Superior Priest

When the Lord says, “Peace be with you” he means it. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.” John 14:27

The world is full of anxiety, and the world and Jesus offer peace. The world offers peace only through an avoidance of pain, perfection, or a shutting down ones’ conscience. Our conscience can cause a bit of anxiety as we keep on failing. What is the answer. Jesus wants to bring peace. Today he wants to give the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins. The Catholic Church makes the bold claim that priests can forgive sins, but they have it through Jesus’ words today. Confession isn’t for the perfect, but the broken who need God’s mercy and grace to continue the struggle. We can see how we are doing in this struggle against the flesh and for the spirit by examining the fruits of the spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control” Galatians 5:23. Let us call upon the Holy Spirit and ask for the peace which only God can give in the midst of struggle and suffering of the world today. 5/20/18

When the priest says, “Let us pray” does that mean we weren’t praying before? What kind of confusing prayer does he say after that?

Some parts of the Mass are more well known then others. The Collect, Preface, and Prayer after Communion are some of the least understood but most impactful of the changing liturgical prayers throughout the year. We walk with the Church through her prayers to remind us to be glad, rejoice, to know of our exaltation in Jesus, the Heads, Ascension, and that we might have confidence and hope in following Jesus to heaven with our humanity, body and soul, as well. Below are the text of the prayers. 5/13/18

Collect: Gladden us with holy joys, almighty God,
and make us rejoice with devout thanksgiving,
for the Ascension of Christ your Son
is our exaltation,
and, where the Head has gone before in glory,
the Body is called to follow in hope.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Preface: he ascended, not to distance himself from our lowly state but that we, his members, might be con dent of following where he, our Head and Founder, has gone before.

Prayer over the Offerings: We offer sacrifice now in supplication, O Lord, to honor the wondrous Ascension of your Son: grant, we pray,
that through this most holy exchange we, too, may rise up to the heavenly realms. Through Christ our Lord.

If you ask most people what Christianity is about, they would respond “to be a good person”. However, that is not what Christianity is about. It is about Love.

Christianity is not about “being a good person”, but about love. In Deus Caritas Est (God is Love) Pope Benedict XVI wrote, “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” When we encounter Christianity not as a let of burdensome laws but as an encounter with a person, God, Jesus Christ, who is love incarnate. If we really encountered this person our life would be definitively changed to look less like a normal American citizen and more like Mother Teresa. “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us” (1 John 4:10). St. Paul writes, “God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The starting point is not good behavior, but that God loves us. The world doesn’t know love and often we don’t either. The philosophical definition of love is “To love is to will the good of another” (CCC 1766). Jesus tells us and shows us “Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Human love is broken, God’s love is what changes the world. Christianity is not about “being a good person” but about “Love” who is a person, may we never forget this truth. 5/6/18

I am including HERE the 10:30am homily that has the gospel and slight elaboration on a few things. I thought it was different enough to include it. I elaborated more on how we learn about love from parents and others in a broken way. How do we learn perfect love? From God, even Jesus learned his love from His Father and it is that love that he received that he lives on the cross, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you” (John 15:9). I also elaborated more on responding to the worlds answer to do whatever you want in love. St. Augustine (354-430) is quoted with saying “love, and do what you will” when preaching on 1 John 4:4-12 (our 2nd reading today) (here is the sermon, he says it in paragraph 8). He says this in the truest form of love where we are totally conformed to God and His love, not in the worldly way of love consisting solely in emotion, desire, selfishness, and pleasure. If it is a purified form of love all things become properly ordered and you only choose what is right.

“if in my life I fail completely to heed others, solely out of a desire to be “devout” and to perform my “religious duties”, then my relationship with God will also grow arid. It becomes merely “proper”, but loveless. Only my readiness to encounter my neighbor and to show him love makes me sensitive to God as well. Only if I serve my neighbor can my eyes be opened to what God does for me and how much he loves me. The saints—consider the example of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta—constantly renewed their capacity for love of neighbor from their encounter with the Eucharistic Lord, and conversely this encounter acquired its real- ism and depth in their service to others. Love of God and love of neighbor are thus inseparable, they form a single commandment. But both live from the love of God who has loved us first. No longer is it a question, then, of a “commandment” imposed from without and calling for the impossible, but rather of a freely-bestowed experience of love from within, a love which by its very nature must then be shared with others. Love grows through love.” (Deus Caritas Est 18)

If you want to know what your priorities are see what you spend your time on. We need to prune our life so we can focus on our most important priorities.

If only I had more than 24 hours in a day…then I would have enough time in a day. Well… not really, we will always fill up the time we have stuff. We need to not wish for more time, but make more time by pruning out good things that are keeping you from the best. What you spend your time on shows you your priorities. Do your priorities sometimes put God in Mass and prayer second, third, or fourth? We were made for more than just ok, mediocre, or even good. We were made for greatness, but we need to use our freewill and ability to choose to prune our life and choose the best. What do you need to prune out of your life for God?

Why does Jesus eat fish? Why do we eat the Eucharist?

Luke writes everything in scripture for a purpose. Why does he include the resurrected Jesus eating fish? It reinforces the resurrected body is the completion of the human person. The human person is not just body (material) and not just soul (spiritual), but body and soul. We learn everything through our 5 senses. Jesus became incarnate to meet us in the material world. As He ascends to the Father, he leaves us material reminders and gifts in the sacraments. The Eucharist is one of the greatest gifts in this way. The Eucharist is material and is truly Jesus’ Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. May we receive Jesus in union of both body and soul in the Eucharist. 4/15/18

Rhinelander is 55% Catholic…sort of. What is the difference of that 55% and others.

You learn about Lutherans, Schisms, Orthodox, and communion with the pope. We also discuss about what is the role of the pope in relation to other bishops and the world. Is there a difference between the different religions (Jesus and Buddha)? The biker says is looks a lot the same. The priest says big difference. Recorded the day after Easter Sunday. 4/2/18

What God’s mercy do? It changes everything…

 Today is Divine Mercy Sunday. Psalm 118 speaks of God’s Mercy and Love enduring which is a translation of the Hebrew Hesed. If we understand God’s Hesed it changes everything. If it doesn’t, we don’t really get it. The story of St. Maria Goretti gives us a concrete look at God’s Mercy. Alessandro gives us a concrete look at the transformative power of divine mercy. May we allow God’s mercy to form us and transform us so that we may be an instrument of God’s mercy like St. Maria Goretti. 4/8/18

What is lent all about anyways?

 Today with a guest, Fr. Matthew Rappl, we discuss the history of Lent, what lent is like for us, and how to understand it better. Here is the Wikipedia page on more fasting information. This is after lent already, but maybe this will be helpful for next year or to evaluate how this year went. Here is the bulletin with Fr. Matthew’s fish article. Recorded the day after Easter Sunday. 4/2/18

 One correction I tried to make a distinction between swearing and cursing when in fact I meant cussing. All are expletives and often used interchangeable, but there can be subtle differences if you want to look at it. Here is a short article that I think explains.

Jesus’ Resurrection has definitively changed history. Does Jesus’ Resurrection change your life?

Something happened on that third day… Jesus was not that same as all the other people who purported to be the Messiah or others who started religions. Christianity changed the world from scared apostles, to bold proclaimers that gave their lives. The world promises life and happiness, but only Jesus can fulfil. Our hearts are restless until they rest in God. God wants us not just in the next life, this Easter, every Sunday, but every moment of every day. We are made out of love for love. God has given us life and wants us to live life. The resurrection changed history, does it change your life? 4/1/18