Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

This past Tuesday, I presented our biannual State of the Parish Address.  Next year, I will have the biannual State of the School Address. 

The purpose of the address was three-fold:

1. To present current data of the parish.
2. To share our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the parish.
3. To cast the vision of the future of the parish for the next few years.

I was so blessed to present to nearly 200 parishioners in attendance.  If you were unable to attend but would like to see the information, please click here to access the presentation.

I remain grateful to God and humbled by the opportunity to lead such an amazing parish! 

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

The Vietnamese martyr Paul Le-Bao-Tinh († 1857) illustrates a transformation of suffering through the power of hope. “I, Paul, in chains for the name of Christ, wish to relate to you the trials besetting me daily, in order that you may be inflamed with love for God. The prison here is a true image of everlasting Hell: to cruel tortures of every kind—shackles, iron chains, quarrels, evil acts, swearing, curses, as well as anguish and grief.  In the midst of these torments, which usually terrify others, I am, by the grace of God, full of joy and gladness, because I am not alone —Christ is with me.  In the midst of this storm, I cast my anchor towards the throne of God, the anchor that is the lively hope in my heart.”

This weekend at Mass we hear from our patron, St. Paul state, “Always be ready to give an explanation for your reason of hope” (1 Peter 3:15).  Hope is a movement towards a future, good, difficult but possible to obtain.  The two vices against this great virtue are despair (giving up) and presumption (not relying on God or others). 

As the storms of our society in our present day, and our own personal life rage on, may we ask our loving Father to increase in our lives an outpouring of hope so that it may be an anchor to pursue the future good of the kingdom of heaven. 

On a natural level, the greatest gift of hope lies in the eyes of every newborn child.  I want to thank all mothers on this Mother’s Day weekend for the gift of life which adds hope to our community.  Your witness is inspiring to me!

In a special way, I thank my mom raising me to be a man of hope.  She never gave up on me (despaired) nor treated me as a perfect child (presumption) but rather she disciplined, prayed and called me back to the virtue of hope which was given to me by God at my baptism.  She has lived out the prayer for mothers during the baptism rite, “God the Father, through His Son, the Virgin Mary’s child, has brought joy to all Christian mothers, as they see the hope of eternal life shine on their children.”

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Want to know what is going on in your parish? Please join us for the State of the Parish address this Tuesday at 7PM.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,       

In Nebraska, we have a special sense of what it means to cultivate the earth and bring forth the fruits of the land by labor, prudent care, and common stewardship. This stewardship creates new life that emerges from the ground. 

With these images in mind, I am excited to begin another year of the Diocese of Lincoln Charity and Stewardship Appeal (CSA).  This year’s theme is “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5).  The CSA supports ministries and offices of the entire diocese. Each of these seeks to ‘make all things new’ by the power of God’s grace in different ways. 

The Family Life Office, for example, supports the human person to embrace the love God intends for marriage and family life.  Likewise, Catholic Social Services brings new love by outreach to the poor and suffering.  Similarly, the diocese makes new disciples through the Evangelization Office and, in a special way, through our many Catholic schools. 

Last year, our parish generously gave $192,000, of which 89% was returned to St. Peter Church.  Our parish goal this year is $200,000 with $27,000 going to support different ministries in the Diocese. 

This year, I ask everyone in our parish to ‘make all things new’ by generously supporting the Charity and Stewardship Appeal. All of us are called, in one way or another, to be disciples of our Lord by the sharing of our gifts.  As St. Peter wrote, “According to the gift that each has received, administer it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10).  When we do this in faith, we grow in our great dignity of being called disciples of the Lord and we make all things new. 

Brothers and sisters, together may we become the disciples God has called us to be. Thank you and may God abundantly bless you and reward your generosity a hundred-fold. 

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – To donate online to St. Peter Church click here. 
List of CSA beneficiaries.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Saint Tarsicius was a young Catholic deacon living in Rome during the early centuries, at the height of Christian persecution in the Roman Empire, where it was outlawed.  One day while he was carrying the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of Rome to Christian prisoners, he was stopped and questioned.  The situation turned violent, and when Saint Tarsicius refused to surrender his precious burden, he was beaten to death, where he stood with stones and clubs.  Through it all, he never stopped clutching the small container in which he kept the Eucharist.  After dying from the beating, they pried open his hands only to find them completely empty.  God had honored the young Christian's faith and miraculously protected the Sacrament from desecration.

In this period of Eucharistic revival, it pains me to inform you that over the past month, parishioners have found several desecrated hosts of Holy Communion in the pews.  This is tragic and sacrilegious to our Lord. 

The Eucharist is truly the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Our sharing in the One Bread of Life is the sign of our abiding faith in Jesus Christ and His Catholic Church.  This is why Catholics who are not in the state of grace and Protestants are not permitted to receive Holy Communion.

The Lord of the Universe humbles Himself to join, with us, in intimate communion and as your pastor, it is my duty to protect Him and to protect you.  Here are the steps we will take as a parish community to stop these atrocities:

1. If one is not Catholic or is not in the state of grace (which means one has a mortal sin that has not yet been confessed), one should ask for a blessing by placing their fingers over their lips at communion time.
2. If one leaves Mass early, they should not come up to receive Holy Communion.
3. An act of reverence (by a bow, kneeling, or sign of the cross) should be made before receiving Holy Communion.
4. The recipient of Holy Communion should respond “Amen” as a declaration of belief when the minister says, “Body of Christ”
5. The universal norm of receiving Holy Communion is on the tongue. I encourage all to do so unless one has a just reason not to, such as illness.  

I write this to you out of love and reverence for the Blessed Sacrament, for the love of the parish, and for the love of all who join us for Mass.  St. Paul, with the sword of truth and charity, said the same thing, “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body (of Jesus), eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Corinthians 11:29). 

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Please join us for Al Kresta on Tuesday May 2^nd at 7PM.  You can get tickets at spiritcatholicradio.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

A few years ago, I read “Rising Road: A True Tale of Love, Race and Religion in America” by Sharon Davies.  If you enjoy a good drama, you will love this book.  This historically true story takes place in Birmingham, AL in the early 1900s and tells the story of a dynamic Catholic missionary, Fr. James Coyle, who was shot and killed on the front doorsteps of his parish after Mass.  The assailant was a Methodist minister who was working with the KKK.  I will not divulge how the trial ends. 

So, what prompted the crazy Rev. Stephenson to pull the trigger in broad daylight?  He found out his teenage daughter, Ruth, had converted to become a Roman Catholic, and Fr. Coyle was the one who brought her into the Church.  Even before Fr. Coyle and Ruth had met, she was taken by the witness of the Catholics going into the parish church early in the morning.  One day she snuck into the back of the church and witnessed her first Mass. She later said her eyes were opened, and she recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread. 

This weekend, we hear about the two disciples who met the Risen Lord on the road to Emmaus.  They too, had their eyes opened when Jesus broke the bread and realized He was in their midst. It was the original sin in which Adam and Eve’s eyes were closed to seeing God.  Fortunately for us, Jesus comes to take away sin and open our eyes so that we can see Him by faith in the Eucharist. 

Every Mass is an Emmaus event.  We get the chance to hear the Word of God in scripture during the Liturgy of the Word, and we can exclaim like these two disciples, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Lk. 24:32).  Secondly, we have the Liturgy of the Eucharist and our eyes are opened to recognize Jesus (Lk. 24:31).  What a great gift for us to participate in this wondrous exchange of love.  I look forward to seeing you this Sunday on the road to Emmaus!

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Please mark your calendars for the State of the Parish address on Tuesday, May 16 at 7pm.      

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

"We are Easter people and Alleluia is our song!"  These words of St. Augustine express the joy that comes with this irreversible victory of Easter.  This grace is not only joyful, but it is also transforming - it changes lives.  Here are two true stories about lives transformed by Christ's resurrection.

The first is about a working-class man with almost no education.  He tried to make something better out of his humble, poor life by going to work for a friend who was starting a new company.  He was hoping for a new lease on life, but it didn't work out.  In fact, his friend was arrested and thrown in prison, wrongly condemned for a crime he did not commit.  In the end, he was brutally killed by a furious mob.  The working-class man was not only discouraged by this failure, but he was afraid the same thing might happen to him.  So, he disowned his old friend, dejected, went back to his former life.

The second true story is about a woman of ill repute who had squandered her abundant gifts.  She never got respect and never did anything to deserve any.  A slave to her own sin, she cried herself to sleep night after night.  She simply could not imagine a better life than the one she was living.  Then she met someone who gave her hope - the same man from the first story, who was starting a new business.  She also went to work for him, trying to get a new lease on life. Then he was murdered, and her hope was extinguished, like the fragile flame of a candle in the wind.

What happened next?  Well, they found out Jesus rose from the dead - and that made all the difference, for the woman's name is Saint Mary Magdalene, and the man is Saint Peter, our patron saint. In the words of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, “The Easter message means that God recycles human garbage.  He can turn prostitutes like Magdalene into disciples, and broken reeds like Peter into rocks.  God is the God of second chances.”  By putting our faith in Jesus, the Christ, our stories can become just like theirs.

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Please join us for the Divine Mercy Holy Hour on Sunday 3-4pm.     

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

One of my favorite paintings I saw on a visit to the Dominican church of St. Mary of Grace in Milan, Italy.  It is the famous painting of the Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci. It took seven years for him to complete in 1498. The figures representing the twelve Apostles and Christ himself were painted from living persons. The life model for the painting of the figure of Jesus was chosen first.

When it was decided Da Vinci would paint this great picture, hundreds and hundreds of young men were carefully viewed, in an endeavor to find a face and personality exhibiting innocence and beauty, free from the scars and signs of dissipation caused by sin.

Finally, after weeks of laborious search, a young man nineteen years of age was selected as a model for the portrayal of Christ. For six months, Da Vinci worked on the production of this leading character of his famous painting. During the next six years, Da Vinci continued his labors on this sublime work of art. One by one, fitting persons were chosen to represent each of the eleven Apostles – with space left for the painting of the figure representing Judas Iscariot as the final task of this masterpiece.

This was the Apostle, you remember, who betrayed his Lord for thirty pieces of silver. For weeks Da Vinci searched for a man with a hard, callous face, with a countenance marked by scars of avarice, deceit, hypocrisy, and crime. A face that would delineate a character who would betray his best friend.

After many discouraging experiences searching for the type of person required to represent Judas. Word came to Da Vinci that a man whose appearance fully met his requirements had been found in a dungeon in Rome, sentenced to die for a life of crime and murder. Da Vinci made the trip to Rome at once, and this man was brought out from his imprisonment in the dungeon and led out into the light of the sun. There Da Vinci saw before him a dark, swarthy man his long shaggy and unkempt hair sprawled over his face, which betrayed a character of viciousness and complete ruin. At last, the famous painter found the person he wanted to represent the character of Judas in his painting. With special permission from the king, this prisoner was carried to Milan where the picture was being painted. For months, he sat before Da Vinci at appointed hours each day as the gifted artist diligently continued his task of transmitting, to his painting, this base character representing the traitor and betrayer of our Savior.

As he finished his last stroke, he turned to the guards and said, “I have finished. You may take the prisoner away.” As the guards were leading their prisoner away, he suddenly broke loose from their control and rushed up to Da Vinci, crying as he did so, “Da Vinci, look at me. Do you not know who I am?” Da Vinci, with the trained eyes of a great character student, carefully scrutinized the man upon whose face he had constantly gazed for six months and replied, “No, I have never seen you in my life until you were brought before me out of the dungeon in Rome.”

Then, lifting his eyes toward heaven, the prisoner said, “Oh God, have I fallen so low?” Then turning his face to the painter, he cried, “Leonardo Da Vinci, look at me again for I am the same man you painted just seven years ago as the figure of Christ.”

Brothers and sisters, if we are honest with ourselves, we have this internal spiritual war within us between another Christ or another Judas in the world.  On this Good Friday, may we allow the grace of God to shatter the stones that entomb our hearts so we may resurrect from our Judas ways of betrayal and become christened by the Father’s love to be alter Christus. 

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Please join me in welcoming 14 new parishioners who will be joining the Church at the Easter Vigil on Saturday at 8:30PM.   

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

On Monday, all the priests of the Diocese of Lincoln will gather with Bishop Conley to celebrate the annual Chrism Mass.  If you have not been to one, I highly encourage you to join us Monday for this triumphal celebration. 

The Chrism Mass is the diocesan Mass where the bishop and his priests, “witnesses and the co-workers in the ministry of holy chrism,” show off their unity. In this liturgy, the priests of the diocese renew their priestly promises in the bishop’s presence. Our tradition in the Diocese of Lincoln is to celebrate it on Monday of Holy Week for pastoral reasons.  The Church envisions this Mass to occur on Holy Thursday morning to strengthen priests to enter into the ‘hour’ of the first Mass offered by Christ Jesus the day before he was to suffer.

The Chrism Mass is centered on the blessing of oils. The oils (which are olive oil) to be consecrated are first the oil of catechumens, a sign of anointing to show that you’ve have been set free from original sin and made a temple of God.  Second, is the oil of sacred chrism, used at baptism, confirmation, ordinations, and dedications of churches. Chrism, gives one the aroma of Christ, and is a sign one has received a mark of Christ.  Finally, the oil of the infirm, used in anointing of the sick, is a sign of Christ’s continuing healing presence in the world.

The collect of the Chrism Mass recalls that Christ was anointed with the Holy Spirit, and that we, who are “sharers in his consecration,” are to bear witness to Him in the world. We have received the oil(s) of gladness (cf. Ps 45:7). As we enter into Holy Week, remember what you have received. Will you follow after Jesus this Holy Week and enter with Him into the Passion? In doing so, you have confidence in Christ Jesus. As the Apostles say, but if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him (Rom 6: 8).”

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Holy Week Confession Times: Monday: 7-8AM; Wednesday 4:30-5:30PM & 6-7PM; Thursday 6-7PM & 8:30-9:30PM; Friday 3:30-4:30PM, 6-7PM & 8:30-9:30PM

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

One of the classic movies from my youth was the Princess Bride (1987).  In this fairytale blockbuster, there is a scene in which the main character, Westley, is tortured and presumed dead.  His friends bring him to Miracle Max to see if he can bring Westley back to life to which Max replied, “Your friend is mostly dead, which is slightly alive. If all dead, there is only one thing to do… go through his clothes and look for loose change.” 

In the Gospel this weekend, the Author of Life meets death.  Jesus goes to see his friend Lazarus who had died two days prior.  So why does Jesus wait two days?  To make sure he is fully dead, as was the Jewish custom. 

Once Jesus arrived at the tomb, “he wept” (John 11:35), which is the shortest verse in the bible.  Jesus wept because death was not part of His plan.  Death is a consequence of sin (Rom. 6:23).  Today Jesus weeps for us too, for we are dead in our sins. 

Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, but He commands the Apostles to untie him.  This is a foreshadowing of the sacrament of confession.  Sin binds us but absolution loosens us.  Remember our Lord told St. Peter, “Whatever you loosen on earth, I will loosen in heaven” (Mt. 16:19).

I encourage each of us to go to the sacrament of confession sometime before Easter.  Like Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, our hope lies in the fact that Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life.  If we believe in Him, even though we die, we will live!  It is our confidence that one day Jesus will open our graves and have us rise.  But today, we live out the Christian resurrection as we leave behind us the death of our sins, and by doing this, we allow Christ to raise us from our sins and His Church to unbind us so that we may have an abundant life. Do not be all dead or even mostly dead. Be fully alive in Christ Jesus!

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – March 31^st is the deadline for St. Peter Catholic School scholarships.  To register your child for our star school, please go to St. Peter Catholic School, Lincoln, NE (saintpeterlincoln.com).   

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

In his book, “How the Irish Saved Civilization,” Thomas Cahill makes a bold and true claim. The Irish Catholic monks “single-handedly re-founded European civilization throughout the continent.”  After the collapse of the Roman Empire due to the Barbarian invasions (6^th – 9^th centuries), the Irish monks brought stability, economics, order, culture, education, and religion throughout Europe. 

In the 18^th and 19^th centuries, Irish missionaries brought that same culture to Africa and the Americas.  However, today the faith in Ireland seems but dead.  The emptiness of churches brings many to lose hope in the reversion of one of the most devout and evangelical people the Church has ever known. 

Celtic legend tells of a dream St. Patrick had when he was an old man, after more than twenty years of working to convert the barbarian Irish. He was standing in a field and could see lights burning in the darkness. In front of him was Jesus, silently motioning him to follow him. 

The Lord led St. Patrick up a high mountain overlooking the valley, and there Christ pointed down into the darkness below. "Look," he said.

Patrick looked down and saw, amidst the shadow of the night, a great many flames burning, lighting up the countryside, warming Patrick's heart. He knew they symbolized the Christian faith he had planted, the faith that had grown and now spread across the island nation. He looked at Jesus and smiled. 

But Jesus wasn't smiling. He pointed back down the valley and said again, "Look."

Patrick looked, and to his horror, he watched as one by one, the flames died out.  Puff, puff, puff - and they were gone. In the darkness, the old and weary bishop looked back at Jesus with tears in his eyes. "Oh tell me," he said, "Lord, tell me, that Ireland will never lose the faith!" 

And as he broke down and cried, he felt a strong arm lifting him up and a gentle hand pointing his face down again to the valley below. There on the meadow in the darkness was a single lamp burning; a tiny flame that had been there all along, though Patrick had not noticed it before.

Suddenly, as before, another flame appeared that seemed to draw itself out of the other, and another from that one, and another and another, until the lights spread, once again, all across the countryside and more ablaze than ever.

Wherever there is a single Christian, there is undying hope because God himself, the unconquerable light, is present in every Christian heart. Every Christian needs to remember that hope needs to be unleashed in word and deed, unafraid of the darkness that surrounds it. To truly honor St. Patrick, go and make more disciples of Christ Jesus today.

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Catholics in the Diocese of Lincoln are not dispensed to eat meat Friday for St. Patrick’s day.  

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

I was a child of the missions.  No, not like the missions you think of in third world countries.  Rather the parish mission model.  St. Patrick Church in McCool Junction was a mission of St. Helena in Grafton for many years before it became a mission of St. Stephen in Exeter.  Today it is a mission of St. Joseph in York. 

As a mission parish, the only time we saw our pastor or gathered for prayer in our little wooden church on main street was at Sunday Mass at 9AM.  However, the season of Lent was an opportunity for us to gather one more time during the week for the devotion to the Stations of the Cross.  This devotion was my favorite as a child since it allowed us to enter into the greatest love story, our Lord’s passion and death. 

The Stations of the Cross began as a pilgrimage to Jerusalem as one followed the Via Dolorosa (The Way of the Sorrowful Mother).   It was expected, that at least once in a Christian’s life, one would make a pilgrimage to follow the footsteps of Christ to Calvary.  That was until the fall of Jerusalem to the Muslims in 1187AD.  During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Franciscans began to build a series of outdoor shrines in Europe to duplicate their counterparts in the Holy Land. And it was the duty of Franciscans to erect Stations of the Cross in parishes until 1862 when the Church allowed any priest to start the Stations of the Cross devotion in their parish. Will you make this devotion with me this Lent?

“Holy Mother! pierce me through,
in my heart each wound renew
of my Savior crucified:

Let me share with thee His pain,
who for all my sins was slain,
who for me in torments died.

Let me mingle tears with thee,
mourning Him who mourned for me,
all the days that I may live:

By the Cross with thee to stay,
there with thee to weep and pray,
is all I ask of thee to give.”

Stabat Mater; 13^th century hymn for Station of the Cross

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Please join us for Stations of the Cross tonight at 6pm and the remaining Fridays of Lent at 2:30pm and 6:00pm.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

Today is the feast of St. Katharine Drexel.  She was born in Philadelphia in 1858 to a wealthy family. Her mom died when she was a baby, and her father died when she was twenty-seven years old.  She inherited, in today’s value, over $14 million from her family’s estate. 

In the summer of 1884, she traveled to the wild west and visited the Dakotas and Nebraska.  She was so moved by the poverty of the Native American people that a few years later, she went to Rome to meet with Pope Leo XIII to ask him to send missionaries to help in the poverty-stricken land of the plains.  He told her to become a missionary herself. 

She followed his advice, gave up a marriage proposal, and used her family inheritance to establish 145 missions and 62 Catholic schools.  One of which is St. Augustine in Winnebago, NE. 

Her sanctity of life consisted of the love of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist and in His poor. To teach others the beauty of Jesus in these two things; she created a religious order, Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. This new order was often harassed by anti-Catholic groups like the Ku Klux Klan. 

In 1922 Beaumont, TX, the KKK threatened to burn down the church and school and kill the sisters. When one of the sisters came with concern to St. Katharine Drexel she said, “We should pray for them.”   

The next day an F4 tornado touched down and hit the KKK headquarters killing two of their leaders.  After the catastrophe, they never bothered the sisters again.  They figured out the hard way that you don’t mess with the brides of Christ!

St. Katharine Drexel was canonized because she demonstrated a love of the Eucharist and her belief in quality education for all and took great efforts to achieve it.  Following her example, we as patriotic citizens of Nebraska and faithful followers of Christ should support any legislation in the Nebraska unicameral that grants school choice to help low-income families have the same opportunity to attend our amazing Catholic schools. 

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – To enroll your child at St. Peter Catholic School, go to saintpeterlincoln.com/school.   

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

On a 30-day retreat in a Benedictine monastery in North Dakota, I greeted one of the monks, “How are you, Father?” He replied, “There is still a bit of the devil in me!” It sounds funny, but it expresses a truth about all of us. “There is still a bit of the devil in us” because we have not yet fully overcome sin.

Let's ask ourselves a tough question today. Am I a better Christian now than I was a year ago?  Am I becoming the saint that God created me to be? So often, the devil tricks us into not comparing ourselves to ourselves but to others. His deception often prevents us from addressing what we need to, which is the root of sin in our lives.

During Jesus' temptation in the desert, the devil makes the mistake of exposing the three roots of all our sins.  In each of us, one of these roots is bigger and stronger than the others (though we all have all three). If we can identify our main root sin, we can direct our spiritual work more intelligently and really start making progress as Christians.

The first tendency is pleasure and comfort, represented by turning stones into bread. This is the idol of sensuality. Life's pleasures and comforts are good things of God. As good as they are, they don’t satisfy our deepest needs. As Jesus said, we "do not live on bread alone."

Second, we can look for our fulfillment in power, in being able to do whatever we want without limitations.  This is the idol of arrogance and diabolical pride.  Thus, the devil's second temptation: "I shall give to you all this power and glory..."  When we buy into the lie that we are self-sufficient, we end up becoming slaves of selfishness, worshippers of the devil. Jesus answers, "You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve."

Lastly, we can look for our fulfillment in popularity or praise. This is the idol of vanity. People's opinions are fickle, and fashions change all the time, whereas God's friendship is firm and dependable. Risking that friendship for the sake of passing popularity is bad business. Thus, Jesus says to the devil’s third taunt, "You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test."

The words of the monk to me when I was on retreat are true of all of us. There is still a bit of the devil in us. Let us each promise, with the grace of God, we’ll fight sin in our lives.

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

Please join us for Stations of the Cross each Friday during Lent at 2:30PM and 6PM. 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Friends are like elevators; they take you up or they take you down. 

I was 24 years old when I met my best friend, Matthew.  He was from Chicago but was born in India.  On the surface, we had nothing in common.   We had very different upbringings.  We had different hobbies and interests. But he was a friend who showed me the beauty of Kingdom Living through his virtuous friendship and love of Jesus Christ.  He taught me how to live a Christ-centered life when we were FOCUS missionaries.  We were dubbed the cowboy & Indian duo at NDSU in Fargo. 

Today is the feast day of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order.  The founders, Bonfilius, Alexis, Manettus, Amideus, Hugh, Sostene, and Buonagiunta, were seven holy men of Florence who became bound to each other in a spiritual friendship. Together they recognized they were called by the Virgin Mother of God in a vision. Reportedly, they all shared the same vision (though at first, each was unaware that the other saw what he saw), the encouragement of Mary to “Leave the world, the better to serve Almighty God”.

Our modern notion of a friend is someone who I can get something from like amusement, advancement in a career, or other selfish utilitarian motives.  True friendship, however, is to will the good of the other.  The book of Sirach states, “A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure.  A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth. A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds; for he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself” (Sirach 6:14-17). 

Brothers and sisters, bad friends take you DOWN to the pits of hell. Jesus ate and drank with sinners but did not sin with them. Today, I pray you find faithful friends who take you UP to eternal friendship with God in the Kingdom of Heaven. And that you are able to enter into friends, new and old, to share with them the transforming love of Christ Jesus.

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Mark your calendars and call the parish office to register for our annual retreat with Fr. Holdren next weekend.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,       

In the United States, there are about five thousand criminal laws.  Some of these are comical and nonsensical at best!  For instance, in Alabama one cannot wear a fake mustache in church.  A donkey cannot sleep in a bathtub in Arizona. It is illegal to get your fish drunk in Ohio.  On Sundays, in the state of Georgia, one can be fined for an ice cream cone in their back pocket.  If you are a one-armed pianist, you must play for free in our neighboring state of Iowa.  One thing you cannot show in the ‘Show-Me’ state is to drive with an uncaged bear in your car.  In our own state, it is illegal to go fishing for whales.  These laws may seem outlandish, but we can expect that they exist because they must have happened at one time or for a specific reason. Man, being a rational being, does not leave things to chance.

There are several types of law.  Natural law is the order in nature, like the law of gravity.  These laws cannot be changed, like the natural order of marriage of one man and one woman.  Based upon natural law, we have our own civil laws.  Divine law was given to us by God and is unalterable.  Finally, there are church laws, which are disciplines and traditions that are changeable, such as the Eucharist fast.  For our part, we must ensure civil laws do not contradict natural laws and, as best as possible, we create a society that prepares people to encounter and follow Divine Law.

In our Gospel this weekend, we hear about the Law.  Jesus gives six teachings, “you have heard it said to you…but I say to you…” (Mat. 5).  Jesus wanted to make it clear even before He raised certain Jewish understandings to a higher level that He was not abolishing the Law but fulfilling it.  The old Law was written on stone but the new Law is upon our hearts.  The new law shows the power of God’s love for us and in us and challenges us to go past trivial legalistic notions.

The Law in its fulfillment is a creative force that leads to the flourishing of all peoples. The Catechism states that the new law is a law of grace, freedom, and love (CCC 1972).  The law of grace is the gift of God’s life within us that allows us to act. St. John Paul II describes the law of freedom the best, “Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.”  Finally, the new law is a law of love infused by the power of the Holy Spirit which makes us act with love and not fear. Let us follow Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, (cf. Heb 12: 2) and receive the Holy Spirit living the new Law by His grace.

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Mark your calendars and call the parish to register for our annual retreat with Fr. Holdren.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

Salt is useful for so many purposes in human life!  Salt preserves, adds flavor, and is used for safety.  Before the days of refrigerators, salt was the only thing used to extend shelf life, preserving meats from decaying into stench and worms. They would not last through time and be found useful without salt. So also, Christ’s disciples, standing in the way of the stench that comes from the sins of idolatry and fornication, support and hold together this whole earthly realm. When Jesus tells us we are the salt of the earth he is asking us to preserve the world from becoming bad, to put it simply.  What would be irretrievably lost to the passage of time and decay can be preserved unto eternity in the Lord by the salt of grace.

Secondly, salt adds flavor. The Apostles have been compared with salt because of salt’s good taste and delightfulness. For without salt, neither bread nor fish is edible. So too without the apostles’ understanding and instruction, the world is dull and unwholesome.  Becoming active and alive in the faith makes us joy-filled people, which raises the level of the flavor of every human activity and thus transforms it.   Think about the many saints we have to look up to as models. Each has his or her own distinct flavor in which they show forth the glory of God. In contrast, the wicked of this world eventually degenerated to the same patterns leaving a dull and decaying way of life.

Finally, salt is used for safety.  Often, we find ourselves sliding down an icy hill toward a busy intersection.  What will save us from a certain tragedy? Salted roads.  The Gospel message is necessary and useful, so people do not slip and fall on the path of life.  We are heralds of truth, ‘salt of the earth’, so we should fraternally correct others who are slipping with the charity and joy of the Gospel. If salt is a true life-giver, let us not be deceived or afraid to employ it to help others from slipping.  

May the Gospel message today salt our souls so that we may preserve them until the end, add flavor to the world, and aid us to travel safely to our eternal home of heaven. 

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

One thing we may take for granted in our modern culture is education for all.  There was a time in society when only wealthy or smart boys could gain an education.  Our Faith recognizes the dignity and worth of every individual. As Dr. Jeremey Ekeler put it, “Catholic schools don’t have missions, our mission has schools.”  We have great saints like St. John Bosco, who educated the poor children of northern Italy. St. John Baptiste de La Salle inspired the youth of France to follow good Catholic teachers.  He said, “Young people need the light of watchful guides to lead them on the path of salvation.” Throughout the history of the Church, hearts have responded by making part of the mission to make disciples to show how God as the creator of all things can be known in all things. Thus, it is only natural we should educate in a space with the freedom to let God be overall and for all peoples.

Today is the feast day of St. Angela Merici. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, St. Angela became convinced there was a great need for a better way of teaching young girls. So, she opened her own home to them and began to teach them herself. She devotedly taught them the Catholic faith. By her example and instruction, she taught them to how to pray and participate in the sacramental life of the Church. She evangelized and catechized these young girls, opening them up to the life of grace.

St. Angela's goal was to elevate family life through Catholic education for women, the future wives and mothers. The community she founded (Ursuline Sisters) was different from many of the religious orders of women which existed in her day. One of her favorite sayings was, "Disorder in society is the result of disorder in the family."

This weekend we kick off Catholic Schools Week.  Here are just a few reasons to send your child or grandchild to St. Peter Catholic School. 

1. Authentically Catholic: Students are formed by the teacher, Jesus Christ. In their classrooms, activities, and experiences they come to know and love our Lord. Our Catholic school allows our students to ‘participate in the Divine Nature’ (2 Peter 1:4) by receiving the sacraments daily. We also have our three parish priests who visit classrooms, eat lunch with the students and attend school activities.  We are also blessed to have three religious Sisters of Christ the King teaching in our school. 
2. Affordable for all: Unlike many private, charter, or home school options, our Catholic school is available for any family. We offer local scholarships and the Good Shepherd Scholarship grants large families and families in financial need the ability to attend Catholic schools.
3. Academic Excellence: In an article published by the Wall Street Journal (Oct. 27, 2022), our Catholic schools have the nation’s highest scale scores on all four NAEP tests.  Nebraska public schools are 11^th in the nation.  Locally, the Lincoln Journal Star looked at Catholic schools in comparison to Nebraska public schools and found, “We’re above grade level in all subjects, sometimes by as many as two or three years…. Students in the diocese's six high schools also performed better on the ACT, the national college entrance exam, compared to the rest of Nebraska.”  Read the full report:  Catholic students in Lincoln fared well during pandemic, according to analysis of test scores.

There are many great options for the education of our youth but there is no substitute for Catholic education.  I am blessed to be a part of such a great Catholic parish and school.  If you are curious about St. Peter Catholic School, I echo the words of St. Philip to Nathaniel when he found Jesus, “Come and see” (John 1:46).

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

The human eye has an incredible ability to adapt to darkness or light. In the darkness, it is deficient without light. In a sense, the eye is straining for something it now lacks. The eye can adapt to see in darkness, but the vision is imperfect and can damage the eye. When the eye returns to full daylight, it takes only a short time to adapt again to the light. Being in a dark place and looking out into broad daylight can be painful to the eyes until you step out again into the sunlight.

In our Mass readings this weekend, we hear, “The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light” (Is. 9:1 & Mt. 4:16).  Who were these people sitting in darkness?  It was the people of the tribes of Zebulun & Naphtali, which is the region of Galilee.  They were the first tribes of Israel to suffer death at the hands of the Assyrians (733BC). 

As the first tribes of Israel to see death and darkness, they will be the first to see the light of life, Jesus Christ!

Today, we Americans are sitting in darkness in a land overshadowed by death.  The darkness of our day is the myth that some human lives don’t count.  Since the legalization of abortion in 1973, almost 80,000 million babies have suffered death.  This is eleven times as much as the Nazi Holocaust. 

Like the people of Zebulan & Nephtali, we too have been overtaken by a culture of death and now we sit in darkness.  But only in darkness can one’s light shine more brightly.  The light of Jesus Christ has broken through the darkness to illuminate the path of life toward eternal life.  Today, may our eyes be open to receive the light of Christ so that the defenseless baby in the dark womb, the condemned on death row in a dark cell, and the vulnerable ill in the dim room may see the light of Christ in us for “those who sit in darkness may see a great light!”   May the light of Christ, the light of life, shine through us.

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,       

In our Gospel this weekend, we hear St. John the Baptist say that he did not know Jesus.  Wait, didn’t he know him? He knew him personally. He was his cousin.  For John, after this experience of baptizing Jesus, he came to realize not who Jesus was, but what Jesus was.  Jesus was, is, and forever will be the Lamb of God.   

Why a lamb? Lambs were used as temple sacrifices.  The temple priest would offer up two sacrificial lambs each day for his sins and the sins of the people.  Jesus is both the high priest and the sacrificial lamb.  So, the lamb symbolized the price to be paid for sin.  Thus, the Passover lamb signified God's merciful and saving love.

Why does this matter?   Jesus is not the Lamb of God only for the Jewish Passover or 1^st century Christianity. Today, Jesus is the Lamb of God for you at every sacrifice of the Mass.  At each Mass, the priest echoes the words of John the Baptist, “Behold the Lamb of God.”  

If a Catholic receives Jesus in Holy Communion each week but does not realize they are consuming the Lord of the universe, who sets their lives in a wonderful new direction. Then sadly they have succumbed to nothing more than a ‘Parish Pavlov dog’ which are well trained but not authentic disciples. To be His disciple means being willing to change our schedules, our desires, and our lives to conform to His life. This is why I wanted the announcement read on Christmas regarding those planning to leave early from Mass to not receive Holy Communion. In this new year may we follow the Lamb of God to be His disciple and let our lives be changed.

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor 

PS – I will be gone this weekend giving a retreat on Divine Mercy at the retreat house. 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,        

We Americans love following stars.  Katy Perry has 71 million followers on Twitter and Justin Bieber has over 64 million.   Who are the stars that you follow?  Do they show you where to find Christ Jesus?

This weekend is Epiphany Sunday.  It is the day on which we celebrate when the star pointed the Wise Men where to find baby Jesus.

What was this star?  Scientists believe it was the planet Jupiter that intersected with the star Regulus in the Leo consolation and Virgo consolation.  The Magi determined by looking at the cosmos that the King of Judah was born from a virgin! Christ or Messiah translated in equivalent English today is King. The wise men’s journey of 1000 miles westwards from Persia, which could have taken three months, is a symbol of the inward journey they made in their hearts, a journey from paganism to belief in Jesus as the King of Kings, Savior of the world, and God of the universe.

Indeed, not just the wise men but all of us are on a journey to get closer to Jesus our King and Savior.

What are the ‘real’ stars in your life that lead you to Christ Jesus?  We frequently look for the things of this world and fail to recognize the greatness of the next. Too often we have our heads down.  If we have our heads down in our phones, tv, papers, etc. we may miss Christ Jesus who wants to come into our lives.  So maybe a good New Year’s resolution would be to spend time in adoration with Jesus in the Eucharist.  The pagan Magi were truly wise since they saw only a baby, but they acknowledged him as God.  This is why they prostrated before him in adoration. Are you ready to let Jesus be King of your life?

Like the Magi, we too must always follow our star with faith, promptness, and self-generosity.      

O Come let us adore Him! 

In His Mercy,
Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor