Priestly Ponderings

From Fr. Mark Lent is a 40-day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It's a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord's Resurrection at Easter. Just a few short weeks ago, we celebrated his birth, and now the Church begins our preparation to join him on his journey to Calvary. The church scene becomes somber, more intense, and such terms as contrition, conversion, penance, almsgiving, fasting and absti

From Fr. Mark Lent is a 40-day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It's a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord's Resurrection at Easter. Just a few short weeks ago, we celebrated his birth, and now the Church begins our preparation to join him on his journey to Calvary. The church scene becomes somber, more intense, and such terms as contrition, conversion, penance, almsgiving, fasting and absti

From Fr. Mark Lent is a 40-day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It's a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord's Resurrection at Easter. During Lent, we seek the Lord in prayer by reading Sacred Scripture; we serve by giving alms; and we practice self-control through fasting. We are called not only to abstain from luxuries during Lent, but to a true inner conversion of heart as we seek to follow

From Fr. Mark I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you, the parishioners of Holy Childhood and St. Liborious, for all your prayers and support during my recent hospitalization. After enduring health challenges for some time, I had reached a point where medical attention was necessary, leading to an ER visit and hospital stay.  As I return, I must follow my doctors' advice, to make important lifestyle changes to ensure that I can continue my dedicated servi

From Fr. Mark   Lent is a 40 day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It's a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord's Resurrection at Easter. During Lent, we seek the Lord in prayer by reading Sacred Scripture; we serve by giving alms; and we practice self-control through fasting. We are called not only to abstain from luxuries during Lent, but to a true inner conversion of heart as we seek to follo

From Fr. Mark The month of February has traditionally been a time of devotion to the Holy Family. What Does the Holy Family Teach Us?   The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York houses a beautiful triptych of the Holy Family called the “Mérode Altarpiece,” painted by Robert Campin.           The left of the three-paneled piece of art captures an open door of two bystanders peering into the main panel of the Annunciation, while the far-right panel depicts St. Joseph in his c

SUNDAY OF THE WORD OF GOD             On September 30, 2019, on the liturgical memorial of St. Jerome, Pope Francis announced that the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time would be celebrated as the Sunday of the Word of God.  The inspiring full text of his Apostolic Letter, “Aperuit illis: Instituting the Sunday of the Word of God” is contained herein.  Now in its seventh year, the Sunday of the Word of God will fall on January 25, 2026. In the Introduction to the Lectionary for M

From Fr. Mark The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord commemorates the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist and marks the end of the Christmas season in the liturgical calendar. The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, also known as Theophany in some traditions, celebrates the moment when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River. This event is significant as it marks the beginning of Jesus' public ministry and His identification with humanity. The feast is observed on the Sunday fol

From Fr. Mark The Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord is celebrated in many parts of the world on the Twelfth Day of Christmas, January 6. Here in the United States,   where this feast is not a Holy Day of Obligation, the Epiphany of the Lord is celebrated on the first Sunday after January 1.   They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treas

From Fr. Mark This weekend, December 27 & 28, the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Fr. Levi James and I will be switching parishes for the weekend. I will be witnessing a marriage at Holy Cross in Wendelin and Fr. Levi will be witnessing a marriage here at Holy Childhood and each of us will be celebrating the weekend masses, Fr. Levi at Holy Childhood and St. Liborious and I at Holy Cross-Wendelin, St. Joseph-Olney, St. Joseph-Stringtown and St. Lawerence-L

From Fr. Mark    FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT   This is the last Sunday of our preparation for Christmas, the anniversary of Christ's birth. Like Joseph, we can all feel unworthy of the honor of welcoming him into our hearts and our homes. We are indeed unworthy, not because we have little of this world's goods, but because we have so little humility, so little charity, so little faith and trust in God's goodness. Let us try to imitate Joseph and Mary, the humblest of the humble,

From Fr. Mark THIRD (GAUDETE) SUNDAY OF ADVENT Each year, the Knights of Columbus have sponsored Keep Christ in Christmas poster contest for all local K‐8 students. After the masses this weekend, you are invited to look over the artwork of the students and select your favorite from each grade level. As much as it is important in our lives to gather together as family and friends, eating and drinking, and exchanging gifts; “Keep Christ in Christmas” sets out to remind us that

From Fr. Mark    SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT   Situated between the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (celebrated on Monday, December 8) and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadelupe (celebrated Friday, December 12), celebrated on Wednesday, December 10 is the Memorial of Our Lady of Loreto. Pointing to the Virgin Mary, it celebrated a revered relic-the Holy House of Loretto.  In the Autobiography of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux  she wrote: “ I was indeed ha

From Fr. Mark        FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT   C.S. Lewis, the great Christian writer who gave us Narnia, wrote a superb parody about Christmas, describing a baffled time traveler visiting Britain and finding people forced to buy squares of decorated cardboard and mail them to one another.             It is true that many semi-obligatory things, apparently belonging to Christmas in Western countries, bear very little relation to the awesome reality of the birth of Jesus Chris

From Fr. Mark SOLEMNITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST    KING OF THE UNIVERSE   Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who

From Fr. Mark      Before our entire attention turns toward the festivities of Thanksgiving and Christmas, I wanted to return towards November being the time we remember and pray for the Faithful Departed. It is difficult at times to think about what happends to us and our loved ones when they die. Any prayer or pious act applied to the souls in purgatory can be a way to pray for them. The most effective manner of praying is to have Masses offered for them or to apply the fru

From Fr. Mark The teaching torch has been passed. Pope Leo XIV’s first formal document as pope, the apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te (I Have Loved You), was promulgated Oct. 9, the feast day of St. John Henry Newman. The exhortation is the completion of work begun by Pope Francis before he died—a striking resemblance to Francis’s own first document, the encyclical Lumen Fidei (The Light of Faith), which completed work begun by Pope Benedict XVI before his resignation. And ju

From Fr. Mark             Priesthood Sunday 2025 Traditionally, the last Sunday of September is recognized as “Priesthood Sunday” in...

From Fr. Mark             Catechetical Sunday 2025 Today the Catholic Church in the United States is celebrating Catechetical Sunday. The...

From Fr. Mark             On January 31, 2021, Pope Francis announced the establishment of the World Day for Grandparents and the...