I received a message late in the afternoon on Monday morning from my friend, Jon Leonetti, asking if I’d be interested in being interviewed on the Iowa Catholic Radio Morning Show, to help answer the question, “What is a Deacon?”  I guess being a deacon myself, Jon figured I might have some insight into the question.  All I had to do was be ready to go on live at 7:20am the next day!

It was especially exciting to be able to share about this ministry in the Church on the day of the inauguration of Pope Francis, named after St. Francis of Assisi, who was himself a deacon!  The audio clip below is courtesy of the good people at Iowa Catholic Radio.

+Peace

This past summer, I attended the Franciscan University of Steubenville Summer Conferences for the 23rd consecutive year.  It has been a great blessing in my life, and I give thanks to God for the good work of FUS!  One new thing I did this past summer at the conference was take the Journey Through Scripture Bible Study course, Genesis to Jesus, offered by the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology and Dr. Scott Hahn.  It was really the training to be an instructor, and I’ve been anxious to offer the study at my parish, Sts. Peter and Paul in Springbrook, IA.

Well, that time has come!  The study begins on October 14 at 7:00pm, and there will be sessions on 7 consecutive Sunday evenings.  I am working to have a huge turnout from my parishioners!  I am challenging them to be a part of this study.  But, for those that are hesitant to sign up, let me present the:

Top 10 Reasons Why I Can’t Be Part of the Genesis To Jesus Bible Study
at Sts. Peter and Paul Parish.

10.   I don’t have a Bible.  Well, okay, I have a Bible, but I’m not very familiar with it, and just a little nervous.  I don’t want to look like I don’t know my Bible.

No problem!  I will make sure everyone has a Bible!  If you need a Bible, ask.  Or, better yet, go get one!  We use readings from the New American Bible at Mass, but most of the readings for this study are taken from the Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition.  Any way you slice it, we’ve got a Bible for you.  And this study doesn’t expect you to be an expert.  It is a study that shows everyone how God has been working throughout all of history, from Genesis to Jesus, to bring us into his life and love.  And that is a message for Bible beginners and Bible experts!

9. I don’t have a way to get to the parish.  I don’t like to drive at night.

I will arrange for your transportation!

8. I have young kids, and I don’t want/can’t afford to get babysitting for 7 weeks.

If you let me know what you need as far as babysitting so that you can be part of this study, I will do whatever I can to make it happen!  I just need to know what you need!

7. I don’t have the $10 for the workbook.

I will not let $10 stand between you and being a part of this study!  Let me know what you need, and I will help.

6. I’m a high-schooler, and I don’t think I have the time, but I’m intrigued.  Didn’t you say something about a special offer?

Well, I can’t do much about the time management problem, but I bet with a little effort, you can.  And, yes, I did mention a special offer!  If you sign up and participate in this study, I will give you your workbook for FREE!  I know you were probably just going to get mom or dad to pay anyway, but I want you to know it is important to me and to the parish that you participate.

5. I would like to be part of the study, but honest, Sunday nights at 7:00pm just don’t work for me.

I know it seems like I’ve been gone a lot lately, but most of that should be coming to an end.  I would be thrilled to also offer the study at another time during the week!  I’m good with any time, Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday!  Let me know!

4. I don’t know how to get a hold of you to sign up.

3. I go to Mass every week, and I pray my Rosary.  Surely that is enough.

What is “enough” when we are talking about our relationship with our Heavenly Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?  Of course we need to go to Mass, and praying the Rosary is a powerful prayer.  But there really isn’t such a thing as too much of God, is there?  See how this makes your experience of Mass and prayer even better!

2. I don’t think I need to study the Bible.

A lot of people don’t think they need to study the Bible.  But if the Bible is God’s word to us, and we are serious about wanting to grow in our relationship with God, then we all need to study the Bible!  St. Jerome once said that “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”

1. The truth is, I just don’t want to be part of a Bible Study.

I was really hoping after eliminating all the other reasons, we wouldn’t get to this one.  Unfortunately, this is the one where all I can do is encourage you, and pray that you have a desire to know God’s word more intimately.  Maybe, you should do it anyway, even though you don’t want to, and let’s see what God can do.

I typically write a little “Deacon Speakin’” for my parish, Sts. Peter and Paul in Springbrook, IA, each week.  This is what the deacon had to say for this upcoming weekend.

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Last month was a Schmidt family reunion, and my family had a reunion in North Carolina, and today is a Kilburg family reunion.  In case you didn’t notice, Sara and I were not at Mass with you this morning, because we are attending Sara’s 30th High School Reunion in Zanesville, Ohio.  In 2 weeks, we’ll be traveling to Kingsley, Michigan for my 30th High School Reunion.

What is it with all these reunions?  What are they all about?  Do they tell us anything about who we are, and about God and the Church?

To be honest, I’ve never really given it much thought.  But as I find myself excited about the recent reunions I have been and will be part of, it has given me reason to reflect.

One of the things I’ve been impressed by in my time in Springbrook is the importance of family.  I see it all around me, with all the Kilburgs and Sieverdings and Steines and Michels (with and without the “s”), just to name a few.  Family ties are very strong in this community.  People know who their relatives are out to third cousins and beyond.

And these families gather together.  We are a social people.  We were born into the community of a family, and we grow in a larger community.  And it seems natural to want to gather with these different communities to share the stories of our lives, to reconnect with our history.  Without really thinking about it,  we know our lives are wrapped up in the lives of these other people, and that we need to touch base.

Part of the reason we know this is because we are made in the image and likeness of God.  And God in the Trinity is a family.  God the Father pours out his life in God the Son, who gives His life back to the Father.  The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, a love so real that it is actually a person of the Trinity.  And so our desire to connect is because made in the image and likeness of God, we are made to be in relationship, in communion with God and with others.

In a sense, we might think of our gathering at Sunday Mass as a family reunion.  After all, in our baptism we are adopted into the family of God, making us each brothers and sisters.  In the Mass we gather around the family table (the altar) to share in our great family Thanksgiving meal (the Eucharist, which means “thanksgiving”).  In the Scriptures, we tell our family stories, and hear of those who have gone before us.  And hearing the stories again and sharing in the meal, we go back out into the world, strengthened and renewed in knowing who we really are and to whom we belong and with whom we are connected..

Maybe we need to use this idea of the family reunion, the family gathering for the family meal, as a way to reach out to our family and friends that have been away from Mass.  This meal, the body and blood of Christ, and the feast of the Word of God is meant to be shared with family.  It is in this family, the family of God, that we find a source of our strength, and actually can find God himself.  Jesus told his disciples, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt 18:20).

So invite a brother or sister in Christ, and I’ll see you at the reunion!

+Peace,

Deacon Sean

My first attempt at posting a video recording of my preaching!  Thank you to Bailey Deppe for his help!

I pray you realize what Jesus has done for you, and that you know the power of his resurrection in your life.

+Peace

I wrote last year that I was going to give up guacamole for Lent.  You can read about it here.  It was a light-hearted attempt to bring a different perspective to the true eternal question, “What are you giving up for Lent?”

Sure enough, right on schedule, yesterday the question rang out anew,  “What are you giving up for Lent?”  And so I responded in manner similar to last year, about focusing more on growth for love of God and neighbor and less on guacamole or caffeine or chocolate or non-diet soda.

I actually got quite a bit of pushback.  I was told by multiple people that not giving up something that we like, such as chocolate, is actually missing the point of Lent!  We are always supposed to be growing in our spiritual life by working on our vices, so that is just a given.  The sacrifice of giving up chocolate is supposed to be “an extra layer of discipline” and “an opening for grace”.

Without denying either of those points, do we not understand that the 40 days of Lent is a desert journey, following our Lord’s same journey?  The opening of our Gospel for this weekend is,

The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert,
and he remained in the desert for forty days,
tempted by Satan. (Mark 1:12-13)

Jesus didn’t go into the desert for self-improvement; at least not in the way we think of self-improvement.  And he didn’t leave his candy dish at the edge of the desert so that he could gorge when the 40 days were over.  And he didn’t come out of the desert to a DVR full of TV shows that recorded while he was in the desert.  And I’m guessing he didn’t get Sundays off.

He went into the desert to do battle!  He certainly did not take this battle for granted, and neither should we!  And if we are going to take Lent seriously, we should be prepared to do battle, too!  I’m sure for some people that giving up guacamole or caffeine or chocolate or non-diet soda would be a battle; the question is with the real battles to be faced, is it a battle worth fighting?

I do not deny there are graces to be received from fasting from something that we enjoy.  What I’m not convinced of is that most of us are disposed to that grace because of all the other stuff in our life that we don’t give up.

I doubt I am the only person that professes a desire to love the Lord more, yet lives in a manner that betrays that profession. And at least in my life, it isn’t guacamole or caffeine or chocolate or non-diet soda that is the source of that betrayal.  It is nothing short of sin.  And if I am focusing on the sacrifice of guacamole or caffeine or chocolate or non-diet soda, while that sin is in my life, that seems to me akin to Nero fiddling while Rome burned.

Whatever the spiritual practices you follow this Lent, I pray that we all are conformed more and more to Jesus, the source of our salvation.

+Peace