Who was St. Luke

This Monday, October 18th we celebrate the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist. One of the common symbols of St. Luke is the Ox, and this is why a few years ago we 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 again. 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 Zachariah, while he served as a priest in the Temple.

First and foremost, we know St. Luke 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 St. Luke 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 bless,
Fr. Ken

The Junk Drawer

Most of us have that one drawer in the house that is the junk drawer. That particular drawer that you put all of those things that you cannot seem to find a place for and we can never seem to find what we really need in it. That short piece of rope that you may need some time, the remote from that VCR that you haven’t used in ten years, the collection of paint can openers, miscellaneous batteries for something you may need again later, and the many other items that you may or may not use in the next few decades. It is the drawer that you do not ever want to clean and organize because you know what will happen, you will pull the items out of the drawer and then all of the stuff will just end up back in the drawer.

Have you ever thought the same thing about confession? The sacrament of Confession forces us to do something that we may not want to do, and that is to open up that drawer full of junk and empty it. To take the time and go through all of the junk we do not need and get rid of all of it, but then the trick is to not try and fill it up with junk again, but with stuff that will be useful and beneficial to us.

Sins in our lives are the things that we know we should not hold onto, but we do anyway. We keep collecting them until the drawer is just too full or we start putting them in other places and either we become hoarders of sin, or finally go through it and keep the stuff we need and get rid of the stuff we don’t.

Sometimes I hear that people say that they do not want to go to Confession because, like the emptying and refilling of the junk drawer, they will end up doing the same sins again and again. Even if that is the case, we still need to do it. I know in my own case, I tend to do the same sins, even after I go to celebrate the Sacrament. We get into the habit, even if we walk out of the confessional with the intention to not do it again, it can be challenging. One of my professors reminded us that it is better to do the same sins (unless they are very serious) than to go through the Commandments and decide which ones we are going to do this time.

I also know that it can be difficult to go to Confession because it forces us to look at the things that we have done wrong, but in the end, it is a wonderful way to unburden ourselves with the junk that we have been collecting over the many days, weeks, or years. Take that time and dump the junk into the accepting arms of God.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Respect Life Month

October is Respect Life month in the Church. When we as a Church talk about being Pro-Life, that phrase has many different aspects to it. It is pretty common knowledge that the Catholic Church is a strong leader in the Pro-Life movement, which goes well beyond the work to end abortions.

Protection for the unborn is one of the primary missions of the Pro-Life group because it is the first stage of life, but not the only one. Each year, over 900,000 children are aborted in the U.S. alone, that is a staggering number and sadly in Washington DC, 38% of pregnancies end in abortion. It is estimated that one out of four women have had an abortion and we need to respond to them with forgiveness and love.

When we talk about being Pro-Life in our Church it is more than just being anti-abortion, it is about supporting life from conception to natural death. This means that we should strive for the dignity of life from the time that the child is conceived to the time that we naturally die. This means that we should also not support euthanasia, no matter what light it is cast in. It is sometimes called “dignity in death” because some would argue that it is better to die than to suffer and that the taking of a life over allowing them to suffer is better for the person or even the family. This also applies to the death penalty within the United States where we have an ability to keep those who have committed a major crime in prison. Capital punishment is not supported by the Church for multiple reason. First and foremost, there is a small chance that the person convicted is not guilty. It also does not allow for a conversion of heart by the person who is guilty. Finally, most of the time, capital punishment is retaliation and not justice.

We sometimes separate social justice and Pro-Life as two different and separate groups, but they are intertwined. If we profess to support life, we also need to help and provide support for those who are living. If we support social justice, then we need to have the first rule, which is life. Jesus calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves and then explained that all people are our neighbors, no matter what color, or where they are from: from the child conceived with a disability, to the child conceived on a hook-up, to the immigrant, to the prisoner on death row, to the elderly person in a nursing home, or those on their death beds.

Being Pro-Life in the Catholic Church also means providing for the needs of others in many varied ways, which is why the Church provides food and water, and other support to those in need. We as a parish are supporting this effort in so many different ways!

The Catholic Church feeds and clothes millions of people throughout the world as a part of our supporting life efforts. It also provides health care for millions. This is what it means to be Pro-Life. Pray for all of the Pro-Life ministries that we support throughout the world.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

All those things we thought we needed

One of the interesting things that I used to do when I was in Creston was to wander through the ReRun thrift shop that the parish ran, just to see the interesting things that happen to show up. I always wondered how many items we see and just have to have, because everybody needs multiple devices to slice eggs, strawberries, bananas, etc. when really, a single knife or a mandolin slicer will do it and take up much less space in the cabinets.

We fall into these advertising traps telling us what we have to have, and that having a little plastic gadget that can slice an entire banana in one flip will save us a huge amount of time, and just think of all of the things we can accomplish with that time that we save! Being a “techie” I can find myself falling into this trap. What is the newest gadget? Is it going to be so much faster? Are we going to save time or to add convenience? I realized that I have lots of different devices, including my watch, lights, and stereo that can connect to the internet. Do I need all of these things? Of course not! Do I need to be able to turn my kitchen lights on in the house from my phone? Of course not, but these things are kind of fun to have.

One of the things that I really like to do with technology is to pray with it. Since I almost always carry my cell phone, I can have prayer apps on it and set reminders about times to pray. When I look at the sheer volume of items that went through the thrift shop, I see how effective advertising really is. It has convinced us to get this stuff and when we realize that we really do not need it, off it goes to the thrift store!

How many items do all of us still have in our cabinets that we purchased on a whim and used once or twice and then put them away forever, put them in a garage sale, or ended up giving them away? We have lots of stuff. Stuff in the end is just stuff and we can get by with far less of it most of the time. The whole point of advertising is to tell us what we are lacking, but if we have our faith, in reality, we lack nothing.

As Jesus says, “be rich in the things that matter in heaven and not necessarily the things of the earth.” Then we will truly be happy with Him. The things of the world will pass away, but the riches in heaven will never pass away. Where do we look for treasure, that new item that will be old and worthless later, or God?

God bless,
Fr. Ken

The time we spend preparing

Football season has begun. Last weekend we had the “big game” for the state of Iowa with the University of Iowa playing Iowa State University. It is always fun to see the events leading up to the game, as well as the game itself. Before anyone asks, I am apolitical when it comes to this game. I usually say, that I want the team that is going to be the best at the end of the year to win, and I hope for no injuries during it.

Sports have become a huge deal in our country, in many ways it is a great way to relax and watch, and playing sports is also a good and enjoyable way to get some exercise. With football season started, I am reminded of the old adage “the best offense is a good defense.” In football this is definitely the case, the shorter time that the opponent’s offense is on the field, the less chance they have to score, and the more your offense is on the field, the more chances you have to score. How about using this in our spiritual life, the best offense in our lives is some good defensive prayer.

I know many different people who are in fantasy football leagues, I was even in a few myself in the past, and it is interesting how much time some people can spend researching the players and teams to put together a team of players. Some people spend weeks doing the research and preparing for the big draft. How about picking out a spiritual team of prayers? Find some saints that you can relate to and ask them each and every day to help you. I once heard a priest state “I wish we would be as prepared for Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as we will prepare for the big game.”

We so often spend hours a week practicing for a sport, on the internet, or watching television and then we turn around and say that we have a hard time finding 15 minutes to pray. I know in my own life, I sometimes find it hard to pray, or difficult to “find the time” when in reality, I have just chosen to do something different. As I went through some social media, as well as some news stories, I saw that people will spend hours getting ready for a game of their favorite team. I have friends that used to leave their houses at 4:00 am so that they could get to the stadium for a tailgate for a game that begins at 3:00 pm.

What if we spent just a fraction of that time preparing for something greater than just a game? What if instead of 11 hours before the game, we would spend 30 minutes going over the readings for the Mass each Sunday? How would that excitement and love of the Eucharist encourage our children or others around us?

In the end, no matter how big the game is, it is still a game. The Mass is a matter of life and death, life with Christ, or death without, and that is the reason, that we attach ourselves to the author of life itself in his Body and Blood.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Are you ready for a Pop Quiz?

As we are at the beginning of the school year, I am reminded that the words “Pop Quiz” can bring panic in some students, and they maybe even bring a flash back to some of us who have been out of school for a while.

When I was in my last year of seminary, one of the professors took joy in walking past fourth year theology students and asking them to “recite the prayer of absolution.” His rational was it is a prayer that every priest must know immediately and always because you never know when someone will ask for a confession.

The reasoning behind the pop quiz is because there are some things that we just need to be prepared for at any time and any place. I myself have heard confessions in a car, a park, a hospital, on a sidewalk, in a parking lot, an airport, and in many other places. Many times, when I am running errands, while wearing my priest collar, I have had people come up to me and tell me that they haven’t been to church in a while, or that seeing me reminds them that they need to go to confession.

The police and military train for a lot of different situations that may or may not ever happen. Why? Because there is a possibility that they might happen and they want to be ready for them. The same should be true for our faith life, what if the pop quiz we run into is the end of our life? What if the pop quiz is to answer for the things we have done or not done in our lives? Would we be ready for the judgment of God today if something bad happens? This is something that we do not often want to think about, but so many times Jesus reminds us that we must be ready because at an unknown hour the Lord will come.

To make sure that we are ready for a pop quiz in school, we study and make sure that we know the information. To make sure that we are ready for a pop quiz in our work life, we learn our job and make sure that we are ready for the situations that we may run into at work. The big question is what are we doing to make sure that we are ready for the hour that we may not know about when the master of the house returns as Jesus tells us?

The good thing is that we can be ready for that pop quiz that will come to us at the end of our lives, and there are many different ways to make sure that we are ready. Some of these ways are to do a good daily examination of conscience in which we pray about the good and bad things we have done each and every day, to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation often, to pray each and every day, to be a part of the celebration of the Sunday Mass, and to be that follower of Christ that He calls us to be.

If the Lord comes for us today, will we be ready?

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend, we will be celebrating Labor Day. It is often seen as the last hurrah of summer and the beginning of fall. The holiday is sometimes dubbed the “working man’s holiday” because it was begun by the labor movement in the 1880’s. One of the interesting facts is that in Iowa it is against the law to begin school until after Labor Day, unless you get a dispensation from the state. I think that almost every school district has a dispensation now.

Many people take the opportunity on this weekend to do the last vacation, or the last big cookout of the summer, although this year these may be less. Still others take this long weekend as an opportunity to do some work on the house or yard. Whatever we do on this long weekend I would encourage everyone to take a few minutes to thank God for the many gifts that we have received.

We could also take some time to pray for those who do those jobs that we do not want to do. Another thing that we can do is to take some time to pray for those who want to be working and either do not have a job or do not have a job that they would like to have. Especially in this time in which many people are out of work because of COVID. There is a great fear in many people these days, whether it be someone who is out of a job and is worried about their livelihoods, or those who are currently working and fear that they may catch the disease. There are many businesses that have also suffered and with them, the people who work there, or those who were laid off. There are also many businesses that are looking for people, depending on your skill set.

Saint Paul reminds us to do the work that we have to do without complaining and do it with joy. Each of us has a passion to do something in life, and one of the most satisfying things is to be able to work at something we love. I have heard the phrase, if you work at something that you love, you will never work a day in your life. I know in my own case, this is where God wants me to be at this time, here at St. Luke’s.

Being able to hear where God is calling us to be can make our labors joyful, even if they are hard work. I know that this is the case with many of our staff here at the parish and school as well. We work for less financial compensation than in the secular world, but the other benefits are out of this world. So as we are in this long weekend, remember that it is great to have some time off, but it is also great to be able to get paid doing something you love. Enjoy the long weekend and remember to pray each and every day.

Fr. Ken

Spending time

With the fair over, school starting, and next weekend being Labor Day, we see it now as the end of the summer. So how did it go? Was it busy? Did we get everything done that we wanted to? I know that I did not.

I still have a few summer things that I want to get done, but have not gotten to them yet. We sometimes begin something and we have the best of intentions to get them done, but then the other things come up and our plans get derailed.

Sometimes, the things that interrupt our plans are much more important, like the time that we get to spend with a friend who needs something, sometimes work schedule changes, or we have a sick family member, but other times we just end up wasting time watching crazy cat videos on the internet. While there is an entertainment value of watching stupid pet videos, they can sometimes distract us from doing what we really need to be doing. One of my downfalls is “just one more episode on a streaming service”, or just one more part of a movie, but I know that there may be something more important that I need to do.

One of the things that we should always make time for is time with God. When we pray, we give God the greatest and most valuable thing that we have, and that is time. Time is something that we cannot buy, get back, or create more of, it is simply gone. Even though prayer is an investment of this great treasure, it is something that we should make sure that we do.

Even God prayed. In the Gospels, Jesus often goes away to pray with the Father, and we should use His example for us to follow.

There are so many ways that we can do some simple prayer time, we could spend 5 minutes after we wake up to ask God what we need to be doing in the day, this is something that I do each day. I will often spend a couple of minutes in prayer while the coffee is brewing as well. Our prayer times do not need to be full Holy Hours, while it is wonderful if we could do a Holy Hour every day, we know that it does not always work out that way. It can be broken up to different times in the day.

What if we decided to do a Holy Five? Pick a time, or even multiple times, of the day and spend Five minutes each with God, and then let that time grow in our hearts. It is just like that time that we spend with our friends and family, even a short amount of time is better than none. Find some more creative ways to spend that time in prayer with our Creator and Redeemer.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

School and the mass

It is back to school time if you can believe that! This week the kids will start coming back to school, it is wonderful to see the excitement on their faces as they begin the school year. The first day is always challenging, trying to get the kids where they need to be, get them calmed down and ready to learn again, and all of the other things that go along with the start of school.

There is a nervousness that happens with kids at the beginning of school, most especially the younger ones. Sometimes we run into those children who just do not want to go back to school and would rather stay home, they have what I sometimes call the “I want mommy meltdown”, but parents tell them that school is good for them and that they have to go.

Sometimes, I also hear that parents do not bring their children to Mass because they don’t want to go either, they would rather stay at home and sleep or play games, so they let them. What is the difference, while school gives them an education to get through this life, the Mass gives them an education to get to eternal life. We bring our kids to school even if they do not want to go because we know that it is good for them, we should also do the same with Mass and their faith. We ourselves should be a joyous example for our children in the practice of the faith, even in these challenging times.

When our children ask us questions about the faith or why we go to Mass, we should help them to find the answer even if we do not know it. This is something that will help us with our own faith life. We want our children to be the best that they can be and with the help of God, they can be, but we need to help them to see that gift that God is for them, by showing them our own love for God.

Yes, these are challenging times and there is a fear for many around the coming together, whether it be for school or church, but we can also be reminded of the joys that are around being together, most especially to pray together the highest form of prayer that we have in the Church and that is the Holy Celebration of the Sacred Eucharist, in which we receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ into our bodies.

As we are entering into the new school year, take the time to pray with your kids and also bring them to the celebration of the Holy Eucharist so that we can all be drawn close to God. Also, on Thursday, Bishop Joensen will be celebrating the Holy Eucharist with us as well as blessing the new addition. All are welcome to join us for this wondrous occasion.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Why we celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

This weekend, we have a rare occurrence, that in which a Solemnity overrides a regular Sunday. This Sunday we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The idea of someone being assumed body and soul is not a Christian invention, two people in Scripture were assumed, Enoch and Elijah, so why not the mother of Jesus. Within the Church, this Solemnity is pretty young, officially in our Church calendar it is only about 70 years old, but it has been a tradition within the Catholic Faith since the early days of the Church. There was a celebration in the early Church called the “Memory of Mary” and it was only locally celebrated in the area of Palestine, but was later extended by the Emperor Constantine after his conversion.

There are really two different traditions that are held about the death of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one is called the Dormition, or the falling asleep of Mary. This tradition holds that Mary never actually died, but just at the point of her death, she fell asleep and was assumed body and soul into Heaven by the Father.

The second tradition holds that Mary died, and then was buried, but her body was saved from the decay that our bodies normally go through when we die. In the eighth century St. John Damascene was giving a sermon at the Tomb of Mary, (which is obviously empty) he states that “It was fitting that the body of her, who preserved her virginity unsullied in her motherhood, should be kept from corruption even after death. She who nursed her Creator as an infant at her breast, had a right to be in the divine tabernacles. The place of the bride whom the Father had espoused, was in the heavenly courts. It was fitting that she who saw her Son die on the cross, and received in her heart the sword of pain which she had not felt in childbirth, should gaze upon Him seated next to the Father.”

Either of these two theories are acceptable for us, as they both have merit, and there are no written accounts left after the destruction of Jerusalem by Hadrian around the year 135, but the Memory of Mary was known as being celebrated prior to that time, so it is in many ways a very old feast that we celebrate.

So why is it important? It is important because the one who was born without sin, the first and most blessed tabernacle that carried God himself in her womb is important. She is the vessel in which the Father chose to bring about the Savior of the World, and this is why we honor her so much.

Mary’s role is still the same, bring Jesus to us and us to Jesus, so use her intercession to help us to love and worship her son.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

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