Pope Francis: During Lent, May We Keep Our Gaze ‘Fixed on the Crucified’ -VATICAN CITY — In his Ash Wednesday homily, Pope Francis said that Lent is the perfect time to let go of selfish and indifferent attitudes, returning to God with the help of prayer, penance and acts of charity. “Lent is a beneficial time of pruning from falsity, from worldliness, from indifference: to not think that everything is okay if I am okay; to understand that what counts is not approval, the pursuit of success or consensus, but purity of heart and life,” the Pope said Feb. 10....Read more
Pope on Ash Wednesday: Mercy Involves Generosity - VATICAN CITY — For Pope Francis, mercy is something that ought to be expressed in concrete acts of service and in sharing one’s goods with the poor, which was a key tradition during jubilee years throughout Scripture. Referring to the current Year of Mercy, the Pope explained that the jubilee is time “for conversion, so that our hearts can become bigger, more generous, more like a child of God, with more love.” “But I tell you that if the jubilee doesn’t arrive to the pockets, it’s not a true jubilee,” he said, adding: “This is in the Bible; it’s not the Pope who invented this.”...Read more
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![]() New Parish App Coming Soon! In the coming weeks St. John the Baptist and Christ the King will launch our own app for iPhone and Android smart phones. This will allow us to better communicate with you throughout the week and keep you updated with relevant parish news or updates. The app is very well designed and very intuitive. It will be a great resource for parishioners by providing daily Mass readings, Catholic news and prayers, convenient prayer and Confession reminders, our bulletins and more. We hope for our new app to be a tool for fostering stronger parish life at St. John the Baptist and Christ the King and better engaging the New Evangelization. Please watch in the coming weeks for our official launch announcement. ![]()
After finishing up the spiritual works of mercy, let us examine the seven corporal works of mercy. These works of mercy focus on serving the visible needs of our neighbor and are an essential part about being a Christian. We do not want to be like the "goats" that Jesus sent away to eternal punishment, because we failed to see Christ in our neighbor:
"For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’" Matthew 25:42-45 The first corporal work of mercy is to “feed the hungry.” Feeding the hungry is a basic tenet of being a Christian, but many of us do not practice it. It is not because there is no one going hungry around us. The opportunities are there. Almost every community has a food bank or emergency food pantry where they distribute food to families in need. Additionally, many communities have “soup kitchens,” where they offer weekly or daily meals for those in need. We should do well this Year of Mercy to challenge ourselves and engage in at least one action that feeds a hungry person in the community. The second corporal work of mercy might seem redundant, but is in fact a separate work of mercy. “To give drink to the thirsty” is similar to the action of “feeding the hungry,” but addresses a different need of the body and is not easily accomplished. There are many parts of the world, even in our own country, where fresh drinking water is scarce or impossible to find. Water is such a vital of life and when that is not available, it disrupts everything. It can be anything from a drought to the contamination of drinking water. Most often we will practice this work of mercy while feeding the hungry, but there will be other opportunities that we can engage in to ensure access to fresh water. If you ever need motivation to "give drink to the thirsty," just remind yourself the last time you were thirsty and did not have immediate access to water. There are some who go without water the entire day because of their situation. In the end, let us resolve this Year of Mercy to never forget the "hungry" and "thirsty" of our communities. Read the Entire Series
Ash Wednesday * February 10th, 2016 * Mass times @ Christ the King are: 5 p.m. and 6:40 p.m. * Mass times @ St. John the Baptist in Mfld are: 6:30 am * 8 am * 12:15 pm * 6:30 pm
LENTEN “FAST AND ABSTINENCE” REGULATIONS
Christ the King “Holy Name Society Annual Pancake Breakfast” will be held on Sunday-February 21, 2016. Your attendance would be greatly appreciated. Remember this is the only Holy Name Society event held at your parish each year and your support is needed to purchase raffle tickets and attend the breakfast. *** Please take note that the PCCW meeting on Tuesday-Feb 2nd was cancelled because of inclement weather *** New Date Ladies of the parish an invitation is extended to you to attend the next Parish Council of Catholic Women’s meeting on Tuesday-February 16, 2016 @ 7 p.m. in the dining hall of church. Our guest speaker for this evening will be Alora Rueth and her topic will be “Bringing Country Women Together.” Please plan to attend and see what “Your” PCCW is all about. We look forward to seeing you.
Millions Show Love for the Eucharist in Philippines Procession - CEBU, Philippines — Massive crowds, estimated in the millions, took part in the Masses and liturgical processions of the eight-day International Eucharistic Congress that recently concluded in the Philippines.
“We are called to understand, love and assimilate the very love of Jesus. … Our lives, too, must be offered in sacrifice,” Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin said in his Jan. 29 homily. An estimated 1.5 million people attended a Mass and liturgical procession for the International Eucharistic Congress in the Philippines on Friday. The Mass was held on the grounds of the Cebu Provincial Capitol....Read more Pope Francis to Appear in Family Film About Parables - VATICAN CITY — The “Pope of Surprises” is at it again. Pope Francis is set to be featured in the upcoming film Beyond the Sun, the first Pope to appear in a big-screen production. The idea for the film came from the Holy Father, who approached the filmmakers at AMBI Pictures, asking them to produce a movie that could effectively portray Gospel passages and parables to children. The movie will be a family adventure story, where children from different cultures emulate the apostles while searching for Christ in the world around them, says the film group...Read more Steubenville Youth Conference for teens presently in grades 8-12 An awesome, high energy event with 2,000 other teens . PLUS: we'll roll up our sleeves and lend a hand while serving others. It will be at St. Thomas University in St. Paul, July 29-31 The cost will be about $260? includes most meals, transportation, & all housing A deposit of $50 is needed. To sign up, please contact: Dan Kiitzhaber.
CATHOLIC Adventure Camp June 19-24. This is for teens currently in grades 6-12. Crosswoods Christian Adventure Camp, located south of Ashland, has been reserved for the Diocese of LaCrosse! This high adventure week will offer you the chance for rock climbing, repelling, canoeing, mountain bike riding, low ropes and high ropes, adventure trails, hiking, and time for prayer, the sacraments and reflection on God’s marvelous creation. The total cost will be about $385 for youth and $200 for adults. Signup soon. INFORMATION MEETING: Tues., Feb., 9, 7pm in Columbia Room of St. John’s school. Financial help is available. If you have any other questions, please contact Mr. Dan Kitzhaber. ![]()
Comfort the Afflicted
The next spiritual work of mercy highlights an act of charity we tend to avoid. “Comforting the afflicted” is often looked down upon because we are told that suffering is a sign of weakness. This means many of us will never bring up our affliction in front of others if fear of appearing to be weak. Additionally, we are afraid of suffering and so staring it in the face makes us feel uncomfortable. Instead of dealing with the suffering in our lives and going to others for comfort, we are told to “mask” our suffering by numbing it. We do this through coping mechanisms and try to “drink” our sorrows away or even watch TV to ignore our affliction. Masking our suffering has culminated in recent years through “eliminating” in abortion or euthanasia. We are told that suffering should not exist and must sweep it all under the rug. It should come as no surprise that “comforting the afflicted” makes us so uncomfortable. We don’t want to hear about suffering, because it reminds us of our own suffering. Yet, performing this work of mercy is exactly what we need. In a very real way, “comforting the afflicted” has spiritual benefits for both parties. Not only does the afflicted person feel “heard,” but also the person listening becomes an image of Christ, who bore all of our sufferings on the wood of the cross. Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). We should not be afraid of our suffering, but take it to Christ and sometimes that means we need to take it to the “Christs” in our midst. It is not a sign of weakness to share your suffering with someone. In fact, it takes great courage. Pray for the Living and the Dead The final spiritual work of mercy is simple and accessible to all: “pray for the living and the dead.” However, it is very easy to forget to pray for others in our “me” centered culture. While it is appropriate to ask God for what we desire that should not be the center of our prayer life. The world does not revolve around us. Praying for others helps us acquire the virtue of charity and combat the sins of pride and greed. If we think and pray more about others, we will have a very fruitful prayer life that imitates the love and care that God has for us. However, praying for others does not stop once they are buried in a cemetery. The dead need our prayers as we do not know their final destination. Most likely they are in purgatory (we have no way of knowing) and our prayers help them draw closer to Heaven. This practice is as ancient as the Jewish people and can be found in the book of Maccabees: “[Judas Maccabeus] turned to prayer beseeching that the sin which had been committed might be wholly blotted out… He also took up a collection... and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. In doing this he acted very well and honorably… Therefore he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin” (II Maccabees 12:39-46). The need for atonement for sins after death is again revisited in the Gospels and in the letters of the New Testament. In the Gospels Jesus makes a reference to Purgatory: “Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; truly I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny” (Matthew 5:25-26). The most obvious text in the New Testament comes from St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians: “For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble—each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (I Corinthians 3:11-15). This is the most explicit reference to Purgatory in the Bible and speaks of our final judgement and the need to be saved “through fire.” We in turn are asked to pray for our deceased family and friends in a similar way that we are asked to pray for the living. Both the living and the dead (those in Purgatory) suffer trials and both are in need of prayers to help alleviate the time and pain endured. Whenever we pray for the dead, we should always seek to examine our own lives and contemplate the state of our soul.
REMINDER to Parishioners * 24 Hour Eucharistic Adoration – 2015 -First Friday – February 5. through February 6, 2015 ** Starting at 9 am on Friday an ending at 9 am on Saturday) Note: There will be a prayer petition book placed out the week prior to our First Friday Eucharistic Adoration. Anyone wishing to have petitions offered during Adoration may enter their petition into the book and they will be prayed for. Attention: Church doors are locked @ 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. if you are coming to pray during this time please knock on door (under carport) 5 minutes before the start of each hour and you will be let in by person already inside of church.
Ash Wednesday * February 10th, 2016 * Mass times @ Christ the King are: 5 p.m. and 6:40 p.m. * Mass times @ St. John the Baptist in Mfld are: 6:30 am * 8 am * 12:15 pm * 6:30 pm * Evenings of Recollection * Eucharistic Adoration and Reflection * Meditations in honor of the “Year of Mercy” led by Father Samuel Martin * Evenings will alternate between the parishes of St.. John’s / Mfld and Christ the King / Spencer . Time: 6:30 pm-8 pm . on February 11, 2016 @ Christ the King Theme: Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Bernadette Christ the King “Holy Name Society Annual Pancake Breakfast” will be held on Sunday-February 21, 2016. Your attendance would be greatly appreciated. Remember this is the only Holy Name Society event held at your parish each year and your support is needed to purchase raffle tickets and attend the breakfast.
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MASS SCHEDULE
Tuesday - Friday: 8:00 AM Saturday: 4:00 PM Sunday: 8:00 AM & 10:00 AM RECONCILIATION
Saturday: 3:15 - 3:45 PM OFFICE HOURS
Monday - Thursday: 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM Friday: 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM Stay Connected with Our ParishWelcome from Our PastorWelcome to Christ the King Catholic Church! Ever since 1938 this parish has been assisting souls in their quest for deeper union with God. Our mission statement is essentially found in the stained glass window above the main altar: “For Christ our King.” Insofar as God made us and we belong to Him, we have come to... Read More
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