This week’s memory verse: But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine — Titus 2:1

  • 2/9 – 1 Timothy 4:14
  • 2/10 – Mark 16:15
  • 2/11 – Romans 12:1
  • 2/12 – Acts 6:6-7
  • 2/13 – Hebrews 1:14
  • 2/14 – Romans 12:6-8
  • 2/15 – Ezekiel 44:11

Pray the Week: Lord Jesus, You call me to minister in the gifts You have granted me. Help me in accomplishing Your work with conviction and courage and to go boldly before all as Your witness. Amen.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me.

Throughout the Christmas and Epiphany seasons we focused our attention on God’s self-revelation. He came among us, born as a man in a stable in Bethlehem. He was revealed that night to the shepherds. He was proclaimed by Simeon and Anna in the Temple and subsequently to the world through the Magi. At His baptism He, along with the fullness of the Holy Trinity was revealed. At the wedding in Cana His might was shown.

As we complete this short stint in Ordinary Time, and head into Pre-Lent next week, we hear Jesus calling us to the job of revelation.

Jesus, speaking to Simon Peter and thus to us says: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”

It seems like a daunting task because we interpret it through the experience of the Apostles who left everything and followed Him.

Yet this task, this call to ministry is not difficult nor is it just intended for a few among the faithful.

Having read the accounts of the Prophets and Kings, having read or listened to the stories of Jesus’ Apostles and disciples, and knowing the stories of the saints through the ages gives us a rather global view of all that happened. We try to absorb a whole life story and then attempt to compare it to ourselves, where we are in this brief moment.

That is why it is essential that we study the moment of calling and then walk as the called did, following Jesus and trusting in Him.

Jesus never laid out for His called an exact roadmap of all their moments and experiences. Rather He just issued the call because He, as God, knows us intimately. He knows the skills and abilities we possess – even if we do not know them.

Paul left who he was and trusted in God’s redeeming grace. Paul let God’s grace move him and look at all he accomplished. Simon, James, and John took a leap-of-faith and followed Jesus. All the saints did likewise. Those called to sacred ministry the same.

So, it must be for each of us, for every faithful person. While we cannot exactly know what lies on the road ahead, we can trust Jesus. While we may not know the skill within us that God will use, we can let Him use it through our hands, minds, feet, and voices. What we must do is trust like St. Paul in saying: His grace to me has not been ineffective.

This week’s memory verse: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. — Ephesians 2:8-9

  • 2/2 – Titus 3:5
  • 2/3 – Acts 4:12
  • 2/4 – Romans 10:9
  • 2/5 – Psalm 37:39
  • 2/6 – Mark 16:16
  • 2/7 – 1 Peter 1:8-9
  • 2/8 – Galatians 2:21

Pray the Week: Lord Jesus, Your Holy Spirit has called me to faith through the confession of my sin and trust in You. Continue to raise me up and keep me in Your light so I may be a light to others.  Amen.

Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord

Today, we complete the forty days of our Christmas observance.

For those not well versed in Mosaic Law there is a bit to unpack here.

The first item is the idea of purification. As our Gospel tells us: When the days were completed for their purification Joseph took Mary and Jesus to Jerusalem. A mother had to spend forty days in the process of purification from having given birth to a son. She was considered unclean or impure during those days and could not be seen in public, and most particularly not in the synagogue or Temple, nor around anything holy.

To complete the purification a sacrifice, a purification offering, was to be made. The Law required the offering of one-year-old lamb and a young pigeon or turtledove. Because Joseph and Mary were poor, they were allowed to offer a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. By the way, if a mother had given birth to a girl, under the Law she is considered unclean for eighty days. If you want to go into all the details read Leviticus 12.

As we all know, the old Law has passed away in Jesus’ sacrifice and our purification by confession and faith. So why do we pay very special attention to this day?

What is most telling for us is what happened on that day in the Temple and its parallels thirty-three years later.

Three plus decades later a purification offering was to be made. Jesus goes up to Jerusalem again to present Himself to the Father and to carry out the Father’s will. He would be that purification offering for us.

Consider as Jesus goes to Jerusalem, He drives out the money changers and sellers who were plying their trade to people who could not afford items for sacrifice – they were taking advantage of people just like Mary and Joseph.

Consider too the cost. Could we afford Jesus? Could we afford the cost of the sacrifice necessary for our salvation? Absolutely not! Even the richest person in the world is too poor to pay for salvation, for their sin, thus why Jesus had to pay our cost.

These parallels are underlined in Simeon’s words to Mary. Jesus would be the reason for the rise and fall of many, and a sign that would be contradicted.

Jesus’ coming has led to our being raised up. Because of Him we are a contradiction to the worldly. As He is our light so are we a light to all who would come to Him.

 “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.”

We begin this month with an excerpt from the Canticle of Simeon which is part of the Gospel for the Solemnity of the Presentation, February 2nd.

Simeon was an old man at the very end of his life by the time Jesus was presented in the Temple. This Canticle is a poignant reminder, prayed each night at Compline (Night Prayer) of our journey toward the end of our day and our lives. Simeon’s prayer calls to mind the light he and we have seen and experienced in Jesus. Having experienced Him and His revelation we can rest peacefully and in peace. Simeon had waited all his life for this moment in which he meets Jesus, the Messiah. As noted in scripture, Simeon had listened to the voice of the Holy Spirit and trusted in the Spirit’s direction even though it seemed to have taken forever to come to fruition.

Last month we concluded our leadership reflection by considering our ‘why’ and how that why, if we rightly listen to the Holy Spirit, is at the core of our Christian life and the leadership we are called to exercise.

For both Simeon and the Prophetess Anna, their length of days is a testament to their faith and trust. Listening to God’s direction was their why, was the center of their lives. They lived with total dedication. Those attributes make them leaders from their why, examples for us in living our why.

As leaders there are two ways by which others see our why and find inspiration for their why. Those are what we demonstrate and what we tolerate or do not tolerate. Simeon and Anna demonstrate their why by their complete faithfulness and proclamation of what God has revealed to them. Their why does not allow them to tolerate departure from that faithfulness. Their why helps them to see beyond their struggles and the wait. Focused on leadership let us take account of what we demonstrate and tolerate. As we take or withhold actions, let us ensure we are consistent in living our why. 


Welcome to our February 2025 Newsletter.

This month we move from the end of the Christmas Season, its fortieth day on the Solemnity of the Presentation, into Pre-Lent. Since Lent does not start until early March, we take this month to begin our preparations.

There is a ton going on, Operation SouperBowl (our 24th year participating), our food pantry partnership, and our regular rhythm of prayer and worship. We hold our Valentine’s raffle, honor Scout Sunday, and exercise the democratic tradition of our Holy Church wherein each member has a voice and a vote. Epiphany home blessings go on through March 4th, see Fr. Jim to arrange an appointment. It is Music Scholarship application time. Get yours in before May first.

We begin a study of the Sacrament of Penance in the Catholic Church to be continued over the next two months. Check it out. Are you called to a service ministry and is that an expression of your Why? We have opportunities for you.

All that and more in our February 2025 Newsletter.

This week’s memory verse: Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? — Hebrews 1:14

  • 1/26 – Colossians 3:16
  • 1/27 – 2 Timothy 2:15
  • 1/28 – Matthew 5:16
  • 1/29 – Acts 20:24
  • 1/30 – 1 Peter 4:10
  • 1/31 – Ephesians 6:12
  • 2/1 – Galatians 6:9

Pray the Week: Lord Jesus, You have called me to minister in true freedom. Grant that I may be bold in my proclamation and in my work for the body so to proclaim Your Father’s love to all.  Amen.

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.

Today, we are called to reflect on the ministry we have been given.

Jesus tells those listening to Him that Isaiah’s prophecy has been fulfilled. He is the one that came to carry out a ministry of freedom and to draw us into that ministry.

Jesus’ freedom is true freedom. His freedom is not just a concept nor is it a political system. God’s freedom is the essential way of being and living that is in our very essence. 

Freedom comes from our relationship with our Creator God in which He provides every bit of love we need (we call that grace) and where we in turn live and act within that freedom by sharing it everywhere, every time, and without restriction. Our freedom is the reality wherein no one and nothing can bind us nor restrict us. It is the free invitation we offer to all to enter the community of the one body.

Our words and actions of love and grace toward all is not just something we do because we feel like it or have a few extra minutes, or because it agrees with something we hear on TV or online, but rather it is an expression of our love relationship with God. 

Our free love is perfect and complete when we carry out what we have been given by sharing it, by not being possessive of it, and most particularly by not restricting it in any way.

You see, every other form of alleged freedom is more of a bargaining of this for that. Those ‘freedoms’ only work if we give up parts of our freedom in the bargain. Limit yourself here, don’t say that, don’t stand up for them, repeat what we tell you and you can have what we give you. That sounds more like a deal with the devil.

God’s reality is so different. St. Paul shows the Corinthians the nature of our life together. Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it. We are part of one body. There is no border or division in the Christian life. We cannot cut off one part of us, or another, or another and survive as a body. We must stand together in the many ministries of love given us.

I said at the start that we are here to reflect on the ministry we have been given. It is so true; we each have a ministry we are charged with carrying out and if we do not, the body suffers.

So let us be as the people hearing God’s word for the first time in ages and rejoice as we set forth in the ministries given us to care for the freedom of the whole body.

This week’s memory verse: And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. — Mark 16:15

  • 1/19 – Matthew 28:19
  • 1/20 – Matthew 5:16
  • 1/21 – Philemon 1:6
  • 1/22 – Acts 1:8
  • 1/23 – 1 Peter 3:15
  • 1/24 – John 14:6
  • 1/25 – Romans 1:16

Pray the Week: Lord Jesus, You fill me with Your words and the example of Your actions. Grant that I may boldly proclaim You to all I encounter. Provide me with the gift of confident assurance so I may perform Your work. Amen.

For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet

Welcome as we continue in the forty-day celebration of Christmas.

Today, we are called to reflect on the message and the message giver.

As we read through scripture we find about sixty prophets in the Old Testament. Many of those prophets have an entire book as with Isaiah who we read from in today’s first reading. Some are only found in other books.

In encountering the prophets, their journey typically begins with a word from God. In effect, God tells them He has noticed, or taken account of something, and He directs them to spread a message He will give them.

In a bunch of cases, these prophets were taken aback at God’s request. We can echo their words: ‘Who am I?’ ‘How can I?’ ‘I do not have the ability!’ and so on. We all might answer in the same way – and perhaps we still do. We should work on that.

If we look a little deeper, we will find an echo in those words of choice and sending, the echo of God’s direction to His Son Jesus. We hear that same echo in the words the prophets speak, because they are also reflected in the words Jesus speaks to us.

Today, Isaiah speaks of an urgency, to speak out, to not be silent. For the sake of God’s people proclamation must occur.

This is resounded in Jesus’ miracle at Cana. By His mother Mary’s direction, those who would serve, both the house servants and the disciples, are to listen to Jesus’ words and act on them: “Do whatever he tells you.”

In the hymn we will sing today at the conclusion of Holy Mass, ‘Go Tell It On The Mountain’ we hear: Go, tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere.

The event at Cana provides us with that imperative – to tell what we see, hear, and experience.

To our old responses God gives answer: ‘Who am I?’ You are my sons and daughters, baptized into My Kingdom. ‘How can I?’ Because you can do anything with My grace. ‘I do not have the ability!’ Yes, you do because I created you, and each day I make you able.

As the disciples grew in confidence at Cana, let us do so as well. Let us take every opportunity in confidence to bring those we encounter to the wine of eternal life. 

Jesus fulfills the directions to, and the words given to, the prophets. So must we fulfill Jesus’ words in our lives and in our proclamation.