St. John the Baptist, a pivotal person in Salvation History that we should follow: Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist

Listen to the homily here.

Notes:

Each of us was born and we should continually thank God, thank our parents or even thank the people that cared for you to grow up

·      On earth, some people are famous, some are known by few people…but always remember that God does know you!

Today I would like to mention some people that we remember in our salvation history from God

·      For instance, we know Adam and Eve were created to God and they had children

·      Abraham and Sarah had a son: Isaac, Isaac to Jacob

·      Moses

·      David, the king

·      Many of these people are on the tree of God’s chosen family

And today we have a Solemnity of the baptism of John the Baptism

·      Which is interesting that it is celebrated on Sunday

One nugget I hope you remember today: John the Baptist is a pivot of all salvation history

·      He is like a bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament

o  In one way, John was the last Old Testament prophet

o  And the new proclaimer in the New Testament, directly pointing to Jesus Christ

§  I mention this because when we remember the prophets, the kings and leaders in the Old Testament, they have snippets and tastes by pointing to God…but now John points to Jesus Christ who is both God and Man

§  Jesus pointed to this when he said: “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” (Matthew 7:11)

§  Before Jesus, John was the greatest after people that didn’t physically know him, but after Jesus he was the lest because he didn’t know what we have up to this dya!

“The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel.”  Jesus Christ

Each of you have a mission from God from your birth…grow and become with strength and manifest your love with Jesus Christ!

St. John the Baptist, Pray for us

Parish Bulletin Article: "St. Barnabas Encourager": 6-17-18

“In those days a great number who believed turned to the Lord.. The news about them reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem,and they sent Barnabas to go to Antioch.. When he arrived and saw the grace of God,he rejoiced and encouraged them allto remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart,for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith.And a large number of people was added to the Lord” (Acts 11:21-24).

                  Early this week (Monday) we celebrated the Memorial for St. Barnabas, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ.  One word above quickly connected to St. Barnabas within his life and as a reminder to us today: encourage.  “When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouragedthem…”

                  In a special way, Barnabas encouraged his brothers and sisters with faith.

                  So this weekend, who are the people in your life that encourage you to grow in your faith and your relationship with Jesus Christ?  

Personally, I would choose my Grandma Betty (God rest her soul).  Since I was a young child, Grandma encouraged me to learn the rosary, to “keep my marks well” in school, and her last words to me in her life was simply telling me, “Jesus loves you.”  That was encouragement in my faith, my vocation, and my love of Jesus Christ.

                  And who could you encourage in your life to grow in their experience with Jesus Christ?  Your child? Your coworker?  A teammate?  Someone who is lonely?  Someone who is suffering?

                  The gift of encouragement can truly share true love to people who you know, or perhaps someone you never knew or may never see again.  That gift can nourish another persons love!

                  God Bless!

Transcendentals: Wednesday, June 13th, 2018

Listen to the homily here.

Three on the breakfast menu for our readings today: Tuesday, May 12th, 2018

Listen to the homily here.

St. Barnabas not only encourages you, but points to the gift of encouragement for you, and for you to encourage another: Monday, June 11th, 2018 (St. Barnabas)

Listen to the homily here.

A conversation between Genesis 3 and 2 Corinthians 4: 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Listen to the homily here.

Notes:

There is an important connection between in Genesis and the second letter from St. Paul to the Corinthians

Genesis 3

·     God asked Adam and Eve some questions and statements to His son and daughter

o  To Adam, a question: “Where are you?”

§ Well God knew where Adam was…He is God!

§ Adam answered, “I heard you in the garden;
but I was afraid, because I was naked,so I hid myself.”

o  To Adam, a statement: 

§ “Who told you that you were naked?
You have eaten, then,
from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!”

o   And then Adam pointed to his wife!

§ "The woman whom you put here with me—
she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.”

o  To Eve, God said, “Why did you do such a thing?”

§ And Eve responded by pointing to the serpent, “The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it…”

There is a different relationship with God in the 2 Corinthians

·     “…an eternal weight of glory
beyond all comparison,
as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen;
for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.
For we know that if our earthly dwelling, a tent,
should be destroyed,
we have a building from God,
a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven.”

·     What is different?  God is #1. God is control.  God is truth itself and we must choose between God and ourselves…between God and evilness

When you realize that you our out of place with God, you must not point to someone else, you must not complain to God or to try to clarify what you did

·     You must humbly respond to God by saying, “Lord, please forgive my sins…”

Finally, our whole salvation plan began with Genesis 3

·     “I will put enmity between [the evil one] and the woman [Mary],
and between your offspring [evil] and hers [Jesus];
he will strike at your head,
while you strike at his heel.”

Throughout this journey, we must be on the right team: God’s kingdom

Parish Bulletin Article: "Some Tidbits about Ordinary Time": June 10th, 2018

As we reenter Ordinary Time in our liturgical calendar, here are some neat tidbits within this time throughout the year.

    

First, Ordinary Time has two sections, like placing two similar layers in a sandwich, lasagna or a bacon cheeseburger.  One occurs between the end of Christmas Season until Ash Wednesday and another from the end of Easter Season—Pentecost—all the way to Advent.

    

Second, it is interesting that Ordinary Time is the most extended liturgical season in the year—up to thirty-four weeks!  The next longest to shortest seasons is: Easter, Lent, Advent and Christmas.)

    

Third, Ordinary Time can be seen quickly in our churches with the color of green.  I enjoy seeing different types of art like the banners in our churches, musical hymns to support our prayer, decorations and vestments.

    

Fourth, our Scriptural readings within Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter typically focus on connected readings that can have thematic themes which is great for preparing a homily. Differently, Ordinary Time can offer more substantial portions in the Bible during daily and weekend Masses that can be interesting to find a nugget or two to feast for our spiritual lives. While it can be tricky, the Bible will always help us nourish our souls!

    

Finally, on one side, Ordinary Time in some way may feel “ordinary.”  As our lives ebb and flow from our day to day experiences, sometimes our human lives do sense “normalcy.”  On the other side, our liturgical lives are beyond “ordinary” as God always feed, nourishes and through His providence give “extraordinary” gifts like the Eucharist, confession and salvation.

    

Praise God as we continue to walk together with Jesus Christ, as another renew season comes to our spiritual walk.

   

God Bless!      

            

                        

"...the word of God is not chained.": Thursday, June 7th, 2018

Listen to the homily here.

The Holy Spirit through the hands of a Priest: Wednesday, June 6th, 2018

Listen to the homily here.

Does Jesus amaze you?: Tuesday, June 5th, 2018

Listen to the homily here.

How do we connect our suffering with Jesus' suffering?: 9th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Corpus Christi)

Listen to the homily here.

Notes:

Corpus Christi—Jesus’ Body and Blood—the Eucharist—Communion

On this weekend I would like to connect this Solemnity and suffering

·      First: each of us suffer with something…if not, we will

o   Physically: injuries, illness, surgery, heart attacks, strokes

o   Spiritually: not feeling God’s love, not able to go to Mass, knowing of our sins

o   In our minds: anxiety, depression, panic attacks, OCD

I want to be honest with you, that have experienced with each of the above

·      And I say that, not to point to myself but to point to Jesus Christ

·      As I prepared for our Masses this weekend, I continued to realize that I am not in control 

o   God is in control

·      I am not God!

Last weekend I had an interesting situation

·      I had a migraine 

o   I mention this because my migraines start with my vision…have everyone experienced that?  I have an ora, then a headache

§  Usually some water, Tylenol and a nap will knock it out

o   I wasn’t sure if we could have Mass, which triggers the hamster in my brain!

o   It reminded me that I am not in control in my body, soul or mind

·      Behind each of our lives, our stories, is filled with experiencing things we are not control

And then there is Jesus Christ that walks with each of us as he showed the disciples how his gift would given a few hours before he would experience the worse suffering: on the cross

·      “While they were eating,he took bread, said the blessing,broke it, gave it to them, and said,"Take it; this is my body."  Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them,and they all drank from it.  He said to them,"This is my blood of the covenant,which will be shed for many.”  Amen, I say to you,I shall not drink again the fruit of the vineuntil the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."

·      Jesus offered his Body and Blood for us

·      He physically suffered

·      He physically died

·      And he redeemed us through our suffering

God is in control through His providence, His creation and His love

Always remember that God is control!

Parish Bulletin Article written by Alison Fishbach, our new Principal at St. Thomas Aquinas School!: 6-10-18

Greetings! My name is Alison Fischbach, the new principal of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School. I want to thank all the students, families and parishioners who have been so welcoming and positive as I return to our school this summer in a new role. St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School has a long history as a solid educational choice for families in our community. I intend to be a good steward of that legacy, and aim to devote my attention to continuing our school’s growth. We have the unique ability, as a Catholic school, to not only educate the intellect, but the whole child. The teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas himself have created an educational philosophy known as Neo-Thomism which is rooted in principle and reason – specifically the notion that goodness follows reason.  By supporting a child’s growth through intellectual and moral reasoning, a teacher is providing that child a means to attain a more fulfilling life. A faith-based, community-oriented school, such as St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School, is in a unique position to provide that sort of excellent academic environment. Over the summer we will be looking at some of our goals for the coming 2018-19 school year which include: strengthening pathways of communication, creating an environment of transparency between staff and families and developing shared goals for educational excellence. I ask you to partner with our school in our efforts to continue to grow as we aim to not only encourage the minds, but also nurture the hearts of tomorrow’s leaders. 

In our history, Christians stayed to visit the sick and the poor: Thursday, May 31st, 2018 (Visitation)

Listen to the homily here.

Jesus' Mission jumped out in our reading from Mark today, and I mentioned about social justice in our schools: Wednesday, May 30th, 2018

Listen to the homily here.

Talk with our Principals and Teachers in our Diocese of Duluth: Monday, May 29th, 2018

Talk with our Principals and Teachers in Grand Rapids on their last Catechetical day for 2017-2018.

Listen to it here.

Enjoy!

Memorial Day, thanks and support for our soldiers: Monday, May 28th, 2018

Listen to the homily here.

Normalcy and Supernatural with our Father, Son and Holy Spirit: 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Holy Trinity)

Listen to the homily here.

Notes:

In January in 2011 I was honored to go to the Holy Land for three weeks with my classmates at St. Paul Seminary

·      On one day, we visited the Jordan River (between Israel and Jordan)

·      One of my first thoughts was that is a river?  In northern Minnesota, it looked like a ditch!  (BTW, the Jordan river decreases each year as it is used for people with agriculture)

·      We were able to spend a few minutes to pray at that presence, where Jesus Christ was baptized

·      Some pillars were broken down, there were some garbage, it looked muddy and it seemed “normal”

·      Then I read one of the passages when Jesus Christ was Baptized almost 2,000 years ago

o   Matthew 3:16-17: “After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened [for him], and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove [and] coming upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’”

·      A first nugget today: we can see God in both normal places, though God is always supernatural

Today is the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity

·      As we have begun our Ordinary Time, we focus on God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit

·      Trinity: three persons, one God

·      A paradox…but true

For a second nugget today

·      We listened to the last verses in Matthew 28 as Jesus was preparing to return to Heaven and he told his disciples:

o   "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father,and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age."

·      Here is the nugget which each of us must remember: each Christian denomination not only believes in our Holy Trinity, but also serves new Christians through the sacrament of baptism

As it is important to learn about God, in theology and philosophy realms which can be very deep or brand new thoughts, it is God who has given us to be baptized to be in His family

So here is for food for thought:

·      How have you talked with other people of your relationship with God?

·      How have you invited new brothers and sisters into God’s family?

·      How can you inspire other people to come to church to fish for people to promote your own gift of being baptized?

Pray with these two nuggets and some questions to discern your spiritual journey