St. Libory Catholic Church

Our Gospel lesson this week is the raising of Lazarus from the dead. It is probably the most powerful miracle of Jesus short of his own resurrection. The Resurrection is always to be kept in our mind as we live out the difficulties of life. The difficulties are our own personal “cross”. Without a doubt, when carrying our own cross it is very difficult to be mindful of the resurrection to come. And yet, it comes to us to relieve our heartache when we need it most. When we encounter the death of our loved ones, we feel the pain of the cross the most. But we are not left without hope. We will see them again in the resurrection. Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid

Our Gospel lesson for today concerning the healing of the man born blind, serves as a powerful metaphor of our healing from the effects of Original Sin. Original sin is the sin nature that is present in every human. We inherited it from our first parents, Adam and Eve. Baptism applies God’s merciful forgiveness to this and all sin. But it does not remove the effect, at least not immediately. Think of having an infection ravaging and destroying your body. The doctor administers an antibiotic which stops the infection. However, you are still left to recover from the damage done to your body. One of the most damaging effects of sin within our hearts and minds are spiritual, moral, and intellectual blindness to sin. Why is this you ask? Because sin is always based on a lie. It’s alleged promise of health, wealth, wisdom, and power are always false and misleading. When we accept a lie as the truth, we are required to paint over the truth with the lie. This is where the blindness takes hold. And this blindness is the most fearsome and insidious of all illnesses because it renders us blind to our blindness. We do not know what we do not know. It’s like flying an airplane at night without instruments but thinking and believing it’s daytime. Crashing is only a question of “when?” Here is a little spiritual “eye” test. How do you see the world morally? Do you approve of the moral situations presented in most TV, movie, internet drama and comedy entertainments? Or do you stand with Christ and the teaching of His Church? The first is an indication of blindness the latter is a sign your spiritual vision is healing. So, as we finish our Lenten journey let us pray for eyes to see and ears to hear the voice of the Spirit. Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

St. Patrick’s day will be this coming Friday and being during Lent, it is a day of fasting. Related to this I have been asked about dispensations granted by a priest. A priest can give a dispensation on an individual bases to persons who present a good reason why they cannot keep the fast. This is limited to individuals. He cannot grant a dispensation to group, gathering or congregation. Only the local bishop can grant group dispensations. If you are 60 years or older you are already excused from the fast by church law. This doesn’t mean that the fast is to be ignored but that the rigor of fasting can be too much for advanced age. They do not need to request a dispensation. You may also receive a dispensation from Sunday or Holy Day obligations, again with good reason. Normally this is requested with an offer to attend Mass on another day, such as a daily Mass but this is not necessarily required. This request can be made by phone or message. (No dispensation is needed if you are sick, caring for someone who is homebound, or you just cannot get there due to a legitimate obstacle like weather or transportation. This includes safety.) If you legitimately forgot to fast before Mass, a priest can also give you a dispensation. Another is work on Sunday. Yes, we are to refrain from work based on the 3rd Commandment and the according to the teaching of the Church; it is a sin to work unless it is very necessary. A parish priest can give a dispensation to work on Sunday but it needs to be requested. My childhood pastor used to say, “If your ass falls in the well on Sunday pull him out. Just be sure you didn’t push him in.” I imagine some reading this are thinking, “Wow, it’s still considered a sin to not fast when required, miss Sunday or Holy day Mass or to work on Sunday? Yep. As I say repeatedly, “It’s not about the sin, it’s about the relationship”, our relationship with God. Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

We live in a day when there is a lot to listen to. We are surrounded with sound and a multitude of voices. The voices are telling us this and that about everything. No doubt we all have our favorite voices for information, news, and music. But do we really listen? And if we do listen, are we only listening for what we want to hear. In our Gospel reading today Jesus is transfigured and the Father says, “This is my Beloved Son. Listen to him!” The three apostles cringed in fear when they heard this. I suppose the magnitude of who they were following was beginning to register. They began following him because they believed He was the Christ, the Messiah. But like us, they had misconceptions about what this meant. They hoped for a supernatural, political leader who would deliver them from all enemies. Is that not still happening today? Are not many eyes searching the horizon for that special leader who will deliver what they want? In the embrace of diversity, we have witnessed the gigantic spread in desires and preferences, concerning all things. But none have been more divisive than the moral expectations concerning human behavior. If we are paying attention, we too wrestle with the questions. But we don’t really need to wrestle that much. “This is my Beloved Son. Listen to Him!” Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.