Archive for March, 2025

The Living Water Jesus Gives

March 23, 2025

3rd Sunday of Lent
By Fr. Victor Feltes

Jesus tells the woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” What is this water he speaks of? The Samaritan woman, initially either humoring him, mocking him, or believing him, replies to Jesus, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” She seems to be imagining literal, physical water. The disciples likewise thought Jesus spoke of literal food when they returned from town and heard him say, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” They asked one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?” But Jesus clarified, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work.” So what is the “living water” Jesus wants to give?

Later in John’s Gospel, he gives us another clue. Jesus stands up in the temple area and exclaims, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.’” Jesus announces this during the last and greatest day of the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, a celebration of God’s forty years of care for his people during the Exodus. And that context is significant. When the Hebrews entered the Sinai Desert, they were thirsty and cried out for water. So the Lord commanded Moses to strike a rock with his staff, miraculously causing water to flow for the people to drink and live. St. Paul the Apostle would later reflect that the Hebrews “all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ.” Jesus Christ is our source of life. He pours out his living water so we may spiritually survive our pilgrimage through the desert of this world and happily enter the Promised Land of the life to come. Where do we find this living water with Jesus? Three places come to mind and the three are intertwined.

Christ’s water of life first comes to us in baptism. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit, and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission….” This sacrament is called “‘the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit,’ for it signifies and actually brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which no one can enter the Kingdom of God.” St. Paul teaches that we who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. He writes, “We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.” Baptism connects us to Jesus’ Passion, Death, and Resurrection. We also encounter the water of Christ from the Cross.

On Good Friday, when the Roman soldiers “came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his spear into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.” Jesus nourishes us with himself in his Eucharist so that he remains in us and we remain in him as constant companions. Knowing of his sacrifice nourishes our souls as well when we consider how Jesus does these things for love of us; both dying for us once on the Cross and then giving us himself from this altar today. We encounter the living water of Christ in baptism and from the Cross, but John’s Gospel tells us of a third way.

When Jesus stood up in the temple area and exclaimed, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink,” St. John’s Gospel notes Christ “said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive,” adding “There was, of course, no Spirit yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” To be clear, the Holy Spirit is an eternally existing divine Person and St. Luke’s Gospel shows us that the Holy Spirit was active in the world even before the birth of Christ, yet through Jesus’ victory every Christian is now made into a temple—an enduring dwelling place—for the Holy Spirit within them. Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.’” He said this in reference to the life-giving and refreshing Holy Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive.

Sharing in Christian Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, and the Holy Spirit who guided Jesus, we drink of the living waters of Christ. A person who drinks natural water will be thirsty again, but Jesus says whoever drinks the water he gives will never thirst. With Jesus, on our pilgrimage through the deserts and trials of this world, our hearts can be refreshed and satisfied through the gift of God.

Posted in Exodus, Holy Spirit, Homily, Jesus Christ, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

Difficult Decisions? Look to the Star

March 15, 2025

2nd Sunday of Lent
By Deacon Dick Kostner

Our gospel this weekend tells of another Epiphany, the “Light of Christ.” Jesus has just disclosed to his disciples that his death is near. He needs to get away from the World and so he invites some of his friends Peter, James and John, to take some time off and follow him to the top of a mountain and pray for support from the Father for him to conclude his ministry vocation as savior of those he loves. His friends do not yet understand that he must die and rise from the dead to complete his assignment. But Jesus gifts them with a look at who he really is. They witness him talking to two Saints Moses and Elijah two Old Testament heroes. Showing them that he is the fulfillment of the Torah. Then they witness his glorified body turning into the bright Light of Christ and they begin to realize that he is not just their fisherman friend but also hear the Father call him his son who commands them to “listen to him.”

Jesus is the great teacher and we, like the disciples are called to “listen to him,” and to follow his directions, actions, and words, and to teach the same to the children of God. Jesus gives us directions today on how we can be successful and fruitful disciples. First, we need to pray for help. Prayers seem to be more successful if we pray on “Holy Ground.” Where do we find that? Some, find it on a mountain like Jesus found it. Some find it in a Church where the Blessed Sacrament resides. But for many it lies where ever you go to when you need help and direction from God through prayer. For me that is usually near my garden or a place that I can witness the Father’s creatures and creations. A place of reverence and quiet wonder of creation. Sometimes it is my chair where I write my homilies and reflect on Scripture writings. Bottom line is the whole world can and is “Holy” if you find yourself thanking God for where you can find peace to talk to Him.

Next, Jesus tells us to invite family and friends to join you and maybe provide some help and support from them when you are confused or suffering through an event you need to get through. My favorite place to view this is at a funeral liturgy. Remember Jesus works through and with his followers, who he calls His earth Body, His Church.

Finally, remember that Jesus has respect for suffering, and in this life, it is a very important element of faith, for it requires us to admit we need his supernatural strength to overcome and turn suffering into redemptive faith in and through his power to bring about an end to suffering through Easter Sunday and bring about our glorified eternal life with him in heaven.

Transfiguration can happen to us when we are called by God to commit to a vocation call from Him. At RCIA/OCIA class we talked about special events we have experienced in our lives and I shared with the class one of my special and fearful events that occurred to me when we were asked to purchase for ourselves an alb, a white vestment which I believe is related to our baptismal vow to be priest, prophet and king,.  It was to be used by us for leading parish  prayer events after we had completed our two years Lay Minister class some twenty-nine years ago. Barb, had me trying on several albs at a store in La Crosse and after she found one that she thought looked best on me she told me to go over to the mirror to get my take on the one she had picked. I walked over to the mirror glanced at the alb ,which I thought was fine, and then I looked up and fear overtook me. The face I saw in the reflection was not some one that I knew. I said to myself “who is this person?” This is not the person I grew up with. I did not share this with Barb until a week or so later. A few days after the happening while having a beer with my best friend I confessed my experience to my best friend telling him that I think God has something planned for me that I have not yet thought about. I asked him what he thought about the event and where I should go from here with this new person I had met in the mirror. He grinned at me and said, “I think you should get to know this new person and that you should go for it!” You all know the ending.

P.S.: The guy I grew up with is still with me, and the new guy and him are now good friends.

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Passing the Marshmallow Test

March 9, 2025

1st Sunday of Lent
By Fr. Victor Feltes

A young child is brought into an empty room and seated at a table. On the table is a plate with a single yummy marshmallow. An adult explains that if the child waits fifteen minutes to eat the treat, one more yummy marshmallow will be given. Will the child eat one treat now or enjoy two treats later? Versions of this experiment are known as the Marshmallow Test. Studies of the Marshmallow Test have varied in their findings about how much this predicts a child’s future academic and social success. But in every test, a person faces a free choice: to either grasp at an easy thing, or to resist temptation and obtain something better. The temptations of Jesus in the desert were a high-stakes test which our Lord passed and we can learn from.

During Jesus’ public ministry, when “unclean spirits saw him,” St. Mark records they would fall down before Jesus and shout, “You are the Son of God!’” But St. Luke records how Jesus “rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.” The title “Son of God” was thought a reference to the Messiah, Christ, or Anointed One spoken of in the 2nd Psalm. During the Temptations in the Desert, the devil may or may not have known that Jesus is divine, but the devil’s questions show he at least strongly suspected that Jesus was the Christ, the prophesized King of the Jews: “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread. … I shall give to you all this power and glory… All this will be yours, if you worship me. … If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from (this roof ledge of the temple).” With each temptation, the devil was placing before Jesus an easy way to become a flawed Messiah.

Like the forty days of Moses atop Mount Sinai, Jesus ate nothing for forty days in the desert and he felt hungry. By suggesting that he tell stones to become bread (possibly against God’s command that he fast) the devil was enticing Jesus to be a materially-focused Messiah. Yet “man does not live on bread alone.” Giving everybody bread without saving their souls would doom the whole world to death. Instead, Jesus obeys his Father, and goes on to change bread into his Flesh for the life of the world. By suggesting that Jesus worship the wicked “Prince of this World” the devil was enticing him to grasp at worldly power like evil lords, kings, and emperors. Instead, Jesus establishes a Kingdom in this world not of this world and reigns now as our uncorrupted, holy, righteous King. By suggesting that Jesus jump off from the height maybe the devil sought to fool him into presumptuously ending his own life, or maybe he wanted Jesus to be a Messiah who would refuse to die so he could never be the Lamb of God whose sacrifice takes away the sins of the world. Instead, Jesus is obedient unto death, even death on a cross, winning for himself and for us a resurrection to glory. Each time, Jesus resists the temptation, refusing the easy evil way but obtaining something better for himself and others.

Our daily temptations may not be so dramatic as Jesus’ in the desert, but we frequently face similar tests. When you are tempted to sin, consider the cost and opportunities lost. If you choose to throw rocks through your windows, if might be fun in the moment but you will lose money and time repairing them. And that money you would have used for a nice meal or clothing or some other good thing will instead be spent on panes of glass. If you choose to sin, it will cost you; not only in the pains which follow but also in the goods things you fail to obtain. When the devil would lead you down the smooth and easy path, call out to the Lord and trust Jesus enough to take the path that Christ has shown you. We see the greater things Christ’s faithful obedience ultimately brought himself and others. Patiently endure in order to see the victories it leads to in this life and the next life, in this world and the world to come. Remember the Marshmallow Test and pass the test before you.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Homily, Jesus Christ, Salvation History, Spiritual Warfare, Sunday Homilies | 2 Comments »

Loving Creatures in God’s Likeness

March 8, 2025

By Fr. Victor Feltes

Donna grew up an only child on a farm, and though not as important as her love for her family and our Lord she also dearly loves animals. Her obituary notes how she has “had an incredible fondness of God’s creatures from her very youngest years to her passing.” As a girl, she raised a pet raccoon. Once, after learning how to live trap, she caught a skunk and wisely let it go. More conventionally as an adult, she owned a dog and daily fed the animals at her bird feeder and on her lawn. She even got in trouble once for feeding deer in town. In her later years, “even to her last days of driving, Donna could be seen at Irvine Park with her loaf of bread feeding her adopted ducks, geese, and squirrels that she had virtually tamed to eat from her hand. She had a near magic touch with them and earned every bit of her Donna Doolittle nickname.” Donna has a remarkable love for animals. Even through this was materially unprofitable to her, she loved them. Consider how such a love is a reflection of God’s love.

Sometimes we use animals for practical purposes; for labor or transportation; for meat, milk, or eggs; for leather or wool; for security, hunting, or herding. But even without a further utilitarian purpose we can love, delight in, and care for animals. God likewise uses us to accomplish his will on earth. Yet, while Almighty God does not strictly need human beings for anything, he loves, delights in, and cares for us. “God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them…”

One way in which we share the image of the Lord of all creation is in our lordship over the living creatures on earth. God said: “Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth.” Adam’s first God-given task in the story of Genesis was in relation to the animals. “The Lord God formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each living creature was then its name. The man gave names to all the tame animals, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals….”

Our relationship with the animals bears a likeness to the Lord’s relationship with us. Sometimes Jesus said things about animals to reveal truths about God’s love and care for us. Jesus says, “Notice the ravens: they do not sow or reap; they have neither storehouse nor barn, yet God feeds them. How much more important are you than birds!” “Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.” “Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God. … Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.” Jesus lamented over the Holy City, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem… how many times I yearned to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were unwilling!”

And we hear Jesus declare, “I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.” The Lord Jesus is our Good Shepherd who guides us in right paths for his name sake and who will call us to resurrection. He assures us, “Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. … The hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation.”

Donna faithfully belonged to “The Good Lord” of whom she was not bashful to speak. As a member of his flock, he fed her with his Eucharist, his very self, which she richly treasured. Donna knew her Lord’s voice, listened to him in prayer, and followed him. And so, while we pray for Donna’s soul’s, for her we fear no evil, since Jesus Christ her Good Shepherd loves her more than we love any earthly creature.

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Holy Guides Are Needed

March 1, 2025

8th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes

Lovingly correcting someone who is in moral or religious error is a good thing to do. As St. James writes in his New Testament Letter, “If anyone among you should stray from the truth and someone bring him back, he should know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” Your fraternal correction could save a soul. Like a father who disciplines every son he acknowledges and delights in, addressing another’s faults in an appropriate way is an expression of our love for them.

Last Sunday, we heard Jesus say: “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.” But understand that Jesus is not teaching indifference towards error and sin; he is commanding us to love sinners despite their wrongs. And loving others, always willing their good, will sometimes mean discussing their faults with them. As St. Paul teaches the Galatians, “[I]f a person is caught in some transgression, you who are spiritual should correct that one in a gentle spirit, looking to yourself, so that you also may not be tempted.” Is there someone the Lord desires you to call and bring back from the error of their way?

This Sunday, Jesus teaches that if we are going to see and correct the errors of others we must also see and correct what is wrong in ourselves. Jesus asks, “How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.” It is a good thing to help remove splinters from others’ eyes if we can, but if our vision is poor, or we are in a worse condition ourselves, then our intervention may cause more harm than good.

Why do we notice splinters in our neighbors’ eyes but fail to perceive wooden beams in our own? Because it’s easier to complain about others than to examine and reform ourselves. By criticizing rude people and know-it-alls, the holier-than-thou and the impious, bosses, co-workers, customers, political leaders and religious leaders, relatives, neighbors, and strangers, we can feel better about ourselves without improving ourselves or the world in any way. Being prone to criticizing others is spiritually dangerous, because the person for whom I have the greatest responsibility and whom I have the greatest influence to change — that is to say, myself — ends up feeling righteous while ignoring my own flaws. However, a holy season is at hand for us to examine ourselves and grow.

Lent, which always seems to sneak up on us, starts this week. This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. Who will guide you through this important time of personal conversion? Jesus asks his disciples, “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?” St. Luke notes that this is a parable, indicating that Jesus’ observation has a deeper meaning. Jesus’ illustration contains a spiritual teaching. Each of us, where we are blind, need a guide who has clear sight. Where can we find guides to lead us? Jesus Christ and those conformed to him are trustworthy guides for us.

Jesus says, “No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.” Disciples of Jesus Christ are called to become saints like Christ. This means we can learn from Jesus and his saints this Lent.

I suggest conversing with Jesus every day in prayer this Lent. You can just talk to him in your own words and listen for his replies within you. Sometimes the words you receive will be so true and good, insightful, and beautiful that you know they come from him. This Lent, you can also read or listen to the Gospels, especially if you’ve never read them before. You can encounter the words and person of Jesus there.

St. Paul wrote, “Be imitators of me as I imitate Christ.” This Lent you can also grow in holiness with a saint. Choose a saint as your patron for Lent, or ask that a saint would present themselves to you for this role. Learn about your saint online, or from a book, or a film. Read a saint’s writings, learn from their example, pray prayers that they prayed, and ask daily for the help of his or her prayers.

Prepare a spiritual plan for this Lent, so that the good tree you are may bear better fruit and the store of goodness in your heart may increase to fullness. This will make you a better witness and guide to sinners as you grow as a saint in the likeness of Christ.

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