St. Libory Catholic Church

If you have a smartphone or tablet, I want to encourage you to use the My parish app. This will give you instant access to information about our parish, such as the weekly bulletin, parish events and times, plus information regarding service assignments such as altar servers, ushers, lectors, etc. There will be information about religious education, CCW, Knights of Columbus, the diocese, and others. It is also a great resource for your devotional life. There are links to Mass readings, prayers, spiritual readings, meditations, and Catholic news stories. You can study your faith with FORMED and Ascension. There are inspirational videos available and access to Catholic radio. There are aides for preparing for Confession and you can even set up a reminder for when you would like to go to Confession again. You can arrange for giving online. If you are traveling you can use this app to locate a Mass near to your location. I know many are uneasy about using technology. Yes, it can be overwhelming, especially at first. I got the following advice with my first IPAD, “Don’t over think it and if you cannot figure it out, just ask one of your grandkids.” (This is humbling, but it is also a great intergenerational exercise.) That’s what I did. I couldn’t get the first step going. I asked my granddaughter for help. She reached over and showed me with one touch. Boom, I was off and running! I now do virtually (no pun intended) all my priestly, Liturgy of the Hours on my IPHONE or IPAD. Books are downloaded to my IPAD. The convenience is wonderful. Yours in Christ, Fr. Sid.

The Gospel this Sunday recalls the Wedding at Cana which Jesus and his disciples attended. This is very significant in that it is here that Jesus preforms his first miracle. It is also a very important symbol that highlights the importance of marriage and how it reflects the relationship between God and his people. The first book of the Scriptures, Genesis begins with the marriage of Adam and Eve and the last book, Revelations, ends with the “marriage supper of the Lamb”. The collective people of the faithful are the “bride”, and Jesus Christ is the “groom”. In every Mass the priest holds up the consecrated host for all to see and says, “Blessed are those called (you) to the (marriage) supper of the Lamb.” (from Rev. 19:6-9) The family is intended to provide the creative formation of faithful souls living in accord with God’s will and reflecting his truthful love and mercy. Every soul, regardless of their state of life, is to live in relationship to God with the faithfulness of a married spouse. Every man and woman, regardless of being married or unmarried, a parent or not a parent, is to reflect the parental love and mercy of God the Father. We are called to treat those we encounter, with the respect due a father or mother, the fidelity of a spouse and the caring mercy to a child. We continue to witness the decimation of marriage and family and we see the effects in our society. The result has been the darkening increase of untruthfulness, disrespect, and infidelity of all types. What can you do? Love those closest to you with God’s love and you will love those farthest from you also. Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

Many of you probably heard that I was out with covid. It’s true and I thought I should address it here so that information is correct. Rumors have a way of getting very distorted. Last week I was routinely tested for covid at the VA. I had no symptoms. The next day I felt like I was coming down with a head cold, scratchy throat, stuffy nose. The VA called that evening to tell me I tested positive. From the symptoms it appears I had the Omicron virus, which is milder than the previous varieties. I developed head congestion, body aches, fatigue, and a minor fever. I coughed a little, but the virus never went to my chest. For the record, I had been vaccinated and received the booster some time ago. Did that make any difference. Perhaps, but there really isn’t anyway to know. There is a lot of misinformation out there. I recall hearing that if you got vaccinated you wouldn’t get the virus. Obviously not true and that seems to be publicly understood now. I would just say be wise. Double check your information sources. When someone says follow the science be sure you understand the difference between science and opinions. Simply saying something is science doesn’t make it science. Science is always supposed to be the quest of provable truth. Fear is not a helpful motivator, but neither is foolishness. Use common sense. Trust the Lord in all events. He will not fail you. Yours in Christ our Lord. Fr. Sid.

Here we are going into 2022. We are all hoping that 22 will be better than 20 and 21. Covid is still with us and might be with us for a long time, hanging around like the common cold. There has been ample confusion about most everything. But one thing remains firm, our faith. Covid and all related to it has brought about some measure of rededication to the Christian Faith of many who had ever so slowly drifted away. The jarring craziness going on in our culture and the related controversies has driven folks back to the unchangeable. This is where traditional practices of our Catholic faith take on a securing quality. They are ancient, predictable, constant, and stable. You have probably noticed that we have ramped up the use of the Latin language in Mass. This too can be confusing at first but after a while we begin to understand what we are saying. Unlike the language we use daily, Church Latin does not change in meaning. The words mean the same thing they did 1600 years ago when St. Augustine wrote down his theology. Church Latin is being used by people of many, many different languages, but the Latin is always the same in meaning. We are joined with them in speaking the same words as they do, and the same Latin words used by our Catholic ancestors. It is a reflection of our Savior Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today and forever! Yours in Christ our Lord. Fr. Sid.