Christmas approaches and we celebrate our parish's anniversary

This Sunday we celebrate a special anniversary on December 17th 2010, then Bishop Pates announced the creation of a new parish for the diocese located in Ankeny, our Parish of St. Luke the Evangelist. The parish began with a few families meeting in the basement of the Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart rectory to discuss the plans for the new parish. Wow have we grown in these last 13 years. We now have over 800 families here and we continue to grow by eight or nine new families each month, as I outlined in last weeks article, it does have some challenges with the level of growth that we continue to have.

Anniversaries are a wonderful time in which we can look back on the things that have happened in the years past. Just like wedding anniversaries, when couples look back at the wedding and the years that have happened in between. In my over four years here, the parish has grown and continues to be a wonderful place with many young families, and I feel so blessed to be here.

This weekend we will also be lighting the pink candle as well as we will be using the rose or pink vestments. One of the things that this means is that Advent is over half way over and the coming of Christ in Christmas is getting closer! We only will wear the rose vestments for two weekends a year; Gaudete Sunday for the third Sunday in Advent and Laetare Sunday in the fourth Sunday during Lent. It is only an option to wear the rose color vestments and not required to wear it, but it is nice to have something visual to see the difference. The words Laetare and Gaudete mean the same thing; they mean rejoice! This is because we are rejoicing that Christ is near. The word Laetare comes from an option introit or introduction to the Mass that is either said or sung which goes “Rejoice, O Jerusalem: and come together all you that love her: rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation. (Psalm) I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord…”

You have heard me say this many times, but we are called to be joy-filled or joyful Christians in the world, no matter what is happening in our lives. As we continue to prepare ourselves for that wonderful coming of Christ again in the Christmas season, let us always remember to rejoice for the Lord is coming because that is the whole reason that we are celebrating this season of preparation. Preparing ourselves for that coming of Christ, even though we often get caught up in the material preparation. But we still need to take some time to prepare for the coming of our Savior in a spiritual way. In the last week or so of the Advent season let us remember to be ready for that great coming of Jesus our Savior in the world.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Parish's Long-Term Vision Update

This article is an update on the long-term vision of the parish as it is related to our continued growth. First of all, we are doing pretty good in the aspect of the day-to-day finances, we are being blessed with continued increase in tithing and with the growth in student population, that helps the finances of the school. We have grown to just around 820 families and are averaging eight new families a month registering in the parish with a couple leaving as well. In the school, we have continued to grow significantly, in the current school year we have gained 42 students to bring us to a total of 346 students. The Education Saving Account (ESA) has only helped a little, as we are close to capacity in a few grades. Along with the number of students in the school, we also have around 375 students in our Religious Education programs and it keeps growing as well. That means we are over 700 children and that does not include the many children that are too young for school as well as those who are home schooled. As we continue to grow the number of people that we serve here, that means that we will continue to grow in building size. We are blessed to have 34 acres of land, so that is a wonderful thing, but even after  finishing phase II, we still need to continue to look forward to our needs, so we do not fall behind.

In our current plan, we have SIX phases of major construction projects planned at this point, Phase I and II are complete at a total cost of $11.5 million, Phase III, estimated at between $4M and $5M, will be very similar to Phase II which means more office space and six more classrooms and the intention would be to make this a middle-school wing going off to the west of the Phase II addition. Phase IV will be the big one; this will be the new worship space! The vision would be to go to the east side of the current church with another gathering space, storage, two medium size meeting rooms, more office space, and a 1,000+ seat church with an adoration chapel, and more parking as well. Phase V is seen as moving to a three-section school and would need around 12 more classrooms along with a cafeteria/flexible space and possibly a second gym. Phase VI would possibly be the senior living and other meeting space and classroom space. Along with these major projects, there will be a number of smaller ones that we will need to consider, an on-property rectory, ball fields, more parking, and maintenance buildings. I know that this is a lot, but we are looking at the continuing needs of the parish over the next 25+ years.

We are in a unique situation as a parish and kind of exciting as well. As we do grow, keep me, Fr. Ryan, the deacons, and all of the staff and parish leadership in your prayers, believe me, we all need them. Also, know that I pray for everyone in this parish every day as well, and may God bless you all.

P.S. if you are looking at an end of the year tax write-off consider a donation to the Future Phase Fund!

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Preparing for Christmas

The time of the Lord is coming! We are getting ready to celebrate Christmas, while the secular world is already celebrating it. I pray that you will not get tired of the “holiday season” before it even begins! We as a Church will begin to celebrate Christmas at the vigil Mass on Christmas Eve and celebrate it until the Baptism of the Lord.

We are often drawn into the “regular” or secular way of saying and doing things for example Santa Claus. Tradition holds that the name came from a mishearing or mispronunciation of Sint Klaes, which is the Dutch way of saying Saint Nicholas. Saint Nicholas, whose feast day is Wednesday, December 6th, was well known for a couple of things: the first, giving three bags of gold to a poor man for a dowry for his three daughters to save them from a life of prostitution. The account goes that there was a man who had three daughters and he was too poor to put together a dowry, which would mean that the young women would not be married and, in those days, it was not easy for a woman to get a job, especially someone who was poor to begin with. There are different accounts of how it happened but it goes that St. Nicholas threw a bag of money into the house on three consecutive nights/weeks/months, and was caught by the man on the third time. It is also a tradition that one or all of the bags were put in the shoes of the girls, which is where we get the tradition of putting chocolate coins in shoes. The second thing that St. Nicholas was famous for is slapping the heretic Arius in the face during an argument about whether or not Jesus was really God.

As we begin the Advent season this year and we prepare for the upcoming Christmas season, we want to keep reminding our children that there is a real reason for the Christmas season and that is that God loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to be with us. We hear the phrase that we should keep Christ in Christmas and the best way to do that is to be a good and joyful Christian. The example of how we act is one of the great things we can give to our children, whether it be the joyful celebration of the Holy Mass, or the way that we treat our neighbors, even those we do not like. I will sometimes say that the best way to keep Christ in Christmas is to keep Mass in Christmas since the greatest prayer we have in the Church is the reminder of the depth of the love that Christ has for us in his sacrifice that we celebrate in the Mass.

In this busy time, we prepare for the coming of the Lord, keep reminding ourselves who we are going to be receiving in the real Christmas season, Christ the Lord.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Christ The King

This weekend we celebrate the last weekend of the liturgical year. This is called Christ the King Sunday. So, what do we think of when we hear those words Christ the King? Not too long ago, the United Kingdom welcomed the first new monarch in many decades, King Charles. Do we think of Jesus Christ as that kind of king? Hopefully not.

Some people state that we in the United States actually fought a war to get rid of a king. Kings can be tyrants, they can be cruel, they can be benevolent, they can be kind, they can be so many things, so is this the imagery that we use for Jesus? Kings are ones that will rule a single nation or region, but not everything in creation like Jesus our King does. One of the interesting things that we could see for the Kingship of Jesus is what he truly is, not just a king, but a servant king, and a king that will lead us to our eternal reward. In history very few monarchs have sacrificed themselves for their people, but we have the king who gave his very body and blood for us. He was willing to be crucified so that we can be saved. That is the kind of king we have, one that is all love.

So, if we do see Christ as our true king, that begs the other question of what do we need to do as his subjects? The answer to that question, is that we need to follow him, we need to use his example of self-sacrifice for us to also do for our families and friends. When I think of this idea of Jesus’ kingship, I am reminded of the interchange between Jesus and Pontius Pilate, Pilate asks Jesus the question of “Are you the king of the Jews?” At first, Jesus does not answer the question, but then states that his kingdom is not of this earth and that, if he wanted to, he could stop the persecution by having his attendants fight for him. This is usually what a king does, he sends his people to fight the battle for him, but Christ is a different kind of king, one that loves us even more than we can possibly love him or even ourselves. So, as we honor our one true king that is beyond our world, yet at the same time incredibly close to us, let us be those best followers of him, so that we can be led into his kingdom of heaven.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Celebrating Thanksgiving

On Thursday, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. It officially was proclaimed in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, even though it had been celebrated earlier than that. It is a day in which we give thanks for the many things that we have been given. Sometimes we want to ask ourselves “What is there to give thanks for?” Especially with everything that is going on in our world today, with wars, hunger, inflation, strife, etc. It is a trying time right now, so why do we want to give thanks?

Thanksgiving is also the unofficial kickoff of the holiday season. It is a time that will get busy with family and friends. As we are giving thanks for all of the gifts God has given us also ask Him for strength for the challenges we have in our lives. We spend a day with our families and have a feast, a feast to remember the many gifts God has given us. This is a day in which we usually over-indulge in food and drink, watch some football, play games, or many other things; after all, we are celebrating. We can turn any event into a time to celebrate and over-indulge, which leads us to the evening and the next day… BLACK FRIDAY. I find it interesting that the day we give thanks for the gifts we have we then begin to line up at the malls trying to get ready to beat out our neighbor for the best deal of the season. I know that, especially this year, it is great to save a bit on the things that we are going to purchase anyway. I pray that we will all have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving this year and be grateful for the gifts we have. The virtue for this month is gratitude and it is something that I do not think we do enough.

The word that we use for the Blessed Sacrament is Eucharist, this word is transliterated from the Greek word Eucharistia and the word translated means thanksgiving, so in essence we are celebrating a feast of thanksgiving every Sunday and every day when we celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The Mass is a celebration of giving thanks to God for the gifts that He has given us, as well as a remembrance of the sacrifice that He suffered. We are called to play a part in both of these elements of the Holy Mass, the sacrifice and the thanksgiving. As we celebrate our Mass for the Thanksgiving holiday, remember to thank God for all of those things that we have been given. Just like in our celebration of Thanksgiving Day, we have choices on how we will participate. We can choose to not participate at all, or we can eat and participate with our Church, our earthly family and our heavenly family. Remember also that as we begin our Advent preparations looking forward to the celebration of Christmas, that we should be mindful of those people around us, those who are in need as well as our own families.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Band-Aids and Ice Packs

One of the great blessings being at a parish with a School is that I get to witness some incredible amounts of energy in just watching the children play either outside on the playground or in the gym. Sometimes it is funny just to stand by and watch them run around and play to see what they will come up with. They will chase each other, climb on the equipment, lay down in the grass, throw a ball, sit on the bench, spin in circles, or whatever else. Sometimes they even have an accident, they fall down or they run into each other, but the thing that is great about kids is that they are pretty durable; when they fall down they get right back up. Usually, they will just get back up, brush off their clothes, and be on their way, but other times they need some help they will go and get a Band-Aid or an ice pack, for some reason we seem to use many ice packs. The great thing is that in making those mistakes they usually learn from them. When they get hurt on something, they often times are more careful around it… at least for a little while. Then most of the time they are right back into doing the same things again or learn a better way of doing it.

We can sometimes learn from our children, that when we fall down, we should get right back up, even though physically, this gets harder and harder as we get older. This same thing goes for our spiritual life as well. We kind of go on our way running around and living our life until we trip over something or we are not paying attention and just fall down and sin by either committing one or omitting something. The key is that we need to get back up again and start over, but also, we need to remind ourselves that there are some things in our lives that can cause us to fall and we need to try to avoid them, just as kids do. I remember one time when my niece ran into a table outside and the next few times that she was at my parents’ house she would point to the table and say “owie.”

Sometimes when we fall in that spiritual life, we need that ice pack or Band-Aid and that is the sacrament of confession that thing that helps us to get rid of the injury. Also, just like kids, we cannot let the failures that we have keep us on the sidelines, we need to get back up, put on the Band-Aid and get back to doing what we need to be doing. We can take the idea of brushing ourselves off by saying a prayer or saying we are sorry right then and there or we may need to go in for that Confession. The running around and playing for kids is a way to get some exercise and also entertainment for them, our prayer life is a way for us to recharge ourselves in our daily life. When we take that time to spend with God, he will lead us to where we need to go and even help us to see the dangers that we can trip over so that we can learn from them.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Time

Have you ever thought about time? Time is one of those interesting things to think about, we all know what it is, but how would you explain it without using itself to describe it. Time is the one thing that we can never get more of or get back what we have used. Objectively, time is fixed, but as quantum mechanics states, the passage of time is affected by gravity. This theory is used in a book called “Genesis and the Big Bang” which shows how that can work in the creation of the universe. Time can also be perceived as relative, as the joke goes how long is a minute, well that depends on which side of the bathroom door you are on. A priest friend of mine said “life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer to the end it is, the faster it goes.” We can also see that, a year in the life of a three-year-old, is one-third of their life, while someone who is 50, it is only two-percent. In our perspective, it can be relative as well. We can see that we are now less than one month from Thanksgiving, and only two months to Christmas and that can cause some anxiety with all of the stuff that still needs to be done. To a child who is anxiously awaiting Christmas, it is so far away. One of my favorite questions about time is attributed to St. Augustine after he wrote his work “On Time”. Someone asked him what was God doing before he created time, and his answer was creating hell for those who ask stupid questions.

So, why am I bringing up the concept of time? With the war in Israel, and other many conflicts in the world, I hear again different theories about the end of world and the end of time. Yes, there will be some point in our future that time will end, for our lives on earth, as well as for the entire universe. Time is not infinite, only God is infinite. A number of different times, I have talked about the end of the world and the predictions of it. The key is to not get too worked up about those predictions, the dozens or hundreds of them have never happened yet! Jesus tells us that we will never know the day or the hour that He will come again. He does tell us that no matter when it is, we need to be ready for it. And how do we make sure that we are ready for it? The same way that we always do, love God above everything else and then love our neighbor as ourselves, and when we fail in one of those aspects, we have the sacrament of Reconciliation to bring us back. Take the time to spend with God throughout each and every day, primarily in the Sunday Eucharist, but also every other day in our struggles and blessings.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Technology can be a blessing and a curse

My earlier life, as most of you know, was working in the Information Technology field. These skills have been helpful around all of the parishes that I have served at, and it is no different here at St. Luke’s. From helping to get some network stuff put together, to helping with the computer problems around here. Technology is still a hobby of mine, although not nearly as much as it was. I still like tech gadgets from one of the great inventions the robot vacuum cleaner, to smart watches, and network connected light switches.

I often hear that smartphones are a curse and a blessing sometimes. Just like most things, it is in the use of the device that can be good or evil depending on the action and not the device itself. I use my cell phone to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, as well as to look up the readings for the Mass. When I travel, I have an app on my iPad that has all of the options for the Mass on it so I do not have to bring the Missal with me. It is a great option to save packing space. One of the great things is the translator app, I used this quite a few times on my trip to have a conversation and to order food from a menu in another language. But we also have the more challenging side of these devices. They often make it easy to foster an addiction to pornography, they can be used to bully people online, they can be used in a way to make it easier to scam people as well, they can be used to manipulate people and blackmail them. They can be used for many more bad things as well.

We are a society of the greatest access to information of any in history. But, how many of us are slaves to our device? When you hear that familiar “ding” when you get a message, do you immediately grab it to see who it is? I know that I have that desire many times. How many of us have to be in the know all the time? One of the things that I often make myself do is to step away from the computer, not pick up the phone, or any other device, and spend that time with God. Even if we use a device for prayer, we need to also spend that quiet time away from the distractions to just be with God. We also need to sometimes be reminded to get everyone to put them down and spend that great quality time with our family and friends. Texts, while they are good, still cannot replace that face time with our loved ones. Remember, Jesus often reminds us that our first and foremost love should be for God and that love that we receive back will help us to love our neighbors as well.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Cheap Socks

Did I get your attention? Have you ever had a package of cheap socks and they just fall apart and have holes in them after only wearing them a few times? It is something that is frustrating, you spend money on something and it just does not last. One of the things that I have found out in life is that the cheapest thing is not the least expensive, especially if you must replace it shortly after you purchase it, or it does not work like it really should, or you get so frustrated with it that you get mad and throw it away.

I remember one time that I bought a cheap drill because I did not think that I would need it often. After using it two times, I got so mad at it that I gave it away and bought a better one. I have always found that there are a few things that you need to spend the extra money on to make sure that you get something of quality. A few of those things are tools, tires, shoes, and Oreos (generic Oreos just do not taste right.)

Many times, we also do not take care of those things that are cheap or free. I know someone who has stopped outright buying things for his children that are not necessary after they failed to take care of some things and told him, “Why should I take care of it, we can just get another one.” What he does now is, if one of his children wants something, they must do something to earn it. They have to do chores, help out a sibling, or something else good to get what they want. This makes them realize that things that they want in life are earned, and things that are earned are things we want to take care of.

I sometimes think that we forget that our grace was earned for us and given to us for free, and I have to admit that I forget this at times. We have the opportunity to accept the free gift of grace that Jesus Christ has earned for us. He did the work and gives it to us for free or cheaply, only requiring us to follow the example that He set. I know that it is not always easy to follow the Christian life, but it is something that we are called to do. We sometimes do not take care of our faith because it is free to us and it is something that we can do freely. In other regions of the world, following the faith is not so easy and, in some cases, it is dangerous to practice the faith. In China a few years ago, there were a group of Catholics in a church for Mass and they were thrown out of the church and the building was destroyed because it was not part of the government sanctioned Church. The interesting thing about our “cheap” grace is that it is a very precious thing; it was paid for with an expensive price, with the blood of Christ. It was bought and paid for and then given to us for free, and the only thing we need to do to get it is to accept it and follow our Lord and Savior who wants to give us this gift that no amount of money can pay for.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

The feast of our namesake

This Wednesday, October 18th we will celebrate the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist. One of the common symbols of St. Luke is the Ox, and this is why a few years ago we switched our parish festival to Oxtoberfest. Since we are celebrating the feast of our namesake, I thought that it would be good to write about him again, as I do every year. The ox comes from the prophet Ezekiel who has a vision about a creature with four faces: that of an ox, that of a man, that of an eagle, and that of a lion. The ox is a symbol because this was an animal that was used for sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins and St. Luke begins his Gospel with the sacrifice of Zachariah, while he served as a priest in the Temple.

First and foremost, we know St. Luke was the writer of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, we say writer and not author because the author of all of scripture is God, humans only write them with the inspiration of God. Another reason for the ox is that St. Luke’s Gospel has a heavy focus on the mercy and forgiveness of God. We have St. Luke to thank for the story of the Prodigal Son and the woman who washes the feet of Jesus with her tears.

We also know that he was highly educated, because he was a physician, and we know this from a couple of different sources, first from St. Paul who calls him the “the beloved physician” and second from Church historians like Eusebius, St. Jerome, St. Irenaeus who all refer to St. Luke as a physician. There is also a discussion about where St. Luke came from, most would claim that he was Greek and was a Gentile who became a disciple of Christ. There is evidence of this because he is not listed when Paul mentions in the Letter to the Colossians those who were “of the circumcision” which would mean the Jewish people, but he is mentioned later along with someone called Demas. There is also a theory that St. Luke was a slave. We also know that St. Luke joined St. Paul in many of his journeys but not always. St. Luke first met up with St. Paul in Troas and traveled with him for quite a while, then were apart for about seven years when they traveled again through Caesarea and Jerusalem. He was most likely with St. Paul when he was arrested and thrown in prison in Rome, even though it does not seem that he was in prison with him.

St. Luke also is one that has a special connection with the Blessed Mother, because he was the only one who has the account of the Annunciation as well as the Magnificat prayer. He was also one who wrote the account of the Presentation in the temple, as well as the finding in the temple. He is also the one that we have to thank for the first part of the Hail Mary prayer which comes from the Annunciation and from the Visitation.

There are some conflicting stories of St. Luke’s death, but most say that he was martyred around the year 84, and his relics are in the Basilica di Santa Guistina in Padua, Italy.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Understanding "Pro-Life"

October is respect life month in the Church. When we as a Church talk about being pro-life, that phrase has many different aspects to it. It is pretty common knowledge that the Catholic Church is a strong leader in the Pro-Life movement, which goes well beyond the work to end abortions. Protection for the unborn is one of the primary missions of the Pro-Life group because it is the first stage of life, but not the only one. Each year, over 900,000 children are aborted in the U.S. alone, that is a staggering number and sadly in Washington DC, 38% of pregnancies end in abortion. It is estimated that one out of four women have had an abortion and we need to respond to them with forgiveness and love. When we talk about being pro-life in our Church it is more than just being anti-abortion, it is about supporting life from conception to natural death. This means that we should strive for the dignity of life from the time that the child is conceived to the time that we naturally die. This means that we should also not support euthanasia, no matter what light it is cast in, it is sometimes called “dignity in death” because some would argue that it is better to die than to suffer and that the taking of a life over allowing them to suffer is better for the person or even the family. This also applies to the death penalty, within the United States. We have an ability to keep those who have committed a major crime in prison. Capital punishment is not supported by the Church for multiple reasons, first and foremost, there is a chance, however small that might be, that the person convicted is not guilty, but it also does not allow for a conversion of heart by the person who is guilty, and most of the time, capital punishment is retaliation and not justice.

We sometimes separate social justice and pro-life as two different and separate groups, but they are intertwined. If we profess to support life, we also need to help and provide support to those who are living. If we support social justice, then we need to have the first rule, which is life. Jesus calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves and then explained that all people are our neighbors, no matter what color, or where they are from; from the child conceived with a disability, to the child conceived on a hook-up, to the immigrant, to the prisoner on death row, to the elderly person in a nursing home, or those on their death beds. Being pro-life in the Catholic Church also means providing for the needs of the other in many varied ways, which is why the Church provides food and water, and other support to those in need. We as a parish are supporting this effort in many ways, including our sister parish, St. Martin de Porres. The Catholic Church feeds and clothes millions of people throughout the world as a part of our supporting life efforts. It also provides health care for millions. This is what it means to be Pro-Life. Pray for all of the pro-life ministries that we support throughout the world.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

Many Opportunities

Often times I get asked why we are not doing some event, outreach, program, or other thing here at the parish and my usual response is that is a great idea, how can we accomplish that? It is sometimes a challenge to get people to sign up for things, both to attend, and to help out with them. One of the things that comes up quite often in meetings here at St. Luke’s is the need for volunteers. 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.

While Mass ministries are great, we also have many other things that we need volunteers for. We have Oxtoberfest coming up in a couple of weeks and we still need people to help in many of the different things going on. This is our major fundraiser for the parish and has provided for the livestream cameras, the new matching vestments that the priests and deacons wear, the new cassocks that the servers wear, as well as the statue of St Luke that we now have in the narthex. The major school fundraiser is the Green Gala in February raises funds to help things for the school like playground equipment, the gazebo, teacher gifts, and many more things. All of these events also require many people to help and for those who have helped, I wanted to thank you.

There are so many opportunities to help with things no matter what skill level you are, from the projects that come up throughout the year, to helping with child care during other events. We also are in need for crossing guards and help in the school kitchen.

Please consider helping out in some way. We would always be willing to train and help you out in whatever you would like and feel comfortable with.

God bless,
Fr. Ken

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