My friends, as we are presently living in our annual “time of the harvest,” here in Minnesota and across the Midwest, it is appropriate I think that two of our readings are about “banquets” being given. In Isaiah’s  reading, we hear about the banquet that our good God is preparing one day for all who choose to attend.  Jesus speaks about a wedding feast that is being prepared.  Now, if we were to stop there, with, “banquets being prepared,”  we would miss the beauty and challenge of these readings. 

   So, friends, as always, we must go deeper.  We are told that the “wedding feast” that Jesus speaks of in his parable is not so much “a place” as an “attitude.” Our God “plays” the part of the host at this feast.  God has first of all given each of us the gift of life, our human existence, coming into this life as spiritual people.  Matthew Fox has spoken of it rightly in saying that each of us is “an original blessing,” not “a sin,” as the powers-that-be have insisted for too long.

   Going back then to the wedding feast images, we need to understand that “the garment” we are asked to wear is our “attitudes” toward the rest of creation; beginning with the fact that, “all are welcome,” here, now, to attend the feast! – we used to believe something along those lines here in this country.  Next comes the attitudes needed to live peacefully with all others “invited to the feast,” mercy, justice, long-suffering, and patience, to name a few.

   Earlier I said that we, each of us, as spiritual people, are here to experience what it is to be human.  Those of us with a good many years under our belts know that while this human experience can bring many joys, it can bring heartache too, as things happen that we wouldn’t necessarily choose, but for lack of a better explanation, are simply part of life.  It is our task then to strive to balance our spiritual and human selves, becoming throughout our lives the best that we are capable of.  That is really what God’s invitation is all about.

   And if you are thinking, “this is easier said than done,” you would be right.  Our psalm response today that you all sang so beautifully, “Shepherd me O’ God, from all my wants, from all my fears, from death into life,” states well I think, the dilemma we often find ourselves in as we try to balance our human and spiritual selves.  Our “wants” and our “fears” are two very strong emotions that keep us, at times, from being our best selves. 

   My second mother in life, Margaret, often expressed the 1^st emotion well, in the form of a question:  “How much do I want, and how much do I need?  If more in this world chose their needs over their wants in a more balanced way, there would be enough for all to simply live, rather than die for lack of the basics. 

   Fear is something that often keeps us from saying and doing that which needs to be said and done in our needy world.  “What would people think?” What indeed, for us who claim to be Christians!  I can remember times in my life when people thanked me for saying what they were afraid to say; so, we shouldn’t always think that the response from others will be negative. 

   Paul’s response to the Philippians today should encourage us in our fears; [whether low or high, poor or rich, hungry or full], “I can do all things through the One who gives me strength.” And Isaiah in today’s 1^st reading would seem to affirm this: “Adonai is the One in whom we hoped.” 

   Today’s liturgy uses the beautiful 23^rd psalm, loved by many, and used through time to speak of the loving care of our God.  The modern translation of this psalm in The Message, reminds us that our God, “chases after us” all the days of our lives until we are home, once more, in the full company of God.  I think it is good for us to think about a God who would “chase after us.” If nothing else, this should tell us that our God “never gives up on us,” even when we might give up on ourselves or others.

   My friends, our world today is fraught with so much darkness needing our light – seemingly endless wars, those in power who have forgotten that the office calls for service, greed in too many, when sharing would bring more happiness not only for others, but for themselves, the abuse of one [1] by seven [7] that also raises the double-standard in this country regarding gender – if the tables were turned, 7 women raping 1 man, this issue would have been handled immediately, not hidden.

   But lest we end on a negative note, I would remind us of the Alleluia verse today: “Creator God, enlighten the eyes of our “hearts” that we may know the hope that belongs to our call.”  Notice please, that this prayer asks that our “hearts” be enlightened.  It isn’t enough that our minds be enlightened, in that we “know” something has happened that is wrong, but that our hearts are enlightened, in that we can feel the pain of another.  In fact, our hearts really need to be broken open, which is a much harder task.  Once our hearts break open over the ills we witness in our world, it will be much, much harder to let fear get in the way of speaking the words, doing the actions that are needed to better our world.  Amen? Amen!

October 4, 2026

My Friends,

For the second year in a row, All Are One Catholic church and First Congregational church of Winona joined our services! We have liturgy in the same building – they in the “big” church space and us in the smaller chapel, and then we always have fellowship together. Our two parishes are very similar in our commitments to living out the call of our brother Jesus and trying to be his “body” in our world, so it is most appropriate that we would pray together too on occasion. As I told those gathered today from both groups in my part of the shared homily – “I think Jesus would approve as he prayed just before he died, “that we all would be one.” Being that yesterday was the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, and this year is the 800th anniversary of Francis’ death in 1226, we thought it would be good to celebrate his work in our world. Because Francis had such a profound love for all created life – people, animals, plants, mountains, seas – all of it, we had a blessing of folks’ pets, (just bringing in their pictures), and the children were encouraged to bring their favorite “stuffies.”

As you will see in the following offerings from Pastor Danielle and myself, she chose to write about Francis and the courage he showed in reaching out to the leper, a defining moment in his life…and the encouragement that we would show that same love and courage in our lives as we work to protect our world to the best of our abilities, and I spoke to our chosen reading from the Book of Genesis extolling the wonders of creation and the fact that after all the creating was done, God said that everything was, “very good!”

We all found this experience very meaningful! Pastor Kathy

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Pastor Danielle

   One of the defining moments of Francis’ life was when he embraced a man afflicted with leprosy. To do so was not only a social taboo, but it was an actual physical risk to Francis. But, he saw the world and all of its inhabitants the way God does – with unyielding love. So, what had once inspired fear and disgust became an opportunity for grace. In that encounter, Francis discovered that God’s love often meets us where we least expect it. Rather than turning away from suffering, he moved toward it, finding Christ in those whom society rejected.

   Yet Francis’ vision extended beyond humanity. He understood all creation as a gift flowing from the goodness of God. The sun, moon, water, fire, animals, and even death itself became companions in praise. In his famous Canticle of the Creatures, he offers a spirituality that sees the entire world as a living testimony to God’s presence.

   Francis did not worship creation; he recognized creation as a window into the Creator.  Every bird’s song, every flowing stream, and every breath of wind became an invitation to gratitude and wonder.

   Francis challenges us to examine the ways we separate ourselves from others and from the created world. Francis reminds us that every human being bears the image of God and every part of creation reveals something of God’s beauty.

   In a world struggling with loneliness, conflict, and environmental degradation, the witness of St. Francis feels especially urgent. He teaches us that the path to peace begins with recognizing our interconnectedness. When we see others not as strangers but as siblings, as kin, and when we view the earth not as a possession but as a sacred gift, we begin to live differently.

   The legacy of St. Francis is ultimately a way of seeing. It is the practice of looking at the world with eyes of love and finding traces of the Divine everywhere. When we adopt that vision, ordinary encounters become holy moments, creation becomes a hymn of praise, and every person becomes a reflection of God’s boundless grace.

Pastor Kathy

   As Pastor Danielle and I prepared for this special celebration honoring Francis of Assisi, a saint who exemplified probably more than any other, a profound love for all of God’s created life, we wanted to use a Scripture reading that spoke to the awesomeness of this God-given gift of all created life, and the Genesis reading used today, seemed to do that. 

   As I always say to my community, we “need to go deeper” with any reading.  In the case of the Genesis selection, we can’t just stop with “hearing” about all the created life that our God gave us, including our own precious lives, but to realize that all this goodness has been “entrusted” to us, not just to use, but to be “responsible for.”  Being “responsible for” simply means to treat each person, and our earth, with all its beauty, with love, to the best of our abilities.

   The reading ended with God, “looking, [and we can assume, with love], at all of this creation” [and] “proclaiming that it was [not only] good,” [but] “very good.”

   I believe it was with this sense of all of creation being “very good” that our brother, Jesus carried into his earthly life, to show us the way – a sense that Francis carried throughout his new and renewed life – loving that which appeared both good and not so good.  That my friends is our challenge and the responsibility that God entrusted to each of us who choose to say, “yes” to following him!  To have that sense too, that our beautiful earth, complete with plants, animals, great mountains, seas, and people of many different cultures, faces and races were “conceived” in love by our loving God, and who entrusted us to see a piece of God’s face in each one to the best of our abilities. 

   We, as always, look to Jesus to find the way when it is hard, as Francis no doubt did, before he was able to embrace the leper, as Pastor Danielle spoke of.  We will each need the memory and the modeling of both Jesus and Francis as we encounter the “lepers” in our own lives – those that we may find it hard to be with, to love.  In conclusion then my friends, let us, going forward, turn to each other for encouragement in being our best selves, especially in these most trying times that we live in – sometimes I will carry the hope of better times for you, sometimes you will for me, and together, we will model the right behavior – in memory of Francis, in memory of Jesus. Amen? Amen!

My friends, I am presently reading, again, parts of Nora O’Donnell’s 2026 offering, We, the Women, and came upon the following quote from Mary McLeod Bethune, whom you may know came out of a large family that lived in slavery in South Carolina, with Mary being the 14^th child of 17, and the first, not born into slavery as she came into the world in 1875.  But, she went on to devote her entire adult life, dying at 79 years of age, to the betterment of her black sisters and brothers, familial and otherwise through education and the political system in the time of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. 

   Before she died, she wrote the following: “I leave you love. Love builds. It is positive and helpful – it is more beneficial than hate.”  Now coming out of the hateful system of slavery in this country, this is quite a statement!  And it prepares us well, I feel, for today’s readings, for each one really lets us know that we are loved by our God.  Now at first glance you may not agree, because to get to their full meaning, each one encourages us to, as we say here, “go deeper.”

   The 1^st reading from Isaiah is a case in point as God lets us know, through the prophet, that indeed, “God thinks differently than we do!”  Now if we were only looking topically at God’s words, we might be apt to say, “So yes, what does that mean?”  And those words are followed by, “Seek God while God can be found.” 

   And here too, God may sound somewhat “arrogant,” except for the fact, that as displayed in Jesus’ story in today’s gospel of  “the last shall be first and the first last,” God does indeed think differently that we do, and it would behoove us to try and understand, through this story, just how loving our God truly is. 

   Over time many people, probably most people, get “hung up” on this story thinking in a rather “black and white” way that the owner seeking workers for his vineyard  is really being quite unfair, when rather than giving an hour’s pay for an hour’s work, he pays all the workers the same no matter how many hours they worked. 

   But my friends, this is a case of where, with the owner – with God, we must go deeper.  We must recognize that those hired at midday, or at day’s end, may have wanted to work the entire day, but no one hired them earlier.  No doubt those who looked healthiest and most able were chosen first.  It is kind of like when teams on the playground, at school are chosen – the biggest kids, and those who are known to be good at the sport, are chosen first – no one wants the little kid, and if truth be told, the girls either.

   The owner of the vineyard (think God) knows the “black and white,” often unfair and unjust ways that we humans operate at times, and basically tries to even things up a bit.  My friends, when we move through our world, operating more or less out of rules and regulations – “the way it is done,” so to speak, in rather black and white ways, we in effect, “distance” ourselves from the “heart” of God. One sees overtime, that God always moves out of the “heart” first, and if you disagree, then you are probably reading a “doctored” version of Scripture. 

  Paul, in his letter to the Philippians is really speaking out of the “heart of God,” when he encourages the people to, “conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the Gospel…” because he knows that if we walk in Jesus’ footsteps, we will live better, more productive and happier lives.  It is this very idea that Paul wishes, and believes I feel, when he says, “I will never be put to shame for my hopes” … and we might insert, “in you, and all that you are capable of.

   The psalmist in #145 believes and encourages us to believe that we never have to do, what we attempt in our lives, for good, alone – “O God, you are near to all who call on you,” the psalmist says. 

   My friends, in conclusion then, moving back to where we began, with Mary McLeod Bethune’s words that, “Love builds … is more beneficial than hate,” let’s not “overthink” our responses in the needy world in which we live, let’s simply show up, be present, when we do, to what we find in any situation, and do as Mary Bethune said, “what is [most] positive and helpful.

   At present, our parish is part of a budding documentary on women priests – an action, that of women seeking to follow their God-given calls to ordination, that the hierarchy says estranges us from the Catholic church.  But, actually, this is an attempt to simplify our Church, making it more understandable and meaningful to all people – basically returning us to the message of Jesus who wanted all to be included, because he saw God’s desire that we all would be seen as equal  and good, worthy to embody the Christ, and to share that goodness with others. Amen? Amen!

My friends, with each passing week in Ordinary Time, I am amazed with how the Spirit of God, of our brother Jesus, and other inspired writers, thinkers, “lovers,” in the sense of, those who move in our world with love, display a most simple message for us to follow in our lives as Christians. Here is a sampling from today’s Scriptures: 

• From Sirach – “If we forgive, we will be forgiven – show mercy and you [too] will be pardoned – don’t hate.”
• Psalm 103 – “Our God is tender and compassionate, slow to anger, most loving.”
• Romans – “We do not live for ourselves” [alone].
• Matthew – “moved with pity…the official …wrote off the debt.”

Looking over these “simple” messages, written rather matter-a-factly,  we realize upon a deeper look, that each one, can be, at times, very hard to do…so let’s take another look. 

   Sirach’s message that we forgive, showing mercy, will be followed by us, “being pardoned.”  Easy to write and speak about, but so hard at times to do!  We can think of the recent, high-profile case of Lindsay Clancy, and the murdering of her three children, something that at face value, seems abhorrent to us, but yet a “happening” that as a human being, and follower of our brother Jesus, can only truly be looked at with a great deal of mercy, unlike the sole juror who could only see a horrendous crime done to three children with no attempt at understanding what drove their mother to such a thing.

   And friends, my attempt here is not to speak of the rightness or wrongness of this action, but just to demonstrate that the “gray” areas in life many times don’t fit nicely into the black and white rules of a society.  The words of the psalmist today in #103 give us some counsel, I think…”Our God is tender and compassionate, slow to anger, most loving.”  We, as spiritual people must attempt some of the same…

   Jesus, in today’s gospel answers Peter’s question of “how many times he must forgive – 7 times? – with, basically, an almost, never-ending number of times when lived out practically, 70×7! 

   Today’s readings really call us “to treat others as we would want to be treated” – and there is so much in today’s world that seems opposite of that.  This past Friday, our country remembered that 25 years ago we were attacked in a massive way killing nearly 3,000 people in assaults aimed at our business world, military institution, and another failed, but planned attack on the government of our country.  The mastermind behind all this destruction, Osama bin Laden, was someone who felt justified in attacking countries and its citizens  who were supportive of attacks against the Muslim world.  Sirach in today’s 1^st reading says, “Don’t hate.”

   Again, I must remind us all, that none of this is easy – it takes great strength, patience, and indeed love to face actions in our world that are so loveless.  But this horrible action, like so many in our world, didn’t happen for no reason, whether or not it was right, and what civilized people would do.  Of all the tributes given on Friday, the comments of two young women stood out because of their open questioning of our present-day involvement with Saudi Arabia, the originator of the crimes of 25 years ago, because of what we stand to gain.  But remembering as the psalmist says, that God is “tender and most loving,” must be part of our thought and action in our world.

   In today’s gospel we get a sampling of this kind of action – the official, had he acted in a black and white way, would have sent the debtor to jail for the better part of his life…  but instead of acting thus, he didn’t, as we have said in the past, “over-think” his response, but instead, engaged his heart, forgiving the debtor.  The story continues letting us know that the debtor didn’t feel a responsibility to act in like manner. 

   This story reminds me of a present-day one that Robert and I have been involved in.  In 2024, the Catholic church at Wilson, Minnesota was closed and slated to be demolished, a church that had been a part of the extended Redig family for many, many years.  Here we have a black and white situation – low attendance, not enough clergy to pastor those remaining , close it, and tear it down! 

   Robert engaged the diocesan hierarchy, the bishop—our own Robert Barron, and took the case ultimately to Rome as directed, advocating that this basically, sound structure be allowed to stand as a testament to the faith of its parishioners, whose spiritual lives have been wrapped in the graces of this place for over 150 years. It was suggested to the powers -that-be that perhaps the building could be lit in the evenings to let its stained- glassed windows shine for a few more years, making the church available for future celebrations of life, weddings and more.  It was also suggested to consider it for sale for possible housing as there is such a shortage in the Winona area.  All to no avail!

 It should be mentioned that the decision to close and destroy was only approved of by a small number of people in comparison to those who wanted to preserve the building. As we often see with church hierarchy in matters such as this, communication is poor and lacking in compassion for all that is involved. 

   One has to wonder if destroying church buildings is the answer – out of sight, out of mind to the hierarchy’s failure and lack of creativity in finding alternatives for pastoring their people – to tell the People of God that basically, male genitalia is the most needed criteria for ordaining those who will pastor our people is simply ludicrous!

   Along with this thought is another, like story.  Some of you probably remember an inactive priest, 10 years out from ordination, who visited All Are One at our old site one Sunday.  His name is Matt. He was actively serving a small parish in Wisconsin that was going to close due to low attendance, as the church couldn’t afford to pay for a full-time pastor.

   Matt suggested to the bishop that he would get a part-time job at Kwik Trip, and the parish could keep him on part-time to cover the needs of the people there.  Sounds like a wonderfully creative idea to me!  The bishop turned him down, and due to other things that Matt couldn’t live with, he took his call to pastoral care elsewhere. 

   In conclusion, my friends, I would like to share some rather profound and beautiful thoughts from Franciscan Richard Rohr.  He speaks prophetically, I feel, of the Incarnation as a trilogy of action – 1^st, the creation of all life, 2^nd, Jesus becoming, One-With-Us, showing us how to be truly human, and 3^rd, an on-going action into the present, and beyond, of God, as “Christ” being infused into all people, and into our beautiful world. 

   Rohr goes on, “This beautiful notion of the Christ infusing all of creation was halted in the 3^rd Century with the romanization of the Church” – which for all intents and purposes became more about law (over-thinking the matter) than about love. 

   Father Rohr says we need to get back to the Church that Jesus prayed for the night before he died – a Church where “all would be one.”  As you all know, this is the reason why our church bears the name, “All Are One,” where all are welcome at our table.  Richard Rohr would say of our Church’s present inability to welcome all – “Take your Christian head off, shake it wildly, and put it back on!’

   My friends, our walk with Jesus calls each of us to find ways to make life better and more just for e-v-e-r-y one, again remembering, that each is infused with the very life of God.  We can’t get distracted by surface religiosity – transubstantiation and the like, but must pray for the strength to get out of our “comfortable boxes/boats,” and walk on sometimes “scary waters,” getting on with the work that our brother Jesus entrusted to us.  Amen? Amen! 

My friends, if we stopped with the 1^st reading today from the prophet, Ezekiel, we might come away with a feeling of, “Ugh!” which is what I did upon first glance.  But, thankfully, the Church gave us two more readings, so we can come away a bit more hopeful, in that, one, we are loved by God, and that two, this same God really wants only good, and not bad for us in life. 

   Additionally, this 1^st reading is yet more proof that we should not read Scripture literally, and that we do not take this short reading, or any other, out of context. Prophets usually show up when the people, “lose their way,” when they basically forget that they, “are spiritual people, here, having a human experience.”  Also, prophets seem to show up, thankfully, when people aren’t even acting much like human beings.  There are many present-day situations in our country and world for which the above seems true. 

   Ezekiel’s reading seems harsh, initially, but no doubt, we are getting just the tail-end of a very long discussion where the prophet can’t get the people to see his meaning and its importance.  Jesus, in his short life with us was discouraged in the same way with people wanting power and control over their enemies, revenge for past injuries, and he, as the Messiah, was their ticket to get all of that, when all that Jesus really wanted, was that they would simply, love each other…

   The psalmist’s lament, “If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts,” was no doubt that of Ezekiel and Jesus too as they tried to “break-through” the “hardened hearts” of the people that each came to serve. 

   With the psalmist’s lament, it is important to recognize that he/she addresses “the hardening” occurring in the “heart,” not the “head.”  This is significant in that it says, “Don’t overthink this!” Just do!  Going to the “heart” instead of the “head” would be, I think we could agree, a very feminine thing to do, thus the reason for suggesting a feminine author through the use of the pronoun, “she” above.

   As an aside, I think it is important to mention that it is thought by some that there were psalms written about “women’s life cycles,” but unfortunately were lost, so that none are attributed to the “gentler” sex.  David is given credit for half of them along with several other men… and so it goes.

   Coming back then to the readings, in Paul’s letter to the Romans today, he reminds them and us that we have a “debt that binds us to love one another.”  And he goes on to say that we should,” Love [that] neighbor as [we] love ourselves.” 

   In the past when this phrase has come up about, “Loving others as we do ourselves,” we have discussed here, the assumption that, “we do indeed love ourselves.”  For any number of reasons, one might find that they, “don’t love themselves,” so that this command might find a person not really knowing how to love others. 

   I can remember in my days working as a chaplain with people in the Department of Behavioral Medicine, meeting many folks who didn’t have much love for the person they were or had become… therefore, a better way to look at this command, for some, might be, “Love others as God loves you,”  because we know that God does love us no matter who we are or what our life may have been about.

    Another important concept that we should realize coming out of Paul’s letter today is the fact that as a good Jew, he would have been aware of over 600 rules and regulations that were part of his faith belief, yet, he seems to be saying today, “if love is present, in our activities, then all those rules and “regs” are basically covered!

   One has to wonder why a religion would establish 600 laws when one law, “to love,” covers it all.  And the answer through the wisdom of our years is that it is much easier to do the 600 than it is to do the one!  You know this to be true, if you have ever tried to love someone that you find unlovable.

   Our brother Jesus always wants us to “dig deeper” – to not get, “lost in the weeds,” as it were, over sterile rules, for instance, demanding that we acknowledge that the bread and wine on the table is “real flesh and real blood,” as on an altar – letting it remain there as a sacrifice to an angry God.  No, Jesus asks that we go deeper, realizing that the gift of his life, death, and resurrection was meant as just the starting place from which we would take this wonderful story and share it with others, each of us becoming, through the reception of the Eucharist, “his body, his blood” in the world.  He said as much before he physically left us – “You will do greater things than me.”

   Before concluding here, I would like to go back to the psalmist’s words once again: “If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts” – sometimes we might wonder “how” we can be sure that what we are “hearing” comes from God… I have found, overtime, that when there is “peace within,” for the most part, God is present. And additionally, if what I am proposing to do, “is about love,” that is another sign of its “rightness.”

   And my friends, if this seems just too overwhelming, remember Jesus ‘ words from Matthew’s gospel today, [when] “two or three of you gather in my name, I am there with you.”  Now, additionally, this should tell us that there is much more strength in numbers, when we set out to do something – writing postcards asking for better, demonstrating prophetically, whatever it might be – remember, where two or three are gathered, our brother Jesus is with us!    Amen? Amen!