This Sunday is the Day of Families. It follows on the heels of Mother’s Day in recognition of a mother’s nurturing of the family! It’s frequently observed that the family in America is in serious trouble. The last 60 years have seen the breakup of half of all marriages. That number still holds but does not reflect the breakup of non-marriage relationships with children which basically goes unmeasured. We also see the distressing conditions of our inner cities. Occasionally some brave soul will point out the condition of families in these communities, of which the common factor is the absence of fathers in the home, which results in young boys growing up without good male role models. But this is not the only absence. Our busy, activity bloated family lives have also resulted in family members not being “present.” Yes, maybe physically but absence in emotional, spiritual, and common-sense communication between parents and children. But there is hope. It’s strange how something as difficult as the pandemic can also bring with it some positives. The confinement resulted in a lot of one-on-one time in households. It also resulted in parents observing and being involved with the school education via the internet. I think it’s accurate to say parents are more engaged in being parents. This has also spilled over into the spiritual faith lives of our families. At St. Libory’s there is definitely an upturn in children attending. It’s downright noisy during Mass. (I love it!) Parents I applaud you! Keep up the good example. You will reap great blessing as a result! Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

This Sunday we observe Mother’s Day. Indeed, mothers are very special. Here’s a fun fact. Did you know that a mother retains some of the DNA of every child she conceives? Half of your DNA comes from your biological father and half from your mother, but the mother retains a very small amount of her child’s new DNA. There is an amazing bond between mother and child. It’s life long and forever. I recently had a conversation with a veteran in the hospital. He is far from home. His 80-year-old mother sent him a daily devotional. He said, “She is right. I need to be doing that.” Mothers are uniquely persuasive. This maternal bond and care are reflected in the unique role that Mother Mary has in our salvation. She is not our savior, but her son is. She was given all disciples by Jesus as he hung upon the cross. She uniquely looks after them with a mother’s care. And like a mother she intercedes for them. It must be clearly understood, Blessed Mary is not divine, and we do not worship her. But we do honor her as the mother of our Savior, Jesus, and as our spiritual mother by baptismal adoption. Our prayers directed to her are not acts of worship but pleas for help, intercession with our Lord and God for His merciful help. Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

Although it is not our Gospel reading this week, I have always been fascinated with the encounter the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus gave instruction to them as to how the Scriptures applied to the revelation of Him as the Christ. Many years ago, when I was Protestant, I remember a preacher lamenting that we did not have what he said to them. At the time, I thought, how tragic that was because of how important that would be to understanding the Christ and His mission. But when I became Catholic, it was pointed out to me, that no, it was not lost. It was too important. The Apostles would never let such an important teaching directly from Jesus to be lost. It was immediately passed on to the Church in the teaching. The framework of the Mass is revealed in the Emmaus encounter. The two disciples went immediately to the Apostles with what the risen Jesus had said and done. Jesus encounters them. They share the Scriptures. Jesus explains them. They want Jesus to stay with them. He consecrates the bread and disappears. He is now with them and with us via every Mass throughout the world. Yours in Christ our Lord. Fr. Sid.

This Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday. A few weeks ago, I wrote about the consecration of Russia to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In addition, the Blessed Mother requested that Mass be offered on the first Saturday of each month in reparation for the sins of humanity against the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Lord willing, we will continue to offer a first Saturday morning Mass here at St. Libory’s. Blessed Mary also requested that individuals pray a Rosary daily for this same purpose. This request was made in 1917. She warned that if this was left unheeded the “errors of Russia” would spread around the world. In the last century we have witnessed this tragic realization. As was predicted by Mary to the children of Fatima, a worst war followed WWII. Communism spread from Russia to Eastern Europe, China, Central America, Cuba and beyond. The Marxist ideas of Communism spread throughout Western Europe, Canada, and the United States and beyond. Nearly all the “crazy” social ideas we see circulating in our politics today, trace strait to God hating, family destroying, Marxism. So, what does this have to do with Divine Mercy Sunday? In 1930s Poland, a poorly educated nun by the name of Sr. Faustina, received revelations about the amazing Mercy of God. She was given a devotion called the Capulet of Divine Mercy. It is very simple and strait forward. It uses the Rosary to pray for God’s Mercy, primarily by repeating, “For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.” Every decade of the Rosary ends with, “Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.” There are some additional prayers, but you get the gist of it, a prayer for God’s Mercy! I want to earnestly encourage you to learn and pray this Capulet. It’s about as easy of devotion there is to be learned. You can pray it anytime, anyplace. Our world desperately needs it, we need it, you need it, God’s Mercy! Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

Alleluia, He is risen! This is the triumphant proclamation of Easter. I think it is difficult for us to imagine the astonishment of Jesus’ disciples. They witnessed his brutal death. Now He is alive, not just alive but restored in body except for the nail holes and the wound in His side. They would now see Him in various places in the coming days. But his appearance was mysteriously camouflaged. They knew it was Him when they encountered Him but never initially. There is a lesson in that for us. Jesus comes to us hidden in the appearance of others. St. Martin of Tours was a close friend of our parish patron, St. Liborius. When he was a young calvary officer in the Roman army, he encountered a poor, scantly clothed man, shivering in the winter cold. He cut his military cloak in two and gave it to the man to warm himself. That night he had a dream. Jesus spoke to the angels saying, “See this man, I was cold, and he gave me his cloak.” St. Martin left the military and became a priest, eventually the bishop in the diocese next to St. Liborius. Through the ages there have been many such encounters by the saints. You very may have had one yourself without knowing it. So, continue to be kind to strangers in need. Who knows, it might be Jesus Himself. Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

Last week I talked about the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary completed by Pope Francis along with the bishops of the world. This received a lot of publicity in Catholic News due to the events in Ukraine. But there is another part to Mary’s request to the children of Fatima that hasn’t been mentioned much. She also requested in addition that individuals participate in her intercession by attending first Saturdays of the month Masses for 5 months in a row, praying for the conversion of Russia and making reparations for the sins of humanity. It is my intention to begin implementing first Saturday of the month Masses, 9 am at St Libory’s. The next opportunity to attend will be May 7th. Please understand that this is a Saturday morning Mass and does not take the place of our Sunday obligation. The Sunday Mass of obligation cannot begin any earlier than 4 pm on Saturdays. On the individual level, Blessed Mary has asked us to pray the Rosary daily. If this is new to you there is available on the My Parish app a guide to praying the Rosary as well as many other Catholic prayers. Once again, I want to encourage the usage of this app if you have a smart phone. First Saturdays and the Rosary are a way to personally participate in the Blessed Mother’s intercession to her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, praying for our world in a very connected way with the rest of the Church. Yours in Christ, Fr. Sid.

When you read this, it will be old news. On Friday March 25, Pope Francis consecrated Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In her apparitions at Fatima in 1917 she requested that this be done. In the late 1980s Pope John-Paul did this but not publicly and he did not request that the bishops join him. This was also part of Mary’s request. Pope Francis has done this publicly and has requested that all bishops join him. The Blessed Virgin said back in 1917, said that if this wasn’t done the “errors of Russia would spread all around the world. Well, the consecration did not happen, and the errors did spread. It is very present right here in our own nation. A world view of life without God has slowly crept into every aspect of our culture, primarily in education, media, entertainment and yes, the Church. The movement to neutralize gender and erase male and female distinctions comes right out of socialism/communism. Although it’s a hundred years late, it has now been done. Let us continue to offer up our prayers. The movements of God are always slow, but they are never late. Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

This, the fourth Sunday of Lent, is Laetare Sunday. The liturgical color for the day is Rose. The only other time this color is used is the third Sunday of Advent. Laetare Sunday sets within the Lenten season as a point where we begin to anticipate the joy of our salvation brought to us by the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus which we celebrate on Easter Sunday. The regular color for Lent is violet. It symbolizes the suffering of Christ and the sorrow for our sin that we express during the penitential season. I have heard the Catholic faith referred to as a “guilt trip”, mainly in reference to the necessity of Confession and our regular confession of sin at the beginning of Mass. I can only conclude that folks who feel this way are not willing to seek God’s forgiveness. Perhaps they have never really “heard” the Gospel with their heart. Some folks still live with the illusion that our good works just need to outweigh our bad and we will be okay. Not true. The sin that damns us is unrepented sin. Our good works and/or intentions cannot undo the damnation of our sin. But God can and does by the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus. We tend to push back against the idea that we cannot save ourselves. That is our evil pride at work. Pride is the root of all sin because it prevents us from recognizing our personal fault and hinders us from repentance. Healthy guilt is good. It means that our properly formed conscience is working. The purpose is not to make us feel bad, (guilty feelings) but to bring us to the remedy, forgiveness by God through Christ Jesus. It’s just like when you feel bad with a fever or headache. Your body is telling you something is wrong and needs a remedy. Our properly formed conscience does the same thing. Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

Many Christians wrestle with making good, faithful choices when deciding important issues. The difficult decisions usually do not deal with morally right or wrong but with best and better in terms of following the will of God. Here is a simple technique. The first is obvious, pray. Pray and request the help of the Holy Spirit and your guardian angel. Find a quiet time to ponder your decision. Decern your rational thoughts and decern what is emotional feelings. (Feelings can be very fickle, fear or emotional enthusiasm can blind rational reasoning.) Second, make a list of pros and cons. Putting thoughts on paper can be very helpful in separating ideas and it gives the opportunity to use other parts of your brain. Seeing with your eyes helps to visualize your ideas. Third, talk to someone wise. Preferably someone who knows you fairly well and shares your faith in the Lord. But it could also be someone who is familiar with the subject matter you are concerned with. Go over the list with them. They will probably be able to add to it. Ask for their honest thoughts, not what they might think you want to hear. If you are comfortable with it, ask them to pray with you. Fourth, “know yourself.” How have your decisions turned out in the past? Have you let fear hold you back? Have you made impulsive decisions that did not turn out well? Have you disregarded helpful advice in the past? Or have you allowed others to make decisions for you that you really did not want to follow? Fifth, pray again and trust the Lord. If you sincerely seek to follow the Lord’s will, you ultimately cannot go wrong. He will get you where you need to be, even sending an angel to correct and inform you if necessary. Yours in Christ, Fr. Sid.

I hope your Lenten journey is off to a good start. If you haven’t started, it’s not too late. Start today to remove something from your life, a pleasant activity, food, or drink. This is called a “fast”. If you have never done this before you will discover that you will be frequently reminded by the absence of the pleasure. But this absence will also remind you of why you are fasting in the first place, to draw your life closer to the Lord. This reminder is intended to cause us to do something for the Lord, an act of kindness for someone, read a devotion, pray, or meditate of spiritual subjects. All of this strengthens us, enabling us to draw closer to the Lord and to sharpen our spiritual awareness of evil. If we follow through, we will discover a deeper appreciation of Easter, the great mystery of our salvation. Yours in Christ, Fr. Sid.