Bulletin Article for the Fourth Sunday of Advent (December 19, 2021)

We are getting close!! Less than a week to go! Hopefully the plans have been set in motion. I remember piling into my parents Ford LTD (what a boat of a car) and traveling to Kansas City to be with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It truly is a special time of year.

In the Gospel today we hear of Mary’s travels. It says she traveled with haste. Isn’t this just like Mary? As soon as she hears that her cousin Elizabeth is with child, she knows she needs to be with her. I just got off the phone with my mom. She was saying how 5 years ago, she was with my sister when she gave birth to her daughter. Babies bring women together in a way that men cannot understand. What a great service Mary did for Elizabeth, while herself pregnant with Jesus. And that’s just it. When Mary arrived, John the Baptist, in the womb of Elizabeth, leaped for joy in the presence of Jesus, who was in Mary’s womb. In Elizabeth’s reaction, we hear the decent portion of the Hail Mary. The Hail Mary is Scriptural. Here were two women in the middle of no-where-Judah. These two women and their sons were going to change human history. They believed and trusted that God could do radical things.

We may not be parents of John the Baptist or of Jesus, but I know God is calling us to do radical things in the world, to be radical witnesses of the Gospel. Are we ready to leap for joy in the presence of Jesus like John the Baptist did? Are ready to visit those in need? Are we prepared to do radical things for the Kingdom of God?

I pray that as we finish this Advent season, we are ready once again to be radical changed by the incarnation of God Himself. God who is outside of the universe, becomes part of His own creation, taking on human flesh. In the world stage of religions, God fully taking on human nature, is unique. The Christian God, the Trinity, the Truth, is one of a kind. The Christian God comes to us not demanding things, but rather asking us to allow Him to love us. Pray for the grace to say yes in a new, deeper way to God’s infinite love and mercy.

Have a blessed last week of Advent,
Father Vogel

Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent (December 12, 2021)

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Bulletin Article for the Third Sunday of Advent (December 12, 2021)

Today is Gaudate Sunday. Gaudate Sunday is another name for the third Sunday of Advent. Priests have the option of wearing rose colored vestments. Gaudate means “rejoice” in Latin. We need to rejoice that Christmas is almost here.

This also means that Minnesota State University is also done. This past week was finals week. This also means that I have minimal responsibilities at the Newman Center. Thus we are going to try having daily Adoration and Mass in Mapleton at 7:30 and 8:30 AM on Tuesday and Wednesday. This will be in addition to the Thursday and Saturday Masses. Also for the next three Thursdays (December 16-30) we are going to have daily Mass at St. Joseph in Good Thunder at 5:30 PM. So if you get off work at 5 and would like to get to Mass, come join us at St. Joseph’s.

In the Gospel today Luke records that people were filled with expectation. The Jewish people hadn’t had a legit prophet for hundreds of years. So when John the Baptist showed up on the scene, people were excited. Some were good excited and some where bad excited. They were so excited that they thought John the Baptist might be the promised Christ. John explains that he is not the Christ. However, John prepares people of the coming of the Christ by saying, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Luke ends today’s reading by saying John preached the good news to the people. Jesus Christ is good news. Jesus Christ is reason to rejoice. How is God asking you to rejoice in Jesus’ presence in your life? Jesus Christ wasn’t just good news 2000 years ago. Jesus Christ is good news today. May the joy and rejoicing in Christ be visible to those around us.

I pray you are continuing to have a blessed Advent,
Father Vogel

Homily for the Second Sunday of Advent (December 5, 2021)

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Bulletin Article for the Second Sunday of Advent (December 5, 2021)

How are things going? The Snowflake Dazzle was a great success. What a beautiful evening! As someone said to me as I was walking around, “The whole town is out here.” I know at our own spaghetti dinner, we raised over a $1000 dollars. Thank you to all of you that made the evening a success. Taylor and Isaiah was blown away by all of the volunteer help that stepped up. Thank you for being such an awesome community!

Today’s Gospel is a good one. I guess they’re all good ones, but today’s is especially good. Sometimes it is easy to forget that the events in the Gospels really happened. Again, as I have mentioned before, I have been blessed to have traveled to the Holy Land twice in my life. This is the greatest overall blessing of having been there. You realize that the Gospels aren’t just some story in a book, but that they are events that happened in time and space. St. Luke is reminding us of this very fact. He starts out today’s Gospel listing some of the rulers in the area. The Gospels, John the Baptist appearing on the scene, all took place in time and space. If the events Gospels didn’t actually happen, then our faith is dumb. (1 Corinthians 15:14) John the Baptist appears on the scene proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Despite the fact that technology and society keeps changing around us, fallen human beings haven’t changed much. John’s call to repentance in preparing for the first coming of Jesus (at least in public), and the second coming of Christ bear a lot of similarities. Thus John’s call to repentance, to preparing hearts for Jesus first coming still bear great weight as we prepare for Jesus’ second coming. God’s way is simple, straight, smooth, and level. It is when we muck it up with decisions emanating from our fallen human mind, that things get difficult, confusing, or complicated. May we cling to Christ more and more.

As we continue this Advent season, I pray you are slowing down. I know the tendency is to do the opposite. The adult study we are doing this Advent is the book, Rejoice! by Father Mark Toups. In the reflection for Wednesday, week 1, he reflects on Nazareth. Father Mark remarks how Nazareth would have been a town of less than 500 people. The slow pace of life in Nazareth would have been conducive to the quiet contemplative spirits Mary and Joseph would have had. And not that large towns are evil, but we all need quiet. We all need time, space, and quiet to reflect on the deeper things in life. Father Mark goes as far as to say, “Simply, put, we need quiet in order to be human.” So I pray in the midst of plans with family and friends that you take the time to be quiet, to be still, to reflect on life in the context of being a beloved son or daughter of God. Remember, we hare human beings; not human doings.

Peace and love of Christ,
Father Vogel

Homily for the First Sunday of Advent (November 28, 2021)

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Bulletin Article for the First Sunday of Advent (November 28, 2021)

Welcome to another year, a liturgical year that is. Today is the First Sunday of Advent. Advent is a time of preparation. Thus I wear purple. Now Advent is not as penitential as Lent, but it is still a time of slowing down, remembering our sins and failures, and asking for mercy and forgiveness. I mean we should do this all the time, but especially during Advent and Lent. So maybe during this Advent season, maybe do something a little different. Maybe something as small as drinking one less cup of coffee each day and giving that money to some charitable organization. Or maybe something as big as spending time reading the Bible each day for 20 minutes.

Jesus says in the Gospel today to not be drowsy from carousing or drunkenness or from the anxieties of daily life. Wow! Isn’t that so true! Daily life can become so hectic, so consuming that we forget about God and eternity. How are you in your daily life (and not just on Sunday) preparing for eternity?Jesus warns us not to be caught off guard. He urges us to be vigilant and pray for strength. As we enter into this season of preparing to celebrate Jesus first coming at Christmas 2000 years ago, maybe we be reminded to prepare for Jesus’ second coming at the end of time. May God give us the strength and courage to prepare now, not later. Two thousand years have passed, but we must no become complacent. We must remain vigilant in preparing for Jesus’ second coming.

Happy New Year,

Father Vogel 

Homily for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (November 21, 2021)

Homily – King of the Universe Download

Bulletin Article for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (November 21, 2021)

The end is near…of the liturgical calendar that is. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. Our modern lives are crazy. There are so many things vying for our time. We have sports, work, family, school, church. We can obsess about money, TV shows, food, sports, kittens, etc. It is very easy to live a distracted life. It is easy to live a life that is full of stress, tension, and unrest. This is the life the world offers. Keep busy enough and you will never have to face your faults, your mortality, your weaknesses.

Jesus wants to be King of our lives. He wants to give us peace, rest, security. He wants to give us a family and a home that will last for eternity. It may not be comfortable on this side of heaven to reside in the Father’s house.It may not be peaceful to reside in the Father’s house. But if we make Jesus King of our lives, we will have an inner peace the world cannot touch. Jesus is King of the Universe. He wants to be King of our lives. Are we going to let Him? Do we trust that what He asks of us will truly make us happy? That was the initial question, right? Satan caused Adam and Eve to doubt God’s goodness, to doubt God’s desire for their joy and happiness. The world tells us that being Catholic Christian will make us unhappy. As Catholics we believe that being a Catholic Christian, making Jesus King of our lives, is the ONLY thing, the ONLY Person that will make us happy.

Now throughout history there have been bad king and good kings. There are even so kings who were so good, they are recognized saints of the Catholic Church. Jesus Kingship is not for Himself. Jesus Kingship is for us and for our good. In the world of democracy, kings sound outdated. However, democracy is not the most efficient. I feel that unfortunately this is becoming more and more obvious in our modern government. (I’m looking at people on both sides of the isle.) However, Jesus is the benevolent King. He doesn’t need anyone else’s permission to love us perfectly, unconditionally, and completely. Today, this week, make Jesus King of your life.

Peace,

Father Vogel 

Bulletin Article for the Thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time (November 14, 2021)

Hello. Please remember to pray for each other. This week our second graders who are preparing for their First Communion are doing their learning centers with their parents. Please pray for them and their parents that they learn and fall deeper in love with our Savior in the Eucharist. 

I know we live in a weird time. There is a disease that is going around our world. We may even know someone who has died. We don’t want to be irresponsible, but we also need to quit using it as an excuse not to draw closer to Christ through community. Again, there may be some of us, because of our health situation, need to be extra cautious. I was talking to someone. They said that the past year and half has made all of us a little more introverted. It is has made it that much easier to stay at home. It has made it that much easier not to reach out. And if we do, to do it through a camera and screen. I fear this is true even when it comes to Mass. For awhile all we had was screens. Then some of us got used to doing other things Saturday evening or Sunday morning. If this is you or someone you know, I challenge you or them to please come back. Our community is less because of your absence. The Body of Christ is incomplete. It is time to come back to Jesus, come back to Mass, come back to the Jesus in the Eucharist. Jesus is waiting for each one of us in the Tabernacle. Again, Vatican II called the Mass the source and summit of our Christian life. Just as we need food to stay alive, we need the Eucharist to stay alive spiritually. Just as we need to spend time and energy to maintain a friendship, we need to spend time and energy maintaining our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Thank you to all of you who have come back to Mass. It is a joy and privilege to celebrate Mass with you. Thank you to all who have come to our faith formation dinners on Wednesday. Thank you to all of you who continue to give your time and talent and treasure to our community. 

Have a blessed week,

Father Vogel