Bulletin Article: November 28

Our parish open forum was held on November 8th. We again used the Zoom platform and had 25 users logged in at the highest point. Conversation was spent speaking about the upcoming synod, the need for people to assist with live streaming Masses, the new statues which will soon be installed on campus, landscaping for the front of the school, parish fraternal activities including an idea of a program called Journey to Bethlehem, and a question which was posed if there was a better way to report our parish collections in the bulletin. Our next parish open forum will be February 28, 2022 from 7pm-8pm.

I thank Carl Bailey and Karen Purcott for agreeing to be Synod group coordinators for our parish. There will be a training session for all coordinators in our deanery on December 13th. Following this training session our parish will schedule forums for the synod. I assume that these sessions will take place in January due to heading into the Christmas season.

Private donations were made to purchase three statues from Mexico. The first of these statues (Our Lady of Guadalupe) will be placed at the entrance of our parish school, the second of these statues (Our Lady of Guadalupe) will be placed in the field behind the parish in a grotto, and the third of these statues (St. Charbel) will be placed along the walking trail. If everything goes as planned the statue in the grotto will be blessed on December 12th, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, following the 12pm Mass. This is open to everyone in the parish and a reception will follow in the school gym.

In Christ,

Fr. Dustin Collins

1st Sunday of Advent Year C Homily

Today we celebrate the 1st Sunday of Advent where we begin to prepare for Christ’s first coming at the Nativity.

There are three figures which are most important in any Nativity scene. You must have the Christ child and the Blessed Mother. You must also have Saint Jospeh. We place much emphasis on these first two (and rightly so), but so often forget about the importance of the later. As Saint John XXIII stated, “But Jospeh for long centuries remained in the background, in his characteristic concealment, almost a decorative figure in the overall picture of the Savior’s life.”

On December 8th we will celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. This solemnity brings about the conclusion of the Year of Saint Joseph which we have been in since this past December 8th. With that December 8th will be the final occasion where we will pray the prayer to Saint Joseph after Mass.

Saint Jospeh is a key figure in Sacred Scripture who so often goes overlooked. Saint Joseph is important because he never allowed his heart to become drowsy. Despite the anxiteties of his everyday life he remained with God and came to adore the Lord. He was a man who kept viligent at all times for he was the protector of the family.

As we enter into this Advent season may we come to do so through the intercession of Saint Joseph. Saint Joseph married Mary and would not divorce her due to her being found with child. As the angel of the Lord had come to instruct him in a dream: “Jospeh, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

As we say in the Prayer to Saint Joseph, “Guardian of the Redeemer, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” It was at the Annuciation that Mary received the Word made Flesh in her womb. From this point forward Saint Joseph would be his guardian. Saint Jospeh exemplifies the importance of obedience of faith.

Of this obedience the Second Vatican Council stated: “The obedience of faith must be given to God as he reveals himself. By this obedience of faith man freely commits himself entirely to God, making the full submission of his intellect and will to God who reveals, and willingly assenting to the revelation given by him.”

As we now prepare, in this Advent season, for the celebration of our Lord’s Nativity let us desire this same faith which Saint Joseph came to exemplify. God is constantly being revealed unto us, but we are constantly bombarded with so many distractions which cause us to loose sight of this reality. Advent is an invitation to focus upon the Lord’s coming in order to hear His voice more clearly in order that we may respond to it by our life. 

Saint Joseph, pray for us, that we may prepare the way for the Lord’s coming among us.

Bulletin Article: November 21

Next Sunday we will begin the Advent season and a new liturgical year. It is hard to believe that another Christmas is just about upon us. I encourage you to use this Advent season to prepare for the Lord’s coming as Word made Flesh.

To assist parishioners in this preparation there will be a parish mission on the evenings or December 9-11 presented by Father Noel Mueller, OSB who is a monk of Saint Meinrad Archabbey. I also invite you to make use of our many opportunities for confession (Wednesday at 6pm, Saturday at 9am and 5pm, and Sunday at 7:30am, 9:30am, 11:30am, and 1:30pm). We will also have a penance service on December 22nd at 6pm where we will be joined by 6 priests for confession.

In Christ,

Fr. Dustin Collins

Last Sunday After Pentecost Homily

Next Sunday we will celebrate the first Sunday of Advent and the start of a new liturgical year. With it we will set our sight upon His first coming at Christmas. Today we celebrate the Last Sunday after Pentecost which concludes our liturgical year. Today we set our sight upon the fact of His second coming at the end of time. Therefore, what we celebrate today as well as what we will soon prepare for meet. We now anticipate the coming of Christ for the first and the second time.

When it pertains to the Second Coming everyone would like to know when it will occur. There are many who spend their time chasing after the signs of the times to affix a date to the Second Coming. Even at the time of Saint Paul there were those who were convinced that Christ’s Second Coming would be during their lifetime. The best answer to when it will occur comes to us from Jesus Himself who said, “No one knows the day or hour.”

In modern times there are those of other faith traditions who place their emphasis upon the Rapture. It is at the Rapture that those who believe will be taken up and those who do not will be left. Traditional Catholic thought instead places emphasis upon the coming of the Parousia which is a time of fulfillment through Christ. Saint Paul makes use of the dead rising in “a blink of an eye.” Then is his Epistle to the 1st Thessalonians we are told that they will be snatched up in order to meet Christ in the clouds. 

Saint Paul is not making reference to the rapture, but to the fact that the dead will go out to meet the Lord and they will return with Him in glory. For the Greco-Roman world a parousia is a celebration of arrival. Thus when a person of status arrived they would be ready to greet them and to accompany them. This is what we now prepare for as we contemplate the Second Coming of Christ.

As we profess in the Creed that Christ “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and of his kingdom there will be no end.” As we come to this final Sunday in the liturgical year we further profess this reality. We now prepare for His Second Coming by how we come to order our life on this earth. So too, even though, this is the final Sunday of the liturgical year will a new year spring forth. In all things we realize that we should be prepared to encounter Christ.

Advent assists us in encountering Him at His first coming and we then must daily prepare for His second coming. Let us do all that we can in order to prepare for this life giving reality. If we were to realize that our life on this earth should be ordered towards Christ and the Kingdom which is to come then we would order life in a way which is worthy to encounter Him.

Bulletin Article: November 14

Our Parish Stewardship Weekend was held on the weekend of September 25/26. This year we had 188 out of our 1,385 households participate which is 13.6% of the parish. This is up from last year where 75 households, 5%, of the parish participated. The financial commitment from those who responded was $559,512. Parishioners also graciously recommitted themselves to many ministries already involved with a few even offered their time and talent to new areas of parish life. Very soon ministry heads should be reaching out to those who have committed themself to an area of parish life through this stewardship appeal.

This year we also asked the children of our CFF program, youth group, and school to participate. 56 students in CFF, 17 in youth group, and 116 students of school participated. 213 minutes of prayer for the parish where pledged by CFF and youth group and 985 minutes were pledged by the students of our parish school. Students in all three programs pledged many ways in which they would assist the parish with their time and talents including activities such as being an altar server, being in choir, being an usher, etc.

I thank all who participated in this year’s Parish Stewardship Weekend and for all stewards of our parish who continue to give of their time, talent, and treasure. Please continue to pray for the good of our parish community.

In Christ,

Fr. Dustin Collins