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Lighthouse April 22, 2025
HE IS RISEN
We just celebrated Easter, Our Lord's Resurrection, that Sunday from which all Sundays come. I pray yours was more than just taking part in some sort of egg hunt. I mean, we just celebrated the greatest event that has ever occurred, Jesus rose from the dead. While many Jews, our ancestors in faith, like the Sadducees did not believe in eternal life, we now know it is real. One Jewish woman once told me when we were talking about death said 'it's just worms'. In other words there is nothing after death. You and I now look forward to the reality of eternal life where we will be fully human, body, soul, and spirit. What will it be like? We don't know the details, nor could we handle it as scripture tells us 'eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered the heart of man, what God has in store.' It is so far beyond our imagination. What do we know? I often get asked: 'Will I know my loved ones there?' What do you think? I believe we will. Even though 'There will be neither male or female' we will have bodies. Even though there is no time or space we will have our individuality as witnessed by Jesus appearing with Moses and Elijah to the apostles Peter, James, and John. I believe that many of the near death experiences we hear about where people are shown known loved ones are gifts from God. God seems to be opening a portal to heaven to certain individuals for our good. While I believe this to be the case, will it really matter? We know God is calling us to be perfectly happy. Someone once said: 'if it takes having your pet dog there with you, you will have it.' The thing is, it won't matter. That is why we are able to look at the other side of the equation when we wonder about our relatives and friends who do not get to share in eternal life, those of whom Jesus said “I was hungry and you did not give me to eat; I was thirsty and you did not give me to drink'. If one is in heaven they will still be able to rejoice because these people have literally gotten what they asked for. God created free will as the one thing He will never change or take back. So, when we see someone getting what they asked for we can't help but rejoice in the love God has shown. After all, to take away free will would no longer be an act of love. The reality is, God will forever love such people who have made those choices. That, of course, will be their eternal torment, never being able to get away from such love. Let us look forward to our own resurrection, body, soul, and spirit, as we seek to do all God asks of us as a sign of our love for Him.
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Lighthouse April 15, 2025
Hosanna in the Highest/ Crucify Him
What a special, strangely complex week we are in. This past Sunday we celebrated the people of Jerusalem proclaiming Jesus as king by singing 'hosanna to the son of David'. They gave him all the welcome of a returning king. How many really thought about what they were doing. Were they just caught up in the moment where a few began this chant? Then this Friday we remember Jesus being hauled before a nighttime mock trial. Since the Pharisees wanted nothing less than a crucifixion they incited the mob to chant 'crucify him, crucify him'. Did it involve the same people or were they able to limit the crowd to only people who thought like them? We don't know. But that was unlikely. It was most likely the general population. So what does that say? Would we ever be caught up in such hysteria? That's the question. The apostles said they would not deny Jesus, yet they themselves did. St. Paul himself has to warn us to never say 'never'. Human history is replete with examples of mob action, most often to the evil side of our human spectrum. You would have a hard time finding any country where there has not been disastrous mob action whether we think of the French Revolution and the many who were guillotined or the most memorable action of the Nazis who sent millions to death chambers. The simple fact is, we want to be on the winning side and when there is an en-mass movement towards death we buy into it to save our own skin. So, during this time of pondering the death of the most innocent of all human beings we do well to recognize our own weakness, our own dark side. There but for the grace of God go we all. Let us really turn to the grace Jesus obtained for us on the cross and pray we are always faithful to the good he calls us to and not the evil we are capable of. If you have been a little slack in living your Christian calling and perhaps not worshipping as regularly as you should, maybe this would be a good time to renew that effort of remaining in God's grace and never falling into the trap of following mob hysteria. By the way, have you noticed, or is it just me, there seems to be a growing awareness and promotion of the faith culture that built this country. There have been a number of movies at the theatre and on tv which we do well to support. I think of the recent movies 'The Last Supper' and 'Chosen' or the series 'the Saints' on Fox Nation and 'The House of David' on Primetime. At the same time people seem to be avoiding some of the Disney productions with their false narratives. Or, have you noticed the laws being enacted to protect religious freedom? We do well to make a conscious effort in supporting that which is good. By the way, the 'Shroud of Turin- is this the burial cloth of Jesus' display is still available any time of day at St. Catherine Hall in Piedmont. It's free and no one will approach you. May you have a blessed Easter, Fr. Dan
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Lighthouse April 8, 2025
CAN YOU THROW THE FIRST STONE
This past Sunday we shared John 8:1ff concerning the wonderful story of Jesus getting the adulterous woman off the hook. Was she guilty? No one questions that; not even Jesus. So, stone her as the law requires. Can't, the civil law won't allow. The scripture says they walked away beginning with the oldest. The oldest are seen as the wisest. If the oldest were to throw a stone and that killed her he would be guilty and deserving of death. If he doesn't throw a stone he is disobeying Moses' law. Although the accusers may not be aware of it, they should be grateful that the new lawgiver, Jesus, just did away with capital punishment. What do we learn from it? So much. First of all we can have no doubt of Jesus' compassion. If he had that kind of compassion for the adulterous woman, imagine the compassion He wants to have for you. Notice, He doesn't condone what she has done but rather says 'sin no more.' We are all sinners in need of mercy. We must make sure we don't condone our own sinfulness just because there is no longer an immediate punishment. John portrays Jesus as the new Moses, the new lawgiver and as such he has changed the law. There is no capital punishment. He desires a 'change of heart'. If we practise capital punishment we establish the time frame for the other person to repent. They may need a longer time for their damaged heart to turn to God and come to know eternal life. Having worked in a prison I have been privileged to see how many, if given time, can come to sincerely know the Lord. Some try to judge even their motives, but I've come to know that a great many who experience a compassionate ministry in the spirit of Jesus do come to know him. After all, as Bishop Sheen said when speaking to a group of prisoners “the only difference between you and me is, you got caught.' Yes, we are all sinners who need to learn how to walk with each other with compassion while helping one another to not sin and arrive at our final destiny. John goes on to say that Jesus stooped down to write in the ground. Isn't it amazing? The only thing we have ever known him to have written, to quickly disappear in the footsteps of time. Was he really writing or was this perhaps an example for us? When faced with what might be an emotional storm, take time to doodle a little, and by God's grace you may have the wisdom to handle it in the best way possible. Lesson learned: don't be too quick to join the possy, the mob. Such an event is soon to come upon him. Take time to speak; take time to act, and you might not be drawn in to crying “crucify Him, crucify Him.”
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Lighthouse April 2, 2025
YOUR BROTHER HAS RETURNED
This past Sunday we were privileged to again hear the greatest love story ever of a father for his sons. Everyone knows the story presented in Lk 15:31ff of the son who asked his father for his inheritance; before the father's death. That was equivalent to his saying 'I wish you were dead already but I can't wait till then.' This son was ready to go against everything the father had taught him; everything his father believed. How many parents have struggled to share the faith only to have their child not only be considered part of the new None (choosing to have no faith identity) culture but to also turn to lgbtq+ morality, abortion supporters or even be part of the Satanist adoration group we recently saw in Kansas? It hurts. It's one thing to waste one's resources; it's quite another for them to choose a path where they might not be with you for eternity. How do you handle it? With even greater love as the father in Jesus' story does. He was always looking for his son's return. We never give up hope, give up praying for those who wander. How does the father treat the errant son except by reincorporating him in the family. He doesn't get the material things back as there are consequences, but he is family. Reminds me of when a gentleman was lamenting and telling me how he had done everything for a foster child to give her a better life only to have her reject his home. He asked what he should do and when I told him to give her a key he asked what good that would do, they never lock their house. I told him it would always be a physical reminder that she had a home. Freedom is such a painful gift, especially when misused; yet we have to honor it just as God does. The sad part of the story is the older son who now owns it all. With all the servants they had he could have been staying comfortable in his father's presence at the house. He could have undoubtedly called a party any time but instead chose to stay in the field to earn all he could. It was all his. Being self-righteous and jealous he showed his cards. He prided himself on doing everything right but in his judgment of his brother he accused him of things which weren't mentioned; in other words, things he probably wanted to do himself. Ultimately he not only denies his brother but never realizes the depth of his father's love for himself. In forgiving the prodigal son the father demonstrates that there is no sin he will not forgive and still willingly embrace the prodigal. It reminds us of the love we will shortly witness from Jesus when he says, from the cross “Father forgive them. They don't know what they do.' Are you self-righteous, priding yourself on how you live, while judging others who don't come up to your standards? We all do well to come before the Father recognizing we are sinners and with the younger son say “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you and am no longer worthy to be called your son.”
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Lighthouse March 25, 2025
Deep sleep
After so many years studying and reflecting on the Word of God I continue to be amazed at how there is always something new. Is it coincidence, happenstance, that some things take on more than just a symbolic connection? For example, this past week we heard the Gospel of how Peter, James, and John were taken up this high mountain to witness Jesus conversing with Moses and Elijah concerning the upcoming event where he would be crucified, die, and rise from the dead. They were looking forward to that as the gates of heaven could not be opened till then. Anyway Luke describes Peter, James, and John as being in a deep sleep. Why would he make that a point? Certainly it was possible that they had already walked a long way that day and coming to the base of the mountain were given the option of going on to the top to pray with Jesus. This he often did. Are these the only three who accepted the offer or are they the only ones who were invited? So, they were super tired when they got to the top. But you have to combine this with the next time Jesus invited these three to come aside and pray with him; and again they were in deep sleep in the Garden of Gettsemeny before he died. If you think of that in connection with Moses and Elijah's conversation concerning this time you see where Luke is going. Think about it. In the beginning of creation God put Adam in a deep sleep and Eve appears bringing about a family. With Abraham, when God made the covenant with him, he was in a deep sleep and God promised him a nation (more descendants than the stars in the sky). This was God's people through the Old Testament. Then in this incident we hear with Jesus, the church, his bride is to bear fruit and bring to faith all those throughout the world for whom He died. When he died on the cross and entered the deep sleep of death his side was pierced and water flowed out indicating the baptism through which everyone throughout the world could become part of His body. This then brings us back to the beginning of creation where we hear Adam say 'This at last is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone.' So the church is intimately united in the body of Christ as his own body, as his bride. Through a deep sleep we go from witnessing God creating a family; to His creating a nation; to His making it possible for the whole world throughout all of history to become part of His own family. Are you part of that family, the bride of Christ, the new Adam? In Jesus' love, Fr. Dan
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Lighthouse March 18, 2025
‘Go, multiply, fill the earth’
‘May your quiver be filled with them.’ People of God have long known that the primary purpose of sex is for procreation. Duh, everyone knew that just from nature. Human beings though are not driven by estus but are certainly encouraged in that direction by estrogen and testosterone. That can lead to sex at any time and yet, as a people of God they have come to know that they are called to have conscious control of this great
power. If called to marriage God invites them to life time fidelity ‘This is why a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife.' And, since it can be a conscious decision to express this union at any given time what is a couple to do if they honestly discern that they can’t have
any more children? And, isn’t it strange that their decision is too often based on society's dictate that they are to somehow have only 1.3 children? Even though most advanced societies are under producing what is necessary to maintain the society. Or, what if a couple really want children but don’t seem to be blessed, like Abraham, our father in faith, living until he was 90 before such blessing came. The science of chemistry tries to come up with possible solutions. But, have you noticed how far off science has been with many health solutions which lead to greater
problems? Sometimes the driving force might not be health but money. We live in an age where more and more seem to be looking for natural solutions to a healthier life. And solutions are being found even though there is no money to be made in them. In regard to having or not having children Dr. Billings in Australia and his wife, also a doctor made discoveries by keeping close charting of a woman’s symptoms and temperature and through these they could fairly accurately chart when conception was possible or not. This was in the sixties. Of course some say a man could not discipline himself by such timing. One practitioner told me though that it was amazing how much effect seeing this chart with a picture of a baby on certain days of her cycle would affect his libido. Since then a Dr. Hilgers at Creighton University in Nebraska has greatly expanded on that, giving much higher reliability. By such charting under the supervision of a trained doctor he has discovered much more. He has discovered that such charting can give the woman advanced understanding of other health issues she might be facing and valid ways of adjusting her cycle. With that he has come up with a program called Na-pro technology which has been very successful in helping couples achieve pregnancy in a natural way without all the extremely expensive and invasive methods like IVF which almost always lead to the destruction or permanent freezing of unwanted babies. If you know couples longing to have a child you would be doing them a favor if you encouraged them to seek out a doctor who is disciplined in the Na-pro technology method. We are fortunate to have two in Cape Girardeau as well as a teacher. Children are truly the greatest gift from God. Like they say ‘no one goes to the cemetery with a Uhall. But, every child successfully raised to know the Lord may spend eternity with you. God blesses those willing to make the sacrifice to raise such children.
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Lighthouse March 11, 2025
PROCLAIM A FAST
These words come across loud and strong as we begin this season of Lent. In Joel 2:12 we hear the prophet being told to 'proclaim a fast, call an assembly, gather the people etc.' Some would say 'That's Old Testament, we don't need to do that today.' We actually hear that debated in the New Testament 'when the Sadducees challenged Jesus, asking why his disciples did not fast. And what did Jesus say? When the bridegroom is taken from them they will fast.' This past Sunday we heard about Jesus himself being led into the desert to fast, for 40 days and be tempted by the devil. Really, no Christian can expect to be exempted from prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Each of these are necessary for building up one's spiritual strength for overcoming the devil. Even with Peter we hear Jesus saying 'Satan has asked for you but I have prayed for you that when you are made strong you can help your brothers.' Some question why some churches have a call to a public fast of some sort. Based on the quote above there has always been the awareness of a need for public fast, a communal fast as both a way of identification as well as the recognition of communal prayer for overcoming some evils. Some evils come through the world, the flesh, or directly from the evil one. Such were the temptations Jesus faced in the desert. One example of public prayer would be the call to prayer that was put out throughout Europe to pray for the success of overcoming the imminent Muslim invasion of Europe by sea. Europe had a much smaller fleet but when they faced the invasion on August 8, 1581 God used nature in the form of a great storm to overcome the Muslim fleet. That ended any attempts on Europe for a long, long time. Sometimes we hear the call to communal prayer in overcoming the attacks on the Christian culture right here at home. That becomes a call to examine our own waywardness and failure to resist a popular culture which seeks to reject the gospel in a wholesale fashion. Jesus tells us to get the plank out of our own eye. With that we recognize a serious need to also take on private prayer, fasting and almsgiving. As Jesus told the apostles when they failed to cast out a demon, 'Some can only be overcome by prayer and fasting.' For many of us we used ashes on Ash Wednesday to proclaim our participation in a public fast then we began a 40 day personal fast to prepare for participation in Jesus' overcoming death through his resurrection. Are you ready to do some serious prayer, with fasting for the body of Christ that we might again change our culture to overcome all the many anti-family, anti-faith temptations which surround us?
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Lighthouse March 4, 2025
In Matt 5:22 Jesus says “Anyone who says to his brother or sister 'raca' is answerable to the court.” It seems that we human beings are good about using words to demean others. Last week St. Catherine church was privileged to have someone post a large derogatory term where every passerby could read it. While it was not referring to us it is still deeply disconcerting. Was it personal? Was it a hate-crime? I trust that it was just a stupid venting by a teenager to get attention. But, is it ever acceptable? No. every human being is made in the image and likeness of God. As such, to use any derogatory terms describing another human being is to, in some way, desecrate God's finest work, an image of Himself. Jesus carries that a little further in that He tells us that whatever we do to the least of our brothers we do to Him. So, why do we do it? Pretty well every category of human beings, collectively or individually have been called names. Remember in school how some would be made fun of because of being heavy, or thin, dressed with the brand-clothes or not, a little unkempt maybe. Anything at all. Then when we join together as a group defining the we and the them we establish enemies and if we go far enough we declare the enemy as less than human. If we can somehow see them as less than human we can become comfortable in treating the other worse than we would any animal. Derogatory names or words are used to destroy and as such are not worthy of a child of God using. To do so is to go against God's great command: 'Thou shall not kill.' I pray that the person who was proud of his use of vocabulary has had time to reconsider his choice of actions. I pray that he may find the joy of using his skills to help build others up and reaffirm that all are welcome no matter their circumstances or race, color, or religion. We have only one 'Father'. Let us all pray for this young man that he might know how he is loved by this Father in the brotherhood of man.
As an aside: these next few weeks we will again have the Shroud of Turin Display available for viewing at St. George in Van Buren from 12-7 on March 13, 20th and at St. Catherine in Piedmont from March 22-30th. Through a preponderance of evidence the Shroud proves to be the burial cloth of Christ. Come see the witness of how he suffered to make His Father, 'Our Father.'
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Lighthouse February 25, 2025
Love Your Enemy Luke 6:27
After sharing a little reflection from Jesus' sermon on the plains, or the beatitudes, I can't help but look at the next section. Does Jesus really expect the impossible or are His expectations so out of proportion to keep us humble. We tell ourselves we can't do it. Remember, last week we considered how there is a blessing in being poor, hungry, thirsty and how we are to be grateful for every circumstance knowing God is going to bring something good of it. Well in this section Jesus goes a little further. We are not just looking at a static situation to be grateful for but a living dynamic which calls for a living response. Now Jesus calls us to love our enemy, and He says it twice. Well, that is not the mushy love we think of on Valentine's day. Nor is it the family love we share. He is calling for an active love of the worst people we can imagine; a love that absolutely desires the greatest good for the other. In desiring it it means we must seek to make that happen. In a way you might think of the way we helped build up Japan and Germany after the great war. They killed many of our people but we were able to rise up above our natural inclinations to build them up and make them partners. Or, as Abraham Lincoln said at the end of the civil war when someone asked what kind of repercussions we were going to impose on the south. He said, when the war is over there are no enemies and proceeded to help the south have what it needed to rebuild. We might think of Mother Theresa who would take poor people to others seeking shelter and food. At one place she had a displaced lady with her and knocking on the door asked for some food. The man spit in sister's face and she responded 'well, that was a blessing for me; how about something for our sister now?' He gave her something to eat. To love one's neighbor like that is unquestionably a challenge. But, to do so, makes us most like God who rains on the just and the unjust. God absolutely loves everyone. He doesn't love you or I because we might be good but because He is love. 'He who abides in God abides in His love.' Do you have any enemies in your life? How can you love them? How can you work for their greater good? To love is not just a passive feeling but a verb, an action. If you can't think of anything else at the moment at least include them in your prayer asking God to bless them
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Lighthouse February 18, 2025
This past Sunday we got to hear Luke’s version of the beatitudes. In Matthew we hear a spiritual version given on top of a hill. Jesus even depicts it as exalted. Matthew Presents it in a way that makes it sound like one can or needs to grow through these different steps beginning with “Blessed are the poor in spirit..’ In other words one begins with a real spirit of humility which is always necessary in seeking God’s blessings. With Luke we have a down to earth version. It's even down at the bottom of the hill. With that Luke says ‘blessed are the poor’. There are no qualifications. You just are. You are poor; you are hungry; you thirst. As we read all these we can’t help but think of the Jews journey through the desert. They experienced all these things and yet God was saying they were blessed above all people. It didn’t look like they were being blessed. It certainly didn’t feel like they were being blessed. It’s no fun to go thirsty and hungry through the desert. Yet, they were called to. That’s the trick in being a disciple. One must give thanks in all circumstances and trust in God. Think of all these police cars with ‘In God we trust written on the back. Do they, do we really trust in God? We radically trust in God when we can do as Mother Theresa’s followers do in trusting for enough to get by each day or when we trust like Don Bosco who had a large boys school. When they got to where there were no more supplies he still asked the children to gather at their place at the table and they offered a prayer of blessing even though there was nothing there. Strangely enough, a milk truck had just overturned and asked them to take the milk before it spoiled and so also with a farmer who had just butchered but didn’t have enough space to store everything. To keep everything. Trust in god. So when Luke says ‘blessed are the poor.’ ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst.’ ‘Blessed are you who are weeping.’ ‘Blessed are you when they hate you and insult you.’ For the kingdom of God is yours. You and I are being reminded to thank God in all circumstances because He is in charge and He is with us. We know that we rise above our circumstances knowing we are blessed because God says so and we simply give Him praise and thanks no matter what. There are so many Christian songs which reflect this well; songs like ‘If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands’; ‘It is well with my soul’; ‘Give thanks to the Lord always’. What a difference your day could be if you just take one of these songs, or one similar, and sing it as a mantra throughout the day. Let us reflect our trust in the Lord by showing our joy throughout the day. Won’t you?
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