St. Libory Catholic Church

Next week will be our annual St. Liborius feast day. The virus prevented us from having it last year, so I am really looking forward to it’s resumption. Two years ago, I was kind of disappointed in how many people stayed away. I realize it’s the time of year when people are on vacation and attended family reunions and such. But I also suspect that we Catholics have lost our understanding of this very Catholic, sacramental practice. You may have observed that historically Catholics were very active doing things like visiting churches, making a pilgrimage to a holy place, carrying holy cards, using holy water, blessed palms, incense and frequently visiting cemeteries. Many people still do these things, but most don’t understand why. There is Grace received by these practices. They are all a form of prayer and expressions of faith that extend beyond words. You all realize that our future as an open parish is going to be in jeopardy. It’s the condition of our times and we are certainly not the only parish concerned about closing. What we do next Sunday is a very sacramental prayer addressing our specific needs as a parish. If you can at all possibly attend, please do! We will be doing the Eucharistic procession around the parish grounds. We will have transportation for any who have difficulty walking. Come and express your faith in the Lord’s good will for our parish and enjoy meal of fellowship afterwards. Thank you for your prayerful support of our parish. God bless you! Fr. Sid.

I want to address the topic of sacramentals. Sacramentals can be anything that conveys God’s grace to us. As Catholics we have a vast array of sacramental devotional items, pictures, statues, holy cards, rosaries, crucifixes, etc. etc. However, we have allowed ourselves to be drawn away from this recognition to a much narrower view of the flow of God’s grace. With the increase of literacy and the easy access to information, we have unconsciously come to view grace as only available by knowledge, particularly written words. (Here you are reading in this moment.) Reading, information, and knowledge are all good and very important. But remember, Jesus is the Word made flesh, not the flesh made word. Christ is the complete and perfect expression of God’s word, communication, information, and knowledge. The Word became a human being. It is by His humanness that He has conveyed to us the Word. We have in the Gospels the printed Word that he spoke to reveal His message. The message is essential and complete, but God is even more than printed words. All of creation in some manner reflects its Creator. So, when you are tempted to say, “I prayed, read the Bible, went to Mass, sat before the Sacrament or visited a church but did not get anything out of it”, please consider what you were expecting. Perhaps you were expecting some kind of knowledge and God had something better, greater, or mystical for you. Yours in Christ, Fr. Sid.

Today we celebrate our nation’s Independence Day, July 4th. Perhaps this is a good place to address a topic that has been placed before us as defining out national identity, racism. Is there racism? Yes, no doubt. Is it pervasive and horribly tainting every part of our society? I think not. I would first argue that every person has biases. These come from many sources, family, community, past experience, phobias and yes, sometimes ethnicity. When these biases are tagged to a particular group without individual considerations, they result in unfair treatment and judgmental thoughts and attitudes. We need to constantly monitor our own thoughts and behavior and ask ourselves, am I making a fair evaluation based on present, personal words, and behaviors of another. Do I really know what another is thinking or has in mind to do? This is why the Lord admonishes us not to judge others. I would site my personal experience as a priest. As you know I regularly wear clerics that readily identify me as a priest. I encounter people in all walks and places. I sometimes receive warm greetings and sometimes obvious rudeness. Is it because I am a Catholic priest? Probably sometimes. But it would be very wrong to assume the rudeness is because I represent Catholicism even though that may be the case. Some people are having a bad day, may be in pain physically or mentally, perhaps they have poor people skills, or they just might be that way everyday with everyone. Our nation is not perfect. No one is asserting that. There are always things to be fixed. But on a world scale we have the best that has come along so far. The best evidence is right in front of our national eyes. Hundreds of thousands are streaming across our southern border. Why? This is still the land of freedom, opportunity, equality, and justice for all. They want what you and I some carelessly take for granted. As part of your celebration of the 4th, please pray for our nation. May God heal, protect, and bless our nation! Fr. Sid.

It’s good to be back after a very busy weekend away. We attended high school class reunions, celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary, a photo shoot with all our children and grandchildren present and baptized our newest granddaughter, Monica. Very busy but very good! Carol and I would like to thank you for your many cards and well wishes on our anniversary. Please have our Totus Tuus program in your daily prayers. It starts this Sunday evening and runs through Friday afternoon. It is a great program that features leadership from college age Catholics who are zealous in their witness. The kids really connect with them and come to understand the Faith is not just an “old person” activity. To give you some idea of Totus Tuus effects, our first team leader here at St. Libory is now a priest and the pastor for most of my grandkids in Nebraska City. They love him. His talents were groomed by his work in the program. In addition to prayer, there is another way to support the program by attending the daily Masses that will take place at 11:30 am, Monday through Friday. It’s always important for the kids to see adults present at Mass. On Wednesday evening there will be a parish potluck dinner, (see bulletin for details). Please attend. It is one more way to support our youth. The Lord bless you and keep you! Fr. Sid.