I want to talk about our Advent penance service that will take place Wed., Dec. 7th. Please be encouraged to attend. When we participate in this Sacrament, we not only receive forgiveness of our sins, we also receive Grace from our Lord just like the other Sacraments. We will conduct it in the manner we did in the past. Once you have gone to Confession you may leave. Children and youth who attend with their parent(s) or grandparent(s) may also leave with them. Otherwise, they need to remain until the normal dismissal time of youth formation classes. There will be multiple priest available to hear confessions. I want to also remind you that besides attending to the good of your own soul you are also being a fine witness for our youth. Seeing you going to Confession helps them to realize that this is a practice that needs to continue throughout their life. So please mark this date on your calendar. It will begin at 6:45 PM. If you are late to arrive, no worries. Confessions will be heard as long as anyone is present desiring the Sacrament. Yours in Christ our Lord. Fr. Sid.

As you read this you have probably already attended our first Advent Mass and notice that as before we celebrated, Ad Orientem, or all facing the same direction including the priest. I would just like to state again that this is not some strange novelty, but a permitted option. It is even encouraged by Cardinal Sarah, former head of the Congregation for Divine Worship in Rome. In fact, the wording of the Missal, (the large book used by the priest at the altar), assumes the priest is saying Mass this way all the time. I would restate that the symbolism of Ad Orientem is to remind us that we are all pilgrims journeying in the same direction toward Christ, all planning to be facing him when he returns again. That is what Advent is about and that is why it is particularly appropriate to celebrate Mass this way during the season of Advent. A side bar to this is also a reminder that the Mass is not a stage show starring “Father!” No, it is all about Christ Jesus! He is the one who died for our sins! He is our Savior! He is the Christ! It’s all about HIM! All of our senses should be focused upon HIM! Have a blessed Advent and remember our penance service is this coming Wednesday Dec.7, 6:45 pm. In Christ our Lord. Fr. Sid

This coming week we celebrate the national holiday of Thanksgiving. We all know the story of the pilgrims who came to the continent ill prepared and were saved by the generous help of the Indians. (The interpreter was a Catholic Indian by the way.) In response, after their first successful harvest, they threw a big thanksgiving party, settlers, and Indians. If only that spirit of generosity and grace had continued, American history might have been very different as regards the Native Americans. But that said, it is a good national tradition to give thanks. Generosity and thankfulness go hand in hand. You see it isn’t receiving that causes us to be thankful, it is giving. This is why we frequently see those who receive the most “free” benefits, are also the most ungrateful and demanding of more. The “giver” understands and appreciates the “cost” of the gift. So, when they receive a gift, they are thankful. They understand that the gift is only free to the recipient. What is fascinating is the grace that comes with a gift received is appreciated and treasured by those who have also been givers. In our still great nation, we are the recipient of so many gifts that we tend to take for granted. It is heart breaking to listen to so many in media, academia, and Hollywood rant about what a terrible, racist, bigoted, and stingy group of people Americans are. All one needs to do is look south. Literally millions of people pouring across the border, (illegally), leaving their homes, risking robbery, rape, and loss of life to come to this “terrible” (sarcasm) nation. Everyone still wants to come to America. There are still many very good reasons. As of yet, we still have freedom and tremendous opportunities. We are all obligated to pray and thank God for our nation. And remember, the proper name of the Mass in English is “The Great Thanksgiving,” otherwise called the “Eucharist.” God bless America! The Lord be with you. Fr. Sid.

I want to put out a huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped put on another great soup supper! It is always great to see everyone come together, all ages and all parts of the parish and community. Besides the work, it’s a great opportunity to meet new people and catchup with old acquaintances. I am so sorry that my knee recovery kept me from participating the way I should. But that said I am truly grateful to those who picked up my slack. God bless you! On another topic, thank you for those who have already committed to the Diocesan Appeal. We are on our way to our goal with over $11K committed already. Please prayerfully consider a gift or pledge soon. If you misplaced the envelope you were mailed there are some available here at the church. If you use one from the church, please remember to write in St. Libory’s for your parish as the card goes directly to the diocese and that way your gift will be credited to our parish. Yours in Christ out Lord. Fr. Sid.

Through the month of November, I would like to address some of the topics related to death and the faithful departed. I would like to begin with, what happens when we die. Unfortunately, it is not unusual for Catholics to be confused by the absorption of non-Catholic teaching and popular ideas regarding death and the afterlife. So, what does the Church teach us? At the moment of our death, we are confronted with, Judgement then Purgatory-Heaven or Hell. Each of us will encounter Jesus and He will make a judgement concerning our eternity. We will then go in one of two possible directions. The dammed will go immediately to Hell. The redeemed will go in the direction of Heaven. A few will go directly to Heaven if their sanctification is complete, or stated another way, they are spiritually perfected. The rest of us pass through Purgatory, eventually arriving at Heaven. Purgatory is not a second chance at salvation. Our eternal destiny is determined at the Judgement after death. The souls in Purgatory are destined for Heaven. The doctrine of Purgatory, when properly understood, is a hope filled and wonderful comfort. Let me explain. Our salvation is offered to us as a free gift by the death of Jesus on the Cross. He has paid the price of our sin against the Father. His “offering” is the “atonement.” Our guilt is cleansed away. However, our soul is damaged by our sin. We need healing and restoration. The broken window analogy works good to help understand. A child breaks a window in the house by tossing a ball where he has been told not to. The child realizes his wrongdoing. He goes to his father and confesses and expresses his sincere sorrow. The father forgives the child. But the window is still broken. Although the child is forgiven, two things still need to be addressed, repair of the window and perfection of the child for being disposed to disobey the explicit command of the parent not to toss the ball near the window. Although the father may not require the child to pay the cost of the window, a good father will not simply say, “That’s okay. No problem.” He will provide a way for the child to understand the cost of his disobedience. The child will hopefully be “perfected.” Our God is a loving Father. He will lovingly nurture us if we listen, in this life and the next, Purgatory. This is why Mother Church urges us to strive for a holy life. It is our destiny. This is why your prayers for departed loved ones are important. They are striving for perfection. Our prayers are like cool drinks of grace on a hot day. The Lord be with you. Fr. Sid

One of the frequent experiences I have had as a priest is people confiding in me to having an encounter with non-corporal entities, spirits, ghost ,angels, demons, etc. It’s not unusual for someone to be troubled by such a vision or encounter, even wondering about their sanity. Many times, it begins with a joking inquiry if I believe in such things. When I confirm to them that I most certainly do, the joking demeanor leaves, and they relate their story. On some occasions they are of a frightening nature, but many times they are just disturbing or puzzling. Those who are frightened want to know how to stop it. Those who are puzzled want to know what it all means. With the celebrations of All Saints, All Souls and yes, Halloween, it’s a good time to remind ourselves of the reality of the spirit realm. According to the authoritative teaching of the Church we are surrounded by spirits. To begin with, God is a Spirit, you are a spirit, in addition, the Saints are spirits, the angels are spirits, the souls of Purgatory are spirits and yes, the devil and his demons are spirits. So, we should not be surprised that we encounter them. In fact, we should expect it and not be alarmed. That said, please hear me when I say, do not, absolutely do not engage, dabble, or inquire into the spiritual realm or business by means of the occult, magic, witchcraft, or such. You could very possibly open the door of your soul, family, or home to a very unpleasant and harmful experience! This is not a place to engage your curiosity. You can however read up on this via good Catholic sources and learn how to deal with such events with the appropriate spiritual aids provided by your Christian faith and the presence of the Holy Spirit within your soul. So don’t be afraid. Here is a short story about St. Teresa of Jesus who’s feast day was two weeks ago. It is said that she was awakened one night by noise in her room. When she inquired who was there, the devil appeared at the foot of her bed in all his terrible appearance. Looking upon him she remarked, “Oh, it’s just you!,” and rolled over and went back to sleep. How is that for a smack down. The saints are wonderful, (and funny.) Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

With All Saints and All Souls days coming up, I thought it might be good to refresh us on the connection and the importance of prayers for all souls. First, “Saints” are the souls already in Heaven. So, this day is a celebration of thankfulness for their witness and their intercessory prayers on our behalf. All Souls day is of a completely different nature. On this day in particular, we offer our prayers on behalf of the souls in Purgatory. So, who is in Purgatory? The departed faithful whose souls are not yet perfected. They will eventually get to Heaven, but they are not there yet. The Church has always taught that they are aided by our prayers. That is why they are mentioned in every Eucharistic prayer during Mass. These souls are not in Hell, but they are suffering. It is the intense suffering of love’s separation, a longing to be united with God and others. The visions of the flames of Purgatory are artistic depictions of the burning desire of loves absence experienced by these souls. Here is a good place to give clear understanding to Mass intentions offered for the deceased. The Mass intention is not a memorial for the deceased, offered in their memory. The intention is specifically for the benefit of their soul’s sanctification if they are still in Purgatory. We certainly hope they have already arrived in Heaven, but it is difficult for us to know. The teaching of the Church on this is that they are not able to pray for their self. Perhaps this is because sanctification require the radical cleansing of all selfishness. Visions of the saints have revealed that they long for our prayers. Through them they experience sanctifying love. So, if your loved one has passed on to Heaven, is your prayer wasted? Not at all. It is applied to the rest of the souls in Purgatory and either way it helps you with your own sanctification. Whether your loved one is in Purgatory or Heaven, guess who they are praying for! You can be certain of it! So, return the favor! Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

Some of you may or may not have heard rumor that I will be having knee replacement surgery. This is true and is scheduled to take place Monday, Oct. 24. As a result, there will be a visiting priest covering the weekend Masses of Oct. 29-30 and there will be no daily Masses Wed. – Friday, Oct 26-28. If my recovery goes well, I hope to be able to resume a normal schedule in November with some expected limitations. I will be prohibited from driving for at least 2 weeks. So, Carol will be driving me as needed. I will keep you posted on the parish Facebook page and MyParish App. Since I am talking about my health, here is something else. As you well know if you have had any conversations with me, I have a very significant hearing loss. It is genetic. My father had profound hearing loss and of us six siblings, four of us have the same problem. My loss became evident about 30 years ago. I have attempted to address it by the use of aids. I have kind of lost track, but I think I have consulted about 10 different audiologists over these years. I have had mixed results. If you seek help for hearing aids, I advise doing some homework to get with a good audiologist. It makes a huge difference. Technology has made large advances with hearing aids. But they still do not make 100% correction like eyeglasses. They cannot restore hearing that does not exist. I have virtually no high frequency hearing. This causes distortion in my ability to understand. After a recent hearing evaluation, it was determined that I qualify to have the Cochlear implant. The audiologist tells me it is a bit of a gamble. Usually, it is better but sometimes it doesn’t help much and the bad side of this is you lose all normal hearing in one ear as a result of the implant which places a transmitter directly to the inner ear. But if it all squares away with my insurance I am going to go for it. I have reached the point where I don’t have much to lose. The date for this is yet to be determined. So, I ask for your prayers as I get overhauled, updated, reprogramed, and renewed. I put it in the Lord’s hands. Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

Last week’s topic was about Pope Paul VI predictions in his encyclical on Human Life. Fifty years ago, he made dire predictions about human society if contraception was widely embraced, and they have come true. He made these predictions based upon Natural Law. I am going to attempt here to give a brief explanation of how Natural Law applies. Natural Law says that every good is ordered to a good end. For example, we experience thirst and want to drink. This is good. Why? Because we need hydration (water) to live. If we do not drink, we die. When we are thirsty, we experience drinking as a pleasure. Pleasure is not the “good end” to our drinking. The good end is we keep living. Drinking is ordered to life. If it becomes ordered to pleasure, we call it “disordered” and it can result in death. Take eating. We are hungry and we eat. It is a pleasure. But it is ordered to life. If we don’t eat, we die. If we eat only and always for pleasure…or…don’t eat for another reason, we call this disordered. You are probably familiar with the term, “eating disorder.” Eating is a pleasure, but it is ordered to life. If we don’t eat, we die. Okay, now take sexual copulation. It is a pleasure but is also order to life. No sexual copulation, no life. By attempting to remove the pro-creative purpose, idea or focus of copulation and order it exclusively to pleasure has the same result as drinking and eating only for pleasure, it becomes disordered. This whole attempt to reconfigure the purpose of sexuality has resulted in the multitude of sexual disorders we now see in our culture, and it is daily getting worse. Being talked up now is the acceptance of M.A.P. orientation. What is that? Minor attracted persons. We used to call this pedophilia or perversion. Now you see why they want children to decide what their orientation is without consulting parents. This is really getting perverse! You see it is artificial contraception that has created the myth that sexuality can be just about pleasure with no thought of consequences. This myth reigns supreme in our culture. Along with all the other crazy stuff going on related to sexuality, it is a direct factor in the horrible scandal of the Church right now. I am very aware that this makes a lot of people uncomfortable, but it must be said because it is the truth. Yours in Christ. Fr. Sid.

This Sunday, Oct. 2nd is Respect Life Sunday. Consequently, there is the Life Chain observance in Grand Island (see bulletin announcement). The observance focuses primarily on the issue of abortion. If you follow any news at all, you are aware that this issue is very much the hot button topic with the recent Supreme Court ruling. I am reminded of the prophetic message of Pope Paul VI in his encyclical on Human Life. The issue was the acceptance or rejection of contraception. He restated the Church’s rejection of contraception and was widely criticized, scoffed at, and ignored. His predictions were given little credence. It was widely believed that contraception could only enhance marriages and human existence in general. This is still almost universally believed today. But let’s look at his predictions. He made three. He said (and I will use my own words) the humanity of women would be devalued, and they would be objectified. (Considered objects rather than persons. Objects are used.) Look at how women are now being treated in competitive sports. Second, he predicted a general lowering of sexual morality. Third, governments would use coercion (force) to make citizens comply with related sexual related issues. Well regardless of anyone’s perspective on contraception, it cannot be denied that Pope Paul’s predictions came to pass in an even greater measure than predicted and it is still expanding. Sex trafficking, pornography addiction, 50% marriage failure, sexually transmitted diseases rising from 4 to 50 different contagions, half of all children born outside of marriage, gender confusion, sexual harassment, rape, government mandates and more. So how did he know this? Was it just a lucky guess? No, inspired by the Holy Spirit he just applied the Church’s understanding of Natural Law and followed it to the predictable end. Next week I will attempt to give a brief explanation of Natural Law. Let me end with this. It’s not necessary to understand a truth the Church teaches to benefit from its wisdom. The Lord be with you. Fr. Sid.

Since prayer is so important to our spiritual fruitfulness, I thought you might enjoy some comments of Pope Benedict as he draws on the wisdom of St. Dominic concerning prayer. “Thus, there are three positions: standing, kneeling, lying prostrate on the ground; but with the gaze ever directed to our Crucified Lord. However, the last two positions, on which I would like to reflect briefly, correspond to two of the Saint’s customary devotional practices. First, personal meditation, in which prayer acquires an even more intimate, fervent, and soothing dimension. After reciting the Liturgy of the Hours and after celebrating Mass, St Dominic prolonged his conversation with God without setting any time limit. Sitting quietly, he would pause in recollection in an inner attitude of listening, while reading a book or gazing at the Crucifix. He experienced these moments of closeness to God so intensely that his reactions of joy or of tears were outwardly visible. In this way, through meditation, he absorbed the reality of the faith. Witnesses recounted that at times he entered a kind of ecstasy with his face transfigured, but that immediately afterwards he would humbly resume his daily work, recharged by the power that comes from on High. Dear friends, St Dominic reminds us that prayer, personal contact with God is at the root of the witness to faith which every Christian must bear at home, at work, in social commitments and even in moments of relaxation; only this real relationship with God gives us the strength to live through every event with intensity, especially the moments of greatest anguish. This Saint also reminds us of the importance of physical positions in our prayer. Kneeling, standing before the Lord, fixing our gaze on the Crucifix, silent recollection — these are not of secondary importance but help us to put our whole selves inwardly in touch with God. I would like to recall once again the need, for our spiritual life, to find time every day for quiet prayer; we must make this time for ourselves, especially during the holidays, to have a little time to talk with God. It will also be a way to help those who are close to us enter into the radiant light of God’s presence which brings the peace and love we all need.” Pope Benedict XVI, Aug. 2012. Yours in Christ. Fr. Sid

This Sunday is Catechetical Sunday where we recognize our youth religious ed teachers and aides, also known as catechists. First let me clarify why we call them “catechists” rather than teachers. All catechists are teachers but not all teachers are catechists. The term specifically refers to those who pass on the Faith so as to form faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. Therefore, every person who participates in our youth formation program, teaching or assisting in any manner is a “catechist.” We have chosen a theme for this school year, “Know Jesus.” You see, it is not enough to know about Jesus. Every one of us as His disciple must know “Him.” What is the difference you ask? Let me use a family story. On Carol’s side of the family, it is a popular and repeated claim that an ancestor was a friend of Abraham Lincoln. There’s no concrete proof but it is at least plausible because they lived in Springfield, Illinois at the same time. For the sake of this story, let’s assume it is true. Now it is possible for you and I, due to modern technology and the abundance of information about the life of Lincoln, to know far more information about Lincoln than Carol’s relative. But we must admit that we still do not and cannot in this life “know” Lincoln the man. What is the difference? A personal relationship. The ancestor had a personal relationship with Lincoln. To be a disciple of Jesus Christ we must have a personal relationship. This happens when we allow Him to pass from the arm’s length distance of book knowledge knowing to heart embraced, relational love and affection. Is that possible you ask? Yes, most definitely. We all need this relationship, and we are obligated as disciples to share it with the world around us via our thoughts, words, and actions. This is the task of our youth catechists. Please consider helping them. We need you! Our youth need you! I also wish to address the upgrades being made in our classrooms, larger whiteboards, shelving for books and class items, access to technology. Recruiting staff for our program is always challenging and rightly so. Teaching a class and working with youth and children requires courage and a missionary’s heart. They need and deserve the generous support of the whole parish. Cathy Wieck, our D.R.E, (director of religious education), surveyed our catechists, asking what we could provide in the classroom to help them with their task and make their mission easier. It was suggested that larger white boards and access to the abundant technology would help a lot. Children need visibility to learn, and technology is already huge in their learning process. So, the parish has invested in these classroom upgrades. Our ladies’ group, the CCW, is covering the cost of these upgrades as well as new curriculum. Their resources come from our annual soup supper. If you contributed in anyway, (most of you did) this makes you a “catechist” by assisting our classroom catechists to effectively pass on the Faith. For this I thank you! God bless you! Yours in Christ, Fr. Sid.

One of the serious philosophical and theological problems of our time is the belief that what one believes is not attached to or the business of another. This is fostered by something called “relativism.” It defines truth as only existing within the perceptions of a given individual. The “truth” within the individual is related (relative) to the situation and perceptions of the individual. This philosophy has been slowly taking over our common thinking for over 100 years. It took a giant leap forward with the aggressive promotion of the idea that human sexuality or gender is simply a matter of self-image; biology or science are not relevant. We are now living in the midst of a culture that has a growing desire to punish anyone who disagrees. So why am I bringing this up? It is a real possibility that a day may come when you will not be allowed by law to openly study or speak about your Catholic faith. If that sounds farfetched, please take a look at history. It has happened frequently and in many nations before, Britain 1600s, France late 1700s, Mexico and Russia early 1900s, China mid-1900s. There are influences in our society as I write this who will do that in our nation if they can. If you do not have a good basic understanding of what you believe as a Catholic, you may be swept away in this madness or fail to help your family to stay anchored in the faith. Our parish FORMED program will help you to grow in faith and understanding. You can access this directly with your computer or tablet. Or you can use the MyParish app to access it. If you haven’t checked it out lately, you need to. Many more programs have been added. The access code is: j6k3pk. The Lord be with you. Fr. Sid

I am putting out an invitation to anyone who is not Catholic but would like to take a short in-class preparation for becoming Catholic. It will be six sessions covering two lessons each. The class will last about 2 hours and offered on a weekday evening, perhaps moving to different weekdays to accommodate schedules. I have three such individuals already and there is plenty room for more. Perhaps you are not sure you wish to be Catholic. Can you still attend? Absolutely! Attendance does not mean you are committing to become Catholic. If your spouse is Catholic, at a minimum you will come away with a better understanding of Catholicism and your spouse’s faith. Your spouse, boy/girlfriend is welcome and encouraged to attend with you. You will not find an opportunity like this very often. Most parish programs require classes stretched over the length of the school year, fall, winter and spring. I will probably be criticized by my peers for offering this. My personal opinion of those long programs is that they are not very effective in nurturing a continued practice of the faith in spite of the fact that their length is designed was for that very purpose. I speak from some experience. I facilitated and taught such a program for eight years before preparing for the priesthood. The essential ingredient for a practiced Catholic faith is not knowledge, it’s “practice” starting with regular attendance at Mass. Christ is present there. He’s the best teacher. So, if you are interested or know someone who might be interested (You are welcome to attend with them if they would prefer not to attend alone.), here’s an opportunity. We will begin this Wed, Sept 7th, 7pm in the parish hall.

A national magazine has published a political piece comparing the Catholic Rosary to owning AR-15 rifles. I confess I have not read the article but from what I have read it was not words of praise. If you want to know more, you can Google the topic. It got a lot of pushback. I find the comparison amusing at some level and flattering on another. I mean, really, Rosaries = AR-15s as symbols of radical politics? That is so demonic and extreme that it’s, well, funny! But it is interesting that they did get something correct, the Rosary is a weapon, a scary weapon to evil in the world. It’s not the string of beads that does the offensive damage. It’s the prayers! Catholic exorcists say demons shriek in pain and terror when these prayers are prayed in their presence. So, if you are praying the Rosary keep it up and maybe pray it more. If you are not, consider taking it up. And here’s a thought, instead of “concealed and carry” of your Rosary, consider “displayed and carry.” “For though we live in the world we are not carrying on a worldly war, for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds,” St. Paul, 2 Cor. 1:3-4 Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

I am going to tackle a sensitive topic hear so please give me a little extra leeway. It is not my intention to offend, but it might be unavoidable. I have followed the topic of evangelization (proclamation of the Gospel and conversion to Christ) pretty much my whole adult life in Church ministry. I have come across a statistic that I have seen repeated over the years. It addresses the effect of the spirituality of fathers in the home. A recent study concluded the following. If a mother converts to Christianity or a deeper walk of faith, 17% of the time her family will follow suit. But get this, if a father does the same, 63% of the time the family will do likewise. Young boys are especially affected. I think I know why. We all know you ladies are more faithful and spiritual. One need only to look at the number of women to men in Church on a given Sunday. I think the unfortunate result is (and priest and nuns experience this same thing) women are “expected” to be more religious. Therefore, when they witness to their faith by action and words, it is sadly “discounted” because they are “expected” to be that way. But the reverse happens with men. When the guy is seen praying, going to Church, or heard speaking about his faith, junior pauses and thinks, “What’s this? Guys don’t usually do that!” And they give it more attention and consideration. It makes me think of the words of St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, ch.1, vs 27, “…God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; …what is weak… to shame the strong… even the low and despised… And because of Him you are in Christ Jesus.” You see, this is why your personal witness to the faith is more effective that you think. God gets attention to his salvation via the unexpected. The very reasons you might feel inadequate to the task of sharing the faith are the very things God will use for his greater glory. So, guys, what will it be? Will we “man up.” It falls to us to have a very powerful effect on the salvation of our families and all those we come near. The world needs men of God. Mother Church needs you! St. Libory parish needs you! And most important, your family needs you! Yours in Christ our Lord. Fr. Sid

The new school year will soon be upon us. August will soon sweep by, and fall will be here. Fall is probably my favorite season, but I cannot help but always feel sad to see summer go. I think that was ingrained into me from my childhood. I hated school. Kindergarten was great. After that I was miserable. I didn’t know it then, but I have a form of dyslexia. It’s hard to describe. To put it simply, I don’t process written information the way most people do. Consequently, most learning methods did not work for me. High School was a little better, thanks to a couple of good, encouraging teachers. By the time I eventually went to college, I began to develop my own methods of learning, and all went fine. But I digress. Whenever I see the sad eyes in a child who is reminded, he or she will soon return to school, I empathize. I used to cry. Not when anyone could see, but I did. Watching our youngest child struggle with the same learning difficulty taught me a lot about my own learning. He too began to turn it around in High School thanks to a gifted teacher. If you have a child that is struggling with school, I have some advice. Help them find their giftedness, something they are good at. It’s there within them somewhere. The Lord put it there. In my case it was geometry, (go figure). It was the first time I ever got an A in a class. In the case of our son, he discovered he had a real knack for industrial arts, working with his hands, inspired by a great teacher. As he excelled in this subject, everything else rose with it, all other subjects. No more detentions or misbehaviors. Today he is a State Patrol officer and a very good one. Our children do not need unearned rewards, but they do need encouragement. Help them find their gift. And thank God for good teachers! The Lord only knows what I would have become without them. Pray for them and when you have the opportunity, thank them. Yours in Christ our Lord. Fr. Sid

What is your “mission”? The formal church term would be, apostolate. You probably recognize the name “apostle.” It means “missionary” and apostolate is the mission of the missionary. As Christians we tend to think of the missionary as the person who goes off to a distant place to proclaim the Gospel. That is certainly correct but it’s too narrow. Every Christian is a missionary in the proper sense. This calling came with your baptism and was strengthened by the Holy Spirit in your Confirmation. It might help to use an analogy used by St. Paul in the Bible. He says we are ambassadors for Christ. Our lives are intended to reflect Christ in all that we say and do. So, our mission or apostolate begins very close to home, in fact in our home. For example, if you are a husband or wife, you are obligated by your office of spouse to reflect Christ to your beloved. If you are a mother or father, you are obligated to be a Christlike parent. If you are a son or daughter, you are obligated to Christlike honor of you parents, regardless of age. We can go on to all other family designation and from there to teacher-student, boss-employee, neighbor, etc. etc. You get the picture. Every Christian’s mission field begin with the person closest to them at any given moment. But what about beyond that? For every Christian there is something a step beyond that they are called to do. Have you prayed about this? There is always something more the Lord is calling us to in our personal walk with Him. In terms of the Faith, what bothers you? What gets your attention and grabs your thoughts and causes you to ponder? Then ask the Lord if there is something he wants you to do? Prayer is the first step followed by action. Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

Summer is passing quickly, and the new school year will soon begin. I want to put out an early request for help with our CCD program, (religious education of our youth). I cannot understate how very important this is to our youth, our families, our parish, our community, and the world. We are rapidly seeing the disappearance of Christian culture in our nation and world. So much of what has been held as good and virtuous in society was based upon the general acceptance of Christian morals, even by unbelievers. Even many self-identifying Christians now embrace non-Christian values with little or no disturbance of conscience, dismissing marriage and applauding the execution of unborn children in the womb. Beyond this we see that whole concepts and ideas of a God, being washed from all media and entertainment venues. Our children are innocently immersed in the maddening swirl of non-faith information and intimidation. Many if not most of their peers have no allegiance to a life of faith or even a concept of the Divine as a reality. This is why our CCD is so very important, for our youth and their parents. Please consider helping, by teaching, aiding a teacher, being an extra set of hands, eyes, and ears in the classroom. Or, by visibly being present to pray for our youth and their teachers. Classes will begin in September. Please contact Cathy Wieck for more information on how you can help. Yours in Christ, Fr. Sid.

Today we celebrate the protective prayers of our parish patron, Saint Liborius. The hallmark of our day is the Eucharistic procession around the parish grounds, stopping at stations to pray and concluding with prayers of benediction in the church. Something that distinguishes us a Catholic is our manner of praying. We pray with our whole being, our heart, our soul, our mind, and our body. The body prayer is what sets us apart from other Christians in general. We genuflect, we kneel, we fold our hands, we bow our heads, and we physically participate in devotional movements such as our procession. Why? Because as humans we need frequent reminders of the “invisible” and the transcendent, that which is unseen and is greater and higher than ourselves. In the previous decades many of these practices have been abandoned and predictably so has our personal and corporate “memory” of God. But the Lord always has ways of bringing his people back around. Seeing the moral decay that is happening on a scale unimaginable just a few years ago, the bitter fruit is bringing with it a spiritual craving for that which is holy and pure, greater than ourselves. I hope this was your experience this Sunday. Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.