Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

St. John asks about what to do about those that do not follow Christ and the Apostles ("us"). Jesus instructs that they are not to prevent the man, as he what he is doing is proof of his support of Jesus, at least implicitly. We can act with jealousy, too, and when we respond to Christ, we must see that we are to work together. That is the beauty of our Church and her vocations: We are not all ordained, or religious, or married, yet we are all to work together.

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

To enter the Kingdom of God, we must become like children. As children, we would need to admit our dependance on God, our own limitations, and our need. We come to Christ on His terms, not on our own.

Seminarian Information, Fall 2012

We have posted our newest list of Seminarian information. Download it here.

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