"The Lessons of Bethlehem and Mary" by Fr. Chris House

Laetare Ierusalem! Rejoice, O Jerusalem! Here on this Fourth Sunday of Lent, we celebrate a little bit of rejoicing in the midst of the desert of Lent. During both Advent and Lent, we get to have a peek at a rare color of vestments which only come out twice a year: in Advent on Gaudete Sunday and in Lent on Laetare Sunday. Both of these days are a reminder of the joy of the forthcoming seasons. In this moment of Lent, we fast, but we know that our fast is not eternal. We know there is hope ahead for us. Therefore, we don these rose-colored vestments as a reminder of the hope and joy of the coming season of Easter. First, a little background about the vestment colors used during the Lenten season. During days and seasons of penance, the priest and deacon wear violet vestments. There are two symbolic meanings to the color violet. In antiquity and indeed throughout history, violet dyes were expensive to manufacture. This meant that only royalty could practically afford it. As the tradition of different colors of vestments became more widespread, violet became the symbol of penance. If we are honest, there are times we need to be humbled a bit. By associating the color of royalty with penance, it is a reminder that the kingdom we long for is not of this world. Instead, we long for the Kingdom of God. A unique fact about violet, and indeed all of our liturgical colors, is that there are multiple shades of the color. Violet can have more blue in it or more red in it. Violet can be light or dark. As such, there is a tradition to wear violet vestments which have a red tint. This color has become known as roman purple. Back to our celebration of Laetare Sunday, we rejoice in the hope of the new days to come: the celebration of Our Lord’s Resurrection. As such, on this day, the tradition developed for priests to wear vestments with roman purple, but dyed in a way to make it much lighter. The result is that these vestments became known as “rose vestments.” The word “rose” comes from the Latin word rosa , meaning “pink.” This is because the resulting color looks like a shade of pink. A common joke in the seminary is that priests like to let people know that we wear “rose vestments” today rather than pink vestments. Many priests might remind people that “Jesus didn’t ‘pink’ from the dead, He rose from the dead!” While all of this is in good fun, I would add that we must look past this detail. Instead, today we are reminded that we are people who look ahead in hope of the good things to come. –Fr. Alex

With the arrival of warmer weather which will, hopefully, stay around for a while, we are heading into the season of spring as well as the season of Lent. As Ash Wednesday is coming up in a few days, it is best that we take some time to consider in what way we can prepare ourselves to receive the countless graces which accompany this season. This last Monday, in our 4th Grade religion class, I talked about the season of Lent and offered some reflections as to why we do the things we do. I think it could be good for us to take some time to reflect on these things too: One of the greatest acts of penance we see during Lent is to fast from something. This is why we usually give up something. This can be something we like a lot, such as a favorite food or our favorite games. It can also be a chance to work on giving up the things we know are wrong but we find ourselves doing again and again. Lent can be a good chance to “give up” these bad habits. It is a chance for us to grow in virtue . The whole Church participates in “giving up” things. This is why we do not sing the Alleluia at Mass all throughout Lent. It’s also why on Fridays Catholics practice abstinence from meat. Abstinence from meat on Fridays means that we avoid eating land-based meats and instead choose to eat things like fruits, vegetables, and fish. This is because historically meat was seen as a luxury. To remember that Lent is a season of penance, we choose to avoid certain luxuries. Also, we do this on Fridays since we remember Jesus’ death on the Cross on Good Friday. Another thing we do during Lent is almsgiving . When we give alms, we choose to give up some of the material things we have, such as money or food, and give these items to people who live in poverty. Some people may choose to donate money towards a charity which helps the poor. Some may choose to donate food items to food pantries or homeless shelters. Some may also choose to volunteer at these places which help the poor. This is to remind ourselves that we should try to live a simple life so that we can rely on the gifts that God gives us. In addition, I gave our students three challenges which I think could be good challenges for us during these upcoming forty days: 1. What is one way I can fast during Lent as I prepare for Easter? What could I give up? 2. How can I grow in my relationship with God during Lent? 3. What is one way I can participate in almsgiving this Lent? Continued prayers for Pope Francis Please join me in continuing to pray for Pope Francis who, at the time of this writing, remains in critical condition in the hospital. We do not know what the future holds, but in charity, we unite our prayers with the rest of the Church, both on earth and in heaven. May God bless Pope Francis abundantly. Amen. -Fr. Alex

Archabbot Lambert Reilly, OSB, one of the former archabbots of Saint Meinrad Archabbey in Southern Indiana, has always been known for his witty one-liners and comebacks. This was true during his tenure as archabbot, and it is true to this very day. One of these one-liners he became well-known for around the monastery is that “we have to love everyone, we don’t have to like everyone.” I may be paraphrasing, but his message rings true especially with today’s Gospel reading. To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If Jesus told us to love those who love us, it would be easy. In fact, we would probably do a pretty good job at that. However, Jesus did not say to love our friends. He told us to love our enemies. To some degree, we all have some sort of enemy. Maybe it is the coworker who constantly critiques the hard work we have done. Maybe it is the neighbor who constantly annoys us, and if we are honest, we probably annoy them too. Maybe it is a member of our family who we had a spat with years ago, and we both seem to struggle with letting that live in the past. We kid ourselves if we cannot, or will not, identify one person with whom we have a sour relationship. Love your enemies . It can be tempting for us to forget this call when we would rather hold a grudge. Equally, it can be tempting for us to think this cannot be done given the history we have with another. Perhaps we can look to the example Jesus Himself sets for us in loving our enemies. Later on in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus, enduring the absolute pain of the Cross, offers the simple prayer: Father, forgive them, they know not what they do . In this supreme act of charity, interceding on behalf of sinners, Jesus provides us the model for love. In fact, the entire Passion, Death, and Resurrection shows us the model for love. It is the offering of mercy to the other. This offering of mercy is best summarized and explained by St. Thomas Aquinas in writing on love. Love is distilled by St. Thomas Aquinas into the phrase: “to love anything is nothing else than to will good to that thing.” We love by willing good to others. It is why we as Christians should seek to practice the works of mercy. As God has loved us, willed our good, through the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, we should seek to live the same radical love. This form of love is by far the most difficult and only reaches its perfection with the help of God. Now, let us go back for a moment to Fr. Archabbot Lambert’s line. Certainly, we have received a divine call to love, but at the same time, we know it is impossible to be everybody’s friend. In fact, it would be unhealthy in many cases to strive for this. After all, we are humans, and we face limitations. These limitations include the emotions and history we carry from our interactions with each other. Indeed, there are particular situations in which it is prudent for us to not foster any sort of relationship with another person. We could probably come up with a good list of situations in which this prudence takes precedence. God never wants us to put ourselves in unnecessary danger of any sort, physical or emotional. The Gospel call to radical love still remains for us. Maybe Archabbot Lambert’s one-liner is a good challenge for us. Who do we need to learn to love as God calls us to love? Fr. Alex McCullough

We are all familiar with the Beatitudes. Blessed, blessed, blessed. In the context of the liturgy of the Church, they are drawn from again and again. But these beatitudes we encounter in this weekend’s Gospel seem different. They seem brief. They seem to cut a little deeper. There is a very simple explanation for this: these are not the ones we are used to hearing! In our Gospel this Sunday, we are given the privilege of hearing from St. Luke’s account of the Beatitudes as opposed to the more familiar ones from St. Matthew’s Gospel. Rather than being placed in the context of the Sermon on the Mount, as in St. Matthew’s Gospel, Luke sets this discussion of the Beatitudes within the context of the Sermon on the Plain. If we were to map out a chronology of Jesus’ ministry according to all four Gospels, the Sermon on the Plain would appear to be earlier than the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount took place alongside the Feeding of the 5000, but in Luke’s Gospel, the Sermon on the Plain is much earlier in the timeline of Jesus’ ministry. That is probably enough worrying about the timelines of these two Gospels. Instead, let us turn our attention to the truths Jesus reveals to us in our Gospel reading. In Luke’s account of the Beatitudes, we first encounter the same phrase of “blessed are…” However, we are soon turned over to a new proclamation: “woe to you.” For those of us who, at one point or another, find ourselves with a touch of cynicism, it is a bit of a welcome refresher from what we normally associate with Jesus. For some, the “woes” make us uncomfortable–many times throughout my life, I would prefer to be the things Jesus warns us about. It would be nice to have some money in the bank, to not worry about our bare necessities, to always be in a good mood, and to be well-liked by others. Certainly, we have all experienced a touch of this desire. While it is indeed prudent for us to have a healthy concern for these earthly things, we must look a little beneath the surface. Whatever we desire in this life, we are called first to recognize God’s handiwork and providence. When we lose sight of God, our creator and our redeemer, when we decide to place our desires in mere shadows compared to the Lord of life, we risk giving up the greatest gift of this life–eternal life with God. If we allow ourselves to choose the things, the created things, of this world over the very creator, something less than God rather than God Himself, we have fallen into the trap the evil one desires in which to ensnare us. We worship something other than God. These “woes” which Jesus gives us serve not to inform us of the vast punishments which await us when we fall. We know we have a God who seeks to extend His mercy to us. Rather, the “woes” serve to warn us of the dangers in which we put ourselves when we choose to separate ourselves from God. Blessed are we who seek above all else to be in union with God. Warm Welcomes Please join me in giving a warm welcome to Fr. Zach Samples, currently the Parochial Vicar at St. Agnes. Fr. Zach has graciously offered his assistance over the next two months while Fr. Chris is on sabbatical. On most weekends, he will rotate in as the celebrant at one of the Masses as well as hearing Confessions and celebrating Mass on most Thursday mornings. This will be a great help for me in taking a little off my plate and allowing me to have a day off through the week. Fr. Zach and I go way back to our days as students at EIU in Charleston before either of us was in seminary. Thank you for your assistance, Fr. Zach! Father Alex McCullough

Casting the Nets of our Lives Today’s Gospel brings a change in scenery from last Sunday’s Gospel; it may be a small detail but it is an important one. Last Sunday Jesus was in the synagogue in Nazareth. The “home town boy” was at first received well by those in the synagogue but the mood turned as the assembly found themselves challenged by Jesus. Luke records for us that the scene culminates with the crowd being so angry that they are preparing to throw Jesus off the edge of a cliff but he manages to get away. From Nazareth, Jesus returns to Capernaum. Capernaum was one of nine towns on the Sea of Galilee; the “Sea” of Galilee is actually not a sea as we understand the word today, being that it was thirteen miles, north to south, and about eight miles wide; the Scriptures also refer to it as the Sea of Tiberias or the Lake of Gennesaret. Today, the area around the Sea of Galilee is mostly buzzing with pilgrims, but in Jesus’s time those nine towns around it would have had a total population of tens of thousands of people. While this is the first time that Luke records Jesus actually being in Capernaum, we know he has been there before because of the previous Sunday’s Gospel where the synagogue crowd mentions Jesus performing miracles in Capernaum. This Gospel continues in the on-going theme of Epiphany that has been presented to us for the past several Sundays because of the astounding catch of fish that Simon and the others bring it. Experienced fishermen, they have worked all night, but at Jesus’s insistence they cast their nets one last time, against their own judgement, and their willingness is rewarded. In response to this manifestation of God’s grace and power, Luke tells us that Simon falls to his knees saying “depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Jesus does not go away but instead formally calls Simon, as well as James and John, to follow him. They leave everything behind and accept the Lord’s invitation. Like Peter, James, and John, the Lord is also calling us to follow him and become “fishers of men.” Jesus’s preaching and teaching was primarily done on the sea shore, in towns, and on the road, not in the synagogue or Temple. Our bringing souls to Christ must be done wherever we are, and while we witness to the Lord at Sunday Mass, being at church is not where this call is primarily lived out. Jesus is calling us to cast the nets of our lives; those living nets are to be constructed of our love, charity, mercy, forgiveness, compassion, and faith and they are to be cast at home, work, school, everywhere our daily living takes us. These “nets” are what bring other souls to the Lord. We need to examine our lives to be sure that sin, bad attitudes, a lack of hospitality, and so on, have not made holes in these nets. If we find holes are present, God’s grace is there to help us mend these nets of our lives. As with Peter and the others, we may find ourselves tired, frustrated, unsure, maybe even lacking in faith, but Jesus is still asking us to put out the nets of our lives for a catch. Hopefully we will each say yes. The Musings of Father Alex…. ….will be gracing this page soon as I am now at Saint Meinrad, getting re-acquainted with the library. When these eight weeks are over I will probably have spent more time in the library at Saint Meinrad now than when I was…..never mind. Below is an older aerial photograph of Saint Meinrad Archabbey and Seminary. Blessings to you and yours for the week ahead! Father Chris House

Last Sunday, the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, presented us with the Gospel of the wedding feast at Cana, particularly the sign of the water made wine. This first miracle by our Lord, as reported by John, points to the dawning of a new age, a new time: the time of the Messiah. These days of the Messiah are a time of grace and mercy, when God has opened up his own divine life to us in and through Jesus Christ. The good news for us is that these days are still upon us as the world continues to live in them until the Lord Jesus returns in his glory. This Sunday’s Gospel continues the theme of Epiphany with Jesus’s proclamation in his home synagogue in Nazareth of the words of the Prophet Isaiah. Jesus proclaims The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord . At the end of the proclamation, Jesus announces that today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing. He is the one of whom Isaiah spoke. He is the fulfillment of the promise of the prophets and the ultimate manifestation of God’s life, love, and grace in the world. To bring sight to the blind, liberty to captives, glad tidings to the poor, and freedom to the oppressed is a monumental task, one that is fit for the Messiah…and for us. We cannot do any of these things as Jesus did, but, as disciples, we are called to carry Christ into the world each and every day. It is the Lord Jesus who brings true freedom and sight, who lifts up the soul and fills it with richness. We are the vessels, the messengers by which he chooses to be continually made known in the world. We are called each day to be deliberate in our discipleship, to make the conscious choice for him every day so that we may be an avenue through which Jesus can be known and touched by those whom we meet. We are not tasked with this responsibility without any assistance. Luke tells us that in making this proclamation in Nazareth, Jesus had returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. The same is true for us. Through Baptism and Confirmation we are imbued with power of the Spirit to proclaim Jesus Christ in every aspect of our lives. Let us avail ourselves to the power of the Spirit that, in and through us, the Lord Jesus may continually be made known in the world, a world that needs to know and accept his love, his grace, and his mercy. Now is the acceptable time for us to answer this call. Information About My Upcoming Sabbatical Last month I announced here in my column that I will be heading out on a two month sabbatical. I was originally to spend it in the Holy Land last year but, as I am sure you are aware, conditions there made that impossible. I will be heading to Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology located at Saint Meinrad Archabbey in southern Indiana; this is where I attended minor seminary; there I will spend those months in prayer and reflection but also doing research for my doctoral dissertation in canon law which will hopefully also lead to me getting some writing done while I am there. I will be gone from February 4th thru April 8th, back just before Holy Week begins. While I am gone I do not expect the rhythm of parish life to be altered but slightly. Father Zach Samples, parochial vicar at St. Agnes, will be taking a Mass just about every weekend to save Father Alex from offering four Masses; Father Zach will also be taking the Thursday morning Mass so that Father Alex is able to have a day off each week. There are two minor alterations to note. First, Father Alex will be attending a workshop for priests in their first year of ministry from February 10th - 15th. There will be Communion services each morning that week with Deacon Scott. Second, beginning the week of February 17th, there will be no Wednesday 7AM Mass but all are welcome to attend the school Mass which will still be held at 8:30AM. Mass will still be at 7AM the other four weekdays. The reason for this is that a priest may say no more than two Masses on a weekday. By temporarily eliminating this one Mass time, it frees Father Alex to be available for a funeral Mass M,W,F, with Tuesdays already having two Masses due to Mass at area nursing facilities and Thursday being his weekly day off. The 7AM Wednesday Mass will resume the week of April 7th. This May I will be ordained twenty-three years and this past August I marked twenty years working in the curia at the Catholic Pastoral Center. Honestly, I am looking forward to the short break, minus the research and writing but I’ve been asked to do it and so I will. While I am gone you will remain, as always, in my daily prayers. I won’t be responding to email or getting phone messages. Should there be a serious need that requires my attention, Father Alex and Mrs. Seaton, our principal, will get in touch with me. This will be a great learning experience for Father Alex and he is up to the challenge….please just don’t make the learning curve too steep! Blessings to you and yours for the week ahead! Father Chris House

The Good Things to Come The time has come for us to move beyond the manger, for white and gold to give way to green. This Sunday brings us to the end of the Church’s celebration of Christmas with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord as we prepare to enter into the liturgical season of Ordinary Time. This feast jumps us about thirty years forward in the Lord’s earthly life and is understood as the event that inaugurates his public ministry. The Scriptures that the Church has chosen for this feast bring us full circle from where our pre-Christmas journey began in Advent, to Christmas itself, and now to the end of this holy season. Some six weeks ago we began our Advent journey and over the course of that journey we heard those familiar words of the Prophet Isaiah that are proclaimed to us again this Sunday. The second reading for this feast, from the letter of Titus, is the same second reading that was proclaimed at the Mass at Night on Christmas Eve. We might say that in today’s feast we are given a recap of what has already been revealed and proclaimed: that God has heard the cry of his people and has responded to that cry in the coming of Christ his son. What was already made known to Mary & Joseph, the Shepherds, Simeon & Anna, and the Magi is now made known to a wider audience by the Spirit at the Jordan River when the voice of the Father proclaims of Jesus “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” As with the Magi, so now at the Jordan, God continues to make known through Jesus that his divine life and love are open to all people who will receive him, and all who receive him belong to him. Now that we have celebrated the coming of Jesus at the beginning of the Church year, we are now prepared for the unfolding of another great mystery; the mystery that is life in Christ and what that means for us as his disciples as the events of his passion, death, resurrection, and overall ministry are recounted for us over the rest of the Church year. This mystery of life in Christ is what we are called to contemplate and celebrate each day and in every season. We have been called and chosen to be children of God, not because of any merit of ours, but because of God’s great love for us; because of this we should in turn see our lives as something extraordinary. Luke’s Gospel for today’s feast tells us that “the people were filled with expectation.” May it be the same for us. May expectation of the good things that God wants to do for us sustain us every day. May we carry the light and joy of Christmas with us throughout the year. As we begin Ordinary Time may we remember that in Jesus there is nothing ordinary about who we are because we have been claimed by him. Ice and Snow, Bless the Lord Those aren’t my words, they come from the Prophet Daniel. I hope that everyone fared well in light of last weekend’s weather. We still had about 2/3 of our normal Sunday attendance and I was edified by both the devotion of those present and by the desire of those who wanted to be but rightly chose the natural dispensation. I want to thank our facilities staff as well as the few other volunteers who worked to clear snow for safe movement around the parish/school property. “New” Nativity Scene My first Christmas at CTK I discovered that we did not have a nice full nativity scene. We have a lovely carved Holy Family that was generously given to the parish but we were lacking in a substantial nativity with all the persons of the nativity story. Last year we acquired a nice resin set and that will go either to the parish center or the school. We were offered something wonderful this past summer. The set we used this year was offered to me by my friend who is a pastor in our diocese. The set was given to his parish but they already had a nice set. All we had to do was have the figures repaired. The figures were restored by the Autenrieb Family in Edwardsville. Autenrieb has a long wonderful history of church and statue painting and restoration throughout our country beginning in 1925 with Max Autenrieb; the Stations of the Cross in the back chapel were painted by Max Autenrieb (either the founder or his son). The ladies who did the work on our scene estimated that our figures are around a century old. The figures are all made of plaster except for the angel and the camel; they are new additions and are made of fiberglass. I have enjoyed spending time in prayer before our “new” nativity scene; I hope you have too and that others will for years to come. Blessings to you and yours for the week ahead! Father Chris House

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This Sunday after Christmas we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The Holy Family is a timeless model for Christian living. In this Sunday’s Gospel we encounter the Holy Family in the Temple, presenting the infant Jesus to the Lord according to the Jewish law. Simeon, a righteous and devout man, takes the child in his arms, and in a beautiful hymn of praise, acknowledges Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. This moment is a testament to the faithfulness of the Holy Family to the demands of worship. The Holy Family's example teaches us the importance of faithfulness to God's commands and the rituals of our faith. Just as Mary and Joseph presented Jesus in the Temple, we too are called to actively participate in the sacramental life of the Church, nourishing our spiritual journey through prayer, the Eucharist, and the other sacraments. Mary is our model of humility and openness to God's plan. Her "yes" to the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation and her continuous pondering of God's mysteries in her heart demonstrate a profound receptivity to the divine. As we celebrate the Holy Family, we are reminded to model Mary's openness to God's will in our own lives. Joseph exemplifies obedience and trust in God's plan. Despite the challenges and uncertainties that he faced, Joseph remained faithful and protective of his family. His unwavering commitment to God's will serves as a powerful example for fathers and all individuals entrusted with the care of others. The Holy Family faced trials, including the flight into Egypt to escape King Herod's wrath. In their journey we can find encouragement for our own struggles. The challenges they encountered underscore the reality that family life, like any aspect of our journey with God, is not immune to difficulties. However, within the context of these challenges, faith can be deepened and strengthened. As we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, may we draw inspiration from their lives. May we cultivate faithfulness to our religious duties, embody trust in God's providence, nurture humility and openness to His will, and find strength in our families especially in times of trial. The Holy Family, through their example, invites us to make our homes a dwelling place of love, faith, and mutual support. May their intercession guide us on our journey of Christian living. Mary. Mother of God – New Year’s Day January 1st is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, a holyday of obligation . Mass for the feast will be celebrated on Tuesday evening, December 31st, at 5:30PM and Wednesday, January 1st, at 9:30AM. Continuing our Christmas Journey As always, we need this joyous season of light during the darkest days of winter. Even though the light has begun to lengthen ever so slightly, and the darkness has started to recede, it takes a while to notice it and feel its effects. Please continue to enjoy the beauty of the Christmas season that began, not ended, on December 25th and continues through the feasts of Epiphany (January 5th) and the Baptism of the Lord (January 12th). May the joy of Christmas continue to be yours and may you know God’s abundant grace and blessings in 2025. Blessings to you and yours for the week ahead and for a grace-filled and happy New Year! Father Chris House