Homilies

Homily – 12th Sunday in Extra Ordinary Time in the Midst of Pandemic and National Unrest

/ kredig

Dear Friends, I am sending this a bit early, as I will be gone this weekend–you can save for Sunday, if you wish.

We continue in this pandemic time, uncertain of what comes next, but trusting that our God is with us and will show us the way. Besides being back to “Extra” Ordinary Time, this is Fathers’ Day and we bless and thank those who have been “fatherly” in their actions to others, whether physically, emotionally, spiritually, or in all these ways. God calls us today, as always, to be our best selves, so the challenge is there my friends–let us go forth! 

If I can be of help to any of you, please don’t hesitate to contact me by phone, 507-429-3616, or email, krredig@hbci.com.  Have peace, stay safe and well! –Pastor Kathy

Entrance Antiphon

God is our strength.  In God, we are chosen and we live in safety. Save us O God who share in your life, and give us your blessing—be our shepherd forever.

Let Us Pray

Opening Prayer

God of the universe, we praise and thank you! You are ever close to us, we rejoice in you. From this world’s uncertainty we look to your covenant.  Keep us one in your peace, secure in your love.  We ask this in Jesus’ wonderful name, who with you and the Spirit live and love us, forever and ever, Amen.

Readings: 

  • Jeremiah 20: 10-13
  • Romans 5: 12-15
  • Matthew 10: 26-33

Homily

My friends, we have gone through the Easter Season now and all of it has been accomplished through, “distancing,” to protect us from COVID 19.  From the last weeks of Lent through the special feasts after Easter wherein we celebrate the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, the greatness of our God, three in one on Trinity Sunday and “the Body of Christ”–all of us—in the world, as Jesus’ representatives, until now.

This has been a hard time, being separated physically, and it has called us to be strong in new ways as we all try and stay safe and well.  Our human natures tug at “pushing the envelope” a bit—meeting in smaller family groups, as our family has done and yours too, I have discovered, in talking with you. We have laid our brother, Eric Bartleson to rest with most of you not being able to attend, except vicariously, through my homily.

Those wiser than us, scientists and medical people tell us, to be careful and the wisdom of this counsel has proven itself to be true as we see upticks of infection in areas that either opened too soon and /or didn’t abide by the protections of “distancing,” wearing of masks and good hand-washing.  So, for now, our modus operandi will continue as is, but stay tuned for changes! There is the possibility of us getting on ZOOM in the near future and that could be an option for a bit of closure with Eric and our Mary of Magdala celebration.

So my friends, we are once again into Ordinary Time, which I have presented to you in the past as “Extra” Ordinary Time, in that the challenge to live as our best selves, in the footsteps of our brother, Jesus, is always there, whether we have a major time like Lent or Advent or special feast days like Easter or Christmas.  And as we return then to Ordinary Time—this week is no exception.

Friends, we can hardly miss the fact this week, through the chosen readings, that we are loved by our God! The prophet Jeremiah begins by stating that, “Our God is with me (us) like a mighty champion” [!]  The psalmist prays, “O God, in your great kindness, answer me, with your constant help…in your great mercy, turn toward me…for God hears the cry of the poor.”

This idea that our God loves and truly cares for us is continued today in Paul’s letter to the Romans.  Paul tells them and us, basically, that until humans created “laws,” there was no “sin,” per se.  The Scripture reads, “Sin entered the world through humans.”  Now, it’s important to remember the definition of, what it is to be human.  Simply put; we are imperfect—we don’t always do it right!  Now, if you want to call that character trait, “sin,” as do most in the hierarchy of the Church, you can, but it is good to remember that it was not our good God that started that thinking!

When we get “stuck” on the first part that, “sin entered the world through humans,” the second part of Paul’s message gets forgotten; basically that, “grace abounds for all,” meaning that no matter what we may have done, God loves us anyway!  For God, the important part is, that we keep trying!—that is what God loves in each of us—our ability to keep working at being our best selves.

So, what am I saying?  That we don’t have to be concerned about “sin,” evil in the world? No! Only that we keep it in balance, like everything else.  When we concentrate too much on “the bad we may have done,” we can “get stuck” there and not move on, trying once again to do the good that Jesus asks each of us to do in the world.  My personal feeling about all the rhetoric of us being a “sinful people” in need of “beating our breasts,” without the accompanying message of “being truly loved by our God,” is about controlling people and nothing more.

We continue on then in Matthew’s gospel where we hear, “Every hair on our head has been counted” by our loving God and we must then be secure in the fact that we are loved! This is the gospel where Jesus is sending the apostles off in twos to “freely give” to others what they have been “freely given”—basically that knowledge that they are loved.  He tells them, “Do not fear anything!”

So, my friends, tying all the readings together; I would direct you back to the psalmist who says that our God, “hears the cry of the poor” and the understanding is that our God, in turn, implores one of us to help!  We know this to be true through Jesus’ invitation to the apostles in the gospel story today, “Freely you have received, now, freely give!” God wants us to be our best selves—no matter that we are imperfect beings.  God wants and knows that we can rise above our imperfections and do the right thing.

The times in which we live—NOW, are calling for the best in each of us.  Let us friends, rise to that level!  Amen? Amen!

Prayers of the Faithful

Response:  “Jesus, hear us.”

  1. Jesus, thank you for asking us to be “bread” for our world, we pray—Response:  “Jesus, hear us.”
  1. O God, let peace reign in our hearts and give us the strength and grace to be people of peace—be with all world governments to always strive for the peace-filled solution, we pray— Response: “Jesus, hear us.”
  2. Jesus, you ask us to be people of faith and trust—we believe, help our times of unbelief, we pray— Response: “Jesus, hear us.”
  3. Jesus, in your loving Spirit, let us as members of this community, All Are One, always find room at our table for all your people, we pray—Response:  “Jesus, hear us.”
  1. Loving Creator, Savior, Spirit—give us your patience, your strength, your love for our world, we pray— Response: “Jesus, hear us.”
  2. Loving Jesus, give each person in your body, the Church, what they most need today, we pray— Response: “Jesus, hear us.”
  3. Loving Jesus, be with all families who have lost loved ones this week,—give all who have lost, your peace, that they may find their way through their grief, continue to surround the Bartleson family with your love and care as they grieve, along with us, the passing of Eric, we pray—Response: “Jesus, hear us.”

***Let us pray for your particular needs, you may say them out loud—then response

***Let us pray for the silent petitions on our hearts—pause—then response

Let Us Pray

  O good and loving God, made manifest so wonderfully and beautifully in Jesus, our Savior and Friend, you know what we most need before we ask—do give us what we most need today! Help us to be people of faith, strong in our trust of you and believe that no storm in our lives is too great for you to calm, you who are our Creator, Savior and Spirit God and Friend, we ask all this, in Jesus’ wonderful name, who lives with us and loves us forever and ever—Amen.

Let Us Pray—my friends, the bread of the altar in physical form is kept from us once again, and so, we must remember that Jesus is always with us and has asked us to be “bread” for our world. Let us do that with confidence, with strength and with mercy.

Prayer after Communion

O God, we have been reminded of Jesus’ life and love through the reception of the bread and wine—we ask you to renew Jesus’ life within us through this most wonderful food. Show us your mercy and bring us to eternal life one day—all this we ask of you, our Creator, Jesus, our Savior and the Spirit that lives within us—Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homily – Corpus Christi Sunday in a Time of Pandemic and National Crisis

/ kredig

Dear Friends,

We find ourselves once again unable to meet due to this time of pandemic, along with struggling as a nation to get to the heart of systemic racism within our country–its very culture.  Even though this is stressful to deal with, I find myself being hopeful in that this time seems to have struck a cord with people throughout our nation wanting to really try this time to make a difference. Our prayer must be that our loving God would give us all the strength we need, the perseverance and the will to finally, finally make the needed changes!  God be with us all.

Entrance Antiphon

Bless the Creator, O my Soul, God who gives us peace, who strengthens us for all trials and disappointments, who shares our joys, who wants good for us and not bad. Bless the Creator, O my soul, glorify God forever.

Opening Prayer

Today O God, You remind us how much we are loved by you through the incarnation of Jesus, Your First Born. Help us to always  lovingly receive Jesus into our lives through the gift of the Eucharist—Jesus, let us always be totally aware of your intention for this gift—that it should be shared with all who come to the table in order that we all can truly be You, O Jesus, for our world. We ask this of the Creator and the Spirit, in Jesus’ wonderful name, Amen.

Readings:

  • Deuteronomy 8: 2-3, 14-16
  • 1 Corinthians 10: 16-17
  • John 6: 51-58

Homily

The feast of Corpus Christi—the Body of Christ is one of those feasts that should leave us unsettled, especially if we are looking at it rather, one-dimensionally.  Many times this feast has been presented as a Sunday to uplift the Eucharist, its physicality—place it in a golden case and then onto a golden stand.  This, of course, is a pre-Vatican II ritual that, as we have grown up in our faith, have realized that this feast is really about so much more.

Our brother Jesus, who always had deeper messages to convey than his first followers understood initially, couldn’t truly have meant for the gift of the Eucharist to be something static—bread that we worship.  All his words, his actions in Scripture certainly showed us that the only “body” he wanted us to care for—to care about, was the “body” that we found in our world in all its many forms, colors, sizes—human, non-human, animal and so on.

The Eucharist, the “bread of life” was meant as a comfort, yes, because the Jesus of 1st Century Palestine couldn’t stay with us in that physical form, so he gave us a sign—to remind us that our God is indeed with us, but, this is only the beginning. The Eucharist must be reciprocal—we have received; now we must give!  As we know, Jesus was always shaking things up, stretching his followers to be more, see more, understand more, see their lives as “gift” given to share, to make life better for all.

Diane Bergant, Scripture scholar, states that “blood symbolized life itself” and for us, that means the life of Jesus, his words—his actions—all that he taught about living-loving, dying and rising to a new place. She goes on, “the significance of the cup of wine is not in its material substance, but in its incorporation of the partakers in the blood of Christ”—in other words, the sharing of Jesus’ “essence” with the community is where the true goodness lies. This feast of Corpus Christi should not leave us “settled” in simply, worshipping the body and blood, because if it does, perhaps we have missed the point of this feast.  Jesus never asked us to worship him in the elements of bread and wine, but to care for his “body” in the world.

Exegetes continue; breaking bread with someone was looked at in the time of Jesus as a sign of forming community with them.  Jesus raised that to a new level in saying that sharing Eucharistic bread forms us into the body of Christ.  In other words, when we eat regular food, we incorporate that food into our very selves.  The opposite is true with the Eucharist, Bergant says.  When we partake of Eucharistic bread; we are transformed into Eucharistic bread, meaning—we become Jesus’ body for the world.  You might want to read this line again so as not to miss its meaning!

Looking at the Eucharist in this way, is indeed another level—receiving communion is not just between us and God, but us, and God, (think Jesus) and our world. Receiving communion is a community action for the larger community. A wise person once said, “Eucharist is really a verb, not a noun.  I would agree because it is all about, “becoming.”

In the Gospel from John, Bergant tells us that “flesh and blood,” on a literal level, was a common way of characterizing a human being—when applied to Jesus, speaking of Jesus’ flesh and blood is our proclamation of faith in the incarnation—the fact that Jesus became one of us to have a human experience, thus telling us how much we are loved by our God—that God in Jesus would go to that extent to make sure that we creatures know how important we are to the Creator.  Jesus became one of us, flesh and blood through his entire life; not just when he gave us the Eucharist. When we make conscious efforts to live as Jesus, we do give his “body and blood,” on a deeper level, to our world.

Take this thought and apply it now to the world in which we live.  We are in the midst of Covid 19, a pandemic that truly threatens all of us because it is an unseen organism and there is no vaccine at present to stop its spread.  We as Christians, as followers of our brother Jesus must do our part to truly share his love, his compassion in our world by doing all that we can to keep ourselves and others safe through “distancing,” wearing of masks and good hand-washing—simple measures, but so life-giving.

I have stopped adding “social” to “distancing” because as someone said, as humans, we need the aspect of being “social,” of relating to others—this pandemic has taught us that much, even the most introverted among us—we need others and should all try during this time, to reach out to others through a call, a card, an email—to let them know they are missed, are loved.  This is all about being, “the Body of Christ!”

Add to the pandemic; our country has been shaken to its core these past two weeks at the death of yet another black brother, George Floyd, at the hands of a white police officer.  With his death that has been accepted as murder by many, one of too many before it; our nation apparently is beginning to say—“this is enough!—we must change!”  This is all about “being Jesus’ body and blood” in our world—Eucharist!

I think it would be good for us to try and put ourselves at Jesus’ last supper with his family and friends and really attempt to tap into all that was going on for him, in his humanity, all that was before him in his journey to be Christ.  Most of us can only really get our heads around the human component—Jesus’ earthly family, his friends, his disciples.  What was he truly thinking, feeling, when he said, “Whenever you share this meal, the simple elements of bread and wine, think of me!”  Remember, if you can, that when you take these elements, simple gifts from the earth; they are in effect my life-blood—my body, all that I have taught you, all that I have given you, by way of example, by way of my life among you.  When you take all of this in and let it change your life, you do become my body—given to you that you then can continue my work in the world—can be “Eucharist for others. That is why each week that we have been unable to meet as a community with each other, I have been able to say to you, let us remember that we are bread for each other because Jesus lives within us!

And friends, this is why Jesus could truly say, “You will do greater things than I!”  He truly believed and trusted that his family and friends, his followers would continue his work in the world.

That’s where all of us come in.  We can’t let what we do at Mass end there—this is only the beginning.  The only real purpose for the Eucharist, in the end, is that it be a launching pad for all that comes next.  Just as Jesus, our brother, knew such events in his earthly life among us; he brought his very best to his last supper with all those he most cared about.

I had the privilege of officiating on Saturday at the funeral liturgy of our brother, Eric Bartleson.  In a time of pandemic that none of you could attend—only a couple of close neighbors and family, we did our very best to celebrate his good life among us.  For those of you in the Winona area who knew Eric, I promise a time in the near future, when it is safe to do so, to appropriately remember him—a time of eucharist!

When we celebrate those larger times of eucharist within our families, within our city, on a national level to make our country better for all, on a global level for our world, we are truly Jesus’ body and blood in the world—and it all begins each time we celebrate the Mass. Let it be so! Amen? Amen!

Prayers of the Faithful

Response: “You satisfy the hungry heart.”

  1. For all in our country and around the world who suffer due to the forces of

nature—surround them with your love and care O God and help each of us to do

all that we can to help protect and safeguard our world, we pray—

Response: “You satisfy the hungry heart.”

  1. For each of us here, that we might receive today a new appreciation for what

Jesus’ incarnation into our history really means, we pray—

     Response: “You satisfy the hungry heart.”

  1. For anyone here today, suffering in any way, be it in body, mind or spirit, we

pray—Response: “You satisfy the hungry heart.”

  1. Bless our community, All Are One—keep us O Spirit close to the heart of Jesus

and help us to be ever ready to accept any and all into our family, we pray—

Response: “You satisfy the hungry heart.”

  1. O God, work within each of us, within our leaders, to be people of peace and to

work for peace within our war-torn world, especially be with all in this country as

we work against the sin of racism, we pray—

     Response: “You satisfy the hungry heart.”

  1. Loving Jesus, be with all families who have lost loved ones this week—from Covid

19 and be especially with the Bartleson family as they grieve the loss of Eric,

including Pat Przybylski, his friend and companion—give them your peace to find

their way through their grief, we pray—Response: “You satisfy the hungry heart.”

***Let us pray for your particular needs—you may say them aloud, then response

***Let us pray for the silent petitions on our hearts—(pause) then response

Let Us Pray

O good and loving God, made manifest so wonderfully and beautifully in Jesus, our Savior and Friend, you know what we need before we ask—do give us what we most need today! Help us to be aware anew today through this beautiful feast of Corpus Christi of how much you love us and want to be close—to be part of our very beings in order that we can then be transformed into you.  You are our Creator, our Savior, our Spirit Friend—we ask all of this in Jesus’ wonderful name—AMEN.

Prayer after Communion—(we again remember that the “Eucharist” is more than the “bread of the altar,” but the body of us all that Jesus was for our world.  We remember that he is always with us in our commitment to follow him—in our commitment to share his love with everyone we meet).

Let us pray—

You have satisfied us O God with yourself—guide us as we leave here today to bring your love, your life to all we meet. Help us to remember that we are gifted in order that we might be a gift to our world. We ask all this in Jesus’ wonderful name, Amen.

 

 

Homily – Trinity Sunday in a Time of Pandemic and National Unrest

/ kredig

Dear Friends,

We pray together again this week during a time of pandemic and national unrest.  The pandemic has in fact taken a back seat this week due to the death of our brother, George Floyd and the protests across our country and around the world. If we are truthful with ourselves, we realize that these protests are long overdue because his death was one of, too many. May our good God forgive us all for letting this go on so long…may this same God now give us all the strength we need to make the changes so needed to make our country whole. As our readings today tell us, we have a God of “tenderness and compassion.” 

Hopefully, this post finds you all safe and well, with the hope that we can join as a community again before too long. Peace and love, Pastor Kathy

P.S. Please don’t hesitate to be in touch if I can help you in any way–507-429-3616 or krredig@hbci.com

Entrance Antiphon

O God, may you be praised, lifted up and glorified above all else forever. Blessed is your name, you who can’t be measured, contained, or fully named, your mercy and love extend forever. Praised be you O God forever and ever.

Let Us Pray:

Opening Prayer

Today, O God, we praise you in your greatness of persons. You are our Creator God who loves us as a father, as a mother loves their children.  You are our Savior, in Jesus, the Christ who lived his entire life for us to show us the way, even unto death, rising to a glorious new state. You are our friend in the Spirit of this loving God-head, One, forever and ever, AMEN.

Readings:

  • Exodus 34: 4-6, 8-9
  • 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13
  • John 3: 16-18

Homily

Trinity Sunday my friends, is all about praising the God of us all, in the persons of the Creator, the Savior and the Spirit.  Today’s readings from Exodus, Corinthians and John not only speak about our God who has loved us beyond all imagining, but about how we, as followers of our Savior, Jesus of Nazareth—the Christ, expects us to live as we sojourn upon this beautiful earth.

The Creator God of Exodus proclaims to Moses, “I am, I am!”  Many times in the past, we have heard explanations of this scene, trying to figure out how to name God.  I believe what God says next to Moses is so much more important, especially in the context of present day living as we struggle as a nation, to be whole, to include all in meaningful ways, finally—perhaps, finally.

Our God continues, “I am a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger and rich in kindness and faithfulness.” These traits—tenderness, compassion, slowness in moving toward anger, richness where kindness is concerned and faithfulness to oaths that all police officers take to protect and serve were absent on May 25th when our brother, George Floyd was murdered in the hands of these “public servants.”  And as others have rightfully said, “He was murdered as so many others before him because—he was black, proving that in our country, black lives matter less that do white lives. I have to believe that our God is “taking a knee,” is weeping deep tears of sorrow alongside the black community, nationally, as they beg, plead to be heard, to be recognized and to be treated as white folk are treated in this country.

I heard a novelist in the past week, who just happens to be white, speaking about this issue and she related that when she was growing up—half of the kids in her school were black and she never thought of them as belonging to the “black community,” but to her community! Perhaps a lesson for all of us.

Our Scripture readings continue today and we reflect on the Gospel refrain which comes from Psalm 8:  “Who are we that you should be mindful of us?” I have always loved this verse—because to me, it says that the psalmist is aware of how wonderful a gift from the Creator—life is, and without taking a stance of, “mea culpa,” or “beating our breasts” in our “insignificance,” we instead show our deep gratitude for this wonderful opportunity. With thoughts of gratitude as a backdrop then, we must reflect on what it is to be black in our world at present, where up until the death of George Floyd, the people in this country had been complicit in systemic racism.

Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians encourages his hearers and this includes us, “to live in harmony and peace, to greet one another with a holy kiss.” Paul’s command to all of us does justice to the Creator God who said, “I am a God of tenderness and compassion.”  The times in which we live, my dear friends, call us to no less.

And today’s readings conclude with John’s gospel where we hear—“Yes, [our] God so loved the world as to give the Only-Begotten One”—to be with us, showing us how to live and to die. And for us white-skinned folk here in the United States of America, it is good to recall that in 1st Century Palestine, Jesus would have appeared as a dark-skinned human!

So my friends, what are we to make of all of this? How do we start, and what might be our vision going forward?  One thing, I truly believe; we have passed the point of where we can simply do nothing, once the protests are over.  Like our response in the past to mass shootings in our country, “our thoughts and prayers” simply will not get it done!  Our thoughts and prayers must move us to action.  Our Minnesota governor has said, “This is our last chance in this state to get it right!”

As you all know, for this change to take place in our society—in our country—moving us as a nation to see all of us as equal and deserving of the basics of daily life, regardless of race, color of skin, gender, whatever “impediment” there might be, will not be like flipping a switch.

I heard a speaker, knowledgeable in these matters; talk this past week, about the concepts of “explicit” and “implicit” racism as a way to get at the deeper issues involved.  Explicit racism shows itself in language and actions that clearly show a person to be racist—to be against another in a basic way—no doubt about it.  Implicit racism is not as clear a response to a person of a different race.  The person operating under this form of racism may not even be aware of how their actions or language appears to others.  If there is a sense that in any way a person considers them self to better than another and this sense doesn’t cause them to be upset with the lack of just treatment of another in this world; we are probably seeing, “implicit” racism.

For most of us white folk, this may be a hard pill to swallow—but in order to come to terms with the fact that too many people in our country and world go to bed hungry every night, that too many people don’t have adequate shelter or meaningful work, for any number of reasons, plus our national crime that people of color are more often than not considered guilty before the facts are known, (white privilege) should tell us something about what needs to happen in our country and world, especially for those of us who claim to be, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim or whatever other faith names for us a universal God of kindness and compassion.

We have received hope this week since George Floyd’s death that change may happen this time. The protests, mostly peaceful, certainly haven’t stopped and may not for some time.  Singular police personnel around the country have spoken out and shown with actions—actually talking with those protesting to see what they need and want, “taking a knee” out of respect for how George Floyd lost his life, listening, truly listening.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) have made a statement recognizing their complicity in racism in our country and have asked forgiveness of the black community with the promise to do better going forward attacking white privilege in our country.

The National Black Sisters’ Conference have named the indiscriminate killing of black people by police officers, “21st Century Lynchings” and have called on Archbishop Bernard Hebda of Minneapolis/St. Paul and the National Bishops’ Conference to make a pastoral statement denouncing, “violent hatred and racism.”

Unfortunately, response from leadership within the Catholic hierarchy has been slow to non-existent.  Our hope lies in examples like the bishop of El Paso, Mark Sietz and some of his clergy who knelt for 8 minutes this past week, in a local park, holding signs, “Black Lives Matter.”  For them, this sign is just another way of saying as Catholics often had, “God has a special love for the forgotten and oppressed.”  Bishop Sietz was quoted as saying of their demonstration, “There is something profoundly ‘eucharistic’ about these moments.” Yes!

Another example is Cardinal Blaise Cupich of Chicago, when speaking recently about what our response to the unrest over racism should be, suggested that we should be less quick to judge the proportionality of “their” response and start talking about the proportionality of “ours.”

He went on; our country has a “shameful history of discrimination, racial profiling and police brutality. Let’s look at the grace in all of this. Look at the witness of those who are bravely taking up their parts in the drama of salvation unfolding…If we look past the static—they’re pointing the redemptive way to transformation…they are showing us what our country can look like when all have a place at the table.”  Thank you, Blaise Cupich!

A final example:  James Cone in America magazine said, “The Word comes tortured, black and lynched.  Today we meet Jesus in those tear-gassed, tased, strangled and snuffed out.”

My friends, in conclusion, this is not easy and we will at times feel like this is such a great task, but we must remember the plight of our black sisters and brothers in our world and do all we can to show them what the face of God looks like—a God of tenderness and kindness, love and mercy.  Amen? Amen!

Prayers of the Faithful

Response: We remember, we celebrate, we believe.

1.On this Trinity Sunday, may the greatness of who you are God, be ever present to us, we pray—Response: We remember, we celebrate, we believe.

2. O God, we know you are great, help us to remember that you want more than anything to be near us and involved in our lives, we pray—Response: We remember, we celebrate, we believe.

3. We profess as Christians to believe in Jesus, the first born of our loving God—help us Jesus to be willing to “travel with you” showing love, compassion, mercy and understanding for our world and its people, we pray—Response: We remember, we celebrate, we believe.

  1. Dear Spirit of the Living God, surround us with your love and friendship, your wisdom and grace to reach out to our suffering world, especially those who live with less than the basics of life, we pray—Response: We remember, we celebrate, we believe.

5. Bless our community, All Are One—keep us O Spirit close to the heart of Jesus and help us to be ever ready to accept any and all into our family, and be with now as Church and nation to confront the evil of racism, we pray—Response: We remember, we celebrate, we believe.

  1. Loving Jesus, be with all families who have lost loved ones this week—through Covid 19, as well as all other ways—give them your peace, and help them to find their way through their grief, we pray—Response: We remember, we celebrate, we believe.

***Let us pray for your particular needs—you may say them aloud, we pray, then response

***Let us pray for the silent petitions on our hearts—(pause) we pray, then response

Let Us Pray

   Good and gracious, Triune God, more great and wonderful than we can imagine, stay close to our hearts and minds this day and always. Be the air we breathe, be light to our eyes and solace to our spirits. Be our strength in each day to make a difference in our world, so in need of your compassionate love and understanding. Teach us to share your love through the simple kindnesses of each day—a smile, an encouraging word, a helping hand. Help us to realize your challenge each day to your believers—they will only see me if they see me through you!  In all things, give us your peace, a firm belief that you walk with us each and every day. During this time of unrest in our country over the issue of systemic racism, help us who are white, to be able to “sit with” the unrest and consider the part that we play in the unrest due to white privilege. We ask all of this of you who are God for us—Creator, Savior and Spirit, in Jesus’ name—AMEN.

Let Us Pray:  Again, we must consider Eucharist to be bigger than the “bread of the altar,” but find Jesus, all around us!

Prayer after Communion

We remember how you loved us to your death, and we celebrate because you are with us here. We believe that we will see you when you come, in your glory, we remember, we celebrate, we believe.

 

 

Homily – Pentecost Sunday in a Time of Pandemic

/ kredig

My friends, this is Pentecost Sunday in a time of pandemic. We know Pentecost is the beginning, really, of the Church—for simplicity sake, we call, “Christian” as it forever tries to follow our brother Jesus, whom we believe to be, “the Christ”—the anointed one. The times in which we live call us to be “Christian” as never before—to be honest, truthful, filled with justice, merciful, compassionate and loving—as was Jesus. May we be, as the first disciples, “enabled” by Jesus’ Spirit to be his true followers in our world.

This week Pastor Dick Dahl has gifted us with a homily—enjoy! –Pastor Kathy

P.S. And as always, please be in contact by email, krredig@hbci.com or by phone, 507-429-3616 if I can be of service to you.

Entrance Antiphon

The love of our God has been poured into our hearts by God’s Spirit living in us, Alleluia!

Let Us Pray

Opening Prayer

God of Light, from whom every good gift comes; send your Spirit into our lives with the power of a mighty wind, and by the flame of your wisdom open the horizons of our minds.  Loosen our tongues to sing your praise in words beyond the power of speech, for without your Spirit, we could never raise our voices in words of peace or announce the truth that Jesus lives and loves us with you and this same Spirit—one God, forever and ever—Amen.

Readings:

  • Acts 2:1-11
  • 1 Corinthians 12: 3-7, 12-13
  • John 20: 19-23

Homily–From Pastor Dick Dahl

Today’s readings speak to us with the power of a tornado and the gentleness of a whisper. They speak about the outpouring, the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit hovered over the abyss at the creation of the universe. The Spirit of God has never been absent. If that were the case, nothing would exist.  But the coming of the Spirit into human life after the departure of Jesus has special powerful meaning.

A powerful force is the root meaning of the Hebrew word that is translated as “spirit.”  It is related, however, to breath as well as wind. In Genesis, God is pictured as creating the universe by simply speaking, “Let there be….”  Then God breathes life into dust from the earth and human life begins.

But, as I said, today’s readings are about the gift of the Holy
Spirit at Pentecost and what this means for us and the world. So, let’s look at one of those readings. I prefer to start with the one from John’s Gospel although it is usually read last.

It may surprise you, but this reading gives us, as it were, the first Pentecost story. The evening of his Resurrection, Jesus appears to his disciples. They are in hiding for fear of capture, so twice he reassures them, “Peace be with you.” In place of wind or fire, he delivers the Spirit by breathing on them, saying “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

(Some biblical scholars think the following words, “whose sins you forgive are forgiven and whose sins you retain are retained,” refer to baptism through which the Holy Spirit is given.)

Next, in the Acts of the Apostles, Luke describes the disciples gathered in the same room when the Spirit whom Jesus had promised comes to them through the sound of a strong driving wind and flames of fire: “They were all filled with the holy Spirit….”

The sound had drawn a large crowd of Jewish pilgrims who had come from all parts of the then known world. When the Apostles spoke, the audience understood them, although the people listening spoke many different languages. The Spirit enabled the Apostles to speak, so that those hearing them were able to understand what they were saying, namely about the amazing things God had done through Jesus.

Intentionally or not, Luke presents a reverse picture of the story of the tower of Babel from chapter 11 of Genesis. In that account early humans who still spoke only the same language, out of arrogance tried to build a tower to the heavens. God punished their pride by confusing their language so that they did not understand one another and then were scattered over all the earth. Now in Acts those scattered and diverse people were drawn together and could understand the Apostles across the barriers of different languages.

In the other reading for today, from Paul’s first letter to the Christian community in Corinth, we see an aspect of this event that had special meaning in the time of Roman rule as well as now. The Roman Empire was a very stratified society.  But Paul writes to the Corinthians, “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.”

Imagine that! Through the gift of the Spirit, the slave had equal worth to the emperor! This was the first religion to teach such a message. The sense of radical egalitarianism drew many to the early Christian community. Note also, how instead of wind, fire or breath, Paul used the image of water to describe the Spirit’s action, the living water promised by Jesus to the Samaritan woman.

Jesus told his followers, and that includes us, that he and his Father would send us a gift, the Spirit. The Spirit would be our advocate, one who knows what we need before even we do. Jesus told his disciples that the Spirit would teach them everything and remind them of all he had told them (John 14:26).

My sense, and perhaps I’m wrong, is that instead of letting the Spirit teach us, open our vision to all of creation, there is often a tendency to minimize and mentally limit the Spirit’s dynamic and permeating presence. For example, how much do people see religion focusing mainly on church-related concerns or even specific moral concerns (usually about sex) rather than the call of the two Great Commandments—to love everyone with no exceptions. Many have been taught consciously or unconsciously to think of the Church in narrow terms, as if it were confined to the hierarchy and the clergy.

This amounts to having blinders on to God’s outpouring of his Spirit throughout the world, in fact, through all of creation. So to think of God only in the Catholic Church, or even only in Christians is to distort and grossly minimize God’s presence and actions through the Spirit.  On Pentecost the Spirit flooded the world, was poured into all living things, in all of nature, in all creation. This is why one can often regain a sense of peace, of the beauty of God’s presence, when one has the opportunity to spend time outside–in the yard, by the river, in the woods.

I am suggesting that there is a tendency to restrict our sense of God to a place, the tabernacle, a church building, or to people like us, people who believe what we believe, who share our culture, who act the way we think others should act.

Jesus, however, taught us by his example to get rid of such restricted thinking. He offended the religious leaders of his time (and I suspect would do the same today) by reaching out to those considered “outsiders,” lepers, Samaritans, tax collectors, gentiles, prostitutes, “sinners.”  Who are the “outsiders” in our community or wider world today?

These are concrete, not abstract ideas. The murder and riots of the past week in Minneapolis puts a spotlight on an individual act of cruelty and violence, but also on a system of brutality and disrespect which has left many of our fellow citizens enraged and discouraged beyond their ability to hope. I read that Martin Luther King Jr. once said or wrote, “Riots are the language of the unheard.” So when Jesus repeatedly connected with the outsiders, he gave us an example—namely that there are no such thing as outsiders in his eyes. He gave us his Spirit by which the slave is equal in God’s eyes to the emperor, as is the black man under the knee of an arresting officer to you or me, or to the President of the United States.

In one of his daily meditations last week Father Richard Rohr wrote: “We see in the Gospels that the people who tend to follow Jesus are the ones on the margins: the lame, poor, blind, prostitutes, drunkards, tax collectors, and foreigners. He lived in close proximity to and in solidarity with the excluded ones in his society. Those on the inside and at the center of power are the ones who crucify him: elders, chief priests, teachers of the Law, scribes, and Roman occupiers. Yet we still honor people in these latter roles and shun the ones in the former.

But when the Bible is read through the eyes of solidarity—what we call the ‘preferential option for the poor’ or the ‘bias from the margins’—it will always be liberating, transformative, and empowering in a completely different way. Read this way, Scripture cannot be used by those with power to oppress or impress. The question is no longer ‘How can I maintain my special and secure status?’ It is ‘How can we all grow and change together?’ I think the acceptance of that invitation to solidarity with the larger pain of the world is what it means to be a ‘Christian.’”

Prayers of the Faithful

Response: “Come, Spirit, Come!”

  1. Jesus, thank you for the gift of your Spirit among us—help us to always remember that in this gift you fulfill your promise to always be with us, we pray in your Spirit—Response: “Come, Spirit, Come!”

2. O God, let peace reign in our hearts and give us the strength and grace to be people of peace, we pray in your Spirit—Response: “Come, Spirit, Come!”

3. Jesus, you who said that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend, give us hearts that strive to love unconditionally, we pray in your Spirit—Response: “Come, Spirit, Come!”

4. Jesus, give the gift of hope and a light at the end of the tunnel for those suffering from job loss or any other set-backs at this time, due to the coronavirus, we pray in your Spirit—Response: “Come, Spirit, Come!”

  1. Jesus, you have called us friends—enable us to extend that relationship in our world to those who most need friendship, we pray in your Spirit—Response: “Come, Spirit, Come!”

6. Jesus, you no longer have a body in this world except through us—help us to be your hands and eyes and ears and heart for our world , we pray in your Spirit—Response: “Come, Spirit, Come!”

  1. Jesus, your words in Scripture today remind us that we are sent forth—give us the strength to follow your lead in our world and speak truth to power through your Spirit, we pray it your Spirit—Response: “Come, Spirit, Come!”

8. Jesus, in your loving Spirit let us as members of this community, All Are One, always find room at our table for all your people—we pray too that our community can remain strong during this time of Covid 19, we pray in your Spirit—Response: “Come, Spirit, Come!”

  1. Loving Jesus, be with all families who have lost loved ones this week,—give them your peace, and help them to find their way through their grief, we pray in your Spirit—Response: “Come, Spirit, Come”

  ***Let us pray for your particular needs—you may say them aloud, we pray, then response

***Let us pray for the silent petitions on our hearts—(pause) we pray, then response

Let Us Pray

Jesus, be the strength we need each day to be Pentecost people –true to our calling to be people of peace and of love. Let us never falter in our commitment to you and your world. Let us look at your people, always with love, remembering that you have called us friends—that you have given all that we might have eternal life with you. Let us always remember your never-failing love for each person and that because you have loved us so fully, we too must love fully in return.  We are grateful for the gift of your loving Spirit in our lives. Through that same Spirit, give us renewed hearts, strong in our commitment to speak truth to power wherever needed.  Be with the black community now—give them strength in this most recent assault by Minneapolis policemen—be with the white community and help all of them, to address the issue of racism in this country.  Give us what we most need today so that we can more effectively be your body in our world. We ask all of this of you, our loving Savior and with the Creator and your loving Spirit— all, one God, living and loving us forever and ever, Amen.

Let Us Pray—Again, we remember that we are “Jesus,” if we choose to be, for our world.  Ask him to be with you, now, in a special way, and he will be!

Prayer after Communion

Loving Jesus, may the food we have received today in this Eucharist keep within us the vigor of your Spirit and protect the gifts you have given to your Church—we ask this in your wonderful name—Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homily – Ascension/7th Sunday of Easter in a Time of Pandemic

/ kredig

My dear Friends, 

Blessings on each of you! We have come to the end of our Easter Season with today’s virtual reflection and prayers.  Our task, as you know, is to “be Jesus for our world!” 

My hope as always is that this finds you well–please be safe and take care of yourselves and others as you are able.

I wanted you to know that this past week your board were in agreement to send $300 to Doctors Without Borders to purchase the protective equipment that the doctors are needing to work with our sisters and brothers of the Navaho Nation in the southwest of our country.  The board agreed on an additional $300 to be sent to the Rochester Franciscan Sisters to be used to assist the undocumented in the Rochester area who are especially hard hit at present with job loss, no monies for rent, food and other needs due to Covid 19. 

We continue to reflect on the new ways that we are being called upon to be church, even as we are saddened that we can’t meet in person, realizing that it may be a while before we can do that again regardless of what the Minnesota bishops and others around the country are trying to do.  Let us continue our prayers for each other and please do call me,  507-429-3616 or email me, krredig@hbci.com if I can be of help to you.  Peace and love, Pastor Kathy

 

Entrance Antiphon

O God, hear my voice when I call to you.  My heart has prompted me to seek your face; I seek it, O God, do not hide from me, alleluia!

Let Us Pray

Opening Prayer

Loving Creator, reaching from end to end of the universe, and ordering all things with your wonderful strength; for you, time is the unfolding of truth that already is, the unveiling of beauty that is yet to be.  Jesus, your Only Begotten has saved us in history by rising from the dead, so that transcending time he might free us from death. May his presence among us lead to the vision of unlimited truth and unfold the beauty of your love. We ask this in Jesus’ wonderful name, Amen.

Readings:

  • Acts 1:1-11
  • 1 Peter 4: 13-16
  • John 17: 1-11

Homily

My friends, I am taking the opportunity today to blend the feast day of the Ascension and the 7th and final Sunday of Easter in order to share messages from both for our reflection.  In order to do that; I will use the first reading for the Ascension, celebrated this past Thursday and the 2nd and gospel readings from the 7th Sunday of Easter. I think you will find that the key thoughts blend well in these last days of the Easter Season.

I offer these key thoughts for us to consider today:

1) Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles for the Ascension lifts up for us the question of the angel to the apostles after Jesus has physically left them: “Why are you looking up to the heavens?”

2) In 1st Peter from the 7th Sunday of Easter, Peter proclaims: “Happy are you when insulted for the sake of Christ.”  He continues, “See to it that none of you suffers for being a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or a destroyer of another’s rights.”  And he goes on to say that if you must suffer, let it be because you have been, “a follower of Christ.”

3) John’s gospel today includes the part of Jesus’ priestly prayer to his Abba God, for his apostles and ultimately, us, before his death on the cross and in fact, the very words chosen to name us as a faith community, “that they may be one as you and I are one.”

So friends, hopefully you can see how these thoughts are related or at least you will by this homily’s end!  Jesus’ time with his first followers after his death and resurrection was to prepare them for their lives going forward, once he would no longer physically be with them.

They would be expected to share all he had taught them about God’s love for each person—far and wide.  He knew they were afraid and he therefore tried to comfort them, assuring that he would not leave them alone, but send them his Spirit to give them strength, courage and all that they would need to begin the awesome task of sharing with countless others all about, “the way, the truth and the life” of Jesus, the Christ!

Next Sunday, we remember, in a special way, the coming of Jesus’ Spirit on Pentecost.  All of us will recall the indwelling of the Spirit on that special day of our own confirmations and should pray for a renewal of the strength and courage we received then to be all that we can be as Jesus’ followers.

This world of ours, the here and now, calls us and needs us to be more than those who, “are looking up to the heavens” for the answers!  Our God, in Jesus and the Spirit has given us all that we need to affect change in our world.  Will this task be easy—will we always be understood for hard decisions and actions that we must take to be Jesus’ true followers?  No, it will not always be easy, but as Peter tells those who will listen, “See to it, that if you are called to suffer,” that it is not among other things, because you are “a destroyer of another’s rights,” but because you are a, “follower of Christ.”

For the remainder of this homily, I would like to lift up two examples, one that follows Jesus’ way and one that does not, or perhaps, we could say, “falls short.”

All the Catholic papers this week are remembering Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si and the fact that it is now five years old.  I read a commentary this week that said, it may take 40 years for our world to truly understand—maybe more to accept what he is saying in this wonderful statement on care and love of our planet.

The trouble, of course, with the above statement that it may take 40 years to accept what Francis is saying, is the fact that we may not have 40 years to heed its warnings that global warming is a real threat, now!

Those who will probably still be alive in 40 years, like Greta Thunberg, teenage activist from Sweden has these past couple of years become a world-wide figure sounding the alarm that we must all work to save our beautiful planet for the next generation—hers!

Within the Catholic church hierarchy, aside from Pope Francis, we have the example of many of the country’s bishops declaring that they will open churches for Masses once again on May 31st—Pentecost.  To speak to this further, I will turn to the example of my home state of Minnesota.

Our governor, Tim Walz has set out a plan, based on the best science available, the input of reliable medical people, the leaders in the business world as well as input from church leaders and so on about the perceived needs of our people—across the board as to the best way to reopen our state.

Regarding churches reopening, his plan suggests that this be done incrementally with gatherings of 10 or less and then when we see how that goes, adding to this amount. Businesses are part of this plan and will be opened in the same way with the underlining measure being, “how long you are in a particular place “of business, church—whatever it might be.”  Because people are generally in church at least an hour or more, whereas people going to “big box stores” for necessities can be “an in and out” type of venture, the amount of people allowed in at any time is different with the idea of keeping people safe.

The bishop’s complaint is that if the stores can be open to larger amounts of people, the churches can be too.  Thus, the Minnesota bishops plan to defy the governor’s more incremented plan and open early allowing one-third the capacity of the church’s space to be filled with stringent measures of social-distancing, use of masks and good sanitation measures in place.  The bishops’ further explanation goes something like, “The people need the Mass and the sacraments.”

Now, I am aware that there are differing views on this issue, but I would just say that this example shows the bishops’ consistently small—minded thinking where matters of faith are concerned.  Where were these same bishops a few weeks ago when Cardinal Timothy Dolan was falling all over himself in support of the president in order that he would support their key issue—fighting against abortion?

We must recall that this is a president who does not support any other life issue; immigrants and their children, the poor, the homeless, care of the earth and if truth be told, doesn’t support those who want to see legal abortion eliminated in our country either, except to get the Catholic vote.

So again, I ask why do these same bishops not come together and make a statement criticizing their brother Timothy for supporting a president who is against a multitude of human life issues.  Probably because it is always easier for most of us to support a cold, sterile law (Sunday Mass attendance) than it is to support the human,  life-giving needs of the People of God. For Jesus, it was all about love—and for us, as his followers, it must be too!

The bishops say that the people want and need the sacraments.  I would tell them that there is also the “sacrament” of assisting state leadership trying to keep all of us safe!  As I tell my parish, these times call us to be “church” in other ways—the “eucharist” is truly about “thanksgiving” and can happen in many ways, outside of church attendance.  These times truly call us to get outside of our “small boxes of thinking and acting!

In conclusion, today’s gospel calls us to reflect on the prayer of Jesus’ heart the night before he died. He so wanted us to be one in our love, our giving , our being, even though he realized how hard an undertaking this can be at times.

As we prepare for Pentecost, let our own priestly prayer be one with our brother Jesus—to get past ourselves, seeing the bigger picture, with the Spirit’s help, “to be one” as much as that is possible, for the good of us all.  Amen?—Amen!

Prayers of the Faithful

Response: “Jesus, hear our prayer”

  1. Jesus, today we remember that your life among us has taken on a new form, but help us to remember that you are with us, always, we pray—Response: “Jesus, hear our prayer”
  1. Jesus, let peace reign in our hearts and give us the strength and grace to be people of  peace, especially in this time of pandemic and be with those suffering now from Covid 19 in any way, physically, emotionally, or spiritually, we pray—Response:  “Jesus, hear our prayer”
  1. Jesus, you who said that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend, give us hearts that strive to love unconditionally, we pray—Response: “Jesus, hear our prayer”

4.  Jesus, give the gift of hope and a light at the end of the tunnel for those suffering from job loss, especially now due to Covid 19, from chronic illness, or discouragement of any kind, we pray—Response: “Jesus, hear our prayer”

  1. Jesus, you have called us friends—enable us to extend that relationship in our world to those who most need friendship, we pray—Response: “Jesus, hear our prayer”
  2. Jesus, you no longer have a body in this world except through us—help us to be your hands and eyes and ears and heart for our world , we pray—Response: “Jesus, hear our prayer”
  1. Jesus, your words in Scripture today remind us that we are to be one—to make a place for all at our table—help us to always remember that is why we are here in this community—to welcome all to our table—to your table, we pray—Response: “Jesus, hear our prayer”    

8.  Jesus, remind us this week as we prepare for the feast of Pentecost, that your Spirit lives within us enabling us to be your body for the needs of the world, we pray—Response: “Jesus, hear our prayer”

  1. Loving Jesus, be with all families who have lost loved ones this week, especially from the coronavirus—give them your peace, and help them to find their way through their grief, we pray—Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”

       ***Let us pray for your particular needs—you may say them aloud, we pray, then response

***Let us pray for the silent petitions on our hearts—(Pause)—we pray, then response

Let Us Pray

Jesus, be the strength we need each day to be a people renewed—true to our calling to be people of peace and of love. Let us never falter in our commitment to you and your world. Let us look at your people, always with love, remembering that you have called us friends—that you have given all that we might have eternal life with you. Let us always remember your never-failing love for each person and that because you have loved us so fully, we too must love fully in return.  Give us ever more open minds that we might see your face in each person we meet and therefore cease to judge others, but simply try and understand, to put ourselves in another’s shoes and then to simply look on them with love. We await anew the gift of your loving Spirit into our lives. Give us what we most need today—be especially with all the front-line workers caring for the sick, keeping them safe. Be as well with all those necessary workers who aren’t able to shelter-in-place or social-distance—keep them safe.  We ask all of this of you, our loving Savior and with the Creator and your loving Spirit— all, one God, living and loving us forever and ever, Amen.

Let Us Pray—again, we remember that “communion,” receiving the “bread” we know to be Jesus’ life in this special way has to wait a safer time.  Ask that our brother Jesus be with you in a special and new way at this time and he will be!  Then, share that “bread” –his life, with others.

Prayer after Communion

Loving God, hear us and through this holy mystery, give us hope that the glory you have given Jesus will be given to the Church, his body, for he is our loving Savior, forever and ever, Amen.