​Praised be Jesus Christ!
 
The summer months can be a refreshing change of pace for us.  Many, including your pastor, take some vacation, or at least try to enjoy more of the outdoors.  Doing some traveling or experiencing a change of pace can be a very good thing.  It’s an opportunity for us to be more reflective of the ways God is speaking to us and working in our lives.  We can be renewed.  On the other hand, the change of pace can also be an occasion for us to be neglectful of our spiritual lives.  Don’t let this happen.  Here are a few tips or goals to consider as we enter into the summer months:
 

1. Make it a priority to attend Mass every weekend, especially while you are traveling or on vacation.  By doing so, we keep Christ and the Lord’s Day at the center of our lives.  Going to Mass at another parish while we are out of town is also an opportunity to experience the worship of another community and get a broader sense of the universal Catholic Church to which we belong.  If you are traveling with friends or family who may not be Catholic or may not be practicing their faith, announcing in advance that you will be going to Mass on Sunday and inviting anyone who wishes to go with you is a wonder opportunity to give witness to your faith.  Do your homework before you leave.  You can easily find out online where are the closest Catholic churches and Mass times to your travel destination.
2. Pick out a book or two for some spiritual reading for the summer – perhaps something devotional, the life of a saint, or something that will educate you more about some aspect of our Faith.  See the Lighthouse Media Kiosk at St. Mary’s or check out Formed.org.
3. While you are traveling, make it a point to stop at a nearby holy site – perhaps a shrine, or monastery, or famous church.  Take a tour or walk the grounds.  Often the gift shops of such places have a good selection of Catholic spiritual reading resources as well.
4. This is also a great time to clean out your closets of things you no longer need.  Make a donation of useful items to St. Vincent’s.  Or, if you have a garage sale, consider donating the proceeds to a worthy charity.
5. Make it a point to do some act of charity or work of mercy throughout the summer.  Who do you know that would appreciate a visit or some help around their home?

 
Peace and blessings to you and your family this summer!

​Praised be Jesus Christ!
 
I imagine that many of us here have at least heard of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, but we may not know much about them.  Exactly 100 years ago, on May 13, 1917, an apparition of “a woman all in white, more brilliant than the sun” who eventually referred to herself as the “Lady of the Rosary” spoke to three shepherd children in the small village of Fatima in Portugal.  This woman appeared six times to Lucia (age 9), and her cousins Francisco (age 8), and his sister Jacinta (age 6) between May 13th and October 13th, 1917.
 
The message of the Blessed Virgin Mary in these apparitions was essentially one of peace.  But she warned of great consequences if people did not repent and turn away from sin, and turn more wholeheartedly to her Son, and pray for peace in the world.  She spoke of war as a punishment for sin, and that if we as Catholics, as the Church, and as a human family did not seek greater repentance, we would soon see our sin lead to greater war, hunger, and persecution of the Church. 
 
On the last day of her apparitions (Oct. 13th), Mary gave a miraculous confirming sign of her appearances and message.  By that time, word had spread and 70,000 people had turned out to witness the apparition.  All these persons witnessed the sun make three circles and move around the sky in an incredible zigzag movement in a manner which left no doubt in their minds about the truth of the apparitions.  By 1930, the Bishop had approved of the apparitions and, since then they have been approved by the Catholic Church as authentic.
 
In 1981, the last surviving of the child visionaries (Sister) Lucia stated that during the apparitions, the Blessed Mother also said that the final battle between the Lord and Satan will be about marriage and the family.  And here we are in our day and age, very confused about marriage, sexuality, and the family.  Often, those who stand up for God’s design and what has been the norm for most of human history are considered intolerant or bigoted.
 
Our Lady’s message of Fatima has a very simple application to the lives of all of us in the world, especially us as Catholics.  We must strive to reform our lives and continue to grow in our relationship with the Lord.  In the apparitions, Mary recommended a couple very concrete things to do: prayer for peace, especially the daily Rosary, and also what is called the Five First Saturdays Devotion – an act of reparation.
 
Here is how you can make the Five First Saturdays Devotion.  Do each of the following four acts on the first Saturdays of five consecutive months:
1. Go to Confession.  Confession need not be made on the very first Saturday itself, but sometime soon around the day.
2. Receive Holy Communion.  Receive Communion with the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Communion may be received either the Friday before or the Sunday following if it is difficult or impossible to receive Communion on the Saturday itself.
3. Pray the Rosary.  This must be done on the First Saturday itself.
4. Meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary for an additional fifteen minutes.

While Our Lady does not promise that all who make this Five First Saturdays Devotion will go to heaven, she does promise that they will have all the graces necessary for their salvation provided to them at the our of their death.  This will be a great way for us to pray for ourselves and for peace in the world, cooperating with God’s grace.

Praised be Jesus Christ!
 
I thought I would share with you in writing the announcement I made after the Masses two weekends ago:
 
On Thursday afternoon (5/4/17), during our parish pilgrimage to the Green Bay area, I received a call on my cell phone from Bishop Callahan.  He told me two things: First, he asked that I put the discussion on the merging our parishes on hold for the time being.  Second, as a complete surprise to me, he asked that I take a new assignment.  He asked that I be the pastor of Notre Dame Parish in Chippewa Falls, effective the end of June.  In my place, your new pastor will be Fr. Antony Arokiam, one of our international priests from India.  For the past three years, Fr. Antony has served as pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish in Mauston.
 
Again, this all comes as a complete surprise to me, and, from what I understand, up until Thursday (5/4/17), I was not even on Bishop Callahan’s radar screen to be moved.  The Bishop knew we were discussing the possibility of merging and he had been supportive of the discussion.  And therefore, he intended to keep me here since the stability of a consistent pastor would be necessary.  But, due to some unanticipated and very difficult circumstances in priest assignments that needed to be made elsewhere in our Diocese, he had to ask me.
 
I know and understand that it is hard on a parish and it is frustrating not to have the stability of a single pastor for more than one, two, or three years – and I’m sorry about this.  I know that there are many of you who have been generous with your time and energy in working with me on discerning the possibility of merging and bringing about other positive changes for the future of our parishes – and now this abrupt change is disorienting, and perhaps frustrating. 
 
I know Bishop Callahan knows this, and I know he is not being careless or capricious in assigning his priests.  In his defense, he has to make a lot of hard decisions because of his responsibility for a diocese of 165 parishes.  Many of those parishes are small like our own, and our priests are spread thin.  If you move one or two by necessity, then you will likely have to move others to make things work again.  Smaller parishes like our own are generally the most vulnerable to seeing a changeover in pastors because they are usually less complex in their pastoral responsibilities than larger parishes.  I do not envy our Bishop’s position.
 
I say all this because I detect that the greatest spiritual danger our communities face is to let ourselves get frustrated and angry, and to lick our wounds.  This is a temptation we must reject and work against.  May we not forget that in God’s Providence, he can and will use all things – all of life’s circumstances, ups and downs – for the good if we let him and surrender to his will.  And who knows what great blessings will come from the changes ahead of us!  This is the difference that faith and hope make.
 
​As for our whole merging discussion, which is on hold for now, I ask that you still complete the surveys that were mailed to you and submit them by next Sunday (Mother’s Day).  It will be important for us to finish some of our loose ends.  I think there are a lot of very good things that have come out of our merging discussion so far – ideas for ways in which our parishes will be able to think constructively about the future, and ways in which we will be able to work together more effectively.  I will do my best to pass these things onto Fr. Antony and to Bishop Callahan.
 
Now on another matter, I’d say that one of my greatest concerns for when I go to Chippewa Falls, is that if I make fun of Fr. Martin in my homilies, no one will know who I am talking about!  After all, I think he makes up for about 90% of my jokes.  I’m going to have to find a new priest to talk about.  Lord knows Fr. Martin will continue to take shots at me.
 
Also, while I do not know Fr. Antony very well personally, I can say that he is the tallest Indian priest I have ever seen.  I’m beginning to suspect that there is an unwritten height requirement in order to be the pastor of our parishes, and that’s probably why Fr. Raj was reassigned four years ago.
 
Finally, I can say that I am nothing but grateful to Bishop Callahan, to you all, and to God for my three years here at these parishes.  I have come to know so many wonderful people, and I have learned so much.  If you are inclined to write a letter to the Bishop, I ask that you please tell him: “Thank you for sending us Fr. Burish, and thank you for sending us another priest,” and tell him that you are praying for him and his ministry as Bishop of our Diocese.  I think nothing would give greater witness to the spiritual maturity of our parishes than a letter like that.
 

​Praised be Jesus Christ!
 
Continuing our discussion on the capital vices and their corresponding virtues, today we will talk about avarice.  Avarice, a.k.a. greed, is a disordered desire for riches and possessions to the point of acting contrary to the love of God and neighbor.  Notice here first that we’re again talking about a disordered desire.  In other words, we are acknowledging that for humans living in the world, we do need to have things/possessions in order to survive.  The vice lies in where the desire for these things goes too far.  This vice may manifest itself in us by having an obsessive desire for more material goods and the feeling of control that comes from it, or a fearful need to store up surplus goods for a vaguely defined time of want in the future, or a desire for more earthly goods for their own sake.
 
The first of these we might call greed of power.  We acquire things as a way of displaying personal power – of being in control of our life and that of others.  We work against this by not being afraid to give power or authority over to others, by sharing credit with others for both successes and failures.  For those who parent children, it means on some level encouraging children to find their own way and respecting their choices.  It does not mean abdicating our responsibilities, but loosening our grip on their lives – as well as our own.  God will take care of us.  We can’t control everything.
 
The second of the forms of greed I mentioned we might call greed of fear – in which we desire to acquire so much so that we can’t possibly run out.  To work against this involves embracing a degree of poverty – trying to use less of the world’s goods, living simply, and learning to do with less.
 
The third we might call greed of acquisition and enslavement.  This is when we reduce ourselves to a small and cold desire to accumulate more: tech stuff, collectibles, trinkets, etc.  In a sense, the things we possess begin to possess us.  The simple cure for this type of greed is to get rid of as much as possible, and to “consider the grave.”  I like to recall one of Fr. Martin’s favorite lines of wisdom: “Pretty soon we’ll all be dead.”  And we won’t take anything with us.  If we think about the fact that our destiny is heaven, and that we will all one day die, the things we collect and hold onto quickly seem absurd.
 
Ultimately, the virtue that works against greed is liberality.  Liberality is a generosity towards others in sharing God’s gifts – i.e., not being attached, but being free with regard to what we have in the world, bringing personal contentment with whatever we possess.