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.

This Sunday we observe the day of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit. This gift to the faithful far exceeds our comprehension. You see, Jesus the second person of the Trinity became human so we could become divine. If that sounds preposterous or blasphemous, hang on. When Jesus became a man, he did not give up any of his Divinity and when he ascended to heaven, he did not give up any of his humanity. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the “first fruit” of, what the saints call, your “divinization”, becoming like God. This means much more that a one-dimensional image, like a mirror. There is a real “oneness” that takes place. Pope Benedict references marriage to help understand. In the marriage covenant the man and women become “one flesh.” Neither of them lose any of the distinct differences and yet they are joined in a shared “oneness” of life. In the marriage covenant they give to each other the totality of their being in union with their relationship to God. In early years this is often visited with conflict, but as they mature in their relationship it is not unusual for the husband and wife to know each other to the extent of sharing thoughts without speaking. Unfortunately, this very real unity is most painfully noticed when separation occurs, such as death. Our “marriage” to God is directly and explicitly observed every time we receive Holy Communion. Right before the reception of Communion in Mass we hear, “Blessed are those called to the Supper of the Lamb.” This is a quote from Rev. 19:9. There is one word missing. Scripture adds, “Blessed are those called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Every Communion is a renewal of your marriage to God. The Holy Spirit is your first gift toward your divinization, becoming like the Lord! Yours in Christ, Fr. Sid.

Why He Ascended into Heaven In raising Christ Jesus, God has raised us with him and made us to sit in heavenly places with him and crowned us as coheirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, says Saint Paul. That is our status. The abyss of death has been bridged, so that when we refer to the doctrine of the communion of saints, we are not reaching for a vaporous metaphor by which to bolster our melancholy spirits on this long and arduous pilgrimage here on earth. We really do believe that the abyss of death has been bridged and that we, the Church in pilgrimage, are truly one with those who have gone ahead of us, starting with our Lord himself, Saint Stephen the protomartyr, and our Lady. We are one, undivided, living, interceding fellowship who share in the priesthood of Jesus before the throne of God. The Church encourages us to pray for those who have gone ahead of us—who knows what schooling they must complete before they are able to bear up under the titanic glory of the Beatific Vision—and the Church assures us that they are praying for us. This is what we invoke in the great litany at the Easter Vigil—and, it is to be hoped, in our own prayers during the rest of the year. The Ascension of Jesus Christ has made this an actuality, not a fugitive dream or forlorn hope. And the Ascension quickens our flagging spirits as we tread along during this earthly life. I go to prepare a place for you, he said, that where I am, there you may be also. Better than the Emerald City of Oz, better than Narnia or Rivendell or Lothlorien, better than the Gardens of the Hesperides: eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him. No wonder the Scripture and the liturgy are full of injunctions to us to lift up our hearts. Sursum corda. We lift them up to the Lord. He is there, awaiting us, and by his Holy Spirit, he is here accompanying us. Let us hasten, then, to Mount Zion with singing. Thomas Howard

Most of you have probably heard that Fr. Jim Golka has been appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Colorado Springs. He will be a fine bishop and our Diocese is going to miss him greatly. He comes from a very large extended family. He grew up in Grand Island and is an alumnus of Central Catholic. Our Diocese can boast of providing the Church with its first bishop. Our parishes and schools have been praying for vocations for several years now and the fruit of those prayers has begun to blossom. Our seminarian numbers have increased dramatically. I never gave much thought to the fact that calling bishops would also fall within the request of those prayers. The leadership of one person guided by the Lord can make a huge difference. Please pray for our Bishop Hanefeldt, all bishops and Bishop elect Golka. They have a daunting task before them. They pastor a Church that is scandal ridden and in steep decline. Historically, this has happened before, and the Lord always raises up men and women with the faithful, loving zeal of a prophet to steer the Church back on course. They are out there today, presently unnoticed, and unknown. But they will be. When they are noticed, like Christ, like the prophets of old, they will not be given much regard by the powerful. They will be scoffed at and ridiculed. But watch for them. They are coming and we will rejoice when they appear. May Bishop (elect) Golka be one of them! Yours in Christ, Fr. Sid.

May is the month of graduations. Fortunately, our seniors this year get to have a bit more normal event. I feel sorry for last year’s seniors. They have got to feel cheated, having to celebrate in a very subdued and reserved fashion. However, they will always have a very vivid memory of their unique, final high school year. From my own experiences of being a student, following the process of our children’s education now followed by our grandchildren, I have a growing concern. Education in general has continued to slide away from the necessities of functional knowledge to a growing school of values indoctrination. Values are important. In my day, (many years ago) we were evaluated on our social behavior, our citizenship. It was very simple and to the point. Did I play well and get along well with others? When we didn’t there could be corporal punishment. I have listened to many a Catholic lament the “mean nuns”. But let me tell you, I was public, and I can match any “mean nun” story. I was picked up by my shirt, with my feet dangling, face to face with my teachers for as small of an infraction as stepping on the corner of the gymnasium floor with street shoes. The principle’s paddle was hung conspicuously visible in his office for all to see as they passed by every day on their way to lunch. If I dare to paraphrase scripture, “Fear of the principle was the beginning of wisdom!” Today we are seeing widespread bullying and intimidation from all directions to conform our thoughts, words, and actions to a very narrow range of politically acceptable morality, not a biblical morality but an academic, Hollywood, popular media morality. This is not new. It started in our colleges and universities. My 8th grade history teacher warned us about it nearly 60 years ago. In 1986, as I was being enrolled in Protestant seminary at Emory University, after all my paperwork was completed and I was in residence, I was presented with one last document to sign. It required that in my time at the university I would speak and write in a certain manner using gender inclusive language. If I did not, I would be expelled. Or using todays terminology, CANCELED! It did not set well with me then. It wasn’t that using inclusive language bothered me so much as the underhanded method of enforcement. None of this was put before me at any time while making considerations of the school or enrolling. Not until I was enrolled and moved. Then boom! Ambushed! “You must think and write the way we believe and say, or we will punish you.” Sound familiar? Here we are 35 years later. Traditional, biblical Christianity is considered socially unacceptable. It is already happening and will soon be widespread and common to be asked as a screening question for admittance to school, employment or continued employment, “Do you believe the teachings of the Church and/or the Bible concerning morality?” If you answer yes, consider yourself, CANCELED! Pray for our schools. Pray for our nation. Pray for our Church. Yours in Christ our Lord. Fr. Sid.

This Sunday we welcome 7 young souls to the Table of Our Lord for the first time. They have been preparing for the past school year by learning about Confession and Holy Communion. Now being ready they will receive our Lord Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament. This is a good time for all of us to review our understanding of what we believe. Surveys have frequently revealed that a majority of Catholics do not believe that Jesus is present in the Blessed Sacrament. This isn’t just held among laity, there are also many priests who do not believe this either. It shows in the manner they treat the Sacrament at the altar. I find this very peculiar. When I was Protestant and among those who believed the bread and wine were just symbols, I saw individuals treat the “symbols” with far more reverence. I will concede that it can indeed be difficult. If you are looking for concrete proof, you probably will not find any short of some exceptional miracle. You see it is not a matter of proof but faith. He is indeed present but for you and I to experience the gift of His presence we must have faith, we must believe. Belief is a choice. Personally, I always go back to a simple statement of faith expressed by a second grader preparing for first communion. When asked by a priest friend of mine how they knew Christ was fully present in the consecrated bread and wine, they said, “Because Jesus said so.” That’s it folks, expressed in the simplest way I have ever heard, “He said so.” We either believe Him or we don’t. Yours in Christ our Lord. Fr. Sid.

Next month on Saturday May 8th we will have our annual grounds clean up. (Please see bulletin.) Our parish has always been very strong in volunteering for these types of events, and I am sure this year will be the same. If the 8th does not work for you, I encourage you to come on your own time. What can you do? 1. Trim anyplace in need of trimming. 2. Pickup old decorations not attached to stones from cemetery and place them in dumpster behind parish hall. (Please do not do this before May 1st.) 3. Pick up sticks and limbs and place them on the pile west of the rectory. 4. Clean the flowerbeds. 5. Put down fresh mulch in flowerbeds. 6. Trim dead limbs out of rose bushes. 7. Assist in straightening stones in children’s cemetery. 8. Clean out parish hall gutters. 9. When the stumps are ground out, wood chips will need to be removed and dirt replaced in the holes. 10. Remove and pile tree limbs and small trees from North and Northwest edges of church property. 11. Anything else you see that needs done. I thank you for your work. These efforts are a great savings for the parish and help to keep the grounds attractive in appearance. Yours in Christ our Lord. Fr. Sid.

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.

Well, this is a special Sunday in Lent. Besides having to get up an hour earlier for daylight savings, it is Laetare Sunday. This Sunday indicates a halfway mark in Lent and Laetare means “rejoice”. More specifically it means “Rejoice Jerusalem” because your salvation is coming. Accordingly, this Sunday is more “upbeat” than the rest of the Sundays of Lent. The liturgical color is rose, (I know, it looks like pink.) It’s to be a lighter version of the violet color of Lent. It’s appropriate to put flowers on the altar for the Mass. It is to mirror the joy of the father of the prodigal son, who begins to be filled with joy at the sight of his son from a distance. If we have been doing a proper examination of conscience, we may not be experiencing a joy about the condition of our soul. However, our Heavenly Father is joyful as He sees his children coming closer to Him with their hearts and souls. This is the mission of Christ our redeemer, to lead many children to the embrace of the Father. So, I invite you to enter into the joy of the Father and rejoice in the salvation, eternal salvation, provided to you by Christ the Son. Yours in Christ. Fr. Sid.

I want to pick up where I left off last week about the Sacrament of Confession. Last time I defined mortal sin. I would like to now define venial sin. Venial is pretty easy to define. It’s anything that is less than mortal. But venial sin should not be thought of as no big deal. It is kind of like poison. If I handed you a drink saying don’t worry it doesn’t have enough poison to kill you, would you drink it? Well, no! So, you could think of venial sin as a watered-down mortal sin. Where one drink of mortal is deadly, venial sin can kill slowly by accumulated doses. Habitual and unhindered venial sin disposes us to a growing disposition to more serious sin, even mortal sin. Although venial sins do not require the Sacrament of Confession to be forgiven, remedy must still be sought by confession to God and asking forgiveness. This is why nearly every Mass begins with an acknowledgment of our sin and asking for forgiveness. Most of us need to do it frequently. So, we can address our venial sins by personal prayer but there is a great advantage to also going to Confession. In the Sacrament we receive a measure of God’s grace. If we are serious about growing in virtue and ridding ourselves of vice, this is a huge advantage. It’s like having a cut on your finger and putting a band aid on it. It will probably heal. But if you put some antibiotic on the wound it will heal faster. Confession is like the antibiotic. Yours in Christ our Lord, Fr. Sid.

Lent is the season when we traditionally do more in the way of examination of conscience and take the opportunity to confess our sins. I would like to take a moment to review the difference between venial sin and mortal sin. Mortal sin is first a very serious sin. The Church defines it as concerning “grave matter”. Grave matter would be sins such as murder, adultery, character assassination (willfully telling lies to destroy another’s good reputation), stealing a significant amount, serious blasphemy, etc. etc. There is not a comprehensive list of grave sins. Now to be mortal it must be grave. Two, the person must be mentally aware that the sin is grave. And three, the person committing the sin must have sufficient time to ponder the seriousness of the sin and then still decide to commit the sin anyway. This sin is said to be mortal or deadly because it cuts off the grace of God from our soul. Or another way to say it, mortal sin destroys our relationship with God. Our Faith teaches us that this can be restored or healed by one of two ways. The Church teaches us that if one is capable of perfect contrition, they can pray directly to God for forgiveness and receive forgiveness. Perfect contrition means being truly sorry for offending God and not motivated by fear of punishment or other resulting bad consequences. The question we must ask, is a person who has committed mortal sin capable of perfect contrition? Probably not. So, God’s mercy through Christ provides a much easier way, the Sacrament of Confession. Through this sacrament, God the Father, through the death and resurrection of the Son, sends the Holy Spirit through the ministry of the Church/priest to give forgiveness of all sin even if the contrition is much less than perfect. I suspect many folks think that if they haven’t committed mortal sin there is no need for the Sacrament of Confession. That would be wrong. All the sacraments impart God’s grace. We all need God’s grace. Next week I will write about venial sin and the benefits of Confession. Yours in Christ, Fr. Sid.

I want to start this off by saying “Thank you” to everyone who contributed to the Diocesan Appeal. We surpassed our financial goal by a +30% and we also exceeded out participant goal. The dollars raised stay within our diocese and support its efforts. These efforts make the parish shine brightly among the diocesan parishes. However, I must keep before you how perilous our future may be. Parishes will continue to close or be consolidated as the shortage of priests continues. (We are blessed with 8 seminarians, the most in over 30 years with more coming next year. But it will be 10 years before this increase will help the situation.) St. Libory’s is experiencing growth. We frequently register new families and have many baptisms. But we are still the smallest parish within a 20 minute or less drive to 5 other parishes. If you have 6 people running from a hungry bear, all that 5 need to do is run faster than the sixth. We are the sixth. And in terms of numbers, we are way behind the other five. Before closing a parish, the Bishop will confer with the area pastors. This is cold realism, but they will primarily see closing us as a benefit to them by receiving us into their numbers. This is a frequent topic of my prayer and meditation before the Lord as pastor. I love this parish. It’s loving, faithful and fruitful. I really do not want it to close. But my prayer always takes me back to, Lord what do you want? I do believe His will is for us to thrive in the same sense that it is His will that His faithful thrive in His grace. But I also know His permissive will allows for the other, as when the people of Israel failed to enter the promise land even though it was His perfect will that they should. I have ideas, but I am only willing to pursue God’s will. Perhaps we could make our interior too beautiful to close. Perhaps we could offer our parish to provide the traditional Latin Mass, which has a growing popularity, especially with younger generations. Perhaps we could enthusiastically promote Catholic education of our children by throwing our support behind G.I. Central Catholic which is rapidly reclaiming its Catholic identity. (This would make us an asset to the Grand Island parishes as we would be helping with their burden of school support and therefore less inclined to desire our closure.) Perhaps we could become a center for adult Catholic learning. We have a hall that would certainly lend itself well to the need. (The pandemic has helped to produce an abundance of programs available via the internet.) Perhaps we could organize to be a vibrant outreach to the surrounding community with the redeeming message of our Lord. Perhaps we could do all of these and more. I realize that I’m dreaming here, but that’s where it starts. What’s your prayer for our parish? What’s your dream? Are we willing to say like Blessed Mary, “I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word.” Jesus said, “With God, all things are possible!” Yours in Christ our Lord. Fr. Sid.

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the holy season of Lent. Here is a rundown on how it will go down. Ashes will be distributed in the traditional manner of the smudge on the forehead. Rome has also authorized another form of distribution that avoids any physical contact, the sprinkling of a pinch of ash on top of the head. So, there will be myself and another distributing by smudge and a third available for those who prefer the sprinkle of ashes. As for Confessions, there will not be a Penance Service. I will however offer extended time in the confessional. Starting the first Saturday of Lent I will be in the confessional beginning at 3 PM till 4:15 PM. I will also be available on Wednesdays after the evening Mass till 7:30 PM or as long as needed. Lent is a particularly good time to do meaningful examination of conscience. It is not for the purpose of making us feel guilty. The purpose is healing. Sin always injures us in some manner. Confessing our sins to the Lord and seeking forgiveness is the application of healing Grace to our wounds. This in turn moves us toward being the person we were created to be, made in the image of God. Yours in Christ our Lord. Fr. Sid.

In a little more than two weeks the Holy season of Lent will begin. Ash Wednesday will be different this year. Rome has given permission to apply the ashes by sprinkling them on your head so as to avoid direct contact from person to person. I’m not sure the ladies are going to appreciate that. What I am anticipating doing is offering both, the traditional ashes on the forehead and the sprinkled ashes. Please be aware that it is not required to receive ashes. This is not a sacrament. There would be nothing wrong with coming to Ash Wednesday Mass and abstaining from the reception of ashes. This is a really good opportunity to reflect upon why we receive ashes. It is an act of penance. The Gospel message is introduced with the imperative declaration, “Repent!” It means to turn, to turn from our sins and toward God. That is what Lent is all about, doing an examination of conscience and going to confession, all in preparation for our holiest of days, Easter. Yours in Christ our Lord. Fr. Sid.