Archive for March, 2026

The Flashlight in the Darkness

March 23, 2026

5th Sunday of Lent
By Deacon Dick Kostner

We have all heard the story told in today’s gospel where Jesus raises Lazarus up from the dead after he has been dead for days. Today I would like to comment on the fact that Jesus cried after Mary calls him out for not coming to heal him when he knew he was very ill. I believe we need to focus on the fact that Jesus was struggling with his upcoming time to die and how his followers would react to his death. Jesus spent his entire life teaching the people that if they believed in him and followed his teachings that death would not be permanent. His followers watched him doing many miracles including healing people who were dying. But here he was with his close friends who knew him and believed in him crying because they felt he abandoned them in their time of need causing one of their family to die. I believe Jesus cried because Mary and family failed to trust in him on what he had been teaching his whole life. That he is married and committed to his Church which has assumed the responsibility of being his representative human body for people to go for spiritual help and support during our earthly existence until the end of time. This would be proved out by his resurrection from death on Easter Sunday. Death would not end but rather would only be a temporary state of the body sleeping, until the end of time where body and soul would once again be reunited and joined in heaven with Jesus.

During our earthly life we will experience many dark days where we will be confused and seek need to see and be consoled by the Light of Christ. Jesus, when he ascended into heaven, left us a gift of light. His very Holy Spirit which I have previously referred to as being a flashlight given as a gift to all his baptized followers. This light source is powered by and through the Sacraments he gifted his followers and through his bride the Church, his very human body representative. This representative is given the power to work miracles when we are confused and experiencing times of darkness. This representative has skin on, and will provide to those in need, a hug and wisdom to help us charge our flashlight so that we may once again gain safe travel during dangerous dark days.

Our Parish has these last couple of months experienced death of some of our parish elder disciples of Jesus who had always shown us the face of Christ when we were experiencing darkness. Yes there were some tears but there was also many smiles coming from their family when their flashlights were being charged by St. Paul’s and St. John’s representatives of Christ hugs and prayers. I don’t think that Jesus had to shed a tear over these people, but rather gave them a smile and a thumbs up for being present for those people he so loved, and doing their job of being the Light of Christ during times of darkness.

We are about to begin the holiest days of our faith. It is during these days that we are asked to check our flashlights to be sure they are fully charged to handle the dark days that will discharge our batteries when we are called to help ourselves and the people we are called to help during their dark days. There will always be illness; family struggles of addiction, divorces, mental illness, death, and struggles making ends meet. All of these will require our looking for help from others in recharging a tired flashlight so that we can see the Light of Christ and our future. It is through prayer and the Church that we will gain access to Jesus who will lighten up our dark days.

It is this time of year that I feel privileged as a deacon, to be able to share the Light of Christ with my brothers and sisters of faith at the Easter Vigil. It is in the total darkness that I will share Christ’s Light to help our parishioners discharge the darkness they will encounter the next year by getting their “flashlights” charged. It begins when the Easter candle is lit at the back of a dark church from a fire. From this candle, candles held by all the parishioners are lit by servers and the parishioners who share their light with their neighbor while the deacon proclaims the “Light of Christ” as he advances to the front of the Church. Soon we see the darkness overcome by the Body of Christ candles until darkness no longer exists and the scripture readings begin with the Easter Candle proclaiming for all to see and proclaim, “The darkness of death is over for ‘He has risen.‘” I wish to leave you with something to ponder for this upcoming Easter Sunday.

WHY WE NEED JESUS BY THE “COUNTRY DISCIPLE”
He is Love, Peace, Joy and fullness of life that we were created to need. It’s the most loving thing that we could possibly do because He’s the only one who can meet those core human needs.

Wishing all of you a light filled and blessed Easter Experience!

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He Loves Us Through Trials

March 22, 2026

5th Sunday of Lent
By Fr. Victor Feltes

The sisters of Lazarus sent word to Jesus that their brother was gravely sick, saying, “Master, the one you love is ill.” It appears that Jesus already knew what would happen and what he was going to do; a path probably not what Lazarus, Martha, or Mary would have chosen for themselves from the outset, but Jesus had a plan. Today’s Gospel contains this curious pairing of lines: “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was.” It says Jesus knowingly remained where he was until Lazarus had died because he loved them. And then Jesus says, “Let us go back to Judea… Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him.” And when the disciples misunderstand what he means, Jesus makes it absolutely clear: “Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe. Let us go to him.”

When Jesus reaches Bethany, he encounters Martha and then Mary, and both sisters say, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” They both love Jesus but likely wonder in their minds and hearts why he did not prevent this evil from occurring. Perhaps they had heard the stories of Jesus even healing people at a distance, so why didn’t he save their brother, his friend? “When Jesus saw [Lazarus’ sister] weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and deeply troubled… And Jesus wept.” So the Judeans said, “See how he loved him.” But some of them remarked, “‘Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?’ So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb.”

This Gospel speaks three times of Jesus’ love for his friends at Bethany: The sisters’ message to Jesus was, “Master, the one you love is ill.” St. John the narrator tells us, “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” And some of those who saw Jesus weep said, “See how he loved him.” But amidst these lines witnessing to his love there are three times people then seem to wonder why his love did not protect his friends from undergoing this evil: Martha laments, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Mary laments, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” And then some of the fellow mourners say, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?”

Why did Jesus become perturbed, deeply troubled, and weep? I don’t think it was merely from mourning for his friend—whom he knew would be alive and well again in less than an hour or two. Jesus saw the pain and scandal caused by evils like death. He sensed peoples’ questions concerning his love and care for others. So Jesus came to the tomb. Jesus ordered the stone be removed, prayed to God the Father in their hearing, commanded Lazarus to exit the tomb, and revealed he had resurrected his friend. And “many of the Jews who had come…and seen what he had done began to believe in him.”

Why had Jesus done all this? Partly, it was to instill saving faith in him, so that they may believe that the Father sent him. It was also for God’s glory, for when the news of Lazarus’ illness first reached Jesus he said, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” But this trial was also for his friends’ greater good, for as St. Paul wrote, “We know that in everything, God works for good for those who love him.”

Divine providence often takes us down paths we would not have chosen for ourselves. The Lord, all-knowing and all-powerful, permits trials in our lives far more challenging than we prefer to crown us with a glory far greater than we can imagine. As St. Augustine wrote: “God would never allow any evil if he could not cause good to emerge from it.” And as we will recall in the Holy Week fast approaching, Jesus cares so much for us that he underwent the evils of his Passion, Crucifixion, and death for our salvation and glory. Jesus loved his friends Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, and though we may suffer, he loves us as well. Look at Jesus Christ on his Cross and see how he loves us.

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Lessons in Christian Witness

March 15, 2026

4th Sunday of Lent
By Fr. Victor Feltes

The virtuous behavior of a man at the center of today’s Gospel presents us with valuable lessons as Christians. “As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.” This describes close proximity, so this man likely overhead Jesus tell his disciples “neither [this man] nor his parents sinned” to make him blind. Jesus said that he had been blind “so that the works of God might be made visible through him.” This must have inspired some hope in that blind man—to hear a rabbi teach that God loved him and desired to do great things through him. Other people only saw a blind beggar, but the Lord looked into his heart.

Jesus then “spat on the ground… made clay with the saliva… and smeared the clay on his eyes”—in the Greek, Jesus ‘anointed’ him—and told the man to “go wash in the Pool of Siloam.” Should he have walked where Jesus sent him? Why not go? What did he have to lose? And he had much to gain. “So he went and washed, and came back able to see.” Anointed and washed, he began a new life.

At first, some doubted it was really the same man but he acknowledged, “I am.” When asked “how were your eyes opened,” he simply told his story: “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see.” And when they asked him where Jesus was, he answered honestly: “I don’t know.”

Then they brought the healed man to the Pharisees, some of whom already disliked Jesus and objected to him healing on the day of rest, saying, “This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath!” The healed man listened while others countered with the argument, “How can a sinful man do such signs?” Then they asked for the healed man’s opinion: “What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?” And he shared his own reasonable conclusion: “He is a prophet.”

But some of Jesus’ enemies did not wish the man’s story to be true so they interrogated his parents. His parents confirmed the healed man indeed had been born blind so the Pharisees turn their pressure back onto him. “Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner.” But the healed man was honest and refused to denounce Jesus or retract his story: “If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.”

They went back and forth, exchanging jibes, with the man born blind highlighting the Pharisees’ willful blindness. They don’t believe because they don’t want it to be true. The man points out “It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.” But rather than addressing this sound argument, Jesus’ enemies attack the messenger. “You were born totally in sin and are you trying to teach us?” and they threw him out.

When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, Jesus found him and asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” Convinced that Jesus is a prophet, the healed man asks, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus answers, “You have seen him; the one speaking with you is he.” And the man proclaims, “I do believe, Lord,” and worships him.

So what valuable lessons can this healed man teach us as Christians? Each of us is like that man born blind because he could not save himself and neither can we. All of us need Jesus Christ to help us. We hear Jesus teach that God loves us and that God desires to do great things through us, and we should let this give us hope. The Lord is with us, he sees us and he is for us, so we should not despair.

Jesus told the blind man to ‘go wash in the pool’ and he went. When Jesus instructs us, we ought to walk wherever he sends us. Will we be obedient—to come or go or change as Christ commands, or will we stay seated on our stubborn keisters? Why not go? What do we he have to lose? And we have much to gain.

Jesus, through his sacraments anoints and washes us and makes us new. Sometimes the positive transformation in Christ is so profound that adults are almost unrecognizable in good ways after. If people ever ask you what makes you different, why you believe, or what difference your Catholic Christian faith makes in your life, simply answer honestly like today’s healed man and tell them your story.

When people ask you faith or religion questions, you don’t need to know every answer immediately. You can say, “I don’t know.” Good answers exist, even if you don’t always have them ready at hand. Keep your eyes and ears open and you will gains insights like the healed man did.

It is quite reasonable for us to look around and believe Jesus Christ was sent from God. Proof for God, for Jesus Christ, and for their Church take many forms. There’s evidence in reason, science, miracles, mystical experience, and more. Yet many people don’t believe because they wish for it not to be true. They might pressure you, ridicule you, and exclude you, but remain honest like the healed man and never retract your Christian testimony.

Learn from and follow the example of the man born blind, and you will see your reward: the vision, friendship, and blessings of Jesus Christ and his saints.

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The Thirsty Fountain

March 7, 2026

3rd Sunday of Lent
By Fr. Victor Feltes

When the Samaritan woman in John’s Gospel meets Jesus at the well, he says to her, “Give me a drink.” She replies with surprise that he, a Jew, would ask her, a Samaritan woman, for a drink (since Jews used nothing in common with Samaritans). And then Jesus says to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” So Jesus thirsts, and yet at the same time he says he has water to offer her. Jesus in his human nature experienced natural thirst for natural drink, noting “everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.” But Jesus adds “the water I shall give… will become in [a person] a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Later in John’s Gospel, in Jerusalem during a Jewish feast, Jesus stands up and exclaims, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink.” But then, on Good Friday as he hangs upon his Cross, Jesus says, “I thirst.” And when he died and was pierced in the side, “immediately blood and water flowed out.” Thus, Jesus may be called the “Thirsty Fountain.”

St. Teresa of Calcutta, foundress of the Missionaries of Charity, had Jesus’ words “I Thirst” placed beside the crucifix inside of every one of their chapels. Psalm 22 prophesied about Christ’s sufferings when it said, “As dry as a potsherd is my throat; my tongue cleaves to my palate… They have pierced my hands and my feet.” But Mother Teresa recognized that when Jesus said “I Thirst” on the Cross, he spoke of something more profound than merely his physical dehydration. As Jesus pours himself out for us, he thirsts to love us and to be loved by us. In a letter to her religious community in March of 1993, Mother Teresa wrote: “‘I thirst’ is something much deeper than Jesus just saying ‘I love you.’ Until you know deep inside that Jesus thirsts for you – you can’t begin to know who He wants to be for you. Or who He wants you to be for Him.” And such reflections did not only originate with Mother Teresa. For instance, St. Gregory Nazianzen wrote in the 4th century, “God is thirsting to be my thirst.”

The Samaritan woman at the wall balked at Jesus’ first words to her (“Give me a drink”) for she thought, ‘How could a Jew want anything from me?’ We, likewise, might resist the idea that God would want us. He is infinite while we are finite. He is perfect while we are flawed. How could God, complete and happy in himself, ever desire us? It is not from any necessity or lack within God. It was not necessary for God create us. And God was not morally obliged to redeem us from sin and death. But “God is love,” and we see that Infinite Divine Love likes to overflow for others. St. Paul wrote to the Romans that “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

Other people may resist the idea of Christ thirsting for their souls, not due to philosophical or theological objections, but because they find the idea hard to personally connect with, as happens with other inspired Christian metaphors. For instance, the Church is Christ the Bridegroom’s the beloved Bride whom he cherishes and protects that she might be holy and beautiful. That imagery may feel more relatable to women than men. At the same time, men may more readily relate to the call for all Christians to be priests, prophets, and kings in Christ; sanctifying, teaching, servant-leading as other Christs. If Jesus longing for your soul feels too romantic in connotation, remember how our Lord eagerly longs to lead heroes and heroines. The saints are his friends who are willing to sacrifice in his service. “Only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die.” Jesus longs for souls who, with the courage and grace he outpours, are willing to lay down their lives for him as he laid down his life for us.

In conclusion, increase your thirst for Christ who thirsts for you, and drink deeply of the peace, virtue, wisdom, and love which flow out from him. You will never exhaust that Divine Fountain.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Homily, Jesus Christ, Love, St. Mother Teresa, Sunday Homilies, Woman at the Well | Leave a Comment »

A Communal Vision

March 3, 2026

2nd Sunday of Lent
By Fr. Victor Feltes

In an old church joke, one bewildered parishioner remarks, “I don’t know why people say our parish is unwelcoming. Every time I go to Sunday Mass, I say ‘Hello’ to everyone I know!” American Catholics in our day are not great at growing community. Strangers can attend a Catholic Mass, leave without meeting anyone, and go away feeling unwelcome. And sometimes Catholics stop attending Sunday Mass and no one reaches out to them about them being gone. Now it is true that you and I are to supposed come to Sunday Mass first and foremost for God. And if I neglect God’s command to worship at Sunday Mass the fault is first and foremost mine. But look at how much the Transfiguration in today Gospel was a communal, interpersonal experience.

Jesus leads Peter, James, and John up Mount Tabor. There he is transfigured before them, allowing them to glimpse his glory which was always there but veiled. Then they see the prophets Moses and Elijah conversing with Jesus. And then they hear God the Father speak: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” Hypothetically, instead of all three disciples, the Lord had the option of giving just one of them a vision. Peter would go on to have a solo vision upon a rooftop in the Book of Acts, and John receives solo visions for the Book of Revelation. But our Lord chooses Peter, James, and John to experience this vision together.

And what do they behold? Not a miracle manipulating the sun or stars. Not some abstraction words could not describe. They saw a person, their friend Jesus, in a new way. And Jesus was not revealed alone. The Old Covenant heroes, Moses and Elijah, speak with Jesus. Luke’s Gospel records that they spoke with Jesus about “his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.” Even before their redemption, these Old Testament saints appear glorious, and seem to know who Jesus is and aspects of his mission. The Communion of Saints in glory is not cut off from us on earth.

And then they all were visited by a further manifestation of God. A paradoxically bright cloud overshadows them (perhaps a manifestation of the Holy Spirit). And then from amidst that cloud they hear the voice of God the Father. The Transfiguration is a communal, interpersonal experience because Jesus wills his disciples to enter into deeper relationship with the Trinity, with himself, with his saints, and with each other together.

James and John were siblings. Peter was previously their partner and coworker in the fishing business. All three men were from Capernaum and knew each other well as friends. Those whom Jesus chose to be his twelve apostles were not always total strangers. Jesus utilized the existing relationships—of siblings, coworkers, neighbors, and friends—to draw people to himself and help them grow in Christian devotion together. Jesus would do the same with us.

Our Catholic Faith is like a gold coin entrusted to us by our Lord. Will we continue to bury it in a napkin, afraid of making any outgoing effort to evangelize? Or will we invest this coin into others for a God-pleasing return? Imagine the joy of bringing another soul to Jesus Christ and his Church. Invite other people to our worship. They might be interested in attending Holy Mass or Adoration, but you won’t know unless you ask. When you see new folks at Mass, say “hello” to them in our vestibule. And when you haven’t seen someone for a while at Mass, let them know they’re missed. Invite people to our groups and events; they’re fun organizations and accomplish good work; Keep an eye on the bulletin for opportunities or ask someone how to get involved. Join and invite friends to share in these fruitful fellowships.

Our mission, yours and mine, is the Great Commission. And that mission is relational. Jesus says, “Go and make disciples of all nations…” He is God the Father’s beloved Son, with whom the Father is well pleased. Please listen to him, so that more people you know may experience the priceless blessings you enjoy in Jesus Christ and his Church.

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