Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church

Dear Folks,

This weekend we welcome Fr. Kevin Dansereau who comes to us from his most recent assignment, the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington. Additionally, we welcome Fr. Tim Courtney who is the new rectory rookie! All those graces of ordination fresh on his soul!! The priests are looking forward to working with both of them in serving you!

I always ask incoming priests how they prefer to be addressed: Father first or last name. They expressed a preference for Father Dansereau and Father Tim. I believe it is important to respect the preference of each priest on this, and thus they will be!

Thanks for your loving and gracious farewells to Fr. Sina and Fr. Koehr! They will be greatly missed by the priests and parishioners alike. However, the Lord’s perfect plan guides all of our comings and goings.

On News Eve 2008, a priest passed away unexpectedly in an accident. His last words written in his parish bulletin are great words of wisdom for priests and parishioners both in times of change expected or unexpected:

“For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?’” 1 Corinthians 2: 16

The facts are these – nothing is happening that God has not already seen from all eternity. Also, He has seen all of our parts in His plan from all eternity.

What Our Lord desires of us is not a spirit of despair or a spirit of mindless presumption, but a spirit of prayerful trust. Since most of our present concerns are tied, directly or indirectly to money, pull out that penny again and see the most important words that we can read for the coming year:

IN GOD WE TRUST

pax et bonum,

Father John Mosimann

A friend recently told me that years ago I gave a homily that had helped him to change a habit of leaving Mass early! He said that I used the analogy of being a dinner guest in someone’s home, and that nobody would ever get up and leave while the host has gone to the kitchen to clear the table. We always wait and express gratitude and have an appropriate farewell expression. In the Mass the appropriate farewell is the final blessing and the recessional hymn. Jesus wants to bless us for our coming to His wedding feast, and bid us farewell!

I also get asked, “what is the latest I can arrive for Mass and fulfill my obligation?” I understand the human urge to cut the corner, to take a short cut, but should we be doing this in regards to our weekly worship of God? No Way! I know what family life is like, and that sometimes the family walking in late is not doing so because of sloth. Sometimes it is because the children decide to walk the dog, or visit the bathroom, or hide in the basement at the very time when parents are trying to shepherd them to the mini-van to go to Mass.

Tardiness is not always directly willed, and I will always try to be understanding of late arrivals. (Yes, and know that I am most guilty of this! Mass often is late because I am waiting for altar servers to vest, or trying to find a lector, or talking to a grieving widow, or sometimes I am just plain late). If I ask your understanding as a parish family, I can give it as well.

However, everyone knows that missing Mass without serious cause is a grave sin. To look at this issue in terms of ‘when is the latest I can arrive?’ or ‘when is the earliest I can leave?’ is the wrong way to look at this. It is a recipe for spiritual disaster to measure our love for God by what is the minimum permissible. I give you this quote from St. John Chrysostom:

When we perform an act of kindness we should rejoice and not be sad about it…. If you do away with miserliness and counting the cost, with hesitation and grumbling, what will be the result? Something great and wonderful! What a marvelous reward there will be: Your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will rise up quickly. Who would not aspire to light and healing.

What costs are you counting? Extra time in the parking lot? First in line at IHOP? Jesus gives you life at the cost of His own life. Is it really too much cost to stay for the entire Mass?

Pax et Bonum,

Father John Mosimann