Category: Parish News & Events

Let’s Wait…Or Not

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If you have lived as long as I have and had a few jobs in your life, perhaps you have worked with people that as soon as the boss walked out the door they let their “hair down.”  In other words, they would do things that they wouldn’t ordinarily do when he/she was present. Sound familiar? God forbid the boss would come in at a time when there was an enormous amount of goofing off going on. There would be consequences! This is the kind of theme in today’s Gospel of Luke.

How much time do you spend thinking about your mortality? I promise you, the older you get, the more you think about it! (Today is my 75th birthday). Actually, at this stage of my life, I think more about getting closer and closer to God than about when I am going to die.

Secularism has crept into churches all over the world. If you are or were a regular church goer you might have noticed that in many cases attendance has gone down. And I’m talking about before Covid-19. And now it’s getting worse. There is a visible force attempting to destroy Christianity here and around the earth. It shows up in our church big time. Very sad. Some feel that since Christ has not shown up after 2000 years, then perhaps he never will, or worse yet, that he was never really God. I have heard some say that there is no proof that God exists. Some people actually think that God exists simply because they believe he exists. Sorry to those people, God exists whether we believe it or not.

That brings us back to the surprise party. That day that Jesus decides to come back. Remember, it will be like a thief coming in the middle of the night!  Malachi says, “Oh, that great and terrible day.” It will be great for believers but terrible for unbelievers. Does it give you chills? It does me! It may be a time to look at our spiritual walk.

  • Am I spending more time with the Lord?

For those of you that struggle with silence, that was number one on my list many years ago. When I started college, I would have rather had a bad roommate than none at all. I could not handle silence at all. My wife helped cure me of that problem. Soon after we were married she would get up at 5:00 AM to spend time with the Lord. She was a great role model for me. If you are of a contemplative nature, then sitting before the Blessed Sacrament is like a slice of heaven. Lectio Divina is a wonderful way for you to widen that pathway between you and God. You will be amazed. If you don’t have access to a church or chapel try praying a daily rosary or a divine mercy chaplet or both! Read books on the lives of the saints to see how others overcame great difficulties to become holy.

  • Am I helping others in need?

If you are stumped on this one, then see Matthew 25. Jesus gives a great list of those things that you and I can do. It will make him smile. Joy comes with giving! If you are still stumped, ask the Lord in your evening prayer what he wishes you to do. You will get an answer!

Serve with joy!

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Deacon Dan Schneider is a retired general manager of industrial distributors. He and his wife Vicki recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They are the parents of eight children and twenty-nine grandchildren. He has a degree in Family Life Education from Spring Arbor University. He was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 2002.  He has a passion for working with engaged and married couples and his main ministry has been preparing couples for marriage.

St. Hilarion: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Abbot and disciple of St. Anthony the Great, companion of St. Hesychius. He was born in Tabatha, Palestine, and was educated in Alexandria, Egypt. He stayed with St. Anthony in the desert there before becoming a hermit at Majuma, near Gaza, Israel. In 356, Hilarion returned to St. Anthony in the Egyptian desert and found that his fame had Spread there too. He fled to Sicily to escape notice, but Hesychius traced him there. The two went to Dalmatia, Croatia, and then to Cyprus. Hilarion …

God’s In-Pouring love

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“Be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks.”

Weddings are wonderful events, celebrations when we somehow are able to set aside the past and hope for the future of a couple with whom we have in some way shared the journey of life.

However…

What would be some reasons why a wedding feast wouldn’t be a joyous celebration?

Think about it for a minute…

I’ll name a few hypothetical reasons why we may not be thoroughly and completely delighted at a wedding feast:

The bride has a more beautiful wedding dress than I did.
The wedding feast is larger than what my spouse and I would be able to have.
I don’t approve of the marriage.
I’m worried about the future of the couple.
I wish I could be that happy in public like the groom. Instead I shrink with fear or shame for some reason I can’t understand.
My marriage or vocational choice has gone through the wringer with sorrows and setbacks. It’s not fair that they have everything going for them.
I have been slighted or hurt or unjustly treated by one of them and hope they get what they deserve.

Whoa. Suddenly the feasting is no longer shining with joy. It is distorted and darkened with jealousy or fear or anger or…

…Or hurt…

In the Gospel today Jesus tells us to be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast. He says they should have their belts done up and their lamps lit, that is to be actively getting ready for his return.

So what are some reasons why we may not be actively, excitedly preparing ourselves for the Lord’s coming?

Here are some hypothetical possibilities…

I’ve lost a child and no matter how much I prayed, God did nothing.

My life hasn’t turned out the way I had hoped.

Others have gotten ahead of me and I resent that I’m not more talented, more positioned for success, more wealthy.

Trauma in my early years has left me struggling to trust, to hope, to love anyone and even God himself. I’ve shut down to protect myself.

I can’t remember the last time I was happy.

My experience of love in my formative years was conditioned on my good behavior or good grades. I never seem good enough for God. I can’t believe he would love me.

I pray but I don’t think God listens to me.

I think that God will come to punish me. I’m not even sure there is a place for me in heaven. I’m still worried about something I did when I was a teenager and if God has forgiven me.

Something similar lies at the root of both of these hypothetical lists.

Hurt.

The wounds we have sustained in life deeply affect us…at the level of the heart. We certainly get absorbed in the thoughts and memories and feelings that swirl within us on a conscious level. Just think of these hypothetical situations and all the drama that they create within a person and in relationships. Our small mind’s antics are just ways to distract us from the utter pain we each carry in some way in our deeper heart, pain from past wounds accumulated over the years.

Friend, I encourage you to hold that hurt and honor that wound. Know that deeper than the wound itself, however, is the spark of God’s in-pouring love that sustains your life on every level. We all have to struggle with the small-minded antics that get played out within us and which drive us then to act in small-minded ways. Hurt does that. The readings today, however, call us to look deeper. To actively seek to hold up the lamp in the dark begging for God to show us his face. To reveal how through all the pain we “in him are being built up into a dwelling-place of God in the Spirit.”

It begins with being aware of what is holding us back, what is small-minded and pain-filled and welcoming both the wound and the healing. As the wound heals, the light is released and the delicious joy of the wedding feast invades our life, pushing away the small-minded narrowness with the amazing discovery of Jesus’ promise: “In truth I tell you, he will do up his belt, sit them down at table and wait on them.”

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Sr. Kathryn J. HermesKathryn James Hermes, FSP, is the author of the newly released title: Reclaim Regret: How God Heals Life’s Disappointments, by Pauline Books and Media. An author and spiritual mentor, she offers spiritual accompaniment for the contemporary Christian’s journey towards spiritual growth and inner healing. She is the director of My Sisters, where people can find spiritual accompaniment from the Daughters of St. Paul on their journey. Website: www.touchingthesunrise.com Public Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/srkathrynhermes/ For monthly spiritual journaling guides, weekly podcasts and over 50 conferences and retreat programs join my Patreon community: https://www.patreon.com/srkathryn.

St. Paul of the Cross: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, October 20, 2020

St. Paul of the Cross was born at Ovada in the Republic of Genoa, January 3, 1694. His infancy and youth were spent in great innocence and piety. He was inspired from on high to found a congregation; in an ecstacy he beheld the habit which he and his companions were to wear. After consulting his director, Bishop Gastinara of Alexandria in Piedmont, he reached the conclusion that God wished him to establish a congregation in honor of the Passion of Jesus Christ. On November 22, 1720, the bishop …

Apostle’s Creed (A Prayer of Faith): Prayer of the Day for Tuesday, October 20, 2020

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Creator of Heaven and earth;
I believe in Jesus Christ,
His only Son, our Lord,
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day He rose again.
He ascended into Heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the …

Sharing Vs. Selfishness

“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” Luke 12:15

If only we could seek to live out these very words shared to us by Jesus in today’s Gospel. We must consciously guard our hearts of all greed and envy. Jesus is warning us not to allow selfishness to taint our vision and act as if we are God.

In life, we must be careful not to allow our actions to be done out of selfishness thereby leaving little to no room for God and others.

The parable in this story points to what happens when we become consumed with “stuff” and are selfish. I could not help but picture this man’s barn full of grain that was never intended to be shared with others, even to the point of his food rotting instead of feeding those who are in need.

This is not a story of growing a business to sell the grain, expand bigger barns to store more grain for others, but instead, Jesus tells us that he desired to create larger barns to store grain so he could live a life of selfishness. This man was wealthy and never suffered from lack of food; he was already blessed, his barns worked fine as they were. The man said to himself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink and be merry.” This mantra of living doesn’t involve anyone but self and is a temptation we must all fight.

When God appeared, he said, “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you, and the things you have prepared to whom will they belong? “

This question is a crucial one. What will your legacy be? With whom shall you share your life’s earnings? How do you spend your time, talent, and money? Our Lord is pointing out that this man created these barns for himself and not for others; it was all for his pleasure.

Jesus ends this parable with these powerful words, “Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.” Luke 12:21

Today’s saints,  Sts. John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, Priests, and Companions were missionaries in the New World and shared the Gospel message even resulting in martyrdom.

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Emily Jaminet is a Catholic author, speaker, radio personality, wife, and mother of seven children. She earned a bachelor’s degree in mental health and human services from the Franciscan University of Steubenville.  She is the co-founder of www.inspirethefaith.com and the Executive Director of The Sacred Heart Enthronement Network www.WelcomeHisHeart.com. She has co-authored several Catholic books and her next one, Secrets of the Sacred Heart: Claiming Jesus’ Twelve Promises in Your Life, comes out in Oct. 2020. Emily serves on the board of the Columbus Catholic Women’s Conference, contributes to Relevant Radio and Catholic Mom.com.

Sts. Isaac Jogues and Rene Goupil: Saint of the Day for Monday, October 19, 2020

In 1642 the Huron country was in great distress. Harvests were poor, sickness abounded, and clothing was scarce. Quebec was the only source of supplies, and Isaac Jogues was chosen to lead an expedition. It reached its objective safely and started back well supplied with goods for the mission, but the Iroquois, the bitter enemies of the Hurons, and fiercest of all Indian tribes, were on the war-path and ambushed the returning expedition. The story of the ill-treatment and torture of the …

Prayer for God’s Guidance: Prayer of the Day for Monday, October 19, 2020

Father in Heaven,
You made me Your child
and called me to walk in the Light of Christ.
Free me from darkness
and keep me in the Light of Your Truth.
The Light of Jesus has scattered
the darkness of hatred and sin.
Called to that Light,
I ask for Your guidance.
Form my life in Your Truth,
my heart in Your Love.
Through the Holy Eucharist,
give me the power of Your Grace
that I may walk in the Light of Jesus
and serve Him faithfully.

Changing Seasons, Changing Hearts

This time of year always has me reflecting on change. I watch in awe as day after day the trees turn into a brilliant array of colors, then fall one by one as the brisk winds carry them away. Our family also celebrates several birthdays. Two of my in-laws, myself, my young son and my Dad all increase their ages by one this month. The trees prepare for winter and the calendar pages turn.

The change of seasons has me reflecting on internal change as well. As the leaves transform from a healthy spring green to a crisp brown on the ground, I wonder if there is something within me that needs to fall as well. Which elements of my character, which poignant words, which vices should just fall to the ground to be trampled underfoot?

The words of the First Reading are powerful: “I have called you by your name… I am the Lord…” I am so tempted to think that I am talented or capable or hardworking. It is so easy to criticize, complain and be filled with negativity. In those moments of weakness, I forget this amazing truth. He has called me by name!

One who is called is also chosen. One who is chosen should follow in the footsteps of the One who chose him. My life should emulate His words and actions so as to be a good example and a source of joy to all I encounter.

Listen to the words of St. Paul in today’s Second Reading: “We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers, unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love, and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father, knowing, brothers and sisters, how you were chosen.”

Perhaps on this Sunday it would be a good exercise for us to reflect on these questions: Do others give thanks to God for me because of how I emulate His love? Do you remember others in your prayers, especially those you may struggle with? Does your life include works of faith and labors of love? Do you have an enduring hope in our Lord? Do you realize that you are chosen and live accordingly?

As I type I immediately realize that I have a long way to go. But we can never reach the finish line until we approach the starting line. May this season of change bring many changes in our hearts as well so that we may grow ever closer to our Lord and inspire others to as well.

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Tami Urcia grew up in Western Michigan, a middle child in a large Catholic family. She spent early young adulthood as a missionary in Mexico, studying theology and philosophy, then worked and traveled extensively before finishing her Bachelor’s Degree in Western Kentucky. She loves tackling home improvement projects, finding fun ways to keep her four boys occupied, quiet conversation with the hubby and finding unique ways to love. She works at Diocesan, is a guest blogger on CatholicMom.com and BlessedIsShe.net, runs her own blog at https://togetherandalways.wordpress.com and has been doing Spanish translations on the side for almost 20 years.