St. Libory Catholic Church

This is a very special weekend for Carol and me. 50 years ago, on June 19th, we were united in Holy Matrimony. This weekend we are celebrating with our children and 19 grandchildren. The years have gone by too quickly. We now feel our years of age, body aches and memory glitches. Yes, we have had our trials, but all in all we have been very blessed indeed. Watching our children become us and our grandchildren become them is fascinating and sometimes hilarious. When any of us look back on our lives we wonder about the choices made. What might have happened if we had taken a different road, made a different choice concerning the important events of life. When we made the choice of sending our high school age children to Catholic school it was a major consideration. But at the time becoming Catholic was not part of the deliberations at all. We simply came to the conclusion that it was the best possible choice for our children given our life situation. It was a choice informed by prayer and a simple, rational decision to do what was best for our children. Looking back, we never could have imagined just how “right” the decision became in terms of the results. We became Catholic, our children became Catholic, our son-in-law became Catholic, our sons married Catholics, all of our grandchildren are baptized Catholic. I’m here writing this to you as your parish priest because of that decision. It is true, “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard or has it entered the imagination of man what God has prepared…”(1Cor. 2:9) Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

As of this Sunday we return to the celebration of Ordinary Time. It should not be thought of as uneventful, usual, or plain, but back to the regular business of the Church which is the ordinary, regular, essential, and unchanging Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Last year was a year of detractions from our most loved summer activities and distractions provided by the political turmoil that accompanied the pandemic. I do get the sense that many had a sort of awakening to what was most important in their lives, faith, and family. This frequently happens in times of crisis whether it’s global, national, community, family or personal. It’s a good thing to properly adjust our priorities. But it is also very “human” to let those slip away when we begin to sense a return of the “ordinary.” Do not let that happen to you. At the end of life no one laments that they spent too much time focused on their faith and family. However, many a soul at the end of their life has been steeped in regret for neglecting faith and family. For us Christians, “ordinary” is having the right priorities, always, good times and bad. Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

This Sunday we observe Corpus Christi Sunday or as it is now known as, The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Sunday. Corpus Christi is Latin for “Body of Christ.” Historically this has been a Sunday of great celebration for Catholic parishes, St. Libory’s was no exception. Typically, it is celebrated with a Eucharistic procession. If you have attended our St. Liborius celebration, you know how it proceeds. After last year’s cancelation due to Covid, we will, God willing, celebrate St. Liborius Day with a Eucharistic procession this coming July 25th. The purpose of this Corpus Christi celebration is to inform, remind and emphasize the reality of Christ presence, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity provided for us in the consecrated bread and wine of the Holy Mass. The last several decades have witnessed a growing casualness toward this great gift. We need to frequently remind ourselves of what St. Thomas Aquinas said, “…senses will not tell us Christ is present…only faith will make Him known.” However, our faith and belief do not make Christ present. He is made present by His own Word. But it is only by faith and belief that you and I will gain the benefit of His presence. We all understand that it is rude to ignore someone in our presence. In church, we should always keep before us the awareness that Jesus is physically present in the tabernacle and physically comes to each of us personally when we partake of Holy Communion. When He is presented before our eyes with the announcement of, “The Body of Christ,” we should always respond by saying “Amen!” We should never have gum or anything else in our mouth when we receive Him. As we come and go in church, we should always acknowledge His presence in the tabernacle with an act of reverence, like genuflecting, bowing, or making the sign of the Cross. Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

This Sunday we celebrate The Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God, three Persons. It’s not easy to wrap our mind around. It’s helpful not to think of a solitary one but rather a unity of one, like the Body of Christ, the Church is one body but many persons. No person is any less the Body of Christ than another but at the same time no one is the Body of Christ by their self. The mystery of the Holy Trinity is only understood via the mystery of love, divine love. God is Love as St. John tells us, total self-gift. The mutual gift of the persons of the Trinity is so complete that this is a total “oneness”. But here’s the kicker. By your baptism you are reborn and invited into the Trinity. That is Heaven, the Beatific Vision. Think for a moment of something very beautiful in creation or made by man. It gives you pause. You just stare and cannot take your eyes off it. That experience is a type of foreshadowing of the Beatific Vision. But this is only the visual aspect of the Trinity. Within the Trinity is only Love, no lack, no tears, no sorrow, no grief, no pain, and no imperfection. And that my friends is why you and I need contrition, repentance, and purgation. There will be no imperfection within the Trinity, in Heaven. Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.