I'm convinced that the sentiments of many are that our celebrations of Christmas were prayerful, reflective, joyous, worthy, etc. The celebrations I'm referring to include our local Masses, but also our personal celebrations with families and friends. "In every heart may we continue to prepare Him room," not just at Christmas, but in every day of our lives. We are blessed to be called by Him from our baptism to follow Him and deepen our relationship with Him each day of our lives!

There are three changes which will occur after 1 January 2018 which are related to each other, though distinct. Amanda Burrow, who was working as our parish cluster Coordinator of Religious Education since the summer of 2016, has resigned from the position effective 31 December 2017. She has taken a full-time job as a Spanish teacher in the Alma Public School. We wish her well in this new chapter of her life here in our area.

A very small number of you are aware that I officiated at a funeral in Ettrick on Monday past. The primary reason being that the Catholic churches in Ettrick and Blair have been without a resident priest for several weeks; that reality is likely to remain for several more weeks… or longer. There was a need to reach this far to find a priest available to cover the funeral on Monday and so, for the good of Catholicism, I was chosen. May Mildred rest in peace!

From the Preschool

While eating lunch at Saint Boniface Catholic School this week, I was asked by a preschool boy about the meaning of Advent. I told him it's about Jesus and Jesus' coming to us. He reminded me that Jesus is already with us, I had to agree. I also reminded him Advent is about us preparing for Jesus to come deeper into our lives. At that point his sandwich became more interesting than our conversation about religion. Hmmm? Do the things of our world typically become more important than our religion? During Advent we are reminded to place more value on the Lord and prepare for His arrival. A lot to think and pray about in that brief exchange with a preschooler.

As each year passes, I hope each of us becomes more aware of our spiritual journey and the invitation to deepen our relationship with Jesus. While the secular world is preparing for the turning of a calendar year, we are about a month ahead of that event. We begin a new liturgical year today. And, with that new beginning we have an opportunity to recommit ourselves to our spiritual journey as we prepare the way of the Lord during these Advent days.

Some weeks ago, around the date of 31 October, I wrote about an event in Eau Claire to commemorate the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. The joint prayer service among Catholics and Lutherans was a local event to come together in prayer and concentrate on matters of unity. The prayer service was held in a Catholic church, the social was hosted in a Lutheran church across the street. I also understand that, on the same date, Catholic and Lutheran bishops from our state were gathered together for a similar prayer service. Further, the prayer service was also used by members of the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation on the same date. I can say, with some confidence, these three, and perhaps other similar prayer services, all used the same prayer service which was assembled by the Lutheran World Federation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Prostate cancer, testicular cancer, male depression and male suicide. These four topics and others similar to them typically do not conjure up happy thoughts. Add to the above list cancer in general, often cancer treatment causes hair loss, and you get a sense of the recipe for the rationale as to why some men choose to grow facial hair during November. Add to that, some encouragement on some websites to discontinue trimming other bodily hair, like legs, and you can quickly come up with gender inclusive reasons for unkempt body hair during November.

One of the countless delights in living the vocation of the Holy Priesthood is meeting countless people from countless walks of life. Recently I was having a conversation with a well-established realtor. He commented on how he and his wife move often and find the moves to be a good opportunity to do some serious housecleaning. In fact, they continue to strive to keep their belongings down so as to have less labor when a move comes around.

We have once again come to this point in time when we use the month of November to pray for all the faithful departed. Today, I find it worthwhile to reflect upon Mass Intentions, something I have likely done before and will likely do again.

Celebrating Mass is one of the core prayer forms for our Catholic Church. At its basic form, the Mass has two parts, namely the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

A commercial was airing on television this summer and one reference is toward a character who "over shares" his life. The reference is to the other character that is turned off by the other character's desire to over share. Perhaps you know people like this in your life. As human beings, each of us is called to live in relationship some one or more people. We quickly discover that some people around us are really quiet, others really loud. Some are difficult to converse with while others are easy. Some people need to be pried to share about themselves, others over share. And the list of comparisons may go on and on. Somewhere within that spectrum of people is where we find ourselves. While we move into the season of sharing, we might want to consider the sharing in which we participate. For the sake of this article, we might want to consider three different perspectives.

Over the years, some of you have run across two priests of our Diocese, Father John Schultz and/or FatherDerek Sakowski. They are mentioned this weekend because of their work they are doing, along with countlessother priests around the world, along with clergy from the Lutheran church, along with countless lay faithful. The project has been in the making for 500 years, and more recently within the last twelve months. October 31,1517 is the date when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to a church door in Sweden; Luther’s action began theProtestant Reformation, and more specifically, the beginning of the Lutheran church.

Over the decades, believers used countless titles for what happens in church on weekends from the mouth of the minister. Some places call it a sermon, others a homily, others a speech, lesson or preaching. Within our Catholic world, the modern title to the message after the Gospel from the clergy is called a homily. Typically, the title was sermon until more recent years, say the last several decades. From my understanding, the sermon was meant to teach/catechize some doctrine of the Church whether or not it was connected to the weekend scriptures.

Today the Church of St. Boniface will be celebrating their 150 Anniversary. The invitations have been sent and the reservations have been received. The dinner and the fixins have been prepared. The flowers and decorations are in place and the music has been practiced. The Bishop will be celebrating the Mass for the faithful people of the Waumandee Valley today. What a fine day this is going to be. This is a day to remember that as early as 1858 Mass was celebrated in homes and in the fields across our Buffalo County.

While some of you are aware of our change with the hot lunch program at Saint Boniface Catholic School, some of you may not be aware of the community-building event the decision has become. To be brief, while enrollment is 19 students Pre 3K through 8th Grade, after some deliberation with parents, we made the decision to discontinue using the Department of Public Instruction Hot Lunch Program. We learned that some limitations were unreasonable in our situation and additional human and financial resources would restrict what we are trying to accomplish at this point in the School history. The students bring a cold "sack" lunch on Tuesdays. On the other weekdays, we are able to provide lunch for them through purchased and donated food. If you would like to join others who have already donated food, or funds to provide food, be in touch with Carrie Venner, our Head Teacher. On Fridays, we have found success in asking people from outside the School Staff to provide hot lunch and this concept has worked famously so far.