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Word and Deed: In the light of the Gospel, N 2845 Shadow Road, Po Box 409, St. Mary Magdalene Church, Waupaca, WI (2026)

11/22/2023

I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving to all you r fmaily membes.

07/01/2023

Thirteenth Sunday in ordinary time
A priest is in the confessional and a penitent goes.
-You're not from this parish, are you? I haven't seen you before.
-No, Father, I'm a circus artist who just arrived.
-And what do you do in the circus?
-I am mountebank.
-And what is that?
-Wait for a demonstration.
The man stands up and starts to give somersaults, somersaults and prancing above the banks of the church.
Two grannies waiting to confess they see it and one says:
-Better come back when the other priest comes, that this puts very difficult penances!
Dear Friends,
Happy independence day weekend. let us grateful to God for this beautiful nation where we have all freedom and peace.
The liturgy asks us to reflect on hospitality and being generous. We are invited to reflect on the gifts that come to us when we practice hospitality with no strings attached.
There was a survey taken in 2022 about how people are generous in general. They found out that baby boomers ( 1946 -1964)and Gen X (1965-1980)generation primarily associated financial giving with generosity. Millennials ( 1981-1996) most strongly associated it with gifts, and Gen Z (1997-2012 )associates with emotional / relational support.
The first reading from the book of kings tells us how that women was so open to receive somebody who she later found out holy person with open arms with no expectation. It was her initiative to invite Elisha for dinner and prepare a room for him to stay. Elisha offered her as a gift of gratitude. His prophecy of a child for her is a huge gift of her generosity.
In the Gospel, Jesus tells us to receive the people with open hearts and minds. Hospitality is being open and welcoming to others or helping people feel accepted without judgement.
We need to be hospitable and generous: Hospitality means acknowledging the presence of God in others and serving Him in them, especially those in whom we least expect to find Him. We, as individuals and as a community, are to look for opportunities to be hospitable–and, of course, there are plenty of ways of offering hospitality. Maybe hospitality is offered through a kind word to a stranger – or even a smile. A kind smile or a “hello” to someone waiting with us in a grocery line may be the only kindness that person encounters all day. We become fully alive as Christians through the generous giving of ourselves. What is more important than the sending of checks for charitable causes is the giving of ourselves to people, primarily in the way we think about them, for from that spring will flow the ways we speak to them and about them, forgive their failings, encourage them, show them respect, console them, and offer them help. Such generosity reflects warmth radiating from the very love of God.

05/19/2023

Ascension Sunday
An old man was on his death bed and wanted to be buried with his money. He called his priest, his doctor and his lawyer to his bedside. "Here's $30,000 cash to be held by each of you. I trust you to put this in my coffin when I die so I can take all my money with me."
At the funeral, each man put an envelope in the coffin. Riding away in a limousine, the priest suddenly broke into tears and confessed, "I only put $20,000 into the envelope because I needed $10,000 to repair the roof of the church."
"Well, since we're confiding in each other," said the doctor, "I only put $10,000 in the envelope because we needed a new X-ray machine for the pediatric ward at the hospital which cost $20,000."
The lawyer was aghast. "I'm ashamed of both of you," he exclaimed. "I want it known that when I put my envelope in that coffin, I enclosed a check for the full $30,000."
Dear Friends,
Today we celebrate Ascension Sunday. Jesus ascended into heaven to be with God the father and promised us of the Holy spirit and asked us to engage ourselves to proclaiming his gospel on earth.
It is the perfect time to reflect deeper about Ascension with our practical life. we experience many painful goodbyes in life. There are so many times when someone we love has to go away, or we have to go away. There are many times when, for whatever reason, someone has to move on and irrevocably change a relationship.
Parents, for example, experience this when their children grow up and leave home to start lives of their own. First, when a child leaves home to go to college, to get married, or to take a job elsewhere, we are often left with a restless heartache that leaves us feeling empty. But, after a while, especially when our child, in the full bloom of adulthood, comes back to visit us our heartache can just as quickly disappear because our loved one, now no longer a child, can offer us a richer love and presence than he or she could when they were little. The pain of losing someone turns into the joy of finding something deeper in the one whom we thought we had lost.
When Jesus was preparing his disciples for his ascension, he told them: "It is better for you that I go away! You won't understand this now. You will grieve and have heavy hearts, but, later, this will turn to joy and you will understand why I have to do this because, unless I go away, I can't send you my spirit." There is a deeper meaning and a purpose for the leaving.
There is an interplay between our presence and our absence. It is a great mystery. For certain times, we need to be present physically. At times it creates tensions, irritations, disappointments. Our absence opens up the world for our loved ones. It becomes routine in our relationship. But everyone keeps our spirit there.
Jesus promised the disciples to send the holy spirit upon them to lead and guide them and commissioned them to proclaim the Gospel. The Ascension is about going away so that our loved ones can fully receive our spirit. It's about the mystery of saying goodbye, when goodbye isn't really goodbye at all, but only loves way of taking on a different modality.
A beautiful old story tells of how Jesus, after his Ascension into Heaven, was surrounded by the Holy Angels who began to enquire about his work on earth. Jesus told them about his birth, life, preaching, death, and Resurrection, and how he had accomplished the salvation of the world. The Archangel Gabriel asked, “Well, now that you are back in Heaven, who will continue your work on earth?” Jesus said, “While I was on earth, I gathered a group of people around me who believed in me and loved me. They will continue to spread the Gospel and carry on the work of the Church.” Gabriel was perplexed. “You mean Peter, who denied you thrice and all the rest who ran away when you were crucified? You mean to tell us that you left them to carry on your work? And what will you do if this plan doesn’t work? What’s your Plan B?” Jesus said, “I have no other plan — it must work.” — Truly, Jesus has no other plan than to depend on the efforts of his followers!

03/17/2023

Fourth Sunday of Lent
Dear Friends,
We are in the middle of lent. fourth Sunday is called Laetare Sunday which means Rejoicing . As we have been reflecting about the first readings during lent, today’s first brings the message that God looks at the heart not the appearance.
The book of Samuel gives the idea of different style of leadership. There was a transition for two reasons. The Judges were spokespersons for God for the people of Israel. There were some prophets emerged in the community during that time. Samuel was the last one in the list of prophets who lead the community. People wanted kings for two reasons. One is Samuel is getting old and they felt that he could not judge them, secondly, they felt insecure with other nations in the neighborhood who all had kings. We read in the book of 1 Samuel 8: 6-9 How God asks Samuel to grant people’s request. God strongly felt people’ s rejection of him and worshipping strange Gods.
I would like to focus on two things for our reflections:
1) God desires Good to all of us how ever we are. God is good all the time. Lot of times we feel that God abandons us and allows bad things happen in our lives. God desires to do good even when we are away from him. We can reflect it from the lives of Israel. Just recap of the story: Jacob is named Israel. He had lived in cannon. Jacob’s sons hated Jospeh and joseph was sold to Egypt. He was given a big position in Pharoah’s kingdom. Then famine came in the land of cannon. Jacob’s brothers went to collect food. They settled there for some few hundred years. After the death of Joseph, they became slaves and God saw their pain and suffering in Egypt , called Moses to bring the people back to land of Cannon from Egypt. They deserted God so many times and worshiped strange Gods so many times. Still God wants to make the covenant with them .God desires Good to people . Today God desires to do good to us. He sent his only son to us who gave his life for us. let us open our eyes to see the goodness of God for us.
2) God never judges or looks at by appearance , rather looks at our heart. Today’s first reading gives the perfect example of how God looks at us. Saul was anointed as first king. God was unhappy about his performances with people of Israel. He disobeyed God’s word. He told Samuel to anoint another king. He went and see all the sons of Jesse. When Jesse produces David immediately Samuel heard the voice to anoint him. He was the youngest of all seven of his sons. God selected David. Was David good? we know the story. He was an adulterer and the murderer. God looks at your heart.
Samuel rejected Jesse’s oldest son because “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.” With this single statement, the Word of God unmasks much of the world’s blindness.
We look at poor people and see nothing other than rundown houses and littered streets. We look at the homeless and see nothing other than dirty faces and ragged clothes. We look at people who are different from us and we see nothing other than the color of their skin or the way they manipulate their bodily limbs.
God loves you and me not by our color, appearance, and some other criteria. He loves us because we are his sons and daughters. He simply loves everyone for the same matter. What about you and me ? do we love everyone ? how do we look at people in our lives?

03/03/2023

Second Sunday of lent
Lent is a time of spiritual journey. An encounter with God often leads to a journey. That journey represents a new discovery in the relationship with God. this encounter rewards a blessing in our lives. Today’s reading brings a blessing of God in our lives when we trust in God.
When God told Abraham to leave home, God was asking a lot of him. The world was not a global village then. Travel wasn’t easy; there were no planes, taxis, or hotels. Furthermore, leaving home was a decisive break with all the goods of home, because going back for a visit was difficult or just out of the question entirely. So, leaving home then was a loss that we can’t imagine well anymore, in our era of video calls and texting.
Still, when God told Abraham to leave, Abraham went. The author lists five blessings in this account which is a divine providence.
Why did he go? Presumably because he wanted what God offered him. If Abraham left, God told him, then he would become a great nation, his name be great , blessings to those bless him and curse to those curse him, and all the communities of the earth would find blessing in him. That is a fairly stunning reward.
So Abraham, who had a great desire for that reward, obeyed God, left what was familiar and beloved to him, and wandered off as a stranger in a strange land.
And then notice what happened.
Abraham lived a very long time after this promise of God’s and he stayed faithful to God’s commands his whole life. But by the time Abraham died, this is all Abraham had: one son to carry on his posterity under this promise and two grandchildren. By anybody’s estimation, this is a very small family. Certainly, one son and two grandsons is not a great nation.
Furthermore, hardly any communities knew Abraham at all, let alone found a blessing in him. The idea that all the communities of the earth would find blessings in Abraham really would have been completely laughable at that time, wouldn’t it?
Of course, as we now see it, all Jews, Christians, and Muslims are the Abrahamic peoples. Many great nations are included among the Abrahamic peoples. All of them know Abraham and think that they find blessing in Abraham.
And so, God’s stunning promise to Abraham has been completely fulfilled.
But Abraham did not live to see it. He had to take the fulfillment of God’s promise to him on faith.
So maybe Abraham is the father of faith because he was willing to stake his life on a promise whose fulfillment did not come in his lifetime on earth.
In this, he is not only the patriarch of the family of faith but also a pattern to follow for all those in his family.
Whenever God asks us to move into the future and deepen our relationship with him, we are accompanied by blessings only God can provide. I personally see myself the more I deepen my relationship with God, what a blessing I get in my life.

02/25/2023

First Sunday of Lent

Dear Friends,

Lent is the season to go into us inside, clean ourselves and rejuvenate our life. We do annual checkup and periodical visit to have a healthy life. Lent is a time of repentance and renewal. The readings for lent are always helping us to realize us our dependency of God in our life. In a special way, all the first readings are selected and placed in such a way that helps to develop our relationship with God gradually. This year I would like to reflect and pray with you all the first readings.

This week, we have a beautiful first reading from the book of Genesis. It comes from the second of two creation stories. We all know the story. I would like to reflect in three parts.
The creation of human and his necessities: the symbolic story begins with God forming human and other creatures. The first human being is both of the earth and of God. God formed human being in his own image and likeness. This is the first thing we need to understand that God formed each one of us. As we read in the book of Jeremiah 18, we are a clay in his hands. As a potter, he designed each one of us according to his wish and design. He loved the first human being Adam; he loves us today. God gave everything humans wanted. God established a covenant with us at the moment of creation, and we keep this covenant by freely placing ourselves in God’s hands and being responsive to God’s invitation to live in communion with him.

There is a space for good and bad: St. Paul in the second reading explains how there was sin entered the world through one man and glory came with another man. From the beginning of the world, there was a space for Good and evil. God gave that freedom to human. Lot of times, we ask why God give me the temptations? Or why there is evil in the world? We allowed both to exist through our human freedom. The snake (as symbol of evil) made use of the space. There is a space in us that struggles between good and evil. It is not the matter who gave. The bible writers at that time reflect the prevalent culture of the world. It is not important, but the point we share our good as well as evil with others.

Realization of evil in our life: the story ends with realization of themselves. The story teaches human weakness for sinning and disobeying God. Fear, shyness, alienation, shame, blame and other subtle characters came to us. The rest of the chapter gives the detail of human’s hard work. They lost all the privileges of the Garden. The Garden and all the goodness are banished from their sight. Temptations teach us so many lessons.
The gospel also talks about temptation. There is a key for us from Jesus. Trusting in God will help us to face and overcome the temptation. Adam and Eve broke their trust with God, and they fell into temptation and sin. Jesus on the contrary became the proto – type of salvation.

What is our choice over temptation? We can either complain because rose bushes have thorns or rejoice because thorns have roses.
How do we use our freedom to respond God’s invitation?

We are to confront and conquer temptations as Jesus did, using the means he employed. Every one of us is tempted to seek sinful pleasures, easy wealth, and a position of authority, power, and glory, and to use any means, even unjust or sinful ones, to gain these things. Jesus serves as a model for us in conquering temptations by strengthening himself through prayer, penance, and the effective use of the Word of God. Hence, during this Lent, let us confront our evil tendencies with prayer (especially by participating in the Holy Mass), with penance, and with meditative reading of the Bible.

01/06/2023

Feast of Epiphany
A husband asked his wife, “Why would God give the wise men a star to guide them?” She replied, “Because God knows men are too proud to ask directions.”
Dear Friends,
Today we remember the feast of Epiphany which means manifestation or appearance. This feast confirms that God has manifested himself to people differently at all the times. Every year we read the same Gospel from the Gospel of Mathew where the Magi from the east come to venerate with the gifts. The Magi, the gifts they brought signify royalty, kingship and his divine and human nature who will die for the people.
God has revealed himself so many ways. I give you three examples from the old testament. After the initial call of Abraham, Abraham was visited by the lord. ( Genesis 18:1-2) the story goes on where he got promised to have a child. Secondly, God manifested himself to Moses ( Ex 3:1-10 ) that a bush was burning not consumed. God commissioned Moses to be the deliverer of Israelites. Thirdly, young Samuel was visited by the lord. Three times God called and youth went to his mentor Eli ( 1 sam 3:1ff). In each of these cases, God was instructing and challenging and providing a manifestation of God’s presence in the world.
There are two examples I can quote from the new testament in the book of Acts of the apostles. 1) people understood the apostle’s speech in their own languages( Acts 1: 2-13) 2) Paul’s conversion ( Acts 9:1-15) . catechism of the catholic church no. 528 talks about it in details.
In our lives, we heard the story of many people who had manifestations of God in their lives. I can give three examples of people in our own times from our church Tree. 1. St. Mother Therese through her charity and we all know that how she got transformed 2. St. Oscar Romero for his courage and valor to stand up for the basic human rights. 3. Dorothy Day and her encounter with French émigré Peter Murphy. Let us ask ourselves how have we encountered God in our lives and in our faith?
The Epiphany of Jesus brought unity and equality to the world. The Wise men and the shepherds could come to visit him. The organized religious leadership like scribes and priests didn’t want recognize Jesus’ manifestation than their personal glory they were able to determine exact time and location of Jesus’ birth. In God’s eye everyone is equal. No one is allowed to build a roadblock.
Jesus is born inside of a religious tradition, Judaism, and his birth is announced to that faith-community in a manner that befits religion by supernatural revelation, namely, by the angels. But those outside of that faith-tradition need another way to get to know of his birth, and so his birth is announced to them though nature, astrology, through the stars. The wise men see a special star appear in the sky and begin to follow it, not knowing exactly where or to what it will lead.
Another point to reflect is that we have no idea what happened to those wise men afterwards. Once they have given all their gifts, leave everything safely in his hands. We have similar reference in the scripture Simeon , Anna the prophetess at the temple. Simeon was revealed that he would not die until he saw Christ. When we surrender ourselves to God, he will take care of everything. Herod saw him as a threat and wise men saw him a blessing . what is our reaction to a new life ? a new revelation ?

12/09/2022

Third Sunday of Advent
A man goes to the doctor with a swollen foot. After a careful examination, the doctor gives the man a pill big enough to choke a horse. "I'll be right back with some water," the doctor tells him. The doctor has been gone a while and the man loses patience. He hobbles out to the drinking fountain, forces the pill down his throat and gobbles down water until the pill clears his throat. He hobbles back into the examining room. Just then the doctor comes back with a bucket of warm water. "Ok, after the tablet dissolves, soak that foot for about 20 minutes.
Dear Friends,
This Sunday is traditionally called Gaudete Sunday which means a joyful waiting. As we prepare ourselves for salvation of the lord we patiently wait for the lord and prepare ourselves. The readings help us to prepare the lord with proper and patient waiting.
In the first reading, prophet Isaiah says that God who guided Isarel in the desert and through the ratification of the covenant with Moses, he comes in the midst to save them. when he comes, they will be strengthened and healed. Their sorrow will become Joy. The same thing we read in the Gospel today. Jesus tells the disciples of John to go and tell John what they had seen and heard. It is a fulfilment of the old testament in Jesus Christ.
In the second reading James talks about patience and proper waiting. He gives an example of the farmer who waits for the due time for its fruits. Patient waiting is worth doing with high expectations for the fruits that brings joy. In the Gospel, we notice John the Baptist whose whole life was spent in active waiting for the coming of the promised messiah. John expected a powerful messiah who would overthrow the Romans and build the kingdom. But he heard a different one. Jesus praises John the Baptist for his active waiting and preparing the way for it. still Jesus praises anyone who does the same way will be greater in kingdom of God.
Who are the least?
These are the ones who has been touched by the encounter with Jesus. They are his disciples who prepare with patience and actively wait with firm conviction and trust.
What are waiting for? Do we want to the least in the kingdom of God? how do we prepare ourselves?
We need to do things while waiting. First is to realize what is happening at present. We worry about the future and the past. Living in the present is the priority. Secondly, we need to recall that God makes the future safe. God has promised that, in ways we cannot understand. Patience is really a way of remembering the constant love of God, no matter how frightening or disconcerting the future may seem or may actually be. We need to slow down, look around, and live. Mary, John the Baptist would the good examples.

12/02/2022

Second Sunday of Advent
Mr. and Mrs. Brown had two sons. One was named Mind Your Own Business & the other was named Trouble. One day the two boys decided to play hide and seek. Trouble hid while Mind Your Own Business counted to one hundred. Mind Your Own Business began looking for his brother behind garbage cans and bushes. Then he started looking in and under cars until a policeman approached him and asked, "What are you doing?" "Playing a game," the boy replied. "What is your name?" the officer questioned. "Mind Your Own Business." Furious the policeman inquired, "Are you looking for trouble?!" The boy replied, "Why, yes."
Dear friends,
In every season, there is a call for repentance. A periodical reminder is helpful for all of us to check ourselves how are we doing? During advent and lent the readings help us to reflect about ourselves and celebrate the feasts meaningfully in a solemn way. There is an inspection for everything at a certain period of time whether it is our body or some property or other things. The church has designed two seasons to check on our inner life or our spiritual life.
We have a beautiful first reading from the Book of Isaiah. The prophet brings an ideal world atmosphere. When a new king comes, these things will happen. There are two specific clarifications about the future messiah. The first one is the character and the origin of Messiah. It was verified with Jesus. The second thing is of his kingdom. This passage is called Messianic prophecy. the way it is, it brings the harmony of Paradise. All the animals sit together and live together.
This prophecy was only partly verified in some later kings, but fully verified only in Jesus the true Messiah. According to Isaiah’s prophecy this future Messianic King will rule forever because the Spirit of God will rest upon him and remain with him (Is 11:2), and that he will be equipped with the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit of God– wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord (Is 11:2). Isaiah foresees that this king will establish the kingdom of God, not by force of human will and military power, but by offering his life as the atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world. Isaih hopes for a new world that brings peace and Justice.
In the Gospel John recalls for repentance. John the Baptist expected the messiah to come with that kind of power. His concerns were justice, repentance, asceticism. He warned people of an approaching time of reckoning and expected the longed-for messiah to come precisely as a violent fire, a winnowing fan that would separate the bad from the good and burn up the former with a righteousness that came straight from God. he addressed to two of the Jewish authorities and render a hard invitation for repentance.
In order to reach the ideal world or messianic kingdom, we need a conversion of hearts and minds. The sacrament of reconciliation brings that conversion. But today we feel like we can ask forgiveness directly to God. The sacrament of reconciliation brings the fruits of salvation. It gives you inner freedom.
John the Baptist asks us to show our repentance in the way of bearing fruits. He called his people to set things right. We are also called to set things right with God. A radical conversion is expected on us.
John's preaching of the coming of the Lord is a key theme of the Advent season. As John's message prepared the way for Jesus in the first century, we, too, are called to prepare ourselves for Jesus' coming. We respond to John's message by our repentance and reform of our lives. We are also called to be prophets of Christ, who announce by our lives, as John did, the coming of the Lord.

Word and Deed: In the light of the Gospel

11/22/2023

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