From The Pastor's Desk
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2009
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time 8-16-09
I keep reminding myself these days that in Heaven there are only two age categories; Young and Younger! This has all been made possible through the Gift of Jesus given to us in the Eucharist. The Gospel is clear. “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day... whoever eats this bread will live forever.” By the way, every 8 minutes someone turns 50!Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 8-9-09
“If your days would be filled with Love, Joy and Light, then be a Christian with all your might.
But life like a nightmare weighs on the heart of the ONE who is but a Christian in Part!”
(From HOLINESS IN PRIESTHOOD)Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 8-2-09
Jesus said to them,
“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 7-26-09
Jesus withdrew over and over again to the mountain to be alone with the Father.
Do You?Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 7-19-09
"Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." (Jesus)
We are the Body of Christ, CORPUS CHRISTI COMMUNITY!Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 7-12-09
Proactive!Fourrteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 7-5-09
O Happy the one whose heart can break
And peace and pardon win.
How else may God make straight a path
And cleanse the soul from sin.
How else but through a broken heart
May Lord Christ enter in?Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 6-28-09
“God will always think of me, so that I will always be. Even when my body is dead and gone, my soul will live and carry on!”Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time 6-21-09
Please consider these beautiful words by Thomas Merton:
TRUE ENCOUNTER WITH CHRIST
LIBERATES SOMETHING IN US,
A POWER
WE DID NOT KNOW WE HAD,
A HOPE,
A CAPACITY FOR LIFE,
A RESILIENCE,
AN ABILITY TO BOUNCE BACK
WHEN WE THOUGHT WE
WERE COMPLETELY DEFEATED,
A CAPACITY TO GROW AND CHANGE,
A POWER OF CREATIVE TRANSFORMATION.HAPPY FATHER’S DAY
The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ 6-14-09
When thinking about the new configuration/linkage of the Catholic parishes of Holstein, Ida Grove and Odebolt, it was necessary to find one name that could designate all three parishes at once. After much prayer and consultation with people from all three parishes, councils, directors and others, the name CORPUS CHRISTI COMMUNITY was decided upon unanimously and with great enthusiasm. When thinking about it originally, we wanted something that would aptly describe who are: The Body of Christ. Corpus Christi which is the original Latin Phrase means Body of Christ and indeed puts us in touch with the Catholic Church throughout the entire world! Henceforth when we mention Corpus Christi Community, we are designating the totality of all three parishes united as the one body of Christ.Holy Trinity Sunday 6-7-09
The Father sends the Holy Spirit upon us to draw us to Jesus who in turn takes us into the embrace of the Father who originally sent the Spirit to draw us to Jesus. Salvation is being caught up in the whirlpool of Triune Love.Pentecost Sunday 5-31-09
I wish to thank the Parish Councils and the Lay Directors of St. Martins, Sacred Heart, and Our Lady of Good Counsel for their discussion, openness, and consensus in the determination of our upcoming Mass Schedule. I will preside over the three Parishes on July 14 and the first weekend liturgy will be July 18-19. The following Mass Schedule will be in effect beginning July 18th.
Saturday 4:00pm Ida Grove
Saturday 5:30pm Odebolt
Sunday 8:30am Ida Grove
Sunday 10:15am Holstein
The weekday Mass Schedule will begin on July 21st. That schedule will be published in the next few weeks.Father David Hemann
Ascension of the Lord 5-24-09
Jefferson once described the difference between an audience and a church. He said, “An audience is a crowd. A church is a family. An audience is a gathering. A church is a fellowship. An audience is a collection. A church is an organism. An audience is a heap of stones. A church is a temple.” And he concludes, “Preachers are ordained not to attract an audience, but to build a church.”Sixth Sunday of Easter 5-17-09
God is not looking so much for our accomplishments as he is for our Love. The only thing that will really matter at the moment of our death is whether or not we believed in and accepted Jesus and then if we lived that faith out in love. Saint Paul states clearly that the only thing that matters is “Faith that shows itself or works itself out in Love.” The word and command in this week’s gospel is crystal clear... Love. Saint John of the Cross says that in the eventide of life we shall be judged by love. But above all remember, “Love consists in this, Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us first and sent his son as an offering for our sins.”Fifth Sunday of Easter 5-10-09
“Mothers”
(Apologies to 1Corinthians 13)
If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place, but have not love, I am a housekeeper--not a homemaker. If I have time for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements, but have not love, my children learn cleanliness - not godliness. Love leaves the dust in search of a child's laugh. Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints on a newly cleaned window. Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk. Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys. Love is present through the trials. Love reprimands, reproves, and is responsive. Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, runs with the child, and then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood. Love is the key that opens a child's heart to God. Before I became a mother I took glory in my house of perfection. Now I glory in God's perfection of my child. As a mother, there is much I must teach my child, but the greatest of all is love. (Author Unknown)
Happy Mothers Day!Fourth Sunday of Easter 5-3-09
Congratulations to the class of 2009! No matter how rich, famous, powerful, successful, influential, well-known you become. No matter what honors are lavished upon you, don’t ever forget who you are by virtue of your creation and your baptism: You are God’s completely dependent little girl or boy always in need of God at every moment of every day of your life into eternity. Remain humble before the Lord and I promise that in due time God will raise you up to eternal glory and a heavenly inheritance which is incapable of fading or defilement.Third Sunday of Easter 4-26-09
“Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away."Divine Mercy Sunday 4-19-09
IT IS OFFICIAL! In addition to my duties as Pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel and Sacred Heart, I have also been appointed by Bishop R. Walker Nickless as Pastor of Saint Martin Parish in Odebolt. In this transition to an additional Parish, I would ask for your prayers, flexibility, and sacrificial spirit. This will take effect on Tuesday, July 14, 2009.Today is DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY. Jesus came to humankind to enter into our human situation, to suffer, die and rise in order to pour forth his forgiveness upon the entire world so as to reconcile us to the Father. Because we did nothing to deserve this, we call this MERCY. Mercy is mercy precisely because it is given when it is not deserved. On Divine Mercy Sunday let us remember the ABC’s of Mercy:
A. Ask for God’s Mercy.
B. Be Merciful yourself
C. Completely trust in God’s MercyEaster Sunday 4-12-09
Happy Easter! Alleluia!
“The Easter event-the bodily resurrection of Christ-pervades the life of the whole church…The resurrection has immense power to liberate, to uplift, to bring about justice, to effect holiness, to cause JOY…We do not pretend that life is all beauty. We are aware of darkness and sin, of poverty and pain. But we know that Jesus has conquered sin and passed through his own pain to the glory of the resurrection. And we live in the light of his paschal mystery-the mystery of death and resurrection. We are an Easter people and alleluia is our song!”
John Paul the GreatPalm Sunday of Lent 4-5-09
DO NOT CLING TO THE TWIN TOWERS. INSTEAD EMBRACE THE CROSS.Fifth Sunday of Lent 3-29-09
“Jesus paid a debt he didn’t owe, Because, We owed a debt that we couldn’t pay”
Bishop Edmund CarmondyFourth Sunday of Lent 3-22-09
HAVE YOU BEEN BITTEN BY ONE OF THE SNAKES? IF YOU HAVE, DO YOU KNOW THE ANTIDOTE?Third Sunday of Lent 3-15-09
The one thing that we have that we can give to God that he does not otherwise have in his complete perfection, and the only thing that God really wants from us is our heart. In a very concrete and real way we demonstrate this giving of our heart by following the commandments. Every time we break a commandment we in fact, take back a part of our heart that was previously given.Second Sunday of Lent 3-8-09
Abraham had to be willing to obediently give up the dearest reality of his life, his son Isaac. Why? So that He could demonstrate that God was the first love of his life. When we give up pleasures and comforts for lent, we learn to say, “God alone is enough.” The interesting thing about it though is that when we are willing to die for these things in our lives, God gives them back to us with a greater and much deeper joy. Not only did God give Abraham his son Isaac back, but he took it a step further and gave his own son for their eternal redemption.First Sunday of Lent 3-1-09
“Repent and Believe in the Good News!”Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2-15-09
$1,004,586.35 dollars is the total amount of money raised thus far for the new church and hall. This includes money raised before the drive and money from the beginning of the drive itself to now. So a big CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!! to all who have made this possible!!!!!!! J $72,794.63 of that money had already gone towards expenses of the new church (Architect, Steier, supplies) leaving us with $931,791.72. This means that we have yet to raise $468,208.28 before we can break ground. Of the 169 pledges, there are 48 families who have pledged that have paid nothing (23) and the rest have paid below their pledge. We are in desperate need for the rest to come through or do the best they can to reach our goal. I have much more to share at a later date. Thank you again!Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2-8-09
In 1983 Pope John Paul II designated the 2nd week of February as WORLD MARRIAGE DAY. It is a day where couples renew their love for on another and Pledge to take each other in good times and bad, sickness or health, for richer or poorer. Our society is as strong and as loving as each family. The more families that are fragmented and isolated from each other, the more fragmented and isolated our society. A statistic came out several years ago that stated the following: One out of two marriages ends in divorce. One out of every 50 marriages ends in divorce where the family weekly attends a religious service together. Only One out of every 1,050 end in divorce where the couple prays together daily. What a dramatic showing! It is not trite to say that the family that prays together, stays together. This also means that each member prays separately as well. It is from prayer that we encounter God who is Love. It is his love that is the bond of our unity! So get those rosaries out, get in the car and commit yourself to mass, be people of depth and prayer!Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2-1-09
No matter what your state in life, be it married, single felicity, or a celibate commitment, our first love is the Lord our God who IS LOVE. Without God being the center of our life, there is no such thing as real love.Third Sunday in Ordinary Time 1-25-09
“THIS IS THE TIME OF FULFILLMENT. THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND. REPENT, AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL.” MARK 1:14Second Sunday in Ordinary Time 1-18-09
We are back in ordinary time! Don’t forget the words of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta: “Holiness does not consist in doing extraordinary things, but in doing ordinary things with extraordinary faithfulness.”Baptism of the Lord 1-11-09
“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute and final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in Love with God and stay in love, and it will decide everything.” (Pedro Arrupe)Epiphany of the Lord 1-4-09
EPIPHANY comes from a Greek word meaning “to shine light upon” which is put more simply as manifestation or revelation. We celebrate Christ being revealed to the world as our God and Savior. Now that Christ shines upon us we also are called to reflect his love and be “little epiphanies” to the world. This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine!