Reaching Out to Seniors

By Diane Potts

As part of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, St. Hubert Pastoral Care Ministry has been reaching out to the seniors and homebound of our community. Initially we contacted registered parishioners over the age of 70 to see how they were doing and to determine if they had any special needs such as grocery or prescription deliveries, or rides to appointments. After the initial screening, follow-up calls have continued as needed.

In the past three months we have also been connecting with the Catholic seniors living at the senior residences within our parish boundaries, including SummerWood, Riley Crossing, Olive Branch Estates and Edendale. These residences currently have strict rules regarding outside visits and in-house activities. These have been challenging times for these seniors, mentally, socially and spiritually. They are used to gathering together with friends frequently for coffee, meals, entertainment and spiritual activities, and these are no longer options for them.

St. Hubert has been reaching out to these communities in creative ways. Phone calls are made to seniors on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule. We arranged to have Fr. Aric visit the residences with the Blessed Sacrament outside of the building to allow the residents a time of adoration with Jesus from their windows. The We Care Card Ministry sent handmade Thinking of You cards as a way to brighten their day. The music ministry provided music (even had an accordion player!) for the SummerWood residents which was enjoyed by all including a few polka dancers!

In our conversations with the seniors, it has amazed us to see the strength of their faith in God during this challenging time. They have remained upbeat in the midst of this quarantine, knowing “this too shall pass.” They continue to be immersed in prayer by watching daily mass on EWTN or St. Hubert livestream, or praying the Rosary or the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Some have taken it upon themselves to stay in touch with other seniors through phone calls and encouraging one another. Seniors appreciate all that St. Hubert staff and volunteers have done to bring Jesus to our world through the livestreamed, recorded, and drive-in Masses. It helps to see familiar faces!

At the same time, we sense that the loneliness and frustration among seniors is increasing as time goes on. There is a huge need for continued contact with them by way of phone calls, cards, or letters. Take time today to reach out to someone you know in our parish!

We are all suffering from coronavirus fatigue, but we are reminded that Jesus is suffering right along with us, and that He feels our pain and frustration. At the same time Jesus also brings us hope! We know that we can trust in Him as we pray the Divine Mercy chaplet. This is a mantra for all of us! “O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You! ‘Jesus, I trust in You.’” Let us remember the loving care and mercy of Jesus as we journey together through this challenging time.

Lessons Learned from COVID-19

By Fr. Rolf Tollefson

A few years ago I had the privilege of studying with some religious brothers and sisters for a few weeks one summer at an institute for religious called Vita Consecrata. The only reason I was there was because I was an acquaintance of Father Tom Dubay, SM, of happy memory, who wrote a number of books on the spiritual life. He was teaching a class in Liberty, Missouri, just outside of Kansas City, and invited me to participate. As I wore my clerical garb to the classes, sisters kept asking me, thinking I was a religious priest, “What order are you a part of?” With a bit of prideful swagger in my voice, I answered, “The original religious order: founded by Jesus Christ in A.D. 33, The Diocesan Priesthood.” Their question was a good one. It got me thinking about what our specific mission and specific charism is that is given to us to accomplish our mission. After all, Carmelites and Benedictines pray, Dominicans teach, Franciscans serve the poor, but what do parish priests do?

Diocesan priests serve the laity; we are relationally bound to the laity. I would venture to say that the charism of diocesan priests is to help lay people get to heaven. We are trained in helping laity find God at work in ordinary life, to encourage them to receive those graces, and then to encourage them to choose to change how they live their lives accordingly.

There are quite a few “new movements” that have arisen in the last fifty years or so. One of them that intrigues me is a lay movement called “communion and liberation.” It was founded in 1954 with a charism of finding God in ordinary life. Its current leader, Fr. Julian Carron, has written extensively in the past few months about how to find God at work in the midst of the ordinary life, post March 2020, culminating in the publication of a new e-book called Reawakening our Humanity. During the past few months as we’ve adapted to life with COVID-19, we have had many opportunities to invite God in, to find Him in our daily lives.

Here are some of the lessons learned from enduring this time of COVID so far:

1. Silence, which can be seen as time paying attention to and not distracting ourselves from reality, helps us to grow in authentic self-knowledge. Fr. Carron points out that “for a long time, we were perhaps able to avoid the impact of reality, but reality never stopped calling out to us. We did not let reality challenge us, believing we had tamed it, protected on the privileged perch from which we view things….we have lived in some sense, as if we were in a bubble that protected us from the blows of life. And so, we went about our lives distracted, pretending we could control everything. The [virus] spoiled our plans and gave us a rude awakening, telling us to take ourselves seriously and rethink our situation in life….[for] reality has torn apart…our routine. Reality, which we often try to escape, has this time been unrelenting [forcing us] to stop running away from ourselves.” Though home may have felt like a prison, it can also teach us more about who we are. Father Timothy Radcliffe, OP, wrote that “Saint Catherine of Siena experienced three years of self-isolation before the Lord propelled her out on mission. She described her experience as entering into the ‘cell of self-knowledge.’ She also discovered herself as being loved into being by God at every moment.” Silence makes us face who we really are. If you are locked down with someone else, you may discover who they are too. Superficial identities cannot be sustained; the masks we wear start to tear.

2. Suffering forces us to grow. Fr. Luigi Guissani, founder of Communion and Liberation, once wrote that “the truth of the faith is demonstrated by one’s capacity to make what appears to be an obstacle, a persecution, or a difficulty, into an instrument and moment of maturation.” Fr. Radcliffe points out that while “the Holy Spirit was poured out on the apostles at Pentecost and they were sent to the ends of the world, they actually wanted to settle down in Jerusalem and avoid the adventure. It was the persecution of Christians that finally dispatched them from their comfort zone and sent them even to Rome.” What was true for the apostles is true for us as well. How many times do we look back at an awful thing that may have happened to us, and then see how it matured us and made possible a good that was impossible to see at the time, but was made apparent only years later? As Father Caron continues, “we have been ripped out of the comfort zones in which we were comfortably planted and seized by questions that we usually, in a more or less intentional way, avoid or drown out with our daily routines.”

3. We are not invulnerable; we are fragile. Before the virus, we were tempted to believe that we were invulnerable because of our technology. As Pope Francis spoke to an empty Saint Peter’s square on March 27, 2020, “we have realized that we are all on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented. The storm exposes our vulnerability and uncovers those false and superfluous certainties around which we have constructed our daily schedules, our projects, our habits and priorities.” We do not make ourselves; we do not give ourselves being. In the end what dominates us is dependence.

   As we all experience and adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic in our own ways, I invite you to take this time to be silent, to grow, and to accept your fragility and learn from it.

How to Keep Your Kids Catholic Beyond Confirmation Day

By Fr. Rolf Tollefson

In this week’s leadership blog, I’d like to talk about a very, very common occurrence happening in the Catholic Church these days.   Young people are leaving the Church in high numbers.  You and I could argue for hours about why this is happening, and I suppose we both would be right in the final analysis!  There are many, many factors contributing to this phenomenon.  Very frequently, I hear a distressed soul on the other side of the confessional screen lamenting how their children have all left the faith.  How can we keep our kids Catholic?  Allow me to share with you just a couple of the things we are doing at St. Hubert to support your critical role as parents as the primary educators and formators of your children.

We have invested in a new staffer, Corey Manning, who comes with many years of experience in working with college students in FOCUS, the Fellowship of College and University Students.  He is the one who recently designed the Catholic care packages we handed out to college students returning from Christmas break.  (Corey would be very happy if parents sent him the address of the college your child is attending so as to send Halos and other e-publications to your young man or woman who is attending college this fall). 

Corey will also be complementing the work of the (to be hired) new youth minister who will be the primary contact with our high school teens.  Corey will especially be discipling 11th and 12th graders. 

In addition to these efforts, St. Hubert Catholic School gives our children many, many hours of religious instruction than is possible in Wednesday night faith formation classes. St. Hubert Catholic School incorporates faith and prayer into the classroom each and every day, complementing the work parents are doing at home to teach the faith.

Fr. Aric has put countless hours of time into his work as parish youth minister in senior high and Edge (junior high) programs for the past year and a half , but the time has come for him to learn more about what it means to be a pastor (and I think he will be an excellent pastor someday).   Please take a moment to thank Fr. Aric after Masses this weekend!

There is no magic formula to keeping your kids Catholic, and sometimes even despite the best efforts from parents, children stray from the faith. The best you can do to keep your kids Catholic is to live your faith every day with your kids, attend Mass every Sunday and Holy Day, pray for them and with them, and surround them with peers and friends who make faith a priority in their lives.

The Essentially Important Sacrament of Baptism

By, Fr. Tollefson

This past Sunday, we celebrated the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, thus concluding the annual Advent-Christmas-Epiphany cycle of feasts.  Next Sunday we are back to Ordinary Time.

A few weeks back, it was my turn to do a baptism here.  In every homily I involve the children present.  “What do we use water for?”  I ask.  “Bathing.”  “Drinking.”  “Swimming.” are the usual replies.  Yes, all of those are true,”  I reply.  In baptism, we are bathed, washed from original sin, a stain on our otherwise beautiful human nature, a stain that we have inherited from Adam and Eve that has been passed down throughout the centuries.  We take the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John quite seriously: “Jesus answered, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit’” (John 3:5).  This verse is the basis of the canon, or rule of law, which governs the Catholic Church: that a child should be baptized within “the first few weeks after birth.”  Yes, God can and does save outside of the Sacraments, but the normal way of becoming a Christian is by faith and baptism.

Unfortunately, due to our highly mobile society, the baptism of infants is getting delayed—sometimes even by months after birth—in order to accommodate busy family schedules.  As your pastor, I would encourage you have your child baptized as soon as it is possible by a clergyman here at St. Hubert.  (In case of emergency, in which a clergyman cannot be present, you should baptize a child by pouring water over their head and saying, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”)  Accommodating schedules should not take precedence over the importance of having your child baptized very soon after birth; if schedules don’t permit relatives or key friends to arrive in our area until months later, perhaps you could simply delay the baptismal party to such a time.

In addition to garnering the attention of the children present so as to engage them further in the celebration of the sacrament, I also highlight the critical importance of the role of the godparents.  In baptism class, which happens before the baptism, we encourage parents to choose someone who is a serious Catholic, not merely Uncle Billy or your sister Sally simply because they are so beloved.  It is best to choose active Catholic godparents who would function in the place of the child’s parents if they tragically both passed away, assuring that the child will be brought up in the Catholic faith (i.e. go to First Reconciliation, First Communion, and receive Confirmation).  An “active Catholic” means someone who goes to Mass each Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation, lives by the laws of marriage of the Church, prays and has a personal friendship with Jesus, and lives a life at least free from habitual mortal sin.  Non-Catholic Christians may not serve as godparents of Catholic children who are baptized, but may indeed serve as a Christian witnesses of the baptism. 

Why do we Genuflect?

Fr. Aric Aamodt

It becomes a knee-jerk reaction for Catholics to genuflect before sitting down, whether it’s in Church, in the movie theater, or even at the park bench. We only need to do it in Church, but why do we do it?

The Catechism tells us that genuflecting is “a reverence made by bending the knee, especially to express adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.” Jesus is really, truly, and substantially present in the Eucharist, which is reserved in the tabernacle. We are entering His space, and our whole beings are drawn to be with Him and worship Him. Just as, in the Middle Ages, each person who entered the throne room of the king would bend their knee or bow in his presence, so we bend our knee in the presence of the King of the Universe as we come before His humble throne that is the tabernacle. The king’s subjects showed honor, respect, and admiration when they bent their knees before their king. We show honor, respect, and admiration to Jesus, along with love and adoration, when we humble ourselves before Him.

This includes our bodies; we do certain actions and make certain gestures to show our honor, love, and worship to Jesus. Bending our knees before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament fulfills what St. Paul tells us, that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bend” (Philippians 2:10). The name of Jesus is the person of Jesus, Who is present in the tabernacle. We bend our knee in His presence because He is God and we are not. He is our Savior, and we are the saved. He is most merciful, and we are in need of the mercy He gives. We humble ourselves by genuflecting, and Jesus humbles Himself by coming to us.

You might notice, though, that the priest, deacon, and altar servers only genuflect as they enter and leave the sanctuary; for the rest of the Mass they bow to the altar. This is because the focal point of the Mass is not the tabernacle, but the altar. The Mass is the re-presentation of the sacrifice of Jesus on the altar of the Cross, so during the Mass we focus on the altar. The altar is not the Real Presence of Jesus, however, but a symbol of Jesus and His sacrifice. We make this distinction in the Mass by bowing to the altar (the symbol) but genuflecting to the tabernacle (the Real Presence). This also happens in those churches that keep the tabernacle in a separate chapel and not in the main sanctuary. In this case, everyone bows to the altar before entering and leaving their pews. We have the tabernacle in the sanctuary here at St. Hubert, and so we genuflect.

Jesus is Lord, and we are not. As we enter the Church, we are entering His space. He opens this space to us and receives us with great love and joy. Genuflecting to the presence of our Lord and King as we enter and exit the pews keeps us humble as we enter into the joy of our Lord.

“Why do we Make the Sign of the Cross with Holy Water when we Come into Church?”

Fr. Aric Aamodt

I always enjoy watching little kids come to the Baptismal font as they come into the Church, splash their hands in the holy water, and then clumsily try to make the Sign of the Cross on themselves, and then Mom or Dad has to come and help them finish it. But why do they, and all of us, do this as we come into and go out of the Church?

We have the Baptismal font at the entrance of the Church space because Baptism is our source of entry into the Church of God. Passing through the waters of Baptism, we enter into the life of God in Christ, which we will receive and celebrate more deeply in what we are about to do at Mass. As we bless ourselves with holy water coming into the Church, we remind ourselves of the gift of our Baptism. We received new life in Christ through these holy waters, and we are refreshed in that life as we touch those few drops of holy water onto ourselves. Holy water even has the power to wash us from our venial (non-mortal) sins, if we bless ourselves with contrite hearts and ask for God’s mercy. Just as the holy water purified us from the state of original sin and any personal sins, so that power remains to refresh us and make us new in the life of the Spirit.

The power of blessing with holy water goes even farther. In the prayers to make the ordinary water in the font into holy water, I pray, “Let this creature [water] serve Thee in expelling demons and curing diseases. Whatsoever it sprinkles in the homes of the faithful, be it cleansed and delivered from harm…. Wherever it is sprinkled in Thy name, may devilish infection cease, venomous terror be driven afar. But let the presence of the Holy Spirit be ever with us as we implore Thy mercy.” The holy water in the Baptismal font is at your disposal to fill holy water bottles and take home to sprinkle around your homes. I also think of St. Paul’s teaching that our bodies are the dwelling-places of the Holy Spirit – we ourselves are the home of God. When we bless ourselves with holy water, the power of this prayer is with us. We are cleansed and delivered from that which tries to take us away from God, and the mercy of God comes to be with us and refresh us.

In the heat of the summer, water refreshes us. As we experience the difficulties of our lives like that heat, holy water is ready for us as we enter the Church to refresh us, and ready for us as we leave Church to keep us refreshed as we go to live the new life we have received in Christ.

“Why Do I Have to Come to the Church Building to Worship God?

Can’t I Worship Him Anywhere?

Fr. Aric Aamodt

I get this question more and more from engaged couples looking to have their weddings somewhere other than in the church building, but we can ask ourselves this question for Mass too. If God is everywhere, can’t I go experience Him walking through the woods, or at the restaurant, or simply at home? Why do I have to go to the church?

I could answer by quoting Church law: “The Eucharistic celebration is to be carried out in sacred place, unless in a particular case necessity requires otherwise; in which case the celebration must be in a fitting place” (can. 932 §1). Churches and chapels are sacred places set aside exclusively for the worship of and encounter with God. These are the places where all of the People of God can – indeed, have a right – to come to encounter, receive, and worship Jesus in the Sacraments and in prayer. This is why the Church gives a law that the Eucharist, and as far as possible all of the Sacraments, be celebrated in the church building.

This answer doesn’t satisfy many people today, though. I can’t just point to the authority of Church law to convince people. So I turn to the example that another priest gives: “There is water all throughout the atmosphere; but when I want a drink I need to go to a well.” Yes, God’s presence is in all places, but when He wants to give Himself to us He comes to a particular place. He did so in the person of Jesus, Who people could only encounter in that place where He happened to be. After the Ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit, the presence of God truly fills the whole world, but just like when we’re thirsty we go to a specific place where we can get water to drink, when we want to have that deep, life-changing, personal encounter with our God, we go to a specific place. God led us to establish these specific, sacred places in churches and chapels to be those wells that we go to when we are in need of the mercy and love of God. We know that when we come to this place, God is here. In the natural world, it can be difficult to see how God is present, or how nature can lead us to encounter the love of God. The church building is meant to lead us directly into this encounter with God and His merciful love.

Water is everywhere, but when we’re thirsty we go to a specific place for a drink. God is everywhere, but when we need or desire Him we go to a specific place where He is waiting for us, and where that place will help lead us directly into what we need to receive from Him.