning, the flowers are starting to come up, you get the picture. It is a season of new life and the symbols that we use in Church are symbols of new life. Just look at the symbols that we use. Lilies resemble trumpets that are blaring out the news Christ is risen and they also are reported to have bloomed on the tomb. Rabbits are a very prolific animal and they have been symbols of life for many different cultures, which is why rabbits are often associated with Easter and the new life of it. The symbol of eggs and chicks is an obvious one, since the chickens hatch out of the eggs and are the beginning of their life. We in this Easter season, celebrate not just the beginning of life, we celebrate the beginning of a new and eternal life. Jesus really did die on the cross, but he also raised himself from the tomb, and that is the incredible event that we celebrate today. Easter, like Christmas, is not just a single day that we celebrate, we celebrate for an entire week, called the octave. We celebrate the wonderful gift that God has given us and that is the path that he shows us to eternal life with him.

In this Easter week, take some time to reread the passion, death, and resurrection story of our Lord and savior and then say a prayer in thanksgiving for the wonderful gift that God has given us. He sent His own Son into the world to live our life and to die our death so that we can be shown the path back to the Father.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

The Chrism Mass

This Friday, Bishop Joensen will celebrate the Chrism Mass. Usually, it is a wonderful gathering of the bishop, priests, deacons, and many different lay people from parishes throughout the diocese. It is most commonly celebrated at the Cathedral, the church of the bishop and during this Mass, the bishop blesses the oils that we will use during the upcoming year. Last year this very special Mass was celebrated with just the Bishop and a couple of other priests of the diocese in a small country parish, and this year it will be again celebrated in a more limited way. Bishop Joensen will have the Chrism Mass at a larger rural parish so that all of the priests would be able to attend. This is significant in the fact that during the Chrism Mass, the bishop renews the promises of the priests, because in a way, it is an anniversary of conferring his priesthood to us. We priests are asked a series of questions from the bishop. “Are you resolved to renew, in the presence of your bishop and God’s holy people, the promises you once made?” “Are you resolved to be more united with the Lord Jesus and more closely conformed to him, denying yourselves and confirming those promises about sacred duties towards Christ’s Church which’ prompted by love of him, you willingly and joyfully pledged on the day of your priestly ordination?” “Are you resolved to be faithful stewards of the mysteries of God in the Holy Eucharist and other liturgical rites and to discharge faithfully the sacred office of teaching, following Christ the Head and Shepherd, not seeking any gain, but moved only by the zeal for souls?” These questions renew the promises that I made when I was ordained to the priesthood. Each time I have heard these questions asked again, I am reminded that through the challenges of administration of the parishes, the primary focus of the priesthood is to administer the sacraments, even though most of my time ends up going to the physical and material needs of the parish. The celebration of the sacraments is where I really do find most of the joy of the priesthood, the other stuff is simply the work that I have to do to support the celebration of the sacraments. Within these questions as well, the bishop calls out to the people and asks for all of you to pray for the priests, not just the pastor, but for all of the priests to have the Lord pour out his gifts upon us, he then also asks all the people to pray for him, so that he will be that “living and more perfect image of Christ, the priest, the Good Shepherd, the Teacher, and Servant of all.” The Chrism Mass, while blessing the oils for the year, is also a wonderful reminder of the priesthood as well. Pray for Pope Francis and Bishop Joensen, that they will have that wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and pray that all of the priests of the world, that all of us will be those humble and true ministers of Christ to all his people.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

The Saints

One of the topics in the Church I like to discuss is the Saints. I will often times mention to someone in the confessional to find a saint that they are passionate about. The saints are wonderful examples for us to follow. Some of them lived very holy and beautiful lives all the way through, like St. Therese of Lisieux. From childhood, she was a wonderful example of a life completely devoted to God in such a wonderful and simple way. Another great example of this is St. Maria Goretti, even though she was killed at a young age, she had that great love for God and her neighbor even as she was being killed. Then there are many other examples of lives that were a little more challenging and then they had a major conversion in their lives. One of the very famous examples of this is St. Augustine. Even though his mother, St. Monica, was a very prayerful woman and prayed fervently for the conversion of her husband and sons and even chased them around the world, St. Augustine very solidly followed Manichaeism, a religion based on a constant struggle between good and evil. Finally, after many years of not living so good, by the continual prayer of his mother and many long discussions with St. Ambrose, St. Augustine finally was baptized into the faith and became one of the most famous theologians. Another saint that is a bit more obscure is known as St. Moses the Robber. He was the leader of a gang of bandits, and after having been thwarted in the effort to rob and kill someone, hid out in a community of monks, to which he ended up joining the community, and while he was there, he was attacked by a group of robbers, and he captured them and dragged them to the chapel and asked the brother monks what to do with them. The robbers repented and ended up joining the monastery as well.

We have saints that were soldiers like Ignatius of Loyola that had a major conversion when he was healing from a broken leg that was hit by a cannonball and during that time, began to himself read the lives of the saints and was so inspired that he gave his life to God. St. Sebastian was also a soldier who was killed for his faith and is now the patron saint of athletes. St. Cecilia is the patron saint of music because she heard heavenly music when she got married.

Sometimes we have some misconceptions about certain saints, like where they are from. For example, much to the chagrin of Italians, St. Anthony was not from Italy, he was Portuguese and ended up in a monastery there. St. Patrick was not Irish; he was either Welsh or English and ministered to the people of Ireland. St. Boniface was not German; he was Roman and only served the people in Germany. I recommend, to find something that you are passionate about or something that you need and find a saint related to it and ask their intercessions, because they are great resources for us.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Laetare Sunday

This weekend 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 and preparing ourselves. This Sunday is called Laetare Sunday and it comes from the entrance antiphon which states Laetare Jerusalem or rejoice O Jerusalem, which 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. This week we mark the anniversary of the beginning of a very challenging time. Last year on March 15th the public celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass ceased in our diocese as well as in most of the diocese in the country. It was very surreal to celebrate Sunday Mass with just a few people. It is wonderful that we have many people back celebrating Christ’s sacrifice together and that is something to rejoice in. 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.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Spring Break and memories of school

At the end of this week the children hear one of the favorite phrases “It is spring break!” As a child, I remember looking forward to the breaks and holiday seasons, to the time off, as an adult, I miss those days. I was a typical child and for the most part, did not like going to school, except for the time that I got to spend with my friends. There are many times in which I wish that I could go back to that time, where I did not have to deal with the responsibilities as an adult. While when you are young, you don’t realize how good it was to not to have to worry about some of the things we do as adults, but in these days, children are dealing with more adult issues at a younger age.

Being someone who was a “delayed vocation” to the priesthood, I had the opportunity to go back to full time school as a more experienced an adult. I entered the seminary process at 32, and had worked in the IT industry for 12 years before having the call to priesthood come back to me. I also had delt with the experiences and responsibilities of home ownership, it is something that those who went to seminary straight out of high school did not have, but each of us has our own path and if it is where God wants us to be, we should follow it. In seminary I heard the phrases “I can’t wait to get out of school and to work” or “I can’t wait to be a pastor.” Yes, the whole point of going to seminary or any other school is to be prepared for life and what is going to happen. Yes, it is also good to plan for the future, and yes, it is good to be reminded of the memories we have from the past, but nothing we can do can change what happened in the past nor can we go back to it. We can only use those experiences to help us plan for the future, for where God is calling us to be. When we only concentrate on the past and the future, we miss out on what is going on right now, those events that are right in front of us. Jesus, so many times, was just present to the people around him. He allowed himself to be touched in order to heal others, he sat down and had meals with people, even with people who hated him and wanted to have him killed. He sat with the sick, and those who were outcasts, in so many ways, he was present with them, while also preparing his Apostles and disciples for what was coming. While we do need to prepare for the things that realistically may happen, we also need to remember to be in the here and now so that we do not miss the blessings that are going on around us today.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Ash Wednesday

This Wednesday we begin the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday. Again, we say that this year things will be a little bit different for us here. Because of school being in session, we will have limited space for the 7:30 am Mass and the 12:00 Mass which is why we added the 7:30 this year. Another change for us in the United States is the way that the distribution of the ashes will happen. We will be doing it in an ancient way, and also the way that it happens in most of Europe currently. Instead of putting the ashes on the forehead, they will be sprinkled on top of the head, this is to limit the touching of people. I was talking to Fr. James about this and he mentioned that the people in Italy think it is strange the way that we do it, since the sprinkling of the ashes on top of the head is taken from the bible in which those who are mourning or repenting will sprinkle ashes on their heads, see Jonah, Ester, Samuel, Daniel, etc. Ash Wednesday is far more than just the symbol of ashes on our foreheads, but it is about the call for us to repent of our sins. I do not mean this in a judgmental way, but in the way that calls us to see those ways in which we fail to follow where the Lord is trying to lead us. During the Lenten season, we are called to focus on three aspects of our faith life: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Even though we tend to focus more on the fasting aspect of the Lenten season, we are called to work on all three. One of the things that I really like about Lent is that it gives us an opportunity to look at our lives. We most often give something up for Lent and sometimes the temptation to “cheat” is great, remember it is not a sin to do what we have promised to give up. I remind people this every year, that the thing we give up is a penance for us and not for others! We should not sacrifice something if we are going to be cranky and complain about it all of the time. Our sacrifice should not be a sacrifice for others, but for ourselves. We live in a self-indulgent and disposable society. We are being conditioned to consume, to buy more (even if you cannot afford it), and when it does not make you happy or gets old, throw it away. We are often told through advertising that we NEED the newest and greatest thing out there, but the newest and greatest thing changes right after you purchase it. The whole idea behind fasting from something for Lent is so that whenever we reach for, or are tempted by, the thing that we have given up, we should be reminded that we do have some self-control and that we should use it, not only in the fasting, but also to have the self-control to not sin. Take some time this Lenten season to focus on all three aspects, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving and have a blessed Lent.

God bless,
Fr. Ken