Good Shepherd Catholic Church Rib Lake

06/05/2026

Friends, in our Gospel today (Mark 12:35–37), Jesus quotes a psalm where David calls him Lord. It calls to mind a question: Do you also recognize Jesus as Lord?

Is Christ commanding your life in every detail? Is he the Lord of your family life? Of your recreational life? Of your professional life? Is he the Lord of every room in your house, including the bedroom? Does your sexuality belong to him? Do your friendships serve his purpose? Are you totally given over to him, under his lordship?

When we surrender to the path of love that he has laid out for us, our lives become infinitely lighter, easier, and more joyful, for we are moving with the divine purpose. We will have moved out of what Paul calls the way of “the flesh” and into the way of “the Spirit.”

Flesh refers here not to the body as such but to sin. When you are caught up in patterns of self-regard and self-protection, life becomes a burden, and you find yourself taking up the weapons of war all the time. But when you recognize Jesus as Lord, you can let all of that go.

06/05/2026

THE RELICS OF GOOD SHEPHERD CATHOLIC CHURCH
St. Boniface, Feast Day June 5, Patron Saint of brewers, tailors and file cutters
Saint Boniface, martyred in 755, was born into a Christian family of noble rank in Devonshire, England about the year 675 and, at an early age, he felt called to the religious state. He was a missionary in Germany and was called the "Apostle of Germany." He founded monasteries and bishoprics throughout Germany and brought the faith back to Gaul. Boniface was named Primate of Germany as well as Apostolic Legate for both Germany and Gaul. He has been called the proconsul of the papacy; his administration and organizing genius left its mark on the German church throughout the middle ages. Though he was primarily a man of action, his literary remains are extensive, especially his letters. Among the emblems of St. Boniface are an oak, an ax, a sword and a book. St Boniface was martyred while on a missionary trip along the Rhine.

06/04/2026

The Partners in Prayer will meet Friday at 3:00pm in Church to pray the Rosary for the sick, all are welcome to join.

06/03/2026

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. -John 6:54
Join us for our Corpus Christi procession this Saturday to celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood Of Christ.

06/03/2026

Friends, in today’s Gospel (Mark 12:18–27), Jesus confronts the Sadducees, who did not believe in resurrection from the dead. They proposed a conundrum that they thought would disprove resurrection: If a woman married seven brothers, all of whom died, whose wife would she be in the resurrection?

Notice how Jesus deals with this little conundrum: He brushes it aside. Jesus says to them, “When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven.”

What’s he saying here as he brushes aside this little bit of casuistry? What is heaven? Is it escaping from the body? No, that’s not it. That’s not a biblical view. Heaven is a place where our bodiliness will be so rich and so intense that we will be able to relate to all those around us in the most intimate and powerful way possible.

And there we will be fully alive, for as Jesus explained from the Torah, God is not God of the dead but of the living.

06/02/2026

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus enunciates a principle that is an implicit resolution of the vexing problem of religion and politics: “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

God is the deepest source and inspiration for everything in life, from sports to law to the arts to science and medicine. Everything comes from God and returns to God. So what about our famous question of religion and politics?

Politics is not in a realm separate from the religious; rather, its deepest ground is spiritual. Thomas Aquinas held that law comes from the eternal law, which is identical to the mind of God. This eternal law is reflected in the human mind and heart, those basic principles that are called the natural law. Positive laws—from traffic regulations to antitrust laws—are then concrete applications of the natural law.

Hence, all law—the very stuff of politics—has to do with God, since positive law nests in the natural law, which nests in the eternal law. This is why we should expect our politicians and judges to be acting in accord with moral and spiritual goods.

06/02/2026

THE RELICS OF GOOD SHEPHERD CATHOLIC CHURCH
St. Blandina, Feast Day June 2, Patron Saint of young girls
Saint Blandina belongs to the band of Martyrs of Lyons in France who, after some of their number had endured the most frightful tortures, suffered a glorious martyrdom in the reign of Marcus Aurelius in 177. She was a slave thrown into prison with her master and tortured because she would not renounce her faith. She was bound to a stake and wild beasts were set on her but they would not touch her. For a number of days, she was forced to watch the suffering of her companions. Finally, she was scourged, burned, enclosed in a net and thrown before a wild steer and at last killed with a dagger.

06/01/2026

06/01/2026

Friends, today’s Gospel (Mark 12:1–12) tells of the landowner who planted a vineyard and leased it to tenants. This vineyard stands for Israel, but it could be broadened to include the whole world. Like the landowner, God has made for his people a beautiful and productive place, a place where they can find rest, enjoyment, and good work.

When vintage time drew near, the landowner sent his servants to the tenants to obtain the produce. But the tenants seized the servants, and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Is this not the whole sorry history of Israel and its prophets, of the world and the people whom God has sent?

Then we hear the event upon which the parable turns: “He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants . . . seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.” After the terrible treatment that his representatives have received, the owner sends his son? Is he crazy? Yes, a little. But this is the over-the-top patience and generosity of God, his crazy love. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,” knowing full well what his fate would be.

05/31/2026