Letters from Father

I Thirst- April 18, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Thirst is a physical need that craves to be satisfied. It is a painful longing for what is missing. One can last three weeks without food but can only go three days without water.

From the cross, Jesus cried out, “I thirst.” He was fulfilling the Jewish prophecy, “My being thirsts for God, the living God. When can I enter and see your face.” (Psalm 42:3). Israel was called the vineyard of the Lord. But they became vinegar, spoiled wine by their corruption of the world and their hearts became like sponges, holes in them. Jesus was thirsting for them.

Jesus said ‘I thirst’ on the cross when He was deprived of every consolation, dying in absolute Poverty, despised and broken in body and soul. He spoke of His thirst – not for water but for love. Everyone thirsts for love, but not everyone realizes that the love for which they thirst is the love of God.

In each of Saint Mother Teresa’s Missionary of Charity convents, you find a crucifix with the words, “I thirst” beside it. She told her sisters, “Until you know deep inside that Jesus thirsts for you – you can’t begin to know who He wants to be for you. Or who He wants you to be for Him.”

In the passion of our Lord we see two thirsts seeking each other out. Each one seeks the other in order to satisfy its thirst. The Lord has a great thirst for our faith and our love. We have a thirst for real love that can save us, which He has today.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Please join us today for Stations of the Cross at 3pm and Good Friday Liturgy at 7pm. Last chance for confessions this week at 4pm; 6pm; and 8pm.

Drama - April 11, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

One of the most critically acclaimed drama movies of all time is The Shawshank Redemption (1994). The film tells the story of banker Andy Dufresne (played by Tim Robbins), who is sentenced to life in Shawshank State Penitentiary for the murders of his wife and her lover, despite his claims of innocence.

Arguably, drama is the greatest genre of entertainment since it offers intense character development and tells an honest story of human struggle. In a drama, there is always a tragic hero who is the protagonist of a heartbreaking story. These tragic heroes, despite their virtuous and sympathetic traits and ambitions, ultimately meet defeat, suffering or even an untimely death.

The greatest drama of all time happens during this week. This is Divine Drama, authored by God the Father Himself, in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is God’s Divine Drama, and these events actually happened in history, in time and in reality. But for all eternity!

The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man—and the dogma is the drama. That drama is summarized quite clearly in the creeds of the Church, and if we think it dull it is because we either have never really read those amazing documents, or have recited them so often and so mechanically as to have lost all sense of their meaning.

During this Holy Week, experience for yourself this drama authored by God. You are invited, again, to participate in the great drama of Holy Week. When you participate in this drama, you are not simply called to remember but rather, the Holy Week liturgies, like all liturgies, remind us that we too are characters in God’s salvation story.

We, too, are needed to tell the dramatic story of how God saves the world through his love poured out in Jesus Christ.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Holy Week Confessions:

Condemn, Condone, or Compassion - April 4, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Over the past seventeen years, ABC TV has had a show entitled What Would You Do? The show is hosted by John Quiñones and the premise to create scenarios with actors that are quite appalling to people while placing a hidden camera to catch how people would react.

In our Gospel this weekend, we have the situation of the woman caught in adultery (Jn. 8:1-11). In Jewish law, the three gravest sins were murder, idolatry, and adultery. Therefore, she was condemned to death by stoning from the law of Moses (Deut. 22:24). And on top of that must have been her shame and a burning desire to crawl into the ground and disappear as the crowds mocked her with stones in their hands.

So, what should Jesus do? If he says, “stone her,” He would violate Roman law which forbid the Jews from carrying out capital punishment. But if Jesus does not allow her to be stoned and condones her actions, He violates Jewish Law.

Jesus neither condemns her nor condones her wicked ways but has compassion. “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more” (John 8:11). This is a Gospel of second chances. Jesus is not only interested in what a person had been but also in what a person could be, this is true compassion. John Paul II once said: “We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father's love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son.”

So, what would you do if you knew someone was committing an evil act such as adultery, abortion or homosexuality? Some Pharisaical Christians want to ‘throw stones’ and the other extreme the world demands us to accept the evil. Christians cannot condemn nor should we condone. Rather we are called to have compassion. In doing this, we become another Christ in the world that needs His mercy. Compassion is meeting them where they are at but loving them too much to leave them there for every life is unfinished until it stands before God.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

Conversion - March 28, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As I left for college to UNL in the fall of 1999, I believed that college was about trying adventurous things like rodeo; success in getting good grades; and trying to find the perfect romance. Although I promised my mom that I would go to Mass on Sunday, I did not believe that I needed God in my daily life. I could live as a sinner six days a week but on the seventh, I would pretend to be a saint.

That was until one November day when a fraternity brother, Josh, asked me if I had a personal relationship with Jesus. Since I trusted him, I knew I needed to take this to prayer. As I prayed, I heard Jesus say, “No, you do not have a personal relationship with me, you have so much more, intimacy, but you have been unfaithful.” I was cut to the heart.

I began to be open to spiritual change. Soon I began growing in my intimacy with Christ by being involved in a bible study. As I was engaged in this spiritual quest, I knew Christ was calling me out of my brokenness to leave my sinful lifestyle behind to follow Him.

Providentially, another person asked me how long it had been since I went to confession. I was at the point of decision. Would I live an abundant life for Christ or a shallow one in the world? By His grace, I was moved to go to confession for the first time in many years. The grace of that conversion moment prompted me to get involved with the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) at UNL.

Over the next several years, I embarked on the faith formation journey guided by a FOCUS missionary named Jim Jansen. Jim taught me how to live a life of virtue, how to pray and eventually equip me for a lifelong mission to share my faith and help others grow spiritually.

I was searching for adventure, success, and romance my freshman year and I found it in the person of Jesus Christ. Or as St. Augustine (another notorious sinner) once wrote, “To seek God is the greatest adventure; to find Him is the greatest success; and to fall in love with Him is the greatest romance.”

This was the beginning of my discipleship journey and a road that I want to pave for each one of you.

We all, at St. Peter Church, should desire that all find the greatest adventure, success, and romance that is life in Jesus. We can do this by developing a clear path of discipleship to guide people from being far from Christ to fruitful discipleship in Him. This is why, we will be committed to our mission to make disciples by befriending others, inviting them to experience life-changing conversions, forming them in discipleship, and preparing them to be sent out as apostles. In doing this, we fulfill the great commission of Jesus (Mt. 28:19).

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – please join us this weekend for Mass for the state of the parish address.

Repentance - March 21, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Alfred Nobel, the man who instituted and endowed the Nobel Peace Prize, was a Swedish chemist who made his fortune by inventing powerful explosives and licensing the formula to governments to make weapons.

One day Nobel's brother died. By accident, a newspaper printed an obituary notice for Alfred instead of the deceased brother. It identified him as the inventor of dynamite who made a fortune by enabling armies to achieve new levels of mass destruction. Nobel had the unique opportunity to read his own obituary in his lifetime and get a glimpse of how he would be remembered: as a merchant of death and destruction.

The newspaper's mistake forced him to turn around and to see what impact his life was really having.

That's when he decided to change directions. He took his fortune and used it to establish the awards for accomplishments contributing to life rather than death.

That's a highly visible case of what it means to repent, to turn around.

In the Gospel this weekend, Jesus' emphasizes that everyone who refuses to repent (the barren fig tree symbolizes someone who lacks the fruits of repentance) will stay separated from God. And if they die in such a state of alienation (and death can come at any time), they will continue in it for all eternity: "If you do not repent, you will all perish."

This is an uncomfortable truth, but one that the Church wants us to consider deeply, especially during the penitential season of Lent.

We need to repent from our sins. The end can come at any time. We need to live each moment of our lives in communion with God. God is always ready to forgive us, if we ask.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

The sacrament of repentance times at St. Peter Church are:

Monday:7:00am to 8:00am
Wednesday:4:30pm to 5:30pm
Friday: 7:00am to 8:00am
Saturday:3:00pm to 4:00pm
Sunday: 30 minutes before each Mass

Stations of the Cross - March 14, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Have you ever tried to invite someone who is non-Catholic to a Catholic Mass and wondered how to explain it? Maybe if the Church had a devotional that was great for relational outreach to non-Catholics…. Well, we do. The Stations of the Cross is one of the greatest things to invite a non-Catholic to since it is easy to follow and full of scripture. I encourage you to invite your friends, neighbors and coworkers to join us today at 6PM for this great Lenten devotion. And invite them to join us for some great fish afterwards downstairs in St. John Paul II Hall.

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.

“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.” Sabat Mater; 13th century hymn for Station of the Cross

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Please join us for Stations of the Cross on Friday’s at 2:30PM and 6PM.

Fish- March 7, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Something smells fishy. This 19^th century colloquialism is used when something seems suspicious but could also be used if you walk into a Catholic home or parish social hall on a Friday during Lent.

The law of the Church states that Lent is a season to do penance both privately and communally. Every Friday throughout the year is a private penitential day and during Lent, Fridays are also a communal penitential day, hence we cannot eat warm blooded meat. This penance is for those who are above the age of 15. We also have two days of fasting (two small meals and one normal meal) for those between the ages of 18 and 60 (Code of Canon Law 1250-1252).

Eating fish (or alligator, snake, turtles) on Fridays may not be much of a sacrifice for people on the bayou of Louisiana or the coast of Maine but it sure is for this corn-fed beef raised pastor. Especially since today is the feast day of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, the patron saints of beef. Tradition has it they were martyred for the faith by being trampled to death by some wild cows in the gladiator arena of Carthage in the 3^rd century.

In honor of these great saints, maybe I should get dispensation from Bishop Conley to have a steak fry instead of fish tonight at St. Peter Church. Wouldn’t that smell much better? Well, I suppose this first Friday of Lent will be a very penitential day but only through the cross comes the glory.

Have a blessed Lent!

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – It's not too late to join a small group at St. Peter this Lent. Click the link below to get connected to a group!

Join a Lenten Small Group

Sacred Art- February 28, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Are you an audio or visual learner? When I was completing my Agricultural Economics degree at UNL, I found it more helpful to study graphs in Econ 311 than listening to the professor explain marginal cost and revenue. I dare say, that a majority of us are more visual learners than audio since it is the mode of sight that more information is transmitted to our intellect.

This is why I praise the power of the Holy Spirit working through the bishops from around the world at the 4^th Council of Constantinople which ended this day (Feb. 28^th) in the year 870AD. It was during this council that the Church had dealt with the Iconoclasm heresy. Iconoclasm basically said that you could not depict any sacred art in a church out of fear of breaking the 2^nd commandment God gave Moses. In reality, the Iconoclasm heresy was the influence of Islam into the eastern Church.

At the 4^th Council of Constantinople, the Church declared, “If anyone does not venerate the image of Christ our Lord, let him be deprived of seeing Him in glory at His second coming. The image of His all pure Mother and the images of the holy angels as well as the images of all the saints are equally the object of our homage and veneration…… We decree that the sacred image of our Lord Jesus Christ, the liberator and Savior of all people, must be venerated with the same honor as is given the book of the holy Gospels….. For what speech conveys in words, pictures announce and bring out in colors.”

Too often our modern Catholic churches have turned into a neo-Iconoclasm which has been influenced by the reduction of the sacred to look more Protestant. But a Catholic worldview today must also include the eternal world.

This is why Church art matters and why our newly designed church of St. Peter draws us up into the heavenly realm. May the colors our local parish prepare us for the goodness of God and the glory to come.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – click here to see all the ways you can grow in your faith this Lent at St. Peter Church.

Chair of St. Peter- February 23, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

One of the most important pieces of furniture in the Church is a chair. But not just any chair, the chair of authority. See in the days of our Lord, a teacher with authority would instruct while sitting down (see Jesus teaching in the synagogue in Luke 4). This is why a bishop often times will deliver his homily from the cathedra (chair) in his cathedral.

Tomorrow, February 22nd we celebrate our parish feast of the Chair of St. Peter. We are celebrating more than a piece of furniture; we’re celebrating a special ministry established by Our Lord himself, as recalled in the Gospel, a ministry we refer to as the Petrine ministry because it was established by Our Lord in a moment of the apostle Peter expressing his faith that Jesus was the Christ, aided by the Heavenly Father’s grace.

Even today this ministry continues through the Pope. Aided by the Holy Spirit, when the Pope makes a doctrinal declaration regarding faith and morals that all Catholics are to believe in the faith, we say he’s speaking ex Cathedra (from the chair). All these things are represented by the Chair of St. Peter.

Peter showed himself weak and unsure frequently, but Our Lord promised him that he would be the one to strengthen his brethren (Luke 22) and that the Church the Lord would build on Peter would withstand the powers of evil and death (Matthew 16).

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Please join me and fellow parishioners for the 8:15AM Mass on Saturday to celebrate our parish feast day and pray for Pope Francis.

Saints Cyril & Methodius - February 14, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Did you remember your loved ones today? Maybe you got a box of chocolates shaped as a heart or a dozen red roses. I always find it funny that Americans celebrate Valentines Day in honor of the 3^rd century Roman saint but know little about him or the Italian tradition of celebrating his feast day.

But in the Church, today we actually celebrate the feast day of Saints Cyril and Methodius. They were two brothers from Constantinople who evangelized all of eastern Europe in the 9^th century. They introduced the Cyrillic alphabet, brought Greek customs into the Church and even had permission from the Pope to celebrate Mass in the common language in order to bring the Gospel the pagans of Slavic descent. Their love of God and of their neighbor allowed them to be shining lights of Jesus Christ.

So, unless you are Italian, maybe this Valentine’s Day, you should give your loved ones some Polish sausage and perogies, Czech kolaches and a pivo. Just a suggestion.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – There will be a Marian Apparition display downstairs this weekend in St. John Paul II Hall. Please stop by and ‘czech’ it out.

Leisure - February 7, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In our Gospel this weekend, we hear Jesus tell the Apostles to come away with Him and rest awhile (Mark 6:31). Well, I am taking His words to heart and will be gone the next week on vacation with three other pastors from the Diocese of Lincoln.

Since a pastor usually work 70-80 hours per week and have only one day off a week, the Code of Canon Law (#533) allows a priest to take a month of vacation time each year along with ten days of pilgrimage and five days of retreat.

The purpose of this is to rediscover leisure. Leisure is where human values are saved and preserved, for it is the means to ecstasy with the Divine. Or as Aristotle says, “A man will live thus, not to the extent that he is a man, but to the extent that a divine principle dwells within him” (Ethics 1177b).

But have confidence that I am not leaving you as sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:34). If you have a sacramental need, please contact the parish and Fr. Wirth or Fr. Raminedi will be able to assist you. I will remember you all at the altar of God.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Please click the button below to vote to make St. Peter Catholic School a Spirit Catholic Radio Super School for the third year in a row.

https://spiritcatholicradio.com/superstar2025/

St. John Bosco- January 31, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It was January 31st, 2005 when I received an inspiration from the Holy Spirit to start something new. I was currently on campus of North Dakota State University in Fargo as a FOCUS missionary and I knew God was calling me to start a house of formation for college men in which we would pray together each morning and have dinner and prayer in the evenings.

I wondered what this new home of formation should be called as I wrote Bishop Aquila for permission to take on this endeavor. I soon realized January 31st was the feast day of St. John Bosco, the founder of Salesians, so we became the Bosco Brothers. And from this initial group of six men, five became FOCUS missionaries and one entered the seminary.

One thing we may take for granted in our modern culture is education formation for all. There was a time in society which only wealthy or smart boys could gain an education. We have great saints like St. John Bosco who educated the poor children of northern Italy, St. John Baptiste de La Salle who inspired the youth of France to follow good Catholic teachers and our very own St. Elizabeth Ann Seton who founded the parochial Catholic school system in America.

As we conclude another great year of Catholic Schools Week, I am reminded of a quote from St. John Bosco, “If we want to have a good society, we must concentrate all our forces on the Christian education of the young. Experience has taught me that if we wish to sustain civil society then we should take good care of the young.”

I want to thank all of our parishioners, parents, educators, religious and staff for making St. Peter Catholic School the greatest choice of education in south Lincoln. May God continue to bless and protect you all!

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Please click the link below to vote to make St. Peter Catholic School a Spirit Catholic Radio Super School for the third year in a row!

https://spiritcatholicradio.com/superstar2025/

Catholic Schools Week- January 24, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The greatest spiritual book for a lay person to read is Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales. I write this because this was the first spiritual work intended for people living in the world. I encourage you to pick up a copy if you do not have this book.

Today, January 24^th, is the feast day of St. Francis de Sales. In chapter 38, his advice to married couples, he writes, “The raising of a family, consists not in storing up a quantity of worldly goods, but in the good education of children in the fear of God, and in virtue, in which no pains or labors ought to be spared, for children are the crown of their parents.”

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

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 the class, eat lunch with the students and attend school activities. We are also blessed to have two religious Sisters of Christ the King teaching in our school. All our teachers implement the virtues into the classroom.
Affordable for all: Unlike many private, charter or home school options, our Catholic school is available for any family. We offer local scholarships and grants to families in financial need to attend Catholic schools.
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, “Were 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.”

There are many great options for education of our youth but there is no substitute for Catholic education. I am blessed to be a part of a 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

PS – please join us for St Peter School open house on Sunday after Mass to celebrate Catholic Schools Week.

Gifts of the Spirit- January 17, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

On cold winter nights, one thing to appreciate is a log of wood in the fireplace. When I was a kid, I would spend hours mesmerized at watching the fire consume the wood. When you throw a log into the fire, it is not consumed right away. Rather the bark is first burned up, then the fire penetrates the wood and finally the wood and fire become united as one as the fire possess the wood. This effect creates a radiating flame and warmth to make the evening memorable.

This weekend at Mass, we hear St. Paul write to the Church in Corinth to encourage them to use their spiritual gifts. “To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit…” (1 Cor. 12). The benefit of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are to aid the Church.

The Holy Spirit is given to each of us as forms of different gifts so that we may give glory to God and build His Kingdom. “Whether extraordinary or simple and humble, charisms are graces of the Holy Spirit which directly or indirectly benefit the Church, ordered as they are to her building up, to the good of men, and to the needs of the world… It is in this sense that discernment of charisms is always necessary” (CCC 799,801).

“Each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards” (1 Peter 4:10). We are a discipleship parish and every one of us is called by God to give back our time, talents and treasure. What are your spiritual talents, gifts, charisms?

Like other presents, it is impossible to fully appreciate and make use of our spiritual gifts until they have been discovered and opened. Let us discover our gifts together today so we may allow the Holy Spirit to work through us to help others and build God’s kingdom.

Like a log in your fireplace, the Holy Spirit wants to burn away the things of this world in our life. Secondly, we must allow the Holy Spirit to penetrate our souls. Finally the Holy Spirit wants to consume us so the fire of Divine love comes radiating from our soul through the use of our spiritual gifts.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS - Please take a few minutes to take the free discernment of gifts of the Holy Spirit assessment by clicking here: Spiritual Gifts (saintpeterlincoln.com)

Baptism of our Lord- January 10, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

When we do something important in life, we say ‘take the plunge!’ The Greek word for plunge is baptizo, from which we get the word baptize.

This weekend, we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord. Some may wonder why Jesus was baptized. After all, He is sinless and it was not prescribed by Jewish law.

Jesus humbled Himself to be baptized, by His cousin John, to set an example for us. The great commission of Christ to the Apostles was to go and baptize all nations (Matthew 28). Secondly, the Church Fathers referred to Jesus as the new Adam, who came to restore humanity. The waters of baptism wash away the original sin of Adam and Eve. As St. Gregory Nazianzen put it, “To plunge the old Adam entirely into water.”

On this solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord, I encourage us all, to celebrate our baptism day, which is the greatest day of our life! In the waters of baptism, we became free from sin, made children of God, temples of the Holy Spirit, and commissioned to be priests, prophets, and kings to follow the Lord.

May God bless you all and your loved ones this New Year!

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

Holy Name of Jesus- January 3, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Happy Feast Day of the Holy Name of Jesus!

Human parents are careful about naming their children. They want the name to mean something, to signify how important this new life is to them. God the Father was also careful about naming his Son. He didn't leave it up to chance or to Mary and Joseph's creativity. He chose it himself, and sent an angel to announce the choice to Mary and Joseph. “She (Mary) will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21).

In the Old Testament, God often changed people's names, mostly when someone was given a special mission in salvation history - like Abram and Jacob. When God changed their names to Abraham and Israel, the meaning of the name signified their role in God's plan. But when the Father instructs Joseph to call Mary's son "Jesus" even before he has been born, he shows that Jesus is not just another prophet. He shows that Jesus is His Son in an entirely unique way - so much so that God the Father has the right to choose his name from the very beginning of his human existence.

And what does that name mean? In Hebrew, Jesus means "God saves." This name reveals Christ's mission. Unlike the Old Testament prophets, Jesus didn't come to earth only to announce God's plan of saving mankind from sin and evil; he came in order to enact that plan, to win that salvation.

The early Church writer, Origin (+253AD) once wrote, “Christians are seen to draw their courage not from incantations but from the name of Jesus…. The name of Jesus heals the afflicted in mind, puts to flight the spirits of darkness, and to the sick is an ever-present remedy.” I encourage you to reverently invoke the name of Jesus often.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

Hell without Jesus- December 27, 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Without Jesus, life is hell!

This weekend we celebrate The Holy Family. It is easy for us to forget that the Holy Family of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus was a real family. We have all seen paintings and holy cards that depict them in a super-pious, unrealistic, sometimes surrealistic, way. But they were real human beings, just like us, and they lived in the real world, the fallen world, just like us. The fact that Mary and Jesus were unaffected by original sin and that Joseph was a saint doesn't change the reality of their family life and their struggles.

In the Gospel this weekend we hear about Joseph and Mary losing their greatest gift, Jesus himself. We can only imagine Mary and Joseph's conversation when, at the end of a day's journey away from the temple, they realized that Jesus was not with their caravan. That's when the "great anxiety" (Lk. 2:48) clamped down on their hearts.

Great anxiety is putting it lightly. The Greek word odynomenoi is also found in Luke 16 to describe the fires of hell that the rich man is experiencing and pleads for Lazarus to alleviate his pain. So, Mary and Joseph were experiencing a living hell at the loss of Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, I encourage you to invite Jesus into your families by praying together each day as a family this new year. In this Jubilee Year, may we have the joy of welcoming Jesus deeper into our families. If not, 2025 will be a living hell.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

St. Lucy- December 20, 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It’s Christmas Eve, 1914. The First World War is raging, and the trenches on the western front are filled with miserable men. The German soldiers are facing off against the British soldiers. Death, suffering, violence, and hatred reign. But then something remarkable happens. A British soldier, Private Albert Moran of the 2nd Queens Regiment, recalled how the silence of the frosty night was suddenly broken, not by artillery fire, but by a song. Some German soldiers were singing: Stille Nacht! Heil'ge Nacht! To which the English soldiers responded by singing Silent Night! Holy Night!

Then on Christmas day both sides declared an impromptu ceasefire, and Germans and British gather together to wish each other a Merry Christmas. Some of them hugged each other. Some exchanged food. One British soldier even gave a haircut to a shaggy German soldier. Later that day a group organized a soccer game in no-man’s land. Men who had been at each other’s throats 24 hours before were playing and laughing and wishing each other a Merry Christmas.

The celebration of Christ’s birth was enough to bring peace to those men. If men who are at war with each other can have peace, why can’t we?

The 16^th century author Lorenzo Scupoli wrote, “The devil does his utmost to banish peace from one’s heart, because he knows that God abides in peace and it is in peace that He accomplishes great things.” The first goal of spiritual combat is not to always obtain victory, over our weaknesses, temptations, etc., rather it is to learn to maintain peace of heart under all circumstances, even the case of defeat.

The Prince of Peace is about to be born. We have 5 days left. How is Jesus asking each one of us to be open and ready for this gift? A suggestion would be to go to the sacrament of Reconciliation. Here we receive a tangible sign of the peace that Christ’s presence brings.

Jesus, the Lord of history, came to be our peace. This Christmas, let's give Him the chance to do so.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

Please join us for Christmas Masses: Christmas Eve - 4pm, 6pm, 10pm; Christmas Day - 8am, 9:30am, 11am

St. Lucy- December 13, 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

When I was twelve years old I helped my dad and hired hand weld sucker rod fence for some new cattle pens. My dad told me not to look at the welding arch but I still did because of the beautifully radiant color it emitted. Later that night, I woke up with pain in my eyes and could not see for two days. I stayed in a dark room on my back with shredded potatoes over my eyes which worked for the pain.

Losing one’s ability to see is devastating because our eyes are the greatest sense organ we have to come to know things of this world. Two things are essential for seeing an object; the eye and the medium of light.

Today is the feast day of St. Lucy, the patron saint of eyes. She was a young virgin martyr from Sicily who was put to death in 304 AD for the faith. Her name, Lucia in Italian, is believed to be derived from the Latin Lux, a term for “light.” St. Lucy’s legend holds that her eyes were gauged out and God then provided her with new eyes. This came about, it is said, because her pagan suitor loved her beautiful eyes. In some versions of this story, St. Lucy plucked out her eyes herself and gave them to her suitor; in other versions, her eyes were removed by her persecutors. St. Lucy is often depicted holding a small plate with two eyes on it. She is the patron saint of the blind.

In Dante’s Purgatorio, Lucy carries a sleeping Dante to the entrance to purgatory. Since Lucy represents light she carries him out of darkness. She carries him both out of the literal darkness to a new day, as well as the figurative darkness to lead him to salvation.

During this dark time of year may the light of the Christ illuminate our path and may the hands of His mercy heal the eyes of our soul so that we may run to meet Him when He comes this Christmas.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – I look forward to seeing your Sunday-best ‘pink’ this weekend!

St. Nicholas- December 8, 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

An old man went to bed sad one night. There is no worse feeling for a father than being powerless to protect his children and give them a good life. And it seemed as though he had failed in this regard. It had been a hard year, and he and his daughters barely had enough money to live on from day to day. There was no way he could provide a dowry for them. Without that, they couldn’t marry and faced a life of slavery.

His daughters were afraid, too, but tried to be hopeful. They spoke words of comfort to each other as they did their evening chores. “Maybe something good would come along, maybe a miracle would happen,” they said. Scrubbing their stockings clean as best they could, they hung them up by the window to dry near the dying fire. Then they went to bed.

The next morning, the daughters went to collect their stockings. But as they approached the window where they hung, what did they see? The stockings were stretched out of shape, with a lump of something in the toes. They quickly investigated, and nearly cried for joy when they found gold coins in each one—more than enough to pay a good dowry. They ran to tell their father, and all four gave thanks to God. Indeed, a miracle had happened.

God’s agent that night had been a clever and generous soul named Nicholas. He had heard of the father’s plight and, wishing to spare the father the shame of accepting charity, had snuck to the window during the night and tossed the money inside, where it had landed inside the girls’ stockings. Nicholas had saved the day—and started a tradition.

This legend of the Christmas stockings is one of the most famous stories handed down to us about St. Nicholas, the 4th-century bishop of Myra in modern-day Turkey. Appearing under various regional titles— “Father Christmas” in Great Britain, “Sinterklaas” in the Netherlands, or “Papa Noël” in France—good St. Nicholas has become the symbol of generosity everywhere Christmas is celebrated.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Please join us for a St. Nicholas celebration and open house in our school after each weekend Mass.

Page 4 of 10

Start
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Next
End