St. Libory Catholic Church

This is the Second Sunday of Easter and also known as Divine Mercy Sunday. There is a whole story about Divine Mercy that I encourage you to read up on. I want to talk here about the chaplet of Divine Mercy. The chaplet is a prayer devotional akin to the Rosary. If you struggle with the Rosary perhaps you should try this chaplet. It uses rosary beads in the fashion in which the Rosary is prayed but instead of praying the Hail Mary one says, “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.” Like the Rosary it begins with some initial prayers and concludes with some specific prayers. Overall, it moves along very quick, and the prayers are very easy to memorize. The chaplet is addressed to God the Father in light of the sacrifice of the Son. The chaplet is a splendid intercessory prayer you can pray for yourself, your loved ones or absolutely anyone. It is a wonderful prayer to encourage someone on the edges of faith to pray, even non-Catholics for who it should have great appeal. I have the chaplet on a small business size card and will have them available at the entry of the church. You may also visit www.thedivinemercy.org for instructions on praying it. You will also find resources to hear it recited and even sang. So, I encourage you to take up this gift from the Mercy of God and use it. You will be uplifted and blessed. Yours in Christ. Fr. Sid.

Easter Sunday is the most important day for all Christians. We celebrate the resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ! Unfortunately, in popular culture it comes in after Christmas, the Super Bowl and the Fourth of July. The Incarnation of our Lord observed at Christmas is indeed very important. But it means nothing without the Resurrection. Christmas has attached all the warm sentiments provided by a newborn child, angels, shepherds, and domestic stable animals. Easter however is very different. The Resurrection takes place in the shadow of brutal torture cheered on by a vulgar crowd of former admirers. Friday and Saturday of Holy Week are appropriately gloomy. Easter does not lend its self at all to the joyful build up with decorations, songs and gifts that proceeds Christmas. Taken seriously Easter has something no other holy day or national observance can give us. Easter gives us forgiveness for the past, love always present and the pledge of eternal life with God in the future. It strikes us as too good to be true. But it is true. Let it soak in. Thank God for it. Celebrate it! Have a very blessed Easter! Yours in Christ, Fr. Sid.

Here it is, Holy Week. It has been two years since we celebrated this week together. I want to use this space to explain some minor changes for this year. First, on Holy Thursday we will not have the washing of feet. On Holy Friday we will venerate the Cross without touching it. Veneration can be done by genuflecting, making the Sign of the Cross or bowing profoundly. On Thursday we will move the Blessed Sacrament to a temporary chapel in the parish hall where He will remain until the Saturday vigil. The hall will be unlocked Friday and Saturday. I encourage you to come by and “spend one hour with the Lord.” The Saturday vigil Mass is very special. According to the instructions for this Mass, it is not to begin until sundown. That’s why it begins much later than our ordinary time. And yes it is longer. There are several readings, Psalms, and prayers. All in all, it is more than just a celebration of the Resurrection. It is a celebration of the whole salvation history. It is also a very ancient tradition to bring new souls into the Church by baptism at this Mass. I challenge you to attend. Offer it to the Lord as a gift of praise and thanksgiving for your salvation. You will be blessed! Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

One of the great weaknesses in the Church right now is the loss of faith in the Sacraments, Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Confession, Anointing, Marriage and Holy Orders. For many years now this has been almost universally blamed on poor teaching to the Catholic faithful. It is true that when all the religious deserted 50 years ago that the Catholic mandate to pass on the Faith fell on very hard times. Parents had to step in and take over a duty they were not prepared for and received very little assistance from the Church. This was also coupled with an influx of distorted teachings about the Sacraments that did much damage to the “believing” dimension as related to the Deposit of Faith, that which is universally held by the faithful to be true. This brings me to the false contention that I want to take issue with. It is summarized by something I read in our Lenten meditations based on the words of St. Terresa of Calcutta. “Faith is not a matter of knowing, it’s a matter of believing!” The faith spoken of here is not the doctrinal composition of stated beliefs, but rather the faith lived out in our day to day lives. So, we say we believe in the Sacraments, but do we? This might best be tested by two questions of evaluation. One, do I regularly participate in those offered on a repeated basis, such as Confession and the Eucharist (Mass)? Two, do I consciously expect God’s Grace to be actively working in me through the Sacraments, therefore experiencing real power at work within me? If the answer is “no” or “not sure”, I am probably not dealing with a matter of sufficient knowledge of the subject material, but rather a matter of unbelief, not believing what knowledge we already have. Remember what Jesus said, “To him who has, more will be given. But he who has not even what he has will be taken away from him.” To him who has what we ask? Faith, believing! It’s not the conclusion just based on convincing evidence. Faith is a decision to believe someone we trust as being truthful. Jesus, I trust in you! I believe in what you have done, said, and revealed! Yours in Christ, Fr. Sid.