Is it still special for you?

Happy Easter!

We are continuing to celebrate the Easter Season! This weekend is a big one for some of the second graders of our parish. This is the first group of kids that are receiving Holy Communion for the first time! This year we again are breaking them up into smaller groups, so we are having three First Communion Masses since we have over 70 kids that will be receiving this great Sacrament for the first time. For a while, they have been preparing themselves to receive Jesus into their bodies in a very special way, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. This is what we receive each and every time that we receive Holy Communion.

As we are reminded of how special this day is, we can also remind ourselves to ask the question, how do we think of it when we are receiving it? Are we reminded how special of a thing it is to be able to receive Christ and let His body and His blood feed us, both bodily and spiritually? Yes, this is an important day in the children’s lives as well as their families. We sometimes get caught up in the children dressing in a special way, the boys with their nice clothes and ties, the girls in their pretty white dresses. It is a special day. It is a very special and holy event. It should be an incredible experience for them because of who they are receiving. But, as important as the first reception of the Eucharist is, the 2nd, the 10th, the 323rd, etc. is not less special or important for any of us.

We sometimes forget how much of a gift it is to be able to receive the Blessed Sacrament on a regular basis, as the old saying goes, what we do daily, sometimes we do dully or another phrase that I like better, practice makes permanent. I invite each and every one of you to remember your own First Communion (I received mine from Fr. Pat Bacon). Remember how special that day was and what it meant to you. Is receiving Jesus today, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity less special today since it is not the first time? The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the source and the summit of our faith. It is an incredible gift that Jesus gave to us to continue to draw us closer and closer to Him!

A few years ago was a stark reminder to me when we were not able to celebrate Holy Week and Easter together and should have reminded us of what we were really missing. Still even now, there are many people that still cannot come together to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and thus are not able to receive Him in the Eucharist. We should take time again and again to remind ourselves how special it is and to receive Him each and every time we come to Mass. The first time is special, but so are all the rest!

God bless,
Fr. Ken

How special is it to you?

Happy Easter!

We are continuing to celebrate the Easter Season! This weekend is a big one for some of the second graders of our parish. This is the first group of kids that are receiving Holy Communion for the first time! This year we again are breaking them up into smaller groups, so we are having three First Communion Masses since we have over 70 kids that will be receiving this great Sacrament for the first time. For a while, they have been preparing themselves to receive Jesus into their bodies in a very special way, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. This is what we receive each and every time that we receive Holy Communion.

As we are reminded of how special this day is, we can also remind ourselves to ask the question, how do we think of it when we are receiving it? Are we reminded how special of a thing it is to be able to receive Christ and let His body and His blood feed us, both bodily and spiritually? Yes, this is an important day in the children’s lives as well as their families. We sometimes get caught up in the children dressing in a special way, the boys with their nice clothes and ties, the girls in their pretty white dresses. It is a special day. It is a very special and holy event. It should be an incredible experience for them because of who they are receiving. But, as important as the first reception of the Eucharist is, the 2nd, the 10th, the 323rd, etc. is not less special or important for any of us.

We sometimes forget how much of a gift it is to be able to receive the Blessed Sacrament on a regular basis, as the old saying goes, what we do daily, sometimes we do dully or another phrase that I like better, practice makes permanent. I invite each and every one of you to remember your own First Communion (I received mine from Fr. Pat Bacon). Remember how special that day was and what it meant to you. Is receiving Jesus today, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity less special today since it is not the first time? The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the source and the summit of our faith. It is an incredible gift that Jesus gave to us to continue to draw us closer and closer to Him!

A few years ago was a stark reminder to me when we were not able to celebrate Holy Week and Easter together and should have reminded us of what we were really missing. Still even now, there are many people that still cannot come together to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and thus are not able to receive Him in the Eucharist. We should take time again and again to remind ourselves how special it is and to receive Him each and every time we come to Mass. The first time is special, but so are all the rest!

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Easter Season Readings

I have a question, have you noticed what is different about the readings for the Sunday Masses during the Easter season? If you want to look at the missalette and see if you can figure it out, you can stop reading this for a few minutes and see if you can, I’ll wait… There is something a bit different in those readings, and that is where the first reading comes from. During all of the other seasons of the liturgical year, the first reading comes from the Old Testament somewhere then we have the Psalm reading, and the second reading always comes from the New Testament, and then finally, the reading from one of the four Gospels.

But during the Easter season, we have the first reading coming from the Acts of the Apostles instead of the Old Testament. This is because the Church wants us to be more specifically focused on what happened to the Apostles and other Disciples after the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus. It was their mission to go out into the world and preach the Gospel (Good News) to the world and to share what happened. They started their ministry in Jerusalem and the surrounding region at first, but then moved out into the rest of the known world pretty quickly.

Reading the Acts of the Apostles is a wonderful thing to do, because it showed what the Apostles had to go through to get the message out. They were arrested by the leaders of the Jewish people, they were put in prison, they were beaten, threatened and persecuted so that they would stop talking about Jesus. It is one of the things that is often quoted about why we believe our faith was real, as some people talk about the life and death of Jesus, we have to ask the question about whether or not the Resurrection actually happened. The guards were given a large sum of money and were instructed to tell people that the Disciples came at night and stole the body of Jesus. So, some people believed that story.

But, if you think about what the Disciples did and had to go through this begs another question, how far would you go for a lie? Me, I know if it was something that I really did not believe, or I knew was not true, I would not be willing to be beaten, jailed, or even executed for the lie. However, I would be willing to go through those persecutions if I knew that the Resurrection was the truth and that it would lead to eternal life. That is what the Apostles and Disciples did, and the Acts of the Apostles is an account of some of the things that they went through for their faith. While it is hard to say what the most important books of the Bible are, I would argue that the four Gospels and Acts of the Apostles are right up there, because they are the words and actions of our Lord and Savior, and then the mission that he, himself gave to his followers to do. So, as we continue this Easter Season, let us use the example of the Apostles to lead us in our mission.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Many Thanks!

Rejoice, Christ is Risen! Alleluia, Alleluia.

We have made it through Lent, Holy Week, as well as the wonderful Octave of Easter, concluding with Divine Mercy Sunday. We now are continuing our Easter journey with this entire 50 days of the Easter season. The weeks leading up to and including Easter are very busy around the parish, and they take a lot of work to get things ready and looking right. I wanted to take the time to thank the many volunteers who helped to do the different color changes in the church going from violet, to red, back to violet, to white, back to red, and finally to white for our Easter season. There was also a significant amount of time moving plants and placing flowers. We had to set up chairs and the altar area for the second Mass in the gym as well. These are only the visible things that we see as we have celebrated Holy Week and Easter. There were numerous choir practices, practicing for servers and clergy, as well as for the RCIA people, as well as other planning for the liturgies. This all takes people to step up and do it. I wanted to thank everyone who helped, I know if I start naming names, I will forget some and I do not want to do that, but I wanted everyone to know just how much work goes into this season and I wanted to wholeheartedly thank all of the people who helped. It is easy to thank myself or Fr Ryan for the beautiful liturgies, but without the many, many hours that were put in by a significant number of other people, it would not happen. With that being said, we can always use people to help out.

Just like in most places, the same few people are doing most of the events or ministries. Almost every week we have multiple open spots on our ministry schedule for Extra Ordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, or lectors, or hospitality ministers, etc. It is not often seen because we usually are grabbing people as they walk in and asking them last minute. It takes 11-12 people helping at each of the Masses that we have, and sometimes we only have 5-6 available and we have to find the others. Something that would be pretty easy to do as a family is to do hospitality ministry, which involves greeting people, handing out music books, and passing the collection baskets, the kids usually love to help with this. I know that we all have very busy lives and we are not always sure which Mass we are going to attend, or other event we are going to be at, but as a parish, we really need the help in these things. Here at St. Luke’s, we have around 1,500 registered adults and if even half of us volunteer an hour a month, we would be fine.

Again, I wanted to thank the staff and volunteers that help to serve in the liturgies, as well as all of the other things that happen around here. Thank you all so much!

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Jesus, I trust in You.

This weekend we finish the Octave of Easter, or the eight days, the first week of the Easter Season. Our celebration of Easter, along with Christmas, is so important that the Church continues to celebrate it not just one day, but for an entire week. This whole week is a continual celebration of the greatest events of human history. Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God has risen from the grave and conquered even death itself for our sake.

This wonderful week concludes with another celebration, that of Divine Mercy Sunday. This is a relatively new feast day. It was instituted by Pope St John Paul II and focuses on the incredible mercy that God offers us. In Holy Scripture, Jesus is the one that talks about the judgement of God more than anyone, but he is also the one who talks about the mercy of God more than anyone, and they are always tied together. This feast day is based on the writing of St Faustina Kowalska and her vision of Jesus who came to her. This is what she wrote in her diary: "In the evening, when I was in my cell, I became aware of the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand was raised in blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast. From the opening of the garment at the breast there came forth two large rays, one red and the other pale. In silence I gazed intently at the Lord; my soul was overwhelmed with fear, but also with great joy. After a while Jesus said to me, 'paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the inscription: Jesus, I trust in You.'" This image that came to St Faustina is one that she painted and is now known all over the world with the red and the white representing the blood and the water that came from His side.

Last year, we started to do one celebration with OLIH here and this year we will be celebrating the Divine Mercy of God with Adoration and Confessions starting at 1:00 PM at Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart Church, and lasting until just before 3:00 in which we will pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy followed by Benediction and Reposition of the Blessed Sacrament. So, we will not be celebrating it here this year, but at OLIH and there will be a number of priests available for the sacrament of Reconciliation, including myself.

This is a wonderful time to just sit and reflect in front of the Blessed Sacrament and give the greatest sacrifice that we can offer to God: our time with Him. His mercy is far greater than anything that we can imagine and Jesus wants us to leave our sins with Him. He reminds us the same things that he tells the woman caught in adultery: ‘I do not condemn you of your sins, but go and sin no more.’ I would invite everyone to spend some time this Sunday, with our Lord and Savior reflecting on His Divine Mercy.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

The Lord is Risen!

Rejoice, Christ is Risen! Alleluia, Alleluia.

We have again made it to the most wondrous season of Easter. I always marvel at the fact, that on Ash Wednesday, I think how far Easter is away, and when I get to Easter, I think, how fast the Lenten season goes. It is a busy time around the parish and school. We have lots of extra Confession times during Lent, and usually we have other events going on as well. So, how did the Lenten fasting go? Hopefully, it went well and it helped us to refocus ourselves, and maybe we have created a new good habit. I would recommend keeping some extra prayer times going.

For the last six weeks during the Lenten season, we have also fasted from using the word Alleluia. It is a word of rejoicing and praise and it is one of the few words that we do not translate. If it were translated it would roughly mean, “All hail to him who is.” Easter is the season of rejoicing; we have come from a season of fasting and penance to the season of joy. It is joyful because Jesus Christ who once was dead, is now alive, He has Risen. In fact, that was one of the greetings that ancient Christians gave to each other. They would say, “The Lord is risen” and the reply would be “He has risen indeed.”

It is no accident that Easter is in the spring, a season of new life, the grass is starting to get green, the livestock is being born, the songbirds are returning, the flowers are starting to come up, you get the picture. It is a season of new life and the symbols that we use in Church are symbols of new life. Just look at the symbols that we use. We use Lilies because they resemble trumpets that are blaring out the news Christ is risen and they also are reported to have bloomed on the tomb. Rabbits are a very prolific animal and they have been symbols of life for many different cultures, which is why rabbits are often associated with Easter and the new life of it. The symbol of eggs and chicks is an obvious one, since the chickens hatch out of the eggs and are the beginning of their life. We, in this Easter season, celebrate not just the beginning of life; we celebrate the beginning of a new and eternal life. Jesus really did die on the cross, but he also raised himself from the tomb, and that is that incredible event that we celebrate today. Easter, like Christmas, is not just a single day that we celebrate; we celebrate for an entire week, called the octave. It is a week of great praise and rejoicing, enjoy it. We celebrate the wonderful gift that God has given us and that is the path that he shows us to eternal life with him.

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

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Hosanna to the Son of David…

Hosanna to the Son of David…

This weekend we begin the holiest and most incredible week of the Church Year. We celebrate the memory of Christ triumphal entering into the holy city of Jerusalem. The people were praising him and rejoicing that he was coming. They were laying down their cloaks and putting palms over the road for him to ride in on. Just imagine what it was like, the joy and the revelry, the cheering and screaming like we would with our favorite sports team coming in to an area. Imagine the pure excitement at the new King, the Son of David coming into his city…but then it changes. Everything changes within the span of just a few days.

Change is nothing new and even having major shifts in our lives like what is happening right now, has happened in the past and is a part of change, some of it we can control, most of it we cannot. I remember a sporting event that I was at, and many of you may have watched an event like this, where the crowd is really loud at a play or other event, and then everyone goes silent. Someone was hurt and bad. Even if it is a player from the other team, we go quiet and are shocked. Just imagine this Holy Week that shock that the people felt. On Palm Sunday. it goes from the joy and excitement of Jesus entering into the city of Jerusalem like a king, mounted on a donkey, to the silence of an extreme low where he is betrayed by a friend, he is arrested, imprisoned, condemned, walks the Way of the Cross, to suffer his death in a most horrendous way. However, there is rejoicing again by Jesus’ followers when they hear of his resurrection. It is such a beautiful and solemn week; it is a week that we witness how far Jesus was willing to go for the redemption of our sins.

So…how are we planning to celebrate this greatest week of the year? In the early Church, we only celebrated Easter, because it was the day that Christ rose from the dead. This week, we will again celebrate that incredible sacrifice that Christ gave to us, his own life among us, his death, and resurrection. Are we planning on it being just another week of the year, or are we planning on doing something special? I would recommend being a part of the extra liturgies that we have this week with Holy Thursday and Good Friday being wonderful reminders of the sacrifice that Christ made for us.

Next Saturday evening at the Easter Vigil, we will be welcoming in our new members into the Church. As we prepare for our celebration of the passion, death, and resurrection of our Savior, let us be mindful of that great gift He has given us and celebrate it with the wonder, awe, and joy that it is. Our Lenten journey is quickly coming to a close, and next week we will rejoice that the Son of God has returned from death to overcome the power of death to lead us into the eternal joys of heaven. So have a blessed Triduum and Easter, and know that all of you are in my prayers, as we pray and hope for our own resurrection into the kingdom of heaven as we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Passion for the Saints

One of the topics in the Church I like to discuss is the Saints. I will often times mention to someone in the confessional that they should find a saint that they are passionate about.

The saints are wonderful examples for us to follow. Some of them lived very holy and beautiful lives all the way through, like St. Therese of Lisieux. From childhood, she was a wonderful example of a life completely devoted to God in such a wonderful and simple way. Another great example of this is St. Maria Goretti, even though she was killed at a young age, she had that great love for God and her neighbor even as she was being killed.

Then there are many other examples of lives that were a little more challenging and then they had a major conversion in their lives. One of the very famous examples of this is St. Augustine. Even though his mother, St. Monica, was a very prayerful woman and prayed fervently for the conversion of her husband and sons and even chased them around the world, St. Augustine very solidly followed Manichaeism, a religion based on a constant struggle between good and evil. Finally, after many years of not living a very good life, by the continual prayer of his mother and many long discussions with St. Ambrose, St. Augustine finally was baptized into the faith and became one of the most famous theologians. Another saint that is a bit more obscure is known as St. Moses the Ethiopian. He was the leader of a gang of bandits, and after having been thwarted in the effort to rob and kill someone, hid out in a community of monks, to which he ended up joining the community, and while he was there, he was attacked by a group of robbers, and he captured them and dragged them to the chapel and asked the brother monks what to do with them. The robbers repented and ended up joining the monastery as well.

We have saints that were soldiers like Ignatius of Loyola that had a major conversion when he was healing from a broken leg that was hit by a cannonball and during that time began to himself read the lives of the saints and was so inspired that he gave his life to God. St. Sebastian was also a soldier who was killed for his faith and is now the patron saint of athletes. St. Cecilia is the patron saint of music because she heard heavenly music when she got married. St. Lawrence is the patron saint of cooks and comedians because he was grilled to death and reportedly said “turn me over, I am done on this side”

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

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Checking Sources

Have you ever been online and saw a post that you just wanted to say “What the heck?!?” and then look at where it is from. There are a few really good satire or mock-news websites out there- one called the Onion, another called The Eye of the Tiber, and another one called Babylon Bee. The first one takes current events and makes up wild stories about them. For example, “Sugar industry shaped public opinion for decades” and then it makes up a story that only a true conspiracy theorist could believe. The second site is in the same vein but Catholic based, one of the people they talk about is “pope” Michael who is a mailman from Oklahoma City was elected “pope” in 1990 by six people including himself and his parents. The third one is an ecumenical Christian website that did an article about how a new version of “Operation” game is just figuring out which essential oils to use. All of these websites take things that some people would like to hear that then take it to the extreme of making it seem almost real. Sometimes when I read some of the articles they publish, I think that our real news agencies are really satire sites as well.

In the past, I have had some people contact me about things that they have seen on one of these websites and ask if it is true… no they are not! Where we get our information, and is there an agenda behind it, is something we should always ask about especially when it comes to information about the Church. Sometimes I hear things like “the pope is trying to change this or that” and then I go to the original statements or documents and I see that there was a comment made one way that was taken out of context or twisted to fit the narrative that they want to put across.

There are so many people out there trying to get your attention, especially during this political season. Politicians on both sides of the aisle are trying to get your vote and are willing to put out partial information to try to convince you. Politicians and Lobbyists are very poor places to get Church teaching because they usually seem to be more in line with their political party or agenda than the actual teachings of the Church. I am always amazed when I hear a politician state some Catholic teaching and then twist it for their own sake.

There are a few good places we can check the facts to make sure something is really a Catholic teaching; the Catechism of the Catholic Church is the place that I would recommend to start. So if something does not seem to make sense when you hear it, it most likely is not from a good and reliable source. I have a couple of good resources and trustworthy websites that I visit to make sure things that I have heard are the correct teachings. We cannot know everything, but if we know where to look to find the truth, we can learn anything.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Stations of the Cross

One of my pet peeves is using the imagery or language of a desert for Lent. When I think of a desert, I think of emptiness, dryness, and nothingness. The season of Lent is nothing like that! It is NOT a time of dryness or emptiness; it is a season of renewal and preparation. It is a season of remembrance of what our God and Savior was willing to endure for the love of us!

When we pray the Stations of the Cross, we are strikingly reminded of that journey that Jesus was willing to do. We walk the path that Jesus himself walked. We honor the time in which Pilot condemned Jesus to death, when he picked up His Cross and began His journey to His death. I find this a moving experience, how we solemnly pray as we meditate on these stations. It is quiet, peaceful, painful, prayerful, and moving.

I have had the blessing to be able to have celebrated the Via Dolorosa (way of pain) in Jerusalem, roughly where they happened the first time a number of different times. I remember the first time we prayed it we started at about 4:00 am and it was quiet, peaceful, and prayerful. It was what I expected. I also remember another time that I and a couple of my seminarian friends decided to do the Stations at 3:00 in the afternoon. As we moved along the Via Dolorosa, we went through the old city itself. The shops were open, and the shopkeepers were doing their best to part us from our money, to buy souvenirs. It was crowded and noisy; it was not very prayerful as we were pushing our way through the crowds of people on the streets. I was beginning to get upset because I was trying to pray and I was getting interrupted. Then it hit me… this is exactly what it would have been like the first time it happened. Jesus being pushed through the crowd, people selling things, people yelling and screaming, it would not have been quiet. This is a stark reminder of what Jesus really went through.

I remember a number of years ago at another parish, we had a kindergartner named Jack who went to the Stations a few times, but I will never forget his first experience with them. He was crying and after we were done with them, I was talking to him about it and Jack said that he was crying because the people were so mean to Jesus. Jack understood what the basics of what the Stations of the Cross were about, he understood the pain and suffering that Jesus was willing to go through, he did not yet have the why. The why is love, the love that he had for us and even the people who were mean to him, and when I explained that to Jack, it made him smile.

We often pray the Stations of the Cross in the Lenten season not because they are empty, but because they are full of love. The only emptiness of the Lenten season is the self-emptying of sacrifice that we do, because it is only when we empty ourselves of the sin that we do, that it can be refilled with the goodness and the love that God has that helped him to endure the sacrifice for us. So let us empty ourselves of sin this Lenten season so that we can be filled with God’s goodness in the Easter season.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

The Good Friday's Of Our Lives

Have you had an experience in life where there was a heavy dose of suffering, confusion, or desolation?

What was (is) your reaction? Saint Ignatius of Loyola, a 16th century saint and spiritual master had a way of approaching those moments or stretches in our lives of suffering and desolation. He said that “let him who is in desolation labor to be in patience…and let him think that he will soon be consoled.” (Portion of St. Ignatius’ 8th Rule).

It is hard to imagine what the Apostles must have felt after Jesus’ brutal death by crucifixion on Good Friday. “What about all the miracles I saw him perform?" How could he have so much Wisdom and yet not be who he said he was? I must have been taken for a fool to believe he was the Messiah. Surely, my life and family are now at risk. Where do I go from here?”

As we inch closer to that tragic, yet Good Friday, we have the grace of being able to see things from the other side of Jesus’ Resurrection and Glory. The Apostles didn’t. After Jesus’ death on the Cross, surely Peter, James and John must have thought about their experience on the mountain of Transfiguration and wondered how this could have happened to the Son of Man, wrapped in Heavenly Glory and appearing in a Theophany of Heavenly Glory with His Father and the Holy Spirit!

Yet, the same three Apostles must have also remembered seeing Jesus in excruciating agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating blood. The mystery the Apostles encountered in Jesus’ earthly ministry is the same mystery we encounter on this 2nd Sunday in Lent, 2024 years after Jesus’ birth: The Son of God, the Only-Begotten Son of the Heavenly Father became one of His own creatures, to love, serve, save what was lost, namely every human soul ever created.

Like Peter, James, and John, we have times of real suffering. Let’s follow St. Ignatius’ lead and advice to trust in the consolation of Jesus’ redeeming love and Resurrection, knowing that in the Good Friday’s of our lives, Jesus is truly there with us to console us, and will give us the joy, peace, and happiness of His Resurrection and Heavenly Glory.

Fr. Ryan

Repent!

Rrrrrrrreeeeeepppppeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnttt!!!

This was the homily (the whole homily) of a priest given a few decades back during the season of Lent and is still remembered to this day. Makes a priest think about their strategy of homily preparation. But I digress.

There is something to be said about the meaning of the word “repent” or “repentance”. To repent basically means turning completely away from sin so that you are completely turned towards God in holiness and living a holy life.

Lent is arguably the most recognizable season of the Church’s liturgical calendar for focusing on “repentance” or, in other words, conversion of one’s heart and life more fully to Jesus Christ. The goal of the season of Lent isn’t merely to give up something we like to see if we have the will-power to follow through. Nor is it simply a resolution for bodily health and wellness (though that can be a good, if not needed by-product). Lent is about growing in the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. It is about being more deeply united to Christ as His disciple, imitating Him and allowing Him to work more efficaciously in us through the vehicle of our Lenten observances of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Finally, it is about growing in deeper love of our neighbor, that is, our spouse, our kids, our parents, our fellow parishioners, our colleagues at work, our community, and yes, even our enemies.

The sacrifices, prayers, fasting and almsgiving that we offer during these 40 days are meant to be spiritual weapons that the Holy Spirit uses to work His divine love in us and that makes us depend on Jesus more and more so that “I may decrease and He may increase” within me. That when people see me they see more of Jesus and less of me.

As we begin this Lenten Journey of 40 days with Jesus in the desert, let us ask for the Blessed Virgin Mary’s intercession that we may draw ever closer to her Son through deeper conversion of heart and like Mary, say “let it be done unto me according to your word” during this purifying sojourn in the desert with Jesus.

Fr. Ryan

Lenten Fasting

I know that it is hard to believe, but Lent starts this week! One of the things that I really like about Lent is that it gives us an opportunity to look at our lives and see what we need to work on. During Lent, one of the most common questions we hear, is what are you giving up? This is often the main focus of what we do during this season in which we prepare ourselves for the coming passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The giving up of something is the fasting aspect of our Lenten celebrations, and when we give something up for Lent, we are sometimes tempted to “cheat” in what we are giving up. Remember it is not a sin to eat or do what we have promised to give up, it is an act of self-denial and self-sacrifice. I remind people this every year, that the thing we give up is a penance and sacrifice for us and not for those other people around us! We should not sacrifice something if we are going to be cranky and complain about it all of the time. Our sacrifice should not be a sacrifice for others, but for ourselves.

We live in a self-indulgent and disposable society that wants things right now and not later. We are being conditioned by advertisers to consume, to buy more and more, whether you can afford it or not, just go into debt for it, after all, that is what credit is for, right!?! But, when it does not make you happy any more, or it gets old, throw it away and get the newest and the best available. The advertising industry thrives on pride and envy, by telling us that we will be better off if we purchase the product that they are selling. We are often told through advertising that we NEED the newest and greatest thing out there, but a problem is, that the newest and greatest thing changes right after you purchase it. Just look at the cell phone industry, here is the greatest phone ever made, you need it and if you don’t have it, you are not cool anymore.

One of the counters to this idea of envy is fasting. The whole idea behind fasting from something for Lent is so that whenever we reach for, or are tempted by the thing that we have given up, we should be reminded that we do have some self-control and that we should use it, not only in the fasting, but also to learn the self-control to not sin. During this Lenten season, take some time to not only fast from something, but also to try and do something good to replace it, for example, if you decide to give up going out to fast food restaurants, take the money that you would have spent on it and give it to a charity. Take the time during this Lenten season to really focus on giving up something that can help us draw closer to God each and every day. I pray that you will have a good Lenten season to prepare for the rising of Jesus.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

New Year, New Me

So, have you broken your New Year’s resolution yet? I know it has only been a few weeks, but most resolutions are broken in the first few days because they are difficult. The average date it takes to break a New Year’s Resolution is January 11th. Studies say that it takes six weeks to break an old habit or build a new one, it is interesting because the season of Lent is just over six weeks long and Lent is only a little more than a week away! We have the slogan of “a new year, a new me.” It is a good saying, but we need to have the desire or a reason to change. We must have a better reason to do something different instead of what we are currently doing. An Alcoholic has what they call a moment of clarity, or they say they have to hit “rock bottom” to really desire a change -it could be a loved one leaving them, or some other event that really gets them to want to change. In our spiritual lives, we often think that everything is going just fine, until we run into a challenge to the way things are going. It could be a death that we are facing, a sickness, or other major life-changing event that we are dealing with.

One of the biggest things that can negatively affect our lives is holding on to grudges. We hold onto them like an addict holds onto the substance they are addicted to. We say that we are going to get even with that person or we relish when something bad happens to that person. One of the things that I would recommend in this “new me” is to make a conscious decision to let go of anger or a grudge we are holding on to. It could be someone that we are still close to, it could be someone that we are not, or it could be someone we have not talked to in years.

One of the phrases that we hear so often is to “forgive and forget.” We are all called to forgive, but it is very difficult to forget. Forgiveness is something that Jesus doesn’t just recommend; He requires it! Remember “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” And “if you fail to forgive your brother or sister, neither will you be forgiven.” Jesus asks us to forgive, not because the other person asks for it, wants it, or even deserves it, but because he knows that it will help us to see the mercy of God acting in our lives. It is there to give us peace in our hearts, because as we hold on to those grudges, as St Augustine states, holding on to grudges is like drinking poison expecting your enemy to die. Forgiveness is really about our freedom from anger. Take the time in this new year to leave a heavy burden behind you and forgive. New Year, New Me. So, let that new me be that one who is consistently working toward our Lord and Savior.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Education is important to the Catholic Church

This week is Catholic Schools Week. Within the Catholic Church we have had a long tradition of educating children as well as adults. The title often used for Jesus was Rabbi, which means teacher and one of the things that He did was to teach us about the Father. This has been a mission of the Catholic Church for two thousand years with formal Catholic schools for many hundreds of years. Currently, there are over 2 million students in a Catholic Elementary School in the United States and over 32 million worldwide. To put that number in perspective, that means 17% of all students in the world go to a Catholic school, and in less developed countries, the percentage of Catholic educated children is much higher.

The Catholic Church has had a long history of promoting education, so when I hear the false phrase that the Church is against science I just have to laugh because we have been teaching and encouraging science for many years. Copernicus was a cleric of the Church, which means he received minor orders. Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian Friar, was a pioneer of modern genetics; Msgr. Georges Lemaitre was the one who proposed the basics for the Lemaitre/Hubble Constant (the big bang theory) and a few years ago was renamed to the Hubble-Lemaitre law. The Catholic Church has been doing formal education of students from the second century, so a very long tradition of education of students. Even in our own nation, The Catholic Church has been in the teaching business for a long time. The first Catholic school in the United States was opened in 1606 by Franciscan missionaries.

Education has been the mission of the Church ever since Jesus walked the earth. Remember he commands us to go out to all the nations and preach the Gospel. While a school is not the primary mission of the Catholic Church, it helps us with our primary goal and that is to bring all people to Christ and thus to heaven. I often hear that it is too expensive for families to send their children to Catholic school, but there are many resources available for help. Along with the Education Savings Account that the State of Iowa has instituted to help families choose where they want to send their children, another of the programs is Catholic Tuition Organization, which gives scholarships based on need. We here also have an angel fund that assists parents as well. Parents sacrifice financially to send their children to the school with their tuition payments, and other help of time, talent, and treasure. Teachers, faculty, and administration give because their salary could be higher by working for the public schools. Parishioners and other family and friends help by donating funds, supporting fundraisers, and the many other events that go on in the school.

Here at St. Luke’s, we have been growing at a pretty rapid pace, which facilitated the need for phase II and will likely need to begin Phase III in a couple of years. We have grown from 156 students 5 years ago and 308 last year to 346 this year and we already have 367 signed up for next year. Catholic schools have been a wonderful part of our tradition and it has been such a blessing to be a part of all of the schools that I have been blessed to serve.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Snow days

As I write this, the parish office and school is closed due to the blizzard last Friday. The children today do not go through the same thing that my sisters and I had to endure. I remember when I was a kid, sitting in front of the television watching that scroll at the bottom of the screen as the “C” cities and schools were coming to an end, with the hope that “Des Moines Public Schools” would be on the list of schools that were closed. If it passed by, there was great disappointment, but still hope, it might pop up the next time around, and if it did, there was much rejoicing from us kids!

For kids, it is something that will make them happy, even if it does not have the same feeling for mom and/or dad. I remember, most of the time, we would sit and watch some TV for a while, maybe play the Atari, and then later in the morning, we would bundle up and play in the snow until our teeth were chattering and we finally went back inside to warm up again. Many people now also have the opportunity to be able to work from home during times of inclement weather. Being that I have access to my email and to the office phone from home, Fr Ryan and myself went up to the church for the 7:00 Mass to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice with about 10 people and then we went back to the rectory. That is what I ended up doing during the Friday blizzard- responding to emails and writing this letter.

For most of the kids (and some of the teachers), especially early in the winter, the thought of a snow day is a wonderful thing, they get to stay home and play. Being able to stay at home and play is one thing, but something else we can do is to also spend some of this extra time with God. Since it was quiet here at the house, I also got some extra time to pray. I often time recommend during these times of bad weather to say a special prayer for those who have to be out in it, not just the police and fire personnel, but also those others. Pray for safety for those who help to keep the power on, for those who work in emergency rooms, hospitals, care centers, and clinics as well. Pray for those who work at grocery stores and the many, many other people who have to be out in the weather. We can also take that extra time to pray for our families and friends. The example of prayer that we show our children is a wonderful thing. The other thing that I would remind us to pray for, is for those who do not have the ability to get out of the cold, those who are homeless. Our prayers as well as the other help that we give, whether it is financial, or physical help, can make a big difference in their lives. Know that I was and am praying for everyone here as well!

God bless,
Fr. Ken

"What are you looking for?"

In this weekend’s Gospel, there happens to be one of those things that many people state that you should not do, and that is to answer a question with a question. Jesus is walking by John the Baptist who has a number of disciples, or people that are following him. He happens to be with two of them when Jesus walks by. Remember, the role of John was to decrease while Jesus was to increase, and this is one of the ways that this happens. He tells his disciples that he is not the one to follow, but Jesus is really the one that they should be following. Then Jesus asks John’s disciples who are not following him “what are you looking for?” or “what do you want?” They answer his question with the question “where are you staying?”

So, what does this interchange mean for us? First of all, we know that John realized who Jesus was and so he wanted his disciples and others to follow not him but Jesus, whom he has been proclaiming since his youth. Second, the disciples were hungry for the faith and so when someone that they trusted and followed told them to follow someone else, they listened and followed the one who was proclaimed. Next, Jesus was confronting them, even though he already knew their hearts, wanting them to see what they are doing. Finally, when they ask, where Jesus is staying, they are in a way saying that they would like to be with him where he is staying. In other words, they were saying, Jesus, we will be your disciples and stay where you are staying and be with you there. When Jesus invites them, they follow, and then go back out and bring those that they love back to Jesus. This is something that was not just for them, it is for all of us.

Could you imagine what you would do if Jesus the Son of the Living God turns to you and asks you “what are you looking for?” How would you respond? What answer would you give him? Would you want to follow or not? This is the continual question that we are asked each and every day when we are followers of Jesus. I know that in my own case, I see Jesus in front of me and I have that desire to follow, but then something distracts me from the path. But, I also know that when I do stray away from the path, Jesus will come back to me and bring me back to the path that I am called to follow, and that is his path. As we begin these short few weeks of Ordinary time and get ready for the Lenten season that will begin in about a month, we need to continually remind ourselves, how do we best answer that question that Jesus asks us each and every day, “What are you looking for?” Hopefully we will have that courage and strength every day to ask him back, where are you staying so that I can be with you all the time. Keep praying for the gift to follow the path that Jesus has for all of us.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Learning from the Magi

Merry Christmas! This weekend we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany. This is the day in which we honor the Magi who took a chance and followed a star in order to find something new and special. They knew that they were looking for a king, a new king who would reign forever. They found this new king, Christ Jesus himself. They came to honor him and to bring him the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh because they knew that there was something special about his kingship.

The gifts that they brought are ones that we all know by heart, but we may not know that there is a good reason behind each of them. Gold is the gift for the king, frankincense is the gift for a priest, and myrrh is the gift for the prophet but also it was used for burial, in essence preparing him for his death as well.

One of the interesting things is that we have a tradition that it was three Magi or wise men, but Holy Scripture says nothing about the number of Magi who came, it simply states “behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is the newborn king of the Jews.’” The number of them is inferred by the three gifts that were given.

These men took a chance to travel a great distance to find something that they knew was going to be great, they were looking for the newborn King of the Jews and they found him. To find the Christ child, they would have needed to travel through the desert and the infamous road to Jericho the same one in which Jesus tells the story of the man who was robbed and left for dead. Traveling was dangerous and difficult in those days and most people never went more than a few miles from their homes in their lifetimes. These men took a chance in order to see Jesus; sometimes it is not easy but when we do have that experience with Christ it is a wonderful thing.

The Magi wanted to see him and they wanted to praise him, but not all who heard about this new king were happy. Harrod was afraid that this new king would someday grow up and take his power away from him, so he wanted to destroy him and to do this he was willing to kill many others, which he did. Even though they received the message not to go back to Harrod in a dream, there is a great message that we can get out of the account that they returned home a different direction. The Magi came not out of fear, but out of a wish to be a witness, but once they had the experience with Christ, they were changed and went a different direction. Jesus calls us to witness the miracles that he is trying to do in each of our lives and then wants us to go a different direction, which is always toward him. I pray as this Christmas Season continues, that you will all have a great and blessed year.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Christmas and the beginning of a new year

Merry Christmas! Last week, we began the Christmas season in the Church and we will celebrate it until January 8th which is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

We also celebrated a number of wonderful feast days this past week in case you missed them. We have the Feast of the first Martyr, St Stephen. He was a Disciple of Christ and was killed because he refused to deny Jesus as our Savior. Then on Wednesday, we celebrated the Feast of St. John the Apostle who wrote one of the Gospels. Then on Thursday, we honored the Holy Innocents. When we look at the readings that we have during that day, we realize just how far some people are willing to go to hold on to control and power in their lives. Herod was so afraid of a new king, that he might take his place and usurp his power at a later date, that he was willing to do something horrific to make sure that did not happen. He had all of the boys under two years old murdered so that the newborn King of the Jews, who we celebrated with the birth of Jesus last week, would be destroyed before he could grow up and come to power. The problem with that is that Jesus was not coming to be a temporal leader and posed no threat to Herod’s control and rule. Jesus came to call us to more than that, he came to show us his true kingdom, that of Heaven.

We can do the same thing sometimes, although not to that extent. We can sometimes think that the person we work with is trying to get us, or that maybe if they do their job too well, it might look bad on us, so we spread a rumor about them. We can do these kinds of things in many different ways. We have choices; do we act like Herod, or do we act like St. Stephen? Herod did things that were good only for him, while St. Stephen did things that were for the good of God and his Kingdom!

So, as we begin this New Year on Monday, how are we going to change those things that we need to change, and continue to do those things that make us better? I would recommend adding some more prayer time each and every day so that we can have that same strength that God gave St. Stephen; the ability to stand up to those who were persecuting him. While we may never have to make that choice, we still need that strength and wisdom of God to get us through all of the other things we will face in this new year. So, Monday, as we begin the 2024 year, let us take the opportunity of the new start to restart with God. To pray for ourselves to have the courage of St. Stephen and the many blessings that God will give us. Also, take the time to pray for our family and friends as well, that they will do the same.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Merry Christmas! Jesus has come again!

This Monday we celebrate Christmas and it is not the end, but the beginning of the true Christmas season which goes until (depending on the calendar you follow) the feast of the Baptism of the Lord on January 8th.

This is a wonderful season, a season of joy and peace, and while the time with family and friends, the food and drinks, and the gift giving and receiving is wonderful, remember why we are celebrating in this time. It is so easy to get caught up in the commercial Christmas season, but we also need to be reminded that it is a joyous and wonderful and faith filled season. During this Christmas season let us be mindful of the greatest gifts that we have been and ever will be given, Christ Jesus our Savior who wanted to live our life with us.

Take some time to reflect on the Gospel accounts of how the coming of our Lord and Savior came about. There are a couple of them in the Gospels. Matthew’s begins with the genealogy through Joseph and the kingly side, and Luke’s goes through Mary and the priestly side a little later in the Gospel, but here is the story that we hear: In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

This is a story we have all heard many different times, and I would recommend talking to our children about it during Christmas. The line that I like to reflect on is the one that the angels say about the good news of great joy. This really is a season of joy and peace, even though we are running around to see family and friends, it is a season of peace that only Christ can offer us. So don’t get tired of this beautiful season of Christmas.

God bless,
Fr. Ken