The pandemic has certainly changed the way we live our lives, especially the way it has affected our Church and the Catholic Church. For months, for the first time in our history, the Church was closed, no sacrament of the Eucharist, no Penance. Today, the Church is partially open and Fr. Herge in his homily a few weeks back mentioned “that while we have online services and special dispensation, it is no true substitute for the Holy Mass and for receiving the Holy Eucharist in person in God’s Church.” We should not be complacent to just watch mass online. If we are able to that we partake in the mass in person, we should be. St. Michael has done a wonderful job at taking many precautions to keep us safe. If you are able to, and not at high risk, please make it a point to attend mass to receive the Holy Eucharist. If you are not able, I ask that you fully participate in the online mass. I know my kids thought it was funny that we were standing in the living room, kneeling in the living room, speaking out loud at the TV but they soon realized the importance of what I was trying to teach them. God’s Children are looking at us closely for guidance. Fr. Herge has many homilies on YouTube as well as many other topics that are worth your while.
A reminder that confessions are taking place from 2:30-3:30PM every Saturday. Enter through Marian Hall and you will be directed to the large room or the adoration chapel. St Thomas Aquinas said “In the life of the body a man is sometimes sick, and unless he takes medicine, he will die. Even so in the spiritual life a man is sick on account of sin. For that reason he needs medicine so that he may be restored to health; and this grace is bestowed in the Sacrament of Penance.”
Going to Church is only one faucet of our Faith and that we must live our faith daily. Pope Francis has asked that every Catholic pray the Rosary every day this year to end the pandemic and rid the world of the evil that seems to be taking it over. I invite you to download the app Laudate. It has so many wonderful prayers but the Rosary is easy to follow and the mysteries are so beautifully written allowing you to truly focus on them. Every night when my 4 year is with me I have been praying the rosary on the app with her while she pushes the beads to the next Hail Mary.
“Into the Breach” is a call to battle for Catholic Men which urges them to embrace whole heartedly masculine virtues in a world in crisis. There are 12 videos, about 12 minutes each, and a study guide on kofc.org. This is fantastic series written by Bishop Olmsted of Phoenix which seeks to answer the question of what it means to be a man and how to live as a man in today’s world. It touches on subjects such as Masculinity, Brotherhood, Leadership, Fatherhood, Family Life, Prayer, Suffering, Sacramental Life, Spiritual Warfare, Evangelization, and The Cornerstone. I invite you to take 2 hours of our life in the next month to watch these videos to live out a more Faithful Life as a Knight and a Catholic.
Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles writes a daily reflection on the gospel. You can sign up for it at dailycatholicgospel.com or wordonfire.org (word on Fire is his book that Fr. Dinovo has mentioned many times). This is great way to spend 2 minutes each morning reading about the gospel and his thoughts. It is short, simple, but extremely powerful.
The movie “Fatima” is out in theaters and On Demand for $19.99. This is a great idea for a movie night with the family or your wife. The movie is based on the three young children from Fatima, Portugal who at the apex of WWI saw the Virgin Mary and courageously stood by what they saw while the government tried to force them to recant their story.
I will leave you with this as your Faith Director. Our religion is under attack right now in a way that many do not even comprehend because it is not being reported on. Countries, like Australia, are trying to write laws that priests have to report crimes they hear in the confession booth thus attacking the Sacrament of Confession that is so important to our faith. We have a VP Candidate that declined to approve a federal judge who was highly qualified because he was a member of the Knights of Columbus and was vocal about the disapproval of him being in our organization. Our job as Knights is to defend our Church and we can do that through Prayer, the Rosary, and learning more about our faith through some of the ways I just mentioned. My Brother Knights, please do not be afraid to stand up and educate yourself on our true reasons of the faith in order to be strong in the defense of The Church. Nobody is stronger than God, place all your trust in him.