St. Anne Catholic Church

SEE HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE BELOW | DAILY MASS TIMES: Tues-Sat. 7 a.m. | CONFESSION FOLLOWING Wed, Friday & Sat. Mass | ADORATION FOLLOWING Wed & Friday Mass | WEEKEND MASS TIMES: Saturday 5:15 p.m., Sunday 9:15 a.m. & 11:30 a.m. (262) 942-8300. 

How to Create Your Lenten Program

Below is a summary of Fr. Bob’s Ash Wednesday Homily. 

Fr. BobAsh Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent – a time to take stock of our lives. Fr. Bob asked the question, “How many times have we gone through this penitential season only to be the same or worse when Easter arrives?” He remarked on the “comfortable culture” we live in, which perhaps poses great danger to remain complacent. However, now is the time where we are marked by our own mortality. We are reminded that we are not eternally on this earth. We have an obligation to live a considered life. We enter into the economy of salvation…by making sacrifice. We are reminded that Jesus nailed to the cross is the perfect sacrifice. When we make sacrifices we unite our sacrifice with the one and perfect sacrifice, and are then drawn into the holiness of God.

Fr. Bob suggested we give thoughtful look at three main areas:
1) Vanity: Do I do things to be noticed? Am I self-absorbed?
2) Pride: Do I look down on others? Judge others? Grow angry?
3) Comfort: Are there any areas of my life in which I’m so comfortable that I don’t give even a thought to change in these areas?

With these three areas in mind, he suggested developing a personal Lenten program:
1) Make a contract with the Lord: What are those things I will sacrifice to help grow in holiness? What are those areas of my life that I want to improve upon? Write it down.
2) Go to confession: It’s the most liberating and freeing thing we can do! It’s a once-per-year obligation for Catholics. Fr. Bob challenged us to make a good confession this Lent. Seek out a time at one of the ten parishes in town.
3) Finally, pray to the Holy Spirit: for light to see what we are not able to see; and for guidance to help us grow in self-knowledge and in strength so that we may be better and more holy when Easter arrives.

Love That Holds On

photo (6)LOVE THAT HOLDS ON

In Thorton Wilder’s play, “The Skin of our Teeth”, Maggie confronts her husband, George, who is about to leave her for another woman: “I didn’t marry you because you were perfect, George…I married you because you gave me a promise. That promise made up for your faults. And the promise I gave you made up for mine. Two imperfect people got married and it was that promise that made the marriage. And when the children were growing up, it wasn’t a house that protected them and it wasn’t our love that protected them – it was that promise.”

On Valentine’s Day, our thoughts turn to love. Usually it’s the romantic, idyllic, love we see depicted in Disney movies and TV commercials – starry-eyed lovers riding into the sunset to live happily ever after. It isn’t often we see love portrayed as riding out the storms of life instead, truly for better or for worse –  the kind of love that has perhaps lost that special feeling. The kind of love revealed when the promise made before one another and God is put to the test by unexpected rigors that squeeze to the surface every bit of faith and courage to hold on.

We all hear the statistics…it’s estimated that 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce. But of those couples who pray together in their homes on a regular basis, the divorce rate is an astonishing 0.3%. And the Catholic News Agency reports that approximately 28 percent of practicing Catholic marriages end in divorce, far below the national average of non-practicing Catholics. It’s not that Catholic marriages don’t encounter struggles, but strong faith and prayer life are no doubt the glue that holds them together amidst the struggles, and Christ himself binds those marriages to that sacramental promise because it’s built on His love for us and the church. A few years ago my husband and I attended a marriage retreat and one of the presenters drew an equilateral triangle on the board. At each point she labeled self, spouse, or God. Equilateral triangles, by definition, must have three sides of equal length. So the closer you draw to God, the closer you draw to your spouse. And, the closer you draw to your spouse, the more you can see the Light of Christ in them. When you know Christ and include Him daily in your marriage in this way, you experience the love, grace and mercy He extends to each of us and can more easily become that same love, grace and mercy to each other in trying times. It’s learning to love as Christ loves and building a marriage not just out of mutual love for one another, but with the divine love of Christ at the center. We have to remember we have a father who created us out of love; we were His first love. And even after losing the trust of his most beloved creation in the Garden of Eden, he continued to love us all the more by showering us with grace in His infinite mercy and sending His own son in atonement for our sins.

 

When we long for a marriage without difficulties, we must remember that even trees grow stronger in contrary winds. When the storms rage on, the roots stretch and grow stronger and deeper.  Throughout the many storms in life and marriage, we too can be stretched and pressed into a deeper reliance on Christ and discover a love that truly holds on much the same way that Christ holds on to us. Because our marriage vows are much more than a promise, they are a

sign and sacrament of God’s infinite love for us. And He never lets go.

 

“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love; and he that abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”   1 John 3:16

 

“Marriage is a living sign that truly communicates the love of Christ and the Church.”   ~ Christopher West, Theology of the Body

Thankful for the Imperfect Things by Linda Bevec

 

Thankful for Imperfect Things

 

~by  Linda Bevec

 

As we gather around the Thanksgiving table and begin the holiday season, I can’t help but think about all the picture perfect images we’re fed this time of year. The perfectly plump and golden turkey on a glorious platter surrounded by all the side dishes and decadent desserts spread out upon a picture perfect table. And all those who are gathered at the table take turns sharing something for which they are thankful. Family, friends, accomplishments, jobs, good fortune, and success generally make the cut. There is much to be thankful for indeed. But I think it’s important to also recognize the things in our life that are perhaps not so perfect, those things that we so often complain about, are disappointed in, or see as burdens.

 

For many of us, life doesn’t look how we think it should. We get sick. We suffer. We lose our jobs. We lose people we dearly love. We’re lonely. Marriages struggle. Friends disappoint. Finances suffocate us. Businesses crumble. Children rebel. We feel tired, betrayed and worn down.

 

We all find ourselves in situations like this…having to be strong and endure with what’s on our plate even if it’s not what we asked for or expected in life. It’s scary to soften our hearts sometimes, to see past the imperfections and to be thankful anyway. Because that’s where true gratitude is found – being thankful for imperfect things, including ourselves. Because sometimes being thankful for those things that don’t quite meet our expectations requires us to understand gratitude with a new depth and sincere honesty. In every situation we have a choice, an opportunity to be thankful and find they joy even when it doesn’t seem possible. We can embrace even our own brokenness better by seeing the flaws in things around us.

 

English author Aldous Huxly wrote, “Human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.” When we encounter challenges in life or find ourselves feeling disappointed with what God has placed before us, it’s often difficult to focus on our blessings or to go so far as to see those disappointments as blessings themselves and perhaps grow and learn from them. So I decided to give it a try, and throughout my day today I looked for things not quite so perfect to be thankful for. Here’s my list:

 

I’m thankful for the 5 lbs I gained even though I was trying to lose weight. It means I had food to eat, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

I’m thankful for dirty clothes piled high in my laundry room. It means my children have clothes to wear and have been busy and active.

 

I’m thankful it was 12 degrees outside today. It helped me appreciate our warm home, my favorite coffee cup, and time together around the fireplace.

 

I’m thankful my daughter has a fiercely strong will that often drains me. It has no doubt helped her endure a life-threatening illness since birth.

 

I’m thankful we have bills to pay. It means we can provide for our family – water, heat, clothes, food, vacations and Catholic education.

 

I’m thankful for the long line at the grocery store. I was able to have a conversation with a sweet elderly man buying flowers for his wife.

 

I’m thankful for perpetual sticky floors, counter tops and walls with fingerprints, glue and maple syrup on them. It means I have been blessed with children and their laughter still fills the air around me.

 

I’m thankful that I’m so exhausted each night. It means I worked hard and have the health and energy to care for my family.

 

I’m thankful I was running late one day last week when heading to an appointment. I could have been the one in that car accident I passed along the way.

 

I’m thankful for all my shortcomings, failures and weaknesses. They continue to lead me to seek forgiveness from a God who loves me unconditionally and always gives me the chance to start over again.

 

I’m thankful for all those people, things and circumstances around me that don’t quite measure up to what I think they should be. Because I discover there’s so much more than what I see or expect things to be. And rather than walk away disappointed, I can embrace these situations and become part of the solution to make them better.

 

How sweet it is to see the struggles, challenges, and shortcomings in so many things in life, and still be thankful. What a gift these imperfections are every single day. The people I love are wrapped up in those imperfections. I am wrapped up in them. I love them all anyway, and am perfectly blessed because of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proclaim the Gospel

To nourish ourselves with the Word in order to be “servants of the Word” in the work of evangelization: this is surely a priority for the Church at the dawn of the new millennium. Even in the countries evangelized many centuries ago, the reality of a “Christian society” which, amid all the frailties which have always marked human life, measured itself explicitly on Gospel values, is now gone. Today we must courageously face a situation which is becoming increasingly diversified and demanding…Over the years, I have often repeated the summons to the new evangelization. I do so again now, especially in order to insist that we must rekindle in ourselves the impetus of the beginnings, and allow ourselves to be filled with the ardor of the apostolic preaching which followed Pentecost. We must revive in ourselves the burning conviction of Paul, who cried out: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel” (1 Cor9:16). This passion will not fail to stir in the Church a new sense of mission, which cannot be left to a group of “specialists” but must involve the responsibility of all the members of the People of God. Those who have come into genuine contact with Christ cannot keep him for themselves, they must proclaim him. A new apostolic outreach is needed, which will be lived as the everyday commitment of Christian communities and groups…Christ  must be present to all people with confidence. We shall address adults, families, young people, children, without ever hiding the most radical demands of the Gospel message, but taking into account each person’s needs in regard to their sensitivity and language, after the example of Paul who declared: “I have become all things to all men, that I might be all means to save some” (1 Cor 9:22).

Blessed John Paul II

This meditation was featured in “Magnificat’s” Thursday, April 25, 2013, Meditation of the Day.

St. Anne Catholic Church
9091 Prairie Ridge Blvd.
Pleasant Prairie, WI 53158
(262) 942-8300 or (262) 331-0906

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