In light of the general elections in the next month, I want to offer this prayer issued by the Bishops of the United States. Our hope is placed in Jesus Christ, and, regardless of who is elected, He remains on the throne! Mary, show yourself a Mother to us in our time of need!
Traditionally, the feast of the Archangels is celebrated on September 29, which falls on this Sunday, and the feast of the guardian angels is October 2.
I don’t think we give enough attention to these spiritual beings that God has given to help guide and protect us, so let’s capitalize on the next few days to learn more about the angels and renew our prayers to them!
I’m asking all men, teenagers and up, of our three parishes (and beyond) to join us next Saturday, September 21st from 8:30 am to Mass at 4 pm for our annual men’s retreat. This will include time for adoration, confession, talks on spiritual warfare, and small group discussion as well as hearing the stories of other men and their walk of faith through challenges.
Having a thriving marriage is no different: it requires intentional effort and investment.
As a parish, we are trying to provide as many opportunities as possible for you to do this, but saying “yes” to these opportunities will always require sacrifice.
Whether you have been married for 1 month or 65 years, please consider these two marriage investment opportunities:
Hypocrites: probably the most common word that Jesus uses to describe the scribes and Pharisees of His time. To be a hypocrite means we say or profess one thing and then do just the opposite. When Jesus is rebuking the “religious people” in the Gospels, we should pay attention because if we go to church and profess to be Christian, we are those "religious people" today!
With the start of the new school year, we will be modifying a few of the daily Mass/confession/adoration times. I am always trying my best to accommodate the sacramental needs of all three parishes, and I’m sorry for any of the ways that I am not able to be as available as each parish may need at times.
I wanted to take the opportunity to share about a unique family healing and deliverance session we will be doing next Sunday, August 11th, from 1pm to about 5pm.
As opposed to the other healing services that we have hosted oriented toward physical healing, this will focus on bringing emotional and spiritual healing and freedom to our own hearts and our whole family tree.
I’m sad to say that July 31st will be the end of seminarian Drew Stanley’s internship with us here at the parishes. It has been such a gift for me to have his presence here in ministry and at the rectory over the last few months.
Because you aren’t an angel! Really it’s that simple.
Being human after "the fall" of Adam and Eve means our intellect, will, and emotions are not perfectly focused or aligned with God’s during our earthly life.
It is, however, possible to become more attentive and less prone to distraction inside and outside of our times of prayer.
This newsletter is a little bit of a test. Most people probably recognize that it can be burdensome at times for a priest to preach most days of the week and especially to have a good homily prepared for the weekend Masses. One of the smaller burdens that a pastor like me can feel is producing a little article for this newsletter every week! It’s really not that much work, but having an idea and typing it out week after week can be a bit tedious.
I just returned from the Encounter Conference in Toledo, Ohio with 19 parishioners. The environment of 3,500 people praising God and bringing their expectant faith was very conducive for healing of mind, body, and soul. In fact, during the physical healing service, there were already hundreds of people that reported 80% or better healing in conditions that were measurable, including restoration of hearing and even a tooth being grown back! Amazing! This is to say nothing of the healing of mind and soul that many more experienced.
July 1st marks one year of my being a first-time pastor here in Wetmore, Fidelity, and Sabetha! I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on some of the many blessings that we have received from the Lord so that we can celebrate and give thanks for what He has done and is doing in our communities and hearts.
This conference and Encounter Ministries has changed my life and my priesthood by infusing more of the love and power of the Holy Spirit into my life. I am eager to have this flame rekindled in my heart by being with thousands of other Christians who want more joy and fruitfulness in living out the Christian life.
As we recognize and celebrate our natural and spiritual fathers this weekend, I thought I would share some qualities of a good father that I wrote about in my big paper for seminary in 2017.
I joined the Catholic Church because the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is Jesus Christ’s offering of himself in love for the life of the world. In my protestant upbringing, I believed that God is incarnational, but I did not know that He is also sacramental.
Hey, everyone! I'm Drew Stanley, one of our seminarians in formation at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, MO. Before entering the seminary, I was a youth minister at St. John Paul II Parish in Olathe, KS - The parish where I joined the Catholic Church in October 2021.
Today we honor not only the biological mothers and grandmothers in our midst but every woman who is a spiritual mother to those entrusted to her care (religious sisters, aunts, nurses, nannies, teachers, mentors, coaches, etc). Our broken world needs the healing, tender touch of mothers now more than ever!