St. Lawrence Parish

11/01/2026

If you are anywhere near St. Lawrence, you can smell the delicious chili cooking.

Does anybody have any guesses on how many gallons fit in our chili cooker? Comment your guesses below!

10/31/2026

What better way to spend a Sunday than with a big bowl of homemade chili in front of you! Stop out on Sunday for chili, bread, cheese, and St. Lawrence’s famous tortes!

We hope to see you there!

10/29/2026

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. (Ephesians 5:8-9)

October 27, 2026

Hello Everyone —

Some thoughts from last Sunday’s Gospel according to Matthew.

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them [a scholar of the law] tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” (Mt 22:34-36)

Did you notice what happened? If you read on in the Gospel, Jesus was asked only for the greatest commandment, but he goes on to give a second that “is like it.” This second commandment stands on equal footing and needs to be dealt with in an equally serious manner. Out of a group of commandments compiled in the Book of Leviticus (LV 19:17-19), Jesus focuses on one regulation: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus highlights it, underlines it, makes it bold on his computer and proclaims it as different from the others on the list. He places it on par with the first and greatest commandment.

An eight-year-old boy had a younger sister who was dying of leukemia. His parents explained to him that she needed a blood transfusion and that his blood was probably compatible. They asked if they could test his blood. “Sure,” he said. The results showed that his blood would be a good match. Then they asked if he would give his sister a pint of his blood, believing that it could be her only chance of remaining alive. He said he would have to think about it overnight.

The next day, he went to his parents and said he was willing to donate his blood to his sister. So, they took him to the hospital, where he was put on a gurney beside his sister. Both of them were hooked up to IVs. A nurse withdrew a pint of blood from the boy, which was then put into the girl’s IV. The boy lay on his gurney in silence while the blood dripped into his sister. The doctor came over to see how he was doing. The boy opened his eyes and asked, “How soon until I start to die?”

WOW! Out of the mouth of babes. This true story speaks tomes.

It has been said that every word of the Gospel comes down to love — love that is simple enough to articulate but so demanding that we shy away from it. The mystery of God’s love is the fact that the supreme and omnipotent Creator of all things should love His creation so completely and so selflessly. Not only that, but all that God seeks in return is that such love be shared by His people throughout the whole of creation.

The brother, thinking that giving his blood would mean he would die, is nonetheless willing to give his life to his sister so that she might live. In his generosity, he models the great love and compassion of the God who spares nothing to bring us home to Him.

May we seek to follow the great commandment of the Gospel — to love with the same selfless compassion, care and completeness of God.

As I do for you, please pray for me,

Most Reverend Jeffrey S. Grob
Archbishop of Milwaukee

10/21/2026

Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also everyone for those of others. (Philippians 2:3-4)

October 20, 2026

Hello Everyone —

This past Sunday, we celebrated World Mission Sunday. In his letter to the faithful preparing us for the day, Pope Leo XIV opened by writing:

For World Mission Day 2026, which marks the centenary of a celebration established by Pius XI that is very dear to the Church, I have chosen the theme “One in Christ, united in mission.” Following the Jubilee Year, I wish to encourage the whole Church to continue its missionary journey with joy and zeal in the Holy Spirit. This requires hearts united in Christ, reconciled communities and, in everyone, a willingness to cooperate with generosity and trust.

As we reflect on being one in Christ and united in mission, let us allow ourselves to be guided and inspired by divine grace, “to renew in ourselves the fire of our missionary vocation” and advance together in the commitment to evangelization, in this “new missionary age” in the history of the Church (Homily, Jubilee of the Missionary World and of Migrants, 5 October 2025).

Pope Leo concludes his message with the following prayer:

Holy Father, make us one in Christ, rooted in his love that unites and renews. May all members of the Church be united in mission, docile to the Holy Spirit, courageous in bearing witness to the Gospel, proclaiming and daily embodying your faithful love for all creatures.

Bless all missionary men and women, support them in their efforts, and watch over them in hope!

Mary, Queen of Missions, accompany our work of evangelization in every corner of the earth: make us instruments of peace, and grant that the whole world may recognize in Christ the light that saves. Amen.

This week, along with a group of pilgrims, I will be traveling to the Dominican Republic to visit our sister parish, La Sagrada Familia, in Sabana Yegua, Azua. The occasion of the trip is to mark 45 years of sharing that has taken place between the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the Diocese of San Juan de la Maguana. I am excited to represent our archdiocese there and to extend your greetings and prayers to everyone I will encounter during the visit. Please pray for our travels.

And as our Holy Father, Pope Leo, continues to recover from lung surgery, let us commend our prayerful intentions on his behalf to the Mother of God by offering the Memorare:

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

As I do for you, please pray for me,

Most Reverend Jeffrey S. Grob
Archbishop of Milwaukee

10/17/2026

Join us tonight and tomorrow for our Oktoberfest Brat Fry after Mass.

We will be set up on the front lawn. You can take your meal to go, eat on the front lawn, or take your brat to the basement.

We hope you can join us in a few weeks for great food and fellowship 🌭

10/16/2026

Thank you to everybody who has already donated or volunteered to help at our Chili Social.

For those still interested in helping out with this annual event, you are still able to sign up in the back of Church. We are still looking for ingredient donations, volunteers, and dessert donations.

We are also in need of theme basket donations. There is no need to sign up if you are creating a theme basket, but we ask that you drop off your basket by noon on October 31 in the St. Joseph’s room.

10/14/2026

There is a St. Lawrence Strong meeting tonight (Wednesday, October 14) at 6:30 in the St. Joseph’s room. All are welcome!

10/13/2026

For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

October 13, 2026

Hello Everyone —

Among the issues with which we are confronted and must ponder before God during this Respect Life Month:

On October 9, 2026, Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued the following statement sharply condemning the U.S. government’s plans to publicly livestream the firing squad ex*****on of a convicted criminal:

It is with shock and great sorrow that I have learned of the Department of War’s decision to publicly livestream the ex*****on of Nidal Hasan. Our God is the God of life. In no way can Hassan’s actions be condoned but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered. The Word of God exhorts us: ‘do not repay anyone evil for evil' (Rom 12:17). The public ex*****on even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people.

I pray for the intercession of Our Lady of Good Counsel that we as a nation may always choose life even in the most trying times and circumstances.

And then, of course, there was the botched ex*****on (two lethal injections) of the Tennessee woman, Christa Gail Pike, on September 30, 2026, who lived to talk about it.

Is the solution the law of retaliation (lex talionis) or reciprocal justice? I cannot help but be reminded of the words loosely attributed to Mahatma Gandhi: “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” Or are we only becoming as barbaric as that which we are trying to prevent?

As I pondered these matters in prayer, I recalled sitting with my brother bishops on June 11, 2026, in the presence of the relics of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque as we consecrated the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And in that setting, I discovered a beautiful prayer written by St. Margaret Mary. I provide it here for your use:

O kind and merciful Savior, from my heart I earnestly desire to return You love for love. My greatest sorrow is that You are not loved by people, and, in particular, that my own heart is so cold, so selfish, so ungrateful.

Keenly aware of my own weakness and poverty, I trust that Your own grace will enable me to offer You an act of pure love. And I wish to offer You this act of pure love in reparation for the coldness and neglect that are shown to You in the sacrament of Your love by Your creatures.

O Jesus, my supreme good, I love You, not for the sake of the reward which You have promised to those who love You, but purely for Yourself. I love You above all things that can be loved, above all pleasures, and above myself and all that is not You, promising in the presence of heaven and earth that I will live and die purely and simply in Your holy love, and that if to love You thus I must endure persecution and suffering, I am completely satisfied and I will ever say with St. Paul: Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God.

O Jesus, supreme master of all hearts. I love You, I adore You, I praise You, I thank You, because I am now all Yours. Rule over me and transform my soul into the likeness of Yourself, so that it may bless and glorify You forever in the abode of the saints. Amen.

By the way, Friday, October 16 is St. Margaret Mary’s feast day.

A special request for prayers: As you may be aware, we learned over the weekend that our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, will undergo lung surgery to remove a nodule in the near future. Please keep him in your prayers, asking God to restore his health and praying that he may experience the closeness of Mary Immaculate during his recovery.

As I do for you, please pray for me,

Most Reverend Jeffrey S. Grob
Archbishop of Milwaukee

10/13/2026

There is a Christian Women tonight (Tuesday, October 13) at 7:00 in the St. Joseph’s room. All women of the parish are welcome!