He uses our hands

In my office, I have a number of pictures; one in particular is one that I took when I was at this small church on the Sea of Galilee. The church is called the Church of the Primacy of Peter. It is purported to be the place that Christ cooked breakfast for the Apostles after the resurrection and he asked Peter if he loved him and then told him to “feed my sheep.” Jesus was sending the Apostles out to continue the work that He had started. Jesus continues to do the same today and asks us to go out into the world and feed his sheep. Attached to the side of this church was a small plaque and it has a quote on it that states: “The deeds and miracles of Jesus are not actions of the past. Jesus is waiting for those who are still prepared to take risks at His word because they trust His power utterly.” I took a picture of this quote and framed it because I thought that it was quite meaningful. 

We sometimes think that the things that Jesus did happened only in the past. That He was just a good teacher who told us to be nice to each other and that was it. While He does not have His own physical hands on this world anymore, He uses our hands to continue to perform many different miracles. The miraculous actions are still through the power of Christ, but they are also through the working of other people. Just look at what can happen through people who have the courage to follow Christ simply because they trust in Him. 

There are literally thousands of accounts of the saints doing wonderful things because they love Christ. One of the great examples of this is through Agnes, a simple Albanian sister who wanted to serve the poorest of the poor in the streets of India. Mother Teresa was someone who could have continued her relatively comfortable life as a nun with the Sisters of Loreto. She could have continued to be the principal of Saint Mary’s school in Calcutta, but she heard her “call within a call” as she called it. Instead, she convinced her superior to allow her to leave the order and begin a new one. She felt that God was calling her to serve the poorest of the poor those who were the “unwanted, unloved, and uncared for” and she did. It took a lot of courage to go out into those streets to serve those who no one else wanted to care for. Mother Teresa trusted in the power of Christ working through her and still worked miracles. 

There are many other things in life that are not easy to do and we may not have the strength ourselves to follow through with them, but Christ’s deeds and actions are not only things that happened when He bodily walked the earth 2,000 years ago, the miracles still happen each and every day. Are we willing to take risks for Christ because we trust in His power and not simply our own?

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament

This past week was September 11th. It is a day that will bring an emotional reaction to many because of the attacks in 2001, but there are many other significant things that have happened on that date. It is thought that the attackers chose the September 11th date because of the significance of the defeat of the Ottoman empires armies on September 11, 1683 while trying to invade Vienna, Switzerland. Although this date is significant for American history, there is something else that is important for the prayer life of the Catholic Church that happened. In 1226, the first recorded practice of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament was held regularly in parishes. Previously it had been a long-held practice not in public, but in the privacy of several monasteries. This is a practice that is still held around the world, including St. Luke’s parish.

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

Here at St. Luke’s, we have Adoration on Thursday evenings after the 5:30 Mass, and we also have it on Saturday morning after the 8:30 Mass from 9:00 to 10:00. (We also offer Confession during these times). Adoration is also offered on the first Friday of the month from after the 7:00 am Mass until 7:30 pm. If you have never had the experience of spending time with the Blessed Sacrament in this way, I would highly encourage it, it can be a great way to reset or really enhance your prayer life.

For most people who lead busy lives like we do, it can be a challenge to just sit and listen to God until you get used to it. We often want to be “doing” something and just sitting praying does not always feel like we are doing something. For someone who is beginning this devotional practice, I would recommend starting with bringing something, like Holy Scripture, a rosary, a book of prayers, or some other devotional book to get started. After a few moments of the quiet time with Jesus, most people begin to really like to just be. I myself do a combination of other prayers along with meditation during Adoration. I would recommend taking some time to spend with Jesus in this way, even if you cannot spend a whole hour, even 15 minutes would be a great start, and then you can build from there, it truly is a wonderful way to pray.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Is wealth bad?

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 do not 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 drug lords or Russian oligarchs 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? I was reading something the other day that stated if you have $40 in your pocket, you are better off than half of the people in the world. So, in the end, it is not really 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, or by what is happening to them, 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.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

The Anointing of the Sick, the Sacrament of the Sick, the Last Rites, and Viaticum

Within the Church, we have a wonderful sacrament called the Anointing of the Sick. There is often a confusion with the Sacrament of the Sick. This can be confusing because some people still call it the “Last Rites.” The Last Rites, which is technically called Viaticum (which is anciently translated to “provisions for a journey”) in the Church, is for those who are close to death.

I remember a while back where I was Anointing a woman and she started to cry, thinking that she was dying soon; that is not the case. The Sacrament of the Sick or Anointing of the Sick is something that can be received by anyone who is very ill, having a surgery, or someone who is advanced in age. It can be received multiple times as needed. One does not need to be at the point of death to receive the Anointing, nor does a baptized child before what is called the age of reason (before going to First Reconciliation.) Anointing of the Sick is for the healing of the body as well as the soul and it holds the same power as the Sacrament of Confession, it removes sin, most especially for those who are not able to celebrate the Sacrament of Confession. This is why it was often seen as needing to wait until someone was close to death to receive it.

Now Viaticum or Last Rites is a service in which someone receives the “provisions for the journey” to heaven. It includes the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, and reception of the Holy Eucharist. To receive the fullness of Viaticum, the person receiving it does need to be conscious and able to confess their sins and also able to receive Holy Communion. This begs the question, if someone who has received Last Rites gets better, can they receive it again, and the answer is yes, they can. I have personally celebrated Viaticum at least three times with the same person. I have had some incredible experiences with this wonderful sacrament. A very interesting one was with someone who had been very agitated and restless for quite a while, and one of the Protestant hospital chaplains had been trying to calm him down for a little while. The family then called for the priest and they got ahold of me and I went to see him, within a few minutes of having received the Sacraments of Confession and Anointing of the Sick, he was calm and relaxed. It is a wonderful sacrament to be able to give because of the mercy and peace it offers.

The Church has a wealth of prayers and blessings and this is a fantastic one to be able to give and receive. If you would like to receive the Anointing of the Sick, do not hesitate to call myself or Fr. Ryan at the office, or stop one of us after Mass. The Anointing only takes a few minutes to do and is a great blessing and comfort for those who receive it as well as their families.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

What is going on around the parish

This article is going to be a few pieces of random information about what is going on around the parish.

First of all, we are getting ready for RCIA for those who are interested in joining the Catholic Church. We will begin the classes in September, and are moving the timing of the classes to Wednesday evening so that David can help a little easier. If you know of someone who is interested in joining the Church, or is just curious about the faith, have them contact Fr Ken, Fr Ryan, or David Reising for more information.

Second, we are still in need of some volunteers to help with Religious Education for the year. We NEED a good number of catechists, please consider helping. We are also in need for substitute catechists, small group leaders, as well as helpers in the classrooms. If you feel called to help the 375 kids we serve in our Religious Education program, please contact David Reising for more information.

You may have noticed the roadwork we are doing on the north side. We have the funding in our Future Phase Fund and the school leadership funding already, so we do not need to ask for new special donations. We are connecting our parking lot to the cul-de-sac on Watercrest Drive. This will help a few different ways, it will get us access to the north and west, and next year, the city plans on connecting 18th street to 415 and this will give our families another route to come in and get traffic off Weigel Drive. It will also help with the school drop off and pick up lines, as we can get more cars on the property and have less people turning onto Weigel in the short distance of our lots. Eventually in the next couple of years when we start Phase III we will be adding parking to the north side and this project will help us to prepare for it.

Fr. Ryan is wanting to lead a group of people to our sister parish in Ghana to continue to build that relationship with them. The group will be going in early summer of 2024 and will be an 8–12-day trip, depending on flights and situation. This will be a mission trip primarily to meet the people of St. Martin de Porres parish, with whom we are building that sister parish relationship. The costs will be a plane ticket for around $1,500 and some other travel expenses, but those should not be a large amount. Feel free to reach out to Fr. Ryan for some information and we will be sharing some more information in the coming months.

We are still looking for parent or grandparent volunteers in the school. We utilize a good number of volunteers to help with lunches here at St. Luke. It is a good opportunity to help the students and see the excitement of the students around the lunch times here.

Finally (for now) keep praying for staff, faculty, volunteers, and the many different things going on here at the parish and school. While it is very busy around here, it is really a wonderful and energetic place to be!

God bless,
Fr. Ken

The start of another school year

This week we welcome the children back to school. It will be good to have them back in the building again. As of me writing this article we will be having around 350 kids here this year, a growth of 13% which is consistent over the last few years. In the time that I have been here, we have seen the school over double in the number of students that we have. Just to put it into perspective, the school year before I arrived, which is the same year that Mrs. Hade arrived, we were at 153 students. We have also gone from a total parish and school salary of $573,000 a year to $1,017,068 a year! Wow have we grown, and it is not just the school side, we are expecting over 375 kids to be in our religious education programs this year as well.

The beginning of the school year has a lot of nervousness and excitement that goes along with it. There are the new kindergartners who are coming in and some are really excited and some are terrified. I remember a couple of years ago when one particular kindergartner was super excited to come in, but when they found out that they had to come the next day, they were upset, they thought that it would only be one day! The older kids, while they are not necessarily excited to come to school, they are happy that they will be seeing their friends again on a regular basis.

One of the wonderful things that I get to do as a pastor here is to celebrate the Holy Eucharist with the kids for the Wednesday school Mass. It usually is at 8:30 and parents are welcome to come, however, this week we will have Mass at 9:00 instead, so that the teachers can get the kids settled a bit, and the kindergarteners will not be there until the next Wednesday. However, the school Mass on Wednesday does NOT take the place of the Sunday Mass, we still have the Sunday obligation of attending.

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.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Do not take the bait!

Have you ever looked at a story or a link on the internet and were completely shocked and outraged, only to find out that the story is completely false, misleading, or find something that is out there simply to attack someone or something? Sometimes the headlines are just there to get your attention and make you click through things. The companies really want people to click on their stories because they get advertising revenue for each click.

We see these stories all the time, when someone posts something that a person in the Church did or every so often someone posts something to the line of “If the Catholic Church really cared about the poor, it would sell the Church property and give it to the poor.” A few years ago, there was a movement out there called “sell the Vatican and feed the world.” Just think about the value of the Vatican and its museum, thousands of priceless pieces of art. There are two of the greatest works that Michelangelo ever did, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (it could be cut up into its sections and sold off in pieces) and the Pieta. Just think how many billions of dollars these pieces could be sold for, even though it is not practical and then the pieces would end up in private collections away from the ability for the masses of people to be able to view them. Also, the buildings and the art have more value than the actual cost of them, they are symbols of the one Church and a place to gather as a one people of God.

But… I think that one of the more interesting things about this is that it comes not from the desire to help the poor, but from the mentality of “let someone else do it”. You sell what you have and give it away, not me. That is NOT what Jesus told his disciples, he told them to go and do it themselves (see the feeding of the 5,000). The fact is that an estimated 7 million people in the United States alone are fed by the Catholic Church and almost 5 million children in Africa are educated by the Catholic Church. There is a counter movement which states “sell the porn industry (which has $12 billion+ in revenues) and feed the world.”

When we see a story or a link online that seems shocking, especially if it is about “Catholics” it is because it is shocking, and when you click on that link or share it, it ticks the advertising counter so that the website will receive more advertising revenue. It is something called click-bait, which baits you to click the link which shows that someone has gone to the website and the ad companies then pay the website and, they get even more, if you click the link for an ad! If you see something online that seems odd, or elicits an emotional reaction, it is because it does and they want you to follow the story so that they can get paid. So, resist the temptation and do not take the bait!

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Technology in our lives

Have you ever had the experience of wanting something? Then waiting and doing a bunch of research to find out the best brand and model of whatever you are looking for, finally finding the exact model you want, and then buying it with great joy, only to find out a week later that there is a newer and better version coming out in a few weeks. Or, have you seen something that you might enjoy and sure that there is going to be a newer version out soon and waiting and waiting for it, then finally it does come out and the newer version is disappointing and you wasted the time that you would be able to use the new thing, for a disappointment. These kinds of things happen all the time.

Most of you know, that in my previous life, I was in the technology industry, and the speed at which technology develops is incredible. I remember my first computer in the 80’s, a Commodore 64 with 64k of ram. Just to put that in perspective my current 3-year-old computer has 8,000,000k of ram. I also remember my first cell phone back in 1993: no texting, no internet, a 5–10-hour battery life, no free roaming, no free long distance, and limited time in conversations with a discount after 7:00pm. Things move fast in the IT industry, what is coming off the assembly line today is already obsolete.

So, how does this help us to grow closer to Christ? The newest and fastest device on the market cannot help us to be in the family of God. On the contrary, there is nothing new and updated about our spiritual life. We need to take some time and slow ourselves down in order to spend that good time with the Lord. We still have Mass and get the ability to receive Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity each and every day. We still pray and ask the Lord to help us, we still need to rely on God’s grace and mercy, even if the world is moving so fast. Technology can help us to prepare for the Sacraments in our lives, for example, there are apps to help with Confession, there are apps that can help us with the readings for the Mass each day, but they cannot give us these Sacraments. We still have to go to the priest to receive Absolution and we can only receive Jesus in the Eucharist in person.

While the things of the world constantly change, God never does, and God will never abandon us. We cannot lose God so that we can never find him or he find us. He will always be up to date in our lives, even if we ignore him or do not see him working in our lives. While technology can assist us in many things of our lives, like directions, or the ability to connect with a loved one that is far away from us, it can never replace that incredible relationship with our God and Creator who wants us to be with him. I invite you to take some time to put aside the technology for a couple of minutes each day and spend it with our loving God.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

An update on summer events

The summer is winding down, the Iowa State Fair will be kicking off in a little over a week, and we start school in less than a month. When school ends, it seems like so long until it starts up again, but it really does go by pretty fast. Someone once said, in life the days are long, but the weeks are short. That is very true, but there is still a few more weeks of the summer break.

In many ways, the summer has less regularly scheduled activities, but often times, many more one-off activities. This can also make for some hectic and tiring days. Here at the parish, we are still going along with the many different things here. Daily Masses are gaining in attendance which is a wonderful thing. As you probably have noticed, they should have started the work on the north driveway entrance. This will give us another entrance and sidewalk to the north onto Watercrest drive and will change some drop off and pickup traffic patterns. This should be finished by the time school starts. We are getting classrooms ready for school and religious education, and even have gotten some new and different textbooks for the religious education classes. BTW, signups are going on for RE right now. We are expecting 375+ kids in the RE programs and 350 in the school - so many children to prepare for. Aside from the education preparations, we are continuing along with our regular daily things here. We have many weddings this summer and fall, and we are seeing more and more people joining us for our daily Masses, it is wonderful to see.

We also have a special guest here with us this weekend. This weekend, we have Bishop Agyenta here from the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Diocese in Ghana doing a mission talk about the projects his diocese is working on. If you forgot to bring a donation this weekend, you can drop one off at the office, or bring something in next weekend, just make sure that it is labeled so we know who to give it to.

Here at St. Luke’s, just like always, things are just going along. So, this begs the question again, how are you doing in your summer spiritual journey? The busyness of the things of the world are easy to get caught up into. They come at us from all sides, especially if you have children in summer activities. Something that is more of a challenge, is to keep up with the prayer life that will give us strength to get through all those other things. I know that it can be easy to skip prayers or Mass because of all of these other things going on, but when we make that prayer time a priority, it can only help us to be that holy person to help others. During these last few weeks of the summer time, keep praying, keep going to Mass, keep showing your families the importance of prayer in their lives and it will help them to continue to grow in the faith.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Technology and Connectedness

We live in interesting times. It is often called the Electronic or the Internet Age because we are so connected and so attached to our electronic devices. I am one who is guilty of this as well. I rarely go anywhere without my cell phone, which means that I have access to people and the Internet almost everywhere I go. I even find myself complaining when the service is not very good.

Even with that, our access to technology and connectedness is not always that bad. It is just like any other tool that we have; it can be used for good, or it can be used for evil. You can use your phone to look for seedy material or to launch personal attacks on people or, you could use it to look up information on the saints or for prayer help. In many ways, praying in the digital age can be easier. So, if you see me sitting in church with my phone out, I am not texting, playing games, or checking out websites, I am using it to assist my prayer life.

There are many different applications that you can download that can assist you in prayer. I myself use a number of different applications on my phone or tablet to pray. One of those is called ibreviary in which I can pray the Liturgy of the Hours, which is a prayer that priests and religious promise to pray every day. I also use my phone to look at and to meditate on the Mass readings, or follow along with the Mass, for the day and weekend with an app called imissal and another called Laudate, which has the Mass readings, links to the books of the bible, and hundreds of common and not so common prayers. I also have an audio version of the Bible on my phone and on long drives. I will sometimes listen to Holy Scripture instead of the radio.

We often will rant against the use of technology and in some ways how it is harming our personal relationships, especially when we spend time on our electronic devices instead of talking to people, but we also have a greater ability to keep in touch with our friends and family that are far away. I have had a number of people that use either an app or a list to take into confession so that they can remember what they want to confess as they sit in the confessional. And just a side note: no, you cannot go to confession via a text… well, you can confess whatever you want, however you cannot receive absolution via text.

We often carry our phones with us and if we have these apps on our phones, it gives us a wonderful opportunity to pray in times and places that we don’t even think about, like in a restaurant while we are waiting for our food. As we live in such a busy society, we sometimes need to be creative in how we pray, but keep doing it!

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Intercessory Prayer

Last week I talked about praying the Rosary, so I think that I will continue with another prayer for this week. In the Church, we sometimes hear the phrase “Intercessory Prayer.” This is a prayer for someone or something. It can be for the health of someone, or for something to be done in a certain situation. During the Mass we do the Prayers of the Faithful, which are Intercessory Prayers. These are for the general needs of the Church and local needs. Usually, we pray first for the leaders of the Church, then civil leaders, for the sick, other needs, and finally for those who have died. Each person at the Mass can also add a silent intention themselves, for something that each of us need. It is a wonderful thing to think of those that we care about or a need that we have at this time in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Intercessory Prayer is something that we do more often than we realize, every time we say a prayer for our children, spouse, family, friends, etc. we are doing it. We have a prayer request email and phone line here at the parish for people to be able to request the prayer chain to pray for them. The phone extension is 2016 from the office phone, during the day someone can forward you to it if you would like to leave a message, or after hours, you can get to it via the phone tree. On the main page of the website, there is a button on the right side that can take you to the prayer request with the information. There is a group of people that will pray for your intention.

The question can be also, if someone asks you to pray for them, or you say that you will pray for someone, do we actually do it? That is something that we should always make sure that we do. I know people that carry a little notebook to write down people that they are praying for, and others schedule a short time in their calendar for some intention, and still others keep the notes in other ways. No matter how we do it, we should always be reminded to keep praying for others, or even intentions that we need.

One of the other ways we pray for someone is at the Mass, each Mass we celebrate, we have an intention that the priest is praying for. Usually, the intention for the Mass is either for the people of the parish, or someone who has passed away. But in some instances, it can be for a significant life event, for example a 25th or 50th wedding anniversary. If you would like to have a Mass said for a loved one, you can contact the parish office and have it scheduled, there is usually a small stipend offered to the parish for it, but there is not a “charge” for it.

Keep praying for those needs that all of us have each and every day. Part of my daily prayer is for the people of the parish and their needs, and I ask that you all pray that myself, Fr. Ryan, Bishop Joensen, the deacons, and all Church leaders will serve Holy Mother Church to the best of our abilities.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

The Rosary

The rosary is one of the many devotional prayers that we have in our Church, and is a beautiful one to pray. It is primarily a prayer of meditation and a guide to other prayers. It is similar to a mantra prayer, in which we pray something over and over again and the purpose of the prayer is to focus ourselves to something else.

We sometimes get into the idea that it is just “getting in” the prayers, but the rosary is much more than just praying the Our Fathers and Hail Mary’s repeatedly, it is spending time with God and bringing your thanksgiving and needs to Him. One of the things we should remember as we pray the rosary is that we should also be asking for something within the prayer.

There are many ways of praying the rosary, most commonly the rosary is prayed on its own, but it can also be prayed as a part of a larger prayer like a novena which is a series of prayers that is based on the number nine or three times three. This means that we pray for nine days, weeks, or months in a row for a specific purpose or indulgence.

Tradition holds that St. Dominic was the one to devise the rosary, but other sources hint that it was prayed before St Dominic’s time, and given to him by Blessed Alan de la Roche. It is clear, however, that St. Dominic did use the prayer for the brothers in the Dominican order. All priests and religious, even to this day, make a promise to pray a prayer called the Liturgy of the Hours. In the time of St. Dominic, the priest or religious would pray through all 150 Psalms each week through this prayer set, it has been shortened in more recent times to pray them over 4 weeks with other meditations added to the Psalms. In the time of St. Dominic, books were large, heavy, and expensive and Dominic wanted the men of his order to basically be traveling preachers, so they needed a more convenient way fulfill their promise. One theory is that Dominic recommended praying the rosary while the priests were traveling because they could do so while walking.

No matter who or how it started, we know that the rosary is a powerful prayer and has been a comfort to many people throughout the ages. In 1566 Pope Pius V asked that everyone pray the rosary because Europe was open to attack. A Christian fleet met a much larger Turkish fleet off Lepanto and destroyed most of it. This victory was attributed to the daily prayer of the rosary. In Fatima, the Blessed Virgin Mary told the three children, Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta, to pray the rosary for peace since World War I was going on. This prayer is a powerful one, and it is a prayer that reminds us that we are not alone. Jesus has people, including His mother, interceding for us.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

A People Of Unity Under God

This week we celebrate the day that our great nation declared its Independence, or our freedom from England. The Fourth of July Holiday is one, like many other ones, that has lots of traditions. From parades, fireworks, cookouts, swimming, family time, and many others, we even have a tradition here to come out on the east lawn of the church to watch the fireworks during Summerfest.

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, and it seems like they do so little. 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. I hear people complaining about one thing or another with no effort to help correct it, or talk positive about others. The reality is that it is up to all of us to work together for the greater good of everyone.

Even though we are free to work together, we are often divided, between the pandemic and social media, we can attack each other so easily. 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 each of us can 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. We have the choice to do good or to sin, to disparage one another, or to build each other up.

One of the favorite tools of the devil is division, because pitting us against each other does not allow for love, 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 so that we will be united to the one true God and that he will grant 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 under God.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Updated Parish Statistics

It is time for our updated parish statistics. Since we are such a growing parish, twice a year I go through our registration database and update the statistics for the parish.

As of a few weeks ago, we are currently around 850 families with a total number of parishioners of 2773. We gain about 10 families a month as we continue to grow. One of the interesting things is how young the median age is here, and that is 24. If you go to the 8:30 or 10:30 Masses, it will not surprise you that our two largest age groups are kids, with 25% of the members here under the age of 10, 19% 10–20-year-olds, and only 15% over the age of 50. With that, the next larger groups are the parents of the children with 16% each of those in the 30-40 and 40-50 age range.

These numbers paint an amazing picture of what our parish looks like, and what our needs are. Most of you have seen the plans for our construction phases and what we hope to look like in the next 20+ years. Whenever I have someone introduce themselves and tell me that this is the first time that they have come to Mass here, I warn them that we have very “active” Masses here with the number of kids here, and that is a wonderful thing. I often say, I would rather have the kids making a bit of noise and have them here, than to not have them come. We sometimes hear that children are the future of the Church, but I argue that for them to be the future, they need to first be the present with their parents, even if they make some noise.

We do and will continue to have some growing pains here because we are growing faster than we can afford to construct buildings, so we have to be creative in the way we do things. I will take this opportunity for a shameless plug to say if you would like to help, we have our “Future Phase Fund” available to donate to! We are hoping to begin fundraising for Phase III classroom and office space project in a couple of years, with a completion expected for summer of 2027. We have accomplished a lot since we started as a parish, but we still have a long way to go. In the 2016 school year, we had 246 kids in our Religious Education classes and 93 in the school, in the past school year we had 373 in the Religious Education classes and 305 in the school. I know the Mass overflow to the gym is not ideal, but, currently, it is necessary. I would love to start the worship space next, but we are living on limited time with our portable classrooms.

I must admit, even though there are many challenges here, and the celebration of Mass is not the peaceful, quiet, and contemplative way that would be ideal, it is such a blessing to be here amid the vibrant life and excitement that is here. So… Parents, keep up the good work of bringing the kids to Mass every Sunday, it can only help to strengthen the faith that you have, and that you can continue to give your children.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

The Calling To The Priesthood Is Not For Every Man

This Friday, God willing, we will have Deacon Jason Lee ordained to the priesthood for our diocese. God willing, we will have two more men ordained to the priesthood next year. This is a wonderful thing, as we have been pretty blessed to have eight men in the last two years ordained and hopefully three more in the next two years.

The calling to the priesthood is not for every man, it is something that must 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 who 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 true 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 must 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, critter patrol, 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; it is a vocation and a life. 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 of us 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, do not become a priest. If you want a job with a lot of free time or a lot of material wealth, do not 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, we have many and similar faults just like everyone else, but that is why we rely on God for strength. I ask for a favor from you and that is to keep us in your prayers and help to encourage those young men to consider the calling.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

GPS Loses Its Signal

Summer is here! With school being out, it is also vacation time for many families. Family vacations, while they can be stressful to plan and start, they can provide some wonderful memories. I have had some fun and interesting times on vacation, from beautiful churches, to incredible views of nature, to experiences that while challenging at the time, we laugh at now. One of the interesting things that happened to myself and a friend while traveling was a particular time that we got way off our path. My friend was navigating us with his GPS before the time of phone GPS. We were trying to get from Mount Rushmore to Devil’s Tower and do it by back roads, well… we found a really back road by accident. The road started off as a paved road, went to two lane gravel, to a one lane dirt path and no way to turn around on it. We had strayed from the road, even though we ended up making it, we were on the wrong path, and ended up taking much longer than we had planned.

The trip of our spiritual life is kind of the same. We know where our final destination is – Home or Heaven, but we do not always know the path that we are going to take to get there. Sometimes in our faith journey we have the straight and easy roads, sometimes we have a few twists and bumps, and sometimes we run into roadblocks and we have to turn around, but the good thing is that we are not alone, we have help. The journey can be confusing, it can be difficult, it can be exciting, and we sometimes even get a little lost because our GPS loses its signal, but we need to keep going towards that destination.

One of the great blessings is that we have roadmaps (the Church, prayer, Holy Scripture, spiritual books, etc.) but most importantly we have been given a guide. God the Father did not want us to get lost. He sent His Son to be that guide for us, we simply need to follow. The journey of our physical life and that of spiritual life go together, one feeds off of the other. When we feed ourselves spiritually, it helps us physically and it gives us the energy we need to continue down the path of our lives, and when we feed ourselves physically it gives us the strength to keep moving.

Something also, that I would recommend is to find a local parish to attend Mass at. I remember when I was a child (long before cell phones, GPS, and internet access) where we would drive around to the different parishes where we were at to find the Mass times. One of the great things now, is that we do have the ability to pull up our phones and find the Mass times quickly. In fact, there are a couple of apps that we can download or go to the website masstimes.org and find the closest parish to where we are at.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Summer Reading

Summer has started and the kids are gone from the school. For the summer, many teachers recommend a summer reading list. With the vacations we take, less school activities, and longer days, some of us have more free time to be able to read. Bookstores have sections devoted to summer reading as well. I would recommend that we take some of this reading time to enhance our relationship with God with some spiritual reading.

The Bible is always a good place to start.  One study states that only 10% of all Christians have read the entire Bible, even though most people have more than one copy in their house. An average reader could read it in 80 hours which is 15 minutes a day for a year or an hour a day for the summer. There is a wonderful podcast called the “Bible in a Year” which many people have already listened to and can help with the reading of Sacred Scriptures. Besides the Bible, there are some other great spiritual reading books depending on your tastes. When you are traveling there are some good podcasts for spiritual reading, Fr Mike Schmitz has his “Bible in a Year” podcast and the “Catechism in a Year” podcast as well to help us with some good audio reading. There are some really good current Catholic writers like Matthey Kelly, Bishop Barron, Cardinal Sarah, Jacque Phillipe, and many others. The Holy Fathers are also a wonderful resource as well as the many different saints who have written about a number of different topics, each of our last few popes have different styles of writing and a wide variety of topics. There are some of the writings of the early Church Fathers that we can turn to for example Justin Martyr, Ignatius of Antioch, or Polycarp. Some of the great Doctors of the Church have some wonderful books that can help us to grow in our faith as well. We have 2,000 years of tradition and writings to delve into and the selections are endless. Last year I recommended a couple including “Story of a Soul” by St. Therese of Lisieux and “the Confessions” by St. Augustine. The “Lives of the Saints” gives us a short synopsis of many different saints. I would also recommend to look up a saint that has a patronage of something that we are passionate about and read about them. A couple of more books that I might recommend are “Fire and Light” by Jacque Phillipe, this is a wonderful read that is very accessible for most people, but has some profound thoughts. I am currently reading Cardinal Sarah’s new book “The Catechism of the Spiritual Life” and it has been very good so far. A recommendation for kids would be “Stories of the Saints: Bold and Inspiring Tales of Adventure, Grace, and Courage” Thomas Kempis “The Imitation of Christ” is always a classic read as well. 

There is a great wealth of Good Catholic reading out there, take some of this summer time to pick up a book that will help to grow your faith life. 

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend we have the official kickoff to summer… Memorial Day weekend. The school year at St. Luke has ended, and we celebrate a special day on Sunday, Pentecost Sunday. As we celebrate Memorial 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 death is not the end, but something more, 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 our Father in Heaven.

Within our celebration of Memorial Day, like all days, we should include prayer, but on this day, prayers in a special way reminding us of 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 our differences and never again have to live with the fear of violence, but that day will only happen when we receive the goodness God has really given each of us and we live it out. That we live and proclaim the message Jesus himself gives us to love God above all things, and our neighbor as ourselves. As we celebrate Memorial Day, 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

Move Along, There Is Nothing Else To See Here...

This weekend, we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension, it is also the last week of school here at St. Luke the Evangelist, and next weekend we celebrate Pentecost along with Memorial Day. These celebrations mark the fact that we are being strengthened and then being sent. Jesus ascends into heaven and he allows the Apostles to witness this great scene so that they know that He has gone away, but He tells them that they will not be left alone, we will see that account next week. These two celebrations are important for us because they give us both the path that we are to follow as well as our mission to spread the Gospel in the world. After Jesus ascends, the angels ask the Apostles “why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.” In other words, move along, there is nothing else to see here, go and do what He told you to. Go out into the world and spread the good news.

Even though we are being lead and told to do something, we do not always follow because we need some help. Just like the kids finishing school for the year, they need their parents help, we, along with them, need Christ’s help. Next week, we hear that the disciples receive the gift of the Holy Spirit enabling them and giving them the courage to go and preach the Gospel to all people. Sometimes this is called the birthday of the Church, where the Apostles and now, we, are being sent to fulfill Jesus’ mission. Jesus came into the world to found a Church and to use that Church to bring all people back to the Father in the kingdom of Heaven.

Often we hear the phrase “sola scriptura” or Scripture alone, but the problem with this is that Jesus did not come to give us a book: he came to give us a Church and a mission. In fact, there only a few words that we know Jesus himself wrote, and the words themselves are not recorded, remember the woman caught in adultery, and Jesus knelt down and wrote in the dirt. Jesus could have easily come down from Heaven and said, “here is the book you need to read and follow it” but He did not, He came down to the earth to live our lives and He showed us the path we are to lead by walking it with us, and then sent us to follow that path with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He tells us that He will never leave us alone and the decent of the Holy Spirit is proof of that. Jesus gave us an example as well as a mission to follow, and that mission is to follow him and then go out into the world to lead others to that same path. That is the message and mission of the Ascension and Pentecost, to take up where Jesus left off and continue to spread the Good News to the world!

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Happy Mother’s Day

St Luke’s Parish Family,

Happy Mother’s Day weekend from the Knights of Columbus! Thank you, Fr Ken, for giving us this platform to share more about the Knights. First, let’s celebrate our Holy Mother and all of the women of the parish. Happy Mother’s Day!

The Knights of Columbus are 141 years old, and Pope John Paul II called us the “strong right arm of the church.” Not long ago, our Supreme leaders recognized the valuable and strong traditions of the Knights, but also the need to adapt to meet a new generation of Knights where they are. So, we are 141 years old and also about 2 years old.

We continue the long traditions of supporting our parish, Catholic schools, and especially our parish priests. We still stand for Charity, Unity, Fraternity and Patriotism. But we are also a modern brotherhood of men. Many of our events are more focused on our families. Our ceremonies are open for all to attend. The new Knights are perfectly designed for a young and growing parish like St Luke’s.

We know the men of our parish are busy with your family at home, at kids’ activities, or traveling. We know you are serving our communities of Ankeny, Polk City, or Polk County. And you are bringing your faith to work, leading by your Christian example. Consider doing all that great work as a Knight. andhelp us shape our council for a new generation of Knights.

Through charity, unity, fraternity, and patriotism, we make a positive impact on our families, parish, school, and community. The power of our council is strong. Just this year, we supported

• St Luke parish and school – building fund and tithing gifts, RE and school teacher appreciation, state golf proceeds to the school, ice cream float night, Oxtoberfest

• Religious vocations – supporting deacons, sisters, and priests from formation, to ordinations, retirement, Memorial Day

• Special Needs – Tootsie Roll drive, other funds, and support to Mosaic, Candeo, Easter Seals, and Special Olympics

• Culture of Life – Rosaries for baptisms, funds, and support to Inner Visions and Agape, diapers and other support after pregnancy, and ultrasound machines

• Youth – Knights college scholarships, Spelling Bee, free throw contest and Keep Christ in Christmas poster contest

• Community – Catholic Charities, Slumberland mattress deliveries, blue-red mass, Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, St Vincent de Paul, coat drive, 40 cans for Lent

• Fraternity and Fundraising – parish breakfasts, fish fries, Christmas Wreaths, KC Golf League dinners, Drake concessions, picnics, bingo and movie nights

  How do we accomplish so much? The power of our 150 brothers, united with our officers and each other, the support of our families and the power of 1. We will succeed when each Knight finds their one thing. One Knights activity that fits their passion, and they live the rest of their life as a Knight.

Join us. Come to an event. Bring your bride, bring your family. There will be Knights in the narthex after mass to answer any questions or help you join.

Thank you and Happy Mother’s Day!
Your Knights of Columbus