A Sign Above

Mrs. Williss took this picture from the north side of the education center this morning.

2013 Not-A-Thon

This fall, St. Columbkille Catholic School Home-School-Association is hosting its second annual ‘Not-A-Thon’ Fundraiser. We are not asking you to buy magazines that you don’t have time to read, candy you don’t want or accessories you don’t need. Instead, we are asking you to make a monetary donation to our school. The money we raise will provide much-needed funding for educational materials, field trips and technology improvements.

For more information, click here.

RUN !!

We are always running, hurrying everywhere. But when it comes to the things that really matter, where is our urgency?

I've ignored the urgency of our faith for much of my life. We cradle Catholics sometimes do that. We take our treasure for granted and put it off on a shelf somewhere for future use. As a young adult, though, I had to ask myself: What if everything that I've been taught is true? Shouldn't my life be different? Shouldn't I being taking all this seriously -- urgently? 

Sadly, I still need frequent reminders that we have an urgent faith. Like St. Paul, we're running a race, a marathon, a lifelong race. Sometimes my life race resembles how I physically run, which can draw either laughs or pity. In both spiritual and physical running, I lack stamina. And in my spiritual race I fall down a lot. Fortunately God is with me to give me strength, help me back up and set me on the right course.

The race we run can also be likened to a relay race. We have a baton to pass on.  Our recent popes have reminded us that faith is not just a set of beliefs. It's an ongoing relationship with God. If we don't get that right, nothing else matters. But it's not only our eternal lives on the line. Jesus commissions us to go and make disciples. For St. Columbkille parishioners in particular, that's our mission statement. We need to support the general evangelical work of the parish, but we also need to embrace our mission work personally, in our everyday lives. We don't need to preach, but we do need to live our faith, our relationship with God. The Holy Spirit will build a fire in us that naturally draws other souls with its warmth.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was to become Pope Benedict XVI, wrote about how we are to run to others with the good news of our faith. His writing is contained in a series of meditations called "Seek That Which Is Above." 

"The Gospel at the Easter Vigil tells us that, after their encounter with the angels, the women started running, both in fear and in joy, to pass on the message to the others. Christianity is not something boring or second-rate; the person who is confronted with this message must start running. It sets him in motion because it is important that it should spread farther before it is too late. The apostles themselves began this race through the world, as it were, in order to bring to the whole of the known earth, in their generation, the message of the victory of life, of the Lord's Resurrection. The disciples of Jesus slept that time on the Mount of Olives, but we slumber in the daylight of Easter Day and fail to see the central issue. In this hour we ought to open our hearts to the greatness of the message, so that we too may set off, bearing His light to others before it is too late, before death carries out its cruel harvest; fired by this day's joy, we ourselves ought to become evangelists, that is, heralds of the joy of Jesus Christ."

Racers, take your mark.

Inspired by this Year of Faith we will be posting columns like this from Susan Szalewski about exploring and/or deepening our faith. Watch for it on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.

Ask A Priest

TEEN Faith tonight featured "Ask A Priest."

After a great meal supplied by the St Columbkille Shepherds, the teens wrote down questions which Fr. Damian answered.

 It was an opportunity to freely discuss any questions

 about the Faith, the Church or even about Fr. Damian.

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! 

Festival Pictures

Our 3 on 3 Referees

During the Parish Festival we held our 3 on 3 basketball tournament. Between games it seemed a lot of people wanted to have their pictures taken with the referees.

Of course most referees don't also play for the Creighton Bluejays.

 Between games, they also got some basketball in.

Thanks for helping with our tournament during the Festival!

Gettin' Festival Ready

Over 400 people will be involved in the Festival. If you had meant to sign up to help but missed it, you're in luck. Click here to see a few areas where we could use some help.

Fr. Steve is Among the Honored

Last night Fr. Steve Emanuel was among those honored as Educators and/or Administrators during the 2013 Archbishop's Dinner for Education. Fr. Steve spoke on behalf of all of those honored.



Fr Steve is also the subject of a recent article in the Bellevue Reader. We congratulate him and all of those honored.

Fighting For Me

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways . . . For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, My thoughts higher than your thoughts." -- Isaiah 55:8-9

The Kingdom of God seems to be a place of irony. It's a land where poverty is wealth, the last are first, our loss is our gain, we lose ourselves to find God and we must die to gain eternal life.

So when God gives us solutions to our problems and cures for our ailments, sometimes we resist, because they don't seem to make sense, at least in our earthly minds.

My continuous problem, but even more so lately, is that I'm so busy that it's hard to find time for God. Especially alone time. I don't choose to be busy, rushed and frazzled. But I have obligations to keep, important ones that involve caring for my family. Yet God is supposed to have first priority in my life. What's a busy person like me supposed to do?

A certain line from Scripture, Exodus 14:14, keeps jumping out at me: 

"The Lord will fight for you; you have only to keep still."

I've been finding that quote everywhere. One morning last week I heard it on Catholic radio. A couple weeks before it was on a free bookmark I grabbed at the doctor's office.

And of course, God's answer to my problem is ironic. What am I to do when I have so much I have to accomplish? Nothing, He says. Be still.

Well, not exactly nothing. When our Lord asks me to "keep still," I interpret that to mean cease all external activity and pray. And you know, when I do stop and make time to pray, especially at Mass or Eucharistic adoration, somehow the rest of my day goes better.  When I set apart time for Him, He fights my battles for me and takes care of all my concerns. I just need to trust.

I've heard that Blessed Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity would set aside extra time for Eucharistic adoration when they knew a busy or difficult day was ahead. In the saint's own words:

 “When the Sisters are exhausted, up to their eyes in work; when all seems to go awry, they spend an hour in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. This practice has never failed to bear fruit: they experience peace and strength.”

Why should I waste time spinning my wheels yet going nowhere? When I'm wise enough to give God His proper place in my busy day, I'm still tired at the end of the day, but I go to sleep relaxed and at peace, knowing that He is in charge.



Inspired by this Year of Faith we will be posting columns like this from Susan Szalewski about exploring and/or deepening our faith. Watch for it on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.