Father Forgive Them

A priest introduced me to a powerful prayer.

He started out by saying "I think this is a powerful prayer," then he corrected himself. "I know this is a powerful prayer."

And it's powerful, he said, precisely because Jesus prayed it: "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do."

This prayer from the cross is obviously one to use when we are trying to forgive others. But it has other uses, too, the priest explained. He said to use it whenever we might be "hitting a wall" with someone: an obstinate teen, perhaps, or someone who has gone down a wrong path, who is unwilling to reason or change, when we have run out of most options, when we otherwise might be tempted to give up on a person.

"Father, forgive them, they know not what they do."

It's taken me a few months to take that prayer advice to heart. But now I'm seeing it as a powerful prayer for all types of situations, in fact most situations: for peace, for world and church leaders, for respect for the most vulnerable, for those who have left the Church, for sinners dear to us and for those we do not know, for the dying ...

Jesus's prayer, I think, could be prayed for almost anyone or anything.

The priest became an advocate of this prayer after hearing someone else urge its use. Now I pass it along to you, from Jesus's heart, for whatever weighs on your heart this Advent.

"Father, forgive them, they know not what they do."

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.

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 Gabriel 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 first Mass celebrating the Immaculate Conception will be tonight (Wednesday) at 5:30 p.m. There will also be Masses Thursday 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.

St Nick Visits

Today, we had a special visitor to Sacred Heart Preschool.  St. Nicholas (Fr. Dave), stopped by to deliver some treats and tell our preschoolers the story of St. Nicholas. It was a fun surprise!

Praying for Vocations

Exposition, Adoration, 

Vocations Talk, Benediction

2:00 to 3:00 p.m.

November 18th

In 1980 there were 225 priests in the Archdiocese of Omaha working in parishes. Today there are now 134 active priests. In 19 years, at the current pace, there will be just 100. With less priests some pastors are now responsible for two and even three parishes. Parishes that once had four priests might have two today.  

With steady growth of the Catholic population our view of parish ministry will continue to evolve. There is however Good News.  The number of permanent deacons serving our parishes has grown substantially from 63 in 1980 to 246 today and the involvement of laity in Church ministry continues to blossom.

 

It would certainly be good to have more woman and men entering religious life and the priesthood. There is something we can do.  Jesus said to his disciples, 'The harvest is rich but the laborers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers to his harvest.' Matthew 9:37

On Friday November 18th, St. Columbkille Parish with the aide of Deacons Bob Stier and Jerry Overkamp is hosting a Holy Hour for Vocations.  You are most welcome to come for all or part of the hour which will include exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at 2:00, a talk on vocations by Fr. Dave Reeson at 2:30 and Benediction to wrap up the hour at 3:00 p.m.  

The Confirmation Retreat is Underway

Confirmation Candidates and their sponsors are gathered at the church this morning. The activities are designed to get the two of them to interact discussing their faith.

It also has them consider what to pray

 for and allows them to pray together.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is offered. 

They also paint together. Each painting is full of symbolism both as a teaching tool and a reminder of the event.

Pray for our candidates and their sponsors, 

this morning in their retreat and 

as their prepare for Confirmation.

Raffle Winners

Fr. Pat drew all of the Raffle Winners on Sunday as the Festival finished. The 2016 raffle winners are:

Grand Prize $5,000 - Dave and Elaine Patterson

2nd Prize $500 - Laura Webb

3rd Prize $250 (2 winners) -
Barbara Sales
Paul and Christine Sevener

4th Prize $100 (10 winners) -
William Anders
Barb Stessman
Cathy Peterson
Doug Doty
Kathi Emanuel
Sherry Anders
Woody Armentrout
Fr. Mike Eckley
Dan & Liann Smith
Judy Thome

Congratulations all!

Golfing with the Parish Family

The Athletic Council's Annual Golf Tournaments is not only a big fundraiser for athletics (which is financially self sustaining) but a lot of fun!

Soccer Challenge Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the Knights of Columbus Soccer Challenge held Saturday August 20th during the 3 on 3 soccer tournament. The District competition to be held at St. Matthew’s in Bellevue.

9 Boys – Eli Mabbitt

9 Girls – Melina Nelson

10 Boys – Charlie Jackson

10 Girls – Gracye Laney

11 Boys – Grady Thober

11 Girls – Grace Merkle

12 Boys – Dalton Sparks

12 Girls – Madison Eckmann

13 Boys – Jackson Fluchey

13 Girls – Joselin Baxter

14 Boys – Andrew Butler

Breaking the Newspaper Rules

Newspaper writing follows lots of rules.

Some are basic: Write concisely, clearly. Avoid jargon. Try to use active verbs instead of passive ones.

Other rules are more minute: Spell out whole numbers up to and including nine, use numerals for 10 and above. The word follow-up is hyphenated when used as a noun or adjective, but as a verb, there is no hyphen and two separate words.

One newspaper-writing rule that has struck me lately, one that I remember from journalism classes in college, is to avoid exclamation points. It's easy to see how overuse of exclamation points can go wrong. Most of us have seen posts on social media with an overkill of exclamation points and capital letters.

But sometimes exclamation points are necessary to convey the excitement and urgency a person speaks with. When used sparingly and judiciously, exclamation points make a statement stand out and demand our attention.

I especially like to see exclamation points in religious writing.

I thought about this earlier this month when we had these words of Jesus proclaimed in the Gospel at Sunday Mass: "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!"

Our Lord certainly knows how to use exclamation points. He speaks of His fire with fire. We should do the same.

One commentator on this Gospel passage from St. Luke, Msgr. Charles Pope of the Archdiocese of Washington, wrote with a similar zeal. Here's some of what Msgr. Pope had to say about St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews, part of the readings from the same Sunday:

Live The Priority of faith -- The text says, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.

We are given the example of a runner in a race. What does a runner do? He runs the race! Runners do not stop to watch television; they do not stop to make small talk; they do not take stupid detours or go in the opposite direction. They do one thing: they run the race. So, too, with our faith: it has priority. Nothing should be allowed to hinder us.

We all need that sharp focus and zeal for God. We need His fire. We need to speak, write and live a life punctuated by more exclamation points!

"With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts," the prophet Elijah said.

Newspaper writing also discourages redundancy. But for God, some rules need to be broken.

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.

Soccer Tournament

The Athletic Council at St. Columbkille held a 3 on 3

soccer tournament at our fields yesterday. 

It's a fundraiser for the program.