Stations of the Cross close 40 Days for Life

Today at noon Stations of the Cross were prayed outside the abortion site in Bellevue. Led by Deacon Gary Bash, the prayer finished the spring campaign of prayer and witness against abortion.

Mass in a Snowstorm

Fr. Vogel was among the 316 people from the Omaha Archdiocese who participated in the March for Life in Washington D.C. He is also in one of the six buses from the Archdiocese stuck on the turnpike in Pennsylvania. (One bus made it through before the accident which is holding back the rest.)

 But when you're full of joy you don't pout....

 ... you go outside and celebrate Mass.

We pray for their safe return in due time.

Carols Around an Empty Manger

Today is the Feast of the Holy Innocents. On this day our collect prayer at Mass is:

O God, whom the Holy Innocents confessed
and proclaimed on this day,
not by speaking but by dying,
grant, we pray,
that the faith in you which we confess with our lips
may also speak through our manner of life.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever

On December 19th, Metro Pro-life Advocates and Nebraskans United for Life co-sponsored Carols Around an Empty Manger outside an abortion site in Bellevue. It was a chance to mourn the deaths of Holy Innocents in our day as well as to proclaim the hope given in the birth of our savior.

About forty people, including four priests, gathered on that cold Saturday morning.

 The group gathered for Cookies and Hot Chocolate afterwards.

Praying for Life

During the 40 Days for Life, Respect Life members from St. Columbkille have committed to praying at the abortion site in Bellevue on Thursdays from 10:30 to noon. The site is open more often on Thursdays because the number of people praying on Saturdays has affected their operation.

 In addition, we have committed to praying for 24 hours outside the site from 8 a.m. Saturday March 28 and ending at 8 a.m. on Sunday, March 29th (Palm Sunday.) Anyone interested in praying is invited to call the Parish Office at 402-339-3285.

Special Snowflakes

"Special snowflakes."

I’ve heard that term used in derision, to mock people for thinking they might be special or deserving of special consideration.

I laughed a little when I first heard the name because it was admittedly clever. But then I thought about it more and was reminded of the 1995 movie (and 1905 novel), “A Little Princess.”

The movie – which pits a girl, Sara, against her cruel caretaker, Miss Minchin – culminates with this exchange:

Miss Minchin: “Don't tell me you still fancy yourself a princess? Child, look around you! Or better yet, look in the mirror.”

Sara Crewe: “I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics. Even if they dress in rags, even if they aren't pretty, or smart or young. They're still princesses. All of us. Didn't your father ever tell you that? Didn't he?”

The point, of course: All of us are special, and no one can take that away from us.

This notion is especially important in our Catholic faith, that we have extraordinary worth as God’s unique creations and as His children (thus princes and princesses.) And snowflakes, as beautiful and one-of-a-kind as they are, pale in comparison to us, made in God’s image and likeness.

The church recognizes our inherent dignity and works to protect it. Those in the pro-life movement in particular go into full gear each January to remind us of the value of every human life, from conception to natural death.

Yet I don’t think we’ll ever fully grasp how special we truly are.

Author C.S. Lewis attempted to explain in “The Weight of Glory.”

"There are no ordinary people,” he wrote. “You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit. . . . Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”

So I will happily acknowledge that I am a “special snowflake,” along with every human every created.

And like the “Little Princess,” Sara, I’ll recognize that we’re all princes and princesses. Our Father did tell us that.

Inspired by the Year of Faith, Susan Szalewski began writing weekly columns for us. Although that year is over, we liked them so well that we asked her to keep writing. Thankfully, she said yes. So watch for these on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.

Celebrating the Immaculate Conception

When we celebrate the Immaculate Conception on December 8th each year, it is a common mistake to think we are celebrating the Immaculate Conception of Jesus. At Mass on the Immaculate Conception the Gospel is always the Annunciation. Because the Archangel Gabrial appears to Mary to tell her about the child she would have, sometimes people think that is the conception which is called immaculate. But the Immaculate Conception is about the conception that prepared Mary for this moment; the time where she would choose whether or not to participate in God's plan for salvation.

In the Gospel, the angel Gabriel says, "Hail Mary full of Grace." In Greek the word used, κεχαριτωμένη, is a perfect passive participle of χαριτοω meaning "to fill or endow with grace." The tense indicates that Mary was graced from the instant she first existed in her mother's (Anne's) womb (well before Gabriel visited) and ever since. It might be best understood as her being so full of grace that sin can not enter her.

The Masses celebrating the Immaculate Conception will be at 6:20, 8:15, 12:10, 5:30 and 7 p.m. It is such a special event that it is considered a Holy Day of Obligation.

Also tonight, immediately following the 7:00 Mass will start an hour of Eucharistic Adoration as we participate in a national event, a Night of Prayer for Life. This will finish around 9 p.m. with Benediction.

Marching and Waking for Life

Today, through the snow, the March 

for Life took place in Washington DC.

Saturday is the Walk for Life in Lincoln.

Those who wish to attend can reserve their spot on a bus. The bus will leave our parking lot at 7:30 a.m. Mass is at 9 a.m. at St Mary's across the street from the State Capital.

The walk begins at 10 a.m. on the north side of the capital. the capital steps. Keynote speaker Emily Horne will share her experience in the Texas legislative victory: How Texas closed abortion facilities & stood up to pro-abortion forces at the Texas State Capitol this past summer.

The bus will return at 3:30 p.m. The cost is $20 per person or $40 per family. You can reserve your spot with Cathy at 402-504-1264 or cpete1218@cox.net .

Persistence to End an Outrage

"Then He told them a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. He said, 'There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, "Render a just decision for me against my adversary." For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, "While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me." '

"The Lord said, 'Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. Will not God then secure the rights of His chosen ones who call out to Him day and night? Will He be slow to answer them? I tell you, He will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?' "

-- Luke 18:1-8

A 5-year-old was killed, apparently by a stray shot from a gun battle, and our community is understandably outraged.

The unnatural and violent death of an innocent should shock and anger us.

But somehow, after 41 years of legalized abortion in the United States, we as a nation have accepted the estimated 55 million innocent lives lost because of abortion.

Some people, including many in our parish, have refused to forget this injustice. They pray like the persistent widow in Jesus' parable, at home, church and in front of abortion clinics. Others demonstrate peacefully and prayerfully at walks, marches and other events. Some help care for mothers and families, enabling them to provide for a child.

Everyone can do something to end legalized abortion.

U.S. Catholic bishops are encouraging us to observe the 41st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, which legalized abortion in the United States, by participating in nine days of prayer and penance and pilgrimage. They are asking us to participate in local pro-life events and pray and perform acts of reparation through a novena Jan. 18-26. Participants can access the novena prayers through apps, emails, texts and online. More information is available on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops web site.

Let us call out to the Lord day and night to end abortion.

Inspired by the Year of Faith, Susan Szalewski began writing weekly columns for us. Although that year is over, we liked them so well that we asked her to keep writing. Thankfully, she said yes. So watch for these on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.

What did you do?

"Grandma, when you were little, did you own slaves?"
"No! why are you asking such a silly question?"
"In school they said that some people used to make other people be their slave."
"Yes that happened, but it was a long time ago. It stopped over 100 years before I was born."
"Why did they do that?"
"Because people didn't love one another enough."
"When you were little did you send Jews to die in the hollow cast?"
"It's the holocaust, and no, I wasn't born then either. But it was when some people in Germany didn't show enough love towards people because they were Jewish."
"When you were little, would people kill babies before they were born?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so. That was called abortion and it used to be legal. I was older than you are when it stopped."
"Why did people do that?"
"Because they didn't love enough. It was hard to imagine when I was little, but it's wonderful that today abortion is looked upon as negatively as slavery or the holocaust."
"Did you help stop abortion? What did you do?"

We look forward and long for a day when abortion is universally decried as wrong. Tomorrow night you have a chance to work towards that future.

Adoration for Life Service

St. Columbkille Parish

Wednesday, December 11th

6 to 7:30 p.m.

(following the 5:30 Mass)

Praying for Life

Even in the morning mist, some of our parishioners were praying outside the abortion site in Bellevue. From 8 a.m. this morning until 8 a.m. tomorrow (Sunday) morning, some of our parishioners will be there praying. It is all part of 40 Days for Life.

You are welcome to come pray with us.

Call to Prayer

90 Seconds! That's all it takes to watch A Call to Prayer from the U.S. Bishops. Join the movement! Your prayers and sacrifices matter! 

Vigil for Life

Archbishop Lucas celebrated the Vigil for Life Mass at St. Mary's Parish in Bellevue this morning. While this had been long planned, it took place the same day Pope Francis has asked us to pray for Syria. Archbishop Lucas pointed out that both of these needs are compatible.
 

After Mass and Eucharistic Exposition, a walk to the Abortion Site in Bellevue was led by an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

 During this procession, Archbishop Lucas led the rosary.

Prayers continued outside the space where abortions are done.

Thank you to everyone who came to pray.

Praying the Living Rosary

Our Respect Life group hosted the Archdiocese's Living Rosary for Life on Sunday.

Representatives from parishes throughout the diocese who attended. Within the rosary, a Hail Mary was said by people from every parish represented. It was a very good reminder of how we are always united within our prayers.

The rosary was followed by Eucharistic Adoration.

During Adoration, Monsignor Whelan spoke about how Jesus said He came in order that we may have life, and have it more fully. You can hear his talk here.

 

The time of prayer ended with Benediction, followed by a reception. We appreciate all of the generous hearted people that were willing to gather in Papillion to pray as a community for our Pro-Life concerns. We thank our Respect Life group for hosting this event.