Archive for October, 2024

Called To See

October 27, 2024

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes

Jesus cured many people during his public ministry but very few of their names are recorded in the Gospels. Jesus raised Lazarus of Bethany from the tomb, cast out seven demons from Mary Magdalene, and restored the ear of Malchus in the Garden of Gethsemane. But beyond that, no recipients of Christ’s healings are named except for the blind man Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus. The first three Gospels all recount this event, but the name of Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus appears only in today’s Gospel.

St. Mark wrote, “As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging.” In Aramaic, the prefix Bar- means “Son of,” so Bartimaeus means “Son of Timaeus.” Why do St. Mark and the Holy Spirit doubly-emphasize the name of Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus, and what does Timaeus mean?

An Aramaic interpretation of the name Timaeus suggests “uncleanness,” but in Greek the name means “highly prized” or “honored.” This Bartimaeus sat begging on the ground alongside a road near Jericho—an extremely ancient city which symbolized the sinful world. He was blind, impoverished, ignored, despised, called a son of uncleanness, and he was unclean, yet our Lord considered him precious.

Bartimaeus had heard about Jesus’ healings and had faith in him. He shouts, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me,” because he believes Jesus is the Christ (or the Messiah), the prophesized descendant of King David, and he believes Jesus possesses the power to heal him.

At first, many disciples rebuked the beggar, telling him to be silent, while he kept calling out all the more. Then Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So people in the crowd told the blind man, “Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you!” The man sprang up from the dust and came closer to Christ, guided by Jesus’ disciples.

We are also journeying in a large crowd of Jesus’ disciples today, walking with him in his Church. Are we ignoring people who are not here with us, as the crowd at first ignored Bartimaeus? Jesus commands us to call them and help lead them to himself.

Before Bartimaeus could see, he had heard what other people were saying about Jesus. Are we sharing our stories, our cause for hope, with others? Are we mentioning the miracles that we have witnessed? Are we telling them the difference our Catholic Faith makes? Are we encouraging them to join us here?

Bartimaeus had faith due to what he heard and from God’s grace already active within him, for God is calling everyone. Bartimaeus called out to Jesus and, being called, threw aside his dirty, smelly cloak, lest it restrict his movement or cause offense. We, likewise, must cast off our sinful habits, lest they offend the Lord and impede our progress toward him.

When Bartimaeus reached Jesus, our Lord asked him: “What do you want me to do for you?” Christ could read the hearts of men, so why did he ask the blind man what he wanted? St. Augustine wrote that God wills us to ask him for things not because he doesn’t know (for he cannot fail to know) but “to exercise our desire through our prayers so that we may be able to receive what he is preparing to give us.” For “the deeper our faith, the stronger our hope, the greater our desire, the larger our capacity to receive will be…” Praying for our requests also helps us remember how much we need God and deepens our relationship. St. Teresa of Avila said, “You pay God a great compliment by asking great things of him.”

Jesus asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” How will we answer him? The blind man answered boldly, “Master, I want to see.” And Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Bartimaeus immediately received his sight and followed Jesus on the way. May this famous story of Blind Bartimaeus help us to see in new ways too.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Homily, Jesus Christ, Sunday Homilies, Witness | Leave a Comment »

The Last Shall Be First

October 19, 2024

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes

In today’s Gospel, James and John shoot their shot to move higher up in Christ’s Kingdom. They say, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. … Grant that in your glory we may sit, one at your right and the other at your left.” Jesus replies, “You do not know what you are asking.” The two brothers jump at the chance to drink from Jesus’ cup and be baptized in his baptism because they don’t realize these things mean sharing in Christ’s suffering. Jesus assures them, ‘You will drink of my cup and experience my baptism, but to sit at my right and my left is for those for whom it has been prepared.’ Where were the places at Christ’s sides at his glorious royal enthronement? St. Mark’s Gospel tells us: “With him they crucified two revolutionaries, one on his right and one on his left. … [And] the inscription of the charge against him read, ‘The King of the Jews.’”

James and John did not realize what they were asking. They sought places closer to Jesus in order to live earthly lives in a palace on Easy Street. They imagined reigning over a kingdom with Christ where they would be served like the rulers of the nations who made their dominance over other people felt. But Jesus gathered his disciples and said, “It shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Hierarchies are normal and natural, though some are better than others. The secular world has hierarchies according to power, wealth, or status. Christ establishes a hierarchy for his Church on earth according to sacramental holy orders. But amongst the Church in heaven, a hierarchy exists according to love. In heaven, God reigns supreme and God is love—pouring out for all. There is no money to be had, the sacraments are no longer needed, and there is perfect, perpetual peace. Greatness above is according to one’s capacity to give and receive love. So whoever wishes to be great in God’s Kingdom must practice the self-gifting, servant love modeled for us by Jesus Christ.

We can expect to see many surprises after this life. Reality will look very differently in the light of eternity. Some things which we once thought were valuable—even necessary—will be seen as nothing. And things once rejected as useless will be recognized for their true value—especially in people. Many unknown people will become recognized as great, while many rich, powerful, and popular people will be humbled. “Thus,” Jesus says, “the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.” So let us begin living life with more of that eternal vision now: by seeing with the eyes of Christ, by thinking with the mind of Christ, and by loving with the heart of Christ.

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What Must We Do?

October 13, 2024

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes

A man runs up to Jesus, kneels down, and earnestly asks him, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus quotes to him commandments about loving our neighbors: “You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.” Why did Jesus add “you shall not defraud” after saying “you shall not steal [and] you shall not bear false witness?” What distinction is being made? In the Greek, “steal” here denotes taking, while “defraud” suggests withholding or keeping back what belongs to another. Both the street mugger (by unjustly taking) and the business owner (by unjustly holding back) can deprive someone of what is rightfully theirs. It is possible to sin by clinging on to what we should give.

Upon hearing Jesus’ list of commandments, the man replies, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” The man is seeking something more from Jesus. Jesus had just cited several of the Ten Commandments but notice which commandments Jesus left out. The first three commandments are conspicuously absent, the ones specifically about our relationship with God. Jesus, looking at the man and loving him, desires to reveal how he is to love the Lord. He tells him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” But at hearing these words, the man’s face fell because he had many possessions, and he went away sad. Did that man ever go on to have a change of heart before the end? We don’t know. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record this encounter in their Gospels but none of them mention his name. Perhaps (unlike with Jairus, Zacchaeus, or Bartimaeus) the early Christians were unfamiliar with this man because he never joined their community.

The Book of Acts describes Jerusalem’s earliest Christian community as being “of one heart and mind” and generous towards one another. “There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.” However, that sharing was not obligatory. Christians still owned property, they were free to decide whether to sell it or not, and they were free to share the sale proceeds or not. So it is not necessarily wrong to own things, but wealth can be an obstacle to heaven.

Jesus remarked to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words, because they held the idea that having great wealth was a strong sign of God’s approval. So Jesus again said to them in reply, “Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” So who among us qualifies as rich?

Compared to our immediate neighbors, our wealth is probably pretty average. Or at least most of us have less money than the richest folks in town. But how materially wealthy are we compared to those in other countries? Compared to the world, everyone here is rich. For instance, a two person household with an annual after-tax income of $40,000 makes more than about nine-out-of-ten people on earth. Even someone who lives alone with a post-tax income of $10,000 a year makes more than eight-tenths of the world. We are rich. So what must we do?

Again, not all Christians must give away all of their wealth, but our Lord insisted upon it for that man who came to him because Jesus knew he loved his riches more than God. The things we own are not absolutely ours to do with however we please, for we and what we have belong to God. We are his trusted servants, the stewards of his goods. That is why Jesus says that anyone “who does not renounce all of his possessions cannot be my disciple.” Even when it is his will for us to have possessions, we must do so with a healthy detachment, by being frugal and generous and truly open to doing God’s will.

One of the most memorable scenes from the 1993’s Best Picture winning film “Schindler’s List” comes at the end. Oscar Schindler, a German industrialist, has protected the lives of more than 1,100 Jews during the Second World War by listing them as his “essential workers” while producing defective ammunition for the Nazis. He looks at the people he has saved and reflects: ‘If only I’d made more money. I threw away so much money, you have no idea. … I didn’t do enough. This car. Why did I keep the car? Ten people right there, ten more people. This gold pin… two more people. At least one. One more person, for this. I could have got one more person, and I didn’t.’ It is Ok to have what we need and it can be Ok to buy things we want, but someday we all will have to stand before the Lord “to whom we must render an account” of our Christian stewardship.

There is a world of needs around us, needs abroad and needs nearby, material needs and spiritual needs. Though they all have importance, our local spiritual mission has a special claim on our care. To aid the success of Christ’s mission for the salvation of souls among us, in the words of St. Paul, “Each person must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion [but freely], for God loves a cheerful giver.” And our Lord promises rewards for our sacrifices for him. Jesus declares, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age… and eternal life in the age to come.” So let us be generous, for God will not be outdone in generosity.

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A Proud Member of this Holy Family — Funeral Homily for Jesse LaGesse, 85

October 11, 2024

By Deacon Dick Kostner

When Father sent out the readings for today I was bewildered about the Gospel Sharon had chosen for the Mass today. Funeral homilies are supposed to direct our thoughts not to this world but to our heavenly home and the hereafter. I sent Father a text about the choices picked directed to the Holy Family saying I could not see what the readings had to do with our next life. He gave me a call and told me about the worry Mary and Joseph had about not knowing where he was and that it took “three days” before they finally found him. I have read and recited this Gospel many times in my life but I never picked up on “three days” until his call. This was to be a preview of what was to happen in the future for Mary to prepare for the death of Jesus. It is a preview of all of us to prepare ourselves to the fact that our family members will someday experience death and that we will be separated from them in body at least until our bodies are resurrected at the end of time. But the good news is that because of Jesus we are all invited to rejoin and be a part of the Holy Family for all eternity without ever being required to experience again, the loss felt when someone we love dies. Now I have given you Fr. Feltes’ interpretation of the Gospel now I will give you mine.

This story about Jesus expresses to me that Jesus was, in fact, human. He was centered on his mission of helping others learn more about scriptures and its meaning and perhaps forgot that his parents would worry about what happened to him. Lesson to be learned, we need to acquire the necessity to think and teach our loved ones about how their actions may affect those they love. If Jesus could drop the ball we too should be patient when we try to educate our young people of how their actions can and will affect those they love, and share with them your thoughts and opinions as to how this will affect lives.

The bad news is that during our earthly life we still are required to carry crosses in life as did Jesus, and Jesse, knowing that we will be separated in body from our earthly blood family and from the family of Jesus which the Church refers to as the Holy Family of God because of a one time death.

This December, I will be celebrating my 25th year of being a Permanent Deacon. It will also be my 30th year of offering to this parish the Stations of the Cross on Tuesday evenings during the Lenten season. One of the Fathers of this Parish gathering for prayer was none other than Jesse, who was the first to offer his help in carrying that cross over there as this Holy Family reflected upon the Passion and death of Jesus the Lamb of God, who was willing to suffer and die so that we could find everlasting life with Him as a member of the Holy Family of God.

I have always invited members of the parish to help by carrying the cross during our Stations when it was first introduced to us by our Father Tom, but many were too bashful to accept the invitation, but not Jess. When he and Sharon would show up he would always ask if I needed someone to carry the cross. It was his personal desire to be a partner with Jesus in accepting whatever crosses he was asked to bear to make the life of his blood family and his spiritual church families crosses easier to bear. He did this for over 25 years until his own health would not allow him to carry that cross shown over there, as he had other heavier crosses to carry before his life would end. Now he has moved up to receive his reward for all the gifts of service that he gave, not only his family but the city of Bloomer and his church, as a proud member of this Holy Family.

Long ago, I had told my wife that the cross Jess carried for years for us would be present at his funeral. If it wasn’t so big it should have been buried with him but I think maybe we who have been left, need it here, at St. Paul’s, to honor and thank him for his living with and being a active member of the Holy Family of St. Paul’s Catholic Church and the people of Bloomer. Jesus tells us the two greatest commandments to obey is love of God and love of our neighbor. Thanks Jess for living out your life in service to God, your family, and your Bloomer faith family. We will always be together with you in spirit, and please pray for us as we try to bear our crosses of life.

Posted in Finding in the Temple, Funeral Homilies, Homily | Leave a Comment »

Just Two Doors Down — Funeral Homily for Robert “Bob” Nosal, 76

October 8, 2024

By Fr. Victor Feltes

You may know him as fun “Cousin Bob.” Or maybe you worked with “Big City Bob.” Or perhaps you heard him play guitar as one of “The Noblemen.” But if you know Bob, then you should know how important his family is to him. For instance, Christmas was Bob’s favorite holiday because everyone got to celebrate it together. And his family can testify to Bob’s faithful religious devotion. Bob grew up Catholic and raised his children Catholic, emphasizing the importance of our Faith in practice. He was adamant about attending Jesus Christ’s Holy Mass. Even when his family would go out camping, finding a local parish and Sunday Mass time was a priority. He and Mary Kay would frequently pray St. Mary’s Rosary together whenever they drove somewhere. Bob believed our family and friends are not limited solely to this world. We also have close and holy ones in heaven who know us and love us profoundly.

Last March, on the Wednesday of Holy Week, on the day before the beginning of our annual remembrance of our Lord’s Passion, Bob suffered his first stroke. In the following months, Bob was in and out of the hospital, and when he was hospitalized Mary Kay would faithfully visit and stay with him throughout the day. The visiting hours at Bloomer Hospital were from eight in the morning to six in the evening, so eventually it would come time for her to leave. Bob didn’t like being stuck there alone in the hospital overnight. Who would? He wished that he could go home, or else that Mary Kay could stay there with him. ‘It’s easier for you,’ he said. “You get to sleep in your own bed.” The Nosal house is situated very close to the hospital, so to encourage him, Mary Kay would reply that she would not be far. She would be “just two doors down.” And she would see him again in the morning.

You and I do not like being separated from our loved ones by death. Who would? We wish that we could go home with them, or else that they could stay here with us. But those who die as friends of Christ are not far from us. They still know and love us, and we can always talk to them. Yet it’s easier for them, for they happily go to their rest. Perhaps they dwell in purgatory where their souls are being purified to inevitably enter God’s all-holy presence. Or else, having been completely personally prepared by Christ, they already dwell in our Father’s house. Bob is now either behind the door of purgatory, where our prayers and offerings to God can aid his holy growth, or else he has passed through the door of heaven, where he now enjoys perfect peace and joy. But either way, be comforted remembering that Bob is no more than “just two doors down,” and we will see him again soon.

Posted in Funeral Homilies, Heaven, Homily, Last Things, Purgatory | Leave a Comment »

Let The Children Come

October 5, 2024

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes

People were bringing their little children to Jesus that he might touch them, pray for them, and bless them through laying his hands on them. His disciples, however, rebuked those parents. “No, stop doing that. Leave the teacher alone.” Why did his disciples behave this way? Jesus was very busy with his work. His time was very valuable and they believed he had much more important things to do. They saw those children as an unwelcome inconvenience.

Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry details how the ancient world had small regard for little ones in his excellent article “How Christianity Invented Children.” “Society,” he writes, “was organized in concentric circles, with the circle at the center containing the highest value people, and the people in the outside circles having little-to-no value. At the center was the freeborn, adult male, and other persons were valued depending on how similar they were to the freeborn, adult male. Such was the lot of foreigners, slaves, women…and children.” In pagan Rome, a father could kill his kids for any reason until they came of age; unwanted infants were abandoned to die by exposure, youths were subjected to all forms of abuse, and all of this was legal. The early Christians, however, protected children and loved them. This marked difference is because of Jesus Christ.

Though children are small and weak, Jesus says, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.” They have no wealth, no worldly power, but Jesus declares, “Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Calling over a child and putting his arms around it, Jesus teaches, “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.” Just as a good shepherd hates to lose even one lamb from his flock, Jesus insists “it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.” Jesus says children are to be treasured and loved like himself, for “whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.” And in this Sunday’s gospel, in response to those who were turning the children away, Jesus says, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.” Then Jesus welcomed, embraced, and blessed the children.

Jesus taught that all children should be loved. How well have we listened? If we have personally sinned against little ones in the past, then we must repent—if we have not done so already. Go to God for Divine Mercy, for if you are baptized into Christ then you are God the Father’s precious child also. And going forward, we must do our Christian duty to protect and care for them, the most vulnerable in our country.

The Bride of Christ, his Church, teaches that “abortion, the deliberate killing of a human being before birth, is never morally acceptable and must always be opposed.” In light of the upcoming elections, our U.S. bishops as successors to the apostles insist “the threat of abortion remains our preeminent priority, because it directly attacks life itself, because it takes place within the sanctuary of the family, and because of the number of lives destroyed.” Last year, that number of innocent children killed before birth in our country was more than one million. Pope Francis himself has observed that abortion is not primarily a Catholic or even a religious issue, it is first and foremost a human rights issue. Our Holy Father has said that if we fail to protect life, no other rights matter.

Have we, as Roman Catholics, fully rejected the spirits of pagan Rome? How we choose to live, to love—and yes, how we choose to vote—will be revealed as our answer at the Last Judgment.

Posted in Catholic Church, Culture, Homily, Marriage and Family, Politics, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »