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Ready for Christ’s Coming? Then & Now

November 26, 2022

1st Sunday of Advent
By Fr. Victor Feltes

Our season of Advent has now begun — a season of Christian preparation. Throughout Advent, we the Church are getting ready in two different respects: we are preparing to celebrate and commemorate the historical birth of Christ at Christmas and, at the same time, we are preparing for the day Jesus will return to this world in unveiled glory. In today’s Gospel, Jesus recalls the story of the days of Noah’s Ark, in which a few were prepared for the flood and saved while most were unprepared and swept away. “So too, you also must be prepared,” Jesus tells us, “for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” Will we be prepared for the day of Jesus’ return? How well prepared and open were people for Christ’s first arrival and what can their examples teach us?

Local shepherds of Bethlehem were the first to hear of Christ’s birth on Christmas. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and said, “[B]ehold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy… a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord!” Now these shepherds were working, keeping night watch over their flock. They could have claimed they were too busy to accommodate Christ into their schedules. Instead they said, “Let us go… to see this thing… which the Lord has made known to us!” They went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and their Lord lying in the manger.

Sometime later, word of Christ’s birth came to King Herod in Jerusalem, but he did not welcome this good news into his heart. This man loved to reign in his own domain and did not wish to share control. So the king sent soldiers to kill the children who could be Jesus. King Herod refused to change for Christ.

Where had Herod learned of Christ’s birth? Through Magi from the east who came to Jerusalem in good faith expecting to find the newborn king of the Jews. “We saw his star at its rising,” they said. They came with their gifts to honor him. Now most had missed the important sign from heaven (they were focused on other things) but the Magis’ attentions were not distracted, and based on what they saw, they acted. They too found the Lord amidst his Holy Family.

The examples of the shepherds, King Herod, and the Magi show us ways of either being ready and open for Christ or not. So ask yourself this Advent, will I allow work and responsibilities to crowd out my time for Jesus, or will I be like the shepherds who came to him and his Holy Family with joy? Will I cling to my own control, my wealth and my sinful pleasures like King Herod did, or will I offer and sacrifice these things to Christ? Will be distracted by the many diversions of this world and overlook what really matters, or will I be attentive like the Magi to act for the Lord?

At the start of this Advent season, St. Paul tells us, “You know the time; it is now the hour for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand.” Let us prepare to celebrate and commemorate the historical birth of Christ at Christmas, while at the same time preparing for the day Jesus will return to this world in unveiled glory.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Homily, Last Things, Saintly People, Salvation History, Second Coming, Sunday Homilies, The Magi, The Shepherds | Leave a Comment »

Faithful Through the End

November 14, 2022

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran

A devout, Catholic man came to a priest for advice. He had been coming to the church for some thirty years. He estimated he had listened to over three thousand sermons but couldn’t remember any of them. He felt that he was wasting his time and also the priest’s time. The priest thought about it for a short while and then asked the man. “How long have you been married?” the man responded he had been married forty-two years. The priest then asked what were his memorable meals during his marriage? The man replied that he couldn’t remember any specific meals that his wife prepared, but they certainly nourished him or he wouldn’t be healthy. The priest then replied that definitely all those sermons he had listened to were nourishing his soul because he keeps coming back to the Church.

Today’s first reading from the Prophet Malachi addresses the problem of why evildoers prosper and just people suffer. What is the value of living a just and pious life when the irreligious people look down on the observance of the Law? The prophet tells them that the end of the world and the judgment will be terrible for the evildoer but joyful for the faithful. For those who have based their lives on being loyal to the Truth and have spent their lives in the service of God, and sought the well – being of their brothers and sisters, the sun of righteousness will shine out with healing in its rays.

In the second reading from the Second Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, we hear that those people unwilling to work, should not eat. Here St. Paul commands and exhorts in the Lord to do their work quietly and earn their living. St. Paul gives them his own example to show how he toiled day and night to earn his livelihood and never to expect anyone to take care of him. Even though he ministered and worked for the people of God, he lived by his own hard work.

The Gospel today begins with Jesus commenting on the Temple of Jerusalem, a temple which was one of the great wonders of the ancient world. It was the heart and center of all Jewish life; the very symbol of God’s presence among them. Yet Jesus tells his hearers, “All these things you are starting now, the time will come when not a single stone will be left on another, everything will be destroyed.”

Jesus warns his followers not to be deceived. The Christian life is to focus on the here and now and that will require strength and faith. The world will continue with wars and insurrections and there will continue to be natural disasters. The teaching of Jesus must help us not to live in fear and anxiety regarding the future. Rather, we are to focus on the present time, today, here and now. Jesus promises his followers if they bear sufferings for Christ’s name they will earn true life, the eternal life of Heaven.

During life we need to continue to listen to sermons, read the Bible, pray the Rosary, and read the lives of the saints to help us to nourish our souls. We know that we need to work hard in this life for ourselves and others. The sufferings in this life will help us to gain eternal life with God. We must have faith that God is always with us. In our life we go through lots of problems and difficulties, but we also have joy. But our joy will not end here. It will go on forever with God in Heaven.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Homily, Last Things, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

Be Not Afraid, Be Well-Prepared

November 5, 2022

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes

Today we see the Sadducees come forward and put a question to Jesus, but who were the Sadducees? They were a Jewish religious group less popular than the Pharisees but in some ways more powerful. The Sadducees were the party of high priests, aristocratic families, and wealthy merchants, and they were well-represented among the members of the Jewish high council, the Sanhedrin. Theologically, unlike Pharisees, the Sadducees only accepted the first five books of the Bible as scripture: that is, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These five books are called the Torah (the Law) or the Pentateuch. The Sadducees denied the inspiration of all the other Old Testament books and only accepted religious beliefs which they thought were contained in those first five books.

The Sadducees did not believe in life-after-death nor in eternal punishments or eternal rewards hereafter; and they saw no scriptural evidence for the idea of a resurrection of the dead. Therefore, to challenge Jesus, they pose a hypothetical question about the resurrection involving a woman who had multiple husbands, a question they think will lead him to a ridiculous conclusion. In response, Jesus explains that life and love in the coming age are far more mystical than they imagine. But today I want to highlight the end of Jesus’ answer.

The Sadducees were hobbled by having accepted a truncated faith less than the fulness of all God had revealed (as is the case with most Christians today). Jesus desired to show them that life-after-death is proclaimed by God, but he had to do so using evidence they would acknowledge. So Jesus cites an event from their own accepted Book of Exodus. Jesus says: “That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

Jesus highlights how at the Burning Bush the Lord did not identify himself to Moses by saying, “I was the God of Abraham, I was the God of Isaac, and I was the God of Jacob.” The Lord declares, “I AM the God of your fathers,” because even though their bodies had perished long before their souls remained alive to God. Jesus teaches that those who have died still live and that the dead will rise again, just like the Christ rises from his tomb in both his soul and body.

This time of year, throughout November, we remember in a special way those who have died. On November 1st, we celebrate all saints now in heaven. On November 2nd, we pray for all those who have died and whose souls continue being purified in Purgatory so as to be made perfect for heaven’s glory. In this fall season, as our trees’ leaves fade and fall and our farmers’ fields are harvested, the Church is nearing the end of our liturgical year (which begins anew with Advent). And the focus of our readings at Mass in these final weeks turn toward the last things, including death.

Unless Jesus Christ returns in glory first, each of us will die one day. And if we die, our bodies will one day rise again. In light of these facts, how should we live and prepare to die? Many people avoid thinking about death because it makes them feel so uncomfortable. Like a child who closes their eyes in order to be invisible, some choose not to consider their own death all. However, this strategy does not change reality and creates a grave risk of dying ill-unprepared.

Do not be spiritually unready; you probably have less time left than you think. So believe in our Lord and be converted, do what is right and reject your sins. For instance, stop skipping Sunday Mass and Holy Days of Obligation. If we do not wish to worship and obey God he will honor that decision… forever. So repent and do his will.

Do not neglect or postpone receiving Christ’s sacraments, Confession, the Eucharist, and the Anointing of the Sick. Even if it is possible to reach heaven without the Last Rites (including the Apostolic Pardon, Viaticum, and Extreme Unction) why would you risk foregoing these graces? Be well-prepared to die.

Throughout this month of November pray for the souls of the dead, befriend and ask help of the saints above, and grow closer to our Lord Jesus Christ through his sacraments. Jesus says, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again. So do not be afraid of death; instead, be well-prepared.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Homily, Last Things, Repentance, Salvation, Sunday Homilies | 3 Comments »

He is not God of the Dead, but of the Living

November 5, 2022

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran

My first funeral as a priest was for a baby who was two weeks out of the womb. How does one talk to the family? They are a devout, Catholic family, but they asked, why is God allowing this? I listened to them and cried with them. I later responded to them by saying that when I ask why I look at a crucifix. Why did God allow His own son to die? Our salvation and redemption come from the cross. Through the death of that baby, God wants to say something to us; resurrection is what comes out of Christ’s death.

When God revealed Himself to Moses in preparation for bringing His people out of Egypt, He called Himself “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” (Exodus 3:6) When God told this to Moses, centuries had passed after these forefathers had died. However, God acknowledged their existence even after their death. Though the verse did not specify the resurrection of the dead, it implied their survival after death.

Today’s first reading describes a Jewish family, consisting of a mother and her seven sons, who refuse their king’s command to eat pork, forbidden as “unclean” by Jewish Law. Because of their obedient Faith in God, they endure suffering and accept martyrdom. During their torture, three of the brothers speak, and each of them finds strength in the belief that he will eventually be raised and rewarded by God.

The second reading encourages the Thessalonians, who were waiting for the second coming of Christ, to trust in the fidelity of God who would strengthen their hearts in every good work and word.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is challenged by a group of Sadducees concerning the resurrection of the dead. Just before this, Jesus had been challenged by Pharisees and Scribes, whether to pay taxes to Caesar or not. Jesus had dealt effectively with them and reduced them to silence. Again they raised a question this time about the imaginary story of seven brothers marrying one woman, and their relationship with each other in the next life. Their question in the Gospel is certainly an insincere and impossible example, they want to ridicule a belief in the resurrection.

Posted in Homily, Last Things, Moses, Resurrection, Sunday Homilies | 1 Comment »

A Trimmer of Trees — Funeral Homily for Gordon “Gordy” Weyers, 90

October 27, 2022

By Fr. Victor Feltes

For several decades, Gordy has loved trimming trees. Of course, there is much more to the man as a Catholic, a husband, a father, and a friend, but this is one of his curious quirks. Whenever Gordy saw outside his house a tree branch which was not right, he was highly-motivated to intervene. He would pull out his ladder and tree-cutting tool to go take care of that errant branch. Dot (that is, Dorothy) his wife of sixty-seven years would tell him, “Don’t climb the ladder,” but he would do it anyway.

Gordy began saying he wanted a new ladder but his kids kept trying to talk him out of this desire, hoping he would stop climbing at his age entirely. Yet by all accounts, his old ladder was very rickety, so eventually Dot said, “Get him a new ladder, because he’ll fall off the old one.” Dot would periodically look out the window to check on Gordy tree trimming on his ladder. Years later, she told him, “Good thing you never fell off!” He replied, “Oh, I fell off a few times, I just didn’t tell you.”

But here’s the thing: after Gordy’s trimming—however daring or reckless it may have been—his trees looked really good. Dot reports that “he never did anything that made them look bad.” Those trees became more perfect, more healthy and strong, more handsome and beautiful, by having been cared for and pruned by Gordy.

We often recall “the Lord is my shepherd,” but we less often reflect on how our God is a gardener. In the beginning, God created a perfect garden. And when St. Mary Magdalene first encountered Christ resurrected on Easter Sunday she thought he was the gardener. Jesus teaches, “I am the vine, you are the branches… and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.” And the Letter to the Galatians tells us that the fruits which the Holy Spirit grows in us include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We are like trees which God prunes to make us more perfect.

Now I imagine if gold were alive and aware it may not feel eager be purified in a furnace’s fire, and the pruning process might not be a lot fun for a tree. But the Book of Wisdom tells us, ‘as gold in the furnace, God proves us… before taking us to himself.’ And though parts of our trees (of ourselves) must die and some of our unsightly branches must be trimmed away, the Lord makes our souls more perfect, more healthy and strong, more handsome and beautiful, through his care and pruning.

Like Gordy with his trees, Jesus saw us outside of his Father’s house. He saw our branches were not right. And he was highly-motivated to intervene. Call it daring or reckless, but our Lord put his life on the line. Christ went up the tree of the Cross to trim our flaws and perfect us. And after death felled him, Jesus rose again.

He declares, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” To enter into heaven, we must be perfected in Christ’s love. So if any imperfections still remain in Gordy’s soul, we ask Jesus today to prune them away. And we welcome our Lord to continue trimming any errant branches within our souls as well.

Posted in Funeral Homilies, Homily, Jesus Christ, Purgatory, Redemptive Suffering, Salvation | 1 Comment »

Death is not the End — Funeral Homily for Robert “Bob” Sarauer, 84

October 16, 2022

By Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran

Robert “Bob” P. Sarauer’s death is not the end. We can still be united with him. We are gathered here around the table of Eucharist, around Jesus, and Bob too is gathered around the Lord. He is now closer to the Lord, enjoying a closer union with the Lord which we also hope to share in the future.

We have heard in the first reading the souls of the just are in the hands of God. What better place could we go after death than into the hands of God? What a beautiful way to describe God’s care for us. Do you remember when you were small and your parents took you up in their arms? You were in the arms of your parents. When we die, God takes us up in his hands. We are in the hands of God. We believe that God has taken Bob up into his hands.

The readings end beautifully, expressing the faith of someone who believes in God’s goodness and who therefore is not afraid to die.

They who trust in him will understand the truth,
those who are faithful will live with him in love.
For grace and mercy await those he has chosen.
(Wisdom 3:9)

Those who trust in him will understand the truth. Those who are faithful will live with him in love. When we die, we go to God’s love.

Robert “Bob” P. Sarauer, 84, passed away on Monday, October 10th, 2022, at his home surrounded by his loving wife Marlene, and family members. He was born September 2nd, 1938, in the Town of Cooks Valley and graduated from Bloomer High School in 1956. On September 8th, 1959, he married Marlene Bowe at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Tilden.

Bob was a kind and gentle man who was loved by all, he loved spending time with family and friends. He always thanked everyone and had a big smile that everyone will remember. Bob enjoyed playing cards and getting together with his former classmates. He loved to travel whenever he could, especially the Alaska trip and all his hunting trips, and was a lover of the Packers football team.

Bob was a farmer all his life and liked milking cows, raising pigs, and cutting wood. In the year 2000, he sold the farm to his son and continued helping with farm work until his health slowed him down. He was survived by his loving wife Marlene for sixty-three years, had three children, four grandchildren, six step-grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and ten step-great-grandchildren.

So we ask God to take Bob up in his arms, to pour his love, grace, and mercy upon him.

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

A New, Joyful Day — Funeral Homily for Robert “Bob” Sobotta, 77

September 26, 2022

By Fr. Victor Feltes

It was the day after Bob’s nineteenth birthday and the day before he would marry Joann. Bob and Joann had met at a Pines Ballroom dance and now they were at The Pines Ballroom again, together with family preparing food for the next day’s festivities. They listened to the radio as they labored, and that’s how they learned what had happened at 12:30 PM that day in Texas. A short time later that same afternoon, the first report of grim news was followed by another: President John F. Kennedy was dead. It was Friday, November 22nd, 1963.

Presidential assassinations had happened before, first and most famously with President Lincoln. But it had been sixty-two years since the last murder of a president, when President McKinley was shot and died in Buffalo, NY in 1901, and few were still alive who remembered living through it. So Joann recalls how shocked everyone was that a president, America’s first Catholic president, was killed. They were all discussing it, stunned. They just couldn’t believe it, it seemed so unbelievable — and yet it was real, as real as death.

I asked Joann whether that mournful news, whether this national tragedy, soured their “Big Day”? No, she said, it was “just as joyful.” Bob and Joann awoke the next day and were married in the morning (as was the custom then) in a 9:30 AM Saturday wedding Mass at St. Peter’s in Tilden in the company of many loved ones, their family and friends. This was followed by a dinner at the Sundial Club and then a reception back at The Pines, a feast and a dance for them all. Bob loved to dance, polkas and waltzes in particular, and he enjoyed dancing with his new bride. Bob and Joann would happily share their next fifty-eight years together loving God, each other, and their family, friends, and neighbors, until Bob’s recent passing.

Death is sad and unsettling. Though common to history, it still remains shocking for us. But suffering and death are not the end of our stories. Though we mourn now, we will be comforted. We expect a new dawn, a new day, when the blessed friends of Christ – our King who dies no more – will awaken to celebrate his wedding feast with him. Jesus our Good Shepherd will spread the table before us, and the just shall dance with delight, and every tongue shall give praise to God. Though today we walk in the dark valley, the day we prepare for, the day we look forward to, the day that awaits us, will be full of joy.

Posted in Culture, Funeral Homilies, Heaven, Homily, Hope | Leave a Comment »

The Gift of Eternal Life ― Funeral Homily for Leonard & Jean Halfman

August 26, 2022

By Fr. Victor Feltes

Imagine if, one night in a dream, an archangel visited you. His incredible glory fills your vision and you are convinced he comes from heaven. He bears a message for you. “Behold,” he announces, “the Lord God has decreed that you shall never die.” Then the angel departs from you and you awake in the morning wondering what this means.

A few years pass and you notice nothing unusual. You wonder if you might have imagined it. But a few more years pass and you realize that you’re not aging. A decade passes, and then another, but your age remains the same. If anything, you seem a little bit younger, while you see your friends and relatives grow older. You delight to be healthy and able to join them for their good times and you are grateful you can be there for them in their hard times. Eventually, you attend all of their funerals. You mourn their passing, but your life still contains joy.

Through the years, you make new friends. Perhaps you marry, or remarry, and have many children. You collect new hobbies, go back to school to earn degrees, and start careers in various fields. Eventually, you explore other regions of the world, learn new languages, and experience the best of other cultures. Your unending lifetimes would fill centuries, and your centuries might span millennia, but the longing within you would remain unfulfilled.

Your eyes may be filled by beautiful sights, your mouth may be filled with delicious tastes, and your ears may be filled with lovely sounds, but you would become envious of those who die because this world’s good things cannot fully satisfy. God places within us a natural wariness of death, and this is healthy and good. (If human beings failed to take proper care of themselves—if we were naturally apathetic towards survival—how could God’s purposes be accomplished in our lives?) But after having lived for multiple lifetimes, the blessing of earthly immortality would feel like being left out, left behind, like a curse. You would envy those who get to experience what’s next, while you continue to wait, with great impatience, for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

This funeral is unique in all my years of priesthood. Never before have I celebrated a Mass of Christian Burial for more than one person at once. And thankfully, today’s double funeral does not follow a horrific tragedy, such as a family’s fatal car crash or a double murder. Leonard and Jean lived longer lives than most people: eighty years and seventy-seven years respectively. And they lived fuller lives than most people, with strong Catholic Faith which they imparted to their children through fifty-six years of marriage.

Though a quiet, introverted pessimist was paired with a talkative, extroverted optimist, together they reflected Christian excellence to the world – feeding others through an extraordinary dairy herd, and supporting and caring for the sick and dying. Both endured physical sufferings, realizing along the way that the brain is a bodily organ which can require a physician’s help as much as any other. And finally, after sharing a lifetime together, their earthly lives came to natural ends less than ten weeks apart from each other. Despite living only one lifespan each, Leonard and Jean did not see their coming deaths as tragedies. I am told by their children, “In their own way, each experienced joy when they realized that they were nearing the end of this life and entering eternal life, and they were ready to go.”

Jesus says, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink… ill and you cared for me…” The Book of Wisdom says, “Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself. In the time of their visitation they shall shine, and shall dart about as sparks through stubble…” So while there is naturally some sadness today, we do not mourn a tragedy but rejoice in a triumph. As St. Paul said: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? … Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”

Posted in Funeral Homilies, Homily, Last Things | 1 Comment »

Are you Friends with Jesus?

August 21, 2022

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes

How many friends do you have on earth? When was the last time you counted them? It’s not the same as the number of Facebook friends you have. Each of us have many acquaintances, but fewer friendly acquaintances, and still fewer true friends. What is it that makes you and your friends friends? Are you friends with Jesus and how can you tell?

Luke’s Gospel relates a parable which foreshadows that not all will die as friends of Christ. The Lord Jesus is the master of the house and he plainly warns us that after he has arisen and locked the door, many will stand outside knocking and saying, “Lord, open the door for us… We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.” But he will answer, “I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!” In the parallel passage to this which appears in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus cautions us, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven… I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you.’” Seeing many figures from the Old Covenant and from around the world saved, reclining at table, and feasting in the kingdom of God, those kept outside will be angry and grieved, wailing and grinding their teeth, at having squandered their chance to enter.

But doesn’t Jesus say elsewhere: “Knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened”? That is true for us during this lifetime, but at the moment of death one’s eternal fate is sealed. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “Death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ.” (CCC #1021) We must come to Jesus. Jesus says, “I am the gate…. No one comes to the Father except through me… Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Now is the time to approach him and befriend him for our salvation. We know that he loves us, but are we friends with Jesus?

When I was growing up, I thought about how many friends I had. I wondered, “Who counts as a friend?” I came up with a test: my close friends were those who could invite me to their house for supper with their family, or whom I could have over to eat with mine, without it being strange. With most of my grade school peers such invites would have felt weird, but with my handful of friends it felt fine. Eating with other people has been a sign of fellowship since ancient times. This is partly why Jesus calls us to Mass, to this meal together with him and the family of God. What greater dinner invitation could we receive than this?

Yet, simply eating with our Lord does not guarantee our closeness. During his public ministry, Pharisees invited Jesus to dine with them while regarding him with suspicion, and recall what those locked outside in the parable say to our Lord: “We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.” Merely being present for these activities does not automatically yield a close friendship with Christ. At every Mass, Jesus’ Word is taught and his Body and Blood are consumed, but friendship with Christ is about more than just coming to church. So how can we be closer to him?

I recognized my boyhood friends in those whom I would visit for meals and whom I would likewise welcome to dine with me. Jesus invites us to visit him in the Eucharist but desires that we in turn would invite him to our homes. In the Book of Revelation, Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me.” How can we invite Jesus inside? How do we receive him into the places where we live?

Jesus knocks upon the door of our souls and hearts and minds each day, and through daily prayer we let him in. Open the door to him by prioritizing your relationship with habits of devotion. Be a gracious host to your great guest and make him feel at completely home, listening to his voice and fulfilling all his requests. Seek to serve the Kingdom of Christ and embody his righteousness as a saint like him. Reject your sins and love like him, for Jesus says, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” Jesus knows we’ll mess up sometimes, but Christ’s true friends will strive to be his close friends.

Posted in Heaven, Hell, Homily, Jesus Christ, Last Judgment, Last Things, Mass, Narrow Door, Parables, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

Choose the Narrow Gate

August 20, 2022

21st Sunday of Ordinary Time
By Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran

Salvation is a past, present, and future event. We were saved from the bondage of sin when we were baptized as children or adults. We are being saved in the present, when we cooperate with God’s grace by loving others as Jesus did, by sharing our blessing with the needy, and being reconciled with God daily through His forgiveness of our sins. We will be definitively saved when we hear the loving invitation from Jesus, our Judge, at the moment of our death when we hear Him say, “Good and faithful servant, you were faithful in little things enter into the joy of your Master.”

Today’s first reading about the prophesy of Isaiah, we hear about the return of God’s people to Jerusalem. It is an assurance that God will fulfill His promise to His People. God will soon fulfill his promise of restoring us to Himself. He will do this to show His saving power. God has the purpose for this gathering, this is for the glory of his name. In other words, every work he does has the remote aim of giving Him Glory. In addition to gathering us unto Himself, God will also make us his ambassadors to other nations.

Today’s second reading from the letter to the Hebrews gives us the “narrow gate” theology. The road less often taken and the gate less often chosen are the paths of God’s discipline. The pain and suffering Christians experience are the parts of God’s discipline given in love. We are being disciplined by our afflictions, strengthened to walk that straight and narrow path – that we may enter the gate and take our place at the banquet of the righteous. The experience is similar to that of a child being disciplined by loving parents who desire only to help him grow, mature, and become responsible.

In the Gospel, Jesus answers a very difficult question, “Lord, will there be only a few saved?” His response was very simple, “Try your best to enter by the narrow door.” Jesus affirms that God wants all persons to enjoy eternal life. But he stresses our need for constant fidelity and vigilance to His commandments throughout our lives. Thus Jesus reminds us that, even though God wants all of us to be saved, we all need to work at it. Entry into God’s Kingdom is not automatically granted. Jesus came to bring God’s love and freedom to the whole world. The message of his Gospel is that there is not a single person, people, nation, race or class which will be excluded from experiencing the love and liberation that God offers.

We need to make wise decisions and choose the narrow gate. God allows us to decide every day what road we will walk down and what gate we will choose. He encourages us to choose His way and His life. “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me,” this means a consistent denial of self for the steady follower of Jesus.

We need to cooperate with God’s grace every day, by choosing the narrow way and the narrow gate of self – control of our evil tendencies, evil habits, and addictions. God gives us divine strength to practice self – control. We are enabled to love others, see the face of Jesus in them, and share our blessings with them. The Holy Spirit guides us through the narrow way in daily prayer, bible reading, and reception of the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist.

Posted in Chrisitian Virtues, Christian Perfection, Homily, Last Things, Narrow Door, Parables, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

Invited Home ― Funeral Homily for Kathleen Zwiefelhofer, 82

August 12, 2022

By Fr. Victor Feltes

In my priesthood, I have visited many dying people and heard many stories told by family members about them. In this, I have found patterns among Christians dying. For instance, as I have spoken about before, the dying person may or may not know they are in their final week of life, yet he or she is often blessed to have “a last good day.” A happy day shared with loved ones or enjoying a dearly-loved activity is gifted to them by God, from whom all good things come.

Another providential pattern I often see when visiting the dying is how people come to for the Anointing of the Sick. Though wavering in consciousness when I call their names and they open their eyes and they realize a priest has come to share God’s grace. When I came Kathleen’s side in the emergency room to give her the sacrament for those in danger of death, I called her name and she opened her eyes, and knowingly received this consolation from God. Kathleen’s journey from this life features two more elements dying Christians commonly experience. The first was her desire “to go home.”

As we grow old, our bodies are beset with infirmities. This reminds us that all of us must “appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense, according to what [we] did in the body, whether good or evil.” Our physical frailty helps to detach us from this world so that we are open to something greater. Our weakness leads us pray like the psalm: “Put an end to my affliction and my suffering; and take all my sins away. … To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.”

Throughout this year, burdened in her mind and body, Kathleen has expressed a desire “to go home.” She said this while still living at home, in the house she grew up in, next-door to St. Paul’s Church. So what “home” did she mean? Kathleen, in faith, was expressing her longing for heaven. St. Paul writes, “We know that if our earthly dwelling, a tent, should be destroyed, we have a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven. [And so] we are courageous, and we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord.”

The second detail from Kathleen’s story which I have encountered before in others is visions of visitors. Kathleen’s parents, George and Catherine, and her husband, Leon, each died many years ago. Yet Kathleen reported being in dialogue with them. She said they discussed with her whether or not it was “time for her to go.” We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, by saints and angels who desire us to dwell with them in God’s holy city, the new and heavenly Jerusalem. They pray for us and help us. On the morning before Kathleen was taken to the hospital, she had another vision. She extended her palm before her saying, “He’s right here. He’s right here,” though she did not clarify whom.

Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” “Behold, I make all things new,” Jesus declares, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” Jesus is the reason we are here. He is why Kathleen did not fear to die. And he is the cause we have for hope in unending life and a greater home. Let us pray for Kathleen’s soul, entrusting her to our loving Lord.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Funeral Homilies, Homily, Last Things, Redemptive Suffering, Supernatural Phenomena | 1 Comment »

In the Boss’s Shoes

August 7, 2022

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Victor Feltes

Once upon a time, you had an idea, an idea to bless the entire world by starting a new business from scratch. You fully invested yourself into the project – your time and talent and treasure – to make this enterprise successful, and it was very successful. After leading your business for many years without a single vacation, you announced you would be taking some time away. You reassured your employees the company would continue and that you would be back, perhaps in a few weeks or maybe several months.

You gave careful instructions to all of your managers for what they were to do in your absence, and then you left on a journey which was out of this world. You celebrated a beautiful, destination wedding which you had long-looked forward to and enjoyed many other things. Then one Friday afternoon around 3:00 PM, you returned to your workplace, your creation.

Driving into the parking lot, you’re surprised by how few cars there are. Your confusion turns into shock when you discover the building’s front doors are locked, despite it being business hours. Fishing out your keys from your pocket you unlock the door and walk into an empty lobby. First, you go to your office and find your dear secretary, Mary, at her desk.

“Thank God you’re here,” she says and she begins to tear up. “After you left, everything became horrible. Despite what you told them, people started doing their own thing. When I tried to correct them, they wouldn’t listen and were cruel.” “Where are they now?” you ask. “Most of the salaried employees have simply stopped showing up, and the rest are skipping work today to make it another ‘long weekend.’” “Mary, I thank you for your faithfulness. I’m sorry this happened to you, and I will make it up to you.”

As you walk throughout the building you notice many empty beer bottles and pizza boxes laying around. The cubicles and warehouse are nearly deserted, except for Jennifer helping customers over the phone at her computer and Michael moving shipping crates on his forklift. Then you find several of the junior employees goofing-off in the break room. They become very quiet when you enter.

“Why aren’t you working?” “Because… no one has told us what to do.” “Fine! Start by clearing these tables and picking up the floor. Clean these workspaces and take out the trash. Then report back to me.”

Returning to your office, you immediately dictate two memos: the first, firing all of your current managers for cause, and a second memo giving large raises and promotions to Mary, Jennifer, and Michael, appointing them as the new leaders of their departments. I trust this tale sounds familiar; it is similar to Jesus’ parables but dressed in modern clothes.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus urges us to be prepared “like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.” Blessed will such servants be upon his arrival, especially if he finds them vigilant in nighttime’s “second or third watch,” that is, during this world’s darkest hours. Their joyfully returning lord and master will be so grateful for their proven faithfulness. “Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them,” just like Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, dries their feet with a towel wrapped around his waist, and gives them his Eucharist at the Last Supper. Our Lord and Master, who shall come knocking on an unknown future day – either on the day we die or on the Last Day – is Jesus Christ himself.

As for those who say “the master is delayed in coming” or imagine he is never coming back, who mistreat other people (the menservants and the maidservants) and serve their own selfish desires (eating and drinking and getting drunk), our Lord will come at an unknown hour and punish them severely, condemning them to where the unfaithful go.

In the beginning, God had an idea, an idea to bless our entire world, creating this universe from scratch. Jesus Christ, through whom all things were made, has fully invested himself into his enterprise’s success. Yet Jesus has given us all freewill. Though never far, Christ leaves us free to choose to be his good co-workers or to do our own wicked thing. Today I hope that, having imagined yourself in the Boss’s shoes, you may better personally feel and appreciate how much our Lord treasures your faithfulness and how eager he is to reward it.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Homily, Jesus Christ, Last Judgment, Last Things, Parables, Service, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

Patterns in Christian Dying — Funeral Homily for Ione Seibel, 84

June 6, 2022

By Fr. Victor Feltes

As a priest, I encounter many people in their dying days. And though every life is different, I have noticed often-repeated patterns. Three of these gracious elements are seen in Ione’s story.

Something I often find is the phenomenon of “a last good day.” The dying persons may or may not know they are in their final week of life, yet they are blessed to have a last good day. Sometimes they love being outside, and there’s a rare day in their final week when they feel well enough to go on a walk or do gardening. Sometimes it’s the day of a family reunion, where they delight to see their family and to say goodbye. Ione, despite her Alzheimer’s condition, had a last good day the Wednesday of her final week. Vernie, her husband of nearly 65 years, who was visiting her at her nursing home with a pair of their daughters, says Ione was “grinning, smiling, shining.” He and the staff described it as Ione’s “best day in two years.”

Jesus also had a good day before he died. When he took his place at table for the Last Supper he told his friends, the apostles, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for, I tell you, I shall not eat it again until there is fulfillment in the Kingdom of God.” Such blessings are bestowed upon us in this life as signs to us of God’s goodness before we enter into the next life.

A second phenomenon I often see is an alertness for the anointing of the sick and last rites. Vernie let me know Ione was dying and I was soon able to visit her on Saturday. When I arrived, he and their children were gathered around her. Now the sacrament of anointing is like the sacrament of baptism in that a receptive person may receive this sacrament even in an unconscious state. Some babies, for instance, sleep through their baptism yet receive the graces of baptism nonetheless. Her family tells me Ione had been unresponsive, but when I greeted her, as I told her who I was and why I had come, she opened her eyes at me. Ione’s family was struck by this but it’s something I commonly see—a providential alertness to receive this sacrament. The Lord often wills for his beloved to consciously experience this gift.

Jesus himself was anointed upon his head with precious perfumed oil in his final days and said, “She has done a good thing for me. … She has anticipated anointing my body for burial.” He was consoled and strengthened by this gift of love, and Jesus desires to console and strengthen us as we enter into his Passion and death.

A third thing I commonly encounter in my ministry is the bittersweetness of a beautiful death. Suffering and death are painful signs of this world’s brokenness from sin. Yet the circumstances which accompany many Christians’ passings are poetic signs to us that death is not our end. As we heard in our gospel reading, on the first Good Friday, a darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. Then our Lord breathed his last, near those who loved him most. The centurion who beheld how Jesus breathed his last said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” And the curtain in the Temple, which veiled its holiest place, was torn in two from top to bottom, from heaven down to earth.

Ione died on a Sunday, Christ’s day of Resurrection. And she died during Easter, the season of Jesus’ victory over death. Like him, she breathed her last in the afternoon’s third hour. And Ione passed away from us on the Feast Day of Jesus’ Ascension, when he passed through the veil from this world into heaven.

A Christian is never truly alone because the Lord Jesus is always with us through life and death. He makes our life story a part of his story, and makes our story like his own. Today is a day of grieving and joy, because we can see this truth anew in the life and death of Jesus’ servant and sister and friend, Ione.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Funeral Homilies, Homily, Last Supper, Last Things, Passion, Redemptive Suffering, Resurrection, Typology | 1 Comment »

Her Core — Funeral Homily for Rose Lankey, 97

May 12, 2022

By Fr. Victor Feltes

Rose was born August 15, 1924, on the Solemnity of Mary’s Assumption into heaven. Today we offer her funeral Mass at St. Paul’s to aid Rose’s own journey to heaven. Three days after Easter in 1947, Rose got married here at St. Paul’s to her beloved husband, “Bud.” He himself joined the Church at this parish and Rose was proud to brag “he’s better than most Catholics!” They were married for 71 years. Rose often volunteered to serve funeral luncheons at St. Paul’s. After retirement, she came here for Mass six days a week; enjoying the holy meal of her dear Lord Jesus typically followed by having coffee with his friends and hers.

Rose had a lifetime of happy memories with her family and friends. During her last ten years on earth she would remark, “I’ve had a wonderful life.” But after Rose turned ninety years old, her mind began to fail her. Throughout the past two or three years her memory had become quite poor. For instance, she knew she had three daughters, but would fail to recognize their fully-grown faces. Yet, even as her human frailty in this damaged world stripped away so much from Rose, there was a deepest core which endured in her. What was that core within her? Her Catholic faith in Jesus Christ.

Rose’s faith and devotion would manifest even in final days. About a month ago, when her daughter handed her a Rosary, Rose looked at the beads not seeming to register their purpose or use. But when she was told “these are rosary beads which were blessed by the pope,” Rose cupped them in her hands and kissed them with her lips. About two weeks before her passing, her mind and body were so weakened that Rose had stopped speaking. Chaplain Lynn from Hospice visited her bedside and suggested to the family, “Let’s pray the Lord’s Prayer.” Rose’s three daughters and son-in-law had not heard Rose verbalize for days, but when they began saying the Our Father together they were in awe when Rose audibly joined in. Later, while Fr. Tim from St. Odilia gave Rose the Last Rites, her lips attempted at times to voice the words of prayer. She looked at the priest, that icon for Christ, with a look of comfort in her eyes.

Jesus tells us it is the will of God the Father that Christ lose nothing that our Father has given him, and Christ shall raise it all up on the last day anew. The poor will have the Kingdom. The mournful will be consoled, for “the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces.” And the meek will inherit the earth. And to those like Rose who lost nearly everything but him Jesus will restore to them everything again, “to dwell in the house of the Lord” forever. On that day it will be said: “Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! This is the Lord for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!” Jesus Christ is the good Lord to whom our beloved Rose faithfully looked. Let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved her.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Faith, Funeral Homilies, Homily, Last Things | 1 Comment »

Dorothy at Home — Funeral Homily for Dorothy Turner, 85

February 22, 2022

I am informed that Dorothy dreaded snowstorms. In years past, she would urge her family not to travel on a day with weather like today’s. But for love of Dorothy you have gathered here to spiritually aid her on her journey and for your mourning hearts to be blanketed by heavenly grace. Today, I would like to share and reflect on a handful of Dorothy stories.

When her kids were growing up, her beloved husband Bob would come home in time for supper when his work schedule permitted. Bob loved everything and everyone to be in their right and proper place. So, near five o’clock, Dorothy would glance out the window to glimpse her husband’s approach. “He’s coming around the corner,” she would yell, and the whole household would spring into action. One child would run into the living room, to tidy up the toys and homework materials. Meanwhile in the kitchen, one kid set the table, another prepared the dessert, while another helped mom put the food into bowls. When dad walked in, Dorothy had everyone seated and ready, awaiting him at the table.

Four years ago, after sixty years of marriage together, Bob passed away. In addition to her many relatives and friends, one of Dorothy’s great consolations in these last years has been her favorite dog, Bud. After suffering a stroke and heart attack eight years ago, Dorothy moved with much more difficulty. Yet Bud would not impede her path or bump into Dorothy’s legs. He would walk with her, behind her all the way. When Dorothy sat or slept, he was there nearby.

A few days before her recent passing at home, Dorothy was saying, “I need to go upstairs. I need to go upstairs.” Josh, her devoted caregiver, asked her, “Why do you need to go upstairs?” She answered, “Because Pa and Ma and all my brothers and sisters are waiting for me.” Dorothy lived in a ranch duplex, it has no second story upstairs. But like others who have approached the end of their earthly lives with perceptions of the hereafter, Dorothy referred “not to what is seen but to what is unseen.” As St. Paul writes, though our bodies (“our earthly dwellings”) may be destroyed, we have a building from God, eternal in heaven.

And who through the many years of Dorothy’s life has most faithfully accompanied her? When she would rest or rise, he was there. He was never an obstacle but her constant companion. Who was her Good Shepherd who has never misled or abandoned her and would seek her out if she ever strayed? He is our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the blessed say, “You spread the table before me.”

We rightly pray for Dorothy’s soul today but it is also right for us to hope that our holy family upstairs is now in a flurry of activity, making last-minute arrangements, preparing her place at the heavenly banquet. In the difficult moments ahead as you mourn Dorothy’s passing imagine an archangel announcing in our Father’s house, “She’s coming around the corner! Dorothy is coming home!”

Posted in Funeral Homilies, Heaven, Homily, Jesus Christ, Last Things | 1 Comment »

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