Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus Christ is the savior of the world, but in order to save us, He had to die on the cross. A savior without the cross leads to a world without redemption! Sacrifice is a necessary element of Christ's saving work, and so it must be for us as we accept the salvation He has won. We sacrifice, and work with humility and faith, to know more fully who Jesus Christ truly is.

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Be Strong! Fear Not! Be Opened! The Lord opens the ears of the deaf, the eyes of the blind, and strengthens the legs of the cripples. If He can do that, can He not cast away every shadow of fear, wipe away every stain of sin, calm every sting of death? We come to worship Him, because He does all things well. But do we allow Him to do it in our lives?

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Be doers of the word, not just hearers. Jesus takes the scribes and Pharisees to task for setting aside the law for traditions, failing to worship the Lord, but holding fast to temporal things. We, too, might find it easier to hold to temporal things, instead of listening to the Lord who speaks to us in the silence of our hearts. We must be willing to listen and to obey Him, allowing Him to purify us and our hearts.

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

"Are you, too, going to leave?" There is a sadness in the question of Jesus.
Peter responds, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life?” You speak the truth to us, and we long to hear it.
Jesus has just completed the Bread of Life discourse, in which He declares that to have eternal life, they must eat His flesh, and drink His blood, and that it is true food and drink.
The Jews are repulsed, and perhaps rightfully so. After all, there is a law against eating blood, much less human blood and flesh… But Jesus does not back down, in fact, each time they balk at His teaching, He gets stronger.
So they just walk away. And Jesus allows them. He does not back down, explain it away, or compromise.
He gives us the same choice.

New Prayer Calendar

I have posted the new prayer calendar for September through February. I also posted the full-page calendars, too.

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the Eucharist, Jesus gives us his very body and blood, which we must eat to have eternal life. The Jews quarreled about what this meant, but Jesus is clear - We must eat His Flesh and Drink His Blood to have eternal life. We receive His Body and Blood in the Eucharist, through the ministry of the priest, which enable us to live in Christ.

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life that has come from the Father, and He gives life to the world. But the crowds take offense at Him. They think that they know Him, because they know His human history. They cannot see that Jesus is God, and that He is providing for their needs.

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Give us this bread always! The crowds cry to Jesus, but it seems that they are only interested in their own stomachs than in the food that Jesus is going to provide. He tells them that He is the "Bread of Life". He is the food that meets more than a biological need - it meets the need for a higher way of living. Jesus is the bread that gives it. In the next weeks, we will continue to hear this message - and Jesus gets stronger. For now, we must ask ourselves, "Are we willing to accept as a gift what the Lord has provided for us, or are we going to grumble, ignoring aha the Lord is truly doing in our lives to lead us to true and lasting freedom?"

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

THe Multiplication of the Loaves is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels. It contains a great power - it reveals that Jesus Christ is God, and that He provides for His people. It is a foreshadowing of the Eucharist. More importantly, though, for those who are discerning a vocation, the miracle reminds us on our own we can do nothing - not even 200 days wages would be enough! But when we give, even as little as five barley loaves and two fish, Jesus Christ makes it enough for the vast crowds.

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Like sheep without a shepherd, the people flock around Jesus and the disciples. They are hungry, and long to be feed. Of course, they come to the source of rest - Jesus Christ. He is the source of our peace. Not just lack of war, but of true peace, where everything is properly ordered for our good.

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Lord sends His apostles, two by two, into the countryside to prepare the people for His message. While they are told to travel light, they are not to travel alone. Following Christ, it would seem, is never an individual task but one that requires companions.
We, too, are called by Christ and sent by Him. We do not travel alone, either. Rather, we follow our vocations with others, even if our particular vocation is individual. We work best when we work together.

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Because they knew His human history, the people of Jesus' hometown did not allow Him to be active as God in their lives. They thought they knew everything, and could not get past the fact of His teaching with authority and power. They hardened their hearts, not allowing Him to work miracles in their lives.
God is powerful, but he will not act in our lives with that power unless we invite Him to act. We, of our own free wills, either cooperate with Him, or stand against Him. But God continues to call us to conversion, inviting us to open our hearts to Him, and when we do, we can see more fully the good that God does and is.

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The readings for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time remind us that God does not create or desire death, but seeks to give us life or healing. Consider the crowd, though, pressing in on Jesus. Tens, if not hundreds were pressing in on Him, most likely jostling Him, but none where healed but the woman who had suffered hemorrhages without any healing for 12 years. She touched Him with faith, and was healed. Jairus' daughter, alive as long as that woman suffered, is dead, but Jesus raises her. Both tell us that Jesus can heal us, but we must have faith like the woman or like Jairus and his wife.

Pastoral Guidelines for Fostering Vocations to Priestly Ministry

The Congregation for Catholic Education release a document entitled Pastoral Guidelines for Fostering Vocations to Priestly Ministry.

Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, we call to mind that the Lord has a plan for each of us. John knew that task and even in the womb, did it by leaping for joy when our Savior drew near. Most of us are not as wise to know the Lord's plans for us, but we should not lose heart. We remain faithful to the Lord, taking each step toward the Lord, and serve Him wherever we can.

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Kingdom of God is like a mighty plant grown from a tiny seed. Its beginning is almost imperceptible, but in time becomes large. In many ways, our recognition of our vocations grow in the same way. A small though is planted in our minds, when the the thought of being called to the priesthood or religious life is not see as something odd or distant but rather possible and life-giving. The thought grows, and we eventually learn we must examine it closer. We might even find ourselves amazed at how it got so large so fast, but find that this is exactly where we ought to be.

Dates and Locations of the Operation Andrew Dinners, 2012

The dates and locations (and RSVP contact) are:
October 8 St. Eloi, Ghent Fr. Jeremy Kucera 507-872-6346
October 24 St. Philip, Litchfield Fr. Joseph Steinbeisser 320-693-3313
November 7 St. Andrew, Fairfax Fr. Jeffery Horesji 506-426-7125

Our New website is up!!!

We are finally live with the new Website for Vocations! Check it out!!!

Discernment Retreat 2012

We are hosting a Discernment retreat for young men and their parents August 10, 2012. The flyer is here, email me at frtodd@me.com for registration or more information.

Plenary Indulgence for Prayer of Reparation on feast of the Sacred Heart

Today, there is the possibility of receiving an indulgence for praying the Actus reparationis.
MOST sweet Jesus, whose overflowing charity for men is requited by so much forgetfulness, negligence and contempt, behold us prostrate before Thee, eager to repair by a special act of homage the cruel indifference and injuries to which Thy loving Heart is everywhere subject.
Mindful, alas! that we ourselves have had a share in such great indignities, which we now deplore from the depths of our hearts, we humbly ask Thy pardon and declare our readiness to atone by voluntary expiation, not only for our own personal offenses, but also for the sins of those, who, straying far from the path of salvation, refuse in their obstinate infidelity to follow Thee, their Shepherd and Leader, or, renouncing the promises of their baptism, have cast off the sweet yoke of Thy law.
We are now resolved to expiate each and every deplorable outrage committed against Thee; we are now determined to make amends for the manifold offenses against Christian modesty in unbecoming dress and behavior, for all the foul seductions laid to ensnare the feet of the innocent, for the frequent violations of Sundays and holydays, and the shocking blasphemies uttered against Thee and Thy Saints. We wish also to make amends for the insults to which Thy Vicar on earth and Thy priests are subjected, for the profanation, by conscious neglect or terrible acts of sacrilege, of the very crimes of nations who resist the rights and teaching authority of the Church which Thou hast founded.
Would that we were able to wash away such abominations with our blood. We now offer, in reparation for these violations of Thy divine honor, the satisfaction Thou once made to Thy Eternal Father on the cross and which Thou continuest to renew daily on our altars; we offer it in union with the acts of atonement of Thy Virgin Mother and all the Saints and of the pious faithful on earth; and we sincerely promise to make recompense, as far as we can with the help of Thy grace, for all neglect of Thy great love and for the sins we and others have committed in the past. Henceforth, we will live a life of unswerving faith, of purity of conduct, of perfect observance of the precepts of the Gospel and especially that of charity. We promise to the best of our power to prevent others from offending Thee and to bring as many as possible to follow Thee.
O loving Jesus, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mother, our model in reparation, deign to receive the voluntary offering we make of this act of expiation; and by the crowning gift of perseverance keep us faithful unto death in our duty and the allegiance we owe to Thee, so that we may all one day come to that happy home, where with the Father and the Holy Spirit Thou livest and reignest, God, forever and ever. Amen.