On Saturday, May 5, 2012 Luke Marquard, son of Steve and Mary Marquard, was ordained to the Order of Deaconate for the Roman Catholic Church at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. Deacon Luke hails from our very own community, graduating from Bethlehem Academy. I met Deacon Luke in July 1999, when he was home on summer break from Butler University. After a few years publishing a fraternity magazine in Chicago, earning a Masters from Notre Dame in education and teaching in an inner city school in Denver, he finally began his seminary formation five years ago (and he has one left!). He has a heart full of  joy and eagerly serves. With a deep love of Christ and his Body I am confident that his ministry will touch many people. Please keep Deacon Marquard in your prayers as he begins his ministry as a Deacon and begins his immediate preparations for priestly ordination.

He joined ten others in being ordained. In one year, God willing, Deacon Luke will be ordained to the Order of Priesthood. I hope all ten get ordained. They will be busy! Ten is a good number, but with this year’s three, that averages to only 6.5 priests. With numbers up a bit and with the Archdiocese continuing to implement the Strategic Plan of 2010 the Archdiocese has begun to better place priests where they are needed. Indeed about six weeks ago, I received a phone call from the Archbishop’s office. I was asked if we wanted a third priest here. (Back in 1999, I was one of 7 priests who served in Faribault. Can you name the other six?) I turned down the offer.

Learn why I turned down the offer (and who the other priests were) on Tuesday, May 8, 2012. We will have a “State of the Parish” presentation. In addition to looking at the highlights from this year, we will look at how we might live as a parish giving Glory to God. Today’s Gospel has Jesus’ prayer: “By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

Finally, today we conclude our third week of First Communion celebrations. This week we celebrate at Divine Mercy with a special Mass at 2:00 pm. Many traditions have developed over the centuries. In Scotland, boys wear a kilt; in Latin America they wear stylized uniforms; and in Switzerland both boys and girls wear a white robe. Here girls tend to wear a white dress and veil. Like our grandparents from Eastern Europe, children from Mexico hold a bible and rosary in their hands during their first communion. While traditions come and go, what truly remains is the holy Mystery and Awe of receiving the Sacrament of Jesus’ Body and Blood, whether for the first time or the 4732nd Sunday in a row (except for illness) as for Florence Feldmann of Kenyon. May we all approach the altar of God with the faith and love our children manifest in receiving Their first Holy Communion.

Sincerely yours in Christ,  Father Kevin Finnegan

I have always wanted to work miracles. Seriously, how cool would it be if you or I could walk up to cripples, the infirm, the dying, or even the dead, and say “in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk!” – and then see it happen?! Our faith would be stronger, more people would come to our Church; life would simply be better. To what miracles might God be calling our parish?

Our first reading (Acts 4: 8-12) shows us that while working miracles might make life better, it won’t necessarily make it easier. St. Peter has been put in custody and is being questioned about healing a cripple in the name of Jesus the Nazorean – my favorite part of the story is actually in the previous chapter (Acts 3:6) where we learn that Peter’s ability to work the miracle is contingent upon his own life of evangelical poverty – the crippled beggar asked him for money and he responded “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have, I give you: in the name of  Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk.” – and he does. If you and I lived greater poverty, could we work miracles?

The Gospel this week calls us to follow Christ in laying down our lives for our sheep and not being like a hired man who works for wages and thus doesn’t really care about the sheep because they’re not his own. When you think of your relationship to your parish, do you realize that you are responsible for the well-being of flock? Or do you consider the life and mission of the parish to be someone else’s responsibility…?

These questions lead to an invitation, Fr. Kevin and I invited everyone to attend an evening of catechesis (religious teaching) and discernment at Divine Mercy Catholic Church on Tuesday, May 8th from 6:30-8:30pm. God is calling us to a new vision of how we live, give, and love as a parish – please don’t miss this!

Gloria in Excelsis Deo!  Father Erik Lundgren

Living for the Glory of God is a call and grace we received through baptism. On Tuesday, May 8, 2012 we will continue our conversation on practically looking at how we can ever more fully live for the God’s glory. What steps can we take to continue moving in the direction of being a parish whose members tithe? Our parish is moving in this direction. We Take Ten minutes of prayer daily, we run a Catholic school and for all practical purposes the St. Vincent de Paul Center, we serve at many funerals, teach family formation, send young parishioners on Mission trips, built a magnificent organ and dedication and beautiful Icon, as well as, visit the sick and dying. We – you – also give generously of your financial gifts.

Over the past several years we have intentionally charged less for our Family Formation programs. We have gone from charging $65 in 2010 to $25 this upcoming year with a long term goal to have the fees covered completely by our Sunday tithes. Thank you for your commitment to living for the Glory of God. Again, join us on Tuesday, May 8 at 6:30 pm at Divine Mercy Church to more deeply reflect on this.

Our youth received the gift of the Holy Spirit conferred through prayer of the Bishop and anointing with Sacred Chrism in the sacrament of Confirmation on April 21, 2012. I am very proud of our youth. A month ago, the confirmandi of our three parishes of  wrote a letter to Father Erik and I sharing why they desire to be confirmed. After reading those letters I reflected that truly these young adults want to be active in their faith, they pray regularly – many daily, strive to go to Mass every Sunday (mom and dad, you can help with that one), easily serve people in need, and look forward to the day of being truly adults taking responsibility for the Church and society. Yes, like the rest of us, I am guessing they are also sinners. But let us not lose sight that they are first and foremost brothers and sisters in Christ, equal to all of us to the gift of grace.

First Communion “season” begins this weekend. This Sunday children from St. Patrick Catholic Church receive their First Holy Communion; next Sunday (April 29) the children from St. Michael and on May 6 Divine Mercy’s children will receive. This beautiful sacrament of our children being one with us at the Table of the Lord will nourish them, like the rest of us, to live lives of holiness. Thank you to all who assist in preparing our children especially our three coordinators Annette Kraft, Denise Haaland and Jean Volkmuth. Parents, let these days be days of joy as you join with your children in receiving our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

This Friday, April 27, we will host a Special Needs Prayer Service at 7:00 pm at Divine Mercy Catholic Church. This ecumenical service is for children with special needs and their families. It is tailored in such a way as to be interactive, with music that soothes, and readings done simply and for children. A simple reception will follow. Although this is for the special members of our parishes, all of us are invited to attend and participate.

This past week the parish leadership of St. Patrick met with leadership of Holy Redeemer and St. Canice. As you may recall, St. Patrick will cluster with Holy Redeemer and St. Canice will merge into Holy Redeemer on July 1, 2012. For the past eight years St. Patrick has been in a cluster relationship with Divine Mercy and St. Michael. Let us all keep these parish communities in our prayers during this time of transition.

Father Kevin Finnegan

April 15  - This is a big day!  It is the Feast of Divine Mercy (inaugurated by Blessed John Paul II) On this day we will be fulfilling all the requirements set forth by our LORD to St. Faustina Kawalska in her private revelation. Bishop Lee Piche will be present and the main celebrant for Mass.  We will be dedicating and blessing the newly Commissioned ICON of Divine Mercy.  This is an original work from TRENT, ITALY.  ALSO,  we celebrate the blessing and dedication of our new organ: “Gloria In Excelsis Deo”  The organ is constructed of 2700 Pipes from our previous three churches.  It is built by the world class organ builder Rutz Organ Company.

Schedule of Events and more information about this great feast:  Mercifully Click Here

Watch this video about the feast of Divine Mercy:

July 21 – Pilgrimage with the Priests!  We will trek out to LaCrosse on coach bus or caravan to honor and thank Our Lady for her great and generous ministry in our lives!  More details to come… mark the date and join us for the whole day!  SHRINE WEBSITE

 

Gloria in excelis Deo

And of course, I must add:

ALLELUIA!

As the Angels sang that first Christmas morn, so we sing every Sunday for the glory of God. Over the past few months we have reflected as a community on expressing in our lives our commitment to live for the glory of God.

Gloria in excelis Deo calls us to reflect on how we will live. We need to ever more deeply enter into the transforming grace of God so that our entire being proclaims the greatness of God.

As I reflect on my own desire to live for the glory of God, I know that I need to place my trust in the Lord. Daily, even hourly, I need to trust that God will provide all I need; that in God’s providential plan, all will work out for our good—and my ultimate good—and His glory. When we our completely surrender to the will of God, we grow with increasing freedom to use our God-given talents, money, time and gifts for the glory of God and the well-being of others. Trusting in God and moved by hearts of compassion we use our charisms of intellect, position and possessions to serve others; we use our charisms of wit, labor, skills and artistic talents, and our actions to transform the world into a community ever more fully reflecting the Glory of God.

Easter is all about our Savior, Jesus Christ, rising from the dead, triumphant over death and sin, and advancing a kingdom – God’s kingdom, discernible by its mercy, love, joy and living for the glory of God.

I am grateful, yes extremely grateful. As I gaze upon our community assembled every Sunday for the Eucharist, I behold a community of men and women, who are young and old, and of “every race, language, and way of life”, deeply loving God and one another, freely sharing their talents, resources and time with one another – and beyond our walls at the St. Vincent de Paul Center, in homes of shut-ins, all the way to Joplin, Missouri.  Your way of living, praying and serving continue to form Divine Mercy Catholic Church into a community dearly loving God and responding generously to the needs of one another.

Gloria in excelsis Deo

ALLELIUA

In Christ, who is risen,

Father Kevin Finnegan

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