A Message From Our Pastor
Fr. Cruz Divakaran Iruthayam
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior!
As the Christmas season approaches, it brings with it a time of reflection, joy, and profound gratitude. In this season of Advent, we are reminded of the greatest gift ever given – the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a time to celebrate the hope, peace, love, and joy that comes from God. Advent is a time of longing for the Lord to come. In Advent, we not only recall the longing for the coming of Christ 2024 years ago, but also the coming of the Lord in our life.
Your presence in advent adds to our joy! We strive to create a welcoming and nurturing environment for all who walk through our doors, and we hope you feel the love and fellowship of our church family in our various liturgical activities. Once again, we come to this very special time of the year in which we celebrate and appreciate the birth of Jesus Christ. In this season, we do our best to reach out and be a blessing to our families, as well as others who mean a lot to us. As Christmas approaches, we wanted to take a moment to let you know that you are in our thoughts and prayers. Always remember that you are not alone and that you are an important part of our church community.
There are many ways to be Advent people, with a variety of liturgies for this season. We surely can find one meaningful to us and by our efforts of four weeks, bring to birth a bright image of the long-awaited Lord.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Cruz
D I O C E S E O F L A C R O S S E
Office of the Bishop
A devout Catholic…
Recently, the Vice-President offered what seems to be a repeated trope these days, viz., the Catholic Church is increasing her financial health by accepting grants from the federal government. Our government asks to use our on the ground expertise to assist migrants. Not only do we not get rich from this association but we actually spend more than any of the government grants contribute. We do what the government won’t or can’t. We don’t ask about a migrant’s status when someone approaches us who is hungry, thirsty or in need of shelter. We serve Christ, following the biblical imperative: whatsoever you do to the least of my people… cf. Matthew 25:40-45). Perhaps you don’t know this, but the Catholic Church is the largest provider of social services in the world, and only second in the United States, behind the federal government. You should be proud of the fact that together by God’s grace we accomplish much in answering the scriptural mandate to love. Cardinal Dolan replied to the Vice-President perfectly, he called Vance’s assertion, a scurrilous lie. As I told Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene who made a similar accusation, the Church is not in charge of the border, the federal government is, time to quit the sleight of hand Congress and do your job.
What intrigued me was not the accusation from the Vice-President but the assertion that, and this somehow justified their positions, they were devout Catholics. President Biden repeatedly asserted this about himself. It seems to me to be a rather unusual thing to say about oneself, kind of like asserting that you’re extraordinarily handsome. The appellation so it would seem come from others who viewed repeatedly one’s integrity as a Catholic man or woman. Being a devout Catholic would seem to be a good thing to aim for in the life of discipleship, but is it? The only degree in the life of a Catholic is sanctity. There are saints, that is, those set apart for Christ and on the path of sanctity and those who by their own choices are not. Being a devout Catholic is simply being Catholic, only heroism whose ardor is given by God, sets one apart as an exemplar of discipleship, that’s what we call a saint. Each of us are called to be saints, it is said, it is the only real tragedy in life if we do not become so.
The people in my life who taught me the most about the journey of faith, taught me that it was not about them, not about me, it was about Jesus. Jesus is the vine, we are the branches, without him we can do nothing (cf. John 15:5). Let Jesus make you a saint. Your job and mine is to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, to surrender to him that his plan may be accomplished in us, to say in wonder and with some trepidation with St. Peter: to whom shall we go Lord, you have the words of everlasting life (cf. John 6:68). To be a Catholic is a great gift from God. It is given to us so that you and I might be witnesses for others sake. Jesus gives a rather powerful commandment to those who profess their love for him: if you love me, keep my commandments. (John 14:15). Let’s keep his commandments for love of him, lets forsake all other paths as good as they might seem, let’s become the saints we’re called to be, let’s be Catholic.
Most Reverend Gerard W. Battersby
Bishop of La Crosse
