Fr. Timothy Barr

Have a Merry Christmas

Posted on by Fr. Timothy Barr

God has been so good to us. He continues to be. Jesus came into this world that He may be with us. I remember when being a child, we
would visit relatives. We just enjoyed being with each other. My siblings and I would get to play with our cousins and have so much fun. Every year we would
get so excited about being with all our relatives. To this day, it is such a great joy to be with family. Some are gone now, but we count the blessings of the ones we have and look forward to seeing our relatives who have died after this life. We thank God that we have such great relationships. Family brings life, purpose, and meaning to our lives.
So it is with our relationship with Jesus. This Christmas is an opportunity to visit Jesus when He was a child. Just being with family means so much. Just being
with Jesus means even more. When you spend time with others, it is an experience of their character and hopefully their love. Though many might not be able to spend time with their families this year, they can spend time with Jesus. This is the whole reason why He became a little child. He wants to simply be with us, and for us to simply be with Him. This year might be an opportunity to grow deeper in your relationship with Jesus.
COVID has come, and it will go; it too shall pass. But as for the love of God, it endures to this very day from 2000 years ago. Two thousand years ago, God became man and spent time with us. To this very day, He chose to be with us in the Mass and adoration. He has never abandoned us. He really does live here in the Eucharist. It is a physical manifestation of the love of God. How good it is to be in His presence in the Eucharist. It is not the same as looking into the eyes of the
child Jesus, but it is very powerful. Just being in the presence of God brings healing, peace and joy to the heart.

Thank God He still chooses to be with us. Many still cannot take the risk of coming to Mass or adoration. Yet I invite all who can. For those of high risk, I encourage you to put yourself in the presence of the child Jesus by sitting in front of your nativity scene and think about the Child Jesus. Think about how
he is the all-powerful God, and yet wanted to be a little baby for us. Why for us? Why for you? As a meditation, pretend to hold the baby Jesus. You may even want to use the baby Jesus in your nativity scene as a prop. What do you think His eyes would have looked like? What songs would Mary have sung to the holy baby? What would have been different about this baby? I would think it would be the peace in just holding Him. How is it that a baby can bring healing to a soul? How powerful is the littleness of God!
Coming as a triumphant soldier could never bring such grace. Neither is it the way of God. God has shown Himself to be full of compassion, mercy and love.
In this Baby, He is revealing who He is; His character in how He chooses to act. Knowing that God has visited us somehow brings peace and wholeness.
This character did not end with growing up. He died on the cross for us and healed so many people before He did.
Even at the resurrection, He still did not condemn Peter for denying Him three times. No, rather He called Peter to reconciliation. After He ascended into
heaven and was seated on His throne in heaven, He still did not exercise His authority with anger. He still showed compassion and love for us. To this very
day, He comes on the altar in the Eucharist. He still comes vulnerable, looking like a piece of bread, yet this is our God. It is His character to be so little and loving. He calls each and every one of us to His love. He desires us to experience this form of salvation in this life and in the next. The peace and wholeness we come to experience in this life is the foreshadowing of His peace in the next life. We look forward to that day. Until then, Merry Christmas, and may the peace of God always live within you.

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

Posted on by Fr. Timothy Barr

Paul is teaching us a different way of thinking in chapter five. He wants us to think of heavenly things, rather than earthly things alone. Paul says in verse one, “We know that when the earthly tent in which we dwell is destroyed…”. This earthly tent is our bodies. The things of this world are simply a means by which we get to heaven. We keep on looking at things in this world as if they were the only things that exist. Many people, even Catholics, would ask why we even pray. “You are not doing anything, just talking to yourself” so they think. They see the world and people as a thing that does things. Productivity becomes the ultimate source of value. They would view talking to the most powerful being ever as a waste of time. They become so practical that love and relationships take a back seat. In particular, it is the relationship with God that takes the back seat.

This is most unfortunate, because it is in our relationships that we find joy and meaning. Our relationship with God is the quintessential relationship that brings meaning and joy. Hopefully we find this reality during the advent season as we meditate on the reality that “God sent His only begotten Son” (Jn 3:16). God was born into time to a special woman named Mary. He came, not to be a mere function of salvation; He came into this world to establish a relationship with us.

The things of this world are dying. Things break and living creatures eventually die. Nearly everything on this planet will come to an end. Our bodies will eventually decay after death. So what is the point in life? Functionality? Are we saved by mere works? Is our value dependent on mere usefulness? Is God Himself a mere function of usefulness to us? God offers us eternal life. This eternal life is life with Him who is Love. “We have a dwelling provided for us by God” (v1). This dwelling is in the heavens made by God himself. To put on Christ is to have the heavens wrap us with the grace of God in this life, so that we may look forward to the day of not just a blanket wrapping, but that we may live in and be imbued in the love that awaits us in heaven. God gave us His ledge that we may have hope and confidence in this promise known as faith. We walk by this faith (v7) so that our works may be part of the relationship we have in Christ. Our works are not just functionary. God does not see us as mere functionary things, mere tools without the dignity of personhood.

When we are in a relationship with others, we want to see others truly happy. Grandparents really want to see their grandchildren happy. It brings them great joy to see their grandchildren happy, so grandparents constantly make a gift of self by baking cookies and doing many more things for their grandchildren. So we would want to please God as to make Him happy. It is a gift of self that we give to God as He has given himself to us first. He has given us that opportunity of heaven by making the sacrifice for our sakes. He is willing to forgive us our sins for those who are willing to ask. He came to walk with us on this planet to establish a relationship with us first, so that we would believe in what He taught and did: that He really would forgive us our sins and come to fulfillment.

Yet we are all judged, for good or bad (10). God is constantly offering us His grace every day so that we may be happy, truly happy, in all that is good and holy. Sin disrupts true happiness. That is why He wants us live a life of virtue. Like grandparents, the happier the grandchild, the happier the grandparent. Joy in the one you love becomes the joy in you. So it is with God. But the kind of joy God wants you to have is eternal joy that has no regrets and is free. Grandparents, as great as they are, can only give the temporary joy. God is the only one who can give the true joy of heaven for eternal life. But the fulfilment of the eternal joy is “according to his life in the body” (10). Have we lived our faith, our relationship, with God well?

An Act of Spiritual Communion

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My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. 
I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul. 
Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually
into my heart. 
I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You.

Amen.

Dispensation for the Holy Days of Obligation

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This is a reminder that you are dispensed from the upcoming Holy Days of Obligation.

December 8           Feast of the Immaculate Conception

December 25        Christmas

January 1              Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

2 Corinthians 4

Posted on by Fr. Timothy Barr

In chapter four, Paul expresses his hope and why his hope is undaunted. Despite all that goes on, he never despairs. This makes this chapter a great source of hope ourselves and teaches us how to persevere in faith and hope.

It is in God’s mercy that Paul has any hope (1).  God calls Paul to the ministry to preaching the truth about our Lord Jesus. He knows that God would see to it that God would accomplish His work. There is no reason to despair. Paul simply preaches the truth regardless of how it is received. He does not try to hide particular teachings that God has set forth; he tells it plainly. Nor does he teach something just so he can be liked. Many times, wanting to be liked leads a person to not tell the truth. When we want to be liked, that is when peer pressure can take us down another road. Paul does not hide anything from those who are open to God’s word. It does great damage to many souls when, particularly, a priest tells people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. It takes great courage and faith to speak the truth at all times. It is all part of the integrity of the faith.

It is not Paul that Paul preaches (5). Paul is not preaching with self-interest. Paul does talk about himself, but there is something different with how he speaks. He is not interested in a pity party. He sees his suffering and struggle as a blessing. Paul suffers in many different ways, but he knows this is the path that others may know it is God’s work, not Paul’s work (7).

What can be particularly comforting is where Paul writes, “we are…full of doubts, we never despair” (8). So many people think that doubts are always against faith. We may have many doubts. We may have doubts that things will go our way. As Christians we may think we are doing God’s will, only to come up against a wall. We ask God why He is not making our efforts easy or just happen. We want God to do His work as we see fit. Paul himself had to constantly ask God what His will was. Many times, Paul thought he was doing God’s will, when all of a sudden, Jesus took Paul in another direction. Obstacles abounded whenever Paul tried to do God’s holy will. Yet he knew that it is God’s work and that He would make it come about. In this chapter, Paul understands that he can have confidence that God will complete His work in those to whom he is writing (13-15). So in our sufferings, it is not a sin to have doubts. Keep going and do not despair. There is always hope in our Lord Jesus. It is not a hope in this or that project. It is hope that Our Lord Jesus will always be at our side and guide us to His holy will.

This hope in Jesus makes a person, in a certain sense, rugged. They can persevere through incredible opposition. Paul says his “inner being is renewed each day even though our body is being destroyed at the same time” (16). Paul is living out the promise Jesus made in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:1-13). He has his eyes fixed on something greater than what this world has to offer. The prize is hidden in what is not seen. He is looking at the glory of heaven that awaits him. He knows he is building up a treasure in heaven beyond all understanding. So many people treat life as if what is not seen is not true. How foolish they become in not recognizing the creator of all things with this attitude.

Yet at the same time, we can thank God that He did enter this world and became visible to us. Thank God He was born of a virgin for all to see and believe.

Christmas Mass Reservations

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As we continue to deal with Covid restrictions, we ask that you consider registering early for one of our Christmas Masses. We would like to be able to accommodate as many of you as possible that would like to attend.

If you need help with the registration process, please call the office at 815-232-8271, ext 3, and leave a message for Barbara.

Registration forms for the Christmas Masses are now available on our website.

The Christmas Mass Schedule is:

  1. 4pm in St Joseph
  2. 7pm in St Mary (Spanish)
  3. 8am in St Mary
  4. 10:30am in St Joseph
  5. 12 noon in St Mary (Spanish)

Thank You

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A Big Thank You to everyone who donated stuffing mix and money to purchase stuffing mix. We have 189 boxes of stuffing mix for FACC and Salvation Army as well as money left to donate to St Vincent de Paul Society for the good they do! Thanks again! We can always count on St Mary’s Parishioners to make the holidays special for those in need. – Linda Nott, President of Woman’s Guild

P.S. When putting the stuffing mixes together, a large package of pecans and some instant nonfat dry milk were found in a grocery bag under some stuffing mix. If it is yours, please contact Linda Nott at 815-235-4575 for it to be returned.