 MORE ON VIRTUE Last week I shared with you a way to grow in virtue. After writing this, I came across an article by John Clark (http:// www.setonmagazine.com/dad/olympic-virtue, 07/20/19) in which he tells of advice from a priest friend, Fr. Frank Papa, who has passed away. In this article, John offers the advice given by Fr. Papa, advice that I believe can compliment what I wrote of last week. When reading this article, I was reminded of one of the basics of Dave Ramsey’s financial plan, and that is attacking the smallest debt first. Ramsey teaches that we need to see success in whatever field we are in, and if getting our financial house in order is our immediate task, list all debts. Then, rather than tackling the largest or highest interest debt, attack the smallest. This way we get an early victory, and that can lead us to a greater effort to keep on task. Fr. Papa’s advice, when seeking spiritual advancement, is to get better at your best virtue. This approach to growth in our spiritual life comes from another angle. In my article last week,I wrote of identifying the sin that may be impeding your spiritual growth. This is still important. If we were looking at our financial program, Ramsey doesn’t teach that you only look at the smallest, but to do an inventory and list all debts and assets. In the spiritual life, we look at our sin and virtue, in order to grow in our love for God and how we live that in service to our neighbor. Fr. Papa teaches that for most of us, there is a particular virtue that is very consuming and difficult to practice- chastity, charity, empathy, faith, patience, kindness, hope, forgiveness, humility. But often, at the same time, there is one that is not so difficult. Fr. Papa’s advice is to identify that one virtue, and get better at it. This is where it gets similar to a financial program. We need victories in our spiritual life. When we do this, we do not ignore the other virtues, but strive to bring the practice of one to a high level. Then the practice of this virtue radiates out to the other virtues. Excelling at one makes it easier to improve how we live the other virtues, even the one that is most difficult. But to make this work, we need to be honest in our approach. Pick the virtue you are truly good at, not necessarily the one you desire to be best at. Ask your spouse or another who will be brutally honest with you. Identify this virtue and explore ways to become better. This is where the practice I wrote about last week comes into play. It is not easy, and will make demands upon us if we are really striving to become a more virtuous person. It will stretch us and challenge us, but this is the path of growth in all things. Help Your Virtues Grow Stronger Some ideas that may help get started in the process:
0 Comments
 Registration and first night of Religious Education (for grades 1-8) is Sept. 4 and grades 9 & 10 will begin classes on Sept. 11. Catechists are needed for the upcoming school year! Please contact Deb if you are will to help: In-Service is Aug 28  From the Pope
Pope Francis Sunday recalled the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, encouraging Catholics to look to that great event for inspiration to overcome injustices and mistreatment of the weak. “Fifty years ago yesterday man set foot on the moon, realizing an extraordinary dream,” the pope said July 21. “May the memory of that great step for humanity ignite the desire to progress together towards even greater goals: more dignity for the weak, more justice among peoples, more future for our common home.” Read More..  Holy Day of Obligation * The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary * Thursday - August 15 with mass times at Christ the King are: 8:30 a.m. and 12:00 pm (noon). Ministry participants are needed on Thursday for these masses. Sign-up sheets have been placed on back table in the gathering room of church. Your help is greatly appreciated. Mass times at St. John’s / Mfld. Wednesday - August 14 @ 6 pm and Thursday - August 15 @ 7 am and 12:00 (noon)  BASEBALL AND FAITH The baseball season is over half finished, and there are always surprises. For the many local Brewer, Cubs and Cardinal fans, this is an exciting year. The Yankees are once again in control of their division. And for Twins fans, this has been an exciting and surprising year to follow. We see baseball is a long season, but hope returns every spring. By mid-way through the year, hope may have dimmed, but for most teams it remains at least a glimmer. There is a video produced a few years back, Champions of the Faith, in which some MLB players and coaches speak of their Catholic faith, and how the sport of baseball personifies this in many aspects. Not sure if this is on YouTube or not, but if you can find it, I think it is worth checking out. There are some lessons for us in baseball, really an all- American sport, sometimes the call goes your way, and not so much at other times. Another thing to remember, everyone strikes out. In fact, even the best of hitters get a hit only 30% to 40% in their at-bats. Imagine failing 60% to 70% in your business. This helps us deal with failure in our lives as well. It is not the fact that we will get knocked down, it is about getting up again. Approaching the plate again; and again; and again and... This is true in our spiritual lives also. We can often find ourselves in a spiritual rut. The same sin again and again. No matter how often I come to confession, it continually rears its ugly head. It happens to all of us, even to priests. So what do we do when we find ourselves in this situation? Take a clue from a batter. You continue to practice; you go back to the basics. Spiritually, the basics are prayer and virtues. Taking an honest look at our spiritual life, try to determine what it is that lies beneath this or that particular sin, whether it is a sin of commission or omission. Most commonly, we can trace our sins to pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony and sloth, all capital sins that become manifested in many ways. Once the base cause has been identified, there is a corresponding virtue that is a corrective action; humility, kindness, abstinence, chastity, patience, liberality and diligence are virtues that we call upon to attack these vices. Recognizing the sin is the first step in attacking it and beginning working on the cure. And just like taking batting practice makes a better hitter, practicing these virtues, until they become second nature, makes us a holier person. We do this until the particular sin is overcome, not by our strength, but by God’s grace. The practice is simply allowing His grace to work in our hearts and souls. Once we are on the way to getting our swing back, now it might be time to work on our defense. We approach it the same way; identifying the vice, and work on the virtue. Satan is powerful, but he is also a creature of habit. He knows where we have a tendency to fail, and he will take various approaches to trip us up until, by God’s grace, he is defeated. Never say never; never give up. As every spring hope burns eternal; with each confession and Mass, Hope is eternal. God bless Fr Jim  REMINDER to Parishioners * 24 Hour Eucharistic Adoration for 2019 - First Friday – August 2 thru August 3 * Starting at 9 am on Friday an ending at 9 am on Saturday) Note: There will be a prayer petition book placed out the week prior to our First Friday Eucharistic Adoration. Anyone wishing to have petitions offered during Adoration may enter their petition into the book and they will be prayed for. Attention: Church doors are locked @ 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. if you are coming to pray during this time please knock on door (under carport) 5 minutes before the start of each hour and you will be let in by person already inside of church.  From the Church
The Vatican announced that Blessed John Henry Newman and four others will be canonized on the October 13 of this year, the third Sunday of October.At a Consistory of cardinals on Monday, Pope Francis formally approved Blessed John Henry Newman’s canonization along with that of Sister Mariam Thresia, Giuseppina Vannini, Dulce Lopes Pontes and Margarita Bays. Read More....  Save the Date! There will be a family event on Sunday, August 18th called Mercy Day. It will be a free event with swimming, inflatables, a relay race, and two speakers who will share about God's mercy. This has been made possible by a grant from the Bishop's Education Endowment Trust through the Diocese of La Crosse. It will be held on the property of Dale and Judy Garfield in Marshfield. I will need a number of volunteers to make this happen, please contact me if you have questions or would like to help. I am also looking for two certified lifeguards for the day (lifeguards would be paid). Thank you!  Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, THANK YOU I would like to express my gratitude to all the many parishioners that introduced themselves to me this past weekend and for your prayers. Please understand that this is a very overwhelming experience for me personally as I try to put names to faces. I am sure that this will come, but it is a slow process (past experience), especially as the schedules do not allow me to be present to both parishes each weekend. SOME THINGS OLD As I begin my time with you, many things will stay the same. For the time being, Mass times and confessions will remain as they were scheduled in the past. The staff remains the same as well, and that is a good thing as they are the ones that really drive the everyday aspects of parish life, keeping it on an even keel in the midst of change. SOME THINGS NEW As time goes by, I will be looking to make a few changes that better fit my schedule and other situations. Fr Barry will be taking one bulletin article each month, as this will be an opportunity for you to come to know him a bit better, and will help him continue on his path to becoming a pastor in the not too distant future. I will also ask for an occasional article from Deacon Jeff, as I have found that the deacons have a particular point of view that can be overlooked in parish activities, but are very important for us to keep in mind as deacons have a different perspective from that of a priest. I look forward to working with the parish council and finance council as well. These are the backbone of a parish, and are especially helpful to a new pastor in getting a handle on many aspects of parish life. I will be in contact with the leaders of the councils soon to make plans for the continued service of these groups, and for others such as Knights of Columbus and PCCW. Days off: I come from a fairly large and active parish in Prairie du Chien. It has been my experience those days off can be infrequent if we let them, especially in parishes with many funerals and weddings. It will be my desire, once settled in, to take Monday’s off as much as possible. This will remain Fr. Barry’s day off as well, so Monday will be a quiet day around the rectory. Of course, as funerals come up, we will make adjustments to this schedule, and other days or at least half-days will be taken as needed. LOOKING AHEAD: There are many things coming up at our two parishes, and so I am sure the summer months will be over before we know. The Parish Pull this past Friday was a great way to start off getting to know more people. Server Training: Sat July 20 at 9:00 AM Fr Barry will hold a training session for all current and new servers (Servers in grades 10 – 12 are excused). This will be a refresher for current servers and training for new servers. Servers must be entering Grade 4 this fall. Please call the office to register. Bible Camp: Catholic Kidz Vacation Bible School will run from July 29 to August 2, beginning at 8:00 AM each morning and running till 11:30. This camp is for grades pre-K to 6th grade. See either parish website for more information. Adventure Camp and Steubenville Rochester: These 2 are for high school students, and are very good experiences your children will long remember. They both come at our faith from different perspectives, but incorporate many of the basics of our faith (prayer, adoration, sacraments, reflection time) and are designed to help a young person embrace the faith on their terms. With all these things going on in addition to the busy summer schedule of sports and work, the summer is sure to fly by. But don’t let business become an excuse to put your faith aside. It takes sacrifice to keep the practice of our faith alive, especially during demanding times. If you need another tool to help during these busy moments, check out the FORMED program on the parish websites. This is a great resource to help us live as Catholic Christians always. In our busy lives, there will always be those demands and conflicts; what do I choose? Because, in the end, it comes down to priorities and choices. In Christ, Fr. Jim  Do You Love Divine Mercy ? Anyone who wants to live Mercy and the spiritual life more deeply is welcome to attend our twice monthly meetings @ 7 PM at the new Divine Mercy Community House located at 118065 Kraus Street, Marshfield - Directions from Marshfield: Go north on Highway 97 toward Stratford. After County Road T, take the next right onto Kraus Street. It is the first house on the corner with a blue roof and white siding. Sister Mary Veronica will lead us through teaching, prayer and fellowship. Meetings are held on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month unless other- wise indicated. [email protected]
|
MASS SCHEDULE
Tuesday - Friday: 8:00 AM Saturday: 4:00 PM Sunday: 8:00 AM & 10:00 AM RECONCILIATION
Saturday: 3:15 - 3:45 PM OFFICE HOURS
Monday - Thursday: 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM Friday: 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM Stay Connected with Our ParishWelcome from Our Pastor
Welcome to Christ the King Catholic Church! Ever since 1938 this parish has been assisting souls in their quest for deeper union with God. Our mission statement is essentially found in the stained glass window above the main altar: “For Christ our King.” Insofar as God made us and we belong to Him, we have come to... Read More
Archives
February 2021
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed